“Macbeth Goes Hollywood” to be produced on Halloween in Chicago ‘burbs
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on September 8, 2012
A school in Steger, Illinois (southern Chicago suburbs) will produce my one-hour one-act “Macbeth Goes Hollywood” on Halloween (October 31, 2012). It will be the 24th production of that script, which is published by Eldridge Plays & Musicals.
I’m not quite sure which school; the info from the publisher simply says “School District 194” so I’ll have to investigate.
“Yvonne” gets their attention in Portland, Oregon
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Reviews, Uncategorized on August 6, 2012
Post 5 Theatre in Portland, Oregon recently produced two of my short pieces as part of their show called “Death/Sex: Portland,” in which every pieces was about one or the other.
One of my entries dealt with both: “Yvonne’s Worst Fears,” in which a woman is tied up during kinky sex — only to have her partner suffer a heart attack. The other piece was called “Another Reason Why Yvonne Doesn’t Get Asked Out Very Much,” which dealt with a similar theme, just from a different point of view.
The theatre didn’t have any photos to share, but did pass on this account of the show:
“Know that YVONNE’S WORST FEARS opened the show (our lovely Yvonne was tied to a headboard below a podium as the audience filed in, smiling and trying to wave as I did the curtain speech) and kicked off the production beautifully. ANOTHER REASON appeared early in the second act, with the girls drinking cocktails and poor Dave (myself, I couldn’t help it) yelling the same “safe word” from backstage. As soon as the audience saw Yvonne on stage again, I could tell (even from backstage, with my hand in my mouth) that the audience perked up. Thank you for helping to make my first advance into producing such a success.”
Backstage graffiti from my show at Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on August 6, 2012
A close-up of the graffiti in the dressing room at Studio Roanoke.
At Studio Roanoke, the black box theatre in Roanoke, Va. which recently closed, the tradition was for actors and actresses to sign the wall in the dressing room — along with a key quote from the show.
Here’s the part of the wall dedicated to my show “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” which turned out to be the next-to-play show there. (The show was about the Moscow theatre siege of 2002.)
Kind of reminds me of the cover for The Rolling Stones’ originally wanted for their album “Beggars Banquet.”
MORE ON “57 HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF CULTURE”:
* Photos from the show
* Audience reaction to the show
* Review: “It ain’t ‘Oklahoma!'”
* Congressman Goodlatte attends the show
* Review: “Most interactive show I’ve seen”
* Media interviews about the show
* The set takes shape
* Rehearsal photos
* Rehearsal begins
* The poster for the show
The title song to my play “Unemployed Gods”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Other, Uncategorized on July 31, 2012
I’ve never written a musical (yet) but I have written a full-length show that includes a song. The show — and the song — is “Unemployed Gods.” It’s about a dark look at a company town after the company has closed down. In this case, the company is Mount Olympus and the gods are out of work.
I wrote the lyrics and hummed a tune for the multi-talented Roanoke musician and actor Chris Shepard, who wrote the music — and performs it here.
Video and photos: “The Mermaid’s Tattoo” at The Garfield Center for the Arts in Maryland
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on July 19, 2012
The Garfield Center for the Arts in Chestertown, Maryland produced my 10-minute script “The Mermaid’s Tattoo” as part of the theatre’s Short Attention Span festival of 10-minute plays.
The festival ran June 22-July 1.
The script is related to “My Summer as a Mermaid,” which has been produced in Massachusetts (see those photos here) and Chicago, along with a staged reading in Roanoke, Virginia.
Here’s a promotional video that has part of the show, plus some still photos.
A scene from “The Mermaid’s Tattoo”
Sarah Walker as Samantha, Anna Black as Kitty the Waitress and Pete Fortenbaugh as Waiter
Thoughts on the closing of Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Uncategorized on July 16, 2012
Studio Roanoke, a black-box theatre in downtown Roanoke, Va. The theatre, which specialized in new works, is closing.
Studio Roanoke, which for three years has put Roanoke on the map as a venue for new plays, is closing. The Roanoke Times has the sad news here.
The theatre’s founder and chief patron, Kenley Smith, is moving to Nashville and plans to sell the building that housed the non-profit community theatre.
Faced with trying to mount a new season with no home and without what is surely its main donor, the board has voted to close.
Sadly, most theatre goers in the Roanoke Valley won’t miss Studio Roanoke, because most of them likely never attended a show there. Roanoke Valley theatre companies such as Showtimers and Attic Productions play to strong houses, but they perform the standards. (Full disclosure: My wife, Trina, is directing one of those standards, “The Sound of Music,” at Attic, opening July 26.) The market for new plays is quite small. Some shows at Studio Roanoke drew well, others did not, but even drawing well meant 30 to 60 people (which was a full house for most stage configurations.) On the other hand, if you look at the 990 tax forms for Studio Roanoke, you’ll see that ticket sales generated nearly $32,000 in 2009 and $28,500 in 2010 (figures for 2011 not posted yet.). With a different business model, you ought to be able to run a non-profit theatre on that kind of revenue. You just can’t do it on ticket revenue alone, though. Read the rest of this entry »
Video: “The Keys to the Universe Next Door”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on July 9, 2012
Part 2 of my account of Overnight Sensations 2012, the annual 24-hour play project at Hollins University. (You can find part 1 here, along with background here.)
When I drew “science fiction,” my first thought was to do a baseball play. I figured it’s not what people would expect. However, I did baseball last year, when I drew horror (see “Strong As a Bull,” about baseball and steroids.). Still, I started quizzing the cast on whether they were right-handed or left-handed, just in case.
At that point, I hadn’t had a chance to study the bios of the seven cast members to see what special talents they had. Most of them I knew already. Then director Drew Dowdy whispered into my ear that Becky Marshall was an opera singer. Not just an opera singer, but an adjunct faculty members who teaches the History of Opera at the University of Virginia.
That cinched it. How could I let such a rare and exquisite talent go unused?
So my script dealt with . . . opera.
The basic plot: Twenty years ago, a scientist discovered how to unlock the door to an alternate universe. All it takes is a sonic key, and he used his opera-singing wife to sing the notes that open the door. Problem is, that door slammed shut — with her on the other side, trapped in a horrible alternate universe. Now, he’s trying to find someone with the same, clear voice to sing those same notes so he can rescue her. Hence, “The Keys to the Universe Next Door,” which attempts to channel H.P. Lovecraft.
The script (with help from Drew Dowdy’s expert direction) makes use of Becky’s incredible voice. We see Martha Boswell (who was in my piece last year) on stage, able to see and hear this universe, but with no one able to see or hear her.
The biggest challenge I found was dealing with a 7-person cast. That’s bigger than we’ve had in the past. I had several ideas which I liked but quickly discarded because I didn’t think I could make them work with seven actors. Even in my first draft, one actor had only three lines (I fixed that in the Saturday morning revisions.)
The audio here isn’t the best, but you’ll get the idea, I hope.
Here’s the full cast, and some still photos:
* Professor Arthur Wellington: Michael Mansfield
* Theodora, his daughter: Theano Mavroidis
* Martha, his wife: Martha Boswell
* Mrs. Marshall, an opera singer: Becky Marshall
* Cassandra, her daughter, and an aspiring opera singer: Emma Sala
* Agent One, a mysterious federal agent: Jason Burton
* Agent Two, equally mysterious: Blair Peyton
Becky Marshall and Emma Sala
Michael Mansfield, center, flanked by Blair Peyton (left) and Jason Burton (right)
Photos from Overnight Sensations 2012
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on July 9, 2012
For the fourth time, I took part in Overnight Sensations, the annual 24-hour play project sponsored by the Playwrights’ Lab at Hollins University in conjunction with Mill Mountain Theatre and other arts organizations in the Roanoke Valley.
The drill is the same each year: The writers, directors and casts gather on Friday night (this year at Hollins, since Center in the Square is undergoing renovations). The writers draw randomly a director. The director draws a cast. And then we alternate drawing a genre, a setting and a theme.
Then it’s off to write. On Saturday morning, the directors and writers assemble for a production meeting at 8 a.m. About noon, the actors arrive for an afternoon of rehearsal and then at 8 p.m., the curtain goes up.
It’s always a fun show and a great chance to work with some talented people, from both around the Roanoke Valley — and the whole country.
This year my director was Drew Dowdy, whose work I’ve admired on Roanoke stages before but whom I didn’t really know. He turned out to be fantastic. Between us, we then drew “science fiction,” “nursing home” and “overcoming weakness.”
I’ll have more to say about the script I produced — “The Keys to the Universe Next Door” — in the next post.
Until then, are some photos –– courtesy of the Playwright’s Lab — from this year’s event: Read the rest of this entry »
Video: Overnight Sensations 24-hour play project
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Uncategorized, Video on July 5, 2012
For the fourth time in sixth years, I’ll be one of the writers in “Overnight Sensations,” the 24-hour play project organized by the Hollins University playwriting program in conjunction with Mill Mountain Theatre.
In previous years, I’ve written these scripts:
*2007: “Stuck on You,” a farce about a glue gun gone bad at a prom.
*2010: “A Vampire Soap Opera,” which is pretty much what it sounds like.
*2011: “Strong as a Bull,” a horror piece about steroids and baseball — in the 1800s.
Here’s a video from last year’s ceremonies — that’s me in the funny hat. Most of the footage is from when we drew casts, themes, genres and so forth from a hat (not mine!)
I also have some still photos from the 2010 event (which produced “A Vampire Soap Opera”) here.
Finally, arts writer Mike Allen of The Roanoke Times has more about this year’s Overnight Sensations on his Arts & Extras blog.
Photos from my two scripts in “Gone in 60 Seconds” Festival in New York
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Productions, Uncategorized on June 11, 2012
Michael Colby Jones and Eugene Solfanelli
I had two pieces in this year’s New York edition of the “Gone in 60 Seconds” Festival of one-minute plays, produced June 8-9 at Brooklyn College.
Both dealt with baseball.
“Sunset in North Dakota” dealt with two minor leaguers in that Midwestern state, one seeing his career setting along with the sun — the other seeing only a short right-field fence. It’s a cutting from a longer version I did at No Shame Theatre in Roanoke, Va. in summer 2011.
“The Uniform” is also bittersweet. A baseball coach is at the first practice after cuts, watching his team run laps, when he notices a kid that didn’t make the team running as well. When the coach calls him over, he discovers a misunderstanding. The coach had said he didn’t have a uniform for the player; the player took that literally and made his own.
The festival plans to post video later this summer.
Jay Nickerson and Sergio Ang in “The Uniform”
