The wise old beaver in Darlene Fedele’s puppet musical
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Other, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
That's me as the wise old beaver at far left. The reading was part of the Hollins University MFA playwriting program, so I wore my "Women who are going places start at Hollins" T-shirt.
I don’t claim to be an actor, but every now and then I get drafted into service. “Casting by proximity,” Joan Ruelle calls it.
In July 2011, Darlene Fedele asked me to play the part of “the wise old beaver” in a staged reading of her puppet musical. I happily agreed. I had to do some singing; fortunately, not solo.
This was part of the Hollins University MFA playwriting program. Here we are at Mill Mountain Theatre for the reading.
“Strong As A Bull” at Mill Mountain Theatre, Roanoke, Va.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
In front: Martha Boswell (left), Shay Mullins (center) and Rebecca Osborne (right.) In back: Mike Allen, Wendy-Marie Foerster, Kevin McAlexander, Kyle Mason, Dwayne Yancey. Photo by Deborah Seagle.
For the third time in about five years, I was invited to be one of the playwrights in the 24-hour play challenge at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Va. (The “Overnight Sensations” program is coordinated through the MFA playwriting program at Hollins University, and draws from many of its students.)
On a Friday evening in July, all the participants gathered for a reception in the lobby and, after some ceremonies, the drawing begins. First, each of the writers draws a director from a hat. I drew Rebecca Osborne of Texas, one of the Hollins students. She drew a pre-selected cast. Then we drew a genre (I got “horror”), a location (I got “cemetery”) and a theme (I’m momentarily forgetting what mine was; I think it was “slow but steady wins the race” but maybe that was another year.”)
At that point, the writers withdrew to the library at Hollins to begin writing; by the next morning, we had to have a 10-minute script turned in. The cast showed up at noon, rehearsed all afternoon, and on Saturday night, six new shows were produced on the main stage at Mill Mountain Theatre.
With horror and a cemetery, everyone was expecting me to produce something about vampires or zombies or such. Instead, I surprised them with dark piece about baseball and steroids — in the 19th century.
The basic plot of “Strong As A Bull”: A mining company fields a baseball team (they really did that back then.) But when one player’s performance declines, the boss threatens to send him back to the mines. Rather than face a fate underground, the player tries a magic elixir from a travelling medicine man — which makes him strong as a bull. In fact, it starts to turn him into an actual bull.
You can find more photos from the event here.
My Lady Gaga tie
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Personal, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
My daughter gave me this Lady Gaga tie for Father’s Day 2011.
Here’s proof that I really did wear it to work.
And yes, I’m a fan.
“The Chicken on the Side of the Road” at Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, New York
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Uncategorized, Video on January 19, 2012
I grew up on a chicken farm and continue to find them, um, fascinating. Here’s my piece “The Chicken on the Side of The Road” at the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival one-minute plays at Brooklyn College, New York, in June 2011.
“Deep Into October” at Gone in 60 Seconds Festival, New York
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Uncategorized, Video on January 19, 2012
My one-minute script “Deep Into October” at the Gone in 60 Seconds Festival at Brooklyn College, New York in June 2011.
It’s about baseball, part of a series of baseball shorts I’ve done.
There are two versions — one with a boy, this one with a girl.
“Curiosity Killed the Cat” at Attic Productions, Fincastle, Va.
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
Spoiler alert: Yes, Curiosity really did kill the cat.
Attic Productions, the community theatre in Botetourt County, Virginia, presents an annual youth show. In March 2011, it consisted of two one-acts, one of which was my detective comedy (and play on words) “Curiosity Killed the Cat.”
Of note: Our congressman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, heard about my work and came to see the show, along with his wife, Maryellen.
Here are some rehearsal photos from the show. You can find more here and here. Read the rest of this entry »
“Bored and Cruising at 37,000 Feet” at Labyrinth Festival
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in No Shame Theatre, Uncategorized, Video on January 19, 2012
When my daughter was studying overseas, we used to make regular trips to Dulles airport to pick her up or deliver her. That led to several airplane-related pieces, including this one: “Bored and Cruising at 37,000 Feet.”
It was originally performed at No Shame Theatre in Roanoke. This video is from a special No Shame engagement at the Labyrinth Festival in Roanoke, Va. in March 2011.
“The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules” in England
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
The passenger remains out of it for almost all of the show. Flight attendants struggle to move him to first class.
I once met a flight attendant who told me about some of the more unusual airline rules. One of them is that if a passenger dies en route, the flight attendants are required to keep trying to revive the victim until the plane lands — even if it’s clear the passenger is dead. The reason is to avoid liability and be able to say “we did all we could.”
That led to my one-act comedy “The Rules Are The Rules Are The Rules,” in which a passenger appears to die during a trans-oceanic flight. Key word: Appears. He’s really just passed out, much to the surprise of the flight attendants involved.
The Castle Players near Poole, England produced this in February 2011. They also sent me a video, and it was quite a hoot. These photos give an idea of the hilarity: Read the rest of this entry »
“The Happiest Place in America” in San Luis Obispo, California
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in No Shame Theatre, Uncategorized, Video on January 19, 2012
I read a newspaper story that said a survey found that the happiest place in America was San Luis Obispo, California.
Conveniently, there’s a No Shame Theatre there and they were kind enough to do this reading of my one-minute script on January 28, 2011.
Review: “Red Moon Rising in the East” at The Playground, Duluth
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Reviews, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
Here’s a review of my one-man show “Red Moon Rising in The East,” which played at The Playground in Duluth, Minnesota in November 2010.
Oevre magazine in Duluth said:
Chris Nollet takes the stage in this tour-de-force one man show about Sergei Korolev, a virtual unknown in the West. But, we learn through Nollet’s masterful storytelling, that Korolev began the space race with the shot heard ’round the world: the development and launching of Sputnik.
There isn’t a moment to spare on stage in the retelling of Korolev’s precarious and deft handling of not only the Soviet Union’s space program, but also his manipulation of the Soviet power structure to get the money he needed to build his rockets. Through strategic uses of humor, some self-deprecating, which is a pleasing facet of Nollet’s acting talent, Yancey’s script takes life to educate theatre audiences about the strange bedfellows Korolev must entertain, flatter, cajole, and challenge to get what he wants: a rocket powerful enough to get to the Moon.
And also:
Odds are, if you’re not a self-avowed space geek like Chris Nollet, you may not have ever heard of this show. You can cross it off your “to-see” list of obscure stage shows now, because Red Moon Rising in the East is required course material in the space race and in a well-done one-man show.
I have photos from the Duluth production here.
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