Posts Tagged studio roanoke
Rehearsals begin for “57 Hours in the House of Culture”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on April 23, 2012
The cast gathers around as director Brian O'Sullivan shows a photo from the actual Moscow theatre seige of 2002, on which my show is based.
Rehearsals for the world premiere of “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” my full-length script about the Moscow theatre siege, began Sunday evening, April 22.
The show runs May 16-27 at Studio Roanoke.
The cast gathered with director Brian O’Sullivan and stage manager Brandon DuMonde for the first read-through. For some of the cast members, this was doing double duty — most of them had already been in a show earlier that day. Owen Merritt, Kelly Anglim and Gary Reid had just finished “Monkey Wrench” at Studio Roanoke. Tim Kennard and Joel Gruver had likewise had their final performance of “Lion in Winter” at Showtimers.
We’ve had one last-minute cast change. Peter Colbert had to drop out due to some unforeseen scheduling conflicts, but Joel Gruver has signed on to play Ivan the usher. I’ve been a fan of Joel’s work for some time and am delighted to be able to say he’s in my show. In fact, I saw him just Friday night in action as the French king at Showtimers.
We’ve also added on Blake Lipscomb for a small role as a Russian soldier; we’re still scouting for another Russian soldier.
So, the line-up stands:
* Andrei, a retired civil engineer who is in the audience that fateful night: Gary Reid
* Svetlana, his wife and a retired teacher: Diane Heard
* Irina, a young mother in the audience that night: Heather Sexton
* Ivan the usher, who serves as a kind of narrator: Joel Gruver
* Dmitri the pit musician: Owen Merritt
* Mosvar Barayev, the terrorist leader: Tim Kennard
* Fatima the Black Widow, one of the female terrorists: Kelly Anglim
* Olga Romanova, a brave but naive perfume sales clerk who came in off the street to try to solve the situation: Cadie Burks
* Russian soldier: Blake Lipscomb.
Gary and Diane, it should be noted, are the main characters — two audience members caught up in a horrific event beyond their control. They also showed up with almost all their lines already memorized — this even though Gary was just in a show!
The cast gathered on the set of "Monkey Wrench" for the first read-through.
Cast for “57 Hours in the House of Culture” announced
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized on April 6, 2012
Director Brian O’Sullivan has put together a very strong cast for my show “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” which premieres at Studio Roanoke May 16-27.
Here it is:
* Andrei, a retired engineer in the audience: Gary Reid
* Svetlana, his wife, a retired teacher: Diane Heard
* Irina, a mother in the audience: Heather Sexton
* Ivan, the usher: Peter Colbert
* Dmitri, the pit musician: Owen Merritt
* Barayev, the terrorist: Tim Kennard
* The Black Widow, a female terrorist: Kelly Anglim
* Olga, the perfume sales clerk who comes in off the street: Cadie Burks
Cadie is a newcomer; all the others are well-known from previous roles at theatres in the Roanoke Valley. Owen most recently appeared at Studio Roanoke in “The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill” by Jeff Goode; I believe he, Gary and Kelly are all in “Monkey Wrench,” which opens this month. Gary I know, all the others I’m looking forward to getting to know — and seeing in action (again).
We’re still looking for two young men to play small parts as Russian soldiers; they have a few speaking lines. If interested, please contact the director (or me, and I can relay a message.)
We’re also looking for a violinist willing to record four short segments of a particular piece of Russian classical music (we have the sheet music available.)
The show is a dream-like account of the 2002 Moscow theatre seige, where Chechen terrorists seized a theatre during a musical and held hundreds hostage until Russian authorities pumped the place full of poison gas.
Video: “Deanna Dupes the Devil” plays to full house at Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Productions, Uncategorized, Video on March 26, 2012
Studio Roanoke in Roanoke, Va. hosted one of its quarterly “Big Idea” variety shows on Saturday, March 24, with Chris Shephard as the impresario.
Chris had asked me to put on a staged reading of a short play as part of the evening; I offered up “Deanna Dupes the Devil,” a light comedy about a young woman who tricks the Old Trickster himself.
The piece stars Lianne Jackson McCray (soon to head off to Yale Divinity School!) as Deanna, Kevin McAlexander as the devil’s minion and Mike Allen as the devil.
Katerina Yancey directed the piece.
The evening opened with readings by Ben R. Williams and concluded with a film by Chris Shepard, “Kitty Man.” The other highlight of the evening included an appearance by the Angels of Assisi, and some of the adorable kittens they have for adoption.
Best yet, we had a full house!
New director, new poster for “57 Hours in the House of Culture”
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Uncategorized on March 14, 2012
More news about my upcoming show at Studio Roanoke: We have a new director and a new poster for “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” my dark full-length script about the Moscow theatre siege.
* The new poster isn’t all that new; it simply corrects a typo from the original.
* The new director is Brian O’Sullivan. Sadly, Charlie Boswell had to withdraw due to some unforeseen circumstances. I’m sorry to see Charlie go — I always look forward to working with him in any capacity. But I’m equally excited to have the chance to work with Brian, who I have admired from afar (or not so far) in many productions at Studio Roanoke.
Auditions remain on March 24 and 25; details on those in this previous post.
Boswell to direct “57 Hours,” auditions set for March 24-25
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Uncategorized on February 29, 2012
Much news to report on the upcoming premiere of my full-length script “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” based on the true story of the Moscow theatre seige of 2002 where Chechen terrorists held an audience hostage.
* Charlie Boswell has agreed to direct the show. He’s directed several other things at Studio Roanoke. He helmed the very first thing done in that space, a staged reading of my one-act “The Angel of Brooklyn.” He’s since directed some of their full-length productions, including “Nobody Gets Paid,” which opens there March 7.
* Auditions for the show are set for March 24 and March 25; below I’ll copy the email that has gone out.
* Finally, there’s a poster, shown above. Sharp-eyed observers (such as myself) will notice one small error. My last name is misspelled. That’s being corrected. When there’s a new one, I’ll post it as well. That aside, it’s a marvelous poster. The artist researched the event (as did I, of course). The image is that of the actual theatre — the House of Culture of State Ball-bearing Plant No. 1. Billowing out of it are smoke and poison gas.
As you can see from the poster, the show is at Studio Roanoke May 16-27. It’s a dark, grim, spooky show, quite unlike any of my other work.
The audition release from Studio Roanoke: Read the rest of this entry »
“Deanna Dupes the Devil” set for staged reading at Studio Roanoke March 24
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in News, Uncategorized on January 31, 2012
Chris Shepard — who produces the “Big Idea” show at Studio Roanoke — asked me to put on a staged reading of a one-act for the March production.
I’ve picked “Deanna Dupes the Devil,” a light comedy about a woman who outwits Satan himself.
Here’s the poster.
The show is March 24, 8 p.m.
Poster for “The Christmas Goat” at Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
Here’s the poster that Studio Roanoke (in Roanoke, Va.) used for a collection of my short Christmas pieces, which played under the title “The Christmas Goat and Other Inappropriate Holiday Tales” on Dec. 11, 2011.
This was part of Studio Roanoke’s “underground” Guerrilla Playhouse program.
The four pieces were:
* “The Christmas Goat,” a 10-minute piece.
* “Joy to Other Worlds,” a 5-minute piece.
* “Me and Mrs. C,” a 5-minute piece.
* “Joe’s Women Trouble,” a 5-minute piece.
These were directed by Ashley Byrne of Lynchburg.
Poster for “My Summer as a Mermaid” at Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 19, 2012
I had four short pieces done at Studio Roanoke on August 22, 2010 as part of its Guerrilla Playhouse program.
The headline piece was “My Summer as a Mermaid,” which had been previously produced in Massachusetts and Chicago.
Other pieces were:
* “Captain Funhouse and His Rollicking, Frolicking Adventures Gang”
* “Love Match”
* “What I Learned in Paraguay”
Here’s the poster for the show.
The musical guest, Chris Shepard, also performed a song that he and I co-wrote: “Unemployed Gods,” the theme song of an as-yet-unproduced script by the same name.
Poster for “Red Moon Rising in the East” at Studio Roanoke
Posted by Dwayne Yancey in Photos, Uncategorized on January 18, 2012
Here’s the poster that was used to promote “Red Moon Rising in the East” — first at 40th Street Stage in Norfolk, then this edited version for its special run at Studio Roanoke — in summer 2009.
dwayneyancey 