If so:

and your chance is coming up in August!

We are holding general auditions for our 2010-2011 Season on August 15 and 16th at the Columbus Performing Arts Center (formerly known as the Davis Discovery Center).

Artistic Director Steven Anderson, Associate Artistic Director Joe Bishara, and Artistic Director Emeritus Geoff Nelson will be on hand to watch you give us your best three minutes of monologues and wow us with your song stylings.

Non-Equity members are invited to audition on Sunday August 15, 2010 from 3:00-6:00 PM

and

Equity members are invited to audition on Monday August 16, 2010 from 3:00-6:00 PM.

All auditions will be held in the Shedd Theatre at the Columbus Performing Arts Center (549 Franklin Avenue, Columbus Ohio).

If you need more details on scheduling an audition, what to prepare, etc., CLICK HERE to visit our Audition Information page and get the 411!

See you there!

In the next few blogs we’ll introduce you to a couple of the people you might not know who are working hard to bring you the theatre we all love.

Welcome to Kim Crabtree, the new Production Manager!

CATCO-Phoenix Production Manager Kim Crabtree

Kim comes to us most recently from Los Angeles, but is a Cincinnati native and graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where she earned her BFA in Theatre Production, with an emphasis on stage management.  In L.A. she was the Producing Associate/Production Manager for RICHMARK Entertainment, operators of the Wadsworth and Brentwood Theaters, 1400-seat and 500-seat theaters.  While there, she worked on many direct-from-Broadway productions including Golda’s Balcony (also at A.C.T. in San Francisco), Salome (with Al Pacino), Souvenir, and The Good Body (with Eve Ensler).  As an Equity stage Manager, she has worked with Liza Minnelli, Blue Man Group, Mark Taper Forum, and Deaf West Theater. Kim interned and later worked at the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, a theatre that is very similar in size  to CATCO-Phoenix.

Her skills and experience speak particularly to the CATCO-Phoenix merger in many ways. She has worked in large and small theatre situations.  She has worked with children’s theatre at the Mark Taper Forum, and also has extensive experience in “grown-up” theatre (”adult theatre” just sounds wrong.…). She is an Ohio native, and her experience with the direct from Broadway programming is already helping us with The Last Smoker in America, even though the situation with that show is reversed. It is starting here in Columbus, then going to New York. Her experience with Souvenir will also come in handy as we move through the season.

What does Kim do at CATCO-Phoenix? Well, in her own words:

My work at CATCO-Phoenix as a production manager is varied as it often is.  I am responsible for production contracts and production budgets, help run production meetings and help troubleshoot the production needs for each show.  We currently have about 12 CATCO-Phoenix shows on the books for this season.  I will also be somewhat responsible for the rentals at Columbus Performing Arts Center.  I help coordinate our furniture storage rentals.  And anything else that comes down the road wrapped in a production-related wrapping paper.  And I get the mail.  And a bunch of other stuff.

My heart has always been in theater, ever since I did OKLAHOMA in the 5^th grade.  I’m a big fan.  I’m looking forward to seeing shows around town!

And the best part?

She is fun too!

It was a great evening of fun, food, and family, as we saluted these two artists and the twenty-six years of great theatre they have given us.

Geoff & Jon were each given a custom-made book of photos from the past 26 years of CATCO, and a framed cast-crew photo from The Mystery of Irma Vep, signed by  all sorts of theatre family.

Thanks to Geoff & Jon, to Cheryl, Tatjana, and Keya, and to all who joined us to salute celebrate!

We look forward to seeing Jon direct It’s a Wonderful Life and reprise his role as the foul-mouthed elf in the Santaland Diaries this Christmas, and to seeing them both work together again on What the Butler Saw later this season!

What can you expect from the change?  That remains to be seen but here is what we aspire to do:

• Create an atmosphere of collaboration between Central Ohio theatre companies.
• Provide robust and multifaceted theatrical experiences both on and off the stage.
• Cultivate a spirit of inclusion for artists and audiences alike.
• Continue a tradition of excellence.

Please take the opportunity to judge for yourself.  In the coming weeks we will be rolling out a number of new initiatives and programs.  Sample them, participate in them but most of all comment on them.  We want to hear what you think.

–Steven Anderson, Artistic Director CATCO-Phoenix

This time we were promoting the final weekend of the hit comedy The Mystery of Irma Vep,  telling folks about our upcoming 2010-2011 season, and we sharing the Phoenix Children’s programming as well.

Board Members Peter Hersha & Jamie McGann staff our Comfest booth. Photo by Keya Myers-Alkire

We had great neighbors, including the folks at Oxfam, who heard us talking up Irma Vep, thought they had to see it for themselves, and came down to see the show.

Thanks, Oxfam! You helped make this our best selling show in years!

An Unknown Man takes a photo of CATCO board and staff members at Comfest. Photo by Keya Myers-Alkire

Anyone know who the man is taking the picture?

We don’t, but we’re glad he liked our booth!

Thanks to Erika Prizzi, Rachel Coon, and  Kelly McBane for posing with Peter Hersha and Kevin Lyles for this mystery man!

We had a great, sweaty, weekend and we thank Comfest, our volunteers, and everyone who stopped by to say “hi!” for making it great!

Geoff Nelson and Michael Harper in CATCO's 1990 Production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

During the late technical rehearsals for the 1990 version, I ripped the cartilage in my knee (an old volleyball injury), which was extremely painful and led to us postponing the opening for two days.  During the dress rehearsals, Michael ran about onstage doing his lines and making his fast costume changes while I did my lines from the audience seats.  When we opened (and throughout the run), I had to perform in a knee brace. 

 We were so harried at the opening, I remember rushing offstage to change costumes without the slightest idea of what scene or character came next.  Thankfully, we had two excellent dressers, Linda Yerina (now Zuby) and Janetta Davis – themselves both accomplished actresses – who slapped the right costumes on us, reminded us of where we were in the plot and then shoved us out onto the stage.  Linda Yerina, my dresser, would also critique my comic delivery during my brief forays behind the scenes.

 In a show like Vep, when something occasionally goes wrong onstage or when you need to buy a little extra time for a costume change, the actor has to ad lib something.

In one quick change, when my character Nicodemus had had his wooden leg bitten off by a werewolf (offstage), I had to buy a few extra seconds for Michael Harper to change from Lord Edgar to Jane as he rushed offstage to save me.  Nicodemus yells “Help, Lord Edgar!”  I added “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” which was a line from a popular television commercial for an emergency alert worn by seniors.  Every night this ad lib got so much response that Michael easily completed his costume change and had to wait for the laughter to die down before he could enter.

 (I tried the same line this time around, but the commercial is a distant memory now and the ad lib got no response.)

 Another time, as Lady Enid, I had trouble sitting quickly on the settee because of my knee brace.  As I plunked down, the antique Victorian two-seater sounded like it was splintering into a million pieces.  I leapt to my feet and announced, “I start the Slim Fast diet Monday!”  Huge laughter.

Geoff Nelson and Michael Harper in CATCO's 1990 Production of "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

Afterwards, I discovered that the sound was not caused by my bulk, but by the settee’s wooden legs scraping on the concrete floor of our old theatre.  With a little practice, I was able to hit the two-seater at just the right angle to re-create the sound in subsequent performances (and to use the Slim Fast ad lib).

The “splintering” sofa is not part of our current production of Irma Vep, but on opening night I was pleasantly surprised to find a gift waiting in my dressing room from my former dresser, Linda (Yerina) Zuby, now living in Virginia. 

Geoff Nelson and Michael Harper in CATCO's 1990 Production of "Irma Vep"

Geoff Nelson and Jonathan Putnam in CATCO's Current Production of "Irma Vep"

 –Geoffrey Nelson, CATCO Artistic Director and Actor

I sat down with the show’s directors, Geoff Nelson and Jeanine Thompson, and Lighting and Sound designers Mary Tarantino and Keya Myers-Alkire respectively, last Wednesday afternoon for a paper tech.  This is when I get all of the show cues – lighting, sound, and tech – and put them into the prompt script so I can call the show.  Normally this process takes less than two hours, but on this show we had two hours on Wednesday, 2 on Thursday, and another hour on Friday just to lay out all of our cues (there’s a lot!).  Here’s a page from the prompt script that I use to call the show…

A page from Stage Manager Cheryl Ruschau's prompt book for "The Mystery of Irma Vep" at CATCO

There are 42 costume quick-changes in Irma Vep, and almost 300 cues that I’m calling – not to mention the crazy/intricate backstage choreography required for this 2 man quick-change extravaganza, so it takes some time to work all of this out during tech rehearsals.  We have an incredible creative team and crew for this show, all working long and hard to make the magic happen!

We had our first audience at our dress rehearsal on Sunday, and we’ve made some changes since then as we keep working to make improvements before Opening Night on Friday.

I hope you have as much fun watching this show as we’re having putting it all together!

–Cheryl Ruschau, AEA Stage Manager

The cast and staff of CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep." Photo by David Alkire (Not pictured: Chris Clapp, and Edie Dinger Wadkins)

]]> http://www.catco.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=722 1 http://www.catco.org/blog/?p=701 http://www.catco.org/blog/?p=701#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 16:34:29 +0000 tgerckens http://www.catco.org/blog/?p=701 Penny Dreadfuls—How Dreadful Were They?

Early on in my reading and research for The Mystery of Irma Vep, I realized I needed to learn more about “penny dreadfuls.”  After all, the play’s subtitle is “A Penny Dreadful.” I knew this referred to sensational stories that were sold in parts to 19^th century readers but I had never seen or read a “penny dreadful.”  Certainly I knew about the popularity of serial publications in the 19^th century—Charles Dickens regularly serialized his novels before publishing them as books and so did many other fiction writers of the time.  But, although I had taught English and American literature courses for many years, I had never seen an actual “penny dreadful.”  Not too surprising as these popular stories were not really considered literature and also they were not meant to last—they were definitely disposable.

In doing online research I came across an extremely useful volume, Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood, written by James Malcolm Rymer in the 1840s and edited by Curt Herr and published by Zittaw Press in 2008. At over 800 pages, this book not only makes available the complete text of a long, discursive tale—236 chapters published serially—but also publishes examples of other penny dreadfuls, plus a great deal of historical information.

Illustration from the serialized tale of "Varney the Vampire: or, The Feast of Blood," a Penny Dreadful, by James Malcolm Rymer.

Although Varney the Vampire is not the first tale about vampires to be written in English, it does predate the more famous Bram Stoker novel, Dracula (1897).  Penny dreadfuls became popular in the first half of the 19^th century and their rise was related to the growth of cities and an increase in the literacy rate. As Herr explains, some tales were called “penny bloods” and were often about cannibalism, mass murders and other such gory events.  Eventually, the tales, while still sensational, had more elements of romance and of the supernatural—e.g., characters haunted by vampires and werewolves.

Having acquired Varney the Vampire, I thought I’d give it a try. (Besides, it was February and it snowed every day!)   An advantage of stories published in parts is that the parts are short—often a couple of pages—and so don’t require a great commitment.  Early chapters had elements I would have expected—a setting in an English country house, a beautiful virginal woman threatened by a vampire, several vain attempts to trick the vampire.  Interestingly, Varney himself is developed as a rather forlorn romantic figure and so anticipates some contemporary treatments of vampires as romantic figures.  He doesn’t come across as particularly frightening while the men trying to trap him are portrayed as inept.  One quality of the writing is the tendency to introduce digressions—suddenly new characters appear and begin telling stories seemingly unrelated to the vampire plot.  So it’s easy to lose the narrative thread.  I read about half of the book before deciding I knew enough about this “penny dreadful” without reading further.  I admit, I did cheat and skip to the end to see what happens to the vampire.

So how dreadful was this particular penny dreadful?  That depends. If we’re using the older meaning of “that which inspires dread,” I’d say, no, these characters and situations do not actually inspire dread.  (I remember feeling frightened at some of the scenes in Stoker’s Dracula when I read it as an 18-year-old.) Can I see why a penny dreadful such as Varney the Vampire attracted readers? Certainly.  It has appeal much like continuing stories on television, whether daytime soaps or evening programs like Grey’s Anatomy, and with many of the same virtues and vices—romance, suspense, interesting characters and situations but often marred by bad writing and odd digressions.

–James Bailey, dramaturge for The Mystery of Irma Vep

Mentorship Student Jonathan Carter with one of the "Irma Vep" props

The mentorship program allows high school students to learn about the aspects of theatre by being in a professional environment.  At Upper Arlington where I go to school I usually participate in an acting role, but I wanted to be better rounded in everything else and learn how a professional theatre company like CATCO works.  So for my big senior year project I came to the Riffe and for the past few weeks I have been bumping around from department to department and into rehearsals and shows experiencing first hand what needs to get done to put up a show.

When I first came to CATCO Pierce to the Soul was just about to go up.  Geoff, my mentor and the artistic director, let me sit in on rehearsal while Cheryl and Erica let me take on some rehearsal and pre-show duties.  During Pierce to the Soul I had my first tech and in booth experiences.  I learned how to run the lights and how to check the channels for lights and sound.  During the first couple weeks I also was introduced to how the union and how stage management has to keep track of pretty much everything.  Another cool thing about Pierce is that I got to meet an actual playwright.  Chiquita Mullins Lee is a fantastic person to be around and is great at what she does.  As an actor it was awesome to hang out with Alan Jones who played Elijah Pierce.  He invited me to dinner before dress and he’s a real fun guy to be around. I’m a big geek and it was really cool cause we spent dinner talking about comic movies and theatre.  I did front of house duties with Steve Lavelle and started to get an idea of what needs to happen before the audience is in their seats.

The next show going up in studio two is The Mystery of Irma Vep.  I’ve read this play three times now and have probably seen it in rehearsal five more.  Every time it’s just as ridiculous and fun.  Geoff Nelson and Jon Putnam are fantastic and it always amazes me how good they are.  Each of their characters is so different from the others they play in the show.  Jeannine Thompson does a great job working with them and getting them into unique character movements.  It’s always fun to watch. I’m really grateful to run lines and take notes for them, Cheryl and the show.

Geoff Nelson, Jeanine Thompson, and Jonathan Putnam in rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

With The Mystery of Irma Vep I was able to sit in on production meetings and see how all of the different departments work together to build a fantastic show. I’ve been pretty much bumping around from department to department.

In the costume shop Tatjana, Kelly, and Rachel took me on.  There I learned to sew and make a mockup costume out of muslin. I’m probably the only student in my class who’s made a dress for his mentor. Costuming is extremely important in this show.  It is a quick-change play so actors must have costumes that can be removed and changed extremely fast.  The mockups are very important to help them practice changing without wearing and maybe wearing out the real costume.

Jonathan Carter working in CATCO's costume shop

Keya and I took down lights from Pierce to the Soul and I’m planning to help put them back up for Irma Vep.  Keya is pretty much a tech genius in my eyes.  I really wanted to know about lights and other tech theatre because I never had anything to do with any of that.  She kind of boggled my mind.  Whitney and I worked on some research and storage work.  It’s real cool to hang out with Whitney.

Most recently Edie and I worked in the set shop.  We’re starting to paint a backdrop for Irma Vep Monday.  I’m really excited.

I’m coming up on my last week before I have to go back to school and present everything I’ve done and all I’ve learned over the past five weeks.  It’s been a great experience and I’ve enjoyed ever minute. I want to thank Geoff and everyone over at CATCO for being so nice and letting me learn from them.

–Jonathan Carter, Mentorship Student from Upper Arlington High School

We are finishing up our third week of rehearsals. I must say I have never laughed so much in a rehearsal process! It is obvious the years that Geoff ([Nelson] and Jon [Putnam] have spent working together. They are able to finish each other’s sentences, guess what the other is thinking, and with no more than a nod to a reference they are able to spontaneously burst into hilarious jokes, bits and songs. It has been an absolute honor and pleasure to be a part of this production team.

Geoffrey Nelson and Jonathan Putnam in CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep." Photo by David Alkire

Geoff Nelson and Jon Putnam in Rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

Our rehearsals have had many points of focus. We started by dissecting the script to clarify the story, the script’s references and the characters through-lines. James Bailey has been a great help by providing insights and suggestions for many often obscure references. We quickly got the actors on their feet to explore the foundations of the blocking. Are constant question has been: Who needs to go where, and when, in order to be where they need to be in order to make a quick costume change and reappear as someone else.

Do to the physically high stylization of the show, I have been conditioning the actors and working with them on Francois Delsarte’s whole body gestures of emotions and actions. The conditioning will assist the actors in the strength and agility necessary for the numerous quick changes and maintaining the fast pace of the show. The Delsarte work provides the physical style of the show by helping to place the show in the period around 1930. The Delsarte work also greatly assists the actors in making choices that will provide physical distinctions for each of their characters.

Jeanine Thompson, Jon Putnam, and Geoff Nelson in Rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

Jeanine Thompson and Jon Putnam in Rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

All of our hard work has set the platform for Geoff and Jon to jump into what they do so best – acting! I am constantly blown away by the quickness in which they work, their commitment to being present in each and every moment, and the honesty that comes through in all of their work. The jovial outbursts of hilarity are the cream on the top! Our audiences are certain to enjoy an evening of quick-change mastery, storyline surprises and many, many big belly laughs.

Geoff Nelson and Jon Putnam in Rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

Hilarity highlights have been: The many jokes Geoff and Jon have made during our Delsarte training sessions by spontaneously creating their own “Delsartian” whole body emotional gestures accompanied by side comments. Geoff and Jon learning how to play the dulcimer. That was very funny in and of it however when they started riffing into other songs like Sunshine of Your Love, we were rolling off our seats. And Jon and Geoff recreating their own version of the mirror scene from Hitchcock’s movie Rebecca, both are wonderfully creepy but ours is also very funny!

Jeanine Thompson and Jon Putnam in Rehearsal for CATCO's "The Mystery of Irma Vep"

–Jeanine Thompson, Co-director of The Mystery of Irma Vep