31 May 2010                                                                         Newsletter archive

   

   If the newsletters seem to have dried up lately, that’s because we’re finally performing on a steady basis. After our premiere at New Arena in March, we moved on to the Four-Leaf Clover in Frýdek-Místek, a theatre of similar size but with more room to maneuver around backstage. The staff was also more accommodating, inviting us to use whatever props we needed. Since they didn’t have a bed for the suffocation scene, we opted to put the preacher in their wheelchair. Carter was thus forced to try and dispatch the holy man while the chair rolled about on stage. Kate took on the role of Mrs. Carter and came up with the ingenious stunt of knocking her husband out of his chair so that the whole family ends up on the floor. A grand finish before a nearly packed house.
   The next performance was at Old Arena in Ostrava, a small venue with about 30 people in attendance but officially our first paying gig (i.e. we didn’t have to worry about rent or box office). Karin made her debut as Sally, stepping in at the last minute and doing quite a nice job of it. Ivana shined as the lieutenant while the director, playing the captain in place of Petr, struggled to maintain his disguise. The technical timing was way off, with one member of the audience later commenting that the funniest part of the play was when Carter, crouched behind the trench while Swayze lies dead before him, eventually calls out, “Lights, please.” But this same spectator added that the quirks only enhanced the appeal of the performance.
   With SC now firmly in grasp, it was time to move on to the next play. The script for Walking Cathedral had been handed out in February, presumably enough time for a June premiere, but several cast members immediately began grumbling that it was too soon. So WC has been put off until September, which is just as well since we have scored the very nice Puppet Theatre in Ostrava for the premiere. Unfortunately Katka will not be there with us on stage as she has decided to pursue other matters. It’s too bad, because she was a natural who certainly left her stamp on the character of Sally. On the bright side, VW has picked up a new director, Chris Eddins, who originally comes from Philadelphia but has been living in this area for several years now. He brings a keen interest in film and set design to our group, where perhaps his first major task will be how to get the cast to cry, really cry, before the curtain comes down in WC.