Dead Pinocchio Theatre at Albion College

New Board of Directors

2011-04-20T14:09:00.001-04:00

The outgoing board would like to welcome and congratulate the new board of directors for our 2011-2012 season:

Artistic Director: Kamara Miller
Managing Director: Shonte Daniels
Technical Director: Dan Warschauer
Finance Director: John Fleming

Stay posted for information on our upcoming season. Thanks to everyone who made this a great year!

Now accepting submissions!

2011-03-28T13:53:00.002-04:00

It's that time of the semester again! We're currently accepting submissions for any original scripts, published scripts that you'd like to see performed, or even just ideas for scripts that you (or someone else) might like to write for next fall.

A few clarifications:
1. Scripts can be submitted without any director chosen for the project. (In fact, this is preferred, unless you have your heart set on directing a specific show.)

2. The script doesn't have to be finished yet! Send us the outline of the story along with a few sample pages (and, of course, the submission form), and we'll give it as much consideration as a complete script.

3. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If you've been rejected in the past, it may just be that we had an overwhelming number of submissions that year, or gave priority to returning writers. There's no reason to avoid sending a script again--at the very least, you can get some feedback on your work.

4. The submission forms are available all over campus--there are folders of blank forms attached to each poster. If you can't find these, or the folder is empty, email jdh11@albion.edu for a copy.

The submission deadline is April 15. Still have questions? Email Artistic Director Jennie Holan at jdh11@albion.edu for more info.

Season Change

2011-03-28T13:51:00.000-04:00

Posing, as some of you have noticed, has had a date change. Due to some unforseen conflicts, the show will now be going up April 7-9. As always, admission is free. Shows start at 8:00, and the doors will still open 10 minutes before curtain.

Hope to see you all there!

Four Animal Plays by Jason Sebacher

2010-09-16T19:00:00.007-04:00

Four Animal Plays by Jason Sebacher opens at the DPT tonight. It runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. Here is a look at the poster art and cast list for the production:

Directed by Steve Ball
Stage Manager: Daniel Warshauer

The Trouble with Being Endangered

Jack: Connor Sweeney
Rosalind: Kaitlyn Mitchell
Victor: Justin DeHondt

To Kill the Queen
Bishop of Gloucester: Steve Ball
Bishop of Hastings: Steve Dudas
Kent: Emily Thomson
Messenger: Brian Weiss

Of Mice
Leer: Ryan Fisher
Tic: Greg Tovella
Flo: Kamara Miller

Dangerous Meditations
Mr. Walter Floyd: Justin DeHondt
Woman: Emily Thomson
Bo-bo, a monkey: Steve Dudas
Officer Hackney Palmer: James McRae
Jonathan: Brian Weiss

Fall 2010 Season

2010-07-29T14:27:00.013-04:00

We're pleased to announce our Fall 2010 Season:

September 16-18
Four Animal Plays
By Jason Sebacher
Directed by Steve Ball

October 1-2
Yin & Yang
By Chris Holan
Directed by Jen Holan

October 15-16
The Last Time I Saw You
By Steve Dudas, Effrem Grettenberger, Ellie Schneider, and Kelly Voigt
Directed by Steve Ball

October 29-30
The Corridor
By Steve Dudas
Dialogue of a Pleading Child
By Effrem Grettenberger and Kamara Miller

November 6-7 in the Kellogg Center Stack
Uncle Shelby's Poetry Circus
By Steve Dudas and Ensemble

All shows are held in the Dead Pinocchio Theatre in the Stockwell building of the library (unless otherwise noted), and are free of charge. Come join us for this exciting new season!

"Midnight Sun" Cast List

2010-01-31T23:45:00.002-05:00

The Dead Pinocchio Theatre is pleased to announce the cast for our upcoming production of "Midnight Sun" by K.C. Cromie and directed by A.S. Freeman.

Sabine: Jenn Holan

Bryon: Effrem Grettenberger

Radio Voice 1: Kamara Miller

Radio Voice 2: Kasia Szczerbinski

The director would like to thank all those that auditioned.

Spring 2010 Season

2010-01-14T13:08:00.007-05:00

The Dead Pinocchio Theatre at Albion College is very excited to announce our Spring 2010 Season.

January 29 - 30 (8 PM start time both nights)

Staged Readings of:

The Piano Monologues by Effrem Grettenberger

Directed by Steve Ball

Featuring Emily Thomson, Kamara Miller, Steve Dudas, and Jenn Holan.

and

The List by Steve Dudas

Directed by Effrem Grettenberger

February 10 - 13 (8 PM)

The Unknown Plays

The DPT's annual cycle of original short plays conquers the unknown. Featuring plays by Tyler Rubenfeld, Ellie Schneider, Steve Dudas, Kelly Rose Voigt, and Kyle Gillis

March 18 - 21 (8 PM, except March 21, which is a Matinee at 2 PM)

Midnight Sun by K.C. Cromie (World Premiere)

Directed by A.S. Freeman

March 26 -27 (8 PM)

Staged Reading of:

Forgiveness & the Saints by Christian Gaul

Directed by Steve Dudas

This Weekend

2009-11-05T21:59:00.001-05:00

Photos from "At Home at the Zoo"

2009-11-02T01:10:00.004-05:00

Act II: The Zoo Story

Peter: Steve Ball

Act I: Homelife

2009-10-16T13:05:00.000-04:00

Updated Fall 2009 Season

2009-09-14T00:08:00.002-04:00

People in Places: A Story of Some Lives
A new work in staged read format.
By A.S. Freeman
Directed by Steve Dudas
September 18-19, 2009

At Home at the Zoo
By Edward Albee
Directed by Jennie Holan and A.S. Freeman
October 21-24, 2009

All Aboard the Hindenburg!
A new work in staged read format.
By Jason Sebacher
Directed by Steve Ball
November 6-7, 2009

At Home at the Zoo Cast List

2009-09-13T21:13:00.004-04:00

The cast list for "At Home at the Zoo" is as follows:

"The Home Life:"
Peter: Steve Ball
Ann: Kait Mitchell

"The Zoo Story:"
Peter: Steve Ball
Jerry: Michael Fentin

Stay tuned.

Become our Fan on Facebook!

2009-05-04T00:21:00.000-04:00

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Albion-MI/Dead-Pinocchio-Theatre-at-Albion-College/90030395896#/pages/Albion-MI/Dead-Pinocchio-Theatre-at-Albion-College/90030395896?ref=ts

Fall 2009 Season

2009-04-25T14:31:00.003-04:00

Shel’s Shorts
By Shel Silverstein
Directed by Michael Fentin
September 11-12, 2009

All Aboard the Hindenburg!
A new work in staged read format
By Jason Sebacher
Directed by Steve Ball
September 18-19, 2009

Balderdash
Two new works in staged read format
Written and directed by Steve Ball and Steve Dudas
October 16-17, 2009

Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo
Directed by A.S. Freeman and Jennie Holan
October 21-24, 2009

People in Places: A Story of Some Lives
A new work in staged read format
By A.S. Freeman
Directed by Steve Dudas
November 6-7, 2009

Endgame Video Trailer

2009-04-22T08:44:00.002-04:00

Endgame Photos

2009-04-20T22:48:00.012-04:00

Coming Soon

2009-04-14T12:45:00.002-04:00

2009-2010 Season Board of Directors

2009-03-27T17:04:00.002-04:00

Fall
Artistic Director - Michael Fentin
Managing Director/Treasurer - Steve Ball
Technical Director - Jennie Holan

Spring
Artistic Director - Steve Ball
Managing Director - Steve Dudas
Technical Director - Jennie Holan
Treasurer - Nicholas Laban

Home Life Photos

2009-03-21T00:16:00.002-04:00

Actors Ellie Schulhoff and Michael Fentin

Left to right: Stage Manager Steve Dudas, Ellie Schulhoff, Michael Fentin, and Director/Playwright A.S. Freeman

Opening Friday

2009-03-14T10:12:00.003-04:00

A new work by A.S. Freeman

In staged read format

March 20 at 6 PM and 8 PM

March 21 at 8 PM

Stockwell 106

Free Admission

Email maf13@albion.edu to reserve your seat

On Home Life

2009-03-09T12:11:00.001-04:00

If someone is studying to be a painter, one of the exercises they go through in their training is to paint paintings in different styles. They do this by painting the paintings of the greats that have come before. They do this, so that they might learn the various styles, and by mastering the works of the masters of a style, hopefully find the style of their own brush.

It was with this in mind that I began writing what became Home Life. The play began as a piece called Questions, and, if someone were to read that play and then look at Home Life they wouldn't be able to tell that the two were remotely the same, let alone that one was a later draft of the other. Questions was me painting in the style of Beckett, with a little bit of Suzan-Lori Parks. The play became Home Life when I made it my own.

I look forward to hearing what people have to say about the piece. 2 actors, 3 characters each, telling the story of entwined relationships. Please, offer your thoughts. Until a play is published, it's always a work in progress from a script stand point, and readings are held to better that work in progress.

- A.S. Freeman, Playwright of Home Life

Home Life Cast List

2009-02-20T10:58:00.004-05:00

Richard/Rich/Rick . . . . . . . . . . Michael Fentin

Emily/Em/M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellie Schulhoff

Photos from The Graffiti Plays

2009-02-14T21:48:00.009-05:00

Vickey is Hot by Tyler Rubenfeld
Actors, Michael Fentin (left) and Tyler Rubenfeld (right)

I Masturbate in Hell by Sabrina Sutherland
Actor: Sabrina Sutherland

Illegitimi non Carborundum by A.S. Freeman
Actors: Catherine Velez (left), Katelyn Stringham (right)

Here I Sit by Steve Dudas
Actors: A.S. Freeman (left), Steve Ball (right)

Here I Sit
Actors: Sabrina Sutherland, A.S. Freeman

Here I Sit
Actors: Chelsea Barberi and A.S. Freeman

Here I Sit
Actor: A.S. Freeman

Freedom by Keith Medelis
Actor: Emily Thomson

Inspiration Grafitti

2009-02-14T00:00:00.011-05:00

All of the plays in The Graffiti Plays: An Original Play Cycle are based on graffiti found in the location in which the plays are set. The images that follow are of the inspiration graffiti. Apologies for some of the poor quality photos.

Opening Friday...

2009-02-08T00:48:00.003-05:00

Friday, February 13 at 8:00 PM

Saturday, February 14 at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM

Free Admission

Email maf13@albion.edu for ticket reserves

The Graffiti Plays Cast Lists

2009-02-02T10:24:00.010-05:00

Preface, Defaced by Jason Sebacher
Directed by Keith Medelis

Oscar Wilde . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michael Fentin
Dr. Kelly Bremner . . . . . . . . . .Herself

Here I Sit by Steve Dudas
Directed by Jennie Holan

Alan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A.S. Freeman
Annie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sabrina Sutherland
Julia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chelsea Barberi
Toby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steve Ball

Freedom by Keith Medelis
Directed by Michael Fentin

Performed by Emily Thomson

Illegitimi non Carborundum by A.S. Freeman
Directed by A.S. Freeman

W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Velez
Human . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katelyn Stringham

Vickey is Hot by Tyler Rubenfeld
Directed by Tyler Rubenfeld

One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Rubenfeld
Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Fentin

I Masturbate in Hell by Sabrina Sutherland
Directed by Hollis Andrews

Performed by Sabrina Sutherland

Perchance to Dream Photos

2009-01-31T22:09:00.006-05:00

Actors Kathryn Wikstrom and Carlen Kernish

Playwright Jason Sebacher

Another show closed

Photos from Copper Fluoride Billy

2009-01-30T23:42:00.004-05:00

Cast of Copper Fluoride Billy: A Blood Cactus Gulch Tale

From left to right: Carlen Kernish, Steve Dudas, Michael Fentin, Keith Medelis, Steve Ball, and Tyler Rubenfeld

Playwright, Director, and Narrator of Copper Flouride Billy: A Blood Cactus Gulch Tale, Tyler Rubenfeld

Opening Friday...

2009-01-27T23:27:00.005-05:00

Playing January 30th at 6 PM and 8 PM and the 31st at 2 PM and 8 PM.

Stockwell 106

Free Admission

Email maf13@albion.edu to reserve a seat

Endgame Cast List

2009-01-24T17:13:00.002-05:00

Thank you to those who tried out. You will all be getting a hard copy of the script soon and I will email you when I come up with a time for a read-through.

Hamm . . . . . . . . . Tyler Rubenfeld

Clov . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Fentin

Nagg . . . . . . . . . . .A.S. Freeman

Nell . . . . . . . . . . . .Emily Thomson

Perchance to Dream and Copper Fluoride Billy Cast Lists

2009-01-20T23:35:00.005-05:00

Perchance to Dream by Jason Sebacher

Beatrice Willoughby, Mildred Willoughby, Cordelia, Dawn Ades: Kathryn Wikstrom

Salvador Dali, Jean-Paul Willoughby, Lear: Carlen Kernish

Copper Fluoride Billy: A Blood Cactus Gulch Tale by Tyler Rubenfeld

Narrator: Tyler Rubenfeld

Nick Simms: Steve Dudas

Billy Simms, Milligram Slatery, Widow O'Donahue: Carlen Kernish

Yancy McClanahan, Mayor Mckee, Emelia McKee...Shasta, Brent the Demon: Michael Fentin

Max Minich, Mordecai Carswell, Letter, Zombie #2: Steve Ball

The Devil, Nathan Crabbe, Ed Bennington Black, Zombie #1: Keith Medelis

A Note About Perchance to Dream

2008-12-23T18:35:00.008-05:00

My studies of Dalí and his art first inspired me to write Perchance to Dream. I am so intrigued by the notion of the subconscious mind and its role in our life. Dalí’s art was called “Surreal” (as if anyone didn’t already know), meaning it is an unedited rendering of the images seen in the mind’s eye. There were many Surrealists in Dalí’s day. However, Dalí distinguished himself by creating art on a greater and deeper level; he himself was the piece of art. Dalí lived his life around fulfilling his desires, the desires we all have, deep from the subconscious. He had the modest goals of achieving nothing more than worldwide fame, unending sex, and fabulous wealth. In his youth, Dalí as a personality was as infamous as his art, for, really, they had deliberately become one and the same. The ingenious thing about Dalí—the reason I call him the greatest artist ever to live—was because he was wholly (and I mean wholly) devoted to his art, so much so that he had crafted a complex, swirling universe with its own physical laws and logic, a universe he expressed onto the canvas. To put it simply, the art pieces Dalí created did not comprise their own world, but instead were reflections of the actual—though, necessarily, imaginary—worlds he lived. There is a difference. Dalí’s paintings do not exist as some other thing, something separate from reality. Instead, they depict a reality quite unfamiliar to us, though it is a reality that is importantly all the more real precisely because we cannot see it: it exists only in the subconscious mind, which is indeed more real than the series of patterns that our conscious mind fabricates and we take for granted as existing in front of us. You see, Dalí tapped into something that to my knowledge has yet to be tapped in to, being the true nature of things. True art, he would say, is that which is uniquely human, that does not imitate nature but enacts nature. And getting in touch with our subconscious mind is the path to true self-knowledge and self-actualization, and the only way to become mentally-healthy. Dalí was in touch with his subconscious—so I say—but his life would certainly dissuade anyone to argue that he was healthy.

The interesting thing about Dalí’s life is that he died an unhappy, yet he had achieved that worldwide fame and fabulous wealth. Did his life prove his art to be meaningless?

The Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst C. G. Jung hypothesized that all humans throughout all of time were/are connected by a sort of universal, primal memory that manifests itself in similar ways in art and literature. His called this theory the “collective unconscious.” It is a theory to which I prescribe. In terms of Dalí, then, his reality is our reality, which if you’re familiar with his art is a scary thought. This, though, would be essentialist and gloss over the truly unknowable nature of the subconscious. Dalí’s reality was uniquely his; because he was a human individual, his version of reality is different that anyone else’s. What we can gain from Dalí’s example, though, is how complicated accurately portraying the contents of the subconscious mind is. But, if we examine the theories of Jung and Dalí, and combine them together, we get a sort of beautiful perspective on the nature of the world, culture, and history. It is beautiful in how it gives us a panoramic vista of the human mind. But, like all sublime visions, it is impossible to describe using language and futile to portray logically.

This all has a point, I promise, for this is where Perchance to Dream comes in. Obviously, there are many intellectual ideas and many intellectual people behind the play’s provenance. But ultimately, it is the feeling the individual gets after watching Perchance to Dream that matters. Emotion is human, and art that produces emotion is human. The great American poet Wallace Stevens said in “Man Carrying Thing” that a “poem must resist the intelligence.” I agree with him, and I translate his statement to drama. Just like a Stevens poem, Perchance to Dream can be independently felt, and thought about. Enjoy.

-Jason Sebacher, Playwright of Perchance to Dream

Our New Myspace Page

2008-12-22T23:29:00.001-05:00

http://www.myspace.com/deadpinocchiotheatre

Directing and Designing Endgame

2008-12-21T01:01:00.010-05:00

The relationship between directors and designers and Beckett can be terrifying. We are faced with artists who have tried and “failed” to create Beckett’s worlds. Reading Lois Oppenheim’s Directing Beckett is like witnessing some kind of scholarly WWF match of great minds who defend their work as well as (is some cases) quickly dismiss work of other artists like (poor, poor) JoAnne Akalaitis. One would think some of the artists in the pages of this book had violated some biblical code based on the reactions of some of the directors. Xerxes Mehta:

stage directions, which solicit the images, are the play and that a director or performer who adds to, subtracts from, or alters them in any appreciable way is not tinkering with interpretation but, rather, creating something different, not by Beckett. (pg. 184)

Akalaitis defends her work by saying, in response to what a director’s role is for the play:

You create the play. The script is the starting point. The script is dramatic literature. The script is not the play. The play is an event… I don’t think about interpreting or creating. I think that one does it. One does the play. There is this very silly reaction toward directors as auteurs- that, if you have a visual idea, if you do more than put a tree on a stage, you have violated the author’s intentions. Are directors ruining plays? It’s really a very false, a misguided, notion about what theatre is, because theatre is what happens on the stage. It’s about design and actors and director and audience. (pg. 137-138)

Akalaitis led a hugely criticized production of Endgame at the American Repertory Theatre that set the show in an “urban” setting that resembled an empty subway tunnel. Many directors and designers of Beckett considered this choice so irrational it should not be allowed to be seen by the public. Beckett himself said he wanted “nothing to do with it” and had his name removed from the production.

So what is our role? The Dead Pinocchio Theatre has established itself as an ensemble of artists who work together to create a vision for a play that ultimately belongs to the playwright. Endgame will be our first non-original work. It seems fitting to start with Beckett as we negotiate our relationship to an already established playwright with much respect and, ultimately, controversy surrounding him. If the playwright is the ultimate “owner” of the play, what is our job as directors and designers (and, later, actors)?

Former Albion College theatre professor Dr. Jennifer Chapman (to which we credit the story behind our name) said that by placing boundaries and restrictions on educational drama work, we increase the creativity of the activity. Perhaps this is true in our case with Beckett. Beckett tells us that Endgame is set in a “Bare interior. Grey light.” Wonderful. He does not specify what kind of grey. Is this dark grey? Light grey? What’s the difference? To a designer, how close a shade of grey is to black or white is rather significant. Beckett gives us a palette. It is our job as the artist to use the paints he gives us to paint the picture.

Our production of Endgame will be inspired by the images that have come of the areas surrounding Chernobyl in Ukraine. Most specifically from a town (Prypyat, Ukraine) that housed many of the workers of the power plant and their families. Some images are included here. They are hauntingly beautiful. There is something so truthful about these images for this play. The citizens of Prypyat had no other choice after the accident put to leave their homes and take nothing but themselves because of radiation poisoning. Their lives remain here in a kind of stasis of what once was. (“Once!”) Nothing can live here anymore. But yet, it still does. For some reason, some of the residents of the abandoned Prypyat have decided to return to their homes, living every day knowing they are saturated with deadly radiation that is killing them. But still, they remain. In their own endgame.

It is not our goal to take Endgame to Prypyat. I have no desire to be the next Akalaitis. (Though I whole-heartedly support her production for the record…) This is just one place where it seems that we can live. Our design can live here. Our actors can live here. (Or not live here, if you like.) How does this affect our design? This gray is a light gray. It is a sterile gray. The remnants of the world that was left behind may be scattered on our floor. Beckett has written for Clov to pick up and organize “things” on the floor but does not mention what they are. What is haunting about the stasis of this story and these images is that this world, in our play, is actually inhabited by people who are living the same kind of stasis.

My hope is that Beckett would approve.

Keith

Interested in Doing More for the DPT?

2008-12-07T17:32:00.002-05:00

If you would be interested in writing, directing, acting, stage managing, or anything else for the Dead Pinocchio Theatre, any Albion College students are welcome to come to our weekly meetings beginning next semester on Fridays at 4:00 PM in the DPT. You can get on our email list by emailing MAF13.

All our our plays have been selected for the spring season 2009 but if you are interested in writing or devising something for the DPT Board of Directors to consider adding to the fall 2009 season the deadline for submissions is April 1, 2009. A proposal form is available from MAF13 as well.

Endgame Auditions

2008-11-29T17:24:00.003-05:00

Auditions for Endgame by Samuel Beckett
Director/Designer - Keith Medelis, Stage Manager - Emily Thomson

Saturday, January 24, 2009 from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
at the Dead Pinocchio Theatre (Stockwell 106)

Auditioning actors should expect to be at the audition for the entire two hour block of time. Callbacks will be held from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Roles are available for three men and one woman. Auditions are being held in January but the performances will not be until April 23-26, 2009. Rehearsals will begin on Monday, March 30 and will continue Monday-Thursday from 7-10 PM. Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Interested actors should email stage manager Emily Thomson at ET13 to obtain the audition sides. It is strongly recommended that actors wishing to audition read the script before hand. The text of the play is available online at http://samuel-beckett.net/endgame.html.

Announcing our Spring 2009 Season

2008-11-29T00:21:00.006-05:00