The World Is Mad (Saturday, May 9)

Another synopsis by the eminently-memoried Michael Fleming!
The show on Saturday, May 9th, 3pm, called in the email, The World is Mad

Characters (roughly in order of appearance):

* Madman 1 (Alex)

* Madman 2 (Michael)

* Madhouse attendant (Mandy)

* Reginald (Christian): a thief and accomplished pickpocket; Jack's best friend

* Jack (Michael): a thief and not-so-accomplished pickpocket; Reginald's best friend

* Duke (Alex): a leader frequently at war and resorting to conscription

* Susan (Mandy): daughter of the duke

* Melissa (Clay): daughter of the duke

* Penelope (Alex): daughter of the duke

* General (Michael): the duke's baseborn military chief of staff

* Lord Kentfield (Christian): the duke's chief advisor / counselor

* various servants, guards, madmen, soldiers, surgeons, messengers, etc. (a goodly lot this time!)



[yes, sticklers, this is a Hogarth work, which is entirely the wrong era. BUT, it has the right mood. So there.]

Setting:

Somewhere not in France :). The duke is conscripting people into the army under threat of being placed into the madhouse. Some are choosing the latter, so that the mad and the insane are packed in together.



Synopsis:

The duke is ambitious, but the primary bad guy is the advisor, Kentfield, who plots to have the throne to himself by luring the duke into a foreign war and having him ambushed there. Then the advisor plans to marry one of the daughters to gain the ducal seat himself. This plan embroils the two thieves - they are best friends who get caught separately by the conscription net, one going into the army (Jack) and the other into the madhouse (Reginald). The duke takes the bait and goes off to fight in France. He is ambushed and almost slain, but escapes with a small group of survivors, including Jack.



Back in the duchy Susan and Melissa are told by Kentfield that he is taking power and that they should choose between them which one will marry him to give him legitimacy - the other will marry an inmate of the madhouse (the third daughter, Penelope, is already married). To encourage them to choose he throws them into the madhouse themselves. There they meet Reginald and the other inmates, who are planning to escape. Reginald and Melissa fall for each other. Susan decides she will be the one to marry the odious Kentfield.



The duke and his band of survivors find their way to a port and Jack wins them passage on ship by cheating at dice. News of the coup and the impending forced wedding reaches them and they decide to sail as quickly as possible.



Susan goes to tell Kentfield she will marry him, but the general is already there protesting the plan saying neither he nor his men like what's going on. Kentfield says he doesn't care. The general confesses his love for Susan, duels Kentfield and loses. Susan joins the general in trying one more time to kill Kentfield, but they fail again and the lovers are themselves killed.



The inmates of the asylum finally escape with Reginald at their head, causing pandemonium. Though wounded, Kentfield survives and is plotting to wed Melissa (presuming of course he can find her now that the madhouse has been breached) and finish his plotted course when the duke returns and confronts him. Another melee ensues and, although Kentfield fights like a madman himself, he is slain.



The duke grieves for his lost child, but there is also joy to leaven the sorrow. For their parts in the events, Reginald and Jack are ennobled: Jack is made the new master-at-arms/chief of staff, and Reginald is made chief archer and given Melissa's hand in marriage. It's a new day!

The Fires of Brotherhood: an improvised plot (Friday, May 8)

A Show Synopsis from Friday, May 8th, by castmember Michael Fleming. I find this soo interesting, both to read as a story that's been improvised onstage, AND because I always have such a terrible time remembering what the heck I'm improvising. I mean, I was IN this show! Go Michael! ;o)

[In the weekly email, we called this show "The Fires of Brotherhood."]


Characters:

* Gerard/"Jerry" (Trish): younger of fraternal twin sons of the duke.

* Bernard (Alex): older twin

* Duke (Michael)

* Nancina/Nance (Mandy): one of two high-born sisters forced to the coast by the fire.

* Lancina/Lance (Michael): the other high-born sister.

* Henry (Mandy): nefarious 'friend' of Gerard planted by Eye-Patch-Man (EPM). Turns out to be EPM's brother.

* Eye-Patch-Man/EPM (Alex): shadowy figure plotting to control the ducal seat through Henry's influence over Gerard.

* EPM's wife/paramour (Trish)

* various servants, guards, vendors, etc.



Setting:

Town of Valista on the coast - pretty, with a beach (modeled after Santa Barbara, an audience suggestion). Crowded with newcomers due to a fire in the countryside.



Act I: a fire has run through the local countryside leaving people bereft and wandering, driven down to the sea and the towns there. The twin sons of the duke are in one of these towns (Valista), competing as they always do. The elder one (by mere moments) will inherit and the younger is being steered into the clergy to his dismay. Their long-suffering father (the Duke) tries to quell their bickering. We meet the sisters, Nancina (Nance) and Lancina (Lance), who are also quite competitive. We learn that they, too, have been forced to the town and suffered loss in the fire, most especially Nance who lost both the wedding dress she made and her betrothal along with it.



Henry appears and insinuates himself into Gerard's good graces - is he a true friend? The duke decides to solve his sons' competition issues by dissolving primogeniture and declaring that the first son to find a high-born wife will be his heir. The catch is that the sons must do this in the guise of common men. The duke remarks that if neither can accomplish this in good order, then he'll make Henry the heir!



Meanwhile, in an attempt to cheer themselves up, the sisters decide to go out and look for men. Then Eye-Patch-Man appears and reveals that he planted Henry with Gerard in order to gain influence over the duchy. The intermission happened around here.



Act II: Henry, EPM and EPM's wife/mistress discuss the situation - due to the duke's sudden pronouncement, Henry might end up as the heir! That would simplify the whole 'influence the ducal seat' thing. The rub is that the young men cannot be allowed to succeed in their search. There is a question of Henry's loyalty to EPM should he become the duke himself, but after some wrangling and protestations Henry departs to disrupt Gerard and Bernard.



Gerard professes ignorance in the art of wooing, so Henry advises him to be forceful to the point of brutishness ("throw her on the ground!"). Gerard exits to put this advice into practice, and then Bernard asks Henry for advice of his own and receives the news that he should stalk his prey like a hunter, following her everywhere and then delight her with his inventive invective by insulting her roundly and repeatedly.



Gerard meets Lancina on the beach and though at first he is off-puttingly violent, he relents and the two fall for each other. He presses her to meet him later and elope; they kiss and he leaves. Bernard's (pur)suit of Nancina does not go so well, ending with her distraught and fleeing in fear. Later, Lance is comforting Nance and sharing the news that she has found someone when Gerard himself breaks into the house. After some kerfuffle the two kneel down to pledge their troth. Behind and above, Bernard sees them and decides in something of a panic that he must take steps to halt this lest he lose to his brother. He shoots an arrow at them striking Lancina. (I suppose this means that they were in a courtyard?) Then he, too, breaks into the house (bad security :) and is horrified at what has happened. The brothers duel, and Gerard wins, though the thrust was not fatal (Bernard was "only bruised", I think). Lancina is wounded, but not badly. The couple decide to wed. In all of the hullabaloo Nancina discovers that Bernard is actually pretty cute :).



Gerard takes all of this news to his father the duke, adding that he does not need to be heir, but has found a deeper and better purpose in his love, asking only that the duke help the people rebuild for they are suffering. The duke is impressed and declares that Gerard has truly become a man, and has developed the tools and character to be a good ruler - he shall be the heir.



EPM, EPM's wife/mistress and Henry meet in several scenes. I'm a bit unclear as to what happened when, but there is the following amongst this little band:

* we discover that EPM set the fire in the countryside.

* Henry muses to himself about brotherhood and how the two brothers are reconciled. He wavers.

* EPM's wife suspects Henry of wavering, and is convinced of it upon hearing from a guard who spied on Henry earlier. She convinces EPM to have Henry killed - she sends the guard as an assassin.

* The guard has failed, it appears, so EPM's wife/mistress leaves to do the job herself.



EPM is in a state about the situation and decides to take matters into his own hands by poisoning Gerard before he can wed Lancina. Henry appears - not dead at all - and reveals that he is EPM's brother. Henry tries to convince EPM to relinquish his dark purpose, but to no avail.



Now we're at the wedding. Lancina has a moment with Gerard speaking to him from behind, but won't let him see her; she departs. Gerard is wandering about the seating area and encounters a disguised EPM who tries to give him poisoned wine. Henry appears and intercedes, trying to convince EPM to stay his hand. EPM is unmoved, so Henry takes the wine into his own hand. EPM tries to intervene again, but Henry decides the matter by drinking the poison himself, to EPM's horror. Henry goes off to die, followed by EPM.



The wedding goes forward, and we learn that both couples now plan to wed. The duke has given assistance to the people who are already rebuilding. The lovers are joyful and content. All is well in Valista and beyond!

Creating the world

My favorite phrase in improv might be "trigger your partner's imagination." As we perform, we are c0-creating a world and need to communicate the details to each other and our audience. A big (and yet sometimes subtle) piece of the creating the world pie is in space objects.

Even in this show when we have a set and costumes galore, we rely heavily on space objects to create specific settings and objects.

Two weeks ago in rehearsal, we spent some time on space-objects and creating richer environments.

Bryce brought in some wooden swords, an axe and a pike-thingy (I imagine he'll cringe at it being called that, it probably has a real name!). It was eye-opening for me (and a little nerve wracking). Having a somatic experience with a space object changes everything! The swords were much heavier than I'd imagined AND spending time walking around with one on me changed my walk, my stance, my attitude. Certainly gave me more confidence to play more in the sword fighting in the show. (Although I don't think I'll achieve the level of Mandy who was able to sing and fight at the same time in an earlier show in the run.)

And then we did scenework with a dual focus of letting emotions move us into action AND being in environments (really being there and interacting with them). My favorite one of these was when Trish, Bryce & Alex did a scene on a riverbank. Trish began by plucking petals off a flower and watching them float downstream. When Alex entered a few minutes later, he washed his face upstream of where Trish had been. The river was so clearly created that even when none of the characters were interacting with it, it still existed as setting. I love that!
- Susan

"But it's the same guy!"

Can I just say, it makes me so happy that in this show (Shakespeare: The Musical), people hardly realize that the four people in the cast are playing multiple characters and that meeting yourself would be funny and/or impossible?

On at least two separate occasions, there've been instances where, say, Trish and Michael are onstage (to name one), and Trish says, "Father! I do hope one day you will meet the woman I am to marry!" And Michael (the father) says, "Son, I do hope I will." Except the woman is ALSO played by Michael. Reaction from the audience in that moment? None. If he had said something schticky like, "Ah, she must be so beautiful and smart and fantastic," there probably still woulda been no reaction. (cause it happened in another show.)

I mean, even Clay's hilarious marrying of himself wearing two separate hats didn't go over like wildfire the way it would have the last time we did Shakespeare. Hmmm!

Is it that they don't realize that it's him playing both characters until we bump up against it? Or that it doesn't occur to them to laugh because they've suspended their disbelief? Or that . . . something else? I mean, even I forget the same things sometimes, and I'm ONstage.

I'd like to think that for the audience, it's just all about the characters and the story, and we've transcended the stage and put the story directly into their imaginations.

Go us. :o) I love this show!

Shakespeare: The Musical: The Schedule!

It hath come to my attention that we have thus far neglected to post the schedule for our remaining shows. Copious apologies, fair readers! Here this ill shall be remedied!

The Cast Entire:
Bryce Byerley * Alex Curtis * Michael Fleming * Merrill Gruver * Mandy Khoshnevisan * Clay Robeson * Susan Snyder * Trish Tillman * Christian Utzman

Thursday, May 7, 8pm: Alex, Mandy, Merrill, Susan
Friday, May 8, 8pm: Alex, Mandy, Michael, Trish
Saturday, May 9, **3pm**: Alex, Christian, Clay, Mandy, Michael

Thursday, May 14, 8pm: Bryce, Clay, Merrill, Michael
Friday, May 15, 8pm: Christian, Clay, Merrill, Michael
Saturday, May 16, *3pm*: Alex, Bryce, Michael, Trish
Saturday, May 16, 8pm: Alex, Christian, Susan, Trish

Thursday, May 21, 8pm: Bryce, Christian, Mandy, Merrill
Friday, May 22, 8pm: Alex, Clay, Mandy, Trish
** Gender-Bender Day!**
Saturday, May 23, *3pm*: Alex, Bryce, Christian, Clay, Michael
Saturday, May 23, 8pm: Mandy, Merrill, Susan, Trish

**Closing Weekend**
Thursday, May 28, 8pm: Alex, Bryce, Merrill, Susan
Friday, May 29, 8pm: Christian, Clay, Trish, Michael (Mandy?)

Saturday, May 30th: Dave and Amber are getting married, so there's no show! Congrats, guys!

Ummm . . . Awesome!

Can I just say: Shakespeare: the Musical is Show: the Awesome?

Awesome things we've done so far:

• Painted the floor to look like awesome flagstones.


• Put up our fancy set.


• Improvised rounds during warmup. ROUNDS.


• Sounded awesome while singing.


• Pulled off 4-person Shakespearean improv such that everyone, including the audience, and the people onstage, didn't realize that two characters could never meet cause they were being played by the same person.


• Angered at least one Goldstar attendee because we had an "obviously preplanned show" and "one person didn't always remember their lines very well." HellOOOoOooo? It's totally improvised. What more can we say to convince people of that? I guess we're that awesome.


• More things that are too awesome for me to remember.

We've got four weeks left, and the awesomeness has just begun. I'm super excited to see what happens next.

(fyi: if you're coming in week 2, you can save $3 with WEEK2, on our website. Rock!)

PS. Awesome.