About 25 minutes till our first paying audience gets a whiff of the Chicago Premiere of Mimesophobia. Brian S. is coughing, Michael is doing a vocal warmup. Asst. Sound Designer Matt Chapman is sitting on the couch eating Subway. Jess and Cyd I can hear running lines in the other dressing room.
We have a crowd of about 10 today - which is just what we need. A few bodies, a little laughter, and some genuine interaction for this play, which is probably at least 35% talking directly to the audience. I'm very eager for some faces to speak with.
We spent the morning, from 11am-on cleaning up light cues, refocusing some instruments, and tightening the physical comedy of the piece.
The show looks fantastic - awesome job by our designers and Margot creating a beautiful, eerie shell of a world for this play to live in.
We're going to have fun today.
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Theatre Seven of Chicago
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Chance Bone On Scoring Mimesophobia (Part 1)
Chance Bone, musician and actor -- Chance was actually in our last production, Cooperstown -- talks to us about creating the score for Mimesophobia. He had a lot to say, so this is just part one of two. Check back in a few days to see the rest of his thoughts!
--
Walk us through your process. How on earth do you go about writing music for a play? What's step one? Heck, what's step two?
Step one is reading the play 3 times. I take notes along the way of what moments really affected me as a reader/audience member. That could be anything from dialogue to stage direction--absolutely everything. I try to realize what my thought process was when I was reading the play, or some of the questions I asked myself as I read it, and write that down too. Thirdly, I read the play as if it were an opera. I mean, like music it has its melodies and harmonies (main and minor characters), the movement of the story towards its climax and post climax, the rhythms in speech. Once I have this giant list in front of me, I start digging into my memory banks of my own experiences with music. I try to think about what instruments best represent a particular thought. I'm a very psychological composer, I think less about what notes I'm playing and more about the feelings that get tossed around by playing a note an interesting way or putting it in an interesting place in time.
I really was very economical when it came to writing compositions for Mimes. My 'mission statement' was, "How can I say a lot by using as little note choice as possible?" I don't always work like that. But, I think if you try to say too much, then you don't give room to your audience to fill in the space with their own thought and connection to the music.
Though I used a metronome with this music because I was lucky enough to be working with Miles in designing the sounds you hear in the play, I usually mark time in music with my own breathing. Not a hippy. Breath is a result of being alive, and that's what I like in music, and something I try to exercise.
Why does this show demand music? What do you think the music will add?
Music is a powerful thing, there is no denying that whatsoever. With this particular play, the music really helps support the scenes where the character's thought processes are cranking out ideas.
More and more a days, it seems like there is an actual soundtrack to our lives (iPods, the playing of music in nearly every establishment you walk in to). But the use of music in a play can really bring a sense of otherworldment or fantasy, which is how it is used in this play. I think this play actually demands more silence than music. I wrote the music with the mindset of not trying to disturb that silence, almost like trying to practice a tuba in an apartment complex at 3 in the morning.
To get a feel for some of Chance's music, check out his Myspace.
--
Walk us through your process. How on earth do you go about writing music for a play? What's step one? Heck, what's step two?
Step one is reading the play 3 times. I take notes along the way of what moments really affected me as a reader/audience member. That could be anything from dialogue to stage direction--absolutely everything. I try to realize what my thought process was when I was reading the play, or some of the questions I asked myself as I read it, and write that down too. Thirdly, I read the play as if it were an opera. I mean, like music it has its melodies and harmonies (main and minor characters), the movement of the story towards its climax and post climax, the rhythms in speech. Once I have this giant list in front of me, I start digging into my memory banks of my own experiences with music. I try to think about what instruments best represent a particular thought. I'm a very psychological composer, I think less about what notes I'm playing and more about the feelings that get tossed around by playing a note an interesting way or putting it in an interesting place in time.
I really was very economical when it came to writing compositions for Mimes. My 'mission statement' was, "How can I say a lot by using as little note choice as possible?" I don't always work like that. But, I think if you try to say too much, then you don't give room to your audience to fill in the space with their own thought and connection to the music.
Though I used a metronome with this music because I was lucky enough to be working with Miles in designing the sounds you hear in the play, I usually mark time in music with my own breathing. Not a hippy. Breath is a result of being alive, and that's what I like in music, and something I try to exercise.
Why does this show demand music? What do you think the music will add?
Music is a powerful thing, there is no denying that whatsoever. With this particular play, the music really helps support the scenes where the character's thought processes are cranking out ideas.
More and more a days, it seems like there is an actual soundtrack to our lives (iPods, the playing of music in nearly every establishment you walk in to). But the use of music in a play can really bring a sense of otherworldment or fantasy, which is how it is used in this play. I think this play actually demands more silence than music. I wrote the music with the mindset of not trying to disturb that silence, almost like trying to practice a tuba in an apartment complex at 3 in the morning.
To get a feel for some of Chance's music, check out his Myspace.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Set Designer John Wilson Talks Mimesophobia
John Wilson shares some thoughts (and sketches) from the experience of designing the set for Mimesophobia:
When Margot Bordelon and I first met to discuss the Mimesophobia scenic design she had a strong sense of what she wanted. I had worked with Theatre Seven before as the scenic designer for Killing Women, (also in Chicago Dramatists). Margot was interested in collaborating with me because my designs have abstract qualities about them and she felt that this was something she wanted to explore with this production. Mimesophobia is a nonlinear murder mystery with very few stage directions and no mention of expectations for scenic elements. This was a wonderful challenge as a designer: how could we create a set that best served the story and supported Carlos Murillo's vision of his play?
Margot had brought in pictures from Lars Von Trier's 2003 production of Dogville which came to be our diving board for the design. The film is set on a sound stage and has many borrowed elements from Wilder's Our Town. Minimalistic in approach, it has parts of scenery and even a painted ground plan instead of a full blown Hollywood extravaganza, allowing the audience to focus on the story instead of production costs. Like Dogville, we wanted our set to create a specific psychological space and only employ props and other elements that directly supported the plot.
Mimeophobia is a “reenactment”. All of the characters speak directly to the audience. They embrace the fact that they’re putting on a show. With this in mind, we decided to highlight the fact that we’re in a theater and to leave everything exposed. The design embraces Chicago Dramatist’s charm and quirks, using very little scenery, giving the actors room to play. The stage floor is covered with luan plywood cut to 6" and covering the entire floor. The floor will have a variety of stains all pieced together, much like a puzzle, and will be textured with paint, old spike tape and distressed marks to give it the feel of an old well worn rehearsal room. The footlights that I have added gives the company lighting designer, Justin Wardell, the opportunity to create interesting shadow play, while at the same time giving us, the audience, a sense of the presentational aspect of the story. There are a few units on casters that will move on stage that will illustrate different locations in the play. The walls of the space are painted with chalk board paint three quarters of the way up which blend into a textured earth tone treatment near the ceiling. Finally, chalk is used sparingly throughout the production to highlight different parts of the story.
With all these elements working together with costume, light, and sound design, I’m confident that this production will have a unique and striking feel to it. Something exciting is going to happen on that stage and I can't wait to experience it.
When Margot Bordelon and I first met to discuss the Mimesophobia scenic design she had a strong sense of what she wanted. I had worked with Theatre Seven before as the scenic designer for Killing Women, (also in Chicago Dramatists). Margot was interested in collaborating with me because my designs have abstract qualities about them and she felt that this was something she wanted to explore with this production. Mimesophobia is a nonlinear murder mystery with very few stage directions and no mention of expectations for scenic elements. This was a wonderful challenge as a designer: how could we create a set that best served the story and supported Carlos Murillo's vision of his play?
Margot had brought in pictures from Lars Von Trier's 2003 production of Dogville which came to be our diving board for the design. The film is set on a sound stage and has many borrowed elements from Wilder's Our Town. Minimalistic in approach, it has parts of scenery and even a painted ground plan instead of a full blown Hollywood extravaganza, allowing the audience to focus on the story instead of production costs. Like Dogville, we wanted our set to create a specific psychological space and only employ props and other elements that directly supported the plot.
Mimeophobia is a “reenactment”. All of the characters speak directly to the audience. They embrace the fact that they’re putting on a show. With this in mind, we decided to highlight the fact that we’re in a theater and to leave everything exposed. The design embraces Chicago Dramatist’s charm and quirks, using very little scenery, giving the actors room to play. The stage floor is covered with luan plywood cut to 6" and covering the entire floor. The floor will have a variety of stains all pieced together, much like a puzzle, and will be textured with paint, old spike tape and distressed marks to give it the feel of an old well worn rehearsal room. The footlights that I have added gives the company lighting designer, Justin Wardell, the opportunity to create interesting shadow play, while at the same time giving us, the audience, a sense of the presentational aspect of the story. There are a few units on casters that will move on stage that will illustrate different locations in the play. The walls of the space are painted with chalk board paint three quarters of the way up which blend into a textured earth tone treatment near the ceiling. Finally, chalk is used sparingly throughout the production to highlight different parts of the story.
With all these elements working together with costume, light, and sound design, I’m confident that this production will have a unique and striking feel to it. Something exciting is going to happen on that stage and I can't wait to experience it.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Introducing: Mimesophobia
From Brian Golden, Artistic Director (and Mimesophobia cast member):
We’re two weeks deep in rehearsals for Theatre Seven’s 10th production, MIMESOPHOBIA, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t prepare you for just how wonderfully and beguilingly strange this play is.
We’re two weeks deep in rehearsals for Theatre Seven’s 10th production, MIMESOPHOBIA, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t prepare you for just how wonderfully and beguilingly strange this play is.
MIMESOPHOBIA is genuinely, unapologetically odd. Strange. Unsettling. Weird. Haunting. The kind of play that makes you very, very afraid to look away. I have to prepare you for all those things, because this play is delightfully “outside the box” – unlike anything Theatre Seven has done. Unlike anything I’ve ever done!
The show’s plot concerns the re-enactment of a true-crime murder suicide with ties to Hyde Park and the U. of Chicago. Two screenwriters are trying to write a movie about the killing, the murdered woman’s sister is reconstructing her dead sister’s diary, and a deranged academic with connections to the crime is writing a book on the American obsession with violence. Two “who-are-they” narrators guide the re-enactment and the actors portraying the real life people.
So that’s the plot. Is this a play about plot? Sort of. A little. Not really.
When Margot and I first met with Carlos Murillo to discuss the play (Margot is the play’s genius director, Carlos is the play’s genius writer, and Co-Head of Playwriting at DePaul’s Theatre School), we talked about all the reasons we found the play awesome, and right up Theatre Seven’s alley. There’s great language, some incredible opportunities for heightened moments, spooky design, and real theatrical suspense. There’s mystery, violence, sex…and it’s all true. Or is it?
In MIMESOPHOBIA, the lines between fiction and fantasy are fuzzy at best. That’s kind of the point (or one of the points). Given a story to tell, and a choice between the two, are humans prone to choosing fantasy if they can make it sexier than reality? Would we rather believe a sexy lie than a banal truth? And what business is it of yours when it comes to someone else’s tragedy, anyway? Do any of the distinctions really matter? Do they even exist?
I think if we’ve done our job, you’ll leave this play with your heart racing, feeling a little confused, a little excited, and more than a little dirty. And if that all sounds strangely intriguing, I think we’re off to a good start.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Welcome!, Part 2
Hey everybody, this is Jonathan Baude, community manager for Theatre Seven. They say brevity is the soul of wit, and below me is a post from our artistic director, Brian Golden that provides a brief/witty introduction to our new blog. But I hope you'll allow me to expand just a bit.
T7 wanted to start a blog to continue building a dialogue with you, our community. We are always, constantly, never-endingly craving your feedback: what do you like, what's bugging you, just what do you think about anything at all? By the same token, we love to keep you in the loop with what's up on our end; we've always got things we're working on, things we're hopeful for in the future, and things we want to ask your feedback on. So please, as Brian says below, check back often for updates on what we're doing, and I can't emphasize this part strongly enough: talk to us! We could go on for days about playwrights and superobjectives and Source Fours, but isn't it more interesting for everybody if we all get in on the conversation? So if you see a post that you've got something to add, comment on it! If you've got a question or a suggestion, e-mail us! Our door - our figurative, on-the-Internet door - is always open, so please drop us a line any time.
We should be able to use some sort of crazy Internet hyperlinkomatrix madness to import new blog posts as Facebook notes, so feel free to check us out there as well. As we continue to grow our blog, you should see posts from our incredibly talented company members, our crackerjack staff, and some of the many artists we get the fortune to collaborate with throughout the year, as well as more posts from me (contain yourselves, now).
We have a show opening in just about a month, Carlos Murillo's Mimesophobia, and I don't want to give anything away about just what you'll be seeing on the blog, but spoiler alert, you're going to get some awesome behind-the-scenes info all about this show and why it rocks.
Till next time!
-JB
T7 wanted to start a blog to continue building a dialogue with you, our community. We are always, constantly, never-endingly craving your feedback: what do you like, what's bugging you, just what do you think about anything at all? By the same token, we love to keep you in the loop with what's up on our end; we've always got things we're working on, things we're hopeful for in the future, and things we want to ask your feedback on. So please, as Brian says below, check back often for updates on what we're doing, and I can't emphasize this part strongly enough: talk to us! We could go on for days about playwrights and superobjectives and Source Fours, but isn't it more interesting for everybody if we all get in on the conversation? So if you see a post that you've got something to add, comment on it! If you've got a question or a suggestion, e-mail us! Our door - our figurative, on-the-Internet door - is always open, so please drop us a line any time.
We should be able to use some sort of crazy Internet hyperlinkomatrix madness to import new blog posts as Facebook notes, so feel free to check us out there as well. As we continue to grow our blog, you should see posts from our incredibly talented company members, our crackerjack staff, and some of the many artists we get the fortune to collaborate with throughout the year, as well as more posts from me (contain yourselves, now).
We have a show opening in just about a month, Carlos Murillo's Mimesophobia, and I don't want to give anything away about just what you'll be seeing on the blog, but spoiler alert, you're going to get some awesome behind-the-scenes info all about this show and why it rocks.
Till next time!
-JB
Welcome!
Theatre Seven of Chicago's blog is operational, my friends. Check back here often, or better yet, hit the cute little SUBSCRIBE button below for quick hits in your email - T7's thoughts on our work, our process, theatre and the world in which we live.
So glad you've decided to join us...
- Brian Golden, Artistic Director
So glad you've decided to join us...
- Brian Golden, Artistic Director
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