Your Thoughts

I would like to invite anyone who sees the show to post their comments here -

did you love it or hate it?
did it make you think?
did it make you laugh?
did it make you cry?
are you glad you saw it?
what do you want to see next year from the alumni?

Please share your thoughts!

Opening

We had a generous audience last night - they gave a lot to the actors, who in turn gave them a great first show. I'd love to share a few things that were said last night:
"It's such a challenging piece - we've never had anything like it at the Youth Theatre before."
"I get it! its about censorship!"
"I get it... it isn't really sad, it's about joy!"
"What a great story!"
I want to address the fact that this is "a challenging piece." Challenging, it is - for actors hungry for roles full of flavor and variation, and for audiences ready to think and feel. The title betrays the darkness of the play - you may come to see "Red Noses" expecting jollies, but what really is striking about this play is its emotional roller coaster - there is joy and clowning, but also quite a bit of tragedy. Admittedly at times we portray the tragedy lightly, creating laughter that makes you think, wait why am I laughing... There are also deep dark moments that we dive wholly into - they are shocking, and will keep you on your toes, or even just slightly off balance, not knowing what to expect.
Have no fear, though. The Spirit Overcomes!

Big Week: Tonight We Open!

My eyes are itchy and struggling to stay open. I only got 6 hours of very interrupted sleep last night. We ended rehearsal at 11 (or so) last night. When there are still things to do it is so hard to let go and say, Ok, let's go home. I believe it is the plight of the artist never to be completely satisfied. I think that is what makes being an artist so consuming - there is always something more. 10 hours to go and so many little details to touch. I am confident though, that with the life an audience brings to a show, this one will be stellar.

Be sure you DO NOT miss this show! It plays for one weekend only.

(Tonight) Thursday 7:30
Friday 7:30
Saturday 7:30
Sunday 3:00

On the New England Youth Theatre stage, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro, VT.

Get your tickets ($12/$9) online at www.neyt.org or at the door.

For Free Tickets sign up as an usher/concession sales person, we are still seeking a few! E-mail me at jcallahan.84@gmail.com.

Big Week: Day 3

The show is beautiful. You must come see it. That is all I have to say after 2 nights of tech slogging

Big Week: Day 2

Last night I had a wonderful conversation with Jon Potter from the Brattleboro Reformer, the local newspaper. The questions he asked really got me to verbalize some of the thoughts that I had about the play, but not yet expressed, particularly about the religious themes that imbue the text and my personal connection to them.

The story of Red Noses has parallels to the story of Christ. Those that I am hi-lighting are the theme of revolution and change to established religious and societal practices, the importance of love and joy, and the necessity of brotherhood and companionship in strengthening the meaning in an individual's life.

It is said that Jesus was a revolutionary. The preachings and teachings he expounded were unique in the Jewish faith - primarily Jesus had no interest in the multitudes of societal laws set forth in Jewish holy texts. and held quite dear by the Jewish community at the time. The first form of Christianity was not bounden to any laws proscribed by God for eating, socializing, dressing, bathing, etc. In "Red Noses," God speaks to Father Flote and reveals that the things that are truly important to him are laughter, beauty and joy. In a climate of famine, pestilential despair, with flagellating penitents, and forgiveness-selling clergy this idea of bringing joy and laughter is quite revolutionary.
In essence, Jesus's prechings were based on love and forgiveness. In my favorite new testament passage, part of John's letter to the Corinthians, a text quoted often at wedding ceremonies, he repeats again and again the singular importance of love, If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Father Flote is constantly reminding his companions and preaching to non-believers that the relationship to god must be something more than fear, more than obedience and more than suffering for each others' sakes. If that is life, I want no part of it. But God is more, and man is more, he says.
Jesus gathered his apostles around him, revealing his theories on theology to them, creating a bond between the men (and possibly Mary Magdelene). They were the first Christian Brotherhood. Jesus charged his apostles - once fishermen, tax collectors, and the like - went all over the world preaching, converting, spreading the "word of love" with no belongings carried with them, and no shoes on their feet. Their strong and passionate dedication to their beliefs, and their lifetime relationships with each other, enabled them to do incredible things and face such adversity. The "Floties" from Red Noses sing a finale to their first performance, and immediately, in costume "Ripple and Spread" in all directions dissemminating the message of joy. They had begun as an even more rag-tag group - mercenaries, men and women pledged to solemn service to God, a blind juggler, a stuttering stand-up, (well you get the picture). It is the moments that these characters come together, that really shows how they pull their strength from each others friendship and passion for their cause. A few characters in particular change dramatically throughout the course of the play due to the love within this brotherhood of clowns. From just worrying about food and money to really dedicating themselves to their cause, the Floties gain the spirit, desire, and confidence to ripple and spread their joyful message.

The Big Week: Day 1

I walked in to the theatre last night, and was struck by the utter transformation of the space.

Up to this point we have had to rehearse on a stage set and ready for other shows - old time melodramas, Shakespeare's As You Like It, and a children's Circus. Now the stage is ours.

Elements of the world have come in from the storage stables, from the craftiness of our designers, from our builders, from our painters, and from the world of our play. Represented on stage in one gloomy mess we have filth, disease, darkness, the church, god, and the theatre all there, all present, all working together to create this world of Red Noses. Under the eerie glow of the stage lights, this set beckons me into the world the actors have been inhabiting for the past month in their minds,. It is now an outward physical reality. I cannot wait to see action on this stage.

The Passion of the Actor

It has been two weeks since I last wrote. In these two weeks it has just been incredible to see the show progress from actors buried in scripts mumbling around the stage with their bodies to a hilarious, moving, (relatively) smooth-flowing story on stage. It all has come out of these alum's hard work, dedication, and talent - and I guess the theater process too. We have the acting almost ready to show to the public, and that is amazing one whole week before opening!
It is always so refreshing to see how it is possible to coax a story and such humanity from a group of actors in an unadorned rehearsal room. They come in with their cell phones, flip-flops, and jeans chatting, joking, eating food from the Co-Op. As rehearsal begins they all transform into pitiful plague victims, arrogant aristocrats, conniving clergy and riotous Red Noses! As we work through scenes I look around and notice Kario Periera Bailey practicing his recorder (a skillhe is learning for the show), Nick Bombicino juggling against the backstage wall (one of three new skills he has had to acquire for this show), and Noah Smith listening to the music in his head and jotting notes furiously on his compositions. Moments like this I get all warm and fuzzy feeling inside. The passion that each NEYT actor has for each production they are in is so evidently strong in these rehearsals.
It's that passion that connects us to the material of this particular play. Red Noses is about revolutionaries, extraordiarily passionate about their missions. They are passionately fighting to overcome the misery of life during the black plague, the preceeding famine, the corruption in the center of their spiritual world, and the inhumanity of an unreasonable class system.

The Spirit Overcomes!

I chose to direct Red Noses this year because I liked the premise - a monk, with inspiration from God, cheers the hearts of a plague ridden downcast society with clowning, dancing and music, gathering a close-knit group of followers to put on red noses and join him. There is truly something beautiful about curing societies ills with laughter.
In putting this play together, however, I am realizing that there is quite a bit of darkness in the plot, and in the world that they inhabit. It is not all frivolity and joy. The play is set during the Black Death - plague of 1348 - when almost 50% of Europe's population was obliterated by this intensely horrible pandemic. Not only was the plague the cause of many deaths, but the anarchy and demolition of society that ensued during the pandemic caused chaos and death as well. And as it follows, not all 36 characters that appear on stage survive to the final curtain. As a director I am constantly balancing the light and frivolous with the dark and somber.

And these two forces - light and dark - pull at the characters as well. The divinely inspired monk, Marcel Flote, raises spirits and impassions his followers to spread that beautiful lightness of joy and love, although everyone has been touched by the darkness of the black death, poverty, opression, and corruption. Even Flote, who lost his family to the plague, occasionally feels himself sinking down into darkness, burdened with the heaviness of greif or helplessness - but he remembers his passion, his mission - then he picks himself up even from the darkest depths with a light-footed dance across the stage.

The integrity of these characters is awe inspiring as they stand by their passions and beliefs even at the last. More than a play about how laughter helps us overcome things, Red Noses shows us the power of personal integrity and passion and the beauty and courage that it takes to remain loyal to your dreams.

"We lived the vision, rolled back the stony heart a little and the glory is measureless. Nothing to lament, lets pierce the circumference of Hell and dance!" - Red Noses, Peter Barnes