RAPID - informal play reading, 8/26

SOSE is presenting an informal reading of a project we are considering for 2009.  If you would like to come hear the play and share your feedback, the reading is at our theater at 8pm, Tuesday 8/26.  Free admission.  Just come, listen and respond.

 

8:00pm-10:00pm

 

Son of Semele Ensemble

3301 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90004

 

Director:  Matthew McCray

Cast:  Donald Boughton, Sarah Boughton and Daniel Boughton

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Partnership Production Application

SOSE is accepting applications for a front-of-week guest production slot at their 40-seat theater in Silver Lake. We are open to proposals for box office split arrangements, or discounted rentals, or any combination. Our production is going up Fri-Sun. The guest-production would perform Tues-Thurs, opposite our weekend production.

To propose a project, answer the questions below and submit them with the required documentation to Matt at matthew@sonofsemele.org. Deadline is September 1.

Projects must open October 28 or later, and can run 2-6 weeks.

If you have questions, contact Matt at matthew@sonofsemele.org.


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FALL PARTNERSHIP PRODUCTION APPLICATION

Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE) is an ensemble company of 20+ artists that produce theater addressing emerging cultural questions. Our fall production of Will Eno's "Tragedy: A Tragedy" will run Friday-Sunday, October 24 - November 23, with the possibility of extending into December. Our set will be spare, lending itself to hosting another production on Tues-Thursday. The accepted project would working on our set and lighting plot. Our theater has central A/C and is a very intimate venue seating 40 people. The dressing room is 12' x 12' and the stage is 18'x 18' (sprung wood).

If you have a project that you'd like to propose for this partnership, please answer the questions below:

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CONTACT
Name:
Company/Organization Name:
Project Name:
Phone:
Email:

DETAILS
1) Dates/Times of Proposed Performances:
2) Cast size:
3) Aside from general lighting/sound, what are the technical requirements of the project:
4) What kind of financial arrangement are you proposing? We are open to a variety of arrangements including splitting box office revenue, a discounted production rental and anything in between. Tell us what you have in mind. We are most interested in arrangemetns that are mututally beneficial and that serve the proposed project.
5) Is there anything else we should know:

ATTACHMENTS
A) 1 page organizational background or your background if you are an independent producer
B) 1 page project description (artists, style, cast size, plot if there is one, etc.)

presenting free workshop production at Autry Museum!

This Sunday (July 13) at 11am, SOSE will be presenting the first public workshop of a new play about the Los Angeles Flood of 1938 and the political atmosphere of the era.  Among the cast of characters are the LA mayor of the time, Frank Shaw, and the founder of infamous Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria in downtown, Clifford Clinton. 

 

This event is TOTALLY FREE and presented in the Wells Fargo Theatre at the Autry Museum.  No reservation required.

 

Check out details here.

 

Hope to see you there.

 

 

2006 Production "King Cat Calico Finally Flies Free!" just published!

"King Cat Calico Finally Flies Free!", written by SOSE playwright in Residence (alright, that's me!) was just published by Original Works Publishing.

Since the play had its premiere at SOSE, many members are listed on the production staff page in the edition. Exciting!

The script (with a great cover by SOSE artistic director Matthew McCray) is available at discounted pre-order rate for a limted time at www.originalworksonline.com/kingcat.htm

Thanks SOSE!

Evidence of the Kaprow Happening

Want evidence that I really did spend hours and hours with a group of people taking a chair around the city...?

Here is a photo from the Happening.  The Polaroid was taken by Nancy Keystone and yes... that's me sitting in the chair in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel.  It was taped and left at the site, just as you see it here.

For more of the pics from the event, go to MOCA's website by clicking here.

Matt

The Kaprow Happenings

Yesterday (5/29) I helped create a "happening," coordinated by Museum of Contemporary Art and Nancy Keystone of Critical Mass Performance Group.  I helped Nancy as she re-envisioned one of Allan Kaprow's Happenings titled "Pose". 

 

Happenings, a term coined by Allan Kaprow in the late 1950s, define an art form in which an action is extracted from the environment, replacing the traditional art object with a performative gesture rooted in the movements of everyday life. "What is a Happening? A game, an adventure, a number of activities engaged in by participants for the sake of playing." –Allan Kaprow

 

From 4-8pm a small group of us moved a chair across the city of Angels (along Sunset Blvd. from downtown to the ocean).  Using primarily the #2 bus-line, we hopped out periodically along the way to offer passer-bys the chance to sit in the chair and have their Polaroid taken.  Two shots were taken:  one was left at the site and another will be used later by Nancy in a final presentation about the Happening.

 

Besides being quite fun, I was struck with the willingness of most people to participate.  Yes, we weren't asking much of them -- but I tend to assume the worst.  Is it a scam?  Am I being Punk'd and where is Ashton?  etc. etc.   Almost every single person we approached participated in Pose and seemed happy to do so.  A break in the monotony.

 

Today, somewhere in LA, Polariod pictures of random people lie along Sunset as evidence that on that street-corner, that bus-stop, that sidewalk, etc.... someone was here and something happened, and most importantly, they were not alone in it all.

 

Thanks to MOCA and the wonderful Ms. Keystone for this.  "Art as the simple-things-in-life" is a nice reminder of how simple it can be.

 

SOSE in the Center Theatre Group newsletter

"Fencerow to Fencerow," one of SOSE's works-in-development, was featured in the newsletter for Center Theatre Group's New Play Production Program.   Here is the article:

 

CTG Newsletter, May, 2008

Center Theatre Group New Play Production Program Newsletter - Spring 2008

New L.A. Company Partnership

CTG and Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE) are developing a new play with the working title, Fencerow to Fencerow based on the Michael Pollan bestseller The Omnivore's Dilemma. The piece combines both historical and fictional characters to reveal truths about the over-saturation of corn in our diets. Helmed by Matthew McCray and devised by SOSE, this new work will have its second developmental workshop this Spring at CTG. Matthew and company share their impulse for the piece.

SOSE was driven to develop "Omnivore" after reading the book The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which explores many shocking realities about American agriculture. For some of our company members, Pollan's book was a "call to action" which drove us to create this play. Our creation process for "Omnivore" originated with games, discussion, and group improvisation, later growing into the creation of a text and eventually a draft. The elements found in agriculture (e.g. plant-life, corn, digestion, the food production process, etc.) were exciting to explore in physical and theatrical ways, and our adventurous style of theatre was a perfect fit for it. Also, we felt that the creation of this play was an urgent and pressing matter knowing that America's Farm Bill was up for revision in 2007. Unfortunately, as expected, the forces of agribusiness held strong to the status quo and the 2007 Farm Bill will continue to support systems of food production that damage our people and our planet. We need a change. Obesity and malnutrition are causing illness and death. Environmental damage from the over-fertilization of our land is killing the Gulf of Mexico. 75% of the grocery store is filled with products that contain corn. Where is the line and when will the forces of agribusiness no longer turn a blind eye to the damage of the industry? "Omnivore" is driven by questions like these that MUST be asked now before it is too late.