I’d Be Very Thankful if You Didn’t Call It A Comeback

Hello all you Mind the Gap fans out there. Well, like an unattended MySpace page or a forgotten LiveJournal account we have sadly left this blog page by the wayside. Well no more. It ends here, consarnit!

So, for starters, Mind the Gap Productions has been quite busy since our last blog posting. Since then we have featured staged readings of such awesome plays as Noble/Birth by Braden LuBell and January 2nd by J. Holtham. We also had our first full tilt off-book, memorized production with our 1st Annual Ten-Minute Festapalooza which featured Magnolia Day by S.D. Graubert, Twice As Bright by Daniel Heath, This One Thing by Tu Johnson, Scripted by Mark Harvey Levine, I Can Tell Your Handbag Is Fake by Dean Lundquist, 551-8756: A Tale of Confidence by Shawn Pfautsch, Final Frontier by Judd Lear Silverman, and Beige Tea by Dusty Wilson.

Bigger news yet is the addition of our newest company member, Haoua Lee. Ms. Lee has been serving as our ass-kicking company manager since December.

In the coming days we will have a full tilt post for our next feature in the staged reading series, one of my favorite plays I’ve read in the past three years, Stock Home by Alex Goldberg.  So until then, keep things reasonably real.

October Staged Reading (Today!)

Picture from http://www.arstechnica.com)

Heya everyone. Due to all of the members of Mind the Gap being massively busy with work (Amy Lu and myself pulled some ridiculous plus 80-hour work this last week and got some pig flu type of sick in the process), this posting is coming much much later than I had wanted it to. But, the awesometastic news is that tonight we have the reading for our staged reading series. The featured play is the wickedly amazing User 927 by Katharine Clark Gray.

Summerizing the play without giving too much away is incredibly difficult, so I am going to default to Nate Anderson of Ars Technica’s summery:

“In User 927, a mother and daughter move from Brooklyn to the small town of Osterville, Indiana, and the mother declares an analog-only summer. Her daughter, bored out of her mind, turns to the Internet for friendship in a play that ‘takes a provocative look at the nature of search in the Internet era, and the dangers that seem to spring from every click of the mouse.'” (http://www.arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/05/uare-what-you-seek-new-play-sparked-by-search-queries.ars).

The kickassedness of User 927 has resulted in it being honored as the winner of this year’s Reverie Productions Next Generation Playwriting Competition. As for Katharine Clark Gray, well, bow before all of this awesome. In 2008 she was honored with a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, was a Barrymore Award Winner in 2007 for her collaborative work on Three Chord Fiction, and won the 1st Annual Ithaca Great Playwrights Competition with her play Francis Bacon. Currently she resides in Philadelphia, where I am led to believe it is always sunny, and is a member of the InterAct Theatre Company’s Playwrights Forum, the Philadelphia Drmatists Center, and is the co-founder of A Chip & A Chair Films.

Tonight’s reading will feature direction from St. Louis’/Truman State’s own Paul Kastner and feature the actoring of Jeanne T. Arrigo, Sarah Augusta, Jacqueline Davies, Emily Eaton, Shawn Goudie, Shawn Pfautsch, Reginald K. Robinson, Jr., John Stiens, and Whitney White. 

As usual, the reading will be at the Black Rock Pub & Kitchen (3614 N. Damen, the corner of Addison and Damen), and since we’re back on our regular Monday night schedule, we have the return of $1.50 Pabst pints, $3 shots of Jameson, $0.50 mini burgers (which are on pretzel bread and come with side sauces of jalepeno cheddar and smooth horseradish), and $4 pints of Goose Island Harvest Ale.

Now, there is also going to be another post within the next week or so, in which will be announcing the featured plays for our staged reading series (up until March), a special December production, and officially announce our 2010 season.

September Staged Reading

Hey everyone. So, after the great success of our last staged reading, and because we have the Black Rock Pub and Kitchen booked until the end of the year, we got ourselves another play to stage and read.

This month we bring to you Split by Ira Gamerman, a play about a young man named Adam is faced with deciding who is the true love of his life. Luckily he has his two imaginary friends, Vince Vaughn and Mr. Eskimo, to help him out. To make things even better, it being directed by the mega-awesome Sarah Coury and acted by the ubur-talented Katie Genualdi, Megan Hincks, Christopher Holan, Stephen Elliot Kaiser, Whitney LaMora, and John Stiens.

And what of this Ira Gamerman? Well he’s the best playwright in all of Baltimore. That’s not even hyperbole, seeing as how he won the City Paper‘s Best Playwright in Baltimore Award in 2006. There’s more than 2.6 million people in that dang city and he out-dialogued and character arced them all. Currently the chap just started his first year in Ohio University’s MFA program after getting his BA at Towson State.

So come on down to the Black Rock September 22nd at 8PM. Not only will there be an awesome play but there will be $2.50 Miller Lite, MGD, and High Life bottles as well as $4 Cherry Bombs.

August Staged Reading

Hello all you Mind the Gap followers which have yet to receive some catchy nickname like Rent Heads, Fanadus, or the Children of the Purple Lilac Rose or whatever the hell people who like Spring Awakening call themselves.

Anyway, this week’s post is dedicated scrictly to the upcoming staged reading of Equilibrium by Kellye Blosser. The play is a comedic Darwinian love story that is as funny as it is bizarre (and both are hitting 11 on the Spinal Tap scale). The cast will feature Michael Glazer (who is currently featured in Drury Lane Oakbrook’s Cabaret), Jennifer Cumberworth, Caitlin Costello, and Stephen Elliot Kaiser.

Also, as a special added treat, playwright Kellye Blosser will be in attendence. Now, who is this Kellye Blosser? Well I’ll tell you, ya luddite! Kellye Blosser is originally from the village of New Straitsville, Ohio, and has recently sojourned to the city of Chicago, BFA in playwriting from Ohio University in hand. Since this fortuitous move she has been set to pounce like a puma in the night upon the Chicago theatre scene. Equilibirum was most recently featured in Another Chicago Theatre Company’s Last Play Standing, where it received very positive reviews from audience members and company members alike.

Now, Kellye Blosser shall be unleashed upon us all. Be there when playwriting runs wild August 31st, a Monday! Monday! Monday! Come on down to the Black Rock Pub & Kitchen (on the corner of Addison and Damen) at 8PM to watch 10,000 ohms of writing and acting horsepower. But that’s not all! Hell no!. The Black Rock is also offering $1.50 Pabst Pints, $3 shots of Jameson, $.50 miniburgers (why isn’t there a cent symbol on my keyboard?), and $4 pints of the beer of the month, Metropolitan Flywheel Bright Lager (a malty and spicy German style lager).

The seat of your chair or couch is free but you’ll only need the edge!

The Two Month Update

After a few months of a blogosphere hiatus, the Mind the Gap Productions blog is back now to what is to be a regular updating fashion.

While things have been silent on here for the past few months, we have certainly been incredibly busy.

First and foremost we have been reviewing plays, acting resumes, and designing portfolios for our inaugural season. While we have received a plethora of submissions, that doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t like to see even more. If you’re a playwright, actor, designer, carpenter, or jack-of-all trades, feel free to send your information to mindthegapproductions@gmail.com.

This last July we officially kicked off our Staged Reading Series with Middle East Side Story by our own Helen Buck and Amy Lu Charles. The event, held at the Black Rock Pub & Kitchen as it will be for quite some time, was a rousing success full of excellent feedback, a tiny bit of very welcome donations, and good times had by all. We did sell the kitchen out of mini-burgers before the reading even began, so hopefully by the next reading there will be more in stock.

Speaking of the next reading, on August 31st we will be featuring the stage reading of Equilibrium by one of Chicago’s newest transplants, Kellye Blosser. The play is about the arrival of a new professor at Santa Fe University and the Darwinian battle that rages for his affection.

On a final note, Mind the Gap Productions will be working in conjunction with Heritage Praire Farm in Elburn, Illinois to present an event entitled A Midsummer Nights Dream Farm Feast. We will be producing a shortened version of A Midsummer Nights Dream as well as supplying entertainment before, during, and after said farm feast. We are incredibly excited for this opportunity to work with Heritage Praire Farm and to make our first official live and memorized stage debut.

More info will come on a weekly basis, so be sure to check back often for whatever craziness we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Some Changes in the line up

Given the challenges of raising money in a recession we have decided not to do a summer musical this year.  Instead we will have several summer events to raise funding and launch our first show in the fall…

Watch for us at Taste this summer handing out flyers, doing yoga and pilates at the beach.

Tired of your boring car wash, watch for our “Car Wash and an Aria” this summer, extra cost if you want a dance routine.  😉

Look for our first independent production on iTunes this summer and a staged reading of it in July!

We will wrap up the summer with a Cabaret show and silent auction!  Maybe you can win some free hand knits, or yoga classes, or even some lessons from one of our super talented performers!! Enjoy drinks and entertainment before the warm weather goes away for good!

If you want to contribute in anyway please e-mail us at mindthegapproductions@gmail.com

And join us in October for audience interactive, burlesque cross dressing transvestite filled show that’s best at midnight on Halloween  ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW!!

See you on the pavement!

Finding Investors

So, starting a company is really easy in theory…you just say you’re a company, get a really great idea together and dream big.

Ok, now the tricky part is making that dream a reality.  IE: finding cash.  As theatre professionals, we naturally aren’t rolling in the dough ourselves.  So, now the trouble is finding quality people who are interested in investing in our cause, making our cause a 501c3 so that we can function as a tax shelter, and then actually having money to do so.

So, in the not so immortal words of Avenue Q  “Give us your money!” please?  Or if you do know anyone who would like to invest to a young and aspiring new and unique theatre company dedicated to bridging the gap between the world of academia and the profession world of theatre, please let us know!

Currently, we are also exploring low budget projects, so stay tuned for what opportunities will arise when those plans materialize!

Helen

Checking out a Theatre!

So, Mary and myself are going to look at a theatre this afternoon!  I’m really excited.  We’re not ready to sign a contract yet, but it’s really thriling to be moving along.  We’re going to Gorilla Tango Theatre in Chicago.  It is a small, store front theatre.  This is hopefully exactly what we’re looking for for a space for Mind the Gap: small, intimate, and very classic chicago.

I hope everyone crosses their fingers for us!  There will be more information to come post-visit!

~Helen

finding a show

So, one of the most exciting and frustrating things about trying to put up a show is getting the royalties.  We all got tremendously excited about our production concept and the direction our show was taking only to find out that the rights to Jesus Christ Superstar are not available til next year.  So the search for the right debut show is on again!  The challenge is finding a small cast show that is progressive, inventive, and one that fits into the conceptual philosophy of our company and its intended purpose.

We are accepting suggestions from you, our supporters, to see what you think.  (We have a lead on a really exciting and potentially huge show that we’re going to keep it secret  for now)

Budget fun!

Today I devoted my day to the preliminary budget of our show.  This was especially challenging as I don’t have firm numbers on rental spaces or the rights to the show yet.  Also we don’t have funding yet (hint hint).  So basically I was working with invisible money to make a very tangible budget.  My goal with it was to put something together that was both attainable but also realistic.  Together with the proposal Mal is putting together we will submit it to potential investors.  I kept it clean and simple, and only focused on one show instead of the overall operating costs of a year round company.  This way the investors can see that we are serious and practical.  Also we will do so well on the first show they will want to to continue to fund us and keep us going all year round!

We already have one potential lead, so keep your eyes open to see how that turns out.

-peace

Mary