Phantasmagoria Dressing Room

Posted on by Thor

I went to the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center,(812 E. Rollins St., Orlando, FL), to sketch a dress rehearsal for Phantasmagoria IV: Hell Hath Risen. DiDonna Productions and
The Empty Spaces Theatre Co(llaboration), is proud to present the fourth
installment of their Macabre Halloween Celebrations. John greeted me when I entered and gave me a quick run down of the evening’s timetable. Since it was over an hour till the start of the run through, I asked if I could sketch the actors getting into makeup. With a flourish, John opened the dressing room curtain and introduced me. I already knew dancer Dion Smith, so I felt at home. An actress even told me that the two chairs next to the costume rack were free so I quickly sat and got to work.

Make up can take well over an hour for a show like this since skin is supposed to have a sinister ghostly cast. Eye lashes were exceedingly long and multiple layers of eyeliner accentuated the eyes. Seth Kubersky, one of the co-directors, entered and joked saying, “Three years sketching the Orlando Arts scene has been just a cover so you could sketch in actresses dressing rooms.” He has a point, this is as good as it gets in terms of back stage access. This is a subject that can never get old.

A stage manager shouted “Five minutes till fight rehearsal!” Actors shouted back, “Thank you five!” Not every actress was in costume. They quickly got into their Victorian dresses and went out for the fight sequence rehearsal before the run through of the show. When they were done, they quickly returned to the dressing room to finish up. There is a chaos and energy to these final moments that is quite addictive. As the actors rushed to get ready, I rushed to finish the sketch.

John gathered the entire cast and had them hold hands in a circle. “It has been four amazing years. For 2000 years this has been going on. Make the audience think. Live each story to the fullest. See you on the other side!”

“PHANTASMAGORIA IV–“Hell Hath Risen”
WHEN:
Oct 11th – 31st 2013
Fri, Sat, Sun @ 8:30pm
Special shows Monday Oct 21st and 28th and Halloween show on the 31st! All shows at 8:30pm
(Halloween show includes a very special epilogue not seen on other nights!)
All evening performances at 8:30pm (Box opens at 7:50pm/Doors at 8:10pm)
WHERE:
Mandell Theatre, John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center
Loch Haven Park, Orlando, FL
TICKETS:
General Admission $20.00 / Student and Senior $15.00
Reserve (for will call cash at door) 407-328-9005
Credit card orders www.redchairproject.com
PARKING:

Parking available in lots directly in Loch Haven, or in Science Center
Parking Garage off of Princeton (Next to Mennello Museum of Art)

pARTicipate: Side Show of the Senses

Posted on by Thor

pARTicipate was an exotic fundraising gala held on April 6th, under the stars and throughout the Art and History Museum’s beautiful Maitland Art Center campus, the stage was perfectly set for this Sideshow of the Senses, an interactive event that showcased local visual artists, fabulous food, and intriguing performances. The campus came to life, with every nook filled with art and activity. Guests could explore the grounds as they enjoyed a progressive dining experience, featuring cuisine by celebrated local chef Jamie McFadden of Cuisiniers. There were fine wines and beers at tasting centers throughout the campus.

Art installation dining tables, created by the participating artists, offered guests a unique dining experience. Select artists created art during the event, as they shared their stories and insights. The silent auction of artworks, donated by popular Central Florida artists, generated some lively bidding. Talented Phantasmagoria entertainers from Empty Spaces Theatre Co(llaboration), under the direction of John DiDonna, performed throughout the evening. Phantasmagoria is a local macabre performing troupe of fire-breathers, musicians, and acrobats.

When Terry and I arrived, I immediately scouted around looking for my sketch opportunity. When I entered a secluded inner sanctum of the Maitland Campus I found this table with a nun standing beside a skeleton. I was certain she was a live model posing as a statue. I approached tentatively until I finally saw that her plastic gaze was eternal. I wandered some more to look at other decorated tables. Dawn Schreiner had set up a tree with play money as leaves. Each bill had one of her paintings on it.

I then bumped into Camilo Velasquez. I told him about my scare with the nun, and he told me that he had decorated that table. A photographer wanted to interview Camilo and that settled the matter. I followed them back to the nun. Camilo had grown up with dominant priests and nuns in New York and he always felt like an outsider. The table design had been inspired by the art of Paul delVaux, a Belgian artist who lived through the atrocities of World War II. As I worked on this sketch, Melissa Mila Marakoff, one of the Phantasmagoria performers, slipped up behind me. She whispered in my ear, “I don’t mean to startle you.” I just about jumped out of my skin. She startled me half to death and I shouted out with a start. Everyone had a good laugh. It was as if death had whispered to call me away before my work was done.

With the sketch complete I grabbed a few morsels to eat. I sat at Dawn Schreiner’s table and after a few texts, Terry found me there. Dawn started disassembling her table display. Two small doves were in a cage hanging from a tree. I hadn’t noticed them until Dawn pointed them out. They were puffed up and snuggled together. Dawn’s play money paintings had a draw back in that some patrons thought they could take a painting if they replaced it with a real dollar bill. Obviously these patrons didn’t know the true value of her work. The pARTicipate Event raised over $30,000 gross, $18,000 net, with proceeds benefiting art and history programming at the Museums. Bats fluttered in the darkness as Terry and I made our way back to the car.

Weekend Top 6 Picks

Saturday June 16th, 2013

9:30am – 5:30pm  Orlando Anime Day $3 International Palms Resort & Conference Center 6515 International Dr Orl FL 32819. One day anime marketplace that brings all your anime/manga needs to you & Features over 2,000 sq ft of dealers, Video/Event room, prize giveaways, raffle drawing, cosplay, & FREE Parking.

www.orlandoanimeday.net

http://animecons.com/events/info.shtml/4139/Orlando_Anime_Day_2013#

1pm – 3pm FREE Plein Air Paint demonstration by Frank Ferrante. Cottage, located on beautiful Lake Lily park in Maitland. The demonstration is FREE and all are welcome to attend. This Plein Air influenced oil painting demonstration is for painters who want to develop a sound understanding of the fundamentals of outdoor painting. The demonstration will focus on the formal elements of painting composition, color values, structure and form. Emphasis will be placed on composition, capturing light and dark shapes, atmosphere and mood while using strong color harmony. We hope to see you at the Cottage this Saturday!

7:30pm – 9:30pm Coupled: The Game Show & Game Night. The Abbey 100 South Eola Drive, Orlando, Florida 32801. Tickets, which are $12.50 per person, can be purchased online in advance as well as at The Abbey. Created by Curtis Earth Entertainment and Great Dates Orlando, Coupled begins with a hilarious interpretation of the classic he said/she said Newlywed Game, the event will invite 6 couples to compete on stage for prizes as they demonstrate how well they REALLY know each other. Of course, Curtis will be mixing in trivia throughout so audience members can win some fabulous prizes too! Immediately following the ninety-minute show, classic board games (Sorry, Connect Four, etc.) will be set up at tables throughout this posh venue so you and your sweetie can continue the fun well into the night. In addition, we’ll be playing Twister, Musical Chairs, and Dance Freeze on the dance floor. Expect lots of prizes, drink specials and more fun than you could ever imagine having on date night.

Sunday June 17th 2013.

11am – 2pm Broadway Brunch at Hamburger Mary’s! Hamburger Mary’s 110 West Church Street

Orlando, FL 32801  (321) 319-0600 Show tunes, drink specials, and an amazing
show with Broadway performances by The Minx, Ginger Minj, and special
guests. Seating at 11:00am with show starting at 12pm 

6pm – 8pm FREE SHUT YOUR FACE! Poetry Slam by Curtis Meyer! La Casa De La Paellas 10414 E Colonial Dr Orlando FL 32817. The only current ongoing slam in Orlando officially certified by Poetry Slam Incorporated, IE. Send a team to Nationals as well as poets to The Individual World Poetry Slam & Women of The World Poetry Slam! $50 to the winner! If you’ve never seen or been in a slam before, it’s definitely worth checking out! INFO: curtisxmeyer@hotmail.com

www.casadelaspaellas.com

9pm – 11pm FREE: “Comedy Open Mic” Austin’s Coffee: 929 W Fairbanks Ave Winter Park, FL 32789. Free comedy show! Come out & laugh, or give it a try yourself.

Phantasmagoria

Posted on by Thor

I went to a dress rehearsal for Empty Space Theater Company’s, Phantasmagoria III in the Patron’s Room at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center. The circular room was magically transformed into a circus ring. Suspended below the circular dome was a circular screen which was used for projections. The rehearsal began with a 7PM fight choreography session. Even rehearsed at 1/4 speed, the sword fight was strangely menacing in the small space.

John DiDona, the director, then circled up all the actors to hold hands before a complete run through of the show. He told the cast, “Every story is important. We are dangerous, we have seen to much.” Someone shouted, “Merde!”, or was it “Murder? The room went dark as actors took their places. Two clowns in simple black suits began wrestling with boxes in the ring to comic effect. John let me know that this was the 13 minute pre-show that went on as the audience filtered in.

The Phantasmagoria cast tells some of the classic horror stories incorporating music, dance, puppetry and drama to sinister effect. The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe made great use of projections on the overhead screen with chipped wall paint patterns and then  giant eye as the narrator discussed the cold blooded, highly thought out plot to kill his neighbor, an old man. The whole cast recreated the sound of the heart with guttural verbalization. It was creepy. The Cold Embrace told the tale off an artist who fell in and out of love with a cousin. Heart broken, the cousin died and then returned to haunt the fickle artist, embracing him with her invisible cold fingers.

The dark show was filled with dancing skeletons, a giant bloodthirsty wolf and beings in the darkness that were hard to identify. The ringmaster was barefooted, because corpses are barefooted in the morgue, Brittany Wine explained. Characters at times stood behind me as they whispered their lines sending a chill down my spine. The circular room is intimate, small, with no room to escape. These were classic tales told with drama and effect. Now in it’s third year, the show keeps growing and evolving along with it’s characters, each of whom had a dark painful back-story.

When: October 12-31st,  8:30 p.m.

Venue: Lowndes Shakespeare Center, Patron’s Room

Address: 812 E. Rollins St.

Phone: (407) 328-9005

Web Site: http://www.redchairproject.com

Price: $20

Phantasmagoria

Posted on by Thor

It would be a fiendish, horrific tragedy if you didn’t get to see Phantasmagoria. Tonight is the final show starting at 8:30pm at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s, Mandell Theater. I arrived early and started blocking in my sketch before the audience arrived. I love these final moments as the actors stretch, warm up and joke to break the tension. The actors gathered in a circle and held hands. Director, John DiDonna said, “Lets build a bridge to next year. Make these final performances fiendishly dangerous. See you on the other side guys.” Brittany Wine shouted out, “Love you all!”

All the actors layed down on the floor and they were covered with black blankets. John warned, “We have a full house tonight with 98 people. Check your extremities, don’t leave anything sticking out.” A female voice boomed over the sound system, “Five minutes to house open.” Members of the cast shot back, “Thank you five.” The room grew deadly quiet and then the audience walked in to find their seats. One actor rose quietly, the blanket still covering him to strike a ringmasters theatrical pose. As the blankets were lifted off, the actors came to life in their costumes of blood red and black. The costumes designed by Jennifer Bonner were lavish and stunning. A scrim behind the actors often acted as a screen for projections of animations and titles.

Each of the acts were built around horrific folklore and poetry. Edgar Allen Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” resulted in the whole cast dancing, celebrating and then succumbing to the pestilence of the red death. No one was spared. Phantasmagoria was a whimsical and horrific poem by Lewis Carol.

“Allow me to remark
That ghosts have just as good a right,
In every way to fear the light,
As men to fear the dark.”

I enjoyed “The Picture of Dorian Grey“. In this act a painter created a stunning portrait of Dorian Grey. When Dorian viewed the painting, he saw it morph, revealing his inner dark self. The picture took on a horrific visage because Dorian was morally bankrupt. In the end Dorian died taking on the horrible appearance in the portrait and the painting returned to its former splendor. A life sized skeletal puppet was used to portray his inner self to great effect.

Music of Eric Satie played during an elegant and beautiful aerial act. Tiny Gina Makarova performed on a suspended hoop while Mila Makarova and Dion Smith performed suspended in silks. Satie’s music expressed the melancholy inner yearning of the creative spirit and the women floated weightless in its ethereal embrace.

The most stunning puppet was the Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland. An actor on stilts acted as the hind legs of the creature and a long silver spine snaked down from head to tail. The head was immense being controlled by a strong puppeteer. A small army was needed to control the beast. I wish I had been fast enough to get a sketch. This show is the perfect Halloween treat.