Pre-Pandemic: Four First Names Comedy

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I went to Dragonfly Studio and Productions, 129 West McKey Street Ocoee FL to see Four First names Comedy. The acclaimed improve team featured Richard Regan Paul
and Chris Barry, for a monthly residency of improvised music, scenes,
and conversations. The evening featured as well,  some of Orlando’s best and most active independent improv
teams; The Runaways (Carolyn Fin and Rebecca Walters Penguin), Knife
Fight (Crystal Gray and Danny Loeken Marvy), Lemons (Laura Davis and
Jillian McNamara) and The Business Women (Rachel Dabney and Ray
Cartegena). Dragonfly Studio and Production’s owner and executive
producer Elaine Pechacek joined in the festivities at the piano.

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic had made live theater impossible for now, Elaine Pechacek has set the stage for virtual comedy and is asking for performers to submit video auditions. This theater is looking ahead to a bright future.



CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

MUSICAL THEATRE SINGERS / IMPROV PERFORMERS / MUSICIANS / AND THOSE POSSESSING any MUSICAL ABILITIES!

AUDITIONS are now open via video submission from now thru April 10, 2020 for 3 new musical improv teams! Submission packages MUST include all 3 of the following segments including the application form via the link at the bottom of page.

Call-backs will take place in person mid-May, COVID-19 permitting. Please note, once all teams are cast, they will be training for 3-4 months prior to any performances. Performances are slated to begin in September 2020.

VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST INCLUDE:

1. One minute or less of you singing a song from any genre you choose with track or live accompaniment. A cappella will not be accepted but self accompaniment via guitar, piano, uke, etc is acceptable.

2. Two minute video of any form of storytelling (for example: poem, self-written work, conversation with your mother, answer a phone call, talk to your cat, solve world peace, anything goes!)

3. Thirty second video of quick facts about yourself.

EXTRA CREDIT (NOT MANDATORY):

One to Two Minutes of any additional musical skills!

(For example: guitar, piano, tuba, dancing, rapping, beatbox, interpretive dance)

CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATION and MORE INFO about teams:

https://dragonflystudioandproductions.com/improv-auditions

You can submit videos either as Youtube link(s) or as direct video files in the following formats: .mp4 / .mov / .avi

You can print and fill out the application and take a pic and send it back as a .pdf or .jpg if the download doesn’t allow you to fill it out online. We will also accept read aloud versions of the application since I know some may not have access to their normal office equipment in which case just include that video with the rest of your submission.

LEADERSHIP TEAM:

Executive Producer: Elaine Pechacek

Associate Producer and Host: Mallory Robson

Creative Consultant and Host: Francisco J. Laboy

Please email all videos to Dragonflystudiosimprov@gmail.com. All materials, including application, are due: APRIL 10, 2020.

Must be 21 or older to submit.

*Separate files and links are acceptable as long as they are all within the same email

*Please include your name in the subject line of email along with team preference. (We will consider people being cast in multiple teams)

__________________________________________________________________________________

On March 25, 2020 Phoenix Tears Productions is presenting Ophelia Staged Reading Livestream.

Due to the current state of the world and public health, the staged reading of new musical Ophelia is moved to being a live-streamed reading. 


Tickets can be purchased via the ticket link below. Anyone who purchases a ticket will be sent a link to watch the LIVE STREAM on Wednesday, March 25th at 8pm. The following morning you will be emailed a link to the recorded show which will be viewable for ONE WEEK. We thank you for your patience and flexibility at this time.

Season ticket holders will be contacted about being in a small in-person audience. If you have purchased a ticket prior to this change and would like more information feel free to email mallory@phoenixtearsproductions.com

More about the Show:
Follow the story of Shakespeare’s Ophelia as she falls for Hamlet, fails to connect with her family, and tries to figure out who she is and what she wants to be.
A new musical by Jeremiah Gibbons.
This is a staged reading that will include a talkback where we ask for audience feedback.

The Film Lester was screened at the White House.

Posted on by Thor

Lester is a film written and directed by Banks Helfrich which was shot in Orlando.  This screening at the White House was the premiere screening of the film. What was thrilling for me was seeing so many familiar faces of actors I have sketched around the Orlando Arts scene. Another thing that struck me was how beautiful the Florida sky is when it is put on film.

Lester is a compulsive list maker, he loves legs. With the aid of four eccentric
bike shop workmates, Lester sets out to find if he’s remembered. To say Lester is quirky would be an understatement. Then again every character in the film is unique and quirky. Richard Regan Paul plays Lester. He runs an improvisational comedy class. The film interlaces interviews of people who talk about what it was like to meet Lester. In this way his existence is verified by peoples memories. In each Banks Helrich film I’ve seen, a beautiful red headed women plays an important roll. Kristen Wharton plays a woman who recognizes Lester, but after interacting with her, even being kissing by her, Lester realizes that she mistook him for someone else.

In a rather humorous scene, an actress enters the bike shop to ask advice. She was shot from the shoulders down and it was fun to watch the staff since they didn’t know where they should look. When Lester rides his bike to a dance studio, he looks in to watch the students going through rather robotic movements. In a mall, he approaches a woman and asks if he can simply hold her leg. This odd request makes her feel young while it might have been off putting to others. We all hope to live on in others memories and Lester lives on in the memories of the people whose lives he touched.

Improv Theater Workshop

Posted on by Thor

On September 23rd, I went to an Improv Theater Workshop hosted by Richard Regan Paul at Christ Church Unity Orlando (771 W Holden Avenue, Orlando, Fl). This workshop  now meets on the second and fourth Mondays of every month. I sketched at this church once before at an outdoor barbecue held for homeless families. Actors gathered in a small room to the right of the entry lobby of the church. Thankfully, Richard knew of my work and was glad I was there.

Everyone gathered in a circle and began a game of throwing an imaginary knife. The person throwing would glance at another actor, throw the knife and make the “Pffft” noise of the knife slicing through the air. The other actor had to catch the knife by slapping together their bare hands. This would be a bloody proposition if they had used a real prop. They then started throwing a screeching cat and a baby. With all three being juggled by the group, hilarity ensued.

The second part of the workshop focused on default game playback. The actors were split in two groups, the performers and an audience. One actor was interviewed and their experience became the seed for a group improvisation. For instance an actress has been offered a promotion yet she was uncertain about the extra time that the new responsibilities would entail. The group recreated her uncertainty in an improvised scene.

A long form improv followed. As the scene unfolded, actors would jump in one at a time. Once they committed to a character, they had to remain as that character for the duration of the scene. Richard explained that actors had to focus on forwarding the idea. Once that shinny idea was established if needed to be followed. It was important not only to commit to the character but to ramp up the characters energy and drive. It was important to throw yourself in. One actress jumped in as a sassy prostitute which was quite hilarious given the stained glass window setting. Each actor had to give themselves a gift which they could develop and heighten. Actors were encouraged to ignore the big picture of how the story developed. Instead they focused on the person they were interacting with.

A week later, as my wife and I were leaving the movie theater, having just seen “Gravity“, I heard a couple behind us having a similar animated discussion about a fatal flaw in the movies plot and reasoning. Two astronauts are at the end of a tether one astronaut holding on to the others line. It is a typical movie cliffhanger moment. He unclips himself and he quickly floats away. But there is no gravity! The slightest tug on the line would have caused him to float back towards safety. He sacrificed himself for no reason, while defying physics and logic. It was an annoying oversight, a suicide wish from someone who was otherwise persistently optimistic. It turned out that Richard was discussing the same point with his girlfriend Kate O’Neil behind us. By the time I recognized his voice, they were half way back to his car. Kate had a neck brace on. Her car had recently been totaled by someone running a red light. She had to be cut out of the wreckage. I should have shouted out, but I let them float away.

Seven Lives of Chance

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Dina Peterson told me that a film was being shot at Urban ReThink (625 E. Central Boulevard). I had several hours open before I went to Full Sail that night. She told me that an entire room would be filled with balloons and that there would be a line of extras waiting to get inside. There were no actors around when I arrived, so I sat across the street and started blocking in the architecture. The last time I drew this building it was the Urban Think bookstore which had to close because of the recession. It was a vibrant artists hub then and it is even more vibrant today. This is where I would experience a fraction of Seven Lives of Chance.

As I sketched, Banks Helfrich, the writer and director, parked his car and pulled out a dozen balloons. He and an assistant were dropping off some equipment at Urban ReThink. He stopped over to say hello and let me know that the cast and crew were right down the street shooting outside a Publix supermarket. I don’t know the story behind Seven Lives of Chance but there are plenty of balloons involved. Banks described the first day of shooting which involved recreating a digestive tract using urethane foam. As he spoke the balloons he was holding kept getting blown in front of his face. He batted them aside.

Rather than rush down the street, I decided to keep working on the sketch I had started. Banks let me know they were coming to shoot at ReThink next in half an hour. They were a little behind schedule. Actor, Richard Regan Paul, said hello. He seemed to know me, yet I couldn’t place him in my rattled brain. He was in a scene with Jodi Chase. The scene was shot from inside a ReThink conference room looking out at the actors on the sidewalk. After a take, Banks ran out to the actors on the sidewalk and he described their motivaion with animation and plenty of gesturing.

Dina Peterson waved hello and she shouted out the shooting schedule to me. The line of extras wouldn’t arrive till after I was gone. Dina directed several extras who walked behind the actors in the scene. As one shot was being filmed, Dina raised her arms in panic. A pedestrian was walking right into the shot. She couldn’t stop him. This was a small production that couldn’t afford barricades. Perhaps this unsuspecting extra will end up in the film.

A giant red balloon was inflated in the conference room. It must have been incorporated in the shot somehow. The sound man kept the mic above the actors out of the shot. I couldn’t hear the dialogue, but it looked like Jodi was ready to leave and Richard wanted to tag along. When I finished my sketch, I crossed over to thank Dina for inviting me. She was discussing schedules with the extras and she looked like a thousand derails were buzzing in her brain as yet unresolved. This was a 90 minute feature film being shot in seven days. They had just one chance to get it right.