MUCH ADO scripts

I have SCRIPTS.. about half of the cast picked them up before leaving for break, but if you DIDN'T, I will be on campus on the 26th, 27th, and28th for a basketball tournament and you can arrange to get one then. I HIGHLY recommend it. As in HIGHLY. As is... if you don't and you have a lsrge role, your chances of nailing the off book deadline get pretty slim.

Congratulations to the Cast of...

W.A.S.P. DAD . . . . . . . ANDREW LESTER POLETTO MOM . . . . . . . AMANDA KULMAC SISTER. . . . . . . KIRA ASHLEY SON. . . . . . . TAYLOR ASHLEY FEMALE VOICE. . . . . . . MERCEDES CLAYTON PREMIER/CHOIRMASTER/ROGER . . . TYLER SPANO THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE GEORGE . . . . . . . “GINGER” MEG . . . . . . . AMANDA CYR HENRY . . . . . . . TYLER SPANO SARAH . . . . . . . MERCEDES CLAYTON ELLEN . . . . . . . JORDAN WRIGHT EXECUTIONOR . . . . . . . CALE MC COY COMIC VS. FICTION CONDOR . . . . . . . CALE MC COY MS. A . . . . . . . KAYLA GARRETT HUMAN HAMMER . . . . . . . ANDREW POLETTO CHEETAH . . . . . . . AMANDA KULMAC IRON GRASP . . . . . . . TAYLOR ASHLEY SPEEDSTER . . . . . . . TJ TODD INDIAN CHIEF . . . . . . . GRANT HENDRIX BLACK PANTHER . . . . . . . MARCUS SILAFOU

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Don Pedro - Skylar Christiansen Benedick - Dylan Gutridge Claudio - Cody Schneider Balthasar - Tyler Spano Doña Jona - Jen Warren Borachio - Grant Hendrix Conrada - Shelby Mock Leonato - TJ Todd Hero - Rachel Sinner Beatrice - Erin Ebert Antonio - Chase Medeiros Margaret - Kayla Garrett Ursula - Katy Young Friar Frances - Sami Pollock Dogberry - Ashlee Klemp Verges - Ana Heller A Sexton - Mason Yai / Yeigh (sp?) Watchman - Sandra Schaefer Watchman - Dillon Kline Watchman - Gaby Linquist Messenger / Boy - Sara Miller Other Attendants & Messengers To be Cast the First Week in January [UPDATE] Changes: To Conrada, Ursula, and the Boy. Our best wishes to those who are no longer involved and congratulations to those who now are...

Casting and Other News

I know people are chomping at the bit to learn the casts of the two upcoming productions! I promise, I will post them here, BUT - I don't HAVE Adam's lists yet, and I am going to head out to dinner, so it's at least another 2 hours before I am back and checking mail to see what he settled on.

As of Now (Weds, 6:30ish, PM), I plan to have them up online before the end of tonight and posted at the LT by mid-morning.

In OTHER news, if you are a member of the Thespian Troupe currently or scheduled for Induction this year, keep January 24, Block 2 OPEN on your calendar. We have scheduled a special guest for that session of my Advanced class, and all of you who meet the Thespian point levels will be invited to join us!

SPOILER: Review of Sweeney Todd

A Review of Sweeney with socio-political commentary aimed at the socio-political commentary found in the Todd text and lyrics (yes it is there).

Also for your consideration, the comments at IMDb.

NOTE: All of these links contain spoilers - some of plot (which you (mostly) all know), but others of decisions on shot choices, casting, cuts (no pun intended) that may impact you.

Don't read you want to be unspoiled whenever we manage to finally see something.

To Todd or not to Todd, that is the...

... apparently Tinseltown is out of their bleeping minds and doesn't intend to bring Sweeney Todd in until after the holiday. Odd, since it has a tail-whuppin' resume already (Golden Globe nominations for Depp, Bonham-Carter, Burton, and the film, though dubiously in the catagory "Musical or Comedy").

Jacob is working to change this, and given what drek apparently WILL be playing at their 14 screens on Dec 21, we can hope he succeeds.

It might be interesting if several dozen of us go to the box office to pre-buy for a Dec 21 show and then can feign shock and bewilderment. C'mon all you Thespians, go Act Well.... :)

I will update as this changes. Meantime, I may owe Shelby a refund.

More from the WGA Strike

All these boxes? Pencils purchased at $1 per dozen as a fundraiser to support non-WGA crew out of work as a result of the strike, queued up to be delivered to studio execs. The delivery guys? Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica) and Joss Whedon (Angel, Firefly)

The 24/7 Project!!!

The 2nd Annual
24/7 Project
January 14, 2008

7 playwrights + 7 directors + 7 casts + 7 musicians

= 1 Exciting Evening!

interested in being part of this? Click on the title of this post and follow the links once there for info on the event and how to get involved. Applications can be emailed and do require a head shot in JPG format.

Sounds like tons o fun!

Black Tornado Theater on MySpace

We have a MySpace!!!1!!! OMG!!!11!1!

Sorry. Let me age back to my "Very Old, I'd say...nearly 40"

We do have a MySpace Group for Black Tornado Theater. Started by our very own Ashlee K, the group is not incredibly active, but does have a growing archive of production photos (I am trying to provide her with a couple per show, though I don' have ANY for some... Into the Woods, anyone? Antigone?), and could be as hopping and lively as this blog is, given how many people seem to have fallen into the black hole that is MySpace.

It could also be a hook to get more alumni involvement, as they might think to look for their beloved NMHS theater there rather than with Google for the whole Internet (is it just me, but do some MySpace users seem tto think that it IS the whole of the Internet? Sad)

Supporting the WGA Strike - Live shows

The Upright Citizens Brigade - a NYC based improv theater group with some ties to current 'big comic talent' has been hosting Live episodes on popular shows currently on hiatus during the writers strike. Fairly hard PG13 recaps of Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and The Colbert Report can be found here, plus a second Colbert Report recap here. The UCB has their own theater - a 150 seat 3/4 round in the basement of a grocery store in NYC. The stage is small enough that we could fit it on our LT stage twice, probably. These three shows were selling for $20 a seat and were line out the door sellouts, with all the proceeds going to the out of work crew of the shows. The writers and most of the big talent were there, though Maya Rudolph missed the SNL show, but that was OK for them as UCB / SNL alum Rachel Dratch was able to fill in for several recurring bits.

The recaps are worth reading not only if you are fans of the shows, but also if you are tuned in to the dynamics of the strike or of the way ccast/crew families can develop on a production.

The Colbert writers also have another YouTube video out... I'll get a link up to that one soon.

OMG Finale plus some Tin man stuff

I know Kulmac watched. Jacob presumably did as well... I'll bet K-la saw it three hours before the rest of us... No spoilers here, but - w00t! wow. And also, wow.

Update: Television Without Pity recap HERE

[UPDATE] Tin Man will be show in a marathon format on December 9, starting at 5pm on SciFi and running 6 hours until 11pm. (something to watch after we come back from .. oh I dunno, the skating Christmas Show at the Rrrink, which runs from 12:30 until 3:30pm) The cast includes many who we know and love from various other shows...

• Zooey Daschenel from Elf and Bridge to Terebithia
• Neal McDonough from Band of Brothers and Star Trek: First Contact
• Alan Cumming from X-Men II and the revival of Threepenny Opera
• Callum Keith Rennie from Battlestar Galactica and DaVinci's Inquest
• Richard Dreyfus from a lot, but I'll go with Jaws and Close Encounters, for now

Anyway. It is re-airing a lot on Sci Fi channel this week (the premier runs ended with tonight's final chapter). I started watching my DVRed part 1 tonight.