Sunday, July 20, 2008

New shows!

Company One has added 3 more shows to the run of Assassins.

4pm matinees on:
Saturday, July 26
Saturday, Aug 2
Saturday, Aug 9

Get your tickets soon!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A View From The Other Side

Another guest blogger this week! Blake L. Pfeil, playing Giuseppe Zangara in ASSASSINS, has agreed to spill his guts for us. Read and enjoy! - Nik

Hey, Blake here. We’re thru the first weekend of performances…to sold-out houses each night, mind you. Huh. I should have prepared the talented Mr. Walker, our tour-de-force Balladeer, for my guest blog spot a little better.. I have a few things I need to get off my chest, so please, if you need a glass of water, I suggest you get it now. You won’t want to get up.

I’m 20. I consider myself the baby of Company One’s cast of ASSASSINS...the youngin, the newborn, Sam Byck’s “bubula.” So imagine, for just a second, the what I might feel each time I am onstage with my fellow actors, each of whom (in some sense or another) has taught me a few things about this craft. I can go to school all I want, and I can study the mysteries of acting as much as I damn please, provided I schlep out a $40,000 check each year. But this is something much more exciting.

I’ve slowly developed more this summer (alongside truly gifted professionals) than any year of schooling will ever be able to give me. My mother knows: I’m a hands-on person. I can’t sit in a classroom filled with people and pretend to listen...instead I can watch Ed Hoopman as Czolgosz try to break a bottle every night and always get something else out of it. I can attempt to pry David DaCosta's Booth off Jon Popp's Oswald every night and always learn something different. I can sit and cry each night because Nathanael's Hinckley and McCaela's Fromme feel unworthy of somebody’s love. You can’t imagine what it does for a budding actor to listen to Mason Sand drive two entirely difficult Byck monologues home every night, swearing left and right, giving an audience something to think about…and I mean REALLY think about.

I’m trying to explain just how much these people have educated me in an artistic environment that I LOVE. It’s no mistake that I learn something different from Penny Hansen’s screams as Billy Moore for a Bubbalo Bill every night…or from the murderous rage that engulfs Liz Rimar's Sarah Jane Moore when Billy needs that goddamn Bubbalo Bill. See…when you can watch and listen to something like that night after night, it affects you.

I was talking to Jeff Mahoney, Mr. Looking-on-the-Bright-Side gonna-win-an-award-for-playing-a-real-Guiteau, about this feeling of elation that I get each night watching and listening to this group of extraordinary actors. Elaine Stritch said it best: “If somebody doesn’t have any talent, get off the stage! You’re wasting my time. But if they GOT it – and I’m talking about Mama Rose kind of talent: you either got it or you had it – I am so uplifted by talent. I can’t stop crying, applauding…screaming.” I am get this night after night after night. These people got it, and I am so thankful they do, because I am reaping so many benefits.

I’m 20. I should not be allowed onstage night after night with a company of such gifted actors. I’m learning. I’m dreaming. Somehow, by the sheer grace of God, I’m surrounded by this experience. This Wednesday can’t come soon enough.

Please come bear witness. If not for me, the 20 year-old (or, the Italian with a severe stomach problem and murderous hatred towards the government), then do it for my fellow cast members. You won’t believe your eyes. Your ears. Your head.

Heart? Oh, yes.

-Blake

Friday, July 11, 2008

Previews...

Check out the previews about the show and our very own blogger extraordinaire - Nik Walker!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The end before the beginning...

SO HERE IT IS. Production Week. Opening on Friday. Scary, but terribly exciting.

We're ready. I know I spent last week praising the work of my co-actors, and ironically, we weren't necessarily in as good a shape as I had thought we were, but that's to be expected when you make the move into the actual space. LaCount kicked our butts on got us right back on track. Last week was good; now we're kick ass.

The sound, lights and set have added so much. It is a straight-up playground for this material- creepy, seedy, dank and dark.

Come see it. Come see it. Come see it. Saturday the 12th is sold out, but the rest of the run is open. Go get tickets. Now.

Oh, and check out the trailer for the show posted below.

Lots of love, wish me luck.
-Nik

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Assassins Trailer

Check out the trailer for ASSASSINS - opening this Friday, July 11th!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

We've moved in!

Last night - a run for the first time in the actual theater space...wow. Walking out of the theater I realized that I have never been so moved in a rehearsal, nor have I ever been this thrilled to show something to an audience.

Granted, we haven't gotten our notes, so things may have gone horribly wrong and I just don't know it yet- but for me, this was something special. Everyone was on their game, and in the same vein as McCaela from the last entry, I will list what struck me.

Mason's Byck monologues were incredibly natural, settled in his voice and body, thought provoking and hysterical. Blake took Zangara up a notch, moving me to near tears as he pleaded with Oswald at the end of the show. Ed and Meredith's Czolgosz/Emma Goldman scene was heartbreakingly beautiful and real. Jeff and Nathanael rocked their Guiteau and Hinckley, stealing the show with their comic timing, intense physicality, and limitless emotional range. The ladies, McCaela and Liz, were riotously funny in their scenes, bringing a deep humanity to two of the craziest characters in the production. David and J-Popp's Booth/Oswald scene was on fire, and Chris was the most frustrating, hard-to-conquer stage enemy (as in his Proprietor vs. my Balladeer) I've ever had the pleasure of performing with.

Again, I could very well be in my own little bubble of excitement here, but I'm 99.99% sure that a lot of things were clicking and popping, and it is for allowing me to experience that magic that I, from the bottom of my heart of hearts, take a moment now to thank everyone involved. This is a blessing, a blessing, a blessing. I am having so much fun working alongside every person on this team, and each rehearsal is bringing with it tons and tons more to jump up and scream about.

Less than two weeks till opening night. I hope that whoever is reading this out there in Internet Land is excited for this, and that they will enjoy this crazy show as much as I am already. Yay.

-Nik