anna - Performance Art at Rooms Gallery

When I'm not performing or creating at Dream Theatre (this never happens) I like to meet the neighbors.  This Friday I'll be at Rooms Gallery performing in RITUAL NO. 1: COUNTING BIRDS. This is not Dream Theatre work, but our neighbors, Todd and Marakesh Frugia at Rooms Gallery are making performance art and work that brings the audience in, like we do. I'm happy to get a chance to work with some new friends. If you are free on Friday, feel free to drop in for the 2nd Friday down in Pilsen down the street from Dream Theatre at 1835 South Halsted St.

Help Us Choose Our 10th Season!

SEASON TEN

Next season will be Dream Theatre Company’s 10 Year anniversary and we would like for you all to celebrate it with us.

We would love for you to help choose from our past productions any 2 or 3 shows that you would like for us to remount. These shows represent some of the very best we have brought you, and were each turning points in our Company’s 10 year history.

Here are the choices:

Season One

RiO                                           Our first production!
Serial Killer, Debbie Gibson Karaoke, Severed Fingers, Runaway

Season Two

AlligatoR                                   Monster, Olympics, Mental Illness, Road Trip

Season Three

Sister 121                                 Revolution, Individualism, Cannibalism, Torture

Season Four

SlowAnna                                 Innocence is a virtue, Mark Twain, Redemption, The Box

Antigone                                   Fame, Machiavelli, Tattoo, Teenage Angst

Season Five

The Baby Killers                        The Wood Shed, The Chosen, The Orphans, Run Rabbit Run

The Samaritan Syndrome           Star Shine, Bed, Obsession, Strangled

Season Six

Medea                                       Mid Life Crisis, Witchcraft, Divorce, Butcher Knife

Somewhere in Texas                  Sex, Nemesis, Elephant, Satan Baby

Season Seven

Sequestered                              Witness, Prisoner, Orange Juice, The Files

The Black Duckling                     First Love, Burlesque, Incorruptibility, The Furnace

Season Eight

Agamemnon                             Wine, Black Bottom, Betrayal, Monkey Cage

Devilish Children
and the civilizing process           Naughty Stool, Kitty, Lessons, Christmas

Season Nine

"The Grisly Glorious Adventure”
of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh and Billy Moon
                                        Childhood Taken, The Sixty Fourth Tree, Occurrences, Honey


Thank you, dear Audience! Let us know!

The Ismene Project - Newly Redesigned Website Now Up!

The Ismene Project now has a newly-redesigned website up and running. If you're interested in watching how seven different cities are preparing for the simultaneous production of this one play, check them out at http://theismeneproject.webs.com/index.htm.

Also, take a look at our counterparts in Las Vegas: the production art is amazing! Created for the Las Vegas production by SpentPencils Artwork.

Note the stark contrast between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles, Toronto, and St. John's productions, too.

It's amazing to see such seemingly different productions take shape. Wish we could see them all...

Bil - Feedback (Loud and Clear)

On Thursday night I saw the opening performance of "The Grisly/Glorious Adventure of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh and Billy Moon" down in Pilsen, and I can't stop talking about how much I loved it.  Being that I wasn't part of the rehearsal process on this show, and not having seen the completed set, I really didn't know what to expect.  I'd read the script, and I knew the cast and crew are incredibly talented, but still I was surprised.  I can't say enough how proud I am of Dream Theatre Company for making one of the most magical nights of theatre I have seen in a long, long time.  I haven't cried in about ten years, but I came damn close to crying during this play.

I'm still kind of starry-eyed about it, even on a Saturday after not enough sleep all week long.  And of course, I'm thinking to myself: how can I convince people that haven't seen the show that it really is as good as I'm saying it is?

And so, while causally loitering in a Starbucks at a mall in the suburbs like some jerk, I see a note posted on good ol' Facebook blasting theatres in this town for being a bunch of jerks.  I'll repost it here, because I kind of want everybody to read it, but because of the controversy it will inevitably spark, I'll keep it anonymous:

Dear Theatre

Okay I'm not much of one for Facebook notes and publicly stating any sort of real opinion on social media, but I've got something to say. THEATER SUCKS!!! You heard me!  THEATER. SUCKS. I moved to Chicago looking for good theater. Inspiration. Excitement. Passion.... Please. I'd rather go to the dentist. Offended yet? Good. I'm offended by theater. We've forgotten our audience. We've forgotten why we are doing this... or maybe I've just decided that our reason for doing it, isn't good enough anymore.

I look at theaters desperately trying to fill seats as more and more theaters file for bankruptcy. Theaters constantly having talks about how to get the younger generation excited about theater as their subscribers just get older and older. Well honestly... have you tried?

What I see is a group of people so desperate to create a place for their voice to be heard, that they've created an art that only they can appreciate. Its boring. Its heady. Its... uggghhh.

We are living in a time when our lives are bombarded with intensity and tragedy. There is a reason why our generation doesn't seem to want to grow up. We are desperately looking for a release. An escape. Wars, tsunamis, foreclosures. We don't want to think anymore. We have to think every day just to survive.

If you want to up your sales and get the younger generation into your theaters, give them a way to escape. Why do you think Glee is dominating television? I don't know about you, but I just want to be able to find a place where for 5 minutes a day, I can forget that I can barely pay my bills, or that any day now, some country might nuke us. Give people a reason to feel happy again. With divorce rates as high as they are, why would I want to watch another play about an unhappy couple. Show me a love story. Give me reason to believe in relationships.

I will say that the thought provoking plays have a place in this world. Art should be used to make people think. But know who is going to be doing the thinking on the receiving end and remember that this isn't about your crusade. Its about your story. And yes, even in the theater, stories can end in hope. Actors DO know how to smile.

Now can you please try wearing some colors?

You can imagine how offended I was until I read the sentence asking if I was offended yet.  Then it occurred to me that this is feedback from a theatre-goer.

As a theatre artist, especially one in Chicago, it's easy to get defensive and shrug this message off with a how-dare-you-insult-this-great-city and a you-expect-too-much or a you-just-don't-get-it-do-you attitude.

But I refuse to do that.  This message was written in earnest, and posted on Facebook for all theatre and non-theatre personnel to see.

THIS IS FEEDBACK.

Theatres are businesses, too, and audience members are our customers, and what should a business do if they want to attract more customers?  Listen to customer feedback.

So, yeah, theatre community – looking for ways to attract younger audiences?  Rule number one ought to be: listen to young audience members.

Feedback from younger audiences is rare.  More often than not a young audience will give up on an art form that fails to please rather than make any effort to try & improve it.  What we get with the above Facebook post is almost invaluable.

True, the post is not specific feedback, not geared at any one specific theatre company, but I've always thought of the theatre community as one big family, and so really, this message is for all of us.  We all need to bring the magic.  All the time.  We need to make it worth someone's time and worth their money to come out & see the products of our hard work.  Our time is valuable, but so is theirs.  We need to be accessible.  We need to be open.  We need to be honest.  We need to ditch the egos and create some wonder.  We need to be – in the parlance of our times – awesome.

And I will state once again how proud I am to be part of Dream Theatre Company.  These artists work hard, they make it easy to go see a play, they give the audience a show they'll be thinking about for weeks or even months afterward, and for all the "edginess" and the "fringe persona" of this company, they truly show the goodness of human beings.  It's fun to see plays here.  And after each play, the cast is available to talk to in the lobby, devoid of snootiness and pretensions, and eager to hear whether you liked it or not.

You can talk to them.

But because no theatre company should pretend to be perfect, we remain open to criticism.  If you want something from us that you didn't get or don't think you will get, or anything you think we could do better, please talk to us.  We're here.  We have ears and brains.  We'll use them, I promise.

Rachel - Divine Chaos

This weekend, the cast and crew of The Grisly/Glorious Adventure of Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, and Billy Moon toiled and created and finalized the set and world of the show. I was amazed by the dedication and creativity of all involved. There is something so inspiring in seeing a group of people moving independently and yet all serving the creation of a single goal.

While I worked on upholstering the chair for "the Great Man Himself," Mishelle diligently created her toy rifle for Christopher Robin. I saw Annelise painting branches and making "grass" for the Hundred Acre Woods. While Kristi painstakingly strung beads for the "rain" in the lobby, Chad and Alicia jumped in and tackled the unfinished/unpainted walls and transformed the whole room in the process. Giau and Jeremy fought with, and ultimately conquered the new projector while Anna busily hung and wired lights on the stage.

It was as if I was watching a strange and intricate dance in which each person gave or took space (or tools) as needed.

How wonderful it is that we can all truly own our space, our world, because we took the effort and gave of ourselves in the making of it. We hope you all will come enjoy the fruits of our labors and enter into the wonderful magical place we created together, for you.

Ismene Artwork

Just passing along a link to some promo artwork for the different productions of Ismene this May:

http://theismeneproject.com/artwork/

Check it out. This project is going to be a hell of a thing.

Need more info on The Ismene Project? Click here.

- Bil