Tag Archive for: Contemporary American Theater Festival

eelwaxjesus 2010

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EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW a CATF World Premiere

EELWAX Jesus began as a simple collaboration of two actors improvising songs. Those actors Lee Sellars and Max Baker were from Opp, Alabama and London, England. They met doing a play in Skokie, Illinois in 1992. Lee Sellars has appeared in many CATF productions. He grew up amid the Southern-based rhythms of Country, while Max ran around the edge of the London punk scene in the mid-70’s. By 1986, however (and purely haphazardly), Lee was studying in London and Max moved to Durant Oklahoma. The cross-pollination of cultures would emerge years later in New York City.

During the late 90’s and early part of the 21st Century, Max and Lee created a plethora of songs in an ever-evolving musical style. This collaboration has given birth to a new alternative music/theater performance: THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW.

Max and Lee invited me to attend a concert Reading of their new musical last November. I was blown away by this work and offered to produce the World Premiere at The CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL in 2010. Pat McCorkle, CATF Casting Director and I have just completed casting this amazing new work. Robert Klingelhoefer, CATF Set Designer has been collaborating  with Max and Lee on the set design. We are beginning the pre-production work with Paul Black, CATF Lighting Designer; David Remedios,CATF Sound Designer and Patrick Wallace, CATF Technical Director.

Rehearsal for the 2010 rotating five play Repertory will begin on June 8th. We are all looking forward to giving birth to this exciting new work.

For a preview of some of the music go to www.eelwaxjesus.com . Please click and listen…then send me your comments.

Ed Herendeen

PRELIMINARY SKETCHES FOR INANA

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I want to share with you Robert Klingelhoefer’s preliminary sketches for the Set Design for INANA by Michele Lowe.

Ed Herendeen

PASSION FOR NEW WORK

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We are the CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN THEATER FESTIVAL. We are the theater of today…the theater of the Now. We are producing five new American plays in rotating repertory that are present and immediate. This is who we are, what we are and how we will be remembered by future generations. We are responsible for helping to create the destiny of the American theater. We are paying attention to the world. We are listening to contemporary writers who are attuned to our world and whose stories help us define these tumultuous times.

The artists at the Contemporary American Theater Festival are united by their passion for new work. We are united by newness. We are united by this quote from American playwright Steven Dietz (CATF 2009):

“The theater is not about nostalgia. The theater is not a museum. Plays don’t hang on walls, oblivious to time. The theater is a rehearsal of the present moment.”

Great stories beg to be told. And true artists are compelled to tell them. Playwrights are the theater’s storytellers. Max Baker, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Jennifer Haley, Michele Lowe, J.T. Rogers and Lee Sellars are the storytellers of the 2010 Repertory. Their stories will broaden our minds, engage, provoke, inspire and ultimately connect us.

I have selected five new plays by these six artists… because they have written original stories that embody an independent spirit and a distinctive voice. They believe in the power of story. They believe in the power of sharing the most private of feelings in the most public of spaces–the theater. They are not afraid to confront pain and difference, conflict and joy, in the safe environment of the theater.

We all share a passionate belief that we can grow as a society only if we find the strength to confront and consider ideas and issues that may make us uncomfortable. We share the belief that a community without art has no voice, no memory of our stories and aspirations…a community without art is no community at all.

 I believe that making art…making theater…especially in this moment… is a form of social activism. It is a statement of belief in the power of community.

I have always believed that a contemporary theater must aggressively go to the edges of society and tell the stories that no one else will tell. To involve people at the deepest level…we need stories. Stories fulfill a profound human need to grasp the patterns of living–not merely as an intellectual exercise, but within a very personal, emotional experience. To do this we must engage our audience with the power of story. We must engage their emotions…AND…the key to their hearts is a story.

Please share your ideas and comments with me.

Ed Herendeen

FARRAGUT NORTH SET DESIGN

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I want to share the preliminary set designs and story boards for FARRAGUT NORTH by Beau Willimon. Set design by Robert Klingelhoefer.

Our concept for the Set Design: We want to create a “media storm” environment. FARRAGUT NORTH is set in Des Moines Iowa during the presidential caucuses. We’re in Iowa–set your clocks back to January.

“If the television series WEST WING offered up politics as an inspirational highway to hope, Beau Willimon’s spicy, new campaign stage dramedy, FARRAGUT NORTH, returns us to those comforting, cutthroat side streets.” Peter Marks, Washington Post.

Bob Klingelhoefer has created an exciting design that supports the world of the play.

STORY BOARDS:

Prologue

Prologue

Farragut North: Hotel Bar

SCENE 1. The bar of the Hotel Fort Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa.

resta

SCENE 2. A small, dingy restaurant in East Des Moines, Iowa.

hotel

SCENE 3. Stephen's Hotel room.

air

SCENE 4. The Des Moines airport.

hq

ACT 2. SCENE 2. Morris Campaign Headquarters.

Bob Klingelhoefer has created an exciting set design that captures the “world of the play.” We are in the “world” of American politics. As a one-time volunteer for Senator Charles Schumer of New York and a junior staff member for Howard Dean, the former Vermont  governor, Beau Willimon writes knowingly about political trench warfare…his new play reflects how his own self-described “starry-eyed idealism” dimmed amid the brutality of campaigning.

“Everyone knows to a certain extent that there’s a lot of nasty and duplicitous and unsavory stuff in a campaign, but some people might be surprised at how nasty things are behind the scenes.” Beau Willimon

“Some of the tactics and the way people undercut one another are real…The ambition and fear and passion and amorality and mistrust and loss and friendship and love are things I have experienced in my own life, and they’re all I can draw on, really, trying to create lives on the stage.”Beau Willimon

FARRAGUT NORTH lifts the veil on American politics…I am looking forward to hearing your reactions after you witness this important new American play at the Contemporary American Theater Festival.

Ed Herendeen