Tag Archive for: Max Baker

eelwaxjesus 2010

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

PASSION FOR NEW WORK

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

WORKING WITH PLAYWRIGHTS

One of the things that I love about my job is the opportunity to collaborate with the living playwright. My passion for directing new plays began in Graduate School. Directing a new play is risky because new plays are produced without a safety net of tradition…there is no production history to fall back on. Everything involved in doing a new play is done from scratch. The success of a new play is invariably founded on the successful collaboration of the artists involved. This is what we do at the Contemporary American Theater Festival…we develop and produce new work with the playwright. And this experience really turns me on.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with Michele Lowe (INANA) and Max Baker(EELWAX JESUS) while I was in New York. We looked at preliminary set designs and discussed production concepts etc. Hearing their ideas and feedback was incredibly important. It is exciting to collaborate with these writers during this important pre-production period.

I have been in constant communication with J.T.Rogers RE: WHITE PEOPLE and Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (LIDLESS) and I have been trading emails RE: my directors concept for her play. Frances is in China doing research and J.T. is in Afghanistan working on his latest play BLOOD AND GIFTS. Our conversations have been stimulating and productive.

All five of our 2010 playwrights will be in residence in Shepherdstown at various time throughout the rehearsal and performance process. They are an important  part of the creative process. They play a vital role in developing their plays at our Theater Festival. We are a playwright inspired theater and we listen to our playwrights. We encourage and welcome their ideas and suggestions. We involve them in every step of the creative process. For example: Yesterday… Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig and I were  discussing the Sound Design for LIDLESS. I emailed her my idea to create a percussion soundscape of “cell doors/cage doors/locking doors opening and closing.” I also suggested using “birds” in the soundscape. Here is her response:

“I really love this bird idea, and it makes me think about nature soundscapes as a whole–and using sound as an element that provides different information from what you see visually. For example, since the grays, the chain-link fence, is already suggesting the entrapment, the getting stuck/being in a cage is already expressed visually, I wonder if the soundscape would be effective focused around things like birds, ocean, wind, static, etc. It is interesting to me that the ocean is something that can always be heard at Gitmo, and that white noise is used to disorient, and that white noise often sounds very much like the ocean, played at a different pace…And then of course Bashir talks about how he always found ways to change terrible things(i.e. moans and screams) into wind whistling through trees, etc…So that could suggest something too that any noise that sounds ominous has a transition point to a nature sound, etc…So maybe since visually we are getting the chain link fences, the harshness, the metal, that an organic soundscape could open things.”

I asked Frances if she heard any specific music in her play. She offered this intuitive suggestion for me to consider in the Sound Design:

If there is any kind of music/tonality, I imagine that perhaps it is used during Bashir’s hallucinations, and when he talks to his daughter…perhaps the acapella voice of a woman singing a Pakistani ballad/lullaby. Without instrumental accompaniment. We never feel the presence of Bashir’s ethnic heritage in language, etc…so maybe there is a subtle way to integrate it into the soundscape. This could also be used to add a haunting element, as Bashir is haunted by the past he left and  that is gone forever to him…(his dead wife, his young daughter.)”

As you can imagine…this is terrific feedback from the writer. Her intuitive ideas are something that I can really run with. I can integrate her suggestions into my concept for the production. It gives me a starting point as I begin my collaboration with the Sound Designer.

This is one example of the kinds of conversations that I have with our writers. I am interested in hearing your reaction to this playwright/director conversation. Please share your comments on this blog.

Ed Herendeen

BUZZ PARTIES NYC AND WASHINGTON DC

Last Thursday we were in New York City attending a very successful CATF BUZZ PARTY hosted by our friends Doug Moss and Roy Hardin at their fabulous downtown loft. It was a very cool event and we met many new potential CATF patrons. CATF playwrights Sheri Wilner, (HUNGER and FATHER JOY); Michele Lowe (INANA CATF 2010); Max Baker (EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW CATF 2010); Lucy Thurber (CATF commission 2011) joined us at this promotion event. Max and Michele talked about their upcoming plays at the 2010 Festival. Lucy spoke about her 2011 CATF Commission: The JOHN BROWN PROJECT and Sheri spoke about her experience working at the Festival. Sheri also read a quote from Todd London’s new book OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY published 2009 Theatre Development Fund. This is the quote from page 256:

“Some theatres are lauded as much for the bonds they forge with audiences, as for their support of artists. The Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV., is one such organization. In separate discussions, a writer and an artistic director applaud the work of artistic director Ed Herendeen, for cultivating among his theatergoers a genuine interest in exploring dramatic form, especially in challenging work. The playwright marvels at the degree of investment this small theater inspires from its semirural community. “He’s a P. T. Barnum out in West Virginia. (Herendeen) has completely educated his audience. They’re so excited that he is bringing in brand-new plays, and that they can now identify themselves as this breeding ground for new plays. He’s also educated his board that he’s going to pick something he loves. Don’t question it. He would take a bullet for any of those four plays that he chooses. He believes in them so strongly and it’s contagious. They may hate his choices, but they love arguing them with him at the bakery…”

This quote is from Chapter Six: Positive Practices and Novel Ideas. I recommend Todd’s book for those of you who are interested in new plays. OUTRAGIOUS FORTUNE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY looks at the lives and livelihoods of American playwrights today and at the realities of new-play production from the perspective of both playwrights and not-for-profit theaters.

Tonight we will be attending our Washington DC BUZZ PARTY at the MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL hosted by CATF Trustee, Erich Hosbach. The event begins at 6PM-8:30PM at 1330 Maryland Ave, SW. If you are in the DC area please join us. I will be giving a preview of our 2010 Repertory.

CATF BUZZ PARTIES create excitement and Buzz. They are an opportunity for “Social Marketing” and “spreading the CATF Story.” We hope to inspire and motivate our loyal CATF audience base to invite their “social network” to attend the 2010 Festival. Our goal is to motivate our loyal base…our early adopters to become CATF Evangelists. We have an important story to tell. BUZZ PARTIES help us to tell our story. They create AWARENESS of the Theater Festival. They help us to create a stronger presence RE: our Brand and Identity. Our goal is to interact with our audience base and inspire them to participate in the CATF marketing process by becomming CATF Evangelists. Evangelists create AWARENESS…that leads to …CONSIDERATION…which leads to…PURCHASE.

Please make a comment below. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on “Social Marketing.” 

Ed Herendeen