Tag Archive for: Robert Klingelhoefer

MAX BAKER IN SHEPHERDSTOWN

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Max Baker Playwright /Director THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW

Playwright and Director Max Baker was in Shepherdstown over the weekend. He was meeting with the CATF Design team for our up-coming World Premiere of THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW. Max wrote the book and lyrics and is directing the premiere at the 2010 Contemporary American Theater Festival July 7th-August 1st.

     “So great to come down and meet Bob Klingelhoefer (set designer) and to nail down the set-design (which we did). Bob is a great guy and I am really impressed with his designs. I am happy with the final EELWAX design and can’t wait to see it operational…it was immensely useful for me to see the theater in its’ raw state…”  Max Baker

     “The concept for the show is…that it comes OUT OF THE TV! The band and Ignatz and Mr. Shine appear 3-Dimensionally in the Day Room…the focus should be on the band and Mr. Shine. They become the TV… My hope is to blow the walls off the theater and really feed the audience with EXCITEMENT and BUZZ!”  Max Baker

THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW is a performance art/theater piece set in the eclectically-furnished, highly sanitized Group Home Day Room. The Residents (each with their own set of anxieties, compulsions, hunger and clothes to iron) are fed a daily dose of Corporate-controlled entertainment in the form of a 3-Dimensional Music Show hosted by the charismatic, character-shifting Mr. Shine who literally pops out of the TV. The outside world is plagued by Swine Flu, there are cameras in the sky, and the intrusion of a seemingly scruffy old man who lives down the hall is greeted by the Residents with fear and animosity.

     “My overall thoughts at the moment are that the theater audience members are an extension of the Resident’s. After all, we are all Residents…”  Max Baker

We had a very productive weekend of design meetings. I am impressed with Max’s creative energy and imagination. THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW is a collaboration between Max Baker who wrote the book and lyrics and CATF actor, Lee Sellars who composed the music. You can hear some of their music and songs at www.eelwaxjesus.com. So go to their web site and listen…send me a comment. I am interested in hearing from you. Please forward this posting to your friends and invite them to join you at this ALTERNATIVE THEATRICAL EVENT! This show will help you bend your mind…think… “the bastard love-child” of  Bowie…think… The Breeders…think… William S. Burroughs…thinktheater. This summer get saved by EELWAX JESUS!

Ed Herendeen

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

YANKEE TAVERN SET DESIGN

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Yesterday we had a preliminary design meeting for YANKEE TAVERN by Steven Dietz. Robert Klingelhoefer our set designer presented his design for the scenery. I have included a draft of his rendering for you to see:

Yankee Tavern Set Design

YANKEE TAVERN is set in a historic, rundown tavern in New York City. Steven Dietz has asked for a realistic setting:

“An old neighborhood joint…housed on the ground floor of a decaying, abandoned, once-upon-a-time hotel.Not big. A handful of stools around the battered wooden bar. A few unremarkable tables nearby. An old vintage jukebox that no longer works. Spent neon and dusty memorabilia. This is a place that no doubt shined in the forties, but now is doling out its final shots before the crash of the wrecking ball.”

TIME:  2006

PLACE:  New York City

A man walks into a bar and orders two beers, one for himself and one for his absent buddy. This may sound like a set up for a joke…but the prolific Steven Dietz has something darker and more sobering in mind with his chilling new political thriller, YANKEE TAVERN. CATF Audiences are in for a cerebral workout as Dietz attempts to cast doubt on everything you assume you know.

I am really jazzed about Bob Klingelhoefer’s terrific set design. I especially like how he has incorporated the outside of the building with the interior of the tavern. He has captured Dietz’s world of the play. Liesl Tommy is directing YANKEE TAVERN and she and Bob have been working with Steven Dietz throughout the design process.

Steven Dietz is a master of smart dialogue and wily storytelling. In YANKEE TAVERN he will pull you into this intriguing story. I believe that YANKEE TAVERN has staying power…and will enjoy great success in many American and International Theaters.

I wanted to share some of our design process with you. Let me know what you think…

Ed Herendeen