Thanks everyone!

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air: and, like the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, and, like this insubstantial pageant faded. Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

Here's a nice write-up from our local paper.

The Sheet - July 20

Come join the fun at Sierra Classic Theatre's annual "Shakespeare in the Woods" event at Sam's Woodsite. This year we present "The Tempest" set in the Caribbean! Performances will be July 20-22 and July 27-29 at 6:00 p.m. Suitable for all ages. Bring a picnic, low lawn chairs or blankets and a warm jacket to enjoy an evening of live community theater with some of our best local talent. There will be some chairs available at the site. $10 donation requested. Toomey's in the Village is offering 10% off any pre-show orders if you let them know you're attending. Also, Bleu Handcrafted Foods is preparing picnic dinners. For more information call 818 424-5552 or send an e-mail to lestravel@hotmail.com.

Tonight’s the night. After six weeks of rehearsals and a lot of behind the scenes effort by everyone,  we have our preview this evening.  It’s a free performance, but we’ll gratefully accept your donations to help sustain Mammoth’s longest running community theatre group.

There something I forgot to mention in our publicity and program.  A major theme in  “The Tempest” concerns  the love between father and daughter. I dedicate this show to my Dad, Robert Bruns, who passed away in December.

To the actors: "Break a Leg!"

Lesley

Here's some theatrical humor to start the week:

An Actor's Guide to Performance:

Hold for all laughs---real, expected, or imagined! If you don't get one, face front and repeat the line louder. Failing this, laugh at it yourself.

Cultivate an attitude of hostility. Tension gets results---on stage and off.

Do not listen to your fellow actors on stage. It will only throw you.

Do not look at them either---you may not like what you see.

If a line isn't working for you, change it.

Never be afraid to ad-lib to get attention, especially if you feel the leads aren't very entertaining.

Mistakes are never your fault.

Always find something to bitch about, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Your fellow actors will respect your professional attention to detail.

Do help your fellow actors by giving them notes whenever you feel necessary.

And give the notes immediately before they go on---it will be fresher that way.

Speak your lines as if the audience had difficulty understanding the language.

Keep other performers on their toes by ridiculing their performances, and never let them know what you're going to do next.

Play the reality---always be aware of the audience and whether you think they like the show, then gauge your performance accordingly. Why knock yourself out for ungrateful snobs?

Need a character? Get a costume.

When in doubt about an ad-lib, go "whoo"!

Go up on a line? Clap twice, look at the audience, and giggle.

(from: www.madstage.com)

Come join the fun at Sierra Classic Theatre's annual "Shakespeare in the Woods" event at Sam's Woods Site. This year we present "The Tempest" set in the Caribbean! Performances will be July 20-22 and July 27-29 at 6:00 p.m. Suitable for all ages. Bring a picnic, low lawn chairs or blankets and a warm jacket to enjoy an evening of live community theater with some of our best local talent. There will be some chairs available at the site. $10 donation requested. Toomey's in the Village is offering 10% off any pre-show orders if you let them know you're attending. For more information call 818 424-5552 or send an e-mail to lestravel@hotmail.com.

Happy 4th to Everyone!!

We'll meet tomorrow from 5:30-7:30 as scheduled.
Please see e-mail sent today for further details.

Next week:

We'll meet Mon-Thurs 6:00-8:00 p.m.
After Monday night's rehearsal we'll head over to my condo and play with some costumes.
For Sebastian, Alonzo, Antonio, Ferdinand and Gonzala - please bring whatever business
attire you think might work for your character and we'll see how it all fits together. Ariel,
please bring the purple dress you mentioned. Miranda, Prospero, Juno, Caliban, Trincula,
Stephana and spirits don't need to attend the costume session on Monday.

7/9 - Acts 1-2
7/10 - Acts 3-5
7/11 - Acts 1-2
7/12 - Acts 3-5

7/14-15 - Work on rough spots based on your availability

And then FINAL WEEK OF REHEARSAL - 7/16-19.

Two more items:
-Please prepare a short biography for the program. One paragraph, 5-10 sentences
about your background. Ask me if you'd like some guidance.
-Allison asked me to find some volunteers to help out on performance nights, to be
greeters and donation solicitors. If you have any friends that are interested please
let me know.

Thanks for your all your hard work. Please feel free to share your ideas or concerns
with me. It's crunch time!!

Lesley

Hi cast!

It's hard to believe, but we have eleven regular rehearsals left before opening night! I'm really enjoying working with such a talented, fun and hardworking group of actors. We're in good shape and characters are coming along nicely, I'm headed down south this weekend and will be picking up fabrics, props and some things for the set.

Needless to say, it's time to put the pedal to the metal. I hope y'all have a fabulous weekend working on your lines . . we're starting "off book" on Monday. From this point forward our best outcome will be achieved by having everyone at rehearsals, so I'm hoping we can keep schedule conflicts to a minimum in the best interest of the show.

Monday 7/2: Run through complete play off book
Tuesday 7/3: Acts I-II
Thursday 7/5: Acts III-V

I may switch up the Tuesday and Thursday schedule, depending on how the run-through goes. Also, some actors are interested in putting in more rehearsal time (cool!!) so we may set up some scene work on Friday and over the weekend.

Feel free to call or e-mail if you have questions (818 424-5552). In the words of the Bard:

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on th'other. . . .

Welcome to our new cast members: Todd Roberts as Sebastian, Kristina McDaniel as Antonia and Sally Gessford as Boatswain/Juno. 

Kenji will be traveling next week except for Monday, so we'll work around him on the other days,

At each rehearsal, you only need to attend if your character's name is mentioned. If you're in the pages noted, but not mentioned, your attendance at rehearsal is optional..

REHEARSAL SCHEDULE 6/25-6/29

6/25  5:30 Prospero, Ferdinand, Miranda, Ariel, Juno
                 Pages 55-60
         6:30 Add Gonzala, Alonso, Boatswain   
                 Pages 63-71

6/26  5:30 Gonzala, Sebastian, Antonio, Alonzo
                 Pages 24-35 and 51-55

6/27  5:30 Ferdinand, Miranda (various scenes)

6/28  5:30 Trincula, Stephana, Caliban
                  Pages 60-63 and 72-74 (also earlier scenes)

Looking ahead: Time to start seriously memorizing! We'll do an off-book run-through on
7/2. No rehearsal on 7/4 due to the holiday. Is anyone available to rehearse on 7/6 instead?

Have a great weekend!                 

Get your island on! Here's a great link to a video of the Tobago Heritage Festival - lots of ideas for costumes, creative energy, headresses, stage business and island speak. Enjoy. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M32M70n4Hto&lr=1&uid=yRgRg_Go2Cc8naX1Y4xfOw

Great work this week, everyone!
Rehearsal schedule for the week of June 18

6/18   5:30    Caliban, Trincula, Stephana-Pages 35-41 & 45-51

6/19   5:30    Ferdinand, Miranda, Prospero-Pages 19-23 & 41-45
                     (Lesley leaves at 6:40 – meeting in Crowley)

6/20   5:30    Alonso, Gonzala, Sebastian, Antonio-Pages 1-4 & 51-55
                     Boatswain, Mariners
          6:15    Add Prospero and Ariel-Pages 51-55 (If time: start on pages 24-34)

6/21   5:30    Gonzala, Alonso, Antonio, Sebastian-Pages 24-34

Tempest Video

Drew shared this video in the comments section, but I'm reposting in case you didn't catch it. (click link above). If anyone wants to share something on this blog, please e-mail to me at lestravel@hotmail.com and I'll add it here . And feel free to comment!

Rehearsals are going well out near Shady Rest, but we still need two actors, pronto! 

6/11 Rehearsal cancelled - Still no Antonio or Sebastian and Scottie's out of town.  Enjoy the Tony Awards tonight at 8:00.

We'll meet next week at the outdoor amphitheater near the Welcome Center, since it tends to be wind protected. Enter the Welcome Center parking lot from the eastern driveway, keep right and park in the lower lot. There's a dirt road on the right heading east, if you follow it, you'll find the amphitheater on the left. If someone else happens to be using it, we'll find an alternate outdoor spot nearby.

Greetings Cast Members!

Here’s the overall strategy for the next 7 weeks:

Week of June 11: Acts 1-2 Blocking/Comprehension/Character

Week of June 18: Act 2-3 Blocking/Comprehension/Character

Week of June 24: Acts 4-5 Blocking/Comprehension/Character

Week of July 2: Work on rough spots, integrate spirits and music

Week of July 9: Run-throughs/polish/pacing

Week of July 16: Tech week/Costumes and Props/Performances

Week of July 23: Pick-up Rehearsal Thursday/Performances

Details for next week:

6/11:     (Thinking positive about casting) 
             5:30 Alonso, Gonzala, Sebastian, Antonio - Pages 1-4 and 24-34
             (will be rescheduled if we’re still short of actors)

6/12:     5:30 Miranda, Prospero - Pages 4-10
             6:30 Prospero, Ariel - Pages 11-16

6/13:     5:30 Stephana & Caliban (I’ll fill in for Trincula) - Pages 35-41
             6:45 Prospero – Epilogue

6/14:     5:30 Caliban, Prospero, Ariel, Ferdinand, Miranda Pages 16-23
             (Caliban only needed for the 1st hour)
                                              

Hi everyone!

Great fun at the read-through last night. And I think we've got three good omens shining on our theatrical journey: Our very own Mammoth Tempest on Monday and Tuesday, the Venus transit yesterday and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. (Shakespeare often wrote for the queen, after all.)

Let's all work together to try to find candidates for those last two major roles, Sebastian and Antonio. Also, we need to recruit some mariners and spirits.

For those of you who didn't pick up the information sheet from auditions - here's some fine print:

REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE DETAILS

-Rehearsals begin June 5^th and will be from 5:30-7:30p Mon-Thurs

-Performance are July 20,21,21 and July 27,28,29 at Sam’s Woods Site, 6:00-8:00pm

-Actors will not be required to attend every rehearsal until two weeks prior to the performances. A rehearsal schedule will be distributed no later than Saturday a.m. for the following week. Please advise in advance if you have a scheduling conflict.

-When possible, Thursday evenings will be run-throughs, so keep those open.

-We will meet in various outdoor locations, usually Mammoth Creek Park and the outdoor amphitheatre near the Welcome Center.

-Actors must be off book beginning the week of  June 25^th and solid on lines (no calls for help) starting July 9^th, so we have two weeks to polish, works on pacing, characters and integrate props and costumes before opening.

-Please bring a pen and paper to rehearsals to jot down notes

-I promise not to waste your time if you arrive promptly and are prepared to work.

-It’s imperative that all members of cast and crew have as much fun as humanly possible.

Contact info:

Lesley Bruns

lestravel@hotmail.com
760 934-0190 home
818 424-5552 cell
760 934-1500 work

Here's the new blog site for Sierra Classic Theatre's Production of The Tempest.
Check back for rehearsal schedule updates and more news about our production