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Showing posts with label Red Door. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Door. Show all posts
Friday, January 7, 2011
Red Door Is Taking a Break
Iowa City - Red Door Ensemble, one of Iowa City's newest theatre companies, is on hiatus. Red Door is committed to bringing original work to stage. Last year they presented full productions of Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse and How to Heal the Hurt by Hating as well as staged readings of Blood on the Canvas and June's Winter. We called How to Heal "a triumph" so here's hoping they return soon with some exciting original shows.
Monday, June 28, 2010
How to Heal the Hurt is a Triumph
by Brad Quinn
Red Door - Community theater is always a rather hit or miss proposition. To paraphrase Forest Gump, it is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get. I am here to tell you, however, that you can’t judge what’s inside by the box.
So let’s get the aesthetic details out of the way first. Red Door Ensemble’s production of How to Heal the Hurt by Hating certainly won’t look impressive as you walk in to the space. Public Space One is a dingy little unfinished basement of a room, with hardly enough space for a stage let alone an audience. A load bearing column is placed right in the middle of the seating, and the front row seats are so close to the foot of the stage it’s likely you could reach out and touch the performers if you so desired (not recommended). And speaking of the seats, they are those really uncomfortable metal folding chairs probably surplus from 1978.
The lighting for the show consists of whatever lighting sources were available with the room itself. The curtain is basically a couple of black sheets hung on a string, and the set consists of a couch, end table, coffee table, and bookshelf which seem likely to have been rescued from various curbsides on moving day. In other words, every thing about this production screams “cheap”.
None of that matters at all.
If you ever needed any assurance that the only thing that really matters in theater is the performances, then this show is the one to do just that. I’ll admit I was skeptical when taking my seat. It certainly looked like guerrilla theater, and my experience with that sort of thing has usually been not so good. Within a few minutes, however, of the three actresses taking the stage, I had forgotten all about my surroundings.
Kelli Michel, Jana Stedman, and Ashley Yates put in phenomenal performances, each portraying a different aspect of the same person, an unnamed female narrator. They are collectively the play’s only character. This seems a little curious at first, but it doesn’t take long to catch on to the fact that the show is essentially one long internal monologue done by three people. Ashley Yates does a fantastic job of playing a more cynical, angry part of the character. Her stage presence is magnetic. Kelli Michel plays a more romantic, emotional part of the character, with just the right amount of force. It would be easy to go overboard or remain too passive, but she navigates it perfectly. And Jana Stedman is the anchor. She plays the hurt and confused part of the character, but the part that must maintain and deal with the day to day. She is steady and assured in her performance.
The only complaint I could possibly have about this arrangement is that it is incredibly difficult to focus your attention at all three of them at once. Only one actress spoke at a time, but you miss a lot of subtle performances if you only concentrate on that particular actress at that time. I happened to look over at Ms. Yates during the opening scene when all three were onstage at the same time, and was rewarded by seeing a range of expressions and reactions to Ms. Michel while she was delivering her monologue. It was quite interesting to think about it in terms of our own internal dialogues, where different parts of our psyche past, present, or future might have entirely different reactions than whatever aspect of our selves is active at the time.
The play itself is adapted from a book by Anita Liberty, who presumably wrote it in a semi-autobiographical fashion. I actually found the title misleading, though, as there really was very little hating in this show. It’s about heartache and healing, and though there is some occasional bile thrown the way of the story’s unseen ex-boyfriend Mitch, it is really more introspective and understanding of the nature of emotional pain. Men do not have to be afraid that they will find themselves bashed or belittled in this script; it is above that.
And it’s funny. It’s the humor that is born of our shared experiences and through the use of clever word play. Which is, in my opinion, one of the toughest kinds of humor to pull off because it requires expert timing and delivery. Again, these ladies did not disappoint. All three of them were spot on in all aspects. I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions…and take my word for it, that is not something I do easily.
All in all I would call this show a triumph, and top to bottom the best show I have seen so far this year despite its inherent limitations. Ignore the uncomfortable surroundings, the cheap lighting, the fact that the costumes are basically right out of the closet of the actresses in the show, and the set that looks like a poor college guy’s basement apartment. These things truly do not matter when you have a good script and great actresses to bring it to life.
Red Door - Community theater is always a rather hit or miss proposition. To paraphrase Forest Gump, it is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get. I am here to tell you, however, that you can’t judge what’s inside by the box.
So let’s get the aesthetic details out of the way first. Red Door Ensemble’s production of How to Heal the Hurt by Hating certainly won’t look impressive as you walk in to the space. Public Space One is a dingy little unfinished basement of a room, with hardly enough space for a stage let alone an audience. A load bearing column is placed right in the middle of the seating, and the front row seats are so close to the foot of the stage it’s likely you could reach out and touch the performers if you so desired (not recommended). And speaking of the seats, they are those really uncomfortable metal folding chairs probably surplus from 1978.
The lighting for the show consists of whatever lighting sources were available with the room itself. The curtain is basically a couple of black sheets hung on a string, and the set consists of a couch, end table, coffee table, and bookshelf which seem likely to have been rescued from various curbsides on moving day. In other words, every thing about this production screams “cheap”.
None of that matters at all.
If you ever needed any assurance that the only thing that really matters in theater is the performances, then this show is the one to do just that. I’ll admit I was skeptical when taking my seat. It certainly looked like guerrilla theater, and my experience with that sort of thing has usually been not so good. Within a few minutes, however, of the three actresses taking the stage, I had forgotten all about my surroundings.
Kelli Michel, Jana Stedman, and Ashley Yates put in phenomenal performances, each portraying a different aspect of the same person, an unnamed female narrator. They are collectively the play’s only character. This seems a little curious at first, but it doesn’t take long to catch on to the fact that the show is essentially one long internal monologue done by three people. Ashley Yates does a fantastic job of playing a more cynical, angry part of the character. Her stage presence is magnetic. Kelli Michel plays a more romantic, emotional part of the character, with just the right amount of force. It would be easy to go overboard or remain too passive, but she navigates it perfectly. And Jana Stedman is the anchor. She plays the hurt and confused part of the character, but the part that must maintain and deal with the day to day. She is steady and assured in her performance.
The only complaint I could possibly have about this arrangement is that it is incredibly difficult to focus your attention at all three of them at once. Only one actress spoke at a time, but you miss a lot of subtle performances if you only concentrate on that particular actress at that time. I happened to look over at Ms. Yates during the opening scene when all three were onstage at the same time, and was rewarded by seeing a range of expressions and reactions to Ms. Michel while she was delivering her monologue. It was quite interesting to think about it in terms of our own internal dialogues, where different parts of our psyche past, present, or future might have entirely different reactions than whatever aspect of our selves is active at the time.
The play itself is adapted from a book by Anita Liberty, who presumably wrote it in a semi-autobiographical fashion. I actually found the title misleading, though, as there really was very little hating in this show. It’s about heartache and healing, and though there is some occasional bile thrown the way of the story’s unseen ex-boyfriend Mitch, it is really more introspective and understanding of the nature of emotional pain. Men do not have to be afraid that they will find themselves bashed or belittled in this script; it is above that.
And it’s funny. It’s the humor that is born of our shared experiences and through the use of clever word play. Which is, in my opinion, one of the toughest kinds of humor to pull off because it requires expert timing and delivery. Again, these ladies did not disappoint. All three of them were spot on in all aspects. I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions…and take my word for it, that is not something I do easily.
All in all I would call this show a triumph, and top to bottom the best show I have seen so far this year despite its inherent limitations. Ignore the uncomfortable surroundings, the cheap lighting, the fact that the costumes are basically right out of the closet of the actresses in the show, and the set that looks like a poor college guy’s basement apartment. These things truly do not matter when you have a good script and great actresses to bring it to life.
Friday, June 18, 2010
How to Heal the Hurt By Hating Opens June 25
Red Door ensemble will premier their adaptation of Anita Liberty's How to Heal the Hurt By Hating. The production will presented at Public Space One and will run for three weekends.
"Anita Liberty" is the brainchild of comedienne Suzanne Weber and graphic artist Michael Calleia. The two penned the 1998 book "How to Heal the Hurt By Hating," in which Anita uses poetry to vent her frustration with her ex-boyfriend Mitchell. The book became a hit, spawning a short film, live readings, and two more books. Now Red Door is adapting the work as a play.
“I have been inspired by the writing of Anita Liberty for over ten years now," says director Kerry Kieler. "Red Door Ensemble is happy to have this opportunity to produce our very first adaptation.” The show will feature three actresses portraying "different aspects of one character" and will also incorporate some original poems created by Red Door's ensemble.
How to Heal the Hurt By Hating runs June 25 – July 10th, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10.
"Anita Liberty" is the brainchild of comedienne Suzanne Weber and graphic artist Michael Calleia. The two penned the 1998 book "How to Heal the Hurt By Hating," in which Anita uses poetry to vent her frustration with her ex-boyfriend Mitchell. The book became a hit, spawning a short film, live readings, and two more books. Now Red Door is adapting the work as a play.
“I have been inspired by the writing of Anita Liberty for over ten years now," says director Kerry Kieler. "Red Door Ensemble is happy to have this opportunity to produce our very first adaptation.” The show will feature three actresses portraying "different aspects of one character" and will also incorporate some original poems created by Red Door's ensemble.
How to Heal the Hurt By Hating runs June 25 – July 10th, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Red Door accepting submissions for next season
Red Door - The Red Door Ensemble is currently accepting submissions of new plays from playwrights local and national to determine their second season in 2011. Submissions should be scripts that have not been produced or published previously.
RDE is looking to produce three productions and two children’s theatre production next year, as well as several other readings in non-traditional spaces around the Iowa City area. Scripts should therefore be versatile in the sense that they should be cognizant of the ensemble’s production capabilities. Josh Beadle, Artistic Director, says, “It’s of utmost importance that we choose shows that have something pertinent to say about this place right now, that we can perform well, and the community as a whole can learn from and most importantly enjoy.”
For further information please contact the Red Door Ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com or 319.329.6612.
RDE is looking to produce three productions and two children’s theatre production next year, as well as several other readings in non-traditional spaces around the Iowa City area. Scripts should therefore be versatile in the sense that they should be cognizant of the ensemble’s production capabilities. Josh Beadle, Artistic Director, says, “It’s of utmost importance that we choose shows that have something pertinent to say about this place right now, that we can perform well, and the community as a whole can learn from and most importantly enjoy.”
For further information please contact the Red Door Ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com or 319.329.6612.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Support Red Door's Zombies
by Andrew R. Juhl
Red Door - Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse is a (1) short and (2) interesting piece of (3) vanity theatre, and it is precisely because of those three reasons that this piece does not fail onstage.
SHORT: Postcards is preceded by short sketch called “Room and Board,” which I talk about later, but the actual play itself comes in at right around 30 minutes—long enough paint the post-apocalyptic world for the audience and draw parallels from it to our own, long enough for the audience to become invested in the suffering and survival of the piece’s protagonist (writer/director Josh Beadle), and short enough to not repeat itself, overkill the theme, wear out its welcome, or beat a dead, zombified horse. You know, like that run-on sentence just did.
INTERESTING: Okay, so I’ll admit it: I’m a fan of the zombie genre. I play zombie video games, I read zombie-centric comics and books, I watch all variety of zombie moves (horror, comedy, & horror-comedy), and—of course—I’ve read The Gospels. So I will be blunt: there was nothing here I hadn’t heard or seen before. Even relegated to oeuvre of George Romero, there was nothing here I hadn’t heard or seen before.
But I’d never heard or seen it on a stage. I’d never been in the same room as a husky, brain-horny, and quite possibly Republican zombie. I’ve never been scared of a zombie who I couldn’t turn the page on, fast-forward through, or decapitate with a flick of my thumb. That was new. And it was enjoyable. I’d have to say that if I walked away from this production wanting any one thing, it’d be more zombies.
Beadle, playing possibly the last remaining human after the apocalypse, does an admirable job of relaying the psychological strain and survivor’s guilt of his character. His relays to the audience of the events leading up to and after the apocalypse contribute to a fanboy pastiche of the zombie genre as it exists currently, harkening strongly to movies such as Land of the Dead and—much more specifically—Zombieland.
In other words: if you like zombies, you’ll like this.
VANITY: This piece is too short and too derivative in its current form for one to expect it to be anything but locally and personally produced. I categorize this as a “strength” because it allows the audience to tell how much effort, care, and personality were contributed to the piece by its author and star. The person on stage is speaking words that he wrote himself, and it brings a truer, more real hue to the character than is normally found.
The flipside to this is when it bleeds over to the sketch preceded Postcards: Red Door’s episodic sitcom-for-the-stage “Room and Board.” I don’t want to be too critical of this piece, but I have to say that I found it confusing, unrehearsed, and painfully unfunny. It seemed tacked-on, as if Red Door felt they needed to add more time to the show to justify their $10 ticket price. In reality, this seemingly interminable sketch (which lasted maybe 6-8 minutes) made me question my decision to volunteer reviewing Postcards and brought my opinion of the composite show down more than a few notches.
That being said, Postcards itself salvaged the performance. Josh Beadle remains an identifiable protagonist, and co-star Rick Adams delivers as one scary-ass zombie. Consider supporting these local talents by attending Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse during its final run this weekend.
Andrew R. Juhl is an area author and director. He has previously worked with the City Circle Acting Company of Coralville and Rage Theatrics.
Red Door - Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse is a (1) short and (2) interesting piece of (3) vanity theatre, and it is precisely because of those three reasons that this piece does not fail onstage.
SHORT: Postcards is preceded by short sketch called “Room and Board,” which I talk about later, but the actual play itself comes in at right around 30 minutes—long enough paint the post-apocalyptic world for the audience and draw parallels from it to our own, long enough for the audience to become invested in the suffering and survival of the piece’s protagonist (writer/director Josh Beadle), and short enough to not repeat itself, overkill the theme, wear out its welcome, or beat a dead, zombified horse. You know, like that run-on sentence just did.
INTERESTING: Okay, so I’ll admit it: I’m a fan of the zombie genre. I play zombie video games, I read zombie-centric comics and books, I watch all variety of zombie moves (horror, comedy, & horror-comedy), and—of course—I’ve read The Gospels. So I will be blunt: there was nothing here I hadn’t heard or seen before. Even relegated to oeuvre of George Romero, there was nothing here I hadn’t heard or seen before.
But I’d never heard or seen it on a stage. I’d never been in the same room as a husky, brain-horny, and quite possibly Republican zombie. I’ve never been scared of a zombie who I couldn’t turn the page on, fast-forward through, or decapitate with a flick of my thumb. That was new. And it was enjoyable. I’d have to say that if I walked away from this production wanting any one thing, it’d be more zombies.
Beadle, playing possibly the last remaining human after the apocalypse, does an admirable job of relaying the psychological strain and survivor’s guilt of his character. His relays to the audience of the events leading up to and after the apocalypse contribute to a fanboy pastiche of the zombie genre as it exists currently, harkening strongly to movies such as Land of the Dead and—much more specifically—Zombieland.
In other words: if you like zombies, you’ll like this.
VANITY: This piece is too short and too derivative in its current form for one to expect it to be anything but locally and personally produced. I categorize this as a “strength” because it allows the audience to tell how much effort, care, and personality were contributed to the piece by its author and star. The person on stage is speaking words that he wrote himself, and it brings a truer, more real hue to the character than is normally found.
The flipside to this is when it bleeds over to the sketch preceded Postcards: Red Door’s episodic sitcom-for-the-stage “Room and Board.” I don’t want to be too critical of this piece, but I have to say that I found it confusing, unrehearsed, and painfully unfunny. It seemed tacked-on, as if Red Door felt they needed to add more time to the show to justify their $10 ticket price. In reality, this seemingly interminable sketch (which lasted maybe 6-8 minutes) made me question my decision to volunteer reviewing Postcards and brought my opinion of the composite show down more than a few notches.
That being said, Postcards itself salvaged the performance. Josh Beadle remains an identifiable protagonist, and co-star Rick Adams delivers as one scary-ass zombie. Consider supporting these local talents by attending Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse during its final run this weekend.
Andrew R. Juhl is an area author and director. He has previously worked with the City Circle Acting Company of Coralville and Rage Theatrics.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Red Door's World Premiere Opens Friday
Red Door - The newest theatre company in the Iowa City area premieres a one-man show written by Josh Beadle Friday, May 14 at Public Space One in downtown Iowa City. Red Door is dedicated to presenting original works and Postcards from the Post-Apocalypse certainly qualifies. The show is a hypothetical portrayal of a man left in a post-apocalyptic nightmare world with no running water, no viable sources of food, and 95% of the population over run with zombies. Managing Director Kerry Kieler said, “We chose this script because we think it has immense value to the dialogue people are having right here and now regarding our existence. The number of movies about 2012 or other sorts of Armageddon are quite common, it’s rare that we see something theatrical about the subject.”
Playwright and performer Josh Beadle said, “I’m just glad to be able to perform a production that is so definitely pop culture and has direct relevance to a topic that a lot or people think about whether they know it or not.” The production was written out of a conversation about what Beadle would do in a hypothetical situation concerning the end of time during this last Christmas.
The show runs May 14-16 and 21-23 Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $10.
For further information or reservations call 319.329.6612 or email reddoorensemble@gmail.com.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Red Door offers staged reading
Red Door - As part of the CRecycle Eco-Art Fest and part of their ongoing season of new plays Red Door Ensemble will be performing a free reading of James Trainor's Blood on the Canvas on April 17th at 3pm at the Matyk Building, 1029 3rd Street SE Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
This play concerns the fundamental question: what would you sacrifice for your art? Some characters try to connect with a recently deceased artist and the painting she lost her life to. Others resist connecting to her. This play also concerns such topics as responsibility of the family, drug use, and how to handle the greatest decisions of our lives.
The production will be one of two arts productions at the Matyk Building on April 17th involved with the Eco-Arts Festival. The festival is the first of its kind in the New Bohemia cultural district and is intended to promote the preservation of our communities and promote the reuse of man-made objects in the form of art.
Red Door Ensemble is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the production of new plays in an ensemble environment throughout the Iowa Cultural Corridor.
For further information please contact the Red Door Ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com or 319-329-6612.
This play concerns the fundamental question: what would you sacrifice for your art? Some characters try to connect with a recently deceased artist and the painting she lost her life to. Others resist connecting to her. This play also concerns such topics as responsibility of the family, drug use, and how to handle the greatest decisions of our lives.
The production will be one of two arts productions at the Matyk Building on April 17th involved with the Eco-Arts Festival. The festival is the first of its kind in the New Bohemia cultural district and is intended to promote the preservation of our communities and promote the reuse of man-made objects in the form of art.
Red Door Ensemble is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the production of new plays in an ensemble environment throughout the Iowa Cultural Corridor.
For further information please contact the Red Door Ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com or 319-329-6612.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Red Door opens with well acted preview
by Sharon Falduto
Red Door - Red Door Shorts is a taste of the upcoming shows at Iowa City’s latest theatre company, this one dedicated to doing all original pieces. Rather than a staid showcase of each of the upcoming offerings, the show is presented in sketch format. Each piece flows into the next, with short interstitials that are sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, and always well acted in between.
The actors for the show all uniformly dressed in black shirts and blue jeans, with one costume change near the end for a sitcom-esque piece in which a group of less-than-bright roommates plots how to rob a bank.
Each actor has a very expressive face, which the audience was able to see clearly in the intimate space. Red Door Shorts was performed at Public Space One, downstairs underneath Herteen and Stocker Jewelers. Three lines of folding chairs were set up in front of a slightly elevated stage, the set of which was decorated like a small studio apartment. Sometimes the set WAS an apartment. Other times it wasn’t there, or was just a background for the chairs that served as a car, or as furniture in Anita Liberty’s piece How to Heal the Hurt By Hating. In that particular scene, one of the folding chairs the actresses were using didn’t open up again on cue as it needed to. The actress seamlessly threw the chair aside and sat on the floor, all without breaking character. Meanwhile one of the actors ran out and replaced it, in a move so fluid it may very well have actually been part of the script, and not a technical difficulty.
The interstitials didn’t seem to have much relationship to the snippets of shows being presented, but they did have running themes. We got to see Newtons’ Laws of Physics demonstrated throughout the show. A young lady did some fun playacting with a broom. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but the same young lady was in charge of another stick later in the production, this time the handle of a mop that was serving as part of a device to keep a “sample zombie” at bay.
Red Door Shorts whets the audience’s appetite for an upcoming season of fascinating, locally written theater.
Sharon Falduto has been involved with theatre for many years. Notable roles include Corrie in Barefoot in the Park with Dreamwell and Myra in Hay Fever with ICCT. She has directed God for the now defunct student group, West Side Players, and Of Mice and Men for Dreamwell. She is currently out of the theatre scene, as she is busy directing the lives of Rachel, Samantha, and Piper at her home in Coralville. She still enjoys the stage, however, and hopes to trod the boards again in the future.
Red Door - Red Door Shorts is a taste of the upcoming shows at Iowa City’s latest theatre company, this one dedicated to doing all original pieces. Rather than a staid showcase of each of the upcoming offerings, the show is presented in sketch format. Each piece flows into the next, with short interstitials that are sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, and always well acted in between.
The actors for the show all uniformly dressed in black shirts and blue jeans, with one costume change near the end for a sitcom-esque piece in which a group of less-than-bright roommates plots how to rob a bank.
Each actor has a very expressive face, which the audience was able to see clearly in the intimate space. Red Door Shorts was performed at Public Space One, downstairs underneath Herteen and Stocker Jewelers. Three lines of folding chairs were set up in front of a slightly elevated stage, the set of which was decorated like a small studio apartment. Sometimes the set WAS an apartment. Other times it wasn’t there, or was just a background for the chairs that served as a car, or as furniture in Anita Liberty’s piece How to Heal the Hurt By Hating. In that particular scene, one of the folding chairs the actresses were using didn’t open up again on cue as it needed to. The actress seamlessly threw the chair aside and sat on the floor, all without breaking character. Meanwhile one of the actors ran out and replaced it, in a move so fluid it may very well have actually been part of the script, and not a technical difficulty.
The interstitials didn’t seem to have much relationship to the snippets of shows being presented, but they did have running themes. We got to see Newtons’ Laws of Physics demonstrated throughout the show. A young lady did some fun playacting with a broom. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but the same young lady was in charge of another stick later in the production, this time the handle of a mop that was serving as part of a device to keep a “sample zombie” at bay.
Red Door Shorts whets the audience’s appetite for an upcoming season of fascinating, locally written theater.
Sharon Falduto has been involved with theatre for many years. Notable roles include Corrie in Barefoot in the Park with Dreamwell and Myra in Hay Fever with ICCT. She has directed God for the now defunct student group, West Side Players, and Of Mice and Men for Dreamwell. She is currently out of the theatre scene, as she is busy directing the lives of Rachel, Samantha, and Piper at her home in Coralville. She still enjoys the stage, however, and hopes to trod the boards again in the future.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Open the Red Door
by Matthew Falduto
Red Door - There's a new theatre company in town and they are focusing on a very specific niche: original work. Red Door Ensemble promises every show will be original, previously unproduced work. The founders of the theatre were all connected in some way to Stage Left Productions, which folded not that long ago. While Stage Left never seemed to have a clearly defined purpose, Red Door does. Their vision promotes the idea that the theatrical experience is a unique history of the world and one that offers a different viewpoint than any that could be received from a text book. One of the group’s goals
is to push the idea that the theatre is an unmatched oral history of behavior and culture. Red Door Ensemble is interested in helping create the new canon, a new cycle of work that teaches the next generation and beyond what the people of today were like. Artistic Director Josh Beadle explains, "Often as theatre practitioners we try to think of the next step in theatre, thinking of the form as a whole not just this one production we're currently working on. With a complete dedication to original work we're putting ourselves on the cusp of theatre. It's the difference between curating a museum and creating the work to be put in that museum; there's nothing wrong with deciding what pieces should be spread in the world of theatre, we'd just rather be creating those pieces." Beside Beadle, founding members include Kerry Kieler as Managing Director, Tori Morgensai as the Production Manager, and James Trainor as Dramaturge. The acting ensemble consists of Steve Wunderlich, Ashley Yates, Jana Stedman, Rick Adams, Ryan Westwood, Nathan Scheetz, and Jeremy Ping. We had a chance to discuss this never venture with Josh, Tori, Kerry and Jeremy.
Creating a new canon is a lofty goal. How do you select shows to produce to make certain they are worthy of being part of the "new canon"?
Josh: Well there’s a great deal of haggling over existential issues and Robert’s rules of orders. Seriously though, I don’t think any theatre artist actively seeks to create the new canon but that is exactly
what every artist is doing when she or he chooses to do a play. We choose plays we like and want to produce or have a message we like and want to spread; rarely is a play performed just because someone feels that it must be done to complete a canonical regard but that is in fact what we’re all doing. I guess, in a sense, we’re just ensuring a certain consciousness when we pick these plays.
With this first season we had a pool of scripts we were looking at and we weighed the merits of each. Discussed the practicality, the appeal, the playwright, and finally it all comes down to the fact that you have to want to produce the show. You have to love the material. There are the shows I don’t think I could live without. If I were stranded on a desert island these are the scripts I wish I had. That is how we often choose scripts to be produced and you just hope that your tastes are close enough to the tastes of the community so you can serve them.
Are you focusing on local playwrights or are you looking from work from all over?
Jeremy: With such a strong selection of writers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area, we feel that people who are either from here or still here should have their pieces produced, so we prefer to stay local.
Kerry: And as we grow as a company we hope to extend our reach to writers from all over.
Your first production, Red Door Shorts, will be scenes from your first season of plays performed at Public Space One. Do you plan to produce all shows in Public Space One? Is there a cost for Red Door Shorts?
Tori: We’re open to performing anywhere. This first production will be at PS1 because most of us have worked in the space before and have a relationship with some of the members of the James Gang. It was a good fit for this production but we’re definitely not ruling out the potential of any other found space. We’d like to experiment with producing shows in both sides of the corridor, perhaps having a split run with a couple weekends in Iowa City and a couple weekends in Cedar Rapids. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to find a home in our future! The show will cost patrons a flat $5 admission. We decided to have the lower ticket cost because we’re such a fresh and new face that we didn’t want to turn people away; in other words we want to prove ourselves to the community. The night is also intended to be a kind of preview of what’s to come.
How do plan to generate revenue to get this theatre going? Do you have patrons or grants or is this self funded by the members of the ensemble?
Josh: For the first few shows the cost will be taken directly out of my pocket. We will be self-funded and ticket sales will be going directly in to the budget for the next play. We will be looking in to some potential grant funding but we don’t believe in fully putting the cart before the horse in regards to fundraising, however, we do have some fun events planned for after our this first show. Our second show is about the post-apocalypse and so we have some fabulous ideas with zombies brewing.
Ah, zombies. A classic in live theatre. But moving on, I have to ask... nearly every theatre in the area is producing original work: City Circle often does a ten minute play festival, Riverside has its Walking the Wire, Mount Vernon Lisbon has its Slices of Life, ITAC recently produced two short original plays and won an Icky for it. Dreamwell is holding a playwriting contest, the Writers Joust. And of course, there are the original shows the University of Iowa theatre department does every year. Explain to us why we need Red Door too.
Kerry: Producing one new work each season is noble goal, and one that many theatres aspire to – but producing entire seasons of new work is unmatched by any theatre in this area. We hope a dedication to new and original work all season long will set Red Door Ensemble apart because even with the rise of original work in the area people are still having trouble getting produced.
Jeremy: If you look at the University, who by far has the largest avenue of original work, there are still playwrights there who aren’t being produced. Both local established playwrights and aspiring new playwrights will get to see their work produced by our company because they will have that many more opportunities to do so.
Along those same lines, are you considering any sort of collaboration with any of the existing theatres? Or is this a go it alone endeavor?
Kerry: At the moment we’re producing work alone but part of our philosophy and part of the inherent nature of theatre involves collaboration and never competition. We would absolutely love to work in conjunction with other area theatres, whether that simply be to promote each other’s work or to share resources. There is an absolute vibrant theatre community in the corridor and we want to add ourselves to that community.
I see a lot of familiar names in this group - Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, James Trainor - is this Stage Left reborn? How is this project different?
Tori: Red Door is co-founded by Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, Jeremy Ping, and myself. Yes, most of those names are familiar to the Stage Left crowd. However, the very structure of Red Door is completely different from Stage Left. Stage Left was run quite like a traditionally structured theatre organization with one person on the top, a board making most of the decisions, and lots of hurry up and wait! Red Door Ensemble is formed from two ensembles: the producing ensemble and the acting ensemble. Our producing ensemble is responsible for carrying out the organizations work and producing each show, we’ve tagged ourselves with titles just because it can be helpful at times for others to be able to identify with them and for ourselves to fall back on a kind of structure but more often than not we’re making decisions communally. What shows we’re going to do, who is going to be in them, where we are going to do them, has all been decided communally and collaboratively between the four co-founders. Our hope is that this group remains this way, we’re hoping to create a community of like-minded artists.
Having an acting ensemble is different from most area theatres. Old Creamery does it, but other than that, I think most of the theatres in the area have auditions on a show by show basis. How involved will this acting ensemble be?
Kerry: Our acting ensemble will participate in all aspects of the season including on and off stage work and will have the opportunity to voice an opinion on season selection. Red Door will truly be a collaborative effort of actors, directors, writers and technicians.
What did you learn from Stage Left that will help you succeed with Red Door?
Josh: I started Stage Left at a very peculiar point in time. I had little to no experience in the community but I was in a place in my theatrical education where I absolutely needed to direct a play. It sounds crazy to reflect on this point because of how far I and that group traveled over that time. But the original creation was because I felt I’d been called to this profession and I knew that I wouldn’t be given a chance to direct until late in my college career. I mean I didn’t take a directing class until my last term of my Junior year, about a year and a half ago. My real education came from the creation of that group, so for me there is no way I can truly sum up what I learned. I’d have to write a book. Which may not be a bad idea…
Maybe we can write one together about our experiences, Josh. That might be really interesting. But back to Red Door, most theatres find that it's hard to create an audience for shows the general public has never heard of. How do you plan to overcome that?
Josh: That’s the challenge of any theatre not doing a piece by Shakespeare or a Stephen Sondheim musical. Not to be dismissive of either of those theatre artists or those that produce them. I remember our first conversation when somebody brought the idea to the table of doing all original work: how do we promote something that nobody knows? And we talked and we talked and we talked until finally someone asked how is that different than any other promotion of a script? You look at ICCT producing “Wonderful Town” right now; I’ve never heard of it. You look at Dreamwell producing “Poona the Fuckdog” and Riverside producing “End Days” right now. The community at large does not know these shows for the most part, maybe some hardcore theatre people, but most of them are producing shows as well.
Okay, so let's get a little more personal... I would love to know why some of you specifically want to do this. What's in it for you?
Kerry: For me, Red Door will be special because it will give us the chance to foster local talent that doesn’t always get the opportunity to shine. We have a chance with this company to draw attention to the astounding amount of local talent in the Iowa Corridor and we think writers in this area will be excited about the opportunity to have their work produced and to get to play a real part in making that happen. Knowing that our company will never be recycling old standbys, that we will always be producing the newest, freshest, next possible hit plays is both challenging and exciting and I look forward to being a part of it.
Josh: My goal as an artist has always been to create this community, almost that utopian artist society, a much less maligned version of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Where there is a group of artists of all types existing side by side and creating together. That’s my hope, that we can create this true ensemble where we’re creating new plays and actualizing each individual’s potential.
Thank you all so much. I am certainly looking forward to Red Door Shorts.
Red Door Shorts, a collective original work featuring previews from each production of the season, will run March 12-14 and 19-21 at 7:30 pm at Public Space 1, 129 E. Washington Street, in Iowa City. Reservations can be obtained by calling 319-329-6612 or emailing the producing ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com
Red Door Ensemble wishes to extend an open invitation to local theatre artists and playwrights to become involved in this exciting new endeavor. Actors, playwrights, technicians, and directors are encouraged to contact a member of Red Door’s Producing Ensemble at the number or email above to learn more.
Red Door - There's a new theatre company in town and they are focusing on a very specific niche: original work. Red Door Ensemble promises every show will be original, previously unproduced work. The founders of the theatre were all connected in some way to Stage Left Productions, which folded not that long ago. While Stage Left never seemed to have a clearly defined purpose, Red Door does. Their vision promotes the idea that the theatrical experience is a unique history of the world and one that offers a different viewpoint than any that could be received from a text book. One of the group’s goals
is to push the idea that the theatre is an unmatched oral history of behavior and culture. Red Door Ensemble is interested in helping create the new canon, a new cycle of work that teaches the next generation and beyond what the people of today were like. Artistic Director Josh Beadle explains, "Often as theatre practitioners we try to think of the next step in theatre, thinking of the form as a whole not just this one production we're currently working on. With a complete dedication to original work we're putting ourselves on the cusp of theatre. It's the difference between curating a museum and creating the work to be put in that museum; there's nothing wrong with deciding what pieces should be spread in the world of theatre, we'd just rather be creating those pieces." Beside Beadle, founding members include Kerry Kieler as Managing Director, Tori Morgensai as the Production Manager, and James Trainor as Dramaturge. The acting ensemble consists of Steve Wunderlich, Ashley Yates, Jana Stedman, Rick Adams, Ryan Westwood, Nathan Scheetz, and Jeremy Ping. We had a chance to discuss this never venture with Josh, Tori, Kerry and Jeremy.Creating a new canon is a lofty goal. How do you select shows to produce to make certain they are worthy of being part of the "new canon"?
Josh: Well there’s a great deal of haggling over existential issues and Robert’s rules of orders. Seriously though, I don’t think any theatre artist actively seeks to create the new canon but that is exactly
what every artist is doing when she or he chooses to do a play. We choose plays we like and want to produce or have a message we like and want to spread; rarely is a play performed just because someone feels that it must be done to complete a canonical regard but that is in fact what we’re all doing. I guess, in a sense, we’re just ensuring a certain consciousness when we pick these plays.With this first season we had a pool of scripts we were looking at and we weighed the merits of each. Discussed the practicality, the appeal, the playwright, and finally it all comes down to the fact that you have to want to produce the show. You have to love the material. There are the shows I don’t think I could live without. If I were stranded on a desert island these are the scripts I wish I had. That is how we often choose scripts to be produced and you just hope that your tastes are close enough to the tastes of the community so you can serve them.
Are you focusing on local playwrights or are you looking from work from all over?
Jeremy: With such a strong selection of writers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area, we feel that people who are either from here or still here should have their pieces produced, so we prefer to stay local.
Kerry: And as we grow as a company we hope to extend our reach to writers from all over.
Your first production, Red Door Shorts, will be scenes from your first season of plays performed at Public Space One. Do you plan to produce all shows in Public Space One? Is there a cost for Red Door Shorts?
Tori: We’re open to performing anywhere. This first production will be at PS1 because most of us have worked in the space before and have a relationship with some of the members of the James Gang. It was a good fit for this production but we’re definitely not ruling out the potential of any other found space. We’d like to experiment with producing shows in both sides of the corridor, perhaps having a split run with a couple weekends in Iowa City and a couple weekends in Cedar Rapids. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to find a home in our future! The show will cost patrons a flat $5 admission. We decided to have the lower ticket cost because we’re such a fresh and new face that we didn’t want to turn people away; in other words we want to prove ourselves to the community. The night is also intended to be a kind of preview of what’s to come.
How do plan to generate revenue to get this theatre going? Do you have patrons or grants or is this self funded by the members of the ensemble?
Josh: For the first few shows the cost will be taken directly out of my pocket. We will be self-funded and ticket sales will be going directly in to the budget for the next play. We will be looking in to some potential grant funding but we don’t believe in fully putting the cart before the horse in regards to fundraising, however, we do have some fun events planned for after our this first show. Our second show is about the post-apocalypse and so we have some fabulous ideas with zombies brewing.
Ah, zombies. A classic in live theatre. But moving on, I have to ask... nearly every theatre in the area is producing original work: City Circle often does a ten minute play festival, Riverside has its Walking the Wire, Mount Vernon Lisbon has its Slices of Life, ITAC recently produced two short original plays and won an Icky for it. Dreamwell is holding a playwriting contest, the Writers Joust. And of course, there are the original shows the University of Iowa theatre department does every year. Explain to us why we need Red Door too.
Kerry: Producing one new work each season is noble goal, and one that many theatres aspire to – but producing entire seasons of new work is unmatched by any theatre in this area. We hope a dedication to new and original work all season long will set Red Door Ensemble apart because even with the rise of original work in the area people are still having trouble getting produced.
Jeremy: If you look at the University, who by far has the largest avenue of original work, there are still playwrights there who aren’t being produced. Both local established playwrights and aspiring new playwrights will get to see their work produced by our company because they will have that many more opportunities to do so.
Along those same lines, are you considering any sort of collaboration with any of the existing theatres? Or is this a go it alone endeavor?
Kerry: At the moment we’re producing work alone but part of our philosophy and part of the inherent nature of theatre involves collaboration and never competition. We would absolutely love to work in conjunction with other area theatres, whether that simply be to promote each other’s work or to share resources. There is an absolute vibrant theatre community in the corridor and we want to add ourselves to that community.
I see a lot of familiar names in this group - Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, James Trainor - is this Stage Left reborn? How is this project different?
Tori: Red Door is co-founded by Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, Jeremy Ping, and myself. Yes, most of those names are familiar to the Stage Left crowd. However, the very structure of Red Door is completely different from Stage Left. Stage Left was run quite like a traditionally structured theatre organization with one person on the top, a board making most of the decisions, and lots of hurry up and wait! Red Door Ensemble is formed from two ensembles: the producing ensemble and the acting ensemble. Our producing ensemble is responsible for carrying out the organizations work and producing each show, we’ve tagged ourselves with titles just because it can be helpful at times for others to be able to identify with them and for ourselves to fall back on a kind of structure but more often than not we’re making decisions communally. What shows we’re going to do, who is going to be in them, where we are going to do them, has all been decided communally and collaboratively between the four co-founders. Our hope is that this group remains this way, we’re hoping to create a community of like-minded artists.
Having an acting ensemble is different from most area theatres. Old Creamery does it, but other than that, I think most of the theatres in the area have auditions on a show by show basis. How involved will this acting ensemble be?
Kerry: Our acting ensemble will participate in all aspects of the season including on and off stage work and will have the opportunity to voice an opinion on season selection. Red Door will truly be a collaborative effort of actors, directors, writers and technicians.
What did you learn from Stage Left that will help you succeed with Red Door?
Josh: I started Stage Left at a very peculiar point in time. I had little to no experience in the community but I was in a place in my theatrical education where I absolutely needed to direct a play. It sounds crazy to reflect on this point because of how far I and that group traveled over that time. But the original creation was because I felt I’d been called to this profession and I knew that I wouldn’t be given a chance to direct until late in my college career. I mean I didn’t take a directing class until my last term of my Junior year, about a year and a half ago. My real education came from the creation of that group, so for me there is no way I can truly sum up what I learned. I’d have to write a book. Which may not be a bad idea…
Maybe we can write one together about our experiences, Josh. That might be really interesting. But back to Red Door, most theatres find that it's hard to create an audience for shows the general public has never heard of. How do you plan to overcome that?
Josh: That’s the challenge of any theatre not doing a piece by Shakespeare or a Stephen Sondheim musical. Not to be dismissive of either of those theatre artists or those that produce them. I remember our first conversation when somebody brought the idea to the table of doing all original work: how do we promote something that nobody knows? And we talked and we talked and we talked until finally someone asked how is that different than any other promotion of a script? You look at ICCT producing “Wonderful Town” right now; I’ve never heard of it. You look at Dreamwell producing “Poona the Fuckdog” and Riverside producing “End Days” right now. The community at large does not know these shows for the most part, maybe some hardcore theatre people, but most of them are producing shows as well.
Okay, so let's get a little more personal... I would love to know why some of you specifically want to do this. What's in it for you?
Kerry: For me, Red Door will be special because it will give us the chance to foster local talent that doesn’t always get the opportunity to shine. We have a chance with this company to draw attention to the astounding amount of local talent in the Iowa Corridor and we think writers in this area will be excited about the opportunity to have their work produced and to get to play a real part in making that happen. Knowing that our company will never be recycling old standbys, that we will always be producing the newest, freshest, next possible hit plays is both challenging and exciting and I look forward to being a part of it.
Josh: My goal as an artist has always been to create this community, almost that utopian artist society, a much less maligned version of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Where there is a group of artists of all types existing side by side and creating together. That’s my hope, that we can create this true ensemble where we’re creating new plays and actualizing each individual’s potential.
Thank you all so much. I am certainly looking forward to Red Door Shorts.
Red Door Shorts, a collective original work featuring previews from each production of the season, will run March 12-14 and 19-21 at 7:30 pm at Public Space 1, 129 E. Washington Street, in Iowa City. Reservations can be obtained by calling 319-329-6612 or emailing the producing ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com
Red Door Ensemble wishes to extend an open invitation to local theatre artists and playwrights to become involved in this exciting new endeavor. Actors, playwrights, technicians, and directors are encouraged to contact a member of Red Door’s Producing Ensemble at the number or email above to learn more.
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