Upcoming "Projects": Camarillo, CA, 2012

The first director to take me up on posting comes from Camarillo, CA, where a new production of TLP is in its earliest stages.  Jolyn Johnson's production isn't until April 2012, but it sounds like a little help from the larger community would be useful:

I'm currently studying all I can about TLP and Laramie itself. I'm directing the show at Camarillo Skyway Playhouse and auditions are in January, but I wanted to get the word out early. Recently, I attended our county's PRIDE Festival to spread the news to the LGBT community. I called and spoke with a member of Tectonic Theater as well as contacting the Matthew Shepard Foundation for resources.

I still feel like I'm not quite there yet, that I haven't found the truth of Laramie. I want to know all about these people and this town, about the hard times and the hope. If anyone has information they could pass to me since I sadly lost my dramaturg, it would be greatly appreciated! Photos, stories of the *people*, anything to show my rather conservative community what really happened in Laramie. Our show goes up April 13-May 13, 2012. I'm excited and honored to be the director of TLP; I only hope that I can do it justice.

 Good luck moving forward, Jolyn, and I hope to hear about your progress as the play moves into full production. 

Calling all Theater companies!

Oh, for the time to blog again! 

I ask you to forgive the long, long pause in the progress of "Down the Rabbit-Hole" recently.  Like most PhD students, at set times in my life cycle I tend to hibernate in dark, gloomy caves (read: libraries) and only come out for fresh air and coffee.  Now is one of those times. 

With only one comprehensive exam standing between me and the much-coveted "All But Dissertation" status, I have been hunched over the books for the last two months trying to cram as much random crud about medieval geography in my head as possible.  The process is much like trying to cram clowns into a Shriner's car, and just as messy. The exam is in about two weeks.  I ask for prayers for stamina now that I've been forced onto a caffeine-free diet. 

In the meantime, it pains me to see this blog lying fallow when I know that there are dozens of TLP productions getting started right this semester.  Right now dramaturges, directors, designers and actors are asking hard questions about how to stage this play, and why.  There are actors starting to feel the serious emotional demands of their roles.  Wouldn't you like a place to talk about it and to see how others are dealing with the same issues?

Since I don't have time to write until my Prospectus is done, I'd love to hear from others about their current and former TLP experiences from any part of the production process!  If nothing else, tell me about your production and I'll put up a post to advertise it.  If you want to bare your dramaturgical soul about how much you love Brecht's "Street Scene," I want to hear it. 

All interested parties can contact me at jackrabbit.blog@gmail.com  and I'll be delighted to post them.  Take care, y'all!  Drink some coffee for me.   

September's Aphorism of the Month, courtesy of Nothing Profound

Although it comes a little late in the month (yet again), here is this month's aphorism to guide our musings, courtesy of Out of Context:

Thought should be less profound and more human.

Thanks once again for a great spot to start our musings for this month, Marty!

June's Aphorism of the Month

Although it comes a little late in the month this time, here is this month's aphorism to guide our musings, courtesy of Aphorism of the Day:

Ideas stand in the corner and laugh while we fight over them.

Thanks once again for a great spot to start our musings for this month, Marty! 

Radio Silence

So, as it's probably obvious to everybody, I sort of dropped off the planet for a little while after my second Durham trip, and the reason is health related.  For most people, summer brings thoughts of vacations, gardening, swimming pools and barbecuing; for me, however, it brings swollen joints, sinus problems and an irresistible desire to sleep all day.  I've spent the last few weeks in and out of doctor's offices getting things ready to start a new medicinal treatment, which so far has only given me some freaking surreal dreams and zero appetite.  I guess we'll see how I'm feeling sometime around September and go from there.   (Stupid malaria drugs.)     

In the meantime, a friend has dragged me out to tai chi classes to help stretch out the joint problems, which totally makes me feel like a fifty-something granola addict.  On the other hand, it works, so maybe I shouldn't poke fun at it anymore.  But I still feel feel like giggling whenever we get to "Back up To Ward Off Monkeys" our tai chi set. 

So, in the meantime I've been doing a lot of reading for my upcoming orals coming around sometime in September.  The good news is that my husband Badger will be graduating with his doctorate at the end of the summer, so one of us should be bringing in a decent income soon. 

The sad news, however, is that one of my colleagues who graduated with her PhD when I started in 2006 died suddenly this weekend in an accident.  She was a medievalist like me, and her family is from the northern part of North Dakota-- from "my people," so to speak, as my family also has strong ND ties.  Her name was Anita and the memorial is Sunday, so any prayers for her family would be appreciated. 

Well, as I type this, I'm avoiding reading Macrobius' Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, so I'll have to cut this short.  I'll be back again soon to start the series of commentaries I promised to make much earlier...


~~Jackrabbit

Jackrabbit goes to Duke: the sequel!

This last Thursday and Friday I was back in Durham, NC to talk to the cast of Duke University's production of The Laramie Project, mostly to talk about the production and spend some time with whomever had the time to stop by and chat with me the Friday before finals began.  I had a couple of great conversations with four of the cast members, had an opportunity to explore a tiny bit of Duke's enormous campus, and even attend a get-together at Duke's LGBT resource center (which is a-MA-zing!!!) while I was there. Then, after I had to run, I ran to Trader Joe's for some groceries (and some Two-buck Chuck), promptly locked my keys and wallet in my trunk, and then had a nice, quiet time watching the sun set over a strip mall as I sat on the trunk of my car waiting for the locksmith to show up.  After a lazy drive back to my home in Appalachia, I slept till eleven the next day.

So, how was my trip overall?  Well, it was great, really.  

Now that I've had a chance to talk to actually run by some of my thoughts on the production past the cast and ask a few questions, I'm going to be writing a series of posts on my first viewing of TLP since the reading of Ten Years Later back in 2009. I'd especially like to take some time to discuss how this play can look in different theater configurations and how an over-arching philosophy driving a production can do wonders for a performance.  Thanks so much, each of you, for keeping me company and sharing a little piece of your lives with me last week, and I can't wait to share the fruits of that trip with you shortly.

But there's one catch:  I need your help on this one, everybody.  Human truth is ultimately found, I believe, in dialogue, and since you know your personal experiences better than I do, I would absolutely love your feedback--  particularly because I've only really had a chance to really talk with about 20% of you all, and all your voices count.  By all means, feel free to comment, correct, disagree, or whatever you like as we go along! 

And, as always, thanks to Jules Odendahl-James and the cast and crew of TLP for letting me in on the fun.  I can't wait to read your final blog entries.

--Jackrabbit

Back to Durham

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UPDATED UPDATE:  Okay, so it seems that the coffee shop is back open again.  Whee.  I'll see you inside, according to the original plan.  Sorry for the confusion!

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UPDATE:  I told everyone I'd be around from 1-3 at the library, but it seems that the pavillion where the coffee shop's at will be closed for a private gig until 1:30.  Check for me just around the corner past the pop-up anatomy book display!  (wait, that sounds like something I didn't, I mean...  whatever.  Just look past the "Animated Anatomies" exhibit.)

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Hey all,

Jackrabbit is back in Durham, NC!  I'm taking a second trip to visit the cast and crew of the Duke University production of The Laramie Project.   My hope is that I can have an extended chat with anybody who worked in the production and would like to chat about their experiences.   So, you know who you are, cast and crew:  come find me!  Your wonderful dramaturg, Jules Odenahl-James, can fill you in on the wheres and whens.  The more people who show up, the more interesting the conversation will be.

Just so everyone else knows, my goal from all this will be to write a series of posts in the next month or two detailing the performance, its interpretive decisions, and what kinds of questions it raises.  Due to their unique take on the text and their creative use of space, there's a lot we can discuss and consider-- and I feel like the cast and crew of this production have a lot of wisdom to share about the powers of TLP. 

I hope you all look forward to the fruit of this conversation as much as I do.  See you soon!