January 2008 Archives

The Impact 2008 retreat

posted by Cheshire on Wed, Jan 30, 2008
in News

We're all going away this weekend to read plays and talk about what we want to achieve next season. Anything in particular you think we should be talking about? Leave a comment here or email info-at-impacttheatre-dot-com.

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Theatre companies and new media

posted by Cheshire on Tue, Jan 29, 2008
in Local Theatre

Pat Craig surveys how the larger local theatre companies have been using new media to attract audiences. Glad to see such an article get written, but really, he should have talked to us.

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Chloe Veltman on the Little Man

posted by Cheshire on Mon, Jan 28, 2008
in Local Theatre

Local theatre critic Chloe Veltman has taken a poke at the elephant in the room of Bay Area theatre, the SF Chronicle's Little Man and his power to turn any production into box office gold just by getting off his ass and onto his feet, clapping his little head off. She says that after 50 years of making it so that you don't actually have to read the reviews, it's time for the Little Man to hang up his little hat.

I have a few thoughts on the matter.

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Warning: Audience Participation Makes Your Nose Bleed [Guest Post by Prince Gomolvilas]

posted by Prince Gomolvilas on Fri, Jan 25, 2008
in Jukebox Stories

I generally despise theater shows that require audience participation. If there’s even the slightest chance that someone will be pulled on stage, I will make sure to sit in a difficult-to-get-to spot in the audience. If I am unfortunately in an aisle seat and thereby an easy target, I will not look approaching performers in the eye and I will scrunch up my face as if I were contemplating murder.

A Chicago man who claims that the Blue Man Group attacked him on stage was not so lucky. He says that during a matinee performance of the inexplicably popular experimental theater extravaganza (I mean, they’re also in Vegas--Vegas!) the blue actors shoved an "esophagus cam" down his throat, which subsequently gave him nightmares and nose bleeds.

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"It's so good, I made an optometrist appointment"

posted by Cheshire on Fri, Jan 25, 2008
in Current Shows

A friend and donor of Impact, local playwright Tim Bauer, just blogged the other day that he's getting his eyes in working order now so that he can see Jukebox Stories: The Case of the Creamy Foam early and often. That's love. Thanks for the awesome quote, Tim!

Let Tim be an example to you -- get your tickets now.

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No Babies! No Puppies! No No No! [Guest Post by Prince Gomolvilas]

posted by Prince Gomolvilas on Thu, Jan 24, 2008
in Jukebox Stories

It's common knowledge in the theater that you should never put children or animals on the stage. They’re just too damn distracting. The audience suddenly stops paying attention to the play and starts doting on the cuteness: “Oh, that kid is SO adorable!” “Oh, look at that PRETTY puppy!” Thirty seconds later, the audience forgets where they are even, they’re transported away from the play in front of them, and they imagine themselves being in some kind of strange indoor zoo where gawking and pointing and delighting in cuteness is a mandatory exercise.

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Theatre terminology: costume

posted by Cheshire on Thu, Jan 24, 2008
in theatre terminology

Someone ended up on the Impact site last week by searching Google for "theatre terminology - costume," and I thought, Why, that does sound like something worth looking up. Turns out that the word is only about 300 years old and comes from the French for custom, in the sense of what someone customarily wears. So what did Shakespeare call costumes if the word wasn't invented yet?

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Tings Dey Happen wins Glickman prize

posted by Cheshire on Tue, Jan 22, 2008
in Local Theatre

Tings Dey Happen, a solo show by Dan Hoyle about Nigerian oil politics, has won the Will Glickman Playwright Award for the best new play to premiere in 2007. Developed with and directed by Charlie Varon (a former Glickman winner himself), Tings started at the Marsh and recently ended a NY run. It's a somewhat surprising win, given that the award is decided by local theatre reviewers, yet only one of the judges included the show in their best-of-2007 lists (to be fair, Chad Jones included it in a later column of runners-up). Well, at least they didn't forget they loved it at awards time.

Anyway, I really hope he brings the show back here -- I never got to see it in its original production, and I was very sorry to miss it. Congrats, Dan Hoyle!

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Tickets now available for Jukebox Stories

posted by Cheshire on Mon, Jan 14, 2008
in News

Tickets are now available for Jukebox Stories: The Case of the Creamy Foam. Last time around, people who saw the show came back again and again and again. We recommend you see it early in the run, since this will probably happen to you too. Just saying.

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Impact company member Marissa Keltie at Shotgun

posted by Cheshire on Fri, Jan 11, 2008
in Local Theatre

To further tide you over while Impact isn't performing, we recommend you go down to the Ashby Stage and catch Shotgun's new show, The Shaker Chair. Among the company's other virtues, Shotgun has demonstrated the good sense to once again cast Impact company member Marissa Keltie, whom you've seen in Measure for Measure, Sleepy, Othello, and Cartoon, and who will return to the Impact stage in this spring's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.

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Small theatre companies and ticket pricing

posted by Cheshire on Wed, Jan 9, 2008
in Theatre Issues

In the Marin Independent-Journal, Charles Brousse discusses theatre ticket pricing in the Bay Area: what the current climate is, how high prices are justified by the big companies, and how to get the most theatre bang for your buck. His main point, however, is about smaller companies and how they're faring -- and the news is not good.

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Top Ten No-Holds-Barred Audition Tips

posted by Melissa on Tue, Jan 8, 2008
in Making Theatre

[Note: this piece first ran last year, but since it was so popular, and since the TBA Generals are this weekend, we thought we'd run it again. Enjoy.]

Actors deserve to know the truth about what casting directors and directors think about their auditions. Speaking as someone who's watched hundreds (if not thousands) of actors audition over the years, I have seen a lot of great auditions and a lot of crappy ones, and despite the amount of audition workshops going on in the world, for some strange reason lots and lots and LOTS of actors make the same, easily avoided mistakes. I have no desire to be less than fully honest or to pull punches here, so here's what I think -- NO HOLDS BARRED.

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A show and a party at Berkeley Rep for the under-30 set -- for only $13.50

posted by Cheshire on Mon, Jan 7, 2008
in Local Theatre

Sorry that Impact isn't presenting anything in January, but fear not, there's still great affordable theatre to be had. Berkeley Rep is presenting the world premiere of Danny Hoch's solo show Taking Over, and this Friday, January 11, is not only the first performance but it's also 30 Below, a party for anyone under 30 -- with tickets as low as $13.50 each for both the show and the party. Free drinks and appetizers, plus a badass hip-hop DJ (perhaps you even played against him at the Impact poker night...). Call Elissa -- whom you may remember as Josephine in Money & Run -- at 510 647-2918 for tickets.

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Theatre terminology: Grand Guignol

posted by Cheshire on Fri, Jan 4, 2008
in theatre terminology

Just in case you didn't already know...

The term "Grand Guignol" (pronunciation) gets thrown around a lot these days, it seems. Writers use it to contextualize anything that's over-the-top bloody or otherwise horrific. But what does it actually mean?

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Way to go green, Shotgun!

posted by Cheshire on Thu, Jan 3, 2008
in Local Theatre

On December 29, 2007, our friends the Shotgun Players became the first theatre in the country to go 100% solar-powered. That's pretty fuckin' cool. Nice job, Patrick, Liz and company!

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A funny thing happened to us on the way to our inbox

posted by Cheshire on Wed, Jan 2, 2008
in Downloads

About two months ago, we received an email from an Impact fan named Shelly. She wanted to know how she could be featured as one of the Impact pinup girls. She even had her own pinup photos, which she generously forwarded to us. This was pretty much the best email Impact had ever received.

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