Leave your caption suggestion in the comment section for a chance for a free ticket to the final performance of Sanyasi on July 23rd at 6:30pm!
photo credit: ryan maxwell
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Opening Night!
By Ameneh Bordi
We have opened!! Tuesday, July 12th marked the first time the general public saw our show, and it was a magical experience. It was so surreal to finally move this show from my hands into the hands of the audience. We were lucky to have a wonderful venue director at Spooky Universe, and so our tech went smoothly, and then we opened at 6pm ! The show went perfectly - all our rehearsing with the set and the costumes paid off and the actors were able to execute the show perfectly. It was wonderful to have friends and family in the audience to see our work, and feel their energy at the closing.
I hope that everyone gets a chance to check out the show - it is getting rave reviews, and was chosen as a "Pick of the Fringe" by DC Theatre Scene. We're having so much fun doing it, and learning from each performance.
Photos to come!!
We have opened!! Tuesday, July 12th marked the first time the general public saw our show, and it was a magical experience. It was so surreal to finally move this show from my hands into the hands of the audience. We were lucky to have a wonderful venue director at Spooky Universe, and so our tech went smoothly, and then we opened at 6pm ! The show went perfectly - all our rehearsing with the set and the costumes paid off and the actors were able to execute the show perfectly. It was wonderful to have friends and family in the audience to see our work, and feel their energy at the closing.
I hope that everyone gets a chance to check out the show - it is getting rave reviews, and was chosen as a "Pick of the Fringe" by DC Theatre Scene. We're having so much fun doing it, and learning from each performance.
Photos to come!!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Things That Happened (Part 1)
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| The Ensemble Storytellers: Nora Achrati, Vishal Vaidya, Betsy Rosen, Thony Mena, and Amie Cazel! |
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| The Producer/Director (Ameneh Bordi) and Star (Evan Sanderson) at the Fringe Preview!! |
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| Evan Sanderson (Sanyasi) and the dynamic Nikki Massoud (Vasanti)!! |
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| Nora Achrati in her dazzling costume! |
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| Jennafer Cranmer & Renana Fox distributing more of their beautiful costume designs!! |
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| Mmhmm, The Actors, workin'... |
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| The Gang, chillin'... |
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| The Visionary, Ameneh Bordi, representin'... |
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| ...back to work... |
-Keith
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Saga of the Set
By Ameneh Bordi, Director
This weekend was the weekend of set building! After the great idea was presented to me by costumer Renana Fox, I went into implementation mode. The idea was to create a free-standing structure that would allow us to hang our costume accessories (scarves, hats, etc) from clothesline around the room. The problems: 1. we couldn't affix to the walls. 2. I wanted it to be able to be set up in front of the audience's eyes. 3. money!
So solutions began. Jennafer Cranmer, the other amazing costumer, had cut a lot of bamboo from her garden for me. I began by planning to build concrete bases for this bamboo. Problems with this idea: concrete is heavy! Not only would I have to move all of the bases myself in and out of the DC venue, but I also had to transport the set to NYC, and that would be a drag on my poor little car.
My father, genius engineer that he is, suggested we try umbrella stands. BRILLIANT! However, we went to home depot and a Sears, and neither had them... back home to discover, via the wonders of the internet, that Ace Hardware carried a plastic umbrella stand that was pretty cheap and could be filled with water/sand. Back out to Ace Hardware in Georgetown and Tenlytown to pick them up!
So now we have the stands and the bamboo. We tied several pieces together, set up a trial, and.... the bamboo leaned. Like, A LOT. It's bamboo, after all, strong but bendy... We tried filling the umbrella stands with sand instead of water (using a funnel made out of a local theater's subscription mailing - I will come to all your shows next year, I promise!!) That didn't really work, thought it made it a lot heaver. By this time it was pretty late on Saturday night, so I called it quits.
In the morning, my brilliant mother (very smart parents, I have) suggested something she had found on her run: DRY BAMBOO! She had dragged a piece of it from the path and it really did make a much more excellent stand. So in the afternoon, we went dry bamboo scouting. It was hot, and we looked silly, but we got some pretty great pieces of dry bamboo. I also bought a fifth umbrella stand, to cut the distance between the span in half (the upstage side was having to run 30 feet, too much for even the strongest bamboo not to sag when the clothes got added).
And today, I assembled the bundles. Each stand has one piece of strong, dry bamboo and three pieces of bendier green bamboo shoved in to the base of the umbrella stand, with a bit of cushy paper towel to make it more secure. I think it will work, we'll see at Wednesday's rehearsal!!
This weekend was the weekend of set building! After the great idea was presented to me by costumer Renana Fox, I went into implementation mode. The idea was to create a free-standing structure that would allow us to hang our costume accessories (scarves, hats, etc) from clothesline around the room. The problems: 1. we couldn't affix to the walls. 2. I wanted it to be able to be set up in front of the audience's eyes. 3. money!
So solutions began. Jennafer Cranmer, the other amazing costumer, had cut a lot of bamboo from her garden for me. I began by planning to build concrete bases for this bamboo. Problems with this idea: concrete is heavy! Not only would I have to move all of the bases myself in and out of the DC venue, but I also had to transport the set to NYC, and that would be a drag on my poor little car.
My father, genius engineer that he is, suggested we try umbrella stands. BRILLIANT! However, we went to home depot and a Sears, and neither had them... back home to discover, via the wonders of the internet, that Ace Hardware carried a plastic umbrella stand that was pretty cheap and could be filled with water/sand. Back out to Ace Hardware in Georgetown and Tenlytown to pick them up!
So now we have the stands and the bamboo. We tied several pieces together, set up a trial, and.... the bamboo leaned. Like, A LOT. It's bamboo, after all, strong but bendy... We tried filling the umbrella stands with sand instead of water (using a funnel made out of a local theater's subscription mailing - I will come to all your shows next year, I promise!!) That didn't really work, thought it made it a lot heaver. By this time it was pretty late on Saturday night, so I called it quits.
In the morning, my brilliant mother (very smart parents, I have) suggested something she had found on her run: DRY BAMBOO! She had dragged a piece of it from the path and it really did make a much more excellent stand. So in the afternoon, we went dry bamboo scouting. It was hot, and we looked silly, but we got some pretty great pieces of dry bamboo. I also bought a fifth umbrella stand, to cut the distance between the span in half (the upstage side was having to run 30 feet, too much for even the strongest bamboo not to sag when the clothes got added).
And today, I assembled the bundles. Each stand has one piece of strong, dry bamboo and three pieces of bendier green bamboo shoved in to the base of the umbrella stand, with a bit of cushy paper towel to make it more secure. I think it will work, we'll see at Wednesday's rehearsal!!
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