SHOUT OUT! Curtain Speech Community Building

The Iron Age Theatre curtain speech is a very unique animal. It is too long, chaotic, passionate and mostly delivered by our artistic director. (Sam Wend says our Artistic director sometimes acts like a 2nd grader on a sugar high…..)  All of this is a purposeful act by the company (except the second grader thing) because our vision of the curtain speech is less an opportunity to get funding or silence cell phones, and more an opportunity to share the vision of theatre from our perspective.

“I try to mention at least three shows being performed by their companies, I usually mention shows of critical aesthetic importance or, more often, shows from medium or small companies that need some press, which has dwindled in the Philly region even as the number of companies has increased. These are not recommendations necessarily, although they sometimes come with critical caveats, they are shout outs. “Here is some stuff to see.” I avoid shows or companies that have massive advertising budgets unless the show is particularly unique or artistically imperative. I push small companies or pop up shows.”

Artistic Director, John Doyle

We say, we really say:..We don’t care if you see another Iron Age show and if you didn’t like this play don’t let it affect your vision of theatre as a whole. (evidenced in the YouTube clips below) Our mission is not just to get funding from our audience, who have already supported us by seeing the individual show. We say “GO SEE THEATRE … everywhere.” If you see theatre with another company, it only makes your experience at Iron Age more rich and rewarding and seeing an Iron Age show augments your experience at other companies….. because…. we are NOT COMPETITIVE INSTITUTIONS…. we are not corporate entities vying for dollars, we are ARTISTS working together to re-envision the universe through theatre.

The Ballad of Big Daddy Earl: a parody tribute to our mythological mascot.

To the tune of “Big John” (and with apologizes to Jimmy Dean) by Randall Wise

Big Daddy, Big Daddy, Big Daddy Earle.
Every evenin’ at the theater you could see him arrive
He stood six foot six and weighed two forty five
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn’t give no lip to Big Daddy.
(Big Daddy, Big Daddy Big Daddy Earle.

Nobody seemed to know where he called home
He just drifted into Norristown and stayed all alone
He didn’t say much, kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all, you just said “Hi” to Big Daddy.

Meet Big Daddy Earl

By Randall Wise with Ray “big daddy earl” Saraceni

During rehearsals our production of “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest,” Ray Saraceni, was getting lunch at the Norristown McDonalds. As he was leaving the restaurant a man stopped him and loudly proclaimed “Hey, I know you! You’re Big Daddy Earl!” Ray, nonplussed, said, “uh, ok,” and headed back to the theater. He related the story to the rest of the cast who found it funny – not only that it happened to Ray (who seems to attract odd characters), but that it was another example of how colorful downtown Norristown can be.
Needless to say Ray became known as “Big Daddy Earl” to the Iron Age crew, and it became a tradition to have some reference to “Big Daddy” on the set of the show we were working on. Usually the Big Daddy item is a prop or small set piece, and is often,” small enough that even the actors sometimes miss it.

There have been “Papa Grande Earle” cigarettes in “Night of the Iguana,”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clarification and Augmentation: an apology…. In the classical sense.

I am so enthusiastic about the response to my proposal and wanted to take a few lines to clarify the rationale behind some of the choices and suggestions as well as clarify ideas. This is long and potentially too much of an apology but here goes.

Pumping the brilliance of so many wonderful people’s responses through my brain has me to hone my proposal. I loathe making this too concrete until we have extended the conversation to a group of people interested in making this a reality. The devil is in the details both from the perspective that it will be the hard part to iron out and also that those details, at this stage may scare away prospective collaborators who feel they cannot have a voice at the table because the meal is already served.

The first concern that seems to carry some weight is the issue of random pairings and the problem of making these relationships be artistically synchronous.

I understand concerns about randomness and artistic synergy. One of my concerns though is that, as Rousseau might suggest, we don’t let our amours de soi be our guide. This is not a proposal of self-interest only. Amour de Propre which both established a place for envy but also drives pity and compassion is a more potent position. We need to avoid making this primarily an artistic conjunction, although it could be if the companies connected, and make it a relationship based on function and exposure, gaining cache and escalating energy. Planning based on artistic synergy make for great cooperation but is not effective in pushing the companies out of their mutual comfort zones. The random pairing avoids favoritism.

An Open Letter to Philadelphia Theatre: A proposal for a collaborative future and a nurturing community

I would like to make a proposal to the Philly theatre community. One that will encourage deeper artists bonds, support small and struggling companies in this vibrant and overpopulated community, and help develop stronger national recognition for Philadelphia theatre. It will require sacrifices, accountability and cooperation. It could increase our audiences and enhance our product but only if we can see each other as brothers and sisters rather than adversaries. This plan works if we can place community before self-interest.

This idea has little effect on the mid-range theatre, those theaters that are financially solvent but who need to work each year to keep their performances funded. This is a proposal directed toward the biggest and smallest of us. Those mid range organizations gain collateral effects but would not be engaged in the actual activities. I must categorically admit that Iron Age Theatre is one of the smallest and so a potential beneficiary of this proposal.

Here goes:

I propose that each of the 5-7 big theaters in Philly adopt a small theatre each year for a one year term. This would create a relationship between those companies with the huge budgets and those of us with budgets of perhaps under $25,000 a year.

Holiday Reflections: The Iron Age Cast Gift PART 3

Here is another page of gifts.

Each cast member of LUTHER got an action figure mint in box. This is the figure I gave to Randy Wise who played the cardinal. This will always be one of my favorites.

BACK of a Luther Action Figure

Holiday Reflections: The Iron Age Cast Gift PART 2

The Cast gift comes in four varieties.

One is a gift that includes the cast and the content of the show in some research-like mode. Gifts where information from the story of the play and the rehearsal process is juxtaposed with images from the production of the cast itself.

The second kind of gift is a miniature of the set or props from the show. This can be one item that is produced for the entire cast or individual items, one for each cast member in accordance with their role or personality.

Third is an abstract gift that is representational of the play itself. There is usually some metaphoric idea or symbolic idea.

The last is something absurd. This is usually something inspired by the run of the show but that is tenuously connected to the content of the play. It is as much about the act of doing the play as anything else. It could be pieces of set or props that speak to the action of the play or the meaning of the work.

Waiting for Godot: Lucky’s Suitcase. A small version of Lucky’s Suitcase as created for the production. It is closed in this image

Holiday Reflections: The Iron Age Cast Gift PART 1

As the holiday approaches, I have to admit that the consumerism of our culture gets me down. I see so many people exchanging money for objects to give to others. The oddity of this exchange of object created by a corporation, divorced from the relationship of the giver and gift, overwhelms me. Now I understand that you can buy something from a local craftsman or an Independently owed story or shop, but so much of our holiday giving is simply an exploitation of product.
I have an intense relationship with gift giving that is directly associated with Iron Age Theatre’s performances. Any theatrical artist understands the come down after a production run. The intensity of the bonding, the shared creation, the joy of performance in a community causes some measure of emotional stress when we have to close the books on a specific theatrical venture. Even the least emotionally connected person can experience the physical letdown after the intensity of the production and performance schedule. There is a gap, a loss, much like a death in your family.
We Iron Age folks are integral to our performances. Many directors become audience during the run of a show, but I am usually running lights, sound, projections or stage managing our work as it runs.
I process my way out of a production by dating a gift for my actors and crew during the run period. The gift is linked to the content or concept of the play. I build the gifts by hand, sometimes 15 little creations. Some times the gifts are personalized to individual characters, sometimes there is one type of give that is show related and reproduced for every actor.
I thought as the holiday season approached, I would share some images and info about the gifts Iron Age has presented it’s team throughout the company’s 20 year history.
I want to acknowledge the help of Steve McLean, Adam Altman, Ray Saraceni, Randall Wise in the collection of the images in this article.

This is a piece of coal used on the set with a football attached and a miniature of the set’s scoreboard with the score of the game which the Maroons; won against Notre Dame and with that victory, lost the NFL title.