Slouching Towards Grand Rapids

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

-The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats

This Could be Our Second Coming.

In just a few short weeks, Rochester’s Black Sheep Theatre’s production of Barbara Wiechmann’s surreal, fantasty-drama Feeding the Moonfish will make its appearance on the national stage. 

Are you ready for this?

Are we ready for this?!?

We held auditions just about a year ago. Feeding the Moonfish started out as a filler piece in an evening of one act plays we called “Infinite Scope.” The showcase piece was a lovely slice-of-life comedy-drama, Coffee With God, by Kal Wagenheim, that we would perform for the First Niagara Fringe Festival, then reprise a week later at Black Sheep. I had two other pieces picked (The Rivers Under the Earth from The Ages of Man by Thornton Wilder, and Encounter by Ruth Jacobson), and needed a fourth. When I first read Feeding the Moonfish, I didn’t even like it, and I tossed it aside. Thanks to some gentle prodding by Jared Lee Morgan (who now inhabits the character “Martin”), I gave it a second chance.

And clearly, I’m glad I did.

Thanks, Jared!

A Vast Image Out of Spiritus Mundi

The vision was simple. In “Infinite Scope,” I wanted to showcase pieces that tackled the “big” questions: Who am I? How did I get here? Why are we all here? I wanted to explore the philosophy that wherever we are at any given point in time, our lives are the result and compilation of the choices we have made thus far; because I am firm believer that we always have choice. Always.

We don’t always get to choose our circumstances. We get dished up plenty in the restaurant of Life that we didn’t order. Everyone does. In most circumstances, we do not get to choose everything that happens to us. The events in our lives most certainly happen to us. But, the point of power always remains: you do get to choose what you do with that event now that it has been dished up to you. Even if you did not order it.

I was also becoming increasingly intrigued (still am) by how randomly the most amazing people seem to float in and out of my life. Is that phenomenon also a factor of the choices we make? Or is it simply Fate at work? Being at the right place at the right time?

I’m still not sure, and probably never will be.

However, I do know that the new people I met and the “old” friends with whom I worked on “Infinite Scope” (and Coffee With God and Feeding the Moonfish in particular) have become part of the spirit in me, at the core of what it means to be me.

And that’s theatre, after all. The art-form of life, at the core of what it means to be human.

The Human Spirit.

And the Spirit of the World.

When Darkness Drops

The rehearsal process was typical, like many others I’d created and developed, and at first there was nothing particularly special about it, just one piece out of four, exploring meaning of life, the universe and everything (ha ha). Kidding aside, we – Jared, Colleen (the talented and beautiful lady who portrays “Eden” in Feeding the Moonfish) and I – started to realize this story was different. Feeding the Moonfish is a powerful play, dealing with strong influences – natural forces, the power of memory and the indelibility of the Human Spirit.

These two characters, “Martin” and “Eden” have been through a figurative Hell and back. Both have had to face dark and violent tragedies in their young lives many others never experience in a lifetime. That’s what makes good theatre, after all. Tragedy and conflict.

And darkness.

“Don’t be afraid of the dark,” a trusted colleague advised at the early onset of our competition preparation. “This play is dark; it takes place at night. Work with that. Embrace the darkness.” I’m paraphrasing, of course, but I took the advice to heart.

So our brilliant and talented Lighting Designer did just that. With green and purple and blue gels, and light levels ever-so-bright enough to just adequately illuminate the actors, she created that mystical swampland in Florida in which the story takes place.

But we needed the lake.

How do you create a lake on dry land?

We couldn’t very well bring a kiddie pool to the festival.

That’s where the time of year (it was mid-November), some creative energy and a degree of intrepidity fell together in the form of a lighting effect that won us top honors at the ESTA Fest. Our Technical Director immediately thought a string of Christmas-style lights, carefully laid out in front and under the dock would do nicely to reflect up through the boards and create a visual effect that might closely resemble moonlight reflecting off the water.

It may be difficult to see and a photograph barely does it justice, but as you can see here (left), the result is quite stunning. You really ought to see it in person*, if you haven’t.

And it was the focal point of a production design that garnered us the Spencer “Spence” Watson Award for Excellence in Technical Theatre.

A $30 string of holiday bling.

The Hour Come Round at Last

So, we’re ready to go!

Almost.

We do need to raise some serious funds to be able to make the trip and come home to a still-functioning theatre organization.

There are lots of ways you can help, too.

• Make a donation via PayPal at donations@blacksheeptheatre.org.
• Call our Ticketline 585.861.4816 if you want to make the payment some other way (like a check or cash).
  
• Come to our fabulous fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings, Friday, May 29 any time from Noon to Midnight. “Eat Wings, Raise Funds” will take 10% of all sales revenue of any party presenting our EWRF coupon, and donate it to Black Sheep! You can click, download and print the image here to the left. Black&white or color is acceptable.

• Join us for an afternoon/evening of merriment, mayhem, and other forms of frivolity at “Slouching Towards Grand Rapids,” our gala fund raising event on Sunday, June 14, at The Bachelor Forum in downtown Rochester. The Forum is located at 670 University Avenue. The event runs from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and features a silent auction, 50/50 raffle, games, prizes, drag queens and more!

Please think about it? And do what you can. Every dollar counts and you’d be making a valuable contribution to the zeitgeist. 

#Believe #MiraclesHappen

There definitely is a spirit about it. When you take a two-dimensional work of fiction, find the right talented and beautiful people, share your vision, encourage involvement, give a bit of direction and a lot of support, place your fate in their hands and get out of their way, miracles do happen.

That the world is round is a delightful manifestation how perhaps we aren’t always meant to see too far down the road ahead.

But that’s a subject for another post …

[*No, really. We’re planning another Open Dress Rehearsal for later in June which will be your final – I mean final, if you’re not planning to come to Michigan – opportunity to see the multiple Regional and Statewide award-winning production of Feeding the Moonfish, by Barbara Wiechmann, directed by yours truly. Watch this space for an announcement of the date, time and location. Really.]

Poster designs for Coffee With God and Infinite Scope by Louie Podlaski. Photo credits David Sokolowski, Festival Photographer. Special thanks to Jared Lee Morgan, Colleen DiVincenzo, Jeff Clair, Danielle Suhr and Paul Scheib.