The metaphorical engine of the "CCdd" vehicle is our fantastic, (and very handsome), Technical Director Patrick Kelly. Here is what he has to say about some of our upcoming events!
Hello Circle fans glad to write you again!
After 15 years of participating in plays in my life I’m most proud of the one we have just finished (Ragnarok). It’s so wonderful to know that I am part of such a fantasticly creative group of people and to hear from so many artists who are interested in helping with and watching the pieces we are lucky to produce.
In order to continue, however- we need to raise some funds and thanks to our resources we are able to host great events coming up that you should all be at:
First, we have our newly announced monthly performance and party series at our favorite little wine bar Jakes at 6th. We kick this off with a night of acoustic music on January 22nd where you will see & hear the sounds of local bands like The Cypress Project and Mango Rocksteady, plus kick ass visiting musicians Colin Maxwell and Kyle Rogan will share their work with San Diego. Then on February 26th we will be hosting a night of laughs given to you by local hilarious comedians like Ryan Shores, Julio Jacobo, Cory Lynn, and Jacque Wilke. Our March 18th installment will help you get in the mood of the up coming World Premiere of 'The Decustruction of a Drag Queen'. It’s a Drag Ball!
This series will continue monthly so stay tuned to find out what we have planned for April and the rest of this sure to be wonderful year. The performances are free and our company receives a portion of any food or drink purchased to help fund our shows. So Drink, Listen, Laugh, and Dance for ART!
Second- and something to mark your calendar for is our 'Love Roulette' production- our homage to love written collaboratively by some of our favorite young San Diego playwrights including company members Sam Ginn, Evan Kendig, Melissa Coleman-Reed, Soroya Rowley- and our fantastic guest writers Stephen Schmitz, Erin Maxwell, Jason Perkins and Delia Knight. The scenes are shaping up fantastically and we have some great local actors to present them. The night will come with some extra spunk, some music, wine and dessert, and a performance from sensational Drag Performer Grace Towers! Click HERE to get your tickets for this event taking place on February 11th at 8pm as there will be limited availability!
2012 promises to be a busy one for us, but it’s looking as bright as the beloved San Diego weather. Our next full length production is being built as we speak and I have to say the team is working hard to make it amazing, and our soon-to-be-announced cast is absolutely stellar. But we need your help to bring the pieces together. So come on out, have a good time and be a part of our family!
-Patrick Kelly
Thanks Patrick! Stay tuned for more info on "Love Roulette" and look out for an invite in on your/ our facebook page!
Breaking is overrated! We are hard at work on a series of projects all leading up to our April production "The Deconstruction of a Drag Queen" (this is a working title). The company has already engaged in several interviews from the Drag Performance Art community of San Diego, and have a basic script idea ready to be written. Within the next 2 weeks we will be working hard to mold and adapt the work that best represents the amazing stories that have been shared with us. We are humbled and grateful to the lovely group of performers that have bravely shared their lives with us. We can't wait to share our piece with you!
Until then, we must accumulate the needs of the production. Meaning- we've got to raise money. So on this blog we are announcing our February 11th fundraiser titled: "Love Roulette"!
This event will feature readings of original short pieces all reflective on the topic of love based on the interviews of friends/family/randos, excerpts from "The Deconstruction of a Drag Queen," live music, some special guest performances, and wine & dessert- all in the spirit of Valentine’s Day weekend! Tickets will be on sale this weekend!
The short pieces will be written by:
Sam Ginn
Soroya Rowley
Melissa Coleman-Reed
Evan Kendig
Stephen Schmitz
Erin Maxwell
and Jason Perkins
All proceeds will 100% go to funding our April show.
Speaking of the April show, we had a fantastic shoot with the main character of our production for publicity-purposes: the amazing local Drag Performing Artist: Grace Towers! Here are a few favorites from the shoot by the always amazing Rich Soublet:
Isn't she beautiful? We will be reproducing these images for our poster/post card. Soon you'll see this lovely face all over town.
That's all she wrote today ladies and gents! Until next week!
It is incredibly hard to believe looking back- that this time last year we were hosting readings in our living room for our first original production of "The Break-Up/Break-Down". Those days seem so long ago now with all that we have been through in the amazing year that was 2011. It's harder now to believe that we were able to turn those fun-filled nights with beautiful friends into a functioning community-based Theatre Company with 2 fully-produced productions under our belt, along with countless meetings, fundraisers, parties, and even more new artist friends to collaborate with.
Because we believe it is important to remember your roots, we want to annually compile a "year-in-review" blog that allows our fans to take a look at everything that has happened in the world of Circle throughout one year of existence. So, hold onto your memory pants- because away we go!
December 2010/ January 2011
After interviews with now CCdd company members for their stories of Heartbreak- Artistic Director Katie created the piece "The Break-Up/Break-Down". We hosted collaborative readings, work-shop Viewpoint sessions, a wine & dessert reading at the Diversionary Theater- all before finally getting into rehearsals and putting up the beast that launched the life of Circle Circle dot dot. Here are some great images that sum up all of the fun of the reading and some from the show:
The reading was the very first performance that Circle had ever done- and it was incredible. A huge audience, and wonderful feedback on "The Break-Up/Break-Down" led to our full production.
February/March
Rehearsal for the production was a blast- especially with guests. The beautiful Kym Pappas brought the OnStage interns to our den to see what it meant to be a Community-Based Collaborative Theatre Company.
April/May/June/July
As a young company- we have to create all the free publicity we can! This image was an example of the facebook photo campaign we had leading up to our show. Each cast member posted a defaced image of their relationship in the production. These images were waaay too fun to make. Photo by the amazing Paul Savage.
Here are some images from the production:
All photos by the wonderful Bill Hargreaves!
August/September
After this production we knew we were not done. It was too much fun, and too exciting to stop. Our lives have been changed forever- for the good, and now it was time to make this company work. We found our next Community to collaborate quickly with our recently-closed production of "Ragnarok"- but we needed more funding to take another step closer to better productions. We were proud of what we did with "The Break-Up/Break-Down"- damn proud! But, with more funding we could create a better platform for telling the stories properly- so we got to work.
First, the amazing San Diego Dance Theater, commissioned us to create a piece for their annual "Trolley Dances" production. We came up with the zany "Trolley Kids" to help transition audiences from performance to performance with an element of adventure through site-specific installation images. Our performers were placed along the tour acting out games or child-like explorations in locations that would never otherwise be suited for children. Here are some images of that:
And a little video:
Because we are insane, and still learning a bit about time management, we planned a giant fundraiser around the same time as "Trolley Dances"- and it was the wildly successful and incredibly fun "Morp". I am happy to announce today on this blog that the "Morp" will be returning next year! We had such a great turn-out, and our attendees had made several formal requests to bring it back, so you got it San Diego! Here are a few snaps:
A little surprise press from City Beat the day before!
Company members Katie and Sam had to test out the fabulous photo booth provided by Rich Soublet!
Morp King and Queen and crew!
It was a magical night and it will be returning for those who missed out this year!
This event also brought the beginning of Circle's youtube commercials! Here is our favorite from the event:
October/November/December
After both of these events, and some wonderful interviews with the Live-Action Role-Playing enthusiasts of San Diego, with the help of the amazing Director Steve Schmitz- we created "Ragnarok". It was only two weeks ago that we closed, but here are some fabulous re-cap photos and videos from the experience:
Just like with "The Break-Up/Break-Down" we created another facebook campaign. This time, we made player cards for each of the characters to post as their facebook profile picture. They turned out fabulous- thanks to Rich Soublet and Matt Lescault-Wood for their fantastic skills.
Our publicity shoot was a hoot. Thanks again Rich!
Here is a fun little video our Stage Manager took from the booth of our Orc- Julio Jacobo- getting ready for battle:
So, that's our very bare-boned year in review. It's so difficult to summarize and entire year of work and love and new friends and parties- but this is our attempt. It's so important to know where you came from. This blog has been with us to document it all- and we are so happy we kept our promise to write weekly for our fans. And we shall continue in 2012!
2012 has many exciting adventures in store for us. Some we are sure of- like the fact that our 3rd production will be produced at the 10th Ave Theater the first three weeks of April...mark your calendar!
We will also be hosting another fabulous fundraiser on February 13th featuring new short works by company members and guest authors all on the subject of love.
But, as you know- more on this will be discussed shortly. For now, we wish you a fabulous wrap of this amazing year, and the most excited art-filled/ love-filled 2012 possible.
And just because we wouldn't be an arts organization without a little help- if you're feeling charitable, please donate to our future by clicking the button above. And please join us in our audiences in the New Year!
I made it! I survived my first semester of grad school! I'm 1/4 of the way to my Masters degree in Arts Administration, and official role of CCdd Executive Director :)
Going to classes and working full time has been slightly more of a challenge than I anticipated. After being out of college for 5 years, getting used to hundreds of pages of academic reading per week was pretty tough to adjust to! Not to mention all the papers and other assignments thrown in there too, but somehow I managed and lived to tell my tale.
Classes were at times very interesting. It was amazing to see how some artists make their way into the "Art World" and see all of their trials and tribulations. We also met several arts administrators who are actively working in the Boston area arts scene and were able to hear their stories of how they got there and some of the crazy things they deal with in the biz.
I must admit I am thrilled to be done with class for the semester and can't wait to enjoy my break. I'll be back in San Diego for a short visit in just 15 days and I can't wait! I'm super bummed I had to miss Ragnarok but know that very soon I'll be back with CCdd making even more fabulous theater for all of your eyeballs to enjoy. In the meantime, i'm going to be hanging out with some dinosaur fossils here at the Boston Museum of Science.
Hi everyone! We are taking a little hiatus this week from normal blogging. Last month was a busy one, so we are letting our witty blog-brains rest after overcoming the hurdle of our second show.
Check back next week for Holiday Cheer and updates from 2012 and Circle Circle dot dot!
