Heading into At Home at the Zoo...

One of my favorite things about working in a theatre like Theatre 810 is seeing the sets go up and down, up and down.  In a matter of days, there is a entirely different world than the one that was there just a week ago.  Right now, we have a set in the space that, in fact, creates two worlds - for Albee's At Home at the Zoo - the pairing of acts Homelife and The Zoo Story.

Here is what critics have to say about the work:

"An essential and heartening experience…If Homelife is an openhanded slap, The Zoo Story is a gut punch with a closed fist. Edward Albee is a voice unparalleled in American theater." —NY Times

 "Tense, truthful, and hypnotic" —New York Daily News

"Albee has dared to write a prequel to the play that made his reputation . . . . Improbable as it sounds, the new stuff doesn't just hold up next to the famous bench encounter—it's better. . . In a sure sign of a writer in full command of his powers, the dialogue gets more matter-of-fact as the subjects grow more perverse—like watching a Balthus canvas come to life." —New York

Really, I can not wait.  I have seen several productions of The Zoo Story, but have not had the opportunity to see it as Albee prefers it produced (with Homelife), and the Gremillion/Helm duo is the team to do it right.  Here is all of the info that you need to come support smart, innovative theatre in Lafayette.  It's a team sport, ya'll.


**This play contains mature language and content. Only those 17 and older will be admitted. Thank you.**



Theater 810
January 25 & 26 @ 7:30 pm
January 27 @ 2pm
February 1 & 2 @ 7:30pm
February 3 @ 2pm

Tickets are $12 ($10 for students and seniors) and will be available at the Theater 810 box office and online at http://athomeatthezoo.eventbrite.com/
 
Cast/Crew
Ann..........................Katryn Schmidt
Peter........................Scott Gremillion
Jerry.........................Cooper Helm
Stage Manager.........Erin Segura
Costumes................Angela Thomas
Publicity...................Hope Garrett Cook
Artwork...................Erin Broussard


Directed by Cooper Helm
Produced by Scott Gremillion
 
At Home at the Zoo, a play by Edward Albee, began in 1958 as an award winning one act called The Zoo Story. Peter, an unsuspecting bookworm, is accosted by Jerry in Central Park. Jerry, a "permanent transient," lives on the fringe of society and reality. He seems intent on breaking Peter out of his shell and pushing him to his limits. Jerry regales Peter with tales wondrous and incomprehensible, both explaining and concealing his true purpose.

Nearly fifty years later, Edward Albee returned to this world with the prequel one act, Homelife. We find Peter, before he leaves for the park, reading at home. His wife, Ann, interrupts him with three dreaded words, "We should talk." Peter is unresponsive and Ann is distracted, soon forgetting what she wanted to talk about. Or has she?

The two acts, performed together, comprise At Home at the Zoo, an exceptional play about the complexity of human relationships both old and new. It strikes at the underlying currents of the subconscious through characters extraordinarily absurd, hilarious, loving, respectful and irreverent.

Week of 1/14/13

Welcome to the Theatre 810 blog in the new year!  We hope that you had as happy, peaceful and restorative a holiday season as we did.

Acting Unlimited, Inc. resumed their Theatre Academy classes last week (tween and teen acting).  It was a nice break after their end of the semester performance at the First Annual Entrances Student Theatre Festival that was held at Theatre 810 during early December.  We can't wait to see what the students will present for us at the conclusion of their spring semester!

First up this week at the theatre, we've got The Stage Monkeys of Lafayette's monthly performance on Wednesday the16th at 7:30 pm.  Tickets can be purchased at the door, but reservations can also be made ahead of time by calling the theatre at 484-0172.  This fab troupe just applied to perform at the Chicago Improv Festival, so let's show them our support while they wait to hear back!

Meanwhile, the Helm/Gremillion production of Albee's At Home at the Zoo is in their final rehearsals, as they open next week (January 25th).  Please make your reservations now for this exciting production not seen before in Lafayette.  Fifty years after Albee brought us the famous one act, The Zoo Story, he returned to it, adding a prequel one act, Homelife.  At Home at the Zoo is the marriage of these two great works.  Please note that this play contains mature content and language and no one under the age of 17 will be admitted.


Also, please mark your calendars now for our upcoming January Readers Theatre (January 28, 7 pm).  We will be reading a relatively new work, Rock of Abandon, by playwright Stephen Blackburn. He has requested that we videotape the reading and we will have a guided feedback/response afterward. What an exciting opportunity for our group to participate in this incubatory experience.

That's all for now, folks, but we will be back next week to tell you a little more about the upcoming Albee production, and give you a heads up about our other winter productions....

Week of 11/26

We at 810 hope that you had a wonderful, safe and restful Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

This week at 810 sees us getting ready for the 2012 Entrances Student Theatre Festival, a new annual event that we are very excited about!  Our lineup this year is as follows:

Friday, December 7, 2012
7:00 PM Welcome/Opening remarks
7:30 PM The Masks, by Melissa Watson
               performed by LJ Alleman Talented Theatre & Theatre IV students

Saturday, December 8, 2012
10:00 AM Welcome/Opening Remarks
10:15 AM Technical Portfolio Presentation/Discussion for students
11:30 AM A sneak preview of Firelight Performing Arts’ Scrooge!
NOON     AUI Theatre Academy presents work by the Tween Acting Class
12:30 PM Lunch Break
1:30 PM Theatre students from Lafayette High Performing Arts Academy present their semester work
2:00 PM Mock Audition/Feedback Workshop for students
3:00 PM The Masks, by Melissa Watson
               performed by LJ Alleman Talented Theatre & Theatre IV students
4:00 PM AUI Theatre Academy presents work by the Teen Acting Class
4:30 PM A sneak preview of The Tea Sippers’ Theatre Co. production of The Effects of Gamma Rays       
               on Man in the Moon Marigolds
5:00 PM Cult of the Stage Monkeys Improv Presentation
7:30 PM The Masks, by Melissa Watson
               performed by LJ Alleman Talented Theatre & Theatre IV students

Sunday, December 9, 2012
3:00 PM The Masks, by Melissa Watson
               performed by LJ Alleman Talented Theatre & Theatre IV students


Impressive for our first year, huh?  We are psyched.

Also this weekend are auditions for A Home at the Zoo, by Edward Albee.  Auditions are at 806 and 810 and the show will be at 810 in January!  Here is the audition notice:

***

Auditions for Edward Albee's AT HOME AT THE ZOO will be held at Theatre 810 on Friday, November 30 at 7pm and Saturday, December 1 at 3pm.

WE ARE CASTING ONE FEMALE LEAD TO PLAY THE ROLE OF ANN, a strong and loving woman who is unhappy with her status quo marriage and is ready to poke and prod it a little to find out what's underneath.

Actors interested should be 27-40 and should come prepared with a one minute contemporary monologue. We will also ask for a short cold read from the script (we will provide). The production will be directed by Cooper Helm and will show the last weekend of January and the first weekend of February with a preview night January 25th.

Thank you to all who share this and are interested. If you have any questions about the audition or the play, please contact me.

Scott Gremillion

sufficious@yahoo.com

337-706-2177

 

***

 

Until next week, folks....

 

Week of 11/12

So, I have been neglectful of this blog.  I admit it.  Things at 810 got busy, and I put it to the side.  However, my feet are back on the ground, and I am here to tell you about this week's theatre happenings!

Tonight at 810 is the FIRST MONTHLY Readers Theatre!  We will be reading/listening to Lanford Wilson's The Rimers of Eldritch, and we are really excited about the enthusiasm that we have gotten from the Lafayette community about this monthly event.  We can get together as a group, hear a new play (or revisit an old one) and make new friends!  We will be posting photos of our first meeting later this week on our Facebook page and announcing next month's date, so check it all out!

On Saturday at the theatre is an improv workshop with Stage Monkey's Elaine and Jason.  Wanna beef up your improv skills?  Never done improv before?  Check it out - it's an all day affair culminating in a workshop performance that evening for your family and friends!

On Sunday, we are having a Weekend Work Call for 810 and 806.  The theatre needs a little TLC after weeks and weeks of continual use, so if you have a bit of time, we would love to see you there.  Oh - and we will feed and water you for your time :)

One last thing - we would like to thank all of the patrons that came to support the recent shows at 810.  The Tea Sippers' 70 Scenes of Halloween, Wanderlust's The Monster Tales, and AUI's Dracula were great successes, and wouldn't have been without your support.

See you next Monday, I promise... 

Week of 10/8

Well, we at 810 had a pretty restorative week off last week, although we still had classes, rehearsals, meetings and paperwork to keep us plenty busy.  We hope that you all had a wonderful week, too, and before we go on, can we get a WHO DAT?! and a big congratulations to UL Lafayette who defeated Tulane during the ULL homecoming weekend!

Now, down to business:  This weekend at Theatre 810 is the Acadiana Repertory Theatre's reading of Cody Daigle's Stratford Boy.  This piece is the first in a trilogy of plays exploring the life of William Shakespeare and his fictional sister Judith (a creation of Virginia Woolf in "A Room of One's Own"). The second play, The Elizabethans, is coming soon; and of course, we all remember the third, William & Judith, which was produced at 810 almost exactly one year ago, to much acclaim. 

In Daigle's own words, Stratford Boy presents William Shakespeare "...as a beleaguered young man trying to find his purpose in life. His shotgun marriage to Anne Hathaway has already produced a child and another is on the way. And he's been secretly teaching his sister Judith to read -- and write.  When a childhood friend, Will Kemp, comes through Stratford with a band of traveling players, a door opens in Will's life that could take him away from Stratford. It's a door Judith wants to walk through as well..."

We can't wait to get a glimpse of Cody Daigle's new work, but in addition to the reading, ART will be discussing the plans for their upcoming 2013 season.  The reading/season preview is free of charge, and is only happening twice this weekend, so make your reservations pronto.  See you there -

Week of 10/1

Wow, Lafayette!  Thank you so much for coming out to support the UL student production of Proof!  We had full houses with lovely, receptive audiences.  So lucky for us and for our next generation of theatre artisans!

As far a performances go, we are taking a breather this week, before heading into FIVE STRAIGHT WEEKS of performances for the Lafayette community!  AUI's Dracula will continue to rehearse in both Space 806 and Theatre 810, and The Tea Sippers' Theatre Company will also be rehearsing in Space 806 from time to time.  Their show, Seventy Scenes of Halloween by Jeffrey M. Jones opens October 18th.  The Tea Sippers are a teen run theatre company in Lafayette and they produce, direct and design all of their own productions; supporting their work is vital to building a vibrant, relevant arts community.  Mark your calendars now, arts lovers!

In other news, Theatre 810 is also working on a myriad of new events and projects that we will be announcing over the coming weeks.  One monthly event that we will start to host is the 810 Readers Theatre.  What is "readers theatre?" Once a month, anyone interested will meet at 810 and read a play together. We will divvy up the parts when we get there, and there will be scripts available for those who don't already have a copy (you may have to share with a neighbor, but that's part of the fun!) There will be plenty of time afterward to discuss and interpret the play, too.  Theatre artists, avid readers, supportive community members - come one, come all!  Our first monthly gathering will be Monday, November 12 and our first play is Lanford Wilson's The Rimers of Eldritch, so dig out your copy now if you already have one!

We will have more information soon about that and more...as well as updates regarding our next five weeks of productions!  Gotta run for now, but stay tuned to our Facebook page and keep going to shows!

Week of 9/24

First, a sincere thank you to everyone who came out to see The Stage Monkeys of Lafayette's improv shows last week.  They will be back in November, but we sure are going to miss them during October!

This past weekend saw the UL student production of Proof by David Auburn move into Theatre 810.  In a continuing relationship with the UL Department of Performing Arts, Proof is being directed by Kelsey LaCoste, a BFA senior in the department.  Mario Raymond, a junior concentrating in technical design and production, is the scenic and lighting designer.  Theatre students are also performing in the show, the exception being veteran actor, Duncan Thistlethwaite, who is portraying the role of Robert, the father.  In an student-mentor style process, faculty at the university have been guiding the students through the process of bringing a show from script to stage.  Proof will be a one-weekend production, so please reserve your seats or purchase tickets online as soon as you are able.  Let's support our next generation of theatre practitioners, Lafayette! For more information, please visit the Proof event page.

Also this week, AUI's Dracula will continue rehearsing in Space 806.  As anyone who has been downtown on Jefferson in the evenings can attest, this cast has been hard at work bringing the original 1927 stage play to life.  We can't wait to see it complete with effects and spectacle!  A source close to the production says that stage make-up technicians will be watching rehearsals this week to determine the specific needs of this show.

Oh!  One other thing - a GIANT happy birthday to Marie Diaz, our Development Director, today - Happy Birthday, Marie!!!

That's it for us, right now....but we have lots more coming up, so stay tuned to our Facebook page and keep reading!