New Podcast! Part 2; The Redmond Central Connector

theater simple’s Park Bench: The Redmond Central Connector, Pt.2

This podcast completes our look at the City of Redmond’s Central Connector Project Visioning Event during which residents and city users were encouraged to share their ideas, hopes and dreams for their city and the development of the newly purchased Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Line. On Sept 15th, at 5:30 the rains came…and so did the people…over 100. The simpletons logged over 4 hrs of comments and conversations and have been busily editing them into two 30 minutes programs. And so, please enjoy theater simple’s Park Bench: The Redmond Central Connector, Pt 2.

Ok, these are AHHHHSOME! Scenic and prop elements from our new site specific work in progress. What's it all about?

WONDERLAND: ALICE ADVENTURES

August 21 at 5:00pm - August 22 at 5:00pm

Carl S. English Botanical Gardens and the Hiram Chittenden Locks

3015 NW 54th St.

theater simple's latest site-specific adventure WONDERLAND 's latest fun-in-progress experience is in August!

A free theatrical park adventure, WONDERLAND is inspired by and adapted from Charles Dodgson’s (Lewis Carroll) Alice stories, as well as his word games and puzzles.

An all-ages adventure inspired by Lewis Carroll’s writings.
...Theater and visual arts weave whimsically together within a parkland, playing with the creative perspectives of imaginations.

The goal: To look at ideas of PERSPECTIVE, CREATIVITY and PLAY - and have some serious fun.
Who can play? EVERYONE.

STAY TUNED!


WONDERLAND is supported in part by 4Culture.
And theater simple.

Reviews!

Shows and ReviewsHello! Monique here.

To give you a little idea of all the work that we've been doing, here are some of the great reviews from the shows we've been working on! I'm sure I've missed a few...but this will give you something to read for a while! :)

First off, This Is a Play written by Canadian playwright Daniel McIvor.
This fun short show is a three-hander in which the audience gets to hear the inner workings and thoughts of the actors as they perform on stage instead of only the "script". Llysa, Pamala and Ricky were great (as you'll read from the links below) and even though we really had only just started hitting our stride by the time the show closed, the run was good and anyone who had any experience being on stage or even watching people on stage certainly enjoyed themselves. Hopefully you or someone you know lives in Canberra so you'll get a chance to see it or hear about it first hand!

From the Adelaide Advertiser: 4 3/4 stars out of 5!

From Australian Stage

From Adelaide Theatre Guide

From Glam Magazine (5 out of 5 stars!)

From Talk Fringe

Billed as our 'kids show' Myth Understandings is a fun production that Andrew and I wrote a number of years ago to perform as a part of the Youth in Education program here in Australia. We've been touring it around the Northwest for the few years and so we decided to bring it back to the South Australian shores this year as well!

From the Adelaide Advertiser: 4 1/2 stars out of 5!

Adelaide Theatre Guide

From Glam Magazine (5 out of 5 stars)

From Talk Fringe

The Snow Queen is our indoor version of Hans Christian Andersen's tale by the same name. While this is the same basic story of our outdoor version (Gerda's Journey) it is performed by only five actors who play a total of 55+ characters! Also currently playing in Canberra at The Street Theatre!

Australian Stage

Glam Adelaide (5 out of 5 stars)

Talk Fringe

52 Pick up, by TJ Dawe has been a fun and popular hit for theater simple for many years. Andrew and Llysa perform it seamlessly (or at least so from the audience's perspective! ;) and they've played to sold out houses numerous times! Why is it so popular? Well besides the fact that the script is great, the actors are fabulous and the theme is something we can all relate to...the show is never the same twice! (well the odds are nearly impossible for that to happen!) So even if you've seen the show before, you can never see the same show again...tons of fun!

Talk Fringe Reviews

And the largest production that I directed (as well as managed way too many other things) only had one review that I know of. Although we had a lot of wonderful comments from the masses of audiences who came.

Festival Freak

Catching Up/Down Under

Ok, Ok, so what can we say......we been busy.

We leave Adelaide after nearly 7 weeks of full-on, flat out work. Lot's of great art (both created and viewed) and lot's of great stories. Over the next two weeks we will be traveling back in time to catch everyone up on our adventures.

Today's picture comes courtesy of Monique Kleinhans, Feb 19th. It finds us getting ready to march in the insanity known as the Fringe Parade. Upwards of 30,000 people lined the streets. It was madness....and quite fun. It was also dear Llysa's Birthday, so really, the parade was for her.

The picture should also come with this caption:
theater simple asks "you wanna start something? Do ya?" Yes, my sorry ass is back on the blog. You wanna make something of it? Do ya? Just talk to my posse. That's right! I didn't think so!!

More soon!!!!

Australia Update # 2

Today was a great day.

We have been in Australia for 6 days and are on the brink of pulling off a major outdoor production halfway around the world. We are performing our all-ages park adventure, Gerda's Journey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpP6aaVFOk) in three locations in the Adelaide region. First up is setting the piece on the estate of the Para Road Wineries (Richmond Grove, Peter Lehman & Langmeil Wineries) just 9 days after we arrive. Today we got our entire cast for Gerda's Journey (five simpletons, three Aussie professional actors, and eight community-based actors from the local Barossa Valley wine region) for the first time.

Ok, our whole cast is not together YET; key simpleton Ricky Coates is just about to hop on a plane, having just finshed his run at the Washington Ensemble Theater. Ricky arrives in the Barossa about an hour into our final dress rehearsal.

Regardless, had a lovely 4 hour rehearsal in the blazing heat (37 C, 100ish F), and were rewarded with a glorious sunset whilst sipping the open bottles from the winery's cellar door. Good art, good will, and good wine. Good combination. We open the show on Friday, and much remains to do, but it all seems a little more doable right now.

Australia Update # 1

AUSTRALIA UPDATE Feb 7th: Three days of wonderfully mild weather (mid 70's) turns HOT today, lest we forget where exactly we are. We have our first outdoor rehearsal for Gerda's Journey in the lovely Botanic Garden's while, simultaneously, Monique heads to the Barossa Valley to work with our Aussie Ensemble. We open in 5 da...ys. GO, YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE (named theater simple). Love to all, around the globe.