No…Network.

We have risen.

The…Network…is…back.

People are worried. They say, “Help!”

“Where are my files?”

“What happened to my database?”

“Why can’t I print?”

“Why can HE print?”

“Where are the scissors?”

There are answers to these questions.

“Safe.”

“Unclear. We may have to do two months worth of data entry in two days.”

“You are no longer connected.”

“I have no idea. That is strange.”

“I don’t know. You took them from me!”

None of these answers are comforting. I run from desktop to desktop with my savior backup drive. “What do you need?”

We require assistance. We get assistance. The day comes and goes without resolution. Pizza is eaten by two IT professionals and one Grants Writer (some IT experience required) at midnight. At one thirty in the a.m. the first computer cries, “I am ONE!”

We are returned. Plugged in. Liberated. Enslaved.

We…are…WHOLE.

-an engineer (now returned)

I sat there with Chris Schram, Redmoon’s Executive Director, and Rebecca Hunter, the Producing Director. I had so many spreadsheets in front of me, with the attendance information for Boneyard Prayer, with historical data from other shows, with projections for how many people would attend this performance, how many people might attend that performance. And don’t get me wrong, it was all useful in leading to the decision to extend the show. But it wasn’t enough.

At the end of the day, we realized we have a beautiful piece of theater in front of us. A heart-wrenching, fascinating show performed by an incredibly talented cast, featuring extraordinary visuals and fabulous original music. And we owe it to the theater-goers of Chicago to offer as many of them as possible the opportunity to see this show.

Spreadsheets are helpful, but they only take you so far. Pride and faith are also absolutely vital. And right now, we have those things in spades. It’s a pretty good feeling.

ART
Antonio Martinez
Bruce MacDonald
Dian Sourelis
Jason Brammer
Mary Stoppert
Donna Hapac
Gabe Lanza
Our very own Kass Copeland

GALLERIES
3 great galleries
INTUIT
R.ege Antiques
The Ames Gallery

IF YOU LIKE REDMOON, YOU WILL LIKE THESE VERY TALENTED ARTISTS.

In addition, Brother Quay was an influence for lighting designer john horan and FM.

and…

the tones and colors (or lack thereof) of this work continue to compel the design team- check out these great photos.

–Frank Maugeri

Only at Redmoon I suppose.

It’s harder to image being an audience member during the show. Opening night, wrestling with last minute changes, most of my synapses were focused on remembering the next cue, getting the dirt box over that snag, making sure the puppets didn’t lose any extremities. I was consumed in imperfections like my errant shadow screen blip and the excess fog, and taking mental notes on how I might more gracefully navigate around a box or position my hand to manipulate a puppet’s head. It wasn’t until the final blackout of the show that I considered the perceptions of our observers.

There in the black was a tangible silence. It lasted only a moment, but it was heavy with sense lost in something profound. Just what that something is, I probably won’t ever know, but I feel blessed to be a part of it.

–Alice Wedoff

About a third of the music was going to be devoted to vocal songs dressed up in Tin Pan Alley, Vaudeville, or Kurt Weill type orchestrations. Another third of the music was going to be modern/rock interpretations of traditional folk music. We were often referring to the mid/late ’80s Tom Waits releases and the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. Many times, I remember thinking I was playing slow motion, Brian Eno arrangements of Elizabeth Cotten or Rev. Gary Davis guitar pieces. The last third was orchestral music and sound design recorded at my home studio.

From working with Frank before, I prepared myself with a notebook of melodies and arrangements, knowing that my perception of the music would change as soon as I saw the actors, puppets, and stage. While some compositions were written months ago, I knew that many of the tunes would be written once the script had been revised. In fact, the closing number was composed on the spot during the last week of rehearsals.

Toward the end of the composition process, the music became more “operatic” as certain musical themes started stretching and connecting different acts of the play. The piece attached to the March 28 post below, “Alice,” a sprawling orchestral score in the play, is also alluded to in a crunchy guitar/percussion instrumental called “We On The Bum,” when Martin travels back to the city. The melodies and lyrics of “Boneyard Shuffle,” a minor-key ragtime number, are brought back in the plays closing song, but within a major key.

The most surprising and satisfying thing to me is how these amazing performers have taken these compositions and completely transformed them in to something wholly their own. Alex, Kasey, Alice, and Rob have become a veritable orchestra and given the music a life and urgency I could not have foreseen when the music was composed.

-Charles Kim, Composer and Musical Director

They have remained true inspirations to Boneyard, and feel like family, especially the great Julian Grey animation:
–Frank Maugeri

Poetry by Mark Strand.

Poetry by Billy Collins.

I knew a few things when I began this new work: I wanted to make a show that was about very personal subjects to me, fatherhood and alcoholism. I wanted to use the media of puppetry and song, because I love them both - they are great examples of hope and imagination. I wanted to develop a dark and filthy world in which the event could take place, one of symbol and metaphor.

I approached a committed, intelligent, creative group of makers: Seth Bockley, who wrote lyrics and helped shape the story; Charles Kim, who generated the wonderful music; and Tracy Otwell, who created the world of the play - the set and the shadows - and stood by my side as a primary storyteller and co-director. I cast 5 talented singers and performers to help make the work with me and this team, a group of people who committed to the creation of this work in a way that was nothing short of obsessed with greatness. We worked for 5 weeks developing a show, which had moments of beauty, moments of surrealism, and moments of imagination, but had yet to reach to reach its full potential… potential we could all feel the emerging presence of.

(more…)

“Alice”

“Haunting String Quartet, No Bear”

Being a disenchanted actress fed up with status quo of the acting world, the audition was like finding water in the desert. The rehearsal process, though often tiring and baffling, has proved much the same. Redmoon treats theater as the beast it is. Before a rehearsal one day, Frank referred to it as such: he spoke of an animal that, while not allowed to run rampant, mustn’t be stifled into submission (at least not before opening night). The result is a piece that varies greatly from its original conception. It is a piece that has absorbed the voices and inspiration from every artist involved. It is a piece that has been given the time and space to attain its true potential, and hopefully, to touch on truth.

Countless scenes and songs and gestures have fallen by the wayside in the beast’s journey to opening night (even my craft paper baby is lost), but I’ve found that every moment, from the audition to now entering tech, has served to nourish the animal, making it stronger and more beautiful than any one person could have imagined.

-Alice Wedoff, Gravedigger