New Colony presents their work-in-progress

Posted by DCA Theater on March 30, 2010 in January-June 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The New Colony

The New Colony entertained a crowd of about 75 people last night in the DCA Studio Theater with excerpts from their new musical script in development, That Sordid Little Story.  Click here to see a video of a song performed live at the event by the band of same name, That Sordid Little Story, featuring Tara Sissom, Chris Gingrich, Thea Lux and Henry Riggs.

The event was presented as a part of INCUBATOR, a series designed to support the creation of new work by emerging Chicago theater companies. Utilizing Chicago DCA Theater space and resources, participants explore new projects, develop and refine styles, and share their process with the public during a special showcase event.

Don’t miss the next INCUBATOR series showcase performances in Fall 2010.  See our Fall 2010 season release for more details.

Giving Birth to the Character

Posted by DCA Theater on March 29, 2010 in January-June 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The New Colony

by Andrew Hobgood, The New Colony Artistic Director and Director of That Sordid Little Story

So once again, I’m going to refer you to the story. You have some basic plot elements, minimal description, basic character names, and nearly no backstory for the characters. So you know just as much as the actors did going into their first workshop. They know nothing but what is on that written page. If a detail is not included in the short story, then it’s not available to give them. For example, we know that Caleb and Abby are brother and sister, but we don’t know their last name yet. So that’s up to the actors to decide. When I asked Wes Needham (Caleb) and Caitlin Chuckta (Abby) to decide on a family name, they chose Calhoun. How was this name chosen? Because when Wes lived in Charleston, SC, Calhoun was a very common last name.

This gives you a little insight into how our characters are formed. Before we even see a second of the character on stage, before the actors even work on voice, physicality, etc, they begin with research, personal experience, and story-telling. Their job is to inform the playwrights and the director of who these people are. Every detail that they develop becomes critical to the story.

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Mouth Wateringly Fresh Music

Posted by DCA Theater on March 23, 2010 in January-June 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The New Colony

by Henry Riggs, musician in That Sordid Little Story band

Something awesome is happening at The New Colony: Good old fashion, country fresh, steamin’ hot bluegrass music.  Our new project That Sordid Little Story is taking the TNC writing process to fantastic new places. 

The process for the scripted performance work has proven very successful thus far, so now we thought we’d try a new element: music from scratch.  It seems a daunting task to assemble a hoard of bluegrass instruments and a bunch of musicians then somehow get folk music to appear out of no where; but, there is strategy afoot.

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The Sounds of Sordid

Posted by DCA Theater on March 23, 2010 in January-June 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The New Colony

by Andrew Hobgood, The New Colony Artistic Director and Director of Sordid Little Story

If you read our earlier post giving you a peek at the short story of That Sordid Little Story, you may have noticed the various references to the band and album that hold the same title.

Well, the band, made up of Chris Gingrich, Thea Lux, Henry Riggs and Tara Sissom, has been toiling away this month on the songs that are guiding Billy’s journey.

Here are a selection of songs that you can preview.

To tie this into the story that you read, That Sordid Little Story is the opening number of the show that welcomes in the audiences, Prologue sends Billy out into the world, Kissin’ Tree is when Billy meets Abigail and Caleb, and A Toast to Death is Billy’s introduction to Jerry, a caustic stand-up comedian who the band uses as their opening act.

These songs will be performed live at next Monday’s presentation. Hopefully you’ll be able to join us and share your thoughts!

Our Process

Posted by DCA Theater on March 16, 2010 in January-June 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The New Colony

by Andrew Hobgood, The New Colony Artistic Director and Director of Sordid Little Story

Our process is grounded in the idea that there are three fields of creative expertise in any production:

The actors are experts in who the characters are and how they think and feel at any given moment. We believe that since the actor will be immersing themselves in the character every rehearsal and every performance, then they will inherently understand these characters on a level that even the playwright will never know. So that means that the actors actually have the authority to let the playwright know when they have written something that isn’t true for their character, or to give the playwright information that may help make scenes more true.

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