Tympanic Theatre presents their work in progress

Posted by DCA Theater on February 3, 2011 in January-June 2011 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Tympanic Theatre

Tympanic Theatre entertained a crowd of about 65 people in the DCA Studio Theater with excerpts from their play in development, Verse Chorus Verse.

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 performance for The State Theatre on Monday, February 28 at 7:30pm!

Lounge Act

Posted by DCA Theater on February 3, 2011 in January-June 2011 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Tympanic Theatre

by Daniel Caffrey, Artistic Director of Tympanic Theatre

Well, that’s a wrap, folks – at least until April.  The DCA Incubator Showcase gave us a development opportunity unlike any other, and we couldn’t be happier with where the script has gone or with the reading itself.  It was a packed house with wonderful audience reactions, as well as valuable questions raised in the talkback.  Infinite thanks to Nate, Bridget, and all the folks at the DCA, and of course to you, whether you were in the crowd or are curiously perusing this entry.  Be sure to check out the full production of Tympanic’s world premiere of Verse Chorus Verse, written by Randall Colburn and directed by Kyra Lewandowski – April 7th through May 1st at The Side Project.  Cruise the website for more details.

As a final cap to this wonderful process, here’s a captivating, brutally honest retrospective from cast member Dennis Frymire.  Enjoy, and we’ll see you in April!

-Dan

PS – I wouldn’t be a good Artistic Director if I didn’t plug our current show at Rhino Fest, the beautifully creepy (or is it creepily beautiful?) world premiere of Wonderful by Mary Laws, playing for only two more performances (tomorrow, February 3rd and Thursday, February 10th) at the Prop Theatre (3502 N. Elston), 9pm.  Head on over to www.rhinofest.com for more info.

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A little over a month ago, Kyra Lewandowski (the director) and Randall Colburn (the playwright) cast me as Mason Dwyer, Satanic shock rocker, in the workshop reading of “Verse Chorus Verse”.

What a wild month it has been.

I came into this project having only a basic knowledge of Kurt Cobain: I understood a little about the impact Nirvana, and then Cobain’s death, had on the culture of the early 90s, and I knew that many believe his death to be a murder.  I also know a very vulgar joke about his death which I won’t repeat here.

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from the horse’s mouth…

Posted by DCA Theater on January 26, 2011 in January-June 2011 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Tympanic Theatre

by Susan Myburg, Company Member and actor in Tympanic Theatre Incubator

Some of you loyal Tympaniacs may have noticed a recent change in the plot synopsis for our upcoming production of Randall Colburn’s VERSE CHORUS VERSE.  The script has undergone some major literary surgery over this past week, and here’s why, in a special blog entry straight from the playwright himself.  Read on!

When did it begin?

That used to be the first line of VERSE CHORUS VERSE.

It’s also a good question.

For my 13th birthday, my mother took me to K-Mart and told me I could have two CD’s. My first choice was Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise.” I listened to it once. My second choice was Nirvana’s seminal album, “Nevermind.” It was January of 1995 and Kurt Cobain had died the year previous. I missed the boat, as it were, but that didn’t diminish my fervor. So as soon as my brother hung up his out-of-style flannels, I pulled them down and swam in their sleeves.

The rest of their catalogue came soon after: I bought secondhand copies of Bleach, Incesticide, In Utero, and Unplugged from a myriad assortment of local stoners and read every Nirvana book I could get my hands on. One of those books was Who Killed Kurt Cobain, a well-researched, thoroughly engrossing screed I gobbled up with ecclesiastical abandon. I gave ‘persuasive speeches’ in high school and college about the subject, and often fantasized about the great work of art I’d create that would persuade them all.

(I won’t get into the details of the conspiracy, but if you’re interested, http://www.justiceforkurt.com/ should have all the twists and turns.)

The bottom line is that I believed it. I really, really believed it. Even as my music tastes veered from grunge into pop-punk into nu-metal (I KNOW) into emo into folk into indie and indie-folk, I believed it and I fought for it and I always knew that Kurt was the Alpha and Omega and would be my favorite musician until the end of time.

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Inspired by true events

Posted by DCA Theater on January 19, 2011 in January-June 2011 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Tympanic Theatre

by Susan Myburg, Company Member and actor in Tympanic Theatre Incubator

I was never a big Nirvana fan.  THERE! I said it.  Before you start casting your stones, do keep in mind that this more than likely a generational thing.  I was only eight around the time Kurt Cobain died.  However, since we started workshopping Verse Chorus Verse, I have become quite obsessed with the phenomenon that is Nirvana and the grunge legacy that Kurt Cobain left behind the day he (did or did not) commit suicide.

Perhaps more interesting than Cobain himself are the folks who inspired his work, the folks who we so rarely talk about.  In Verse Chorus Verse particularly, Randall focuses on Gerald Friend and Polly.  For those of you who don’t know, Polly was a 14 year old runaway from Tacoma, WA who was kidnapped by Gerald Friend in 1987 and than ever so gruesomely tortured by him.  I’ll spare you the horrific details, but she’s the supposed inspiration of Nirvana’s hit song of the same name.

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Beginning the workshop process

Posted by DCA Theater on January 18, 2011 in January-June 2011 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Tympanic Theatre

by Susan Myburg, Company Member and actor in Tympanic Theatre Incubator

I have always been more apt to act, direct, or be a proverbial cheerleader for new work as apposed to classical works or already published plays.  This is mostly due to selfishness and partly because this is the stuff Chicago breeds on. And if I were to be completely honest with myself, because I like the idea of a play getting published, making if big and knowing I was a part of the process (I mean, let’s get real, right?). As an artist, there are few things more enticing to me than sitting in a room full of individuals focused on shaping a new piece of writing into something truly original and whole.  I want to be there every step of the way, to see the play evolve, take shape, and ultimately come to live in front of an audience.

As we close out our first week of round table discussions for Verse Chorus Verse I find myself becoming more and more enthralled with this script.  This is my third time in the past year to be working on one of Randall’s plays and the third time I have found myself becoming obsessed with the world he’s laid before us.  What I discover time and time again to be most captivating about his plays is the absolute raw and truthful way he portrays his characters.  Their psychology.  Their dirty secrets.  Their ugly actions that make you know you should hate them but only make you love them more, because who hasn’t had those same thoughts but were too cowardly to act on them?

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