Raconteur Theatre Company

My first love as a performer has always, and always will be, the stage. The connection that can be made between the actor and the audience has always been almost like a drug to me - intensely pleasurable, addictive beyond belief, and something that I’ll give up a lot to get. I had that opportunity just recently when I moonlighted away from Raconteur to appear in Rosebriar Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear, which enjoyed its’ opening night last night.

But I’ve also always been in love with old-time radio plays. The Shadow, X-Minus One, Suspense - all of them have thrilled me for years. And the audio drama is beginning to see a resurgence thanks to podcasting.

I’ve started working with BrokenSea Audio, who originally came to my attention because of the audio dramas they produce for Feedback, the winner of the first season of the reality show Who Wants To Be a Superhero? Well, back in August, I auditioned for an original horror piece entitled Smile. And, to my great surprise, I was cast in it. I recorded my lines in September, and have tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to not think about it since then.

Today is Halloween. The last day of their “Season of Screams.” And Smile was posted this morning.

I am absolutely twitterpated. Have a listen, will you?

It’s not the same as live theatre. I have no idea who will listen to it, or when, and I’ll never get to gauge the audience reaction. I didn’t even have the opportunity to meet with my co-stars, some of whom I’ve never even spoken to via the telephone or e-mail. But I’m still enchanted by the experience, and the idea that I can carry one of my performances around in my iPod is just thrilling beyond belief.

-Aaron

“The audience is the most revered member of the theater. Without an audience, there is no theater. Everything done is ultimately for the enjoyment of the audience. They are our guests, fellow players, and the last spoke in the wheel which can then begin to roll. They make the performance meaningful.” - Viola Spolin

Ghosts closes tomorrow night and I find myself thinking back through the process of how we got here. As Marketing Rep I was concerned with getting people to the show. It is easy for devout theatre-lovers to forget that although every theatre student knows the role Ibsen has played in shaping theatre over the past century, often audiences may not even recognize his name. This is frustrating and surprising given the fact that he is the second most performed playwright in the world.

So as the days grow cold and dark, we found ourselves in the perpetual gamble of theatre companies everywhere. We made our calls, sent our emails, hung our posters and even tromped around in the streets at a couple local events to raise awareness. But it came down to this: every night at half past seven, we opened our doors, crossed our fingers and hoped.

Now, on the eve of our penultimate performance of Ghosts, I would like to extend my thanks. Thank you for venturing out in sunshine and in rain, on nights when you had to get up early the next day, and in the middle of sunny Sunday afternoons. Thank you for taking a chance on us. Thank you for spending your money in a time when cash is tight and for coming to a show which is challenging and unnerving during the tension of an elevated presidential election season. Thank you for sharing your kind words, your thoughts and insights with each of us every night. But mostly, simply, thank you. You are the reason we are here.

Thanks!
Molly St.Cyr-Reid

Starting a new theatre company is hard. It isn’t a simple formula where you take one-part actors with two parts designers, add sugar and stir and everything comes out right. We are constantly working trail and error - testing things out, seeing what works and what doesn’t and how to improve. Ghosts has been a continuation of our first show – striving forward to grow together as a company and individually as artists. We have had many struggles throughout this process that have given me so much more respect for the process of producing plays. I firmly believe that we learn more from our mistakes than our triumphs and that every obstacle we have encountered has been for the betterment of the company as a whole.

One of the first obstacles I ran into as Producer/Production Coordinator was in the communication of performance dates. After After the Afterglow closed, we had very little time to get things together before auditions for Ghosts. Although I did everything to make sure all our bases were covered, something did slip through the cracks. The week after auditions we got a call from MadLab, where we are renting space for the show, to say that our website had different performance dates than our contract with them. When I first heard this, I went into panic mode. How could the most obvious thing on the planet have been missed? Four of us met to discuss the production calendar. The Board of Directors had been talking about Ghosts for months with an October 2nd opening and yet here we were facing a dilemma. Should we ask MadLab to change the contract or ask everyone involved to push the production back a week? In the end, after many phone calls and emails, we decided to honor the MadLab contract and push the production back to an October 9th opening. In the end, it was the best choice for the production. It was hard for me to not beat myself into the ground, deal with it and move on. I had simply assumed the date we had talked about for months would obviously be the same date as the one in the contract and didn’t need verification. The good thing was that it was discovered pretty early on in the process and was able to be rectified quickly and with very little inconvenience.

We have also had an incredible amount of turnover for a show. Losing various artists due to a varying length of reasons and then having to scramble to find someone else to come in and help us out. It’s always hard to keep the show moving forward when these situations occur, but I have to applaud the entire production for moving forward without fail. As is always the case, the show must go on, and it does.

The show process has not been without speed bumps, but I am incredibly proud of the amount of hard work and dedication everyone on the cast and the production team has shown in striving towards our ultimate goal, which is to do good theatre. As we prepare for our Load-In and 1st Tech tomorrow, I am excited to see all the elements finally come together. Ghosts is an incredible story and I can’t wait to share it with Columbus.

Suellen Kasiara
Producer, Ghosts