Raconteur Theatre Company

Thespians get a bad rap sometimes for being lazy. People who subscribe to that belief clearly have never participated in a stage production. Nothing about theatre is easy, that’s part of why the people who devote themselves to it are so passionate about it – they have to be.

Theatre is a grueling business. It involves long hours of hard work that many people just don’t understand and can’t relate to. Actors often laugh off the comment “How do you memorize all those lines?” and act like it’s the easiest thing in the world. I’ve scoffed at that line many times myself. It is most certainly NOT easy. Memorizing lines takes hours of dedication and patience. In addition it can require the forgiveness and help of friends and loved ones for the many times we ask that they run through the script for us.

It keeps us up late. We go home late and get up early to work our everyday jobs. We fight to make sure those jobs don’t suffer while we’re focusing on the production.

It requires dedication, humility, the ability to think on your feet and laugh at yourself. It requires trust and belief that somehow everything will come together in the end if we just keep fighting for it.

And when it finally does, when you take that bow and walk offstage, it’s worth it.

See you all at Mom & Pop!

Molly

Straight off of our production of Ghosts we have launched into rehearsals for our December production: Mom and Pop by local Columbus playwright Sarah Tobin.  Part of my duties as director is to share my concept of the play with the production team.  This is what I recently sent out to everyone.

Mom and Pop
Written by Sarah Tobin
Directed by Jill Ceneskie

Every generation must choose its path.  Do we follow our dreams or do we follow tradition?  Do we support the family owned businesses of our neighborhoods or do we opt for the convenience of the large corporate mega stores?  These are the issues I want our audiences to leave with in their minds.

Hendrick Hardware is warm and inviting, but should also appear as though it is lacking something as each generation we see is lacking.  The present day generation lacks direction in the face of too many options; our 1958 characters lack options in the face of unexpected events; our 1937 characters lack family unity in wake of a new generation being born.  With each generation we see a little warm disappearing but it is never gone.  There is love for the store, even if they don’t want it for their own lives.

Some scenes will contain very similar blocking to reflect that idea that although each generation has its own dilemma, at the very core of it, struggles are all the same in many ways, and we all face these problems in our own time.   We can also see each character’s level of connection to the store through blocking.  We see, for example, that Franz, Bart, Ed, and Gus are comfortable in the store and will wander in and out of the aisles for various purposes.  Luke will walk straight through the aisles but take no notice of them.  Eda, on the other hand, is at home in the store but avoids a commitment to its function, as she is never seen walking through any of the aisles.  Gerda, Gail, and Becky avoid the area where the aisles are, showing their disconnect from the store (each has her own reason for this disconnect).

All in all, we see how the early generations affect their children and the complications that one man’s dream can cause for generations to come.

*****

And that’s that.  Now I’m working on scheduling one on one meetings with each designer.  It’s nonstop from here to December 4th when we open!

Jill

“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

In our short existence as a company, we have come upon and overcome many obstacles already.  Why should today be any different?

We are nearing the opening of our production of Ibsen’s Ghosts and at the same time we are preparing to start the production process for our next show (Mom and Pop by local playwright Sarah Tobin).  This is our first experience with overlapping production calendars, and it presents some new…er…learning opportunities.  Although we are continuing to slowly grow our company by bringing in more new and terrific people (we have really great people on board for Ghosts!), there is still a lot for the core founding company members to handle.  So, at a time when we are all maxed out with preparations for this production, we need to be focusing a lot of energy on the next one right now!  For example, we have auditions for Mom and Pop on the Sunday and Monday of tech week for Ghosts, and the Monday immediately following the tear-down of Ghosts will be the first rehearsal of Mom and Pop.  It’s truly non-stop.  On top of that, we are all, of course, working full time outside of the theatre.

This is my cue to get overwhelmed.

So, I tell myself to breathe.  I tell myself that all this work is worth it.  I tell myself that the passion I have for theatre has its outlet here– in a place I can call my own, and in a place I can be surrounded by other hard-working theatre lovers.

We can do this.

Jill

I’ve never been a huge fan of Comfest. I don’t like mud, random naked people, random naked people covered in mud (or painted!) so this should come as a shock. Given this I had mixed feelings when I was told we would be performing Aster, Holger Gunn at Comfest but I convinced myself it would be fun.

But here’s the thing – it was fun! Sure, the lapel microphones we were supposed to be wearing to combat the ambient noise didn’t work out, leaving us screaming the show into stand microphones. Sure, the stage was awkward with the microphones placed willy nilly. Sure, I was so disgustingly hot and sweaty that I was grossed out that poor Andrew (Holger) had to kiss me…

But in spite of these things I could scarcely had enjoyed myself more. The outdoor atmosphere, the screaming, the staging, the different audience all changed the show in ways I couldn’t have imagined. This was not the Aster, Holger Gun I had come to know and love, no this was a different story entirely and yet also not.

So it turns out I don’t hate Comfest at all.