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Obviously we love collaboration here at Savage Umbrella. Love it. We sing it to the roof tops. Pontificate on it. Talk about it with whomever will listen. Sometimes we even talk about it when people aren't listening...if we have ever been unclear hear us now: we believe collaboratively creating work makes the best work. While it’s common for our company members and guest performers to collaborate and work with each other outside of SU projects. It’s fairly uncommon for designers to join us on a project with a rich history of collaborating together. Not true on THESE ARE THE MEN! Scenic Designer Brian Proball and Lighting Designer James Eischen have been working together since 2006. 
Brian and Jim; Design Dream Team.
Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors. The book that started my love affair with his pointed, tender humanist, science fiction was Slaughterhouse-Five, which I read in John Podas’ 12th grade English Lit class at Highland Park Senior High School. After Slaughterhouse-Five came Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos, Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!, Timequake, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, his essays, and, well, you get the point. But Slaughterhouse-Five will always be the book that I come back to for Vonnegut, and as a touchstone to my understanding of the world. Amidst the brutality and stupidity of the firebombing of Dresden and the Second World War, in the strangeness of Kilgore Trout’s science fiction worlds, of alien abductions and captivity, porn stars and brigadier generals – in all that absurdity, Vonnegut found the people. That’s the art of it. 
This guy.
Guest Blog 3 Shows in a Row with Some Sexy Savages When I saw Emma Woodhouse is not a Bitch almost exactly 2 years ago, I remember thinking, "what a cool group of people....I'd love to work with these folks at some point...Emma Woodhouse is definitely not a bitch..." Imagine how exciting it was to not only be asked to perform in two workshops in a row (VINLAND and HOUSE PARTY) but to be cast for their first full production as a part of Artshare at the Southern (THESE ARE THE MEN). Never have I ever performed in the majority of a production company's season *takes a chug*  Foster and Nick as The Shepard and Oedipus Creating new works of theatre means you gotta be flexible. Bendy like a young sapling full of potential and possibility just waiting for the blossoms of creativity and art to come bursting forth from wee twiggy appendages. So it's perfect that a bunch of gangly performers who can't even touch their toes are giving it their all to produce and perform Savage Umbrella's latest new work, These Are the Men.
We have been bending over backwards (literally) to make sure we're in shape to take on the uniquely physical vision that director and company member Blake E. Bolan has for our latest full production coming to the Southern Theatre as part of ArtShare. Of course we'd be in a lot more danger of physical damage and exhaustion if it wasn't for our daily yoga warm-ups led by Jessica Spivey, our ever-loved stage manager and yoga-instructor-in-training. The flippant answer to Heidi’s question - how to team write? - is easy, especially in the midst of working on THESE ARE THE MEN. Instructions:
 They have known each other 4eva. These Are the Men began its life in 2008 as a part of Mixed Precipitation's Minneapolis Pinter Studios. Somehow I convinced them that it would be a good idea for me to create a new piece examining the Oedipus myth using Pinter’s style. The 5 short scenes that we performed throughout the roving festival were difficult, interesting, and the spark for a number of great conversations. Then we put it to rest, where I assumed it would remain.  These are the Men, round 1 (at the 2008 Pinter festival)  Lars and Roberta...or is it Allie? Just as Missy Elliot returns to the forefront of our brain space reserved for pop culture, Savage Umbrella returns to the Southern Theatre for our second performance of Freaks! Check out some of the feedback from our 1/28 talkback!  Just a bunch of teens, battling FOR THEIR LIVES. “I enjoyed the concept of “choose your own adventure” and would like to see that explored more - more options perhaps or go deeper into the story in those choices and spend less time on the main stage.” audience member “Freedom! I hate being subjugated to one spot!” - audience member “I was confused if sickos and freaks were the same thing.” - audience member “We seem to have genuinely confused many folks, pissed some off, and delighted others.” Laura Leffler-McCabe, Artistic Director  It's nice to have a hockey stick wielding boyfriend in times of turmoil. If you attended our performance on 1/218 and you didn't get a chance to fill out the survey you received in your program (and even if you did), please feel free to contact us. We want to know what worked for you, what didn't, and what you're excited to see next. If you feel so inclined (and we hope you do!), drop us a line at [email protected] and we'd be most appreciative. For the rest of you hep cats, we’ll see you at The Southern this Friday for one last opportunity to get your freak on!  Image via LinkedIn (for no valid reason) The kids really, really wanted to do a play about zombies. In November 2010, Laura and I were contracted at an area high school to craft and direct a one-act play for students to take to competition. (More accurately, Laura was contracted--I just weaseled my way in.) At the first rehearsal, we explained to the students that they’d be very involved in developing their characters and the script. Almost immediately, one of the nerdiest--and just to be clear, I love nerds--shouted, “Zombies!” And then all the other kids echoed, “Yeah, zombies! We wanna do zombies!” Here’s a dramatic re-enactment of how I felt about the idea at that moment:  The SU crew puts together the set for THESE ARE THE MEN on the first day (!!!) of rehearsal. With the help of designers Brian and Travis, of course! I recently attended an invigorating (and terrifying) discussion about capacity building in the arts (buzz word alert!). The all-star panel included Randy Reyes (Theater Mu), Abdo Sayegh Rodriguez (TU Dance), DeAnna Cummings (Juxtaposition Arts), Julie Guidry (Upstream Arts), Peter Rothstein (Theater Latte Da), and was moderated by the inimitable Leah Cooper (MN Theater Alliance). (Shout out to MRAC for putting it together!) What. A. Group. We discussed values and story-telling, finances and liabilities, and growing pains in small nonprofits. All the insights and honesty the panel provided were incredible, but my biggest takeaway was this: Risks are challenges. Challenges are opportunities. And if you never have a challenge, you never have the opportunity to do something extraordinary. Well, Savage Umbrella is ready to do something big. Something scary. Something extraordinary. We’re ready to carve out our little corner of the world and we hope you’ll join us.
For over a year all 15 ARTshare resident companies navigated uncharted territories. How would we get paid? How would we used a shared space? How would Damon make the schedule? How do you get hundreds of artists, many with multiple jobs and priorities, on the same page? There were meetings. And emails. And doodles. And phone calls. And meetings. Sometimes it was hard. Sometimes we didn’t have agreement as company LET ALONE with 14 OTHER companies. Most of the time it was an exhilarating experiment that we couldn't wait to begin. So Saturday is a big night for us and our fellow resident companies. We’ll snuggle together in those red chairs, wink at the world and say “ Come watch us twirl.”  It’s finally here. It’s real. We’ve reached base camp. In January and February, Marie-Jean Valet and Brecht are gonna defy gravity and get freaky and we couldn't be more excited. So... we’ll see you at The Southern? |
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