At Savage Umbrella, we're all about the conversation, so we've invited some special guests for a panel discussion immediately following the performance on Saturday, Nov 12. We would like you to join us for a conversation about theatre as social change, ancient stories interacting with the modern world, and dictatorships. The panel discussion is absolutely free. No ticket necessary. Panelists include:

Brian Lush, Classics Professor, Macalester College
Sonja Kuftinec, Theatre Professor, University of Minnesota
Blake E. Bolan, playwright and director of The Ravagers

I have some reviews and comments for ya’ll this week. See you soon. 

Review from the CityPages"YOU MUST see this show. This is amazing theatre created right here in Minneapolis, it uses our talent, our space, our people, and is done for us. Don't miss this show. It has stayed with me since seeing it Friday and has only grown on me. This is the type of theatre that I love...Right now it's my sleeper hit of 2011." -Audience feedback from Damon Runnals

 Review from Twin Cities Daily Planet‎"I see a lot of theatre. That's a given. Rarely do I see theatre that punches me in the gut the way Savage Umbrella's THE RAVAGERS did last night. It was elegant, disturbing, and so human. Go see it." -Audience feedback from Timothy Otte

Review from Aisle Say Twin Cities"Just got back from Savage Umbrella's THE RAVAGERS. I honestly try to reserve the use of the word "sublime" for situations that truly deserve it, and this production, especially its gorgeously executed pivotal sequence, was a sublime theatrical experience for me. Holy buckets, people, Savage Umbrella is risking and succeeding. See it." -Audience feedback from Tom Borger

Review from Lavender and also

Review from Twin Cities Metro 

Ravager’s opening week post comes from sound designer Elliott Durko Lynch. Learn more about Elliott’s artistic work here.

I have been spending quite a bit of time in the Hollywood Theater the past week. The space is super reverberant and loading in was a bit of a struggle; as is the case when you start with nothing (no previous infrastructure or sound systems to use or build with). There has been a lot of dust kicked up, cleaned up, and swirling now; this piece is really inhabiting the space.

Generating material for a new contemporary Greek play has been a process of elimination. Having worked most as an "electronic music" or "noise/sound" artist for contemporary dance, where there are a wide range of possible sounds and samples and usually no dialogue to compete with, has lead me to more minimalist choices for this show. Saving the more spectacular noise for these few moments when it is practically possible and incorporating electro-acoustic use of live instruments to ride the middle ground; I have a cello, and an auto-harp to pull from.

In lieu of writing any more specifics about the project than anyone needs to know before viewing it, I'm going to relay an anecdote as to how I became interested in this kind of scenography.

As a student I was given the opportunity to attend the amazing Prague Quadrennial in 2003, held quad-annually in the Czech Republic. At this event there was a live sound artist who scored Butoh dance workshops with a visiting Choreographer. The workshops were held in a bustling giant bright room, filled with people doing all manor of things including performing, holding meetings and eating lunch; a huge room full of things happening. This artist would plug in a small briefcase of wires and equipment to sound reinforcement a few times a day, and improvised sound scores in the middle of this busy room; creating a rift, as if a cloud had settled, wherein the performers were given the space and attention for performing and being viewed.

The sub-division of this bustling bright giant room into two spaces; "normal space" and "affected space" with sound alone, and particularly live, stuck with me. I suppose, you could say it pushed me out of wanting to make work as a traditional designer. And as time has gone by, what resonates with me most, is getting a chance to play live, and perform for a piece, without the constraints of QLab or other traditional methods of performance Sound Design.

My job is to assist Blake Bolan in wedding the space and the show, and creating affective gestures that assist to communicate information otherwise unable to be communicated; not to be a virtuoso. Whether the music is live or not, isn't important; it is a mix.  But being given that opportunity and space by director Blake and Savage Umbrella to work in this way, these days, in this economy, is quite an honor and I appreciate being asked and allowed to build and improvise with the project. Also, Matt Widing at EMI Audio Rentals has been an awesome help to this production; shout out, what up.

Elliott Durko Lynch is an independent performance maker, a theater technician at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, and a Sage Award for Dance nominated sound and media artist. He will be premiering a co-created short film Empire Builder with filmmaker Kevin Obsatz in December and performing/scoring next with independent Choreographer Megan Mayer on her new dance project in 2012. More information about Elliott’s work here. 

Laura Leffler-McCabe, Carl Atiya Swanson, Emily Dussault, Adam Scarpello, Tamara Titsworth, Ben Egerman, Kathryn Fumie, Paul Rutledge, Lindsey Cacich, Cody Stewart, Claire Nadeau (stage manager), Bryan Grosso, Jami Jerome, Russ Dugger, Hannah Holman. In front: Bob Hammil

Cody Stewart, Russ Dugger, Andrew Young, Mason Mahoney, Zachary Schaeffer

Clockwise from left, Jami Jerome, Cody Stewart, Kris Ness, Paul Rutledge, Russ Dugger, Emily Chang

Back, Bryan Grosso, Emily Dussault, Jami Jerome, Kris Ness, Paul Rutledge. Front, Emily Chang, Russ Dugger. Standing, Scott Keely

Adam Scarpello, Emily Dussault

This week’s Ravagers post includes another sneak peek from Sonya Berlovitz’s sketch book, with comments from Christina Lien (SU Company Member and Ravagers Costume Assistant).

Costumes, costumes, costumes… stitching, stitching, stitching… My artistic past is glittered with dressing, building, stitching, and costuming large-scale productions, but I have not dove into this area of design and construction with SU for a while. Currently, I am one of four stitchers working under the beautiful and talented Sonya Berlovitz constructing the costumes for Ravagers.  The cast is on the larger side of things and the task of costuming the show sometimes makes me catch my breath and raise my eyebrows.

I love donning my sewing and stitching hat and all is well in my corner of the world as I construct nine dresses for nine (very tall) men, who in addition to playing sons of Aegyptus, play daughters of Danaus at moments.

All the sister's dresses - all 19 of them! - will look exactly the same. They'll be hand painted by Sonya, and like Danaus's costume (that was posted here last week), the colors are meant to reflect the desert where they live.

Unlike the sisters, who are supposed to act identically, each of the brothers is allowed to be an individual. So the men will have the same basic silhouette, but their pieces will vary slightly to show that individuality. Their colors will be greys, greens, and blues to reflect their more fertile home land.

I’m tapping into skills I haven’t exercised at this capacity in a while. It’s always super exciting to be working on a new show, but even more brilliant to be part of a specific production crew with amazing new people, including creative and talented designers.

Tickets are now on sale for The Ravagers, opening at the Hollywood Theater in Northeast Minneapolis on November 4th.

This week's post features two of the costume sketches for the show from renowned costume designer Sonya Berlovitz and background on the characters of Danaus and Aegyptus by director Blake E. Bolan.

The Ravagers's plot may revolve around the fifty daughters and fifty sons, but at its heart, it's very much a play about the two brothers who are the fathers: Danaus, father of the daughters, and Aegyptus, father of the sons. And that story works on two levels.

It's easy to see all the trappings of a familiar story about patriarchal monarchies. The younger son feels jealousy toward his elder brother. Aegyptus has the sons, Aegyptus has the better land, and after the kingdom is reunited by the marriages, Aegyptus's sons stand to inherit all of Danaus's land. It's easy to get caught up in the plot. But the more compelling story is the metaphors of these two men.  Who is East and who is West?  Dictator and king? Capitalism and communism? Who is right and who is wrong?

Starting with simple suit as the base for Aegyptus and Danaus, Sonya highlight's each man's temperament in their outerwear.  Here, we see the soft lines of Aegyptus's wrap, alluding to comfort, ease, and luxury. He's affluent, proud, and happy.

For Danaus, Sonya has created sharp angles for his overcoat and tie, implying a certain starkness.  His clothes are more utilitarian than his brother's, as he is a man with fewer resources, as well as a much more stringent attitude.  Danaus is a man concerned with power, not likely to relax for even a moment.  You will also notice here the brown hues in Danaus's outerwear - Danaus raises his 50 daughters in the desert, and these colors reflect the tones of sandy soil you might find surrounding his home.

Come see Scott Keely (Danaus) and Bob Hammel (Aegyptus) wear these costumes and tell this story, Nov. 4-19 at the Hollywood Theatre. Tickes are on sale now!

We're knee-deep in rehearsals for The Ravagers right now at Savage Umbrella, but we've got more than one pot on the stove. Here we provide a first sneak-peek into our winter workshop of Rain Follows the Plow by company member Rachel Nelson.

A brief synopsis of what will be written:

We circulate between two times: the present day and the depths of the Dust Bowl.  Clarence is the host of an 1930s radio show that broadcasts to much of western Texas.  As times worsen and the dust thickens, he tries to rally his listeners around ideas of anti-immigration and manifest destiny.  His wife struggles to reconcile these ideas with her fractured understanding of her marriage, her country, and her sense of reality.  Meanwhile, a young woman named Clara who lost her family farm to a river being dammed in California decides to take back what she sees as hers, and blow up the dam.  She camps out on top of the dam overnight, waiting for a stranger who has promised to deliver her a bomb. Her suburban poet boyfriend is with her, waxing esoteric in all the wrong ways.  As the night wears on in the current moment and the dust obscures the past, all of these characters find themselves struggling with where they come from and who they are, and what it means to finally manifest their destinies.  

Clarence: An incredible idealist about America to the point of delusion. Deeply believes it is the chosen land and we are the chosen people. Struggles with something confusing with his feelings for his wife; maybe he should have been with another person from his past, maybe there is no bride that can stand up to Lady Liberty. We are excited to have Peter Middlecamp in this role for the workshop presentation.

Ingrid: A strong and intricate woman, Ingrid believes deeply in community. A caretaker. Her emotions/memories speak to her. Sometimes quite literally. She is a woman of great faith, but not necessarily in her country or in her husband. The beautiful and talented Eve Tugwell will develop this role for the workshop presentation.

Clara: A young woman looking for some sense of meaning in the loss of her family home.  Jack annoys her.  She’s fond of him.  She is restless and needs a purpose. Addie Phelps adds her powerful chops to this role for the workshop presentation.

Jack: Goofy and endearing, Jack believes deeply in experiencing everything to the the fullest.  He is a bit of a hedonist, and fresh from a strictly suburban upbringing, he’s thrilled at the opportunity to get a little outlawish. We're thrilled to welcome Seth Conover to play this role in the workshop presentation.

The Catalyst: We have lots of ideas of  where this character is headed, and Savage Umbrella's own Amber Davis will help us to develop this character - maybe with puppets!

Mark your calendars now to join us March 9 & 10, 2012 at The Playwrights' Center for the workshop presentation of Rain Follows the Plow!

This is the second post in a series of blogs about our current production, The Ravagers, written by Blake E. Bolan & Laura Leffler-McCabe. The Ravagers opens at the Hollywood Theater in November. This post was written by cast member, Emily Dussault. 

Rehearsals for The Ravagers begin in a couple of days, and I honestly don’t know what to expect.  Most of us just met writer/director Blake Bolan, so it’s hard to say what her process will be like.  We have a near-finished script, but we have been told that most things are still subject to change.  And out of the cast of 22, I have only ever worked with 6 of them.  But still, I know enough about Savage Umbrella to be really excited.

The Ravagers will be my third SU show in two years.  My first was The Awakening, a huge undertaking that involved months of workshopping and group discussion.  The experience was a good initiation into the Savage Umbrella world.  Would we have real water onstage?  Did the movement sequences convey the right tone and fit into the more realistic scenes?  How the heck should we end the play?  I was not used to a process that involved so much collaboration, conversation and change.   Every single person involved had a voice and was encouraged to use it.  At times it was scary and even frustrating.  But I felt so intricately connected to the final product and to the people I had worked with, that my appetite had been whet.

The next fall, I was in Leaves.  The prospect of taking a huge body of iconic poetry and making a little play was dizzying and enticing, but also overwhelming.  But somehow, after many improvisations, long conversations, and a quick and crazy trip to the woods, we had a show.  A touching, sweet and lovely show.

So although I don’t know exactly what to expect from The Ravagers, I do have a pretty good idea of some of the things I will encounter:

Playing.  Lots of playing.  Silliness, laughter, and sloppy little moments of behaving like children.  To my constant amazement, some of the truest moments onstage can be inspired by friends acting like complete dorks together.

Beauty.  Someone wise once said to me, “Why go to the theatre if not to see beauty?”  Savage Umbrella fully subscribes to that belief, and also knows that beauty can be found in strange places and unexpected moments.

Fear.  I don’t mean for that to sound negative.  In fact, I think it is quite healthy.  I don’t want to make safe art.  I want there to be moments of fear; fear that we will fail or make a huge mistake or go over people’s heads.  Because that fear is what will drive us to take risks and find those truly breathtaking moments.  I want to make art with people who are willing to be afraid and then rise to the challenge.

And if Savage Umbrella is anything, it is brave.  They do not aim low.  They do not play it safe. They shoot for the biggest and the boldest, which is naturally a bit scary.  These people are fierce and bright and inspiring, and I am so lucky to be working with them.

Emily Dussault is a local singer and actor. She lives in St. Paul with her husband Tanner and her cat Henry. You can see her next in The Ravagers.

This week's post is by The Ravagers director and Savage Umbrella founder Blake E. Bolan.

Well hello, America!

Here we are, one week away from the official start of rehearsals for The Ravagers.  Is that even possible?  As I spent my personal life rushing to transition out of one country and into another, out of one home and into another, the rest of my headspace was filled with The Ravagers.  Drafts, casting, designers, scheduling, location, all of the vital components that have to be in place before you start a show.  So, one week left to go before we dig in, and there’s still so much to do.  However, I will tell you something that you probably already have guessed:  it’s a lot easier to work on a project of this magnitude when you are, in fact, in the city in which it will be produced.  Just saying.

Since I’ve been back in the country, I’ve Skyped in to the very first production meeting with all of the incredible design and technical staff. I’ve led a movement workshop with a good portion of the cast, where we got a chance to really play together before we push it into high gear next week (check out the pics on our Facebook page). I’ve gotten a chance to meet some of the actors that I helped cast but have never seen in person before. I met with our technical director, tomorrow I will meet with our inimitable costume designer, Sonya Berlovitz, and as I’m writing this, I’m awaiting the arrival of our sound designer. We have one more big round of changes to the script before we have a colleague with an extremely keen eye take one last look. And then: we begin!

This project has experienced so much growth, so much nurturing, so many exciting beginnings. Beginning to read source material, beginning to think in a larger context, beginning to workshop material, beginning to write, beginning to garner interest. And it will continue to grow, and we will continue to see beginnings.

Alright, Savage Umbrella, let’s do this thing!

This week’s post by Savage Umbrella member and all-around awesome educator Christina Lein. 

*Sigh* Summer is coming to an end. We’ve nursed our Minnesota Fringe Festival 2011 hang overs, the Minnesota State Fair is now a hazy memory, and most Minnesotans ages 4-18 are heading back to school! And so is Savage Umbrella!

As we forge ahead with a jam-packed, brand-spankin’ new, fabulous 2011-2012 season, education is on our minds. After all, we believe education leads to inspiration and inspiration leads to education. We include an educational component for each of our productions to broaden, awaken, and encourage our community and ourselves. And most importantly, to continue the vital conversations that surface as a result of our work.

Since Savage Umbrella’s inception we’ve held stylistic workshops, panel discussions, and talk-backs. During The Awakening a panel of experts led a discussion on the novel and feminist discourse. The Winter Adventures of Happy the Sad Clown brought us a free community clowning workshop. Back in March of this year, The Ravagers workshop presentation talk-back sessions helped to bridge the gap between artists and audience as everyone in the room participated to create new ideas for the continuing script development. The myraid discussions after ExGays performances created a sanctuary for continued conversation about the show’s difficult subject matter.

As we look to the future, we want to hear from you. Explore our website to get a sneak peek into what our 2011-2012 season holds for you, our audience and fans, and then holler at us. What would you like to discuss? Is there a workshop you’d like to take? Is there a conversation you’d like to have with us? We want to create space for all of our imaginations to expand, rising upward and outward to gain a greater view of our world. So shoot us an email to savageumbrella [at] gmail.com, leave a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook page or tweet at us. We want to hear from you.

Get under the umbrella… and hang on to your notebooks, kids, we got some learnin’ to do together!