#inspiringfellow: August

Our August #inspiringfellow article is a guest post by Artistic Director Robert Biggs:
Hello, Biggs here. Gail Shalan has been chief cook and bottle-washer for outcastcafe.com since Mighty Acorn put us on the digital map last October. She has blogged, posted, linked and promoted  faithfully, trusting that you are out there and paying attention. Thanks for hanging out with us. Hope you are enjoying our story. Today I lift up Gail as Outcast Café’s Inspiring Fellow. Tenacious, smart,  clever and kind, she inspires me as an actor, puppeteer, puppet maker and friend. Thanks, Gail. And congratulations on your role in THE WINTER’S TALE.
Maiden Phoenix Presents THE WINTER'S TALE
This month Gail has been playing Paulina/ Mopsa in Maiden Phoenix Theatre Company’s all-female production of The Winter’s Tale. This opportunity for Gail is close to our hearts because of our shared passion of the plays of William Shakespeare. Gail grew up watching Biggs breathe life into many of Shakespeare’s best characters, most distinctly his wonderful Fools. Biggs first directed Gail in an 8th grade production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, then a year later in Twelfth Night. Throughout their time collaborating on Biggs’ own works, the delight and power of Shakespeare’s story telling arose again and again.Gail was able to work some of the skills  she’s honed with Outcast Café into The Winter’s Tale, helping to devise and tune-up a puppetry approach to the infamous stage direction: exit pursued by a bear. This dynamic puppetry moment moved a patron to say “the way that famous stage direction… was staged in this production was amazing,and sure to be a “theater moment” that will linger in my mind for a long time to come” (Daniel Boudreau, MPTC Event Page).
"Go together, you precious winners all; Your exultation partake to every one." Gail as Paulina (far right) with Perdita (Lelani Ricardo, center right), Hermione ( Cassandra Meyer, center left) and Leontes (Juliet Bowler, far left)
“Go together, you precious winners all; Your exultation partake to every one.” Gail as Paulina (far right) with Perdita (Lelani Ricardo, center right), Hermione ( Cassandra Meyer, center left) and Leontes (Juliet Bowler, far left)
We celebrate Gail’s hard work with the  Maiden Phoenix Theatre Company, whose mission is to employ 51% females in all areas of production, actively working to change the gender disparity in our theatre scene. Having spent the better part of her life training and studying Shakespeare’s work, playing one of the most powerful and tenacious roles in Shakespeare marks a well-deserved right of passage.

 

"What's gone and what's past help should be past grief..." Gail as Paulina (left) with Leontes (Juliet Bowler).
“What’s gone and what’s past help should be past grief…” Gail as Paulina (left) in rehearsal with Leontes (Juliet Bowler). (photo cred: Cassandra Meyer)
image
“Whose honorable thoughts, thoughts high for one so tender, cleft the heart that could conceive a gross and foolish sire blemished his gracious dam!” Gail as Paulina ( right) tells off Leontes( Julirt Bowler, center) as court watches on ( pictured: Sarah Mass, left). (Photo cred: Jeff Butcher)
image
“I beseech you, do not receive affliction at my petition; rather let me be punished, who have minded you of what you should forget.” In both images Juliet Bowler as Leontes ( left) begins a reconciliation with Gail as Paulina ( right) (photo cred: Jeff Butcher)

image

She also doubles as the hilarious lady-clown, Mopsa, bringing the house to much needed laughter and delight, playing with her talented scene partners Allison Paige Gilman (Dorcas), Cassandra Meyer (Clown), and Sarah Mass (Autolycus) .

 

11933418_10206435409300303_31728178171567648_n
Bohemia in it’s full glory with most of the MPTC Winter’s Tale cast! (Photo cred: Ona Johnston)
In rehearsal in Bohemia Gail (right) plays Mopsa with Clown (Cassandra Meyer, center) and Dorcas (Allison Paige Gilman, left).
In rehearsal in Bohemia Gail (right) plays Mopsa with Clown (Cassandra Meyer, center) and Dorcas (Allison Paige Gilman, left). (Photo Cred: Alyce Householter)
"I love a ballad in a print o' life, for then we are sure they are true!" Gail as Mopsa (center-right) with Clown (Cassandra Meyer, far right), Autolycus (Sarah Mass, center-left), and Dorcas (Allison Paige Gilman, far left)
“I love a ballad in a print o’ life, for then we are sure they are true!” Gail as Mopsa (center-right) with Clown (Cassandra Meyer, far right), Autolycus (Sarah Mass, center-left), and Dorcas (Allison Paige Gilman, far left) (Photo cred: Alyce Householter)
For one more weekend you can catch her performance for FREE at the Nathan Tufts Park right off of Powderhouse Circle in Somerville, MA.
 For more information about the show (and weather updates) check the Facebook invite, Maiden Phoenix’s page, twitter, and website.
For more about Gail browse our website, or check out hers. Also, follow her on twitter and instagram.

#inspiringfellows: December

 

Happy New Year, all ye creative and caring beings! It’s been a productive month for Outcast Café as we have been hard at work on pre-production rehearsals and meeting for our upcoming film Coyote Girl. Between prep and the holidays we may have gotten a little carried away with good cheer, celebration, and creation and forgotten to share with you our #inspiringfellows of December! But better late than never:

December

Bristol Old Vic's A Midsummer Night's Dream
ArtsEmerson presents Bristol Old Vic’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream  

 

Our #inspiringfellows of the month is the Bristol Old Vic Theatre  for collaborating with an old favorite, Handspring Puppet Co., several months ago on a stunning production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Holy wow, Batman! Per usual, these exquisitely manufactured hand-manipulated puppets not only stood out as stunning works of their own, but truly engaged in the storytelling of this Shakespearean favorite in places where the story had never quite been illuminated in such a way and could only have been done so by the likes of puppets! The bicycle contraption which served to turn Bottom into a literal ass was a personal favorite, but from the gardening tool hodgepodge that created Puck, to the majestic oversized Titiania and Oberon, we were transported from start to finish.

 

Puck serves his master Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com
Puck serves his master
Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com

We commend your brilliant and intentional use our favorite manipulated objects, time and time again! Bravo!

 

"Titania straightway loved an ass!"  Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com
“Titania straightway loved an ass!”
Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com

 

 

 

 

You can check out what Bristol Old Vic is up to here on their website or follow them @BristolOldVic

 

 

The Majestic Fairie King and Queen Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com
The Majestic Fairie King and Queen
Source: Angela Weiss gettyimages.com

 

Who do you find inspiring? Any recommended #inspiringfellows that we just can’t miss? Tweet #inspiringfellows to @outcastcafe with your inspirations and suggestions.