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.
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)
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) in rehearsal with Leontes (Juliet Bowler). (photo cred: Cassandra Meyer)“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)“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)
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) .
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). (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) (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.
As we move forward in our work this year and begin to stage the second play in our trilogy, Riley Ann Visits The Outcast Café, we wanted to give you readers a chance to check in with some of the amazing folks we had the privilege of working with on the several iterations of our first piece, The Dick and The Rose.
To kick us off, here’s a few words from the radiant Kelsey Jayne Hogan:
Kelsey shares a laugh with Company members Dave Demke and Caley Milliken at the Gryphon Venues’ Opening Night party in Edinburgh 2011.
OC: Can you tell us a little about your initial collaboration with Outcast Café?
KJH: I remember getting an email from Biggs early into the new year. I had loved working with Biggs in my freshman year improv class. He introduced me to so many new forms of theatre and I had never felt more expressive. This opened my world. I had always been a bit reserved in auditions and life in general, Biggs was the opposite. Larger than life with an ability to express the deepest emotions. I admired him as an artist, professor, and person. When I learned he wanted to work with ME, I was shocked and looked forward to getting to work.
OC: Sounds exciting! What was it like, bringing to life the work of your mentor? How was the rehearsal process? And what was the Edinburgh Fringe like?
It was hot, but magical in the Berkshires. That first summer with Gail, Emma, and Dylan as my fellow Ministering Angels was incredible. Being under a sticky sweaty parachute with puppets really does create a bond that can’t be broken easily (really the entire cast spent a lot of time under there and we loved each other in spite of our smells). There were days that felt like we were swimming through the air and I was excited to get to Edinburgh with its cooler forecast.
Layover in Heathrow with the gang (R to L: Kelsey Hogan, Dylan Wittrock, Emma Sims-Biggs and Ian Milliken)
Traveling there was another adventure all together…I suppose this show was really entirely one huge adventure with millions of others taking place inside of it. A night spent in London’s Heathrow, an amazing flat, the pubic triangle, flirting with the coffee shop boy down the street, making friends with our venue managers, telling dead baby jokes to passersby, handing out hundreds of flyers, scotch lessons from my dad, ACDC karaoke, and performing a wildly fun, dark, and entertaining show…Edinburgh Fringe was a delight and ended way too soon.
Kelsey and her puppet baby “Bob” work the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
OC: Indeed, it was. But we were lucky enough to have you with us again in 2012.
KJH: Yes, the following year I received another email from Biggs, we were going to New York. I was thrilled. The play had evolved and so had the cast and crew. I was reunited with my puppet (Bob) and introduced to our new ministering angels. It was a great evolution. We clicked again (I am convinced that parachute makes you friends for life). Bob (my puppet) often had a lot to say. One of my distinct memories was Biggs pulling me aside to tell me “You don’t even realize you are talking when you have your puppet with you, but you need to tell him to pull back a bit”. It was a realization that masks and puppets have a life of their own, it was what truly made me appreciate the art form. Bob did need to pull back and he did.
We had a great time experiencing the NY Artist lifestyle. We had a small apartment and I chose the smallest room (I could touch both walls at the same time). That summer the show really hit a stride, and we got to see other fantastic shows.Performing in the Cherry Lane Theater was an experience I will never forget.
Kelsey rocks the spoons again in our new four-man band (Ian Milliken, Evan Gambardella, Robert Biggs) for NYFringe 2012!
OC: Neither will we! You were such an important part of the experience both times around. It was a pleasure to work with you and we miss your enthusiastic and collaborative presence in the rehearsal room. You’ve had a big journey since we parted ways 3 years ago (!!). Could you tell us a little about what you’ve been up to?
KJH: Of course. A lot of time has passed since then. I truly miss it everyday. It was a time in my life that I was incredibly passionate and excited to get up every morning to create something and be around and connect to other artists. Though I still perform here and there and write when I take the time for myself, I have now moved back to the west coast.
After graduating from Emerson I moved to Washington D.C. and took a year long internship in devlopment and administration with Woolly Mammoth. It was great experience and I found a way to soothe my creative mind in an office by taking on event planning. After a year there I moved back west and took a job with Berkeley Rep handling donor relations and assiting with events.
I just had a one year anniversary with this job, something I have never had! It is exciting and terrifying. I enjoy what I do, love the company and my co-workers, though it can feel a little monotonous not working under a hole-filled parachute with a 7ft penis puppet…I’m moving up in the company and starting in September will be the special events manager which I am very proud of and grateful for. I tend not to plan my life ahead of time; that must be the artist, nomadic soul in me.
Kelsey’s first encounter with the Puppet Babies (South Lee, MA 2011)
OC: We, too, know that traveling spirit very well;) Congratulations on all your hard work and many accomplishments over the past few years! We are so proud of you. Anything else you’d like to treat our readers to? Big life lessons? One more laugh?
I do hope I can see Bob again…when you connect with a puppet it never really leaves you (and my non-puppeteer friends don’t get it). Having Biggs in my life, being a part of “The Dick and the Rose”, connecting with Tori, Caley, Dave, Ian, Ron, Dylan, Emma, Gail, Jenny, Jake, Evan, Barbara, Deborah (I know the list goes on, but for the sake of this sentence I’ll end it here) also will never really leave me. They pushed me to be better every day and make me who I am now. I don’t stay in a shell and won’t be reserved; my self-confidence has soared and I will be forever grateful for them.
The main lesson I learned is to take life by the 7ft. dick, if you will, and live your adventure.
XOXO
Kelsey
Kelsey in action in The Dick and The Rose (with Gail Shalan).
While Biggs stumbled across puppetry as a device to solve a theatrical story-telling problem (drowning children onstage), object manipulation and animation has become a cornerstone of our work at Outcast Café. Our mission statement now includes: “Using tools that leave room for the imagination. Song, dance, puppets, masks, objects found and handmade, all serving the story. We are bare bones, traveling lightly, making more of less.” Therefore, upon receiving the May/June print edition of American Theatre Magazine we were delighted to come across this article counting our puppets in good company.
Opening with commentary about our favorite cardboard man on a table (Moses from Blind Summit’s The Table) whom we delightfully encountered at EdFringe 2011 and continuing to sight the relevance of puppetry as a dynamic storytelling tool, Scott T. Cummings articulates our shared sentiment; “If we will only listen, the reasoning goes, puppets have things to tell us about what it means to be a person and what it means to be an object”.
We learned a lot about our own local centers of puppetry as well as the international ones we may have been aware of before. But mostly, we were happy to know that we are by no means alone in our reanimation of ” what cultural anthropologist and folklorist Frank Proschan dubbed “performing objects”—puppets, masks, ritual and fetish objects, and other material things endowed with agency through display, manipulation, storytelling, or performance”.
The Skeleton of the T-Rex from the original Jurassic film. (Source: www.thebeardedtrio.com)
Does this make us “Rude Mechanicals”?
Here’s a little #throwbackthursday for you all you Jurassic Park Fans! Don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see Jurassic World pretty much solely for the adept puppetry they still use in the franchise, despite all the technological advances of the last 20 years. As John Rosengrant (co-owner of Legacy Effects) says, “There’s some chemistry that happens between the actors and the piece” only to be captured through the magic of puppetry. Check out the process of building and manipulating the emotional death of the Apatosaurus in Jurassic World:
For me, one of the most exciting elements of being a part of Coyote Girl: The Short Film was exploring the art of puppetry through the medium of film. Both forms of story telling are expressions that Biggs and I alike have little experience with compared to our work on stage as actors, but to which we both find a strong draw. For myself as an actor (and I believe for the writer/director in Biggs) film and puppetry, both, are facets of performance that illuminate a simplicity and honesty in our work. The expansion and contraction that comes with jumping from stage to screen and back again mirrors the transient nature of playing a story as an actor and puppeteer simultaneously. This passing through many veils, masks, forms, expressions to articulate a primal truth hits the core of what I understand Outcast Café to be, and what enables, in my opinion, good story telling.
So, in spite of often feeling like I was on a novice’s path to creating this piece, the sense of trust I harbor towards the risks of puppetry and working on film come almost innately in comparison to being an actor on stage. Perhaps this permission comes from this distance from the self/ego I’ve discussed before during our filming log. Both puppetry and working on film give me a greater sense of offering my energy and skill to aiding the story as a collaborator, rather than veering off into any abhorrently self-aware, self-centered, self-obsessed trap that I fear in acting.
Regardless, the challenge of puppetry on film was one that my mind may have been cautious about, but my heart was hungry for. Since the wrap of the film I’ve done a lot of wandering around on the internet looking into puppets on film. BAM and the Jim Henson Foundation hosted an entire event devoted to this art form through which I found March’s #inspiringfellow , Toby Froud, as well as many other talented artists. I’ve watched old Muppet re-runs, shadow puppet music videos, Labyrinth, and even Jaws with a whole new awareness and appreciation. I’m exceedingly excited to share the results of our work with the world and often wish to thank Coyote himself as a trusted collaborator, but in the meantime I want to share a very exciting discovery I made recently:
On the world wide web exists a place that features incredible short films of all types and has an entire category labeled “Puppetry”. This place is called “Short of the Week”. In celebration of our upcoming short film with puppets, I want to share a couple treats from “Short of the Week” that I find have something in common with Coyote Girl. Sometimes it’s stylistic, sometimes it’s subject matter, and sometimes it’s just the joy of puppets! And after you’ve watched these goodies, browse the site for hundreds of other awesome short films.
Hey everyone! We’ve been blowing up our blog, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts with a lot of wonderful and nostalgic images of the 2011 and 2012 The Dick and The Rose tours. Just in case you were curious about who’s in the pics, who made the puppets, set, choreography, etc…. We do have a page on dickandrose.com that features most of our previous collaborators. Check it out: http://www.dickandrose.com/who
After the most horrendous winter we’ve seen in a good long while, I think it’s FINALLY safe to say we’re officially approaching Summer. Next weekend we arrive at the Vernal Equinox and this muggy week beckons in a hot next few months. To celebrate the warmer days, here’s a collection of our warm Summer Memories from the 2011 and 2012 rehearsals for The Dick and The Rose:
The Band of the 2012 NYC Tour rehearses (L to R: Evan Gambardella, Robert Biggs, Ron Botting, Ian Milliken)
ME and HIM rehearse in Lee, MA 2011 (R to L: Ian Milliken, Robert Biggs)
Occasionally we found time to relax and enjoy a light read (Dylan Wittrock)
A Fantastic Puppetry Discovery (Kelsey Hogan)
A Fantastic Puppetry Discovery (Dylan Wittrock)
A Fantastic Puppetry Discovery (Gail Shalan)
The Ministering Angels Camp at Beartown State Park (Gail Shalan and breakfast)
The Band of the 2011 EdFringe Tour rehearse (L to R: Dylan Wittrock, Robert Biggs, Ian Milliken and Kelsey Hogan)
Puppet Call sans Puppets : NYC Fringe 2012 (Back L to R: Kelsey Hogan, Caley Milliken; Mid R to L: Evan Gambardella, Jake Elitzer; Front R to L: Gail Shalan, Jennifer Vargas)
Kelsey kickin’ it rustic style (Kelsey Hogan)
Summer Evening on the back porch (R to L: Emma Sims-Biggs and Dylan Wittrock)
Amazing multi-tasker, Ian Milliken, plays guitar and accordion simultaneously.
Layover in Heathrow with the gang (R to L: Kelsey Hogan, Dylan Wittrock, Emma Sims-Biggs and Ian Milliken)
First Encounters!
Discussing the Dance Moves (L to R: Caley Milliken, Ron Botting and Barbara Allen)
Yolk of Opression Pick-up for the 2012 Fringe NYC Tour (R to L: Caley Milliken, Gail Shalan, Kelsey Hogan, Jen Vargas, Evan Gambardella and Jake Elitzer)
Intense Tango Rehearsal: 2012 Fringe NYC (R to L: Kelsey Hogan, Caley Milliken, Ron Botting, Ian Milliken and Gail Shalan)
Sweet Relief! Rehearsal in Lee, Ma for the 2011 EdFringe Tour (Front: Dave Demke; Back: Caley Milliken)
Puppets and Tutus: NYCFringe 2012 (L to R: Gail Shalan, Jake Elitzer, Jennifer Vargas, Barbara Allen)
More Ginger Puppet Magic with Kelsey Hogan and friends
Ta Da!! (Robert Biggs)
Thunder Makers: 2011 (R to L: Ian Milliken, Robert Biggs)
Lift! NYCFringe 2012 (Ron Botting and Caley Milliken)
Circus Girl’s Desperation (L to R: Robert Biggs, Caley Milliken, Gail Shalan and Kelsey Hogan)
Making something fun for the Royal Mile : EdFringe 2011 (L to R:Dave Demke, Kelsey Hogan, Ian Milliken, Gail Shalan, Dylan Wittrock, Caley Milliken)
Dylan Caught an Emma (2011)
Dylan Caught a Gail (2011)
How will we get all these puppets, all these instruments, and an oven into these bags? (L to R: Ian Milliken, Dave Demke and Kelsey Hogan)
Actors on the floor 2011
Actors on the floor 2012
Breaking down at Topia Arts 2011 (L to R: Kelsey Hogan, Caley Milliken, Dave Demke, Robert Biggs)
Enjoying a cast dinner at The Elitzer Home (L to R: Tori Sheehan, Jennifer Vargas, Kelsey Hogan and Cindy Elitzer)
An Actor Prepares ( Ron Botting)
Rehearsing important hand-offs NYC Fringe 2012 (Robert Biggs and Ian Milliken)
The exquisite Circus Girl extinguishes the Home (L to R: Ron Botting, Kelsey Hogan, Caley Milliken and Ian Milliken)
Caley Dances: NYC Fringe 2012 (L to R: Kelsey Hogan, Jennifer Vargas, Ian Milliken, Gail Shalan and Caley Milliken)
We at the Outcast Cafe are very proud to announce that our short film COYOTE GIRL has been accepted into the 2015 Snake Alley Festival of Film in Burlington, Iowa! “Dedicated to showcasing the best shorts from around the world, with a strong emphasis on story,” we are honored to be a part of a festival recognizing these accomplishments.
Screen Shot from opening of “Coyote Girl”
This is our second film to go to Snake Alley. In 2013 One Year’s Crop was nominated for Best Documentary ! In celebration let’s take a trip down memory lane:
Poster for our documentary “One Year’s Crop”
Artistic director, writer, actor, artist Robert Biggs talks about One Year’s Crop. Very interesting to watch now and draw similar parallels from his interview to our newest tale, Coyote Girl.
Here are some pics of the last time Biggs and Sims were at Snake Alley:
The Snake Alley Festival of Film Marquee
Traci Rauscher interviews Robert Biggs on his 2013 documentary “One Year’s Crop”.
Robert Biggs mingles with the SNAFF crowd.
Biggs addresses the audience about his nominated doc on the SNAFF stage
Discussing “One Year’s Crop”Biggs and Sims celebrate with friends and family (Teri Biggs, David Biggs, and friend Linda).
It’s a pleasure and an honor to return to “the crookedest film festival in the u.s.” And let us know if you’ll be joining us at #SNAFF2015 !
This month we are very excited to feature some local #inspiringfellows coming out of Boston University’s BFA Theatre Arts program this Spring. Scaramouche Jones—performed by Kelsie Hogue, directed by Amelia Cain and adapted as a team for their cumulative theses—played last weekend at Boston University’s “Jewels 1” Miller Studio Theatre 352 at the College of Fine Arts on 855 Commonwealth Ave.
Scaramouche Jones originally came to be as a one-man show devised by British actor, writer, and dramaturg: Justin Butcher. He created this whimsical, biographical clown’s tale for the Old Vic Theatre and, with the aid of the late great Pete Postlethwaite, brought it to many astounded audiences, including our friends in Edinburgh about ten years ago (Source: Amelia Cain).
Evoking the beloved “Raucous. Bawdy. Lyrical. True.” tagline assigned to The Dick and The Rose, our #inspiringfellows took Butcher’s piece as inspiration and adapted it into a dynamic, heart-wrenching, evocative piece of one-hour entertainment true to everything that we at the Outcast Café love about theatre.Every element of the production offered a detailed and elegant articulation of a world that only served the story of the self-ordained “Pierrot” known to us as Scaramouche Jones.
Hogue— masked as a Big Tent Pierrot—plays one of her original compositions.
The tale spans the entire 20th century from Scaramouche’s birth in 1899 to the day of his death upon which we meet. From the delightful pre-show of two Commedia-style lovers (decked out in ambiguous, artfully stained, early-20th century garb) chasing each other about the lobby (complete with big tent Admit One tickets and an active popcorn machine, inspiring a complete sensory experience) to the marvelously draped cloth and soft hanging circus bulbs, suggesting a tent above a hodge-podge of wooden chairs and antique trunks, we are doused immediately in a Sepia-toned atmosphere of the past.
Scaramouche Jones in his whimsical surroundings.
The well-articulated aesthetic held true throughout the piece, but never in a distracting way, only in pure service of the play. All of the carefully placed, and incredible creative, decisions—presumably lead by Ms. Cain—did nothing but tell the most honest of stories. Cain ‘s brilliant team must also be commended. Not a single talent goes to waste. Precise lighting (senior lighting student Andy Auyong), aforementioned gorgeous and illustrative costumes (senior costume student Emma Connelly), an inspiring set (sophomore design student Fiona Kearns) and the incredible ensemble support of two eager freshman (Kyra Tantao and Jake Cohen) breathe the utmost life into their required Stage Craft assignment: the dynamo driving Scaramouche Jones plays on the strongest of foundations.
A brief example of the stunning lighting designed by Mr. Auyong
This brilliant and most brave of Fools is the unparalleled Kelsie Hogue. Not only did Hogue compose and write over seven original songs for the piece, and performs them live on multiple instruments (you know how we feel about that kind of a thing), but she deftly, and fearlessly, takes on the role of Scaramouche himself. Delighting us, engaging us, amusing us, breaking our hearts sometimes, Hogue had no reservations about owning the most powerful element of live theatre: the relationship to the audience. She told the story with clarity, wisdom, and open ears to a very receptive opening-night house. Hogue plays with just the slightest air of self-awareness that doesn’t detract but rather wisely acknowledges the house she plays for (a raucous body of fellow students, for the most part), as well as her own age and gender twist on the piece almost in an act of full disclosure so that we may immerse ourselves in the story free from irrelevant distractions.
Hogue utilizing mime and a simplistic set to command her audience.Hogue plays an original song on a toy piano.
Each note of her performance leads us through a maze of honest emotion. We uproariously laugh at her masquerade as a lascivious Italian prince serenading us with an operatic aria whilst pretending to rub his one-eyed snake into the first row of the audience. She recounts Scaramouche’s haunting days as a gravedigger in Nazi Germany, using her majestical guitar as a callused shovel, and then singing an overture of “I’ll make you laugh until you cry” with such purity (and lack of selfish sentimentality) as to induce a shocking catharsis. She encompasses all the “fear and delight” of the ” 50 years {it took} to make the clown, and {the} 50 years {there were} to be the clown”.
“I’ll make you laugh until you cry.”
Join us in celebrating our April #inspiringfellows by keeping up with these up and coming stars on twitter and browse their websites here:
