Madshag Performance Group

MadShag is now THE FORGE!

2010-08-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who've wondered where and what the heck MadShag has been up to, today is an exciting day! Today several longtime MadShag collaborators are launching The Forge, a new arts production company based in New York.

Our brand spanking new site has more information if you're interested (please update your bookmarks!). Our first two projects -- SINNER TO WINNER (a one-night art party on September 10) and IMMORTAL: THE GILGAMESH VARIATIONS (opening in NYC January 2011) -- involve dozens of exciting artists. I hope you’ll plan to attend. I think you’ll enjoy both of these events, so stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

The Forge features some of the greatest artists I've ever worked with, and I'm incredibly excited about the group's future. If you'd like to keep up with our activities, I hope you'll:

Join The E-Forge List: http://theforgenow.com/?page_id=33

"Like" Us On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Forge/135160143180567

Follow The ForgeBlog: http://wwwtheforgenow.com/?feed=rss2

Follow Us On Twitter: http://twitter.com/theforgenyc

Coming Soon: Forge Photos on our Flickr Photostream
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/52224611@N04/) and Videos on our You
Tube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/TheForgeNYC)

And one other thing...please spread the word! Like any new endeavor, The Forge will only be as successful as those who know about it. Forward this to everyone you think might like to know about us! Thanks for your help (and more Forgery ahead!).

Casting For GILGAMESH VARIATIONS Coming Up Soon!

2009-06-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

We're looking for the six most talented, most physical, most thoughtful performer-artists in New York City to join the company of THE GILGAMESH VARIATIONS. Rehearsals begin in September 2009 in preparation for our 2010 premiere. If you, or someone you know, fits the breakdown below, please send a resume/headshot to madshag@gmail.com.

THE GILGAMESH VARIATIONS
4 male roles, 2 female roles, collectively playing 30+ speaking parts
Ages: 20-50
Actors and actresses of color, especially African or African-American, Latino/a, Native American, and actors of Middle Eastern heritage, encouraged to submit.
Physical movement and/or dance training a plus but not required

Not Her (And Other Exiles)...Coming To A Town Near You!

2009-03-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who packed the rafters of the beautiful new Dixon Place to see the world premiere of NOT HER (AND OTHER EXILES)! The waves of excellent feedback from audiences and the evening's stellar reception has us a bit giddy, and very appreciative for everyone out there who has become a part of the MadShag Nation. Superb performances by Roger Calderon, Cindy Kawasaki, Christopher Michael McLamb, Catherine Porter and Mary Ann Walsh made this "odd duck" theatre experience a joy, both to work on in rehearsal and to watch in performance. Thanks gang!

Due to the excellent response, MadShag has begun planning for a national tour of NOT HER (AND OTHER EXILES), so watch this space. Details to follow soon!

NOT HER Opens March 10th!

2009-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

We're thrilled to formally invite all MadShaggers to NOT HER (AND OTHER EXILES), a new 50-minute evening of short plays we're producing at the beautiful, new multi-million dollar theatre complex at Dixon Place. The cast is extraordinary, the designers are on the top of their game, and the plays are stunning glimpses at what it means to be an outsider in America.

Reservations are easily made at http://www.dixonplace.org for either of our two performances. Let us know you'll be attending, so we can make sure to find you there!

The Gilgamesh Variations...A First Look!

2009-01-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

After almost a year of planning, six months of intensive collaboration by our eleven playwrights, the first public experience of THE GILGAMESH VARIATIONS is upon us. Seating is limited, so if you'd like to see what all the hubbub has been about, email us and reserve your spot for February 7th!

Stage Fright: Open Reading

2009-01-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

The Gilgamesh Variations: Creative Team Announced

2008-07-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

We're happy to announce the playwrights and creative artists who will be working to adapt the Epic of Gilgamesh into MadShag's 2009 project, THE GILGAMESH VARIATIONS:

Charles Borkhuis, NYC
Erin Browne, NYC
Jane Ann Crum, NYC
Jeffrey James Keyes, NYC
Barb Lanciers, NYC
Leonard Madrid, Albuquerque
Gretchen Michelfeld,NYC
Kay Mitchell,NYC
Juanita Rockwell, Baltimore
Barry Rowell, NYC
Gabriel Shanks, NYC

Some of the names you may recognize from previous collaborations -- Ms. Michelfeld is the author of our upcoming production Not Her, while Mr. Keyes, Mr. Rowell and Ms. Rockwell had works in our 2006 reading series. The other creatives on board are:

Lead Dramaturge: Kay Mitchell
Director: Gabriel Shanks
Scenic Design: Allen Cutler, Hartford
Costume Design: Shannon Maddox, Baltimore
Lighting Design: Erik C. Bruce, Los Angeles

More details to follow soon!

MadShag Announces Two New Projects!

2008-07-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to announce two new projects currently in development at MadShag, both of which will be making their premieres in the months to come. One is an adaptation, one an inspiration...and both firmly rooted in the collaborative ethos of MPG.

Having just experienced the extraordinary presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, playwright Gretchen Michelfeld uses the lens of Samuel Beckett to explore the struggles of her candidacy, defeat, and the implications for women who rail daily against the barriers of gender. This solo performance is currently in development, and will be staged in 2009...when the electoral frenzy will have given way to some serious contemplation.

Twelve playwrights from around the country will join forces to adapt the earliest masterpiece of creative fiction -- The Epic of Gilgamesh, the legendary series of Sumerian and Babylonian poems about the magnificent hero-king, who may have been an actual ruler in the 27th century BC. THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD is a massive collaboration project shared among two dozen amazing artists in total, who together will explore the themes of gender, friendship, ritual and power – and the humanity that persists when ambition exceeds its grasp. This piece is being developed and workshopped for an early 2009 production, conceived and directed by Gabriel Shanks with lead dramaturg Kay Mitchell.

Present Tense at The Brick!

2008-05-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

We're thrilled to finally share with the MadShaggers the new premiere that Gabriel has been directing this month -- Charles Borkhuis' PRESENT TENSE, May 23rd and 24th at The Brick Theater. It's a clever and mind-stretching new play; we'd love to get your feedback and thoughts on this multiple-dimension, wormhole-stretching new work about actors, audiences, and the infinite space between the two. It's part of the Tiny Theatre Festival, co-produced by the Ontological-Hysteric and The Brick; there are six short plays in total, 90 nonstop minutes. Come enjoy!

In PRESENT TENSE, two characters find themselves slipping in and out of parallel lives through "wormholes" in the space-time of the play. One believes he has dozed off at home with a book on his lap and the play is a curiously lucid dream. The other is convinced that their performances in front of a live audience are desperately real. Panic starts to set in as the play's complications and reversals become increasingly fascinating and frightening. C'mon, admit it...you're intrigued, aren't you?

PRESENT TENSE
by Charles Borkhuis
directed by Gabriel Shanks
featuring Frank Blocker & Ben Trawick-Smith
Stage Manager: Jeni Shanks
Design: Allen Cutler
May 24 and 25 | 8pm | $15
at The Brick Theater, 575 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg
(L Train, 1/2 block from Lorimer Stop)
RESERVATIONS: 866-811-4111 or Theatermania

Free MadShag MP3 Download!

2008-03-05T21:28:00.001-08:00

The premiere of Dennis Blackwell and Jason Hart: In Concert is less than a week away at The Metropolitan Room, and we couldn't be more excited that so many of you are coming to see it! As a special treat, Dennis and Jason recently went into the studio and recorded one of the songs, the unforgettable Lerner/Lane classic "Come Back To Me", just for the blog listeners! You can now hear and download the track for FREE for a limited time.

And if you haven't made your reservations yet, call (212) 206-0440 right away (no credit card necessary). Seats are going very rapidly for both performances. I can't wait to see you there!

In Concert at the Metropolitan Room

2008-02-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

MadShag has been hard at work on a series of first-ever events: our first-ever musical project, our first-ever cabaret performance piece, our-first ever appearance at New York City's vaunted Metropolitan Room. The fully-staged cabaret piece is for our friends Dennis Blackwell and Jason Hart; Gabriel is directing, while Kay is writing text and helping with the staging. It's an incredibly exciting project...what a thrill to work on songs by Elvis Costello, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Billy Joel, and more! With a few weeks of rehearsal left to go, we can already tell it's turning out better than our wildest dreams.

Reservations are now open, so please call (212) 206-0440 and come enjoy our night of music, laughter, and drama. We promise you'll leave humming!

Have Another with Flux Theatre Ensemble Tonight!

2008-01-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Join us tonight at Jimmy's No. 43 (43 E. 7th St.) for Flux Theatre Ensemble's 2nd Have Another reading series. Kay has directed a scene from Godsbreath, by Johnna Adams. There will also be scenes from Un Plugged In by Brian Pracht and Icarus of Ohio by Rob Ackerman. There's no cover and a one-drink minimum. Stop in for a drink, stay for the chicken resurrection, and be sure to say hi if you do!

Slogging Through The Winter Months...

2007-12-13T17:48:00.001-08:00

It's surprisingly looking like a hiatus around the MadShag HQ...trust us, we didn't plan it that way, it just happened! We just closed Nomi Tichman's solo performance piece at Dixon Place, In Ithaca, When Physics Saved My Life...a wonderful experience with one of NYC's most wonderful actresses. Now we're looking to 2008, where we'll stick our first toe into the murky waters of cabaret (at the Metropolitan Room, no less!) and continue developing our new projects. And if things work out, we'll be reviving our award-winning, sold-out smash 2004 hit adaptation of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher...this time in our "second city", Baltimore. Just in time for Halloween! Keep watching this space, we'll be back to full speed soon!

Hay Fever: This Saturday!

2007-08-04T22:24:00.001-07:00

MadShag Celebrates Summer in the Garden!

2007-07-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

We're proud to finally announce our casts for SUMMER IN THE GARDEN, our staged reading series happening next month. MadShag is presenting two classic British comedies that break out of their rooms and hurl themselves headlong into their well-manicured lawns -- comedy so big, it can't stay in the living room! Both plays are celebrations of wit, laughter, and family dysfunction...a most entertaining afternoon, wouldn't you say? Gabriel and Kay are directing, and best of all, they're FREE! Plus drinks and nibbles! Put it on your calendar now, and remember to RSVP by phone (646-220-2520) or by e-mail, because seating is limited.

The Universe Is Ours!

2007-07-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Conquest of the Universe (at the OFF STAGE Festival) closed last night, and if you missed it...you really missed out! Each night, on the corner of Bowery and 4th in the East Village, our intrepid group of interstellar drag queens, kabuki maids and glitter kings -- Madshag veterans Oscar Castillo (Stealing Pears) and Lars Preece (The Madness of Lady Bright), along with newcomers Jason Martin and Matthew Cummings -- held court on the streets of New York, battling the equally fabulous Barbarella-meets-Xena cast of Chris Mirto's version (Trish, LeShay, Jesse and Carter rock!). In addition to across-the-board rave reviews for the event, we enjoyed the Bowery's gawking tour buses, overly sexual homeless people, threats of rain, Canadian honeymooners, tranny chasers, Gay Pride celebrants, and more drunk NYU frat boys than one should ever see in one lifetime. But we also had over 1,000 enthusiastic audience members who laughed, screamed, and clapped along with our zany street theatre. Thanks to our producers, Peculiar Works Project, for the unforgettable experience. (But now, we'd like to do a play inside a theatre again, thanks!)

OBIE Award Grants...and Colliding Queens!

2007-05-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

We're thrilled to note that our frequent producers and longtime artistic collaborators, Peculiar Works Project, received an OBIE Award Grant yesterday in honor of last October's The Village Fragments. We're doubly thrilled, because the Fragments included a MadShag play, The Madness of Lady Bright by Lanford Wilson, in its run. Which means we kinda, sorta, halfway-won an OBIE too! Huzzah for us, huzzah for Peculiar Works, and huzzah to Gretchen, Steve, Lars, Kay and Gabriel, who created such an marvelous (and apparently, award-worthy) piece of theatre!

MadShag is gearing up for a second run in The Village Fragments next month, in the East Village this time...where we'll be presenting Charles Ludlam's whacked-out intergalactic drag comedy Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide. Director Gabriel Shanks will be collaborating with our talented buddy Christopher Mirto to bring two totally different productions to life...and then have the two ensembles throwdown in a theatrical street brawl! It's all loosely inspired by historical facts from the 1960's, and will be a lot of fun. The event begins on June 14th (and Kay is directing a separate piece, too!). For tickets and other info, check out Peculiar Works' website next week.

Don't Miss The BANG!

2007-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

MadShag's great friends and sometime producers, Peculiar Works Project, are throwing their first-ever benefit, BANG!...and it's a star-studded lineup of downtown performance art legends, including Penny Arcade and Judith Malina. This is a must for everyone who supports quality theatre...and it's a great night of entertainment, too!

A Big Month

2007-04-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a month since we've updated, but we've had a big month at MadShag. First off is that our planned production of Perestroika had to be canceled due to serious family illness. The health of our loved ones comes first, as it should, but the severity of the illness made it simply impossible for MadShag to continue its involvement with the Baltimore production. The good news is that Spotlighters, our producing partner, plans to forge ahead with local artists to complete the production...and we are cheering them on. Go team!

We also put together a reading for Peculiar Works Project of Charles Ludlam's Conquest of the Universe, or, When Queens Collide, which was ridiculously good fun. Since the play has an absolutely enormous cast, we got to work with some regulars of the MadShag family (Gabriel, Shannon, Catherine Porter, Mary Ann Walsh, Melissa House, Helen Bessette), some of our new friends from Baltimore (David Gregory, Richard Goldberg), and a bevy of talented folk who were MadShaggin' for the first time: Brian Gonzalez, Ryan Jensen, Chris Mirto, Wil Reyes, Nathaniel Rogers, Shannan Shaughnessy, Nomi Tichman, and Jason Verga. It was a ball, and we hope to revisit the play in June as part of PWP's Off Stage: The East Village Fragments, which is the follow-up event to the West Village event we did last year.

We're still working on our 2008 original piece, Dragging The Day (Behind You), and we're currently cooking up a fun summer project here in NYC. We'll keep you posted!

A Post About Nothing...

2007-03-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

I'm such a bad mom! Shoot, if I was the real mom of this blog, child services would have taken it and given it to a nice white family in the suburbs before I could pull myself up off the kitchen floor after a week of vodka, cigarettes and crack cocaine. I tell ya, I have a new respect for those that can come up with not only something to write about on their blogs each day but some of them even come up with several new and interesting posts all at the same time. What's up with that?!

Oh sure, I've sat down to write on several occasions. Maybe something about a show I've seen or a piece I'm working on or at the very least one of the several hundred Netflix movies I've watched, but nothing ever seemed important enough. For instance, I saw a show a couple of weeks ago at a new-ish space here in Baltimore called The Patterson. Actually, I believe the entire title is The Creative Alliance at the Patterson. Anyway, I went down there not knowing anything about the space except what I had read on their website, WHICH, by the by, I thought sounded totally groovy and a place that Madshag might be able to mount less traditional work in the future i.e. the work we prefer to do. But I digress...I LOVE THIS SPACE. It's a totallytotallytotally, great and beautiful artistic and creative space. So why didn't I write about that? And the piece. I saw an original performance/multimedia extravaganza, Air Heart, written and performed by a Towson MFA alum Mara Neimanis, an aerial performer amongst other things, who did the whole piece while climbing and swinging around on a 25' steel sculpture of a plane. Now that sounds like that could be something...good or bad...
It was good.

I just don't know?! I mean, what constitutes an interesting blog worthy post? Listen, I have read some really uninteresting crap. And even worse, I have left comments on these posts like this will somehow ease my guilty conscience for thinking it was crap in the first place. So what makes me think I'm any better than anybody else. Like I can conjure from deep down and write something that will entertain, educate and inspire you all to great things...if I just wait, it will come.

What the hell was I waiting for. Well, I have learned my lesson. No more waiting for interesting subjects, inspirational words, great/bad art or as Allan Kaprow put it: happenings. I hear by promise to write all kinds of crap all the time. No matter what it is or how I'm feeling I will allow the proverbial diarrhea of the extremities to expound all kinds of deep, dark, smelly dookie. This my friends is my solemn promise.

Just to show you how dedicated I am, I don't have a damn thing to say to close this thing...
Up next time: A cheesy slide show from my vacation to Mexico. You won't want to miss this one. Several shots of the same thing, pics of people you don't know or care about and I have found some spirited Mariachi music to use as underscoring. Can't wait...ole!

The First Rule of Write Club Is...

2007-01-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

Sometime MadShag collaborator Jeffrey James Keyes (who performed in our production of Edward II, and whose play Orange Alert we developed in our reading series in December '05) is part of the playwright's collective Write Club NYC, and they are throwing a mixer for any and all artists who work in New York theatre...especially those of us at the fringes in Off-Off-Broadway. We'll be there, and you should be too! It's a chance to exchange ideas and information, to network, and to socialize with fellow off-off-Broadway artists.

Write Club NYC Mixer

When: Monday, January 29, 2007 @ 8PM
Where: Upstairs at The Irish Rogue, 356 W 44th Street

Admission is free! So come drink your face off.

Elsewhere: Going To St. Ives

2007-01-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

Baltimoreans, be sure to catch Going To St. Ives, directed by MadShag guru Juanita Rockwell. It got great reviews, and is running through February 25th at Everyman Theatre. Juanita seems very happy with the production, and the actresses are reputed to be marvelous. If you go, let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Going, Going, GONE

2007-01-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

The premiere of Charles L. Mee's latest play, GONE, begins February 1st at 59E59 Theatres, under the direction of MadShag buddy Kenn Watt and co-produced by Kenn's company The Fifth Floor. Mee is one of the most interesting playwrights of our era, and this piece, featuring Proust, Ginsberg, obituaries and made-for-TV movies, promises to be truly exceptional. They've put up a You Tube trailer for the play (so cool!); watch it and grab tickets at TicketCentral.

More Best of 2006 Honors

2007-01-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

BroadwayWorld has given a bouquet full of plaudits to MadShag's production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches in their Best of Baltimore 2006 Awards. They include:

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play - Richard Goldberg, Patrick Kilpatrick
Outstanding Costume Design - Shannon Maddox

Honorable Mentions:
Outstanding Production of a Play
Outstanding Supporting Actress - Towanda Underdue

We're also happy that two of the Angels family were notated for another great show this season, Southern Baptist Sissies. Our assistant stage manager, Andrew Syropoulos was named Outstanding Supporting Actor for that play, and Terry Long, who played our Roy Cohn, was singled out for his direction of it. Congrats to all!

Lady Bright Photos

2006-12-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

Finally, we've got pictures to share of our incredibly fun, site-specific, outdoor production of Lanford Wilson's The Madness of Lady Bright from last fall (part of Off Stage: The West Village Fragments, produced by Peculiar Works Project). For those of you who didn't get a chance to see the performances, you can relive the cold weather, the street traffic, and the yellow pasty street lamps lining Cornelia Street. (And to the resilient, dedicated cast -- Steve Hauck, Gretchen Michelfeld, and Lars Preece -- we miss you very much!)

More photos, reviews, and other goodies about Lady Bright can be found on our Productions page. Seeing these images again, we can't wait to start working on the East Village Fragments, coming in June 2007.