Da Count: Supporters...athletic and otherwise

This Flattering Glass closes tomorrow, and we cannot even begin to put into words how honored, humbled and proud we feel about the whole experience. We've never worked with a group of people more dedicated to excellence than this cast and crew.

But Da Count today is for another group of people: those who have supported us. Chris and Julie Ann for faith and space and lights. Marcel for advice, video tape, and just being there. Nora for being president of our fan club. Suzanne for being a treasure beyond value. Mike, Nancy, Kate, Patrick, Will, Donald, Jessi, and Charles for congratulations, encouragement, and very kind words. Everyone who has seen the show for taking time out of their lives.

Vive le bullshit!

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!

www.fresnobeehive.com

I just wanted to extend my most sincere thanks and gratitude to Greg and Lisa and the rest of the cast and crew. Without any of you we would not be able to play and WOW the audiences!

Hey, let's get together and crank this thing out 4 more times! Yay!!!! ;-)

Thank you!!!

Viva la Bullshit!

Alais!

Previews!!!

Well, we're finally here! It's the week of opening and tonight and tomorrow night we are previewing the show.

Dress rehearsals are always a bit tempestuous... new playing space, costumes, hair/make up, lights, props, etc. Mondays are always the worst, Tuesdays are 10,000 times better and by Wednesday/Thursday you are just ironing out the final wrinkles and the show gels nicely.

We are at that place in time where our show will reach the beauty it is meant to be. There are always 6 more changes and I have seen some new things from the cast mates even now. It is exciting and I can't wait for there to be an audience and to feed off their response.

This show kicks! I love performing in it, I love working with this group of people and I can't wait to share that love with all of you!

Thank you to all!

Break legs!!!!

Alais

Inside This Flattering Glass

To steal this video... GO HERE!

Flattering Glass - mini-doc
Uploaded by dathang

Da Count: Our Actors

Our actors...those amazingly gifted and wonderfully beautiful people that we have been blessed to spend the last four weeks with: Renee "Alais" Newlove, Dave "Bushy" Otero, Hal "Edmund" Bolen, Stephen "Edward" Torres, Jessica "Eleanor" Reedy, Ron "Gaunt" Blackwell, RJ "Henry" Blak, Arthur "Hotspur" Koster, Melissa "Isabel" Geston, Julia "Joan" Reimer, Rene "Mowbray" Lastreto, and Matt "Richard" Otstot.

You rock our world.

An Open Thank You...

as of last night we concluded the first major phase of our rehearsals for "this flattering glass." the language, relationship, emotion, action, and character exploration is done (inasmuch as those things are ever truly "done.") and, while i had absolute faith in the ventoux process , it was always the actors themselves who would prove my faith warranted.

and i now find it "all unpossible" to voice the humility and honor that i have felt in their presence for the last three weeks. they are Actors! each of them, renee, dave, hal, stephen, jessica, ron, rj, arthur, melissa, julia, rene, and matt, in their own way and to their own degree, have taken what i was confident would be a workable and useful tool for actors, and demonstrated, nightly, what Will and Dedication can accomplish when melded with Craft.

as we enter the final shaping phase of rehearsals, let me simply thank you for all you have done, and for all that i know you will continue to do.

and to alissa: thank you for joining our merry troupe and for your enthusiasm, professionalism and dedication. hell, girl, you scare me...and that's just what a good stage manager should do.

and my darling lisa, my partner, my touchstone, my wife, my Love: none of this is possible without you. more importantly, without you, none of it matters.

etonne-moi
gt

Love-Fest

In talking with my cast mates and working on this show, ya'll might not believe that our rehearsals are going as well as we are blogging. But it is! It is so nice to be a part of an ensemble and grow together and work together and be such a well oiled machine that anything can be thrown our way and we'll conquer it, together.

There are no restrictions. We did not all agree to only reveal the good things about what we are doing... there just isn't anything to complain about! That is so nice.

Tonight was amazing. In the scene I have with Isabel we were brought to the next level and it's powerful. I love the transitions we have made, the places we are in and I love being Alais. She is such a fun ride. Every night there is a new step and after we got off stage, Isabel looked at me and wanted to strangle me... I loved it! I love how we have been brought to this place, this scene, and it is so real it is bringing out natural reactions and making our interactions that much more profound. Thank you Isabel for being there with me! You are truly my sister in arms!

Thank you to the cast for taking what you've been given and making it real!

Alais

This Flattering Glass, the adventure

As we enter week three, I am amazed at the way this venture is taking shape. It is a grand undertaking, and we have no idea where it will take us. But we boldly step off the edge and trust our skills, intuition, and desires to take us to the heights we wish to achieve. What ever the result, we all have grown as a result of this challenge.

Thank you, Greg, for your dream and allowing us to be part of it. Lisa, you are so supporting and encouraging, we could not do this without your insight.

To my cast members, We are "This Flattering Glass". What we do reflects back our dedication and devotion to our craft.

Thank you all.

First Run Thru: Interlude

a few random thoughts that i had during the course of last night's rehearsal (in no particular order): oh yes...GOOD!...i told you NOT to play with the guns...YES...i really need to learn my lines...hm, it doesn't fall out when i have it...YESYESYESYESYES...i'm so happy...damn

Exciting (posted for Jesseree who is having puter issues)

Exciting is when you can't wait for the rest of your day to go by so you can go to rehearsal.... This play is exciting; this theatre company is exciting!

First Run: Prelude

so tomorrow is our first full run of the show and i am deliciously intrigued to see what will happen. of all the shows i have done, this is the first in which the actors deliberately and very definitely bring new ideas and new levels to each and every rehearsal. from the foundation of their own work, to communicating meaning, to playing the language, to listening, to communicating relationships, to physicalizing emotions...every night...something new...something deeper.

and not just some of them, but every one of them. i find it impossible to single out the exemplary work that one of them is doing for the simple reason that they are all doing exemplary work. and i choose to use that word very deliberately: exemplary. each of them is working at a level that is an example to each of the others. and, oh my, how they do feed on it.

so tomorrow is our first full run...and i have the feeling that something wonderful this way comes.

We Play With Balls

In our "focus ups" GT has lead us through a particular exercise that I find to be the most helpful. It's the Space Ball exercise. Now this is no ordinary ball, this ball can be any shape, size and it changes on a whim. This ball emotes too.

The hardest part for me is to get the Space Ball out on my head. I can picture a ball, you can say "think of a volleyball," and my mind will picture a volleyball. This is not the Space Ball exercise. The Space Ball is made of the space in front of you. It's up to you to make the Space Ball real and to play with the ball. We play with the Space Ball on our own and sometimes we combine Space Balls and play with a partner or a group. It's interesting to see what the other cast members come up with, new way to play with the Space Ball, different games to play with the Space Ball, it's all individualized and real.

Last night we played with the Space Balls as we were feeling different emotions. We were experiencing different feelings in regards to our relationship with the Space Ball. I feel bad for my Space Ball because I was more aggressive with it and it went through some abuse.

After our exercise is completed, I can feel my palm tingle as if I can still feel the ball, my arms are warm from the movements and playing, my legs tingle from focusing on moving to get the ball, and I'm a little out of breathe (because I am out of shape) from playing with the ball. My whole entire body is so focused on playing with the Space Ball, it is that real. And it's totally trippy to experience.

I love this exercise because it not only focuses my mind but my entire body too. I can put that energy into playing on stage with the actors and the space. Placing emotions into our Space Ball exercise raises the stakes and makes the playing that much more intense.

I have to say thank you to the ensemble for letting go of inhibitions, for following the exercises and for giving 100% to the space... the ensemble makes the environment open and welcome to be free to play! Thank you!

Alais

Week 1

Well here it is one week of working "This Flattering Glass". It is such a talented group, with such a passion to create. Sometimes I feel a little over whelmed, that I am not further along in my work. So I have to remind myself it has only been a week. Our Director has a different way of directing, and alot of what he does comes from the actors themselves. It is so different to be able to create our own characters from how we see them in relation to the other characters and their position in the story.
This play is coming along extremely well. Everyone is learning and contributing, It is truly a group effort.
This is my first attempt at doing Shakespeare, and I find that I struggle with the lines as it is soooo different from the way we talk, but slowly it is starting to come, and gets easier every time.
We still have almost a month before we put this up to the public and I know it is going to rock. Thank you everyone in the cast and especially Lisa for all her hard work and the invaluable help she gives.
This is going to be AWESOME!!!!

On Our Feet

Tonight we got up and started staging the show. Relationships are starting to appear, intent is coming through, and the language is melodic.

As a character on stage witnessing the scenes unfold I didn't know what to do at first, but felt comfortable and encouraged to play. Having the freedom, I started allowing my character to flow and natural reactions poured out of me. It was amazing!

This group, ensemble is the better word, has been working so well together... I can't wait to get the scripts out of our hands and see the real playing begin!

Thank you!

Alais

This Flattering Glass: Day 1

What an amazing beginning we have made. I cannot thank the cast enough: Renee, Hal, Dave, Jessica, Arthur, Matt, RJ, Julia, Melissa, Dave, Ron, Jag, Rene...you all dove in with both feet and more! If we opened tomorrow I would be proud of this show.

I look forward to where you take me. And thank you, Lisa, for keeping me on task.

etonne-moi
g

Cast Meeting

Thank you all...

what an amazing group of people. that such a group would sit and listen to me blather on for an hour... thank you...thank you...and thank you... nothing, absolutely nothing, that we are attempting is even remotely possible without each of you. i know i tend to come across like an arogant sob (and i am) but you humble me...you remind me of what we are truly about...and you keep me honest, grounded, and focused on what is important: the work, the show, the audience. regardless of everyone else's incessant rumors, the childish backbiting, and the ever-present-no-matter-how-hard-you-try-to escape-it bullshit, you were all here...and committed...and inspirational.

thank you, chris and julieann for your consumate professionalism and dedication
thank you to the casts of Muse and TFG for being who you are and for doing what you do (and for being willing to do what i know you can do)
thank you, lisa, for a passion for excellence that puts us all to shame
thank you.
and the rest (as the man said) is silence...

etonne-moi
gt

This Flattering Glass Cast

In April/May of 2007, Theatre Ventoux will present "This Flattering Glass", our adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Richard II", at the Severance Building.

The following people have graciously consented to give of their Time and Artistry to this small drop in the lake of Wonderful.

Stephanie French as Alais
Dave Otero as Bushy
Hal Bolen as Edmund
Stephen Torres as Edward
Jessica Reedy as Eleanor
Ron Blackwell as Gaunt
Raul Vasquez, Jr. as Henry
RJ Blak as Hotspur
Kimberly Guevara as Isabel
Tessa Cavalletto as Joan
Jaguar Bennett as Percy
and
Matt Otstot as Richard

etonnoe-moi
gt