BECKY SHAW BLIND DATE CONTEST

CUPID DONE YOU WRONG?

 

In Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw, a blind date gone awry has life-changing consequences for the matchmakers and the matched.

 

Been there, done that?

We know you have a Worst Blind Date Ever story. Or a Best Ever.

Maybe they’re the same story.

 

Send your story of 250 words or less to beckyshawkdt@gmail.com and if you win, you and a date – of YOUR choice – will attend

Becky Shaw on Friday, October 5 at 8pm plus get 2 free beverages.

 

 

THE RULES

 

• One entry per person
• 250 words or less
• Deadline: Monday, October 1, 2012 by 10am
• With your entry, include: first and last name, email address, and phone number
• Must be available to attend performance on Friday, October 5 at 8pm
• Tickets are not transferable, unless winner is a Kitchen Dog subscriber, in which case tickets may be used for guests.
• Kitchen Dog Theater reserves the right to publish part or all of your story on social media sites including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter, for marketing purposes. If you are unwilling to have your story published, you may still enter, but please note this with your entry.
• Winners receive two (2) tickets and two (2) free drinks of their choice.
• Winners will be notified by Wednesday, October 3, 2012.

From Blogspace to Onstage!

The actors might be done blogging,

but now you can see them in person!

Our first review has come out, and the show is deemed "hard to beat" and "[a] beautiful mess." Don't miss BECKY SHAW, running through October 6, 2012!
http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2012/09/theater-review-becky-shaw-a-snide-comedy-with-roseanne-appeal/

Subscriptions are still available for the 22nd season (at our fancy new website)!
http://kitchendogtheater.org/subscribe.html

Single tickets to BECKY SHAW are available through Brown Paper Tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/264874

Talkbacks with the cast are done after Sunday matinee performances. At other performances, it's likely the cast will wander out into the lobby to say hello afterward, so stick around and say hi!

See you there!

The Actors Turn on Each Other: Part II

In Part II, we discover that Mike has an evident Philly sports bias and Jenny would be Indiana Jones if it weren't for this acting thing.

Jenny	Mike
When You Were Little You Were Going to Be
JL: I recall wanting to write novels, be Shamu’s trainer, a meteorologist, and a classical musician.	MF: An astronomer.
Worst Costume Ever
JL: Just panties… best and worst costume ever.	MF: I had to wear a purple polyester leisure suit in a show once. It was a great costume, but it was so hot in the space that the suit turned kind of gross like two days in, and then I just had to keep wearing it.
A Play That Should be Done on the Dallas Stage
JL: Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker.	MF: I want to see someone do the Nick Dear adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that they did in London w/ the leads alternating parts each night. It sounds crazy and awesome.
One Play You Hope Never To See Again
JL: Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith.	MF: ‘Night, Mother
In Your Opinion, What Holds Dallas Back From Theatrical Greatness?
JF: …	MF: Jerry Jones   [Co-Artistic Director Tina Parker would like to remind readers that Mike is an Eagles fan, so a) the opinions expressed here do not represent the opinions of Kitchen Dog Theater and b) GO COWBOYS.]
Bucket List Roles
JL: Lady MacBeth, Elizabeth Proctor, Stella Kowalski, Blanche DuBois, Maggie the Cat, Mary Tyrone,  Gertrude in Hamlet, Titania, Hamlet ,  Martha in Virginia Woolf, Sonya and/or Yelena in Uncle Vanya, and many more… I have a long list to get through lol	MF: Tzara in Travesties, Bottom in Midsummer, Iago in Othello, Konstantin in The Seagull (it was cool to check that one off the list), The Baker in Into the Woods, George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Hickey in The Iceman Cometh.
You Have to Be In a Show for 10 Years – You Choose…
JL: I could do The Crucible forever. The audience response is so visceral and real – I remembered getting “high” off the audible gasps and sometimes random shouts from the audience.	MF: I feel like No Exit is the only logical choice.
Superstitions
JL: I’m not a superstitious person.  However, I try not to offend/alienate other cast members I’m working with so I usually say “Mac-B” in a theatrical space just to avoid freaking people out.	MF: I make a playlist for every show I’m in, and I will listen to those same songs before every performance. [listen to Mike’s character playlist online here & here] Also, my mom taught me to write right-handed even though I’m naturally left-handed, because of some crazy Italian superstition. I know that’s not what we’re talking about, but I feel like my story must be told to help future generations of Italian-American children.
If You Weren’t An Actor You Would Be…
JL: Historian/archeologist	MF: Professional basketball player. The world needs a 5’6” point guard with limited mobility and a non-existent vertical leap.
First Show You Were in at Kitchen Dog
JL: I was cast in End Times but I had to turn it down for another role.  I later did a reading of Boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb for the New Works Festival and then the mainstage production of Boom in 2010. Eric Steele and Jenny awaited disaster behind a fishtank in Boom	MF: I played Ferdinand in The Tempest in 1997.   Mike being lovingly carried by KDT Company member Bill Lengfelder in The Tempest
Best Piece of Theater You’ve Ever Seen
[Jenny takes this one alone] JL: In NYC, I volunteered at The Public Theater and they assigned me to an Australian Theater Company for the “Under the Radar Festival.” [Back to Back Theatre performing small metal objects] I was the liaison between The Public and the director/stage manager.  This company consisted of actors who had intellectual disabilities of different kinds.  They wrote the shows themselves and performed in it.  It took place in the Whitehall Ferry Terminal (Staten Island Ferry Terminal).  It also toured around Europe and always performed in airports and train terminals. The audience had headphones on and sat to the side.  The actors were amongst the regular crowd/traffic of the terminal – they had concealed microphones.  Only the audience could hear the music/dialogue – the other people in the terminal had no idea what we were doing or watching. They stared at us every time we laughed or responded, unsure of what we were responding to.  It felt like looking at an aquarium or zoo exhibit.   I saw the show 6 times and was blown away every time.  Including one evening when a drunk man came over to the audience and assumed we were there to see him.  He began to perform for us, singing songs and telling stories – ushers were about to try to remove the man when the director said “No – this is part of performing in public.”  So the drunk man continued to talk and distract and sing.  Finally – he got fixated on the memory of a dear departed friend and he broke down and wept before the entire audience.  Suddenly he didn’t want the attention he was seeking.  The show went on – I’ve never been more moved by a piece of theater in my life.   Even without the drunk man the experience was incredible.

 

 

 

The Actors Turn On Each Other: Part I

Part I of this two-part interview introduces you to Jenny and Mike, and starts to delve into their darkest secrets, like what they're reading, and how Mike loves him some Honey Boo Boo Child.

JENNY	MIKE
Full Given Name
Jennifer Kathleen Ledel	Michael Craig Federico
Hometown
Bedford, TX	Philadelphia, PA (but really Plano, TX)
Zodiac Sign
Scorpio	Libra
Current Show You Have Been Recommending to Friends
The Most Happy Fella at Lyric Stage (with my husband [Alex Organ] in it) and Macbeth at Shakespeare Dallas (opening soon with a killer cast!)	I’ve been talking about Becky Shaw to my friends quite a lot lately
Favorite Play
Currently it’s Macbeth; A Streetcar Named Desire; The Crucible	Travesties by Tom Stoppard; A Midsummer Night’s Dream
First Show You Saw at Kitchen Dog
I believe it was Woyzek and then Mr. Marmalade [in which Mike appeared]	The Baltimore Waltz, which starred now-Co-Artistic Directors Tina Parker and Christopher Carlos
Last Book You Read
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray	Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Must-see TV Show
Breaking Bad	Mad Men; Parks and Recreation; Doctor Who
Last Good Movie You Saw
The Future by Miranda July (very freeform and intriguing..) and Moonrise Kingdom (great)	The Dark Knight Rises; His Girl Friday
Performer You Would Drop Everything To See
Cate Blanchett, Jessica Hecht, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, to name a few	Sigur Ros, or Led Zeppelin if Bonzo rose from the dead
Pop Culture Guilty Pleasure
Facebook, YouTube videos of stupid people getting attacked by wild animals… also A&E’s Intervention (this show is perfect for actors – the people involved have strong specific objectives that inform all of their behavior…)	Toddlers and Tiaras (God, I hate myself)
Favorite Pre-/Post-Show Meal
I can’t eat a lot before the show – preshow it’s trail mix, PB crackers, and Cliff bars. I like to be a little hungry.	Pre- is pasta of some kind; Post- a cold Coca-Cola
Worst Flubbed Line/Missed Cue/Onstage Mishap
In a scene from Streetcar (where I played the worst Blanche on the face of the planet) I had to smash a bottle on the table and hold the broken end in my costar’s face.  It is in the stage directions and it is also commented on in the dialogue (Stanley says “What are you gonna do with that?” – horrible paraphrase).   I had not gotten to rehearse with a bottle as we only had enough for the performance.  So I smashed the bottle (it was a special ‘break away’ glass) and the entire thing disintegrated in my hand leaving a fine powder to hold in Stanleys face.  I looked in terror at my costar who continued to say the lines even though I didn’t have the bottle-end he was speaking about about… it was awkward and horrible and hilarious.	Once this light almost fell on me during a show, but I don’t like to talk about it.