Workshopping Terroristka

We are deep into the Caucus mountains this week as we workshop the new play Terroristka by Rebecca Bella. We began rehearsals on Sunday in my drafty dining room of the old Berkeley house I live in. 6 actors, 1 playwright and me all squeezed around a table with scripts, and sliced bread with cheese, almonds, dried cherries, a bit of green to munch on (thanks Rebecca!). We put the coffee on and hunkered down to the work.

I chatted at the group for the first thirty minutes or so. Talking about what the process would be like this week (very fast!), how the play is structured (primary action barrels forward to the crucial moment with Zarema in front of the cafe, with secondary action always commenting/contexutalizing from that post-bomb future), what kind of play it is (poetic drama/expressionism - Lorca, Brecht, A. Kennedy!), and what that means for the way the world works (we are in Jailbird's interior world, she is recreating the events, the future and its verdict always looming over the present action).

Rebecca then spoke a little about the language. It's in verse, but its rhythms are so very American, informed by her own American-ness. We don't need to be too precious. I add in that these people use lots of metaphors and images, they are always speaking in code, and always know what the referent is. Lean into the language and have a rip-roaring good time.

And with that, we read the play. Danny, Pamela, Kyla, Carla, Garth, and Judy chomped into it, and the 90 minutes flew by. Who knew! It's a funny play too! Very serious, but these people need to laugh too.

We took a wee break - more coffee, a smoke, some pow-wows in the kitchen and the backyard porch. It's freezing. We turn on the heat.

We come back, and I show them a slide show of pictures from Chechnya, and the devastation wreaked on Grozny in the last 15 years. It's mind-blowing. It looks like something out of WWII. We can't believe this happend in the recent past. Here are some of the pictures we looked at:



























We also took a look at a couple of YouTube videos with haunting pictures of the country, the people, and the material consequences of the two Chechen wars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sg8pon-Dcw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39mRpg3oAcE&NR=1

All very sobering. The cast has so much to contribute, their own relationship to these pictures, questions that I never thought of. We have a curious group of people assembled, and I am glad for it.

I showed the picture of Zarema. The Russians put their accused behind bars, not just in the prison, but in the courtroom too. That's where Zarema is.

This is the picture that started it all for Rebecca. Zarema's eyes leap out at us. Alternately a plaintive plea, a hollow stare, an open threat.

This week will be an education for us all and will light the way for where we want to go during our next phase.

As the cast filtered out of the house as the sun began to set, Rebecca and I were excited, anticipatory and exhausted. It was a good first day.

Can't wait to dig in tomorrow and learn more about this story.
Jessica

Join us for our upcoming reading of TERRORiSTKA

a threshold project

a staged reading of
TERRORiSTKA
by Rebecca Bella
directed by Jessica Holt

Based on a true-life story, TERRORiSTKA tells the story of a young female suicide bomber from Chechnya who walked away from her bomb in front of a crowded
Russian cafe.

Rebecca Bella's searing poem-play contemplates a young woman's passage from youthful innocence to volatile patriotism. The story unravels from both ends; as it does we see how young people become entangled in violence, and how they enable the conflicts that destroy their own lives.

A deeply felt play, TERRORiSTKA is both a lament for the lost, and a lullaby for the future.

Join Threshold for two staged readings of this beautiful play.
There will be a talk-back after each reading.

2pm, March 28, 2009
Climate Theater, 285 9th Street, SF

4pm, March 29, 2009
The Shelton Theatre, 533 Sutter Street, SF

Suggested Donation $10

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About the Artists:

Rebecca Bella is a poet, playwright and translator. She began writing this play in early 2004 when she discovered the image and testimony of a female Chechen suicide bomber in a Russian newspaper. At the time, she was working on a Fulbright Fellowship—a project in poetry translation—in St. Petersburg, Russia. The image of this young woman compelled Rebecca to research and write her story. The result is Terroristka.

Director Jessica Holt is a founding member of Threshold, and has directed for Threshold, UC Berkeley, Three Wise Monkeys, and SF Young Playwrights Festival, and assistant directed at TheatreWorks with Robert Kelley and at Shotgun Players with Mark Jackson. She is the new Artistic Director of the Three Wise Monkeys Theater Company, and holds a Master's degree in Theater and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. Jessica is a member The Magic Theatre's Artist Lab.

Jessica and Rebecca met a year ago in a workshop class offered by Playwrights Foundation. A studio for directors and playwrights learning to work together in "staging the developing play," Rebecca and Jessica are delighted to be putting the theory into practice.

Poster Design by Melissa Fall

The World of Exchange

We have pictures from Exchange! Thanks to Mike Ricca for shooting, and to the cast for looking so bad-ass!



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For more of the pictures from the show, and for a peek at the other shows we shared the staged with at The Eureka, go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/focalmatter/sets/72157614838936238

No refunds on EXCHANGE

Threshold has been delighted with the warm response audiences have given to its most recent production: Exchange. Last night, after a week and a half hiatus, the Exchange cast was back on the stage at The Eureka, spinning their comic and chilling ghost-story of tale. Playwright Ben Fisher was in the house. It was a great audience, and we were thrilled with the turn-out. Thanks to Lucille, Linda, Catherine, John, Meg and Robert for showing Threshold some love.

The show has two more performances at The Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street at Battery in San Francisco: Saturday, March 7th at 8 pm, and Sunday March 8th at 2 pm.

You can buy your tickets at www.threewisemonkeys.org, or at the door. If you are a TBA member, a student or senior, come to the door to buy $12 rush tickets.

See you at the theatre!

"A quirky little piece"

Threshold has received its first review!

The Exchange team was given accolades by Contra Costa Times reviewer, Pat Craig.

The performances of the cast were described as "charming," Ben Fisher's writing is "quick and funny," and the play is the "most well-developed piece" of the evening.

Craig goes on to say that EXCHANGE is "one of those stories that keeps popping up in your thoughts for hours after the show is over."

See the entire review, here:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/entertainment/ci_11750887

Exchange plays The Bay One-Acts.

EXCHANGE. A new short play written by Ben Fisher and directed by Jessica Holt.

One of nine new plays featured at the 8th Annual Bay One Acts at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco.

A New York City Train Platform. Underground. It is the last night of November. It’s freezing outside, but sweltering in the station. Four, tired travelers are waiting for the last train of the day. Unbeknownst to them, they all share the same destination. The same fate. A fate decided through their actions.

Join Threshold for this comic and chilling contemporary allegory that forces us to ask: Is change possible?

Featuring Cooper Carlson, Tom Cokenias, Pamela Davis, Mallory Gross, and Sam Leichter.

Note: Performance days and times are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm. Sundays at 2pm.

The show runs from Feb 19 to Feb 22, and Mar 4, 7 and 8

Eureka Theatre, San Francisco - 215 Jackson (@ Battery) - S.F.

For Tickets, call (415) 776-7427 or Buy Online at http://www.threewisemonkeys.org

Tickets: $20 Thu, $22 Fri, Sat, Sun
Rush Discounts for Seniors, Students and TBA - $12. At door subject to availability

Buy a Festival Pass - Any two performances for $35

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The Bay One Acts, is produced by Three Wise Monkeys, and is a theatre festival devoted to the cultivation of local playwrighting talent. Nine local producing companies get involved to give new plays full productions.

Companies include:
Threshold
Three Wise Monkeys Theatre Company
Ragged Wing Ensemble
Cassandra's Call Productions
Bindlestiff Studios
Second Wind Productions
Asian American Theatre Company
AtmosTheatre
Bella Union Theatre Company

About Us

Alex Curtis

Alex Curtis is an actor, director, improviser, and a founding member of Threshold. He originated the role of the well-meaning but materialistic tramp Milton in Within the Wall of Sand, directed by Jessica Holt for the SF Young Playwrights Festival, starred in a staged reading of the one-man show The Hunger Room, by Christopher Chen, and will appear as the Chechen separatist Rustan in Threshold's first full-length production, TERRORiSTKA by poet/playwright Rebecca Bella. Other notable Bay Area acting credits include the world premier of Yellowjackets at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s, written by Itamar Moses and directed by Tony Taccone, Twelfth Night at the Marin Shakespeare Festival, and Zombie Town: a documentary play at Sleepwalkers Theatre.

As a director, Alex recently staged his original adaptation The Dentist: A Tragic Commedia dell’Arte in One Act, at the University of California, Berkeley, as part of the Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies Department's workshop season. Next up, he will direct a short play entitled Three Little Words; Or, Romeo and Juliet, the Entire Play, with Four Actors, in Three Word Sentences, Which Can't Be Done by local playwright/theater blogger Tim Bauer for this year's annual Bay One Acts Festival.

Alex is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he completed simultaneous degrees in Business Administration, and Theater and Performance Studies. His thesis “Commedia dell’Arte: Training the Contemporary Actor” was completed in 2008 under the supervision of commedia scholar Mel Gordon. While there, he taught courses on improvisation and commedia dell'arte through the Berkeley DeCal Program. He is the recipient of the David and Diana Menn Prize for Outstanding Creative talent in the Performing Arts, and the Sara Huntsman Sturgess Memorial Prize for Outstanding Artistic Accomplishment.

Alex Curtis has also taught for the Main Shakespeare Company Young Company, where he taught both Shakespearean performance and improvisation.

In addition to Threshold, Alex is a member of the Un-Scripted Theater Company (voted Best Theater Company, 2008 by the SF Bay Guardian), where he improvises throughout the year.

PAMELA DAVIS

Pamela Davis is a 2007 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and a founding member of Threshold. Under the Threshold banner, Pamela has appeared opposite Alex Curtis as Jane, the poor little hobo in Within the Wall of Sand, directed by Jessica Holt for the SF Young Playwrights Festival, and as the cutthroat day trader Vera Shapiro in Exchange, also directed by Jessica and produced at this year’s Bay One Acts festival. Other Bay Area acting credits include the children’s show The BFG at Berkeley Playhouse directed by Jon Tracy, ISHI: Last of the Yahi and Boston Marriage at Theatre Rhinoceros, Steven Yockey’s Sleepy at Impact Theatre, and Gary Graves’ Achilles and Patroklos at Central Works, as well as staged readings with the Playwrights’ Center, Boxcar Theater, Three Wise Monkeys, Playhouse West, the Oakland Public Theater, and Subterranean Shakespeare. Favorite roles as an undergraduate at Berkeley include Irina in Three Sisters and Malvolio in Twelfth Night.

Pamela is also a playwright and director. Her short play “Maybe Tov,” a mini-comedy, was read at Three Wise Monkey’s Short Leaps last year, and The Lost And Found, a meditation on faith and loss, was chosen as part of UC Berkeley’s Recommendations showcase in 2006. Pamela directed The Lost And Found and excerpts from The Swan at UC Berkeley. She has been awarded the Mask and Dagger Prize as well as the Mark Goodson Prize for Distinguished Theatrical Talent, and holds a minor in Theatre and Performance Studies from Berkeley. She has taken workshops in voice, movement, and stage combat at foolsFURY (with Debórah Eliezer) and Arroyo Repertory Theater (with Louis Roth), and is currently developing a physical performance piece as part of the CUSP workshop with Performers Under Stress.

JESSICA HOLT

Jessica Holt is the Artistic Director and founding member of Threshold. She holds a Masters degree in Theater and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley. She has directed the full production of TERRORiSTKA by Rebecca Bella, as well as the Threshold shows "Three Little Dumplings Go Bananas," “The Catcher in the Rye Cancelled” by Jon Brooks, “Exchange” by Ben Fisher, “The Hunger Room” by Christopher Chen, “Ayravana Flies, or A Pretty Dish” by Sheila Callaghan and “Within the Wall of Sand” by Benson Ma and Kalson Chan.

A Bay Area director and theatre teacher, she is also the Artistic Director of The Bay One Acts Festival. She is also a busy freelance director, and has directed for Magic Theatre, Boxcar Playhouse, Cutting Ball Theatre, Magic Theatre, Playwrights Center San Francisco, Ross Valley Players, Masquers Playhouse, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and UC Berkeley. Her 2011 production of “Loot” for the Masquers Playhouse received a BATCC nomination for Best Director and Best Ensemble.

Jessica is a member of the Magic Theatre Artists Lab and sits on Cutting Ball Theatre’s Literary Committeee. She currently teache Beginning Acting and Theatre Appreciation at West Valley College. She has also taught Acting and Theatre at UC Berkeley, Marin Theatre Company, Evergreen Valley College, Academy of Art University, the New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Stanford University.

Ayravana Flew!

Threshold had a blast at the San Francisco Theater Festival this past Sunday with our most recent production Ayravana Flies, or a Pretty Dish by Sheila Callaghan. We had a great crowd at our 1 pm show at the Rock Circle Stage, and loved seeing such great mix of both old, friendly faces and new ones!

Thank you to Ryanne and Brant for being such amazing co-producers, as well as performers, for this show.

Here is a peek at the whimsical world of Ayravana as seen through Maria Stabio's camera eye: