Good afternoon visitors!
We (Ryan and I) are underway to creating a small theater group to premiere at this year’s Capital Fringe Festival. To follow along with the growing theater cyber-trends we’ve started this blog as a way to track and discuss our creative process, as well as a place to gather your thoughts and stories. Our first undertaking is a show called Iconicity. We are looking to incorporate personal stories and reflections into our work, while creating a collaborative environment for actors and artists, and hoping that this blog will provide inspiration.
We are still undergoing some formatting but in the meantime wanted to introduce ourselves. Below you’ll find a working mission statement for our group, artist bios, and a working synopsis of our show.
Eleventh Hour Ensemble
What happens in the eleventh hour? We experience a feeling of panic or euphoria. It is the last moment when change is possible and we will either sink or swim. In the eleventh hour creativity has a chance to thrive as we are forced to use whatever limited resources are at our disposal to develop a solution. Using the dynamics of the ensemble, The Eleventh Hour Ensemble seeks to create new and engaging theatre by using whatever means possible, whether it is through conflict or cooperation. In performance, as well as process, we strive to take risks in exploring issues and sources for inspiration from where and when we least expect it. Ryan Christie and Jennifer Crooks met as Directing Students at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory. Their combined interests in movement and ensemble work inspired this collaboration.
Artist Bios
Ryan Christie is a graduate of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory and has appeared in a number of DC theatre productions. Her performance credits include: Mariela of the Desert- Spring 2008 (Theatre of the First Amendment); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Studio Theatre). Dog Sees God, Wonderland Alice [u/s] (Studio 2ndStage); Young Playwrights Tour 2006 (YPT); Middle Finger (ASIA Theatre); Little Match Girl (Tsunami Theatre). DIRECTING CREDITS: NIGHTMARES AND PILLOW TALES, REEFER MADNESS (2ndStage)
Jennifer Crooks most recently appeared behind bars performing the Bard’s Macbeth for inmates at the Patuxent Institution maximum security prison in Jessup, MD. She is a graduate of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory where she began working on Love & War which premiered at the 2007 Capital Fringe Festival. After a successful run in the Capital Fringe Festival, Love & War was invited to perform as part of Capital Hill’s The Corner Store Theatre Festival in September 07 and again at the Greenbelt Arts Center in December 2007. Her movement training greatly influences her approach to theatre of any kind and includes Ballroom dance (Latin, fox-trot, waltz, and argentine tango), ballet, tap, modern, and Butoh. She choreographed and served as movement director for productions of Carousel, Blood Wedding,and Much Ado About Nothing. On weekends she teaches Shakespeare to Middle Schoolers. Favorite roles include Belise (Learned Ladies), Bride (Blood Wedding), Evelyn (The Shape of Things), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), Tracy Lord (The Philadelphia Story), Trania (Taming of the Shrew), Witch (Macbeth). DIRECTING CREDITS: Concerning Love, Love & War: with the Bard’s Broads & Dames
Synopsis of Iconicty
The Challenger explosion, Jackie Kennedy in pink suit stained with her husband’s blood, the Twin Towers collapsing, the moon landing, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Each of these images stimulates distinct memories and reactions and reaches beyond that moment in time so as to be instantly recognizable years, decades, after they were taken. How is it that a single snapshot can so fully capture a shared feeling at a time or sense of an era? Or does it? Using iconic images of our past and present, Iconicity looks to explore why these particular images have endured. Using extensive ensemble work, movement and improvisation to create a narrative through time as we examine the thoughts and feelings they inspire for those who experienced them and those of us looking back to flesh out why these moments have been burned into our consciousness.
