2009 Comes To An End....

Can it really be near 2010? Can Rogue Artists Ensemble really be nine years old? Seems like yesterday that in December of 2001 a group of University of California, Irvine students gathered, trusted each other and worked to bring The POE Play to life. Back then many of the current ensemble members starred in the show and now few of us act, preferring to design instead which has become the hallmark of a Rogue project.

Through our time together we've experienced a lot of challenges and changes and I know that good things are to come. We've got some very challenging projects and plans in the works and it will require our organization to grow and really seek out new artists to join our ranks and create as one. I'm ready for the challenge and can't wait to get started!

Sean

Rogues on Film

What's next for Rogue Artists Ensemble? Part of our top-secret planning is to infiltrate the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival with our next new work. Last Saturday we drove into the depths of downtown L.A. to be a part of commercial shoot, advertising the event. I carpooled with Katie and we followed the excellent directions down alleys and around firetrucks to find the studio.


Mr. Punctual (a.k.a. Ryan Maes) was already there waiting for us. Sean swooped in just in the nick of time to deliver a veritable arsenal of puppets so that we could pick and choose our participants for the shoot. Here, the Old Clerk warms up his three hands for maximum gesticulation.


And remember this friendly face?


That's right! It's Katie! Oh, and the No. 1 the mail carrier is hanging out with us, too. Or is it No. 2?

Being a theater junkie myself, it was a rare treat for me to get a glimpse behind the scenes at a film shoot. They have lights and speakers just like we do.


But they also have these strange contraptions on 3-legged stands that require a lot of staring into for some reason.


The thing about filming is that you have to deal with a lot of downtime. Thank goodness for smart phones. Here is the Old Clerk checking his e-mail.


Rabbit doesn't have a iPhone or a Blackberry. So instead he used the time to meditate on life and the conundrum of being an artist in a modern, increasingly interdependent world.


We Rogues are admittedly somewhat hermit-like among the Los Angeles theater community. You might say that it's our New Year's Resolution to put down the plastic cup of punch and come out on the dance floor. Dancing makes me so anxious, though…

I'm happy to say that we played nice with other theater companies at the Fringe shoot. Here is Rat from Frog Belly Rat Bone engaging in a nose fight with Matt from Need Theater.


Come to think of it, I know just who we should have brought along if we knew there was going to be a nose fight! Do you?

That was fun. When the commercial becomes available online, you can bet that we'll post a link in this space. You can find more information about the Hollywood Fringe Festival at their fun website.

Adios!

Happy Rogue Holiday Party!

I'm sitting here in a food and sugar and beer coma from the 2009 Rogue Holiday party. Oh man, what a fun time. We had a great feast laid out on the table and made a hefty dent in it between the lot of us. There was delectable chili prepared by chef Tyler.


There were lots and lots of video games (the New Super Mario Brothers for Wii).


There was Amy, Emily, and Estela on the couch.


Great fun. You meet many wonderful folks doing what we do. It's fantastic that we get to have so many of them in one room around this time of year. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Hope your holidays are joyful and such. Can't wait for 2010. It's going to be full of doing my favorite things with my favorite people.

Frog Belly in Fontana - Part 3

As I was loading gear into the space, a local resident asked me how much it cost to attend the show. I didn't have an answer for her and asked one of the friendly auditorium staff for an answer. I then came back and was happy to tell her that the show was free. The city of Fontana paid for us to perform as a public service to the community. And it was clear that the community appreciated the gesture very much. Knowing this, I had a warm and fuzzy feeling all day. Also, they had a Christmas tree in the house!

The staff at the Steelworkers' Auditorium were extremely helpful and friendly.


Thanks, guys! George (left) and Mike (right) got right to work running our cable and making sure that our cast was comfortable and hydrated. Speaking of…


Here are our adventurers prepping for their performance (from left to right: Miles, Tyler, Amy, and Julia). It takes a lot of Monster to fire up the Frog Belly machine. And fire it up, we did! My favorite moment of the show was seeing Amy first bring the Boy onstage in all his striped glory and hearing a parent in the audience gasp audibly, "Oh, wow…" Priceless. One spirited show later, the cast filed out into the house to meet and greet the children of Fontana. I ran out into the lobby to sell some books while my man George snapped these beauties:

Autographs, no less! Tyler later told me that he felt like Paris Hilton, but twice as beautiful. He didn't really tell me that.

There you have it. Big thanks again to the city of Fontana and the helpful staff at the Steelworkers' Auditorium. The Frog Belly crew will be back in January at Oak Mesa School in La Verne. Maybe we'll see you then!

Frog Belly in Fontana - Part 2

So… how do you transport a giant trash monster suit over 60 miles of freeway? In a giant trash monster suit trash bag, of course!

Simple, crude, yet effective. This trip we took the extra precaution of stashing many of our more delicate set pieces and costumes in bags. We realized that of course this is how we should have been doing it all along. Tyler and I packed everything in the back of the truck and hit the road.

Miles and miles of blacktop later... Hello, Fontana!

Hello, spiffy BMX bike!

Hello, rush hour traffic ;/

But soon:

Behold! The Steelworkers' Auditorium. Julia was already there waiting for us. I followed her and Tyler in to take a look at the facility, hoping against hope that they had more than two tin cans and an apple crate in the way of a speaker system and a stage. You never do know.

As you can see, I was pleasantly surprised:

Stay tuned, dear reader, for the thrilling conclusion.

Frog Belly in Fontana - Part 1

All right, let's get to it. Fresh from my iPhone's tiny camera, I present for your amusement our latest Frog Belly Rat Bone caper. On Tuesday we stirred up some mischief at our top secret rehearsal space in Alhambra.

Welcome to a technician's view of the action:

Did you see Julia? She is relatively new to the cast, so she had a fine time sussing out what makes the Rabbit tick. Apparently, it involves being climbed upon by a very demanding Rat, puppeteered by Frog Belly veteran Miles.

It's so delightful to work with new folk. They often bring new insights to characters that you thought you already knew backwards and forwards. It's lucky for us that we have such a professional team of experienced cast members to ease people in. Amy and Miles get right back into the swing of things with Boy and Rat, respectively:

Tyler and Emily were there too, but all my pictures of them from this night came out impossibly blurry. Sorry, guys. But take a look at how pleased Director Sean is with how things are shaping up:

Yes, it's all coming together. Oops, spoke too soon...

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an arm. But I suppose that's what inevitably happens when you're making friends (out of wood and felt). Luckily, Boy was treated to some emergency surgery and was soon good as new.

It looks like we're all ready for the big show! Check back soon for Part 2 of our Fontana Odyssey, where we figure out how to safely transport a giant green trash monster suit over 60 miles of freeway. The solution is surprisingly appropriate...

Rogue Invasion at the WeHo Book Festival!

We Rogued it up yesterday at the West Hollywood Book Festival!




It was a full day of Rogue activities, including a Nose Parade (and mob beating, but we won't go into details there), peformance of Frog Belly Rat Bone, some Gogol songs, and COLORING PAGES.




Which were a miraculous hit with the 14-17 year old male demographic.

Oh, and of course we had a Gogol matinee back at the Bootleg followed by a talkback with the LA Puppet Guild.

Phew! Who's ready for next week's adventures?

/sag

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Mask Making!

Here is just a small example of what goes into creating the masks for Gogol Project. These are the steps to creating a negative mold, once the negative is done a latex mask can be made!

Alright, let's get this party started

Our fearless leader waiting outside Cornerstone for rehearsal to begin for Gogol Project. Should be a great, productive, sweaty day! (Unfortunetly, there is no AC at Cornerstone, but we are still so grateful to have a space to work!)

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The Rogues invade Jordan High School

Hello All,

Yesterday we held the culminating performance created during our two-day intensive at Jordan High School here in Long Beach. The workshop focused on a few different puppetry styles including sock puppets, shadow and bunraku. Students built their own puppet creations and then collaborated with Rogues to create a small scene. The scenes were performed with a very unusual hybrid version of our The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone to the chagrin of all who attended. Photos you say?