Tag Archives: commedia beauregard

Tech! Twitter Preview! Opening Weekend! Exclamation Points!

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Before and After Klingon Makeup!

Before and After Klingon Makeup for SQuja’ marDa and Emli Qachit

After two months of rehearsals, we finally had an audience tonight and it was an important reminder of why we do this show in the first place: to share a fun, quirky story of transformation with an audience of people who are excited to see it. Everyone who comes to a show like Klingon Christmas Carol wants to enjoy themselves and they’re rooting for us to have a great time telling the story. As an actor, how much more set up for a good performance can you be? While I don’t subscribe to the notion of “tough crowds” (an excuse for a silent audience one might hear in the dressing rooms of the Sunday matinee performance of an absurdist Swedish comedy, you know, like hypothetically speaking), this show has a particularly warm and generous following.

Obligatory Before/After Klingon Makeup Selfies

Obligatory Before/After Klingon Makeup Selfies

This show was created to honor a beloved fandom and a timeless holiday story, and it’s being told by a company of trained professional storytellers and creative team who are committed to honestly living in the world they’re presenting. As a theatre-watching human, I’m not a huge fan of productions that spend more time winking at the audience than they do investing in the story. If I’m being completely honest, before the show started I was concerned it might go more the in the direction of winking (I’m sure there’s a joke in that sentence, but I’m too sleepy to catch it), and I think I mentioned in my first blog how relieved and excited I was to discover this was not the case. This show truly respects the trust that audiences give us when they purchase their ticket. Or, to quote the text I received at intermission from my friend in the audience tonight: “Okay, so this is weirdly amazing.”

Klingon Bar Fight as captured by an audience member at the Twitter Preview

Klingon Bar Fight as captured by an audience member at the Twitter Preview

For all of you less technologically aware people who might not know what a “Twitter Preview” is (I had no idea what it was), it’s a preview where audiences are encouraged to take pictures, tweet and post about the performance using the show’s hashtag #KlingonXmas. But, this is of course obvious to us social media savvy young people (I literally heard the phrase for the first time last night and just pretended to know what it was until I pieced it together using context clues. Shout out to my fourth grade reading teacher for the skill set, sorry for the sentence I’m about to end with a preposition). It was super fun to see pictures of parts of the show I’ve always been backstage for.

I’m grateful in advance to the audiences with whom we’ll get to share this story. (See, I know how to not end sentences with prepositions when I want to. <- ugh, I didn’t even try to do that). I’m grateful to my KCC cast mates, creative team and crew for their kindness, humor and friendship throughout the process. I’m grateful for the opportunity to use my love of people looking at me while I talk (see also: acting) to help contribute to a few hours of joy for everyone in the room. Qapla’!

Ticket Update: Shows are already selling out, so make sure to get your tickets in advance at: http://www.tinyurl.com/Klingontickets-2014

Meet Our Maker: Interview with KCC Playwright

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Christopher Kidder-MostromChristopher Kidder-Mostrom is the artistic director of Commedia Beauregard, the playwright of A Klingon Christmas Carol and will be playing the narrator in this year’s final Chicago production. Since he’s been with the play since the beginning, I thought it would be interesting to hear about his journey with the show and see how KCC has evolved over the years. PLUS: Under the interview, I’ve listed some exciting opportunities to meet a Klingon in person or hang out with cast members!

CSV: So, you’ve been involved in almost every part of KCC from the beginning. Can you tell me a little about what that journey has looked like for you?
CKM: I started this wild journey back in 2007. CommBeau had just come off our 1st show with our new mission to do nothing but translated works. We knew we were going to need an end of the year fundraiser and one of the other board members suggested doing Dickens in Klingon. He thought he was joking, but we wrote it down and 6 months later we were in rehearsals for the first-ever full-length production of a Klingon play. The first year was a one-night-only gala event, but it was so well received that we decided to do it all again the following year. Each year it’s grown and changed. We rewrote the show a total of 13 times before we finally published it.

CSV: What was your relationship with the Star Trek franchise pre-KCC?
CKM: The Next Generation (TNG) premiered when I was in 6th grade, so I grew up alongside that series. But, I wasn’t ever one to go to conventions, or obsess over the characters. Now my relationship with the show is drastically different. I’m still not one who is going to memorize the names of the episodes, but I’ve seen every single one and have friends who were on each of the different series.

CSV: I want to go back to the decision for Commedia Beauregard to exclusively produce translated shows. What inspired that shift?
CKM: At the time, I was attending the University of New Orleans through their low-residency MFA program in playwriting. The best part of that program was that we spent the summers in Madrid, Spain. I discovered that there are so many works being done in other countries and other cultures that we won’t ever really get to know unless they are translated. So, I figured it was a niche we could fit into and do a good job with.

CSV: As someone who wasn’t fully immersed in the Star Trek fandom until you began the project, what was the response from fans you encountered and how did that shape the process for you?
CKM: Fandom has been exceptionally supportive of us. I think that is at least partly because of how we approached writing it. We aren’t doing a show that mocks fandom. It honors the people who have been following Star Trek all along. We also always co-produce the show with a local fan group. Here in Chicago we work with the IKV Spirit of Honor. And in MN we partnered with the IKV Rakehell. Anything that is important to fans is important to me.

CSV: Finally, this is KCC’s final production in Chicago. What do you want the final Chicago audiences to be left with after seeing the show?
CKM: I’m hoping they will leave with the same enthusiasm for the show as they have in the past. It is a show that changes lives. For those of us who are in it, it alters us forever. And for those who see it, it brings a new perspective to the original work. This show affects people in unexpected ways, and I hope that will remain true until all of its incarnations are complete.

Thanks to Chris for chatting with me and for all of his incredible work bringing this show to life over the years; I feel very privileged to help share this story. Below are some upcoming events where you can hang with the cast and even get a picture with a Klingon!

CLUE: The Drinking Game! November 22nd (Next Saturday) 9pm @ The Glenwood.
Join Commedia Beauregard for a staged reading of the 1985 classic mystery comedy “Clue”! Suggest $10 donation helps fund the production and enters you into a raffle for tons of prizes. Come along with us as we find the most ridiculous way to turn this film into a drunken good time.

Adopt-a-Klingon! Adopt a cast member for an official adoption certificate, a picture onstage with your adopted Klingon and a personal letter. Click below to adopt the Klingon of your choice.
http://www.cbtheatre.org/the-plays/a-klingon-christmas-carol/adopt-a-klingon/

More next week!

Caity-Shea

This is Klingon Christmas Carol’s 5th and FINAL year in Chicago, so tickets will be going quickly! Guarantee your spot by getting tickets in advance at: http://www.tinyurl.com/Klingontickets-2014

A QachIt Family Affair

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Hey, All!

QachIt Family Table Read

QachIt Family table read in Klingon. L to R, Shandee Vaughan, Phil Zimmermann, Jeremy Cowan, Christina Romano, Clark Bender’s forehead, Elizabeth MacDougald, Christopher Kidder-Mostrom.

We’ve been busy in the rehearsal room finishing blocking (!!!) and working through language. Almost all of my rehearsals this week were for QachIt family scenes and it turns out when you mix a room full of sleep deprived artists, a puppet and space language, things get super silly. Like painting with the windows closed silly. Giggle fits, Star Trek puns, and a surprising amount of cat references filled the rehearsal space as we blocked and incorporated language into our dinner conversation around the table.

Elizabeth MacDouglad

Elizabeth MacDougald and tImHom

In the show, my character marDa QachIt often interacts with her younger brother tImHom, a puppet brought to life by the talented Elizabeth MacDougald. Throughout blocking, Catie (our director) had tImHom and I improv some playful interactions to incorporate fun brother/sister moments into the scenes. Our puppet expert Alison Farajpanahi joined rehearsal one evening to work with the cast on puppet movement and etiquette.

(Alison teaching me how to pick up tImHom after several failed attempts)

Me: So, do I like aim for the armpits or try to just scoop him up or…

Alison: Think of it like you’re picking up a two-year old.

(Blank stare)

Alison: You know, like how you pick up a kid when you’re going to hold them?

Me: I just realized I don’t think I’ve ever held a child. Like ever. Does that say something about me?

Alison: …have you ever picked up anything similar to a child?

Me: Do cats count?

Alison: We’ll work with it.

Join some Klingon Christmas Carol cast members at Geek Bar in Wicker Park this Sunday, November 9th from 3-7pm for a “Klingon Cultural Symposium”! You might even see some ridges {{{:-)

Until next week!

Caity-Shea

This is Klingon Christmas Carol’s 5th and FINAL year in Chicago, so tickets will be going quickly! Guarantee your spot by getting tickets in advance at: http://www.tinyurl.com/Klingontickets-2014

Philip Zimmermann: The Story behind the SQuja’

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We’re almost halfway through the rehearsal process! Now that we’ve started the blocking and language work of scenes that I’m in, it’s been exciting to see my fellow actors breathe life into their characters and dive into telling this story. Ali (our producer) mentioned at the beginning of rehearsal that combining the language, physicality and trying to remember to act at the same time is an incredibly difficult balancing act, especially for those new to the language. Despite this, I still had my secret hopes that it would be easier than she made it sound. Remember that “desperately, profoundly, emphatically wrong” thing from the first blog? It remains continuously applicable.

pz-head-smallHowever, this has given me all the more respect and appreciation for the awesome cast of actors I’m fortunate enough to work with. I wanted to talk to some of the KCC veterans to hear more about their experience and how they approached their characters. I was able to chat with Phil Zimmermann (SQuja’) and discuss his process for playing this iconic role.

CSV: So, you’re playing SQuja’ (Scrooge) in this year’s production of KCC. That’s a pretty massive role that puts you onstage (and speaking Klingon) for almost the entire show and involved in nearly every rehearsal throughout the two-month process. I could imagine that being a little overwhelming. After hearing you were cast, how did you prepare?
PZ: I got in touch with Ali and Chris and requested a copy of the script shortly after accepting the role. I had a lot of time before rehearsals started which was lucky and so I read the original Dickens story a couple of times as well as watch A Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooged with Bill Murray and and the 1951 “Scrooge” with Alistair Sims that Catie recommended. My summer got very Christmassy before it got Klingon. After immersing myself in the story and learning as much as I could about the character of Scrooge I started to back translate my lines from Klingon to English.

CSV: With so many different versions of A Christmas Carol and portrayals of Scrooge, did you have any particular versions that you used most for inspiration?
PZ: The Muppet Christmas Carol has always been one of my favorites, and I think it has some interesting parallels to the Klingon Christmas Carol. In that movie they had the challenge of telling this story in a new way, from the perspective of non-human (muppet) characters, and while they still speak English the movie communicates a lot through movement and the shapes of the puppets. So when I started thinking about SQuja’s physicality and voice a part of me thought “What would be a good muppet here?”.

CSV: Totally. And you bring up one of the biggest questions I’ve heard from people who will be seeing KCC for the first time this year. Assuming you’re not a Klingon speaker, what is the experience of seeing the show like? Do you need to be a Star Trek fan to get it?
PZ: Out of the five years Klingon Christmas Carol has been in Chicago, I’ve only actually gotten to see it once, last year. There’s not another show like this in Chicago. The Klingon is fascinating to listen to, and it’s easy to follow along with the super titles if you want to know what’s being said in English. You don’t have to be a Trekkie to enjoy the show, but if you are you’re going to get a lot of additional enjoyment out of it. There’s references from every era of Star Trek, from the original series to the current JJ Abrams movies. But the story of Scrooge’s transformation is so universal that anyone can see this play and connect to it.

CSV: You’ve been in KCC in previous years, right?
PZ: I played Kahless Present from 2010-2012 in the Chicago productions.

CSV: What was it like to stay with the same show at the same theatre through multiple years and casts? Is it weird to be currently playing SQuja’ in a cast with fellow actors who have played the role in previous productions?
PZ: Working as closely as I did with Kevin Alves for those first three years, it’s hard not to think about his portrayal, but his biggest influence on me is that I remember a lot of the queue lines he had for me and it’s helped in memorizing the script. Working with Clark Bender who played the role last year is always a treat, he’s a really fantastic guy and a real natural performer. It’s nice to have someone who’s been where you’re going on something like this. And there’s Christina who’s been in the show for all five years. It’s great having that connection to back when I first moved to Chicago and the show was just getting started here, too. That said it’s also really nice having so many people around who either I haven’t worked with before or are entirely new to KCC. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and new choices being made that keep the whole thing fresh.

CSV: Alright, last question. This year is KCC’s final production in Chicago. During the last five years that it’s been performing, the show has become a beloved part of the holiday season, especially in the Star Trek and theatre communities. Is there anything in particular you’d like to leave Chicago audiences with as they celebrate this tradition in its final year?
PZ: I moved to Chicago to perform in this show in it’s first year here, and it’s been a huge part of my life since then. I’ve made good friends, found a great job, met a ton of amazing people and performed at an honest to goodness Star Trek convention all directly because of my involvement with this show. This show means a lot of different things to me and my hope would be that it means something to everyone who comes to see it and that they remember it as long as I will, which will be forever.

Huge thanks to our Phil for sharing his thoughts and wisdom. Visit his twitter page where he will be tweeting in character as SQuja’ throughout the show. Check back here this weekend for more behind-the-scenes Klingon mischief as told by our other KCC blogger, Timothy!

Caity-Shea

This is Klingon Christmas Carol’s 5th and FINAL year in Chicago, so tickets will be going quickly! Guarantee your spot by getting tickets in advance at: http://www.tinyurl.com/Klingontickets-2014

Klingon Combat and the Road to Ridges

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I survived our first combat day! We spent our Saturday rehearsal working with our fight director, Zach Livingston, to put together a giant group fight sequence. We had an absolute blast and I was seriously impressed with what we were able to accomplish. I really appreciated Zach’s commitment to storytelling as he assembled the fight, always making sure that each movement served and enhanced the story. He also used each actor’s combat/movement experience to highlight the best of our individual skill sets. Stephen Dale (wIlqInS) goes on a particularly entertaining rampage and Kim Fukawa (Qob, marja’) also shows off her fierce combat expertise.

Fight Day

Bel throws the first punch in the fight! A moment I’m glad that Phil (SQuja) was able to capture, as I was apparently looking out a window in the exact opposite direction. Sure, the rest of the cast got to watch Vivian look exceptionally cool, but who can tell you what was going on with the brick wall across the alley? Only that window and I know, and we’re not telling.

In addition to some more blocking and physical work this week, we had our first introduction to ridges! As an actor, it’s always fun to take on new and challenging physical transformations. As a former middle school student who still gets nervous around the cool kids, I was a little worried that I would look goofy and wouldn’t make a terribly convincing Klingon in comparison to my KCC veteran cast members. As someone who has felt the pain of applying and removing heavy stage makeup multiple times a week and prefers to keep the skin on their face, I was terrified.

Klingon1

While we didn’t go into the full Klingon makeup, we looked for a base color and found the right ridges/wigs for the majority of the cast. Christina Romano (the actress playing my mother) and I were able to make our hair giant enough that we didn’t need to be wigged and could just wear our ridges. I was super relieved as I’ve spent many hours of my life pin curling massive amounts of hair to fit under wig caps and now I just might be able to spend that time eating dinner between work and showtime! Reach for those stars, Violette!

I’m really excited to keep moving forward in rehearsal and start working some of my marDa scenes. The first rehearsal of a scene is with Catie (our director) to block and work more character/relationship stuff. Then, the next rehearsal is to review blocking and go over language and pronunciation with our language expert, Jeremy. Looking forward to the next steps. More next week!

Caity-Shea

This is Klingon Christmas Carol’s 5th and FINAL year in Chicago, so tickets will be going quickly! Guarantee your spot by getting tickets in advance at: http://www.tinyurl.com/Klingontickets-2014

Baby’s first qepHom!

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Week two is almost complete! While I was only there for one rehearsal this week, it was a decidedly fabulous one.

unnamed-2Last night I participated in my first “qepHom” (Klingon game night) where we played Klingon versions of Monopoly, Cards Against Humanity and Bananagrams.

Klingon Monopoly

Because I apparently decided I hadn’t lost regular Monopoly enough times in my life, I gave it a try in Klingon. Naturally, SQuja’ was our banker…

unnamed-1

While I may have lost miserably in Klingon Monopoly, I had a wonderful evening hanging out with fellow KCC folks and getting some more practice pronouncing Klingon.

Also, when I was visiting my friend in Madison this past weekend, we went over to her friend’s house to visit his 10-week old pug puppy named “Picard”. He was so cute that it caused me legitimate physical pain to look at him. A pain which I will now inflict upon you all.

unnamed-3 unnamed-4

Tomorrow we begin fight choreography!! Check back next week to see if I make it through the first few hours of fighting with all original limbs intact.

Caity-Shea

“Capital T’s are to Klingon as Crying is to Baseball”

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We’ve officially completed our first week of KCC rehearsals and although my brain is a little melty, I just might be starting to get the hang of it.

I knew that learning Klingon would be challenging and take some time, but to be honest, I thought it was pretty easily within my reach. I studied Spanish from kindergarten through senior year of high school, I learned IPA in my BFA program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth and being a writer makes me kind of a word geek. I knew it might be tricky, but I had secret hopes that I could pick it up instantly and be terribly impressive.

In short, I was wrong. Desperately, profoundly, emphatically wrong.

While the language lessons kicked my butt in ways I didn’t previously know butts could be kicked, we were given a tremendous amount of support. Leading us in our Klingon education was our insanely patient and knowledgeable Klingon Language Expert, Jeremy Cowan (pictured below).

10728847_10154692140975543_608914718_n

We were given a PowerPoint presentation, multiple dictionaries (one with all of the words in the script assembled by Jeremy himself), grammar handouts and three 3-hour lectures. I cannot express enough respect or gratitude for the help that Jeremy, our producer Ali and the entire cast provided throughout the week.

As a theatre artist, I’ve been somewhat coddled by spending time around people who all share a similar passion and knowledge surrounding that passion. I know the references, I get the jokes, and I can usually hold my own in green room conversations with fellow actors. I feel like a member of the community. This is the first time in a while that I’ve felt completely and entirely out of my element. If a ‘Chekov’ joke is made, my knowledge of theatre in late 1800’s Moscow probably doesn’t apply.

For example:

 (Writing practice sentences in front of the cast. Someone attempts to write the word “virtue” in Klingon spelling it “ ghobe’ ”)

Jeremy: So, what are you trying to write here?

Cast member: Virtue.

Jeremy: Close, but it’s actually spelled ghob’e’. You forgot the additional ‘ mark around the e, which actually changes it to another word. Does anyone know what the word ghobe’ means?

Entire room in unison: NO.

(Everyone bursts out laughing. I’m comforted knowing that I’m not the only one who didn’t know the answer)

Jeremy: Correct, the word ghobe’ means “no”.

(Resume failure)

While I might have been overwhelmed this week and still have plenty of practicing to do, I was able to learn basic pronunciations, grammatical structure and some Star Trek/Klingon history. We even learned some Klingon “epithets” and had an insult battle (pictured below).

Klingon Insult Battle

In addition to these lessons, here are three helpful tips I picked up for the Klingon beginner:

1. Do not try to sneak bites of dinner in between practicing sentences aloud. No, not even a protein bar. You will spit it all over the actor next to you and it will be gross (Sorry, James).

2. When claiming that your mispronunciation of a word is a “character choice”, first ask yourself: “Am I Christopher Plummer?” If not, then perhaps reconsider.

3. Capital T’s and lowercase i’s, d’s and h’s are to Klingon, as crying is to baseball. (as observed by this year’s SQuja’)

As somewhat of an outsider to science fiction fandoms, I was a little worried that I might not be accepted into the community. This time I’m happy to say that I was once again wrong. Even if you don’t understand the Star Trek culture and couldn’t tell the difference between TNG or DS9 if your yIn depended on it, the passion and spirit with which KCC was created is enough to make anyone fall in love with it. Whether it’s a book, a movie, a band, a sports team or a TV show, we all look to something outside of ourselves to seek identity and community in an increasingly isolated world. The Star Trek fandom invites its members on adventures that transcend earthly limitations to illuminate our place in this world by exploring others. And whether you speak Klingon or not, I think it’s pretty easy to see what makes that wonderful.

The Subjective World of the Cafe Singer

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Art is subjective.  It really does not matter if you fancy yourself a playwright, a musician, or a painter; whatever you create is subject to any patron’s viewpoints.  This is what makes art one of a kind because every person gets the chance to have an intimate experience.  This idea of subjectivity translating an art piece is what attracted me to Commedia Beauregard’s Master Works: The Degas Plays.

For me, any kind of painting that features people automatically gets my imagination’s attention.  I wonder, how did those people end up in the painting.  Where did they come from?  Where are they going?  What are they thinking about in that exact moment? These questions, and about a million more occupied my mind when I was asked to translate Cafe Singer by Degas.

Here, we have a painting or portrait in motion of a woman singing her heart out.  Did she know she was being painted?  I like to think she did.  I like to believe that struck that pose on purpose because she knew, she was about to become immortalized.  This idea of immortality became the subject of my play; how bad humans want it and what we do to achieve it.

In addition to immortality, I wanted to tie in my obsession with human subjectivity.  In this painting, Degas purposefully left out the singer’s audience.  She is the subject of the painting.  She is the only focus.  Therefore, in the world of subjective art, we are allowed to draw whatever conclusions we want of her.  For instance, we don’t know her name…and I do not think we are meant to know.

As I attempt to translate this painting into “talking” art or theatre, I knew I wanted the women to want to be immortalized and to manipulate the subjective nature of her audiences (the audience in the painting we don’t see and us, right now, looking at the painting) to achieve her immortality.

Who is she singing to? For me, the answer is “Us.”

What is she singing about?  Whatever we want her to.

And thus her game begins and she always wins.