I'll take the high road...

We made it!  The CalArts clan finally all touched down in Edinburgh and the shows open TODAY!  I'm shooting footage for the new Hôtel trailer which should be up by the end of the night! Scotland is rainy and sunny and cold and warm and Edinburgh is full of beautiful, sooty buildings. I already saw one mind-blowing show at the Fringe last night: What Remains by Grid Iron. I can't wait to see all my lovely friends perform! (And yeah, I can't wait to dust off my dancing shoes myself!) Here's the venue; here's the CalArts blog about us!; Here's tickets to MY show: Hôtel de l'Avenir!!! (or call 07074 20 13 13 if you're on this side of the pond)

The Little Prince at OSTF 2011

 I got to spend a few months back in Oberlin, OH working for the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival - my third year in a row as a founding member of the festival - directing The Little Prince.

Opening LP puppet

The desert flower.

 

The Little Prince cleaning out his volcanoes. (That's a seed "from who knows where" landing on the other side of the planet!)

I am so lucky to have gotten to work with such talented and lovely individuals on this show!



The fabulous Anya Kazimierski designed the sets and puppets for the show. Working with her is a dream come true!!



I love my fantastic cast and crew and everyone who helped make the show a reality.

 
We played to 300 seat audiences (!!) and got great feedback:
  
"My family and I came to OSTF for the first time today. We saw The Little Prince. It was wonderful. Everyone from 60 to 6 years LOVED the performance. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon:)" - Heather Moroney Sobiski

"Just watched "The Little Prince" with two of my grandsons. It was a great performance. Thank you for a great afternoon!" - Pattie Buck Eschen

"We (myself, my s-i-l and my children, 10 and 6) just got back from seeing The Little Prince and we all loved it! In my 6 year old's words "That was awesome!". It is so refreshing to see such amazing talent locally. I am personally so grateful to be able to introduce my children to theater in a cheap (free!) and fun way. This is just the beginning, I am sure, of their love of the arts. Thank you for putting on such a quality production!" - Jonna Abraham-Sheffield

In case you didn't get to see it, here's a "hipster trailer" I made for it.  

That's the lovely Marina Shay as the boy from asteroid B-612. 

 
I also got to play with Matthew Wright, Courtney Merrell, Alex Huntsberger and Ralph Johnson in the cast.  We had such a blast!! And my design team was stellar: gorgeous music by Ryan Lester, beautiful lights by Jamie Benjamin, and of course, my one and only Anya K on visual design. Thanks to our great stage manager Mary Heatwole, and extra special thanks to my dear Julia Perez who is good at maths and positive thinking and playing my accordion. We made a pretty show. :)

I tend to inhabit the shows I'm working on. I can't express how moving it was to work on a show that is about the life-saving property of our own imagination, and the diligence of love. The wall of the box is nothing; the sheep inside is perfect.


THANK YOU OSTF for bringing me out again! It was a gift to get to work on this beautiful story.  

HOTEL goes to Edinburgh!!

Here's some great news: Hôtel de l'Avenir is going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer!! 

 

Help us get there!!

In August I'll be shipping myself, my accordion, and a bunch of wigs across the ocean to do a three-week run of the show along with about twenty of my classmates from CalArts!  The school is taking 5 student pieces and one faculty show to perform at the Festival. It's a BIG DEAL. Go to our IndieGoGo site for specifics on the shows and people involved. It's a seriously great group!

I'm very proud to be in the company of all these talented artists and I'm excited to share Hôtel with a whole new continent of friends!  

Can you make it? I hope so!

:) Alexis

Want to see us grilling our buns off for our Edinburgh fund-raiser? Yes: You do!

http://www.indiegogo.com/CalArts-at-the-Edinburgh-Festival-Fringe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PPbckKGEMY

and... WE'RE BACK!

Sorry for the hiatus!
It's been a nutty but wonderful time here at IC central (i.e. in my head) and it's about time for an update.  Here's what's been going on for the past year and change:

1) SHIPWRECK went up at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn and had a great weekend run in Dec 2009! Lauren Ford and Lucien Lewin lit up the stage and were true rivals to my favorite skyline. Thanks to them and Abby Bender, Andy Dickerson, Ryan Snow and the Scavenger Quartet, and Gabe Carleton-Barnes for making the show happen! 

2) Hôtel de l'Avenir went up in March 2010 at Under St. Mark's in NYC. Sarah Lannon (my lovely coz!) and Mary Notari danced and mimed it up with me in this clown cabaret about loving and leaving the city of your dreams (which for me is BrooklynParis - bien sur!). 


Diana de Luna helped direct and Holly Ko designed some lovely lights. I love this show and the run was a hit! It was a meaningful send-off for me from the city I've loved for seven years: I heart YOU, NYC.
 

3) Then for the summer I headed off to Oberlin, OH to direct A Wrinkle In Time - adapted from the novel by Madeline L'Engle - and play Hero in Paul Moser's production of Much Ado About Nothing. This a was great experience. Working on Wrinkle was one of my greatest challenges so far as a director and I learned a ton. Thanks to all the many many Obies, past, present, and honorary for making that show a huge success!!

4) Heading out West!  I packed up half of what I own (leaving the other half behind on South 2nd Street... sniff sniff) in my cute new-to-me burgundy Saturn and heaved over the Rockies on my way to GRADUATE SCHOOL!!  I moved into my LA pad - which I love - and started this amazing program at CalArts. 

It's been a wacky year and I am profoundly grateful for all its gifts. Look out - there's more to come!

:) Alexis

Trailer! and thanks to JP!

New! Special! For a limited time!
I've cut a trailer from the footage taken at the Dixon Place showing.  The lovely and extremely talented Jess Pohly needs to bow out of this production for now and while it's sad she won't be working on the December production this is by no means the end of the process for me, or for her.  Thanks Jess for all your fantastic work!  This trailer serves as promo for the upcoming production as well as an homage to everything we learned together making the showing. Thank you!!
(if the link above didn't work for you - just copy and paste this address into your browser, and enjoy!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZqaz1Nn6mM

Tickets On Sale Now & Space preview

Hello IC fans,

Tickets are on sale now for SHIPWRECK!  Already?  Yes!  Click here or visit www.BrownPaperTickets.com. The space (of course) is intimate so it's highly recommended to get your tix in advance.  But don't worry, I'll remind you about that again later.  For now enjoy a sneak peak at the space. 
 Triskelion Arts is a fantastic performance venue - with gorgeous floors, a lovely deep playing area, and perfectly raked seats - but even better, it has a secret.  Infinite Coast doesn't like to do things the "traditional" way, so of course we're taking the audience off the rake and onto the floor. (In seats still, don't worry I'm not making you stand for this one) But, even more radical, we're going to use a part of the space that everyone else would rather keep hidden: the windows.

When I first moved to NYC, I was rehearsing with MayDance (then just Juliana May herself) and we had a Fall season 6-9pm slot in the theater space at Triskelion.  That meant we got to watch the sun set over the Manhattan skyline through these same windows.  It was one of the things that made me fall in love with this city, and since I've been living in Williamsburg for the past six years (!!) that view is also now a part of my home. Producing SHIPWRECK in Williamsburg is a way for me to celebrate my feelings about this neighborhood and the city I love.  New York has an amazing ability to make you feel happy about being sad, in a more exquisite way than anywhere else I've ever been.  I think SHIPWRECK's characters can relate to that feeling, and I'm glad to be able to put them in a space so inspiring and beautiful.  In fact, my friend Chris in Chicago would call it "beautifully sad" and I think that about sums it up.  What do you think?
Til next time,
Alexis

Shipwreck goes up at Triskelion Arts in December 09!

Infinite Coast is pleased to present the dance/shadow spectacle SHIPWRECK at Triskelion Arts in December 2009! Inspired by the tragic legend of Tristan & Iseult, SHIPWRECK is a story of lovers pushed to the very edge of jealousy and longing. Using shadow puppets, dance, mime and physical theater, SHIPWRECK explores the unspoken emotions of a relationship at the brink.


We just finished a very successful showing at Dixon Place last weekend in their PuppetBloK series! Thanks to Leslie Strongwater for curating, and Steven, Cheryl, Tanya and everyone else at Dixon Place for helping to support this original work. The showing featured excellent puppeteering by Ethan Gould and Sarah Lannon, gorgeous movement by Jessica Pohly, and haunting music by Ryan Snow. (Thanks also to Ben Sinclair, for just your being you.)

We now move into production for the full show and I'm very excited to resume rehearsals. Please check back often for updates and sneak previews. Tickets go on sale soon! Show dates are Thursday-Sunday, December 10-13th at 8pm. Mark your calendars!

À Bientôt!

Alexis

Alexis Macnab
Artistic Director
Infinite Coast
alexis@infinitecoast.org