Pirate Ships Under Cover

I'm a Tori Amos fan ... or nutzoid. Whatevs. You might know this since I quote and talk about her more times than not.

So ... you may or may not know that Tori toured with Alanis Morrissette back in 1999. I saw her on that tour in Pittsburgh. Anyways ... Tori was asked by interviewers time and time again about what it was like working with Alanis, yadda yadda yadda and a couple of quotes popped out to me and sum up how I feel about our theatre company, art, how we go about creating it and how we collaborate with other theatre companies ...

"We get along very well . . . It's like two pirate ships that have gone into the same cover together."

"It's been about holding space for each other ..."

"Charlie Rose: I mean.. well, was their conflict, was there tension? or was it just a
lovefest?
Tori Amos: no tension because.. I think honestly, she approached me and she did it
in a way that was like, "hey, lets be creative and put two shows together,
two separate shows and um.. I had to bring my own production. I didn't want
to do anything where I couldn't bring my own production because that's not
how i work. I have a pirate ship, I have a captain..
C: yes
T: I'm the ship(giggle)
C: yes
T: i have loads of chefs
C: yes
T: and all sorts of people floating around. thieves, fantastic. few
harlots.
C: yes
T: all on my ship
C: yes
T: and we all had to come and be respected that, you know, no compromise on
any level. and, she has her captain, she is her ship, and of course thats
how it had to be approached. and, because of that mutual respect it worked
out really well."



We're the captains of our pirate ship. You do what you have to do to keep your art and motivations sacred. And you have to remember to do things your own way. Sometimes you can converge with another but it's a very tricky negotiation. You have to maintain your own identity.

How do you imagine your theatre company?

RZ

For more Tori quotes on Alanis and vice versa, please visit http://www.thedent.com/torialanis.html

What's Next on the GreyZelda Front?

Heigh Ho, Kermit the Frog here ...

This blog is going through a personality crisis right now, but its moderator is pregnant so that probably makes sense. There's a blog here one day, then not here, then another one, then that one goes down ... sorry about that.

The GreyZelda Theatre Group will be taking an extended break for a spell as its cofounders and coartistic directors are preparing for the birth of a little girl who will be making her appearance at the end of August. We'll be having a celebratory BBQ on Saturday for the casts and crew of A View from the Bridge and The Skriker on Saturday, which we're very much looking forward to as that might be our last shindig for a while. Which we're also looking forward to as breaks have proven very beneficial for our company and our creative process.

We might give a go at writing another play. I might do a little sumthin', sumthin' on the acting end w. Ms. Van Dyke. She and I talked about a project during View rehearsals and I think it would be really fun to start working on it without the pressure of definitely putting a date on it. And, who knows ... we might post a season announcement sooner than later, once we get this parenting thing figgered out. (Does anybody ever completely get it figgered out? I'm looking forward to learning and teaching and watching our little one grow. And laugh with us. And play. And do what families do ... yay!)

So ... stay tuned for announcements. I'm also going to try to write daily blogs here and they'll also be posted on my myspace page. If you're on myspace and would like to befriend me, please do.

Many hugs and kisses.

RZ

Signing Out ...

Please visit GreyZelda's myspace

or

My personal myspace

for updates until further notice.

Thank you!

RZ

Savechicagoculture.org

Looks like some trouble, my friends ....

Let's put some of our talking to action now.

http://savechicagoculture.org/

(Update: According to the Chicago Music Commission:

Chairman Schulter (47th Ward) has decided not to report the event promoter ordinance out his City Council Licensing and Consumer Protection Committee. In other words, it will not be on the City Council agenda tomorrow and there will not be a vote on the bill as previously scheduled. It has been pulled until further research is done.)

Lee Elia and Me

A couple of folks over at Slowlearner have been talking about how artists should open themselves up during the rehearsal process and have been comparing our processes and our sensitivities to sports team's processes and sensitivities. Scott Walters comments:

"When a football team loses, they players get hammered by just about everybody. Writers opine, fans fill the sports sites with assessment, talk radio shows are devoted to sports opinions. Result? More attention for the sport. Now, how comfortable is that for the quarterback being hammered, the pitcher being sliced and diced? But they handle it. But artists? Man, we would shrivel up an DIE under that scrutiny. Or...maybe we wouldn't. But we sure act like we would. All that delicate rehearsal time, and if somebody posts negative comments about a show once it's open WEE-OOO, the yogurt hits the fan. Are we really, truly that delicate? I'm just askin'."

And, to that, I answer with a resounding

That's what I'm talkin' about.

RZ

The Skriker has Left the Building

(Top Row: Jana Liles Passerby, Dani Bryant, Brian Bell, Morgan Christiansen, Kate Froechlich, Kathryn Daniels, Rebecca Zellar, Kelly Yacono, Taylor Mauch Center Row: Jill Thiel, Karen Gollrad, Lisa Wilson, Amanda Eaton, Jamie DesRocher, Annie Passinisi Bottom Row: Rebecca Mauldin)

Thank you to our cast, designers and crew!!!! This has been one of our favorite productions to date and it's all because we had such an incredible group of people to work with. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Closing Weekend of The Skriker

Hi!

Our run of Caryl Churchill's The Skriker is almost at a close - our final performance will be this Saturday, May 10th.

Thursday's performance is close to being sold out - we have six tickets left, so I encourage everyone to take advantage of Friday and Saturday.

Thank you so much for coming out and supporting GreyZelda! It's been a wonderful run and I look forward to writing some closing thoughts next week.

Rebecca

Congratulations to Nicolle Van Dyke!!!!!!!!

She's been nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role/Play for her role as Beatrice in A View from the Bridge!!!!!!!! We're so excited for her, I can't begin to tell you. I'll write more about this tomorrow because I need to go to bed, but I wanted to make a quick announcement. And I just called Nicolle even thought it's super late. I believe she's jumping on her bed right now.

(Edited on 5/2/08 at 10:00am) I've known Nicolle since college and she was in The Boys Next Door with me, which was one of my all-time favorite theatrical experiences. Part of the reason the show was so wonderful was because I got to act closely with Nicolle. She's one of the most giving, committed, funny, honest and professional actors I know and I speak for anybody who has ever acted with her in saying she totally and completely deserves this nod. And she's an incredibly nice, beautiful person. So ... theatre companies ... get to know this girl, will yins? She's the bee's knees.

And! Rebekah Ward-Hays was nominated in the same category for her role in Backstage Theatre's Waiting for Lefty!!!!! Ahhhh! I saw Rebekah perform in this and was really proud of her and the show in general. Congratulations, Rebekah and Backstage!!!!

It's all too exciting.