Yuri's Night Photos Start to roll in...and Follies Reviewed!

So, it's really just Kirstra's Camera that has contributed to the Yuri's Night photo pool so far (Thanks Kirstra!) I am happy to post these choice photos on BTT because Kirstra's hard drive had something of a EPIC FAIL, and wiped out her photos...except these lucky few...

Bambi, Heidi, Jim and yours truly...that's just how Yuri rolls!

Lil' Dutch, KT and Sugar Ann Spice

JD + KT + Southern Hemisphere

JD + KT on the stage after the show...whew!

Bambi and I get cosmo-naughty!

Dr. Zaeus and the "schick-schick" doorway

The Dance party was off the hook! Thanks DJ P-Vo!

When more photos roll in, I'll be happy to post them! (you know you've got some!)

I have cleaned up most of the house and scene shop, so I haven't really had time to make any art per se...but I will have some early designs for a photo op sponsored by Red Bull by this time next week! (and of course there is the ramp-up to this year's Artomatic to worry about!)

The other piece of news is that Follies got reviewed by the Washington Post today...It's a mixed review, but not where the set is concerned...Michael Toscano says:

Jared Davis's large set is gorgeous and functionally innovative enough to accommodate the crumbling present and the glittering past.

...Which is officially the nicest thing that the post has ever said about my scenery....

THANK YOU FOR A STELLAR YURI'S NIGHT!!!!!

This year's Countdown to Yuri's Night was the best one yet! Thanks so much to everyone for coming out and filling the Warehouse with your intergalactic alien love! (we didn't even mind the probing this time!)

So, predictably, I ran out of battery juice when I started to take photos that night, so I don't have very many to share (except for this provocative placeholder photo of Lil' Dutch)


So, in the meantime, I want to encourage any of you BTT readers out there that attended Yuri's Night to send me your best photos! We want to compile a bunch of good photos to post on the www.outofthisworldparty.com "2009 photo gallery" so we can give people in the 2010 event something to shoot for!

I will post Yuri's Night photos here also, as I receive them...

Out of the frying pan into the fire...FOLLIES opens this weekend! The Arlington Players have a really good show on their hands...the only problem for you, loyal BTT reader, is that the superb lighting design (by Hal Crawford) looks great in person, but does not photograph well with my equipment...so I offer these shots as a mere taste of what a fantastic show it really is...

Follies Act I Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop 1/8"=1'

Follies Act I

Follies Act I (Buddy's breakdown)

Follies Act II "Loveland"
(hey, where'd that giant fan come from? see the show to find out!)

Also, I must put in a plug for Walmartopia (it closes on the 26th!!!)...I was able to rustle up some photos from Amanda that show off what the Washington Post calls "Spartan" scenery...but what DC Theater Scene says is:

...I feel as though I have watched a theatrical bar mitzvah. At the end I wanted to stand up and say “Today, you are a theater company."

So, it just proves that art is subjective...and that Walmartopia is probably a good show for you to see if you like Spartans or bar mitzvahs...

The somewhat creepy opening number...

With co-workers like this, who wouldn't want to work at Wal-Mart?

WALMARTOPIA OPENS!!!! Yuri's Night JUST ONE WEEK AWAY!

So the headline this week is that WALMARTOPIA opens this weekend (Actually it opened on Thursday) Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get photos of the set during dress rehearsals, like I usually do. So this one is going to be a big secret that can only be revealed if you GO SEE THE SHOW! You can get tickets here



The countdown clock continues:

8 DAYS UNTIL YURI'S NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Countdown to Yuri's Night Logo 2009
Acrylic on Black Velour, 8'x8'

Yep. that's all...we are so very close to launch, that I can practically taste the astronaut ice cream with a Stoli chaser! Get your tickets to this soon, as we have sold a bunch of the 9pm tickets already!

And just to add insult to injury...(I am suffering from burning the candle from both ends lately) Follies begins its load in this week...So, here are some random pictures of scenery that is lying about the shop, waiting for transport to the theater:

SL tower for follies...the idea is that it supposed to look like abandoned scenery...are we close yet?

One of the upstage "ladies" that will become a sort of light box...halfway through the paint job...yeah, its luan, so that's a lot of jigsaw blades...

Final Push for WALMARTOPIA

So, this week has been dedicated to the final push for Walmartopia. You can see that I have made some progress so far:

Wamartopia cutouts in various states of completion

But one of the Act II figures is pretty close to done:

And I was able to make the projection screen with little difficulty:

The most complete item is the Wal~Mart sign...I have changed it (hopefully enough) to avoid the wrath of the vicious corporate lawyers...

Walmartopia opens next Thursday (April 2nd) at the DCAC...go check it out before you are too busy with....

YURI'S NIGHT!!!!

There are only 16 days until Yuri's Night!!!!

This week we made all sorts of behind the scenes progress...but most importantly, I made a quantum leap forward on building an arsenal of space rockets with the help of KT, Jaya, Kirstra and Todd...I don't have any pictures to show for it just yet...so you'll just have to come to the show in order to see our space fleet in action!

MUMBO OPENS, YURI'S NIGHT FLYERS and WALMARTOPIA ACT II

Yuri's Night Countdown Clock:

ONLY 23 DAYS UNTIL YURI'S NIGHT!!!!

So, as promised, there's lots to show you this week...Lets start with the completed flyers for Yuri's Night:

Front of the Postcard/FlyerBack of the Postcard/Flyer

Look for these to start popping up everywhere soon!

I also scored some really great set pieces from Signature theater...they were just throwing away a 10'x10' lightbox arch, two hefty doorframes, and silver curtains to frame it all....I have created the rendering below in order to start thinking about how the whole thing will come together to become the scenery for YN09...So, in short, its a work-in-progress...

First Sketch Set Design, Yuri's Night 2009
Pencil, Photoshop 1'=1'

The other gigantic news is MUMBO! It opened this week and even has this really great article in the Baltimore City Paper (you can click on the picture below to be sent to the article)

Here are some photos I took during load in (and when the CP photographer was taking the article photo)

Go see MUMBO this weekend...if you miss it in Baltimore, you will have to catch it somewhere else in the USA or Scotland!

And finally, I finished the set design for Act II of Walmartopia...

Set Design Wamartopia Act II
Pencil, Photoshop 1"=1'

The major component for Act II is the fascist figures flanking the set...here's the sketch they will be based on:

Walmartopia Act II cutout figure design
Pencil and Photoshop 1"=1'

One month to Yuri's Night 2009!!!!

Do you like the new party logo that Alan Defibaugh created for us? you can see it in all of its vector glory at www.outofthisworldparty.com!

Its one month until Yuri's Night!!!!

Okay, so its been crazy these past two weeks, so much so, I skipped a posting last week. Unfortunately, it has been filled with intangible (or at least not picture worthy) moments that, although productive, do not make for great blog reading...

First order of business...the Yuri's Night press releases are going out this week...complete with this emergency image of Trixie and Monkey (they are really busy this week putting the finishing touches on MUMBO, so they had a hard time finding a spacey photo with both of them in it...so I made one)

The rest of the progress this week belonged to Follies. I finally made the designs for the portals:

Woman Portals Design Follies
Pencil, Photoshop, Illustrator 1"=1'

The TAP carpenters are creating lots of sawdust cutting these 5' wide and 16' high ladies out of 3/4" plywood. Below is what they should look like during act I:

Follies Act I
Pencil and Photoshop 1/8"=1'

I promise to have more to show next week!

WALMARTOPIA First Sketches

Yuri's Night Countdown:

43 Days until Yuri's Night!!!!

The big YN news this week has been the official sponsorship of Stoli! Did you know that Stoli was the first vodka consumed in space?
You can see the tube of Stoli right there...1975 during the Apollo/Soyuz mission...depending on who you ask, some people will tell you that the Russians pasted vodka labels on to tubes of borscht...but I ask you, do you think that any self respecting cosmonaut would just bring the label and not the vodka? No way. So here's to Stoli, and Yuri Gagarin! NOSTROVIA!

Here you can see the last of the Mumbo scenery before I schlepped it up to NYC...

Elephant and Seal Animal Banners, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 4'x8' each

So, MUMBO opens in Baltimore next month (whoops, next month is suddenly Sunday...)

This Tuesday was the Clarendon Mardi Gras...
I was helping escort the Obama Family in the parade, so this is the only picture I've been able to scrounge up...

Lastly, I have fired the first salvo in the design for Walmartopia. I kinda have a hard time with this script. It can come off as kinda preachy...and it begs for a huge budget, so its a challenge on many levels.

Walmartopia first sketch
Pencil, watercolor and photoshop

I have a production meeting with the director tomorrow, so hopefully we will both come together on the concepts I am attempting to illustrate here. I am trying to rely heavily on projection in this show, because the script calls for a different location in every scene...so we cant change scenery very easily...but we can change projections as well as the clothes on the two cutouts of WalMart employees...it should be funny during the hooters sequence...

MUMBO almost done!

Before we start with the ABJ news this week, lets check in with the ole Yuri's Night countdown clock:

51 days until Yuri's Night 2009!!!!

The great big news about Yuri's Night's Lineup is that we will have Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey AND Miss Saturn!!!!!! This is shaping up to be a truly star studded lineup!

Speaking of Trixie Little, I am in the home stretch for MUMBO! I did the final designs for the animals that will be framed by the scroll banners pictured last week...

Animal Banners Elevation, MUMBO
Color Pencil on Black Paper, 4"x8" each

And the final painted result for two of the four animals:

Zebra and Tiger Animal Banners, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 4'x8' each

I also completed the central portal...

Central Portal, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 8'x8'

I have intentionally not cut the portal out (i.e. the black area is intended to be cut away to create a portal) because Trixie has requested that it stay intact until they get up to Vermont. During the workshop process, she will decide if it needs to be cut away, or simply a slit cut in the middle, or some other answer entirely...that is the beauty of the workshop process!

So, this Saturday I will be taking all of MUMBO's scenery as well as my pipe & drape up to NYC to do a "hand-off" with Trixie. Its kinda silly, but its the first time I have delivered anything theatrical to New York. It really feels like I'm doing something on Broadway! (even though I know I am not, it still feels good to pretend!)

Next week, I should have pictures from the Clarendon Mardi Gras, Follies, and Walmartopia!

THE BIG NEWS!!!!

What's the big news, you ask? Well, there's lots of it to go around. First, the new Yuri's Night website went live at:

www.outofthisworldparty.com

On the website you will find that we are adding artists and performers daily...for example we just got the Atomic Mosquitoes as our headlining band! And we have the DDP drill team anchoring our performances! So we are adding to the site daily, so check back often!

How about the gratuitous countdown clock? here it is:

57 days until Yuri's Night 2009!!!!

Now for the second bit of news...Today I can officially say that I am an awardee of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artists Fellowship Grant for 2009! So what it basically means is that I have received funds from the DCCAH to continue to do the wonderful things that I do in the arts. So, lots of things that I do in DC will be just that much more financially stable, Yuri's Night, Landless Theater, Artomatic, the Spooktacular, and many other small projects I am associated with throughout the year.
One of the things that the DCCAH requires is that I post the following statement and logo on all printed materials:

Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
So, once again, Thank you DCCAH for partially making Between the Tines possible. If you are interested in applying for a fellowship you can reach the DCCAH here.

Speaking of Artomatic...today the dates and location for Artomatic were announced!

Artomatic 10th anniversary: Capitol Riverfront, May 29-July 5

Updated Thu, 02/12/2009 - 2:28pm

Prepare to celebrate Artomatic's 10th anniversary: The trademark, one-of-a-kind multimedia arts event will be at Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E., in Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.

Artomatic 2009 will be held May 29 to July 5. Admission to Artomatic is always free for visitors.

Registration will begin in March and will be open to all artists — including painters, photographers, sculptors, graphic designers, musicians, poets, actors and dancers. Artomatic is an unjuried event, so all artists are welcome, from professionals to beginners.

To be notified of the date when registration will open or to stay up on other Artomatic news, sign up to receive ArtoNews, the Artomatic newsletter, on this web site.

Planning for the event is well underway. Artomatic is run entirely by participating volunteers, and new participants are sought year-round. To help make plans for our 10th anniversary, e-mail volunteer@artomatic.org.

Okay, three big news items is pretty much all my little heart can handle for one posting, so on to some smaller triumphs. I have launched into full-on production mode for Mumbo...BTW, below is the info for that show (just to prove to you that it's actually happening, and not a figment of my imagination!)

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 7:30 PM
MUMBO
Baltimore Theater Project
45 W. Preston St.
Baltimore, MD
410-752-8558
http://www.missiontix.com/ or http://www.theatreproject.org/
Price: $20


SIX SHOWS:
Wed 3/18 at 7:30
Thu 3/19 at 7:30
Fri 3/20 at 7:30 and 10:00pm
Sat 3/21 at 7:30 and 10:00pm

Presented by Little Industries, Creative Alliance and Theater Project, with funding from the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts...building on two years of training at the New England Center for Circus Arts...Trixie and Monkey unveil their original evening length show: "MUMBO" Inspired by the pantheon of tragic circus elephant stories, but with a primate in place of a pachyderm. Co-starring the brilliant master of inappropriate improvisation, Bradford Scobie. With live, original music by Gato Loco- the latin-cartoon-jazz-psychedelic, NYC-based, music masterminds.

In this dark, poignantly perverse circus tale, Mumbo the Magnificent Monkey rises to fame, learning the ropes from trainer Trixie Petite. But the fate of the circus is always under the dark cloud of Monsieur Dingling, whose insatiable greed and volcanic temper threaten Trixie and Mumbo at every twist and turn. Daring feats, rampant acrobatics, incredible trapeze, shameless humor, occasional tragedy and partial nudity.

So, below are pictures of some of the progress I am making on the scenery:

Animal banner frames, cut and uncut in the shop

Detail of two banners...with the bike behind them for scale...

I anticipate that I will have the majority of the Mumbo set done by this time next week...then Trixie and Monkey will take the whole thing up to Vermont to put the finishing touches on show!

I made a "white model" of Follies for a proto-drytech this week...except it was black:

1/4"=1' white model of Follies
Foamcore, paper.

And lastly, the build for the Arlington Mardi Gras started yesterday. Rob brought in some foamcore and started working on creating giant "finger puppets" of Richard Thompson's Poor Richard's Almanac finger puppets...and I helped.

Rob Lindsay, Jared Davis and Sarah Palin