Humana Festival – The Method Gun

Being a thespian isn’t easy for the actors who studied under Stella Burden, who trained them but then left the country suddenly for South America, never to be seen again. And in The Method Gun audiences watch how they struggle to understand and use her acting technique known as “The Approach.” This story in this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays is written, produced and performed by an Austin-based ensemble company called The Rude Mechanicals, known as the moniker Rude Mechs. And as Louisville Public Media’s Elizabeth Kramer finds out in this interview, birthing this work was a laborious process that has taken nearly three years and integrated feedback from company members (that’s six artistic directors and 23 company members) and audiences who had the chance to see the play in development. “The Method Gun” runs through March 28 in the Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville. In the photo above -Lana Lesley, Jason Liebrecht and Thomas Graves.

[podcast]http://archive.wuol.org/Podcasts/20100317MethodGun.mp3[/podcast]

Humana Festival – Fissures (lost and found)

One offering in this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays has had an unusual creation process. Six playwrights wrote the play Fissures (lost and found) as they ruminated over ideas of memory and the fragility of remembering with a group of actors who improvised their ideas and scenes during rehearsals. The playwrights included members of the Workhaus Collective and two former leaders of the Tony-award winning ensemble company Theater de la Jeune Lune, which closed in 2008. The result is a play that suggests a storyline, but makes its mark most strongly through some of its poetic language and perceptive points about how memory works —  or doesn’t — in our own lives. Louisville Public Media’s Elizabeth Kramer spoke with three of the playwrights —Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand and Deborah Stein— about their experience writing this play. In the photo above  – Casey Grieg. In the photo to the right - Emily Gunyou Hulaas, Dominique Serrand, Megan Hill, Nathan Keepers

“Fissures (lost and found)” runs through March 28 in the Bingham Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

[podcast]http://archive.wuol.org/Podcasts/20100317Fissures.mp3[/podcast]

Actors Theatre of Louisville

Matt Callahan, resident sound designer at Actors Theatre of Louisville, recently took on the additional task of songwriter. In his conversation with Classical 90.5′s Scott Dowd, he talks about what it was like to write an original song for the play Sirens which is part of the 34th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. ”Sirens” runs through March 28 in the Bingham Theatre at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

[podcast]http://archive.wuol.org/Podcasts/20100317MattCallahan.mp3[/podcast]