Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Hey there. It's Nick here and I'm a new member of the Ground UP gang and am really excited to share some more pics from our awesome Gala (Also our 5th Birthday!!) Hope you enjoyed it and if you weren't there, here's what you missed!
The Pump Boys and Dinettes (Above)
Our awesome emcee, Guy Olivieri (Left)
And our delicious cake!! YUM!
Monday, June 28, 2010
We've celebrated the past and now we look to the future
Hey there,
Over the last couple of weeks we've spent a lot of time celebrating our past, having our 5th anniversary party, and talking about our past.
As we think about the past, it makes us excited about our future. There has been so much growth over the years and so much we are proud of.
We have had great productions, great sets, great graphics, and a great following in our patrons and audience. We've also continued to grow as a company. Just this week, we got two new volunteers who are eager to work with our company.
The thing that touched us the most after our gala were the amazing notes sent by our very own company members/staff who went on about how honored and proud they were to be part of such a company. That this company was unlike any they have ever worked with in NYC.
It is this pride, commitment, and excitement that will take us to the next level. It's important to not only learn from the past, but also to think of the future. To set our goals and dreams and accomplish them. We work hard to think about where we want to be and what we want to do!!!!
The upcoming months will be about our educational program, our NY residency for UNC students, our UNC residency/workshops, and the fall premiere of Letter from Algeria. This will involve lots of planning and work to make it all happen. Now that we've had our amazing Gala and celebrated, we are back at work to give you the future. A future for students and a futre for an original show that we hope will amaze and mesmerize you.
The other thing we plan to do is go beyond this fall. To go deep into the future and start thinking about next year and the year after that. Kate and Phil have started working on a five year plan for Ground UP and Kate continues to look at ways we can grow and expand, while keeping our intimate feel of family. Our excellence and high caliber of work is what we are proud of so that status quo will be the foundation of what we do next. We are asking you to join us, to stay with us, and go on this journey into the future.
Give us your thoughts and your ideas. What do you want to see from us? What can we do better? How can we become the best theatre company you ever knew?
We're excited to wok with the students and to make Michael's show a reality. We're excited to present to you this world premiere. We're beyond thrilled to then ride into our Winter Reading Series where again, we can discover the next great play of our generation. Before we know it, we'll be announcing our 2011 season. It is amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun.
Now that we've celebrated the past 5 years, let's move forward and look to the future the great things we will do in the next 5 fives.
Thank you for sticking by our side and hope you will be there with us on this amazing journey we've taken, building amazing theatre from the Ground UP!
Over the last couple of weeks we've spent a lot of time celebrating our past, having our 5th anniversary party, and talking about our past.
As we think about the past, it makes us excited about our future. There has been so much growth over the years and so much we are proud of.
We have had great productions, great sets, great graphics, and a great following in our patrons and audience. We've also continued to grow as a company. Just this week, we got two new volunteers who are eager to work with our company.
The thing that touched us the most after our gala were the amazing notes sent by our very own company members/staff who went on about how honored and proud they were to be part of such a company. That this company was unlike any they have ever worked with in NYC.
It is this pride, commitment, and excitement that will take us to the next level. It's important to not only learn from the past, but also to think of the future. To set our goals and dreams and accomplish them. We work hard to think about where we want to be and what we want to do!!!!
The upcoming months will be about our educational program, our NY residency for UNC students, our UNC residency/workshops, and the fall premiere of Letter from Algeria. This will involve lots of planning and work to make it all happen. Now that we've had our amazing Gala and celebrated, we are back at work to give you the future. A future for students and a futre for an original show that we hope will amaze and mesmerize you.
The other thing we plan to do is go beyond this fall. To go deep into the future and start thinking about next year and the year after that. Kate and Phil have started working on a five year plan for Ground UP and Kate continues to look at ways we can grow and expand, while keeping our intimate feel of family. Our excellence and high caliber of work is what we are proud of so that status quo will be the foundation of what we do next. We are asking you to join us, to stay with us, and go on this journey into the future.
Give us your thoughts and your ideas. What do you want to see from us? What can we do better? How can we become the best theatre company you ever knew?
We're excited to wok with the students and to make Michael's show a reality. We're excited to present to you this world premiere. We're beyond thrilled to then ride into our Winter Reading Series where again, we can discover the next great play of our generation. Before we know it, we'll be announcing our 2011 season. It is amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun.
Now that we've celebrated the past 5 years, let's move forward and look to the future the great things we will do in the next 5 fives.
Thank you for sticking by our side and hope you will be there with us on this amazing journey we've taken, building amazing theatre from the Ground UP!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Remembering Barefoot...
Hey gang, Travis here. I’m a long time board member and Ground UP’s resident
lighting and set designer.
Of course I think our production values are one of the big things that set us apart from our off-off piers, but so do the reviews, our audiences and colleagues. I think one of our finest moments of stagecraft was for last season’s BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. The scenery for this show was quintessential Ground UP Productions’ aesthetic; environmental and romantically realistic.
Neil Simon threw the director and designer a real ringer with this play, even in the most ideal circumstances. And ideal, our circumstances, were not. This production took place at our beloved Manhattan Theatre Source, which has to be one of the quirkiest theatre’s in the city; awkward architecture, an out of place spiral staircase, the most obtrusive control booth in history, plumbing in the middle of everything and a 3 inch sag in floor at center stage. However, it is that terrible space which gave us many of the delightful hallmarks of our BAREFOOT. We know how to work that room and pulled all of our favorite tricks.
Most of the enormous challenges we faced were written by Neil himself. Here’s a brief list: the ledge outside of the window must be walked on, a broken skylight through which it snows AND the climactic dialogue is delivered, a functioning kitchen as well as so many specifics about entrances and exits. To top it off, Act 1 is a bare apartment, Act 2 is fully furnished. For us, this was the clincher as the only effective way in and out of the theatre is through the audience door which is less than three feet wide!
Between the director, Lon, the tec
hnical director, Dan, our fearless leader and czar of good taste, Kate, and myself, we rose to every challenge! Using our favorite seating arrangement, we took advantage of the good that the theatre had to offer; beautiful exposed brick walls and hard wood floors from the 19th Century and the door to the adjacent apartment building’s stairwell (to be used as the stairs to our ‘5th floor walk-up’). Using some of our beautiful stock windows and doors we created the rest of the room and wrapped the audience 360 degrees so they would be as close as neighbors, peeping in on the newlywed characters. The director and I worked very hard on placing our entrances to get the most comedy out of actors making exaggerated crosses from bedroom to bathroom and back. We gave Mr. Simon his required ‘sunken’ living room and, the cou-de-gras, the skylight. What gave the mother of all scene changes it grace was the brilliance of Kate and Lon, choreographing an a-vista moving man extravaganza that literally pulled furniture out from under the audience’s butts to put onstage. Take that Neil Simon!
Here are some pictures and drawings that give a little insight into the process of creating BAREFOOT IN THE PARK.
An early sketches, some ideas came to fruition, others changed
All of which became...
Technical Drawings
And the result?...
Thanks for checking us out!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Like I said... It's AMAZING!
So detailed, great fondant icing, on time delivery. Perfect!
Thanks Jolaade!
And for anyone that wants a great cake that was also delicious for an event, contact:
Jolaade Aboaba
J.A.D.A's Delights, LLC
2725 Linwood Rd.
Union, NJ 07083
973-946-2335
jadasdelights@gmail.com
www.jadasdelights.com
Monday, June 14, 2010
BIG, BIG GALA SUCCESS!
So here's a clip (thanks Anne and Anne's iPhone!) from our 5th Bday party last Saturday.
I would have to call it a raging success, and thank all of the awesome performers who made it happen. Guy was the best emcee I have EVER seen and the cake, made by Jolaade Aboaba, was the most stunning thing ever. I cried. Like 3 times...
Major PROPS to J.A.D.A's Delights, LLC! THANK YOU!
More pix to come when I get them, but here is the birthday video.
Enjoy and thanks again all!
I would have to call it a raging success, and thank all of the awesome performers who made it happen. Guy was the best emcee I have EVER seen and the cake, made by Jolaade Aboaba, was the most stunning thing ever. I cried. Like 3 times...
Major PROPS to J.A.D.A's Delights, LLC! THANK YOU!
More pix to come when I get them, but here is the birthday video.
Enjoy and thanks again all!
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