Kickstarter

The most important item to report is the casting of Liam Kraus as the Announcer. His role is extremely important to the success of the show. He will be creating the environment in which the actors will be performing. He describes the settings, the actions, and performs all the live sound effects on stage. It is a challenging role because he has dialogue, then needs to break glass while trying to tear curtains, while also stomping his feet because your characters are running down a hallway only to have more lines to say. It’s a lot to do at one time but Liam is up for that challenge. The cast is now complete and we are really connecting after only two weeks of rehearsals. We have a very talented group of local actors who are making interesting choices with their characters.

They are also asking me difficult questions about the script – some I defend and others I have to keep an open mind about. There are elements of the script at which I have to look, analyze and change to make the show flow better. We have had to make several edits and move scenes around but that is all part of the process. If it slows the action down, or doesn’t make sense, you cut it or move it. I will admit it that I have never been that great at memorizing my lines. I find that memorizing my part to be even more of a challenge than I thought it would be as I am the writer of those lines. The reason being because I have thirty different edits in my head and not sure sometimes which is the final version of that line. I am officially saying that I now understand why playwrights do not cast themselves in their own pieces of work.

The next challenge has been finding all the sound effects. I wanted items that make the sounds we need without them looking like the sounds we need. For example; ten pounds of rice slowly poured from box to box to make the sound of soft rain, a coffee can full of nails to sound like a typewriter and lots of other fun stuff. I didn’t want to spend any money on these items because they are probably in your back yard or under your house. I have now been under a dozen houses in New Orleans pulling out odd pieces of stuff to find just the right sounds. We have almost everything we need. It’s funny to see Liam’s face each rehearsal only to have him ask what something new does. Andrea is making great directing choices with the sound effects and breathing life into every scene we rehearse. Yes, we are doing a live radio broadcast – although we are in a studio reading these lines without an audience – we are still on stage performing in front of an audience. When you have worked next to someone everyday on your job you develop a certain rhythm or routine to your workday. She is creating this with our cast.

We are having fun, performing our show and getting in trouble by our boss. We want the audience to be entertained visually and not just through the sound effects. The show website now has a photo gallery to get a better understand of what I mean. We have been very lucky in attaining local sponsors to help us with our production. Keith Pinkston Photography is providing us with promotional photos and the first photo shoot was amazing. It was three hours of the best time I have ever had in front of the camera. We have great pictures of Clifton and Matilda as well as me and Andrea. You can see a little glimpse of this world and the creative team behind it.

The final thing to mention in this update is our unbelievable success with the Kickstarter program. We reached and surpassed our $2,000 goal in under 30 days. The amount over we get will help support the production further – giving it the professional sheen the audience deserves. If you want to donate you still can until April 2nd.

That is all for now but stay tuned. I will write the final “Creating the Chronicles” segment once the show has run its course and we close at the end of April. I hope you can all come see the show.

Ren French
Co-creator and writer