Walking the Walk

For those of you who have been following The CoLab, you know that so far our company is based on this blog and our audition workshop circles. As well as grand thoughts of expanding and enriching theatre in Boston and cultivating artists through process based collaboration and constructive criticsm.

That's kind of blurry and tangential, no?

Not that we don't have a good handle on what we're doing (and so far what we've been accomplishing) but it can be hard for outsiders to really grasp what we do. And that's ok. As long as people stay interested and others still are willing to work with us, our mission will spread.

But Kenny, Erika, and I didn't just start this company to blog and workshop (although we do love doing both) but also to produce. The challenges and excitement of creating your own theatre is what The CoLab was truly founded on. And so, upon our nearly one year anniversary we begin to produce. We are starting small (sort of) with a one night event, most of you I'm sure have heard of, titled "play."

It's an evening of ensemble work in two parts; first an ensemble created piece using viewpoints and suzuki methods as well as workshop writing and improv; second are linear works written by local playwrights, one a 10-minute play and the other a scene from a longer one act play still in process. All of these are linked together by the theme of "growing up" (something Kenny, Erika, and I are all muddling through currently, perhaps some of you dear readers can relate?)

Over the last five days we have been auditioning and casting "play." To our delight and amazement we had a super talented and dedicated group of auditioners who made our job really difficult. We talk all the time about how talented the pool is here, but seeing it first hand was truly an eye-opener. From an actor's perspective, it's hard to see just how stiff the competition is, but on the other side, it's amazing how many fabulous actors we saw.

We are SO excited to begin our journey with "play." and although the process will be half the fun, we are so pumped to be able to finally show our dedicated followers (and maybe some doubters and newcomers too) what we are really all about. We have been talking the talk and now we are ready to walk the walk.

Announcing the Ensemble of "play."
directed by: Erika Geller and Kenny Steven Fuentes

Tierra Allen
Gideon Bautista
Jonny Hendrickson
Sierra Kagan
Robyn Linden
James Marin
Mary-Liz Murray
Tony Rios

August 24, 2010 @ The Factory Theatre