Inspired by Wes Anderson, Amelie, Beckett and the Digital Age. Serge LeBoeuf is unhappy. His children attempt to present him with a reason to continue living. A movement theatre narrative with moments of soulful sincerity, songs, audience interaction, and puppetry. We are excited to return to the San Francisco Fringe Festival for the first time after our "Best of Fringe"-winning show Stalking Christopher Walken. Daffodil: A Play on Happiness is a new piece we have been workshopping - Created and performed by BrickaBrack company members Alexander Lydon, Gloria McDonald, Maura Tang & Gabriel Grilli.
GG says: "I'd call it a black comedy with puppets, music, movement, and audience interaction," -- "What's been really exciting about this piece is that we started with nothing but a title and a theme. We knew we wanted to examine happiness, and we liked the title Daffodil; everything else has emerged over the past few months. Its been a challenging and amazing process." The show plays four September performances at the Exit Theatre (156 Eddy Street): Sunday, the 7th at 5:30pm, Wednesday the 10th at 9pm, Friday the 12th at 7pm, and Tuesday the 16th at 7pm; with an additional encore East Bay performance Friday the 19th at 9pm at the Temescal Arts Center (511 West 48th St., Oakland 94609). Tickets: www.BrickaBrack.orgSee you at the theatre!
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Dear BrickaBrack Supporters, Its opening night for never fall so heavily again - and we couldn't have made it here without you! We are so excited to share this special dance/theatre piece about love, fate, and relationships with the world, and we hope you'll be able to make it to a performance. Here is a special "love thoughts" video we compiled from interviews with our cast members we thought you'd enjoy - it touches on the main theme of the play and how it is present in all of our lives: BrickaBrack in the News: We were fortunate to be featured in the SF Chronicle yesterday with this feature preview article. Please give it a look-see!
Thank you again for your vital support - its been a long journey to this point, and we have a lot to be grateful for, including YOU! Hope to see you at the theatre :) Yours, BrickaBrack We can't thank you enough for helping us make never fall... a reality!
In the last few hours of the Kickstarter campaign, we were able to get the contributions we needed to reach our goal of $4500! We're so excited to continue work on the project - auditions are next week! For those of you who are local - we can't wait to see you at the show! For out-of-towners, we'll keep you informed on Kickstarter as things progress... with videos, updates, and pics from the process. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making this Kickstarter successful. We could not be doing this piece without your support. Warmly, ~ BrickaBrack Anthony, Glo, Maura, GG & Alex We're putting out our official press release today! You're among the first to get the details :)
Oakland, CA. February 27, 2014. BrickaBrack, the award-winning creators of Stalking Christopher Walken and Duck Duck Octopus, will present a full production of a new original dance theatre play, never fall so heavily again. The production will play 6 performances this May at Dance Mission in San Francisco. never fall ... addresses the eternal question of why we fall into, and out, of love. Set in San Francisco, the piece chronicles the lives of three friends and their search for romantic fulfillment. never fall... includes both dance and theatre elements, taking inspiration from the techniques of German dance icon Pina Bausch and avant garde American playwright Charles Mee. Gabriel Grilli, BrickaBrack's Artistic Director, is the writer/director of never fall so heavily again. "There are few things more universal than the desire to find love. We’re exploring that theme in theatrically refreshing and engaging ways. We workshopped the piece in December, and I'm excited to take the project to the next level" says Grilli, who helms a cast of nine that are also under the eyes of choreographer Katerina Wong, assistant choreographer Becca Welna, and consulting director Anthony Williams. "This is a dance packed show- the first act alone has, I think, fourteen different dances! The plot is sometimes triumphant and sometimes tragic, of course, but also has a lot of humor and fun." says Grilli. Grilli's principal collaborator on the project is choreographer and dancer Katerina Wong, who has performed with Push Dance Company, Printz Dance Project, Concept o4, Dexandro Montalvo and Anne-Rene Petrarca and has shown her own work in San Francisco, New York and Beijing. Wong adds, "This piece has been a beautiful challenge to work on. Bringing together such diversely talented artists has been inspirational in creating an engaging and powerful story told through a harmonious mixture of movement and text." never fall so heavily again plays 6 performances: May 16th - 18th & May 23rd - 25th, Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm & Sundays at 7pm at Dance Mission, 3316 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110. Freshly. Launched. Kickstarter!!! Can't you smell it's deliciousness?? --- Set in San Francisco, this dance theatre piece asks: Why do we fall in love? Or out of love?... What roles do fate, timing, and past experiences play in this? How do we respond to heartbreak? These are the essential questions posed in never fall so heavily again - a character-driven dance/theatre project - through movement, scenes, monologues, and interactive elements. The plot of never fall... traces the lives of three main characters in flashbacks and dances, interwoven with Chuck Mee-esque texts on love and relationships. Akin to the work of Pina Bausch, we break the fourth wall, we blur the lines between performer and character, and we use the human form in surprising ways! This is the frame for our most ambitious project thus far. It's a project for anyone who has ever loved, anyone who has ever wondered why their partner came into their lives, or why they lost someone, or how it is that we persevere through so many highs and lows. It is our story and yours. The Process At BrickaBrack, we build pieces collaboratively. This is Phase 2 of never fall..., following our December 2013 Workshop. Audiences called the workshop "amazing," saying they "loved the raw honesty and humor" and "I held back tears at least twelve times!" I am the core writer/director, with major contributions from our choreographer, Katie Wong, consulting director Anthony Williams, our design team, nine performers, and BrickaBrack company members. never fall... enables us to continue expanding our network of local artists - by bridging the dance and theatre communities and creating new connections between them. What Your Contribution Funds
This special project is an important step in our creative evolution as performance-makers, a significant rise in the level of production we wish to achieve, and a shift in the depth and complexity of material we aspire to present. The show will be presented at Dance Mission - a professional, 140-seat theatre with a dance floor and quality theatrical lighting - from May 16th - 25th. The bulk of our expenses on this piece will be put towards space and equipment rentals ($7,350), stipends for 9 performers, 8 staff & 3 designers ($4,850), and materials such as costumes, props, and postcards ($1,850). We have already received a $4k CA$H grant from Theatre Bay Area for never fall so heavily again. With your generous support, we expect to fully realize this piece for presentation to Bay Area audiences, furthering the mission of BrickaBrack to "inspire openness to new ideas and generate dialogues concerning the social order... and essential questions of the human spirit." Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Please make a donation today! Most sincerely, Gabriel, Artistic Director We've been working on this show for the past several months, its currently in workshop phase, but we're so excited about its development! Here's a little bit about the project: It's a cliché because it's true - love does make the world go round. Several years ago I had a series of meetings with two friends, fellow performers, in order to develop a collaborative movement piece. Having a rare opportunity to sit and talk, we became sidetracked discussing romantic debacles - recent anecdotes, broken hearts, joys, struggles, and dreams for the future -- these meetings landing somewhere between group therapy and an investigation into the nature of love, fate and relationships. Months passed, and despite our best intentions, we got busy with other projects... But a year or so afterwards, these discussions still clung to me. Our musings reflected so many of the core things in people's hearts and lives. So I asked my friends for permission to weave bits from their tales into a dance theatre piece. It would be something universal, moving, funny, painful - a collage examining love, loss, fate vs. chance, desire, and societal roles in modern relationships. A character-driven dance theatre piece. Simple, yet deep-reaching, resonant. That idea became never fall so heavily again. This is our most ambitious production to date. It's a project for anyone who has ever loved, who has ever wondered why their partner came into their lives, why they lost someone, or how it is that we persevere through so many highs and lows. It is my story and yours. From Workshop to Production The workshop we're presenting Dec. 6, 7, & 14, 2013 involved months of choreography, scene work, writing, and development - but we still have a ways to go to complete the piece! The full production of never fall..., scheduled for Spring 2014, is an important step in our creative evolution as artists, a significant rise in the level of production we wish to achieve, and a shift in the depth and complexity of material we aspire to present to our audiences. This project is a big step for us in terms of budget, roughly 2.5x as expensive as our most ambitious project to date -- money that goes towards renting a decent performance venue; paying our artists a slightly larger stipend; and reaching more audiences by hosting 12 performances of this new, evening-length work. With your support, we expect to fully realize this piece for presentation to Bay Area audiences, furthering the mission of BrickaBrack to "inspire openness to new ideas and generate dialogues concerning the social order... and essential questions of the human spirit." Please join us to further develop never fall... through responding to our posts on twitter & facebook, participating in our discussion in person or online, and by making a financial donation - every little bit counts! We're so glad to have you with us. Yours, Gabriel Howdy, folks! My name is Anthony Williams. I’m a company member here at BrickaBrack. It has been about a month since our first, big, party! And let me just tell you. As a new company, we do not quite have a “home” outside of the general city of Oakland, California. But ask the company members and many would respond that the Temescal Art Center is about the closest place to home we have found in our less-than-two-years as BrickaBrack. The 23’ x 38’ x 10’ space with a fantastic energy was not only the home of Duck Duck Octopus, but also that of Never Fall So Heavily Again auditions, and The BrickaBrack Benefit Bash! On the evening of September 28th, 2013, we welcomed guests into our home to show them what we are all about. There were definitely some nerves among the company, though. We started planning for the event about three months beforehand. But with a new, small company, and with people working full-time, there was a lot to organize! Who is going to do what, when are we going to get it done, and possibly most importantly: who is going to show up? We have friends, people like what we produce, but who is going to show up?! We were in the fourth grade again, wondering if any of the people we invited would show up to our party, and if they did, when would they? Flash forward to the day of the event, which started at 3pm for us, the company members. From that time on you could see us adjusting lights, lighting candles, arranging chairs, rehearsing, and many other tasks! We had a lot to do and we accomplished it in a short amount of time. Those fearful feelings quickly dissolved as we took a step back to look at our work right before our guests arrived. Our ticket prices were reasonable, the cause was good, the food was delicious, the drinks were plentiful, and the prizes were excellent, to say the least. To start, advance tickets sales received a discount and all proceeds went to our current production of Never Fall So Heavily Again. The dinner selection included delectable beef, sliders, lentil sliders, and those tots from Phil’s; homemade items from company members such as jalapeñopoppers; cookies from Luisa Frasconi; and fruits/veggies aplenty! And with sponsors like Aurora Theatre, Simple Green Smoothies, Sugar Knife Artisan Sweets, Shotgun Players, Pat Paulsen Vineyards, and many others, the raffle prizes were definitely fought over! Not only did each raffle prize stand alone in it’s fabulosity, many were paired with a lovely bottle of wine. Let us not forget Shoot the Wheel, the popular party game for those risk takers with some extra money to donate! The night began with just company members shouting the lovely phrase, but by the tenth time someone paid their money to see how many raffle tickets they would end up with, the whole party would chant “SHOOT. THE. WHEEL!” in unison! Now if you’re still not feeling envious of those who were able to make the event, this should definitely do the trick. Maura Tang created beautiful art on patrons thanks to her face painting kit and immense skill. Adriel Socrates photographed anyone who wanted to feel fancy for the night in our lovely frame.Throughout the evening the company performed a selection of pieces from our Spring hit, Duck Duck Octopus. Later in the evening we reprised the famous dance from Stalking Christopher Walken, including company member Lindsey Cook. We ended with an inspirational speech from Artistic Director Gabriel Grilli, who talked about the purpose of BrickaBrack and how it came about. The glint in his eyes as he spoken transferred over to some of the cast and some company members reading and dancing their asses off in the first public preview of Never Fall. The party continued on late into the evening with a little bit of dancing, a lotta bit of talking, and a wonderful sense of community. Despite all of the stress that came come with planning, this event was well worth it for us as company members and our donors as guests. Thank you to everyone who attended, donated and helped! I can’t wait to see you all at our workshop in December and next year at the next Benefit Bash! A bittle from company member Maura Tang about the never fall so heavily again audition process… Everyone who could be there from the core BrickaBrack company was in the room with the auditionees --- some of us in work clothes, some of us in glittery make-up from a show, and some of us in audition clothes. We all gathered at the Temescal Arts Center to create an event; floating in from our hectic days and lives to meet some new faces and new bodies and engage with the craft we love. As a company we have been meeting on Gabriel’s tiny studio floor --- also known as his bedroom/office/dining room --- so it was exciting to be back in the old Duck Duck Octopus space where many of us had last performed, danced, pizza-ed, and celebrated BrickaBrack. The energy of the space was buzzing! Gabriel did his intro to the company and our work — which I LOVE every time I hear it because he reminds all of us, old and new, why we are there and what we are about and besides…who can resist such charm? Our assistant choreographer jumped right in, leading everyone in a loose, languid, flowing warm-up which drifted easefully into learning a part of the dance. The movement was gestural and crafted, moving organically into broader strokes of lines and leaps. Meanwhile the rest of the team sorted through headshots and conflict sheets and watched bodies moving like traffic lights at night…shifting all around this beloved space. Glo ran the music in the corner. Lindsey was paperworking in an opposite corner. We were a new machine at work. Callbacks! We saw the auditionees move in the space and dance the dance again; same song, different day. We watched their bodies closely. We read between the joints, looking for a story and it’s storytellers. We cold read some scenes…till late into the evening. Some of those words I had not yet heard aloud, but had only sped-read swiftly on a google doc. We laughed. Nervous energy bounced around the room as we put people on the spot…and asked players to sing and to feel free to make mistakes. It was one big room with everyone watching, and yet somehow the group automatically created an audience on the far wall of the room, and a set designed of bodies in the shape of preparing sides behind the person/s auditioning. These two nights were such a different experience for me, as a performer, to be on the other side of the table, so to speak. (We didn’t have any tables at the Temescal Arts Center.) An opportunity for me to see what the “other people” see. The thoughts that pop up in your head as you’re deciding whether this is a person you want to work with or whether this is a person who would fit the general role, knowing that the script is flexible and open to change. We were really looking for an ensemble: people who could work together and easily jump in with any of their many skills and voices. Every typical actor's thoughts about what the auditor thinks was pouncing through my head, starting with outside appearances: “They're hot” “I like her hair” “Wow, they have a great smile” and working my way more inward as I saw more… “He has real spirit” “Her laugh could carry a show…” etc. One of the challenges here was casting with a group of people — there were seven of us casting: artistic director, choreographer, assistant choreographer, production manager, and three additional company members. We were all behind the same curtain but each of us was looking for something slightly different. Some a heart, some a brain, some courage, and some home. Oh wait, that’s the Wizard of Oz. I think you catch my drift. However, it was brilliant when opinions aligned, which they often did. The moment when we all got into a huddle and with only a few words, head nods and finger points everyone came to the same conclusion. Now this machine is oiled and ready to jump into the rehearsal process! (never fall so heavily again workshop began rehearsals this week...) Our Benefit Bash on Saturday night was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came out to support the company and see fragments of our past work and a preview of NEVER FALL SO HEAVILY AGAIN - it was such a delightful night. So much Shooting the Wheel! We'll have more photos and stories from the festivities to come... ~ Gabriel Why hello there blog reader and BrickaBrack lover! I’m Glo, one of the new members in the BB company. It sure is nice to meet you, dear reader! I feel like we have so much in common already and I can’t wait until we are sipping high tea, eating crustless cucumber sandwiches, and talking about how much you and I just love all things BrickaBrack. It will be fancy and joyous to be sure. Let me tell you what it’s like from an actor’s perspective to be apart of this cohort of artists. I discovered BB by being cast in Duck Duck Octopus, where I was a writer and performer for the show. DDO was all at once incredible, profound, an mind-boggling. I started the show having no idea what to bring to it. As rehearsals progressed, I fell in love with BB. I loved that I had a place where I could express my perception of the world, and see that expression turned into a realized piece of theatre. It’s the most rewarding thing to be walking around some mundane place like the super market, watch a strange interaction between people, then go to rehearsal say, “I saw this crazy thing today, I think it’s a piece,” and have every one else say, “okay, let’s try it.” It’s like the world really is your stage! Perhaps the greatest joy I found in being apart of creating DDO were the moments when we wound up creating something by accident. My favorite piece in the show was Please, Please, Please Don’t Let Me Turn Into A Zombie Worm...or STUFF IT AND DUNK IT! Now, I’m always a big fan of an unnecessarily verbose title, but that’s just one small reason as to why I love this particular moment of DDO. This piece came out of a completely different piece we were trying to create. Gabriel (the director) had an idea to make a dance involving sleeping bags. We spent a rehearsal devising a sleeping bag dance but decided to scrap it for time's sake. As we were moving on, a moment of magic happened. I had to put my bag away and it just so happens the size ratio of my sleeping bag to storage sack is completely ridiculous; I have a gigantic sleeping bag and a microscopic sized storage sack in which to stuff it. It’s a laughable and frustrating ratio to be sure. At this point in the rehearsal, I focused on the impossible task of putting my bag away - every one else has put theirs' away, there’s some chatter happening as we are all waiting on me to stuff mine. I was trying with all my might to get the thing stuffed in its itty-bitty little sack when all of a sudden Steve Budd (another performer in the piece) -- out of nowhere -- comes over to me, swoops the bag out of my hands, looks me straight in the face, and proceeds to stuff my sleeping bag away in about 5 seconds, maintaining eye contact the whole time. He stared at me intently, feverishly stuffing and stuffing away, got the bag put in its sack, and tossed it back to me with a manly, cave man grunt. I gave Steve a very well deserved slow clap and we began to move on, thinking nothing of the moment that had transpired between us. Gabriel and Anthony (our AD) had been watching the entire thing and said, “that’s a piece!” The rest of the cast agreed. We had created a piece without intending to, out of this strange moment between Steve and I. This is how we wound up creating a lot of pieces for DDO, by accident, out of another cast-mate seeing the magic in a particular and seemingly mundane moment and expanding it. Yes, DDO was special. I thought perhaps it was just that particular show that had the specialness I’m talking about. But getting to know Gabriel and what his idea for this company is has made me realize BrickaBrack is just as special as that show was. We are lucky to have the space to take ownership of our artistic selves and make our ideas into tangible theatrical experiences to share with you, my dear BB lover. Before I go, let me titillate you with a few juicy tidbits about what we’ve got in store: Are you a dancer/actor? Why don’t you come audition for Never Fall So Heavily Again? It’s a new piece about love and we’re in need of great performers for our workshop. Not one of those? Oh, I see you’re a lover of theatre -- I should have known -- oh and you just so happened to find a few extra bucks in your couch cushions and you don’t know how to spend them? Buy a ticket to our first ever benefit bash, September 28th! Put your money in a good place and use it to make art! We’ll show you bits from shows past and maybe even give you a tiny preview of what’s still to come! Well, dear reader I must bid you adieu for now. Here’s to more blogs and more theatre the BrickaBrack way! Always your friend, Glo |
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June 2020
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