Past Productions
Hamlet, Fall 2005
The Building Stage made a splash with its first production. It featured a unique vision, first-rate performances, full production values, and a beautiful new space in an old industrial building. Both the production itself and the mission of the company intrigued many.
Dustbowl Gothic, Spring 2006
Initially conceived as a play that takes place in the time between ending and beginning, the piece was to function more like poetry than prose. By first rehearsal we knew the poem would be set within the frame of Grant Wood's American Gothic. Instead of weaving the scenes into a larger story, we made a poem out of the details that came from breaking down and deconstructing the scenes.
Moby-Dick, Fall 2006
We chose to avoid trying to present the definitive Moby-Dick and embraced the idea of "our" Moby-Dick, where a chorus of Ishmaels became a chorus of Ahabs. We often begin our work on a show with a group of actors before we know enough to do specific casting. And so when we begin to rehearse we often have three different versions of the same scene going on at the same time. When you see three Ahabs, moving in vague unison, echoing each other, talking over each other, the chorus idea becomes almost irresistible.
Mask/Clown Workshops, Spring 2007
In 2007, the Building Stage, in the company's spirit of experimenting with process, decided to create an ensemble for the year. Artistic Director Blake Montgomery trained the ensemble in both mask and clown techniques and styles, and investigative workshops were produced throughout the spring of 2007, presenting evenings of scenes in both styles.
Noir, Fall 2007
The culmination of the ensemble experiment was seen in this examination of the genre and style of Film Noir. Seen as the culmination of an American Trilogy that was begun with Dustbowl Gothic and Moby-Dick, Noir explored an iconic American genre with the goal of telling the "story of Film Noir" using clips from classic works of Film Noir itself. The structure that guided us was the evolution of the role of women in the movies from the earliest to the later years of its classic period, implicitly acknowledging that this form which gave its female characters so much power only did so through the twisted lens of movies that were written, directed, and produced by men.
The Master Builder, Spring 2008
The company decided to take on a new adventure with an old play, streamlining a 90-minute adaptation for four actors to play The Master Builder by Ibsen. In this process, all four ensemble members co-directed the play, again experimenting how a production is created in order to support a more intense and personal exploration of the material.
Dracula, Fall 2008
This adaptation of the classic vampire myth was told primarily through image and music in a style inspired by silent films, graphic novels, and physical theater. Undertaken with the simple goal of telling a complex story with the least amount of spoken text possible, the creative process began with an exploration of silent films and graphic novels as well as the physical theater styles of Melodrama and Mask Performance.
