Merry Christmas Everyone!

We at Makeshift want to wish you a Merry Christmas, or what ever holiday you are celebrating!!! We hope you rake in some sweet gifts and spend quality family and loved one time!!!

Staff and Crew of Makeshift Theatre Co.

white everywhere...

Hey folks, It's nothing but snow, snow, and more snow here in Cambridge lately. In soite of the that the december news letter just went out and we had the first rehearsal for Alice in Wonderland. I even have the pictures to prove it! Lets take a look at these now....

This is our own Deb the Shea once again. She was taking measurements of all the actors for the costumes she will be making. You can also see that we are at 29 cedar for the first readthrough. Mr. Rhodes likes to do this becasue it is a nice way to say welcome to our little fmaily. There is usually some food and post rehearsal refreshments... and this time there were Christmas treats! It looks like The Shea will become our offical Costume Mistress in residnce in the new year. You will be able to chek out her infor on the website. She is also selling some of her homemade goodies form her own website http://www.biemodesign.com/ . Check it out!

In this photo you can see everybody diligently looking at their scripts while the Dir. Ms. Waldron takes notes about who will be playing all the ensemble parts. The ansemble is very talented and I personally can not wait to see who will be playing the Mad Hatter and the Cat and all the other crazy charaters. You can alos see our talented Stage Manager Ms. S. D. Wolf. That's just fun to say... Ms. Wolf. HA! There is only one more rehearsal before the holiday break and then the cast will be back for January. You will be able to see some of the artwork at the Coolidge pretty soon! Keep looking iof you are in the area!

Here is another quick shot of the cast getting cozy on the futon. Alos we keep checking the website for updates. We hope to start revamping it little by little as the new year dawns. It just happens to be going just about as slow as the Big Dig. Lucky for us it costs less and is not life threatening. Mr. Vinnie, and Mr. Rhodes are trying to work it out. For those of you who haven't noticed Mr. Vinnie is Makeshift's new Company Manager and is doing a bang up job with all the responsibilites. Plus he is also on WoW so we set up a connection in the office. HAHA I am so glad Mr. Rhodes only checks the blog everyother month or so...

Merry Christmas everybody.... Or what ever holiday you choose to celebrate! Be careful in the snow!

~Nero

The cast of ALICE!!!

Thank to all those who auditioned. Ms. Waldron had very difficult decisions to make to cast this show. You were all great, and Mr. Rhodes would like to see you back for Cinderella in February!

Alice in Wonderland

Casey Williamson ~ Alice

Brooke Nathanson - Queen of Hearts

Alan White - King of Hearts

ENSEMBLE:

Mike Simon

Jessica Corbo

Emilie Kapp

Danielle Muehlenbein

The good deeds of friends...

This is from our friends at The Junkyard Dogs....

Holiday Spectacular!Buy baked goodies, take pictures with Santa and help a local non-profit theater all at the same time. On December 15th one pm to four pm at the Beacon Hill Friends House on 6 Chestnut St. Boston, MA, The Junkyard Dogs Productions will be hosting a holiday bake sale. There will be entertainment, Christmas gift baskets for sale, and Santa will be there to take pictures with the little ones. Come and enjoy a pleasant afternoon of holiday cheer. Watch the little ones enjoy Santa’s company. Buy some gifts for loved ones. And treat yourself to a baked goodie. For any questions or to make reservations for picture with Santa, please contact the Managing Director: Natalie Cabral Glaser at 617-372-5492 or email her at nataliecabral@yahoo.com. Happy Holidays!

Who is excited about Wonderland...

Sorry it's been a while but there have been a few things going on. Mr. Rhodes had surgery so we were all making sure he was doing well. The good news is while he was on the drugs the day after I talked him into ordering the new lap top which should be here this week!!!! that means more video! I know you are excited!

Tomorrow is the first day of Alice auditions. We have around 50 people auditioning for Alice in Wonderland and we are very excited. That's a big audition! I may swing by and take some pictures.

In the mean time I better get back to making my Christmas shopping list.

I hope all of you have been nice!

OH, and Mr. Rhodes is fine, although he is wondering why on Earth he bought the new laptop. hahah SHHHHHH! That's our secret.

~Nero

bloated...

mm...............mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......... pie.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

~The Makeshift Family

Yea Video!!

With Thanksgiving coming up I ahve more time on my hands to work out this whole video thing. Mr. Rhodes turned the whole thing over to me so wish me luck. Hopefully bellow you will be able to view the fight scene from Jack and the Beanstalk.

We have a lot of folks coming out to audition for Alice in Wonderland!!! It's pretty amazing and we are very excited. I will get some pics of the Makeshift family from Thanksgiving and post them over the weekend.

Other than getting ready for the Alice auditions things are pretty quiet on the Makeshift Theatre front. We are looking for a lighting designer and board op for Alice, so if you are interested please email Mr. Rhodes to set up a meeting.

Hope you enjoyed the video!!

~NEro

Getting to know you... getting to know all abouot you...

Hey folks,

As you see in the previous post audition time is quickly approaching once again. Our second show of the season is Alice in Wonderland and this one is once again adapted by the one and only Jack Neary.

This show is going to be directed by Anna Wladron who performed last year in Sleeping Beauty and then came on board as Makeshift's new Director of Marketing. Let me tell you she has done a great job since she took the position. Some of you have seen the fancy new season cards that we have been giving out, well you can thank Ms. Waldron for those. Ms. Waldron is also getting married this summer to multi talented Stephen Libby who not only played the story teller in Jack and the Beanstalk, but designed our logo and has done many other projects for us along the way. I asked Ms. Waldron if I could be the ring bearer and she said she would get back to me on that.

I plan on interviewing Ms. Waldron and other members of the Makeshift staff this winter so you can get to know the team that brings you these crazy shows. There is also a lot of news about next year that I want to tell you, but Mr. Rhodes said he would cancel my X-Box live subscription if I let the cat out of the bag to early.... He was pretty compelling.

In the mean time take a look at the audition notice bellow and sign up for an audition!!

See you soon!

~Nero

ALICE AUDITIONS!

It's that time again folks!!!

Makeshift Theatre Co. announces
AUDITIONS for…

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Adapted by Jack Neary

Makeshift Theatre Co., now in its third season of Saturday morning family shows, announces auditions for it’s up coming production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Lewis Carroll's whimsical adventure is given a new spin with Jack Neary's witty adaptation. Alice is up to her neck in tardy rabbits, mad-hatters and grinning felines, but will it cost her her head? It will if the Queen of Hearts has anything to say about it! When nothing in Wonderland makes any sense, how will Alice ever find her way home?

Seeking:
Alice:
female, adult actress who can play younger;
Queen of Hearts:
female, any age, imposing presence, it is always the Queen's way;
King of Hearts:
male, any age, a meek soul next to his wife;
Ensemble:
four actors (male and female) will portray all the other characters in Wonderland including: The Cheshire cat, the Caterpillar, the White Rabbit, The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The Mock Turtle, etc.

Some dance or movement experience a plus.

Auditions will be December 4th and 5th
7 – 10 PM
@
Cambridge YMCA in Central Sq.

Email head shot and resume and preferred day to artistic director Andrew Rhodes, andrew@makeshifttheatre.com, to schedule an audition time.
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script, and please have prepared a short comedic monologue. There will be half hour slots and please be prepared to stay.

Performance will be Feb: 2, 9, *16, 17, 23 & March 1st
All shows are 10:30 AM.
There will be 2-3 short rehearsals in early December and will begin in earnest in January 2008.

www.makeshifttheatre.com

Trick or Treat!

We will be passing out creepy scares and candy Mr. Rhodes's house. He gets tons of spooky kids visiting his house. The tough decision is Poltergeist or SAW I & II.

Be safe. Have fun.

been busy....

Home Town!

Grumble, grumble....

Mr. Rhodes says he is still waiting to order the new computer that will be able to handle video stuff....

How much longer Mr. Rhodes?!?!?!

I hate waiting. He says that it's for sure by Christmas. Christmas he says?!??!?!

Ugh...

Grumble..

If you will excuse me i have to go pout.

~Nero

Guess what I have....

PICTURES!!!

Well... ok... I have 2 pictures. I am the biggest slacker, you don't have to tell me. I have been playing a lot of video games lately now that the weather has been getting colder and being outside is not as much fun. But enough about me being lazy, I get enough of it form my Mom....

Pictures... First here are a few of the cast and crew hanging outside The Coolidge before we move in. You can see the Makeshift season II poster in the fore ground. Each year we make a poster with pictures from the previous year to display for at the shows. This on was designed by Kristin Boucher... again she is fabulous, and she is in this picture. So there! :P!

This next one is of the inside of Ye Ole Coolidge Corner. Man I really love that big red curtain. We run thru the shows every morning and some times we have to refocus the lights, hence the latter in the picture. Guess he gets to have his hands burned doing the refocusing... I'll give you two guesses... Mom made me put butter all over my fingers when I got home. Mr. Rhodes says 2nd degree burs build character and showed me some of his theatrical scars. But, I bet he never had his mom make him stick his fingers in a bowl of margarine..

See you soon with more pics...

~Nero

Stupid butter still on the key board... hrmmmph.

I suck..

I know I promised pictures and i have them I have just been very busy. The good news is my charater leveled up. Bad news no new pictures posted. I suck.

Looks like we will be posting video before Christmas. In the mean times I will tape things and keep saving the footage. We even had some of the folks at the Coolidge offer to download the video for us.

OK. promise pictures soon!!!

~Nero

So excited, and so upset...

Jack and the Beanstalk opens tomorrow!!!! I am so excited! The show looks good people. We have so many new and excited faces and we hope to see excited faces in the audience.

I also have some seriously frustrating news. Mr. Rhodes finally got the new camcorder in and now he finds out that he cannot attach it to his laptop to down load the video and mine does not have a connector either. So no video. Grrr.... Mr. Rhodes promised me that we will be getting a new company laptop very soon. A laptop that can do all but walk on water. We shall see.

Never fear though. I will be there tomorrow morning with my trusty camera to take some pictures! Post again come Monday!

~Nero

Dance of joy, Dance of joy...

Camcorder has been shipped!!!!

I repeat, THE CAMCORDER HAS BEEN SHIPPED!!!

I can smell the excitment!!! Either that or I need to shower.

The last wiffle ball game of the season was yesterday and I heard it was a heck of a turn out!! Can't wait till next year!!

...and did I mention... THE CAMCORDER HAS BEEN SHIPPED!!!

~Nero

Rehearsals and art work for Jack...

Hey everyone!

The poster art for Jack has been completed! Once again we had Ms. Kristen Boucher behind the pencil... or drawing tablet as the case may be. She is all digital and such, completely cool! Check it out!

Seriously, she does great work so if you think you might need a graphic artist let me know and I will give you her contact information. Like Mr. Rhodes says... It's all about connections.

I also took some pictures at rehearsal last week, so here is your first look at some of the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Here we have Kenny Roraback who is playing Jack, and Julia Bingham who is playing Cordelia, Jack's love interest. You might recognize Julia from Sleeping Beauty!

Here is a good pic of 90% of the cast including Carolyn, Kristen (of poster fame), Stephen, Shaine; Bottom: Julia, kenny, Malia (call me Lia).

Here is Herr Director (Overby) with Mr. Vinnie going over the role of the Giant @ 29 Cedar. Most of the role will be done by voice over which fantastic sound guy Josh will be recording for us. How cool is that?! VERY!

I see that blogger can no upload video which I would be uber excited about except that... The camorder that Mr. Rhodes ordered is still on fricken back order. It's been over a month sice he ordered it... stupid Best Buy!!! But fear not fans... as soon as it arrives you will be seeing thiings in NeroVision. I know you all tingly with excitment!!

Wiffle ball next Sunday!!!

~Nero the Impatient

Meet the cast of Jack..

Ladies and Gentlemen it is my pleasure to announce the cast for our first production of the 07-08 season....

The cast of Jack and the Beanstalk:
Natalie Cabral / Jack's Mom
Julia Bingham / Cordellia
Kenny Roraback / Jack
Carolyne Gallo / Victoria
Malia Wright / Elizabeth
Shaine Carney / Thalia, Muse of Comedy
Kristen Boucher / Mel, Muse of Tragedy
Stephen Libby / Story Teller
Vinnie Morreale / Jack's Dad, Giant

Thanks too all of you who came out! Mr. Rhodes said there were many, MANY talented people. He was most impressed.

I will have some pictures soon! Happy Labor Day!

~Nero

Down time...

Hi All,

I wanted to remind you all that Jack auditions are next week and that if you are interested in auditioning please email Mr. Rhodes to schedule a time. All the information about the auditions is bellow.

Other than that there is not much new to report. We are still looking for different rehearsal spaces so if any of you makeshift fans out there have any ideas I would be super glad to hear them.

OH, OH, OH, I almost forgot! Mr. Rhodes ordered a video camera!!!!! Yes, I will be Nero, Video Blogger! I will even be able to give you guys clips of the shows! A picture is worth a thousand words so a video must be worth a bazillion words! Seriously can't wait!

~Nero, soon to be video blogging

Jack is off and running...

Hi all,

As you can see by the previous post we have officially begun work on or 07/08 season. WOOT!

Jack and the Beanstalk is our first production of the season. It's adapted by Noah Smith who is a friend of Mr. Rhodes and a playwright and teacher current living in Los Angeles.

We have posted the audition notices and have already receive responses. We have also begun work on the production side, which most people never see. Yesterday the production team (director, Lighting designer, sound designer, costume designer, production manager, and artistic director) met for the first time and laid out plans for the look of the show, the schedule, and budgets. I don't think most people know that work on these shows begins well before we even cast the actors. As of this date our production countdown has begun, we have 57 days before Jack and the Beanstalk opens.

Jonothan Overby is directing this time out. Here he is looking at costume ideas and sketches with the one and only Deb Shea, and production manager Emily Brown. We are excited to have some new people joining us this season on the tech side. We have Josh Staines, who ran sound for us on (abridged), will be designing sound and running the sound board for Jack. We also have Margaret Hodes joining us as lighting designer and board op, this will be Margaret's first time working with us here at Makeshift and we are pretty dern excited.

Which brings me to a sad sad bit of news. Makeshift's own Mollie McKenzie will not be back in the booth this season. Ms. Mollie has excepted an offer from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Ma to tech and teach. Yea! for Mollie... boo! for us. We wish her the best of luck.

We miss you Ms. Mollie!!!!

~Nero

It's that time... AUDITIONS!

MAKESHIFT THEATRE CO.

Announces auditions for it's up coming production of..
Jack and the Beanstalk
adapted by Noah Smith.

Audition will be held at the Cambridge Family YMCA in Central Sq..
August 29 & 30
7:00PM-9:30PM

Please contact Artistic Director Andrew Rhodes to schedule a time.
andrew@makeshifttheatre.com

Rehearsals start September 5th and will be 3 nights a week through October 4th. Location TBA.
Performance dates are:
October 6, 13, 20, 27, 28

For more information about us and our company please visit
www.makeshifttheatre.com

We are looking for 3 men and 6 women for the following roles:

Storyteller: Male, Ageless, Loud, Energetic, character traits may vary, must be able to capture a crowd and play multiple “character” roles.

Victoria: Female/Male, Ageless, young, playing children, pigtails and the whole nine yards, partners in crime with Elizabeth, plays multiple characters comfortable with adlibs and audience participation.

Elizabeth: Female/Male, Ageless, young, playing children, pigtails and the whole nine yards, partners in crime with Victoria, plays multiple characters comfortable with adlibs and audience participation.

Thalia: Female, ageless, bright, cheery, clumsy and loud, likes to laugh, overeager to please, muse of comedy

Melpomene: Female, ageless, dour, gloomy, classic straight man, played down but not quiet, muse of tragedy

Jack: Male, early 20’s, sweet, slightly clueless but with an energy of excitement for exploration, yet still timid and unsure of himself,

Mother: Female; 40’s -, Jack’s mother, Fiery, Jewish/New York accent, larger than life, a spry old women with a bounce in her step a cackle in her throat and a look that could freeze a Nargel in its tracks

Giant/Father: Male, 40’s -, doubles as Jack’s father and the giant, wears a giant suit most of the show, tall or short, more submissive to his wife, wispy, slightly blank look permanently occupies his face,

Cordelia: Female, early 20’s, love interest, good natured, does the right thing despite personal sacrifice, comedic, likes to have fun

Scared Hit-less 12 Spider-Pigs 9

Hi friends!

It was wiffle ball weekend yet again! For those of you who missed here are the highlights. The Spider-Pigs lost to Scared Hit-less 12-9 in this high scoring struggle between to power hitting teams. There were 2 in the park home runs by John "plastic killer" Sanzi and Allan "The One handed wonder."

Team captains were John Sanzi and Emily Brown. Mr. Sanzi is Makeshifts consigliere and this was his wiffle ball debut, and what a debut it was! Emily brown was finally out of injured reserve, having been previously reduced to mere umpire-dom because of a bum ankle, but yesterday she was ready to play in spite of the blistering heat. Here she is at first base ready for action.

The Spider-Pigs came out strong in the first two innings in this 6 inning game. However, after a change in pitchers the tide quickly turned in favor of Scared Hit-Less. Victoria "The Vixen" Welch, the blond bomber from Vermont, made a strong showing in this game. Here she is coming down the third baseline headed for home in a 2 run dinger by Allan.

The MVP for the day has to go to Matt Arnold for the multiple times he sacrificed his body for the game. In this interns mind he earned the title for the play at second where he dove head first for the base and ended up in the outfield still clutching the base in his brave, but slightly sore hands. Mr. Arnold we salute you!!!We also set a record for people hit by pitches and number of balls thrown in a single game. Here Allan stares down the ball as it heads straight for his face. His new bride, our own Sleeping Beauty Julia Bingham, looks on in the back ground.Post game consisted of smoothies and watermelon. See you again in 2 weeks!

~Nero

melting, MELTING....

Too hot............... Can't blog............

All strength used up... updating... website.....

http://www.makeshifttheatre.com/

~Nero

Sweat and celebrating...

Yes, yes... two posts in one week. What am I thinking?!?!?!


It was a hot, hot day friends. It did rain late in the afternoon but the days festivities came off great. I personally want to give big kudos to Ms. MB, Mr. Paul Ezzy, Mr. Matt Arnold, and Ms. Laureen Evans for doing such a great job. We had people visit the promo table asking where they could get a copy of the script or how to contact the author. Most of these were teachers wanting to use it in their classrooms! Way to go Mr. Libby (who wrote the sketch)!

Speaking of the promo table Ms. Em did a great job of greeting and chatting up all the people who stopped in for information. Pictured here are Ms. MB who played Juliet, are own Mr. Overby who took time out of his busy schedule to come down help, and Ms. Em.

We also have some awesome new cards that have our logo on one side and a list of all our shows for the upcoming season on the other. Mr. Rhodes has been having back problems and was fighting a cold, but he made it through. I took this pic of him with Shakespeare, but I sooooo had to talk him into it. I had to promise him some of my mom's homemade cornbread. He survived the day because Dunken Doughnuts is now serving sweet tea. I believe he had two of them and he kept muttering God bless sweat tea. He is from the south so I sometimes do not understand him at all.

I would have taken more pictures but I had forgot to put extra batteries in the camera bag. I wanted to go and get some but I had to help set up the props and help the actors go through their lines before hand. I had just enough juice to snap these. : (

All in all it was a great day. We were hanging with some local theatrical big wigs and we held our own. Some people even asked if we would be back next year! WOOT!

~Nero

Shakespear on the common...

Hi all,

Just a quick reminder that we will be performing on Boston common this Saturday as part of Citi Bank's Celebrate Shakespeare Day!!!

Ms. Waldron has bee getting a lot of promo materials together, and Mr. Rhodes and the 5 person cast has been rehearsing the severely condensed version of Romeo & Juliet they will be performing. Good thing we had all those costumes from Abridged hanging around. Theatre people never throw any thing away! I will be on hand with my trust makeshift camera to take pic and will post next week!!

We will also be announcing auditions for Jack and the Bean Stalk, SO keep tuning in!!

~Nero

And scene...

So Yesterday was the last show of (abridgd), and it also marked the last performance of Makeshift's second season. WOOHOO!

No we go, what we in the theate biz call dark. When a theatre goes dark it means they are not producing anything at that time. Some theatres have summer season and are dark in the winter and some do the oppisite and produce shows in the winter and take the summers off. We do mostly winter shows since most of our shows are kids shows. So now most of us will be doing other shows with other companies or just taking some time off.

I will be helping Mr. Rhodes Get ready for season 3. We have all the shows picked out and are planning our schedules with the directors for each show. Ms. Waldron is planning a big marketing release with all the information, so I am unable to disclose any of it here at this time. One thin I can tell you that has become offical is that we will be performing during the Shakespeare-fest on the Boston Common on Saturday July 28th. We will be doing a short 7-10 min. sketch written by Mr. Stephen Libby who also designed our logo by the way. Yes, he is pretty talented. So swing by and say hi if you are down town. We go on at 12:40 and 1:40! I of course will be there taking pictures!!

But Now I am off to some World of Warcraft. I leave you with this final picture of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) We had 190 people see it this last weekend...

~NERO

Soooooooo much going on...

Hello out there!

Sorry I missed last week. We were very busy with Complete Works! Plus Mr. Rhodes gave me a bit of a vacation and I jumped at the chance to get in some serious gaming and see Transformers! Sooo cool!

We have been getting some great feed back from Complete Works! Our audience the night of the 30 was crazy. Just look at these people!

I will have put more Complete Works pics up on ye ole Myspace page. I will post some here soon!

We have just one more weekend of Complete Works and our third season is finished. Wow! Time is flying by. Mr. Rhodes and Ms. Waldron have already started marketing plans for next season.

We also got an invitation to perform on Boston Common for the opening day of Shakespeare On The Common. Mr. Rhodes is trying to make sure that happens. It would be a great event for us with so many other theatre companies around town being involved! Cross your fingers!

~Nero

Busy, busy, busy....

Sorry everyone. I am slow posting this week because we have been so wicked busy. Yes, I said wicked, that's how busy we have been.

last night we opened (abridged) to a great audience. This is where you should have been...

...This is the view from the stage at the Cambridge YMCA Theatre. That's our own Mollie MacKenzie working to finish programing the lights earlier this week.

We have 2 shows today! We have the last peformance of Sleeping Beauty today and another Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) tonight. This is going to be a crazy day, so I better get going. More next week!

~Nero

Sleeping Beauty REDUX...

If you missed it the first time Sleeping Beauty is now up and running at The Regent Theatre in Arlington!

It was a very early morning for us Makeshift folks. Half the cast spent the night at Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Overby's house since they live just 30 min from the theatre. It was a Makeshift sleepover!

We had to be at the theatre at 8AM for a 10:30 show. It is one of the many challenges of performing the same show at more than one theatre. We had to arrive early to make changes to the blocking and tech needs to fit the show into a new space. The Regent has a prime time show running at night and we have to use their lights and work around, or incorporate what ever they have on stage for that show. We have become very good at this over the years, and the Regent has been very accommodating with our early arrivals on opening days. Yes, that's right we do all of this the morning of our first performance in the new space, hence the early arrival time. For the rest of the run our call time will be 9AM just so we can recap the changes we have made.

Kudos and a big high-five to our own Mollie MacKenzie, our lighting designer and board op, for being so talented and flexible. She ran through the existing lights, and did a fantastic job of suiting them to our needs. Also, the fact that she is doing all this manually with sliders is just crazy. Ms. Mackenzie rules!

The Regent has a very different lay out for The Coolidge, where we first performed Sleeping Beauty. The biggest of these difference being the fact that The Regent has a backstage. The Coolidge has flats left and right to hide behind, but no cross behind or back stage to speak of. It makes the space very personal and intimate, but there is no way to get the actors off the stage unless they enter or exit through the audience. The Regent has a more classical layout. Each has it's benefits and challenges for a director and a theatre company.

That afternoon was June's Wiffle Ball Saturday! Every third Saturday of the month in the summer we gather old cast members and friends a play a madcap game of wiffle ball and have a BBQ after. May's game was rained out but this last one was a heck of a good time! I was going to take pictures, but I was so excited I left the camera at home. :( I will remember to take pics of the next game in July!

(Abridged) opens a week from Friday!!!!!! Speaking of I need to work on some prop stuff! I will have some pics form (abridged) tech next week and maybe some pics of the opening!

~Nero

Cops & Prostumes...

Now that I am being back to doing what I do best, I thought I would give you all a taste of some of what goes into making our shows happen. Since the up coming The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is opening in about 2 weeks, and it is our biggest show thus far when it come to props and costumes, I thought I would give you a brief preview.

First meet The Shea. Deb Shea to be exact. The Shea came on board for our first production of Robin Hood 2 years ago, when we were still TRiBE for CHiLDREN, and has designed , built, and/or purchased all the costumes and props for all of our shows ever since. Yes she is that amazing. She is a wonder and a miracle worker with the kind of budget she is given to work with. Also in the back is her mom, Ms. The Shea, who we always thank because she helps out and has helped deliver the goods to the theatre more than once. Thank you Ms. The Shea.

Since makeshift does not have a permanent theatre to call home we use Mr. Rhodes's house for temporary and permanent storage. This Saturday we begin the second run of Sleeping Beauty. In this picture we see all the props and costumes for the show in the stage cubes where they have been waiting in between runs in Mr. Rhodes's living room. Needless to say he has very understanding roommates. If you look closely you will see some of the props for (abridged) also put aside in this impromptu staging area. Speaking of (abridged)...

For those of you who are not familiar with the show it consists of 3 men performing all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in just under 2 hours. As you can imagine there are many costume changes and prop peaces, as I said earlier this is the largest show we have ever done. Our stage manager, Emily Brown, has been assisting The Shea in acquiring all the necessary items for this show. Lets take a look at some of these...

Here are some of the items we had to purchase. Pictured here is an asp for Anthony and Cleopatra, a sword for general swordy-goodness, and a few items for when the guys turn all of Shakespeare's comedies into one play. These are only a hand full of all the props that are starting to come together for the show

Also we have the Converse Chuck Taylor's which are iconic to the show. They are such a part of the show that they are pictured in the poster. These were bought and I believe each cast member is purchasing them from the company as keepsakes from the production. The Shea is busy working on the costumes she is building for (abridged), Purchasing material and getting patterns. Some of the costume peaces that are just used for one scene are being purchased from locations such as the local Salvation Army, Boston Costume, and the Garment District. Some items are being borrowed and will be dry cleaned and returned to their generous owners, and proper thanks printed in the program.

Most small independent theatre companies barrow a lot of what they need for shows, or have the actors be responsible for all of their own costumes. Mr. Rhodes never liked this idea to much, mostly because he never has much to choose from in his own closet. From the start he put aside a portion of the budget for each show for props and costumes. The idea being that things will be used over, and over, and over again, and the budget will go down for each show. So far this theory is winning out.

One of the challenges with this is storage space. Since we do not have a theatre of our own at this time, here is a picture of what I like to call the "HOLD". It's Mr. Rhodes's cellar where we store all of our stuff. The place is pretty damn creepy at night and looks like the hold of an old pirate ship. The house is some 90 years old, and has wooden slats every where and the cobwebs give it that certain "ich" effect. For those of you familiar with our shows, if you enlarge the picture you can see the Misdirected Trunk, a bow from Robin Hood, and some pillows from Aladdin, among other things.

I hope this gives you a brief idea of what goes into creating the craziness you see on stage. Some of these thing are finished and used for the first time the day of the performance. believe it or not. So, when you see an actor on stage looking pretty sweet in the fancy duds, take a look in the program and see who made it possible for them to strut their stuff and give them some high fives if you see them at the show.

Next week I should have some pictures form the Regent opening of Sleeping Beauty! See you then!

~Nero

Street fair success...

We came, we saw, we got tan lines.

The Medford Street Fair in Arlington, MA was a rousing success! We had a great time. Mr. Rhodes even did some juggling out in public! Yikes! We met a whole bunch of new friends and saw some old ones. They even had a parade with minute men firing muskets. It doesn't get much better than that! To the left is Herr Direktor, Mr. Rhodes, doing some juggling next to our promotional poster. He tries to be cool some times.

Princess Briar Rose, our own Julia Bingham, was on hand taking "magic" Polaroid pictures with the kids! Boy did we feel old when half the kids had never see a Polaroid camera. We are positive her pretty face is adorning many a family fridge right at this very moment. She did have a bit of a run in with 2 of Arlington's finest as you can see. "When good princesses go bad." They let her off with a warning for being too cute!

We did a scene from Sleeping Beauty during which we had a surprise scene crasher jump on stage. As you can see Mr. Legget and Mr. Overby were not quite sure how to react. The impromptu assistant was from the dance school that had performed before us. Now, what bothered me more than her jumping into the scene was the fact that the dance school had performed a version of THRILLER, which crasher girl had been in, just moments before. During this performance Mr. Overby asked "What is that?." Mr. Rhodes replied with a "What are you talking about? It's THRILLER." I came to find out that neither Mr. Overby or Mr. Leggett had ever seen Michael Jackson's THRILLER. Looking at the picture now, maybe they thought she was a real zombie. Mr. Rhodes looked disgusted at both of them and walked away. We also did a scene from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) which wowed the crowds.

Also on hand for the day was our friend Jenny The Juggler, www.jennythejuggler.com, who showed up Mr. Rhodes's juggling skills in every possible way.

In the end many a picture was taken, many a flier was handed out, many a ball was juggled, and a good time was had by all. With no sun burns!

Good times. It's great to be home.

~Nero

Stop the presses...

Hi guys! It's the ever-lovein' Nero on the job again. I know you missed me!

The cast of MTC is featured today in the Globe NW!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/31/
taking_to_the_street_for_arlingtons_birthday_bash/

They didn't get all the information right but that's definitely Mr. Overby, Mr. Leggett, and Mr. Rhodes in the picture! Rumor has it that the Sleeping Beauty poster is pictured in the print version! If anyone finds a copy of that let me know or send it along!

More picture from the street fair to come, come rain or shine!

~NERO

Busking for a living!!!

YOU!
Yes you...

Do you want a sneak peek at the great shows Makeshift Theatre has coming up this summer?
I knew you would.

Where:
We will be peddling our theatrical wears during the Medford Street Fair outside the Regent Theatre in Arlington.

When:
Saturday June 2 from 11-3

What:
We will be doing an excert form Sleeping Beauty in the morning and in the afternoon we will be giving away a sample of the up coming Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).
Princess Briar Rose will be there, and awake, taking pictures with the kids. We will be handing out fliers and doing some juggling and other fun stunts for the crowd.

Come down and say hello!

Home and excited...

Friends and neighbors you will be happy to know that I am HOME!!! My mother was thrilled! she made me 2, count'em, 2 lemon merange pies!!! No more living on grass and gross exotic foods for this kid.

Once all the mush and stuff with my Mom was finished I proceeded to my room to hang my trip trophies on my wall. Once I had them all arraigned and in place I stood back and reflected on what a crazy, crazy winter it has been. I looked at my false travel papers, The magic spell I wrote down from the book, the newspaper clipping form the library break in, and a few other things. I have not heard form the Prof.. I hope he is well.

I did get here in time to get some pictures of Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Leggett, and Mr. Overby studying for the new show! Let me tell you these guys know what they are doing... Just look at their expressions. So, deep in thought.
I felt a little uncomfortable with the way Mr. Overby was looking at me, but Mr. Rhodes assured me that he was just teasing me because he missed me. after the photo Mr. Legget said something about the book making more sense in it's original Klingon. I didn't have the heart to tell them the book was upside down.

Ok, I have some catching up to do and my Mom won't let me out of the house for too long. Will post more pics of the show as it progresses. Word is that we will be doing a street fair in a week or so! I will bring my trusty world traveled camera.

~Nero

Almost home...

OK friends, BOSTON IN CALLING!

After a sea journey and spending most of the winter stuck in Germany with a psychotic dramaturge I am back on American soil. Now all I have to do is find my way back to Boston, The Red Sox and Makeshift Theatre's first full length production!!! I even called Mr. Rhodes and told him I would be back soon! At first he said "Nero who?" "Is that your first name, or last name?" I was able to jog his memory and he seemed happy that I would be home soon. Well, his exact words were "bring doughnuts when you get here." I am taking that as a full -Welcome back to the staff-

I am very excited about being back for our first non-children's show. In just a few weeks we will be presenting The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)! I am bursting at the seams for this!!

Ok guys I am off to find a ride north! See you all soon!

~Nero

The sea....

Hi all in between stops at ports, nearly being caught a few times, being seasick, and dreams of The Posiden Adventure I am happy to report that I am doing ok.

I can't type for too long becasue I never know when my connection will fade. So I will leave you with the lyrics of a song that has been stuck in my mind..

"Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo"

"There was Mermaid Minnie, met her down in Madagaskar
She would kiss me, any time that I would ask her
Then one evening her flame of love blew out
Blow me down and pick me up!
She swapped me for a trout"

"Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo"

"There was Typhoon Tessie, met her on the coast of Java
When we kissed I bubbled up like molten lava
Then she gave me the scare of my young
Blow me down and pick me up!
She was the captain's wife"

"Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo"

Hi all!!!

sorry you haven't heard from me in a very long time but I have been on the move. Herr professor decided he was going to meet up with this Internet sweetie and he started looking for a real house instead of the cave. I couldn't take it any more. No matter how many times I tried to get him headed home it just would not work. So, him and his "precious" can stay in the middle of Austrian no where! The magic was coming along really slowly and I could never quiet find the right ingredients. Long story short I stole my laptop back, packed up the ole PSP, transcribed the special pages out of the back of the book and struck out on my own to find my way home to Boston. I made my way down to Bulgaria by train and found a harbor. Using my new found skills after almost a year as the professors wet works man I found a way to sneak on to a cargo ship headed for the east coast. My ship is bellow. I am currently sending this message from the cargo container third down and 2 over.

the good news is that I ahve only gotten sea sick twice and I should be home before the run of SLEEPING BEAUTY is over! I can't wait.

Wait. I hear some one coming. I better sign off. Hope to see you all soon.

~Nero

Slow progress...

Well dear readers I am sad to report that I am at this point no closer to getting home. The prof has really just settled in does not care if we get home or not. I was trying to convince him the other day that we could not stay here and that we had already missed opening day and that we had to get HOME!!!! He looked at me and said "Nero, dear boy, we are home." and then he got back on my computer and started chatting with his on line girl friend. I think she is some kind of harpy or siren or something because I am gonna bring that guy home weather he like it or not. He hardly even talks to me any more... Ok, well that is both good and bad. Her-rumph...

In the mean time i think I am changing the name of this blog... Since Professor Happ is way off the reservation...

How does "Notes From Nero" sound?

I can't believe we lost to the Royals on opening day.... Schilling, pfft ....

Nerd on a mission...

Hello again Ye Fans of Makeshift!!

It's Nero again! And yes I am still stuck in the middle of no where eastern Europe. I have given up on Herr professor. I am still preparing for my plan to get back to Boston. When the going gets rough I keep reminding myself what i miss most about home: Opening day,The fact the Makeshift will be doing it's first non-children's play, (Seriously, for a while there I thought theatre could only be preformed before noon.), and my Mom really misses me.

I did some surfing this morning when the Prof got done chatting with his on-line squeeze, and found 5 BIG reason s that i will be getting us out of this podunk land!! I am now officially a nerd with a mission!!!

ENJOY!

REASON #5

REASON #4REASON#3
REASON#2
AND THE #1 REASON I WILL GET US BACK HOME!!
VENOM!!

~Nero
Nero@makeshifttheatre.com

I am the Iron Chef of magic!!

Ok, I am back from my ingrediant gathering expedition.

I Have:
~a box of Craoyla crayons, or what passes for crayons in this part of the world.
~some parchment
~some stinky dried root thingys
~One of my socks, and some toe nail clippings...ewww
~A few hairs from Prof. Happ's comb he always carries on him. (Got it while he was chating with his online sweetie.)
~One of the Professors undershirts...ewww
~3 jokes written on a small peice of paper that is folded 3 times.
~AND, a token from home, a foul ball I caught at my last Red Sox game. (with luck I will be home for opening day!)

No I am supposed to mix all these things together in a pot with some fresh wine and water and let the whole thing simmer for a few days. I don't know how i am going to hide this from the Prof.. I am sure I will think of something. Wish me Luck. I think I will try out a few of the other spells while this is cooking. Where is my test subject...er, I mean the Prof..

The clock is ticking!!

Hello all..!!!!

As some of you know I have been working on a way to get us home since the Prof seems to be content on settling in here is the middle of eastern europe with his online girlfriend and the crazy book. I think he has given up. But not this gamer and theatre fan boy!!! I have plenty more curtain speeches to do and many more audition rejection notices to receive!!

So now I revel to you my big plan. After much trial and error I Have found out that the passages in the back of the crazy book are real honest to goodness magic spells. I have been practicing with them when I can. I have found one that I think will get us home prof willing or not.

Now I just have to find the ingredients. that is my goal for the day. I am coming down from the mountain and into town in a Grinch like fashion to find the stuff I need for the spell. I have had a bit of a hard time translating the list from old German to English so I hope luck will be a lady with me!!!

will report by the end of the week!!

~Nero

almost there.....

Hi everyone. I have been working very hard on the thing that I believe will get us back to Boston. It has not been easy but the good news is that the Prof. Happ has been playing the role of test subject. Needless to say he has not been in the best of moods.

I did finialy get a chance to steal the laptop back as i am writing on it right now. I peeked at his email. I know it's not very ethical, but a few months ago he didn't even know it existed!

It seems he has an online girl friend. He has been steering us around in hopes of meeting up wither her. That tricky little devil! let's see... She goes by the screen name LMPayne4U, and lets just say she is not shy. HAHAHA The Prof goes by ProfLUV....hahahaha. O man I'm crying....LOL.

Ok he heard me laughing and he headed back to the tent. I better go... HAHAHA. I will see if I can get any info out of him.

Hopefully I will see you all soon.

Live long and prosper.

~Nero

Some news from the home front...

Hi all!

Sorry we have been so remiss on posting, but since the Prof has my laptop most of the time trying to find out which way we are heading it's hard for me to find time.

I did recieve an email from my Mom. she is happy I am ok and she read that Makeshift has announced it's shows for next year! I wanted to be the one to first announce it to the public so this is my chance. I even emailed Mr. Leggett to make sure the information was correct!!

So I can say with out hesitation that our 3 childrens shows for next year will be:

(DRUM ROLL!)

PUSS IN BOOTS by Noah Smith
CINDERELLA by Jack Neary
RAPUNZEL by Noah Smith

I am so very excited!!! I am now more than ever to find us a way home. The Prof was ready to settle down! He even said that we might never be able to get home again because we lost our passports back when Litmonger started drooling all over him in that bar. He made me pack up so quick I only grabbed our fake ones. UGH!

If I'm right about what I have discovered in the back of the book I may have found a way to get us home yet!

With any luck i will be back in time for SLEEPING BEAUTY!

WOOHOO!

Nero
Inter with a plan
Nero@makeshifttheatre.com

While we wander....

Since the Professor has been leading this disaster, I have no idea where we are, I have been looking more and more at the passages in the back of THE BOOK. I have been trying my darndest to translate them but every ti9me i try speaking any of the stories out loud strange things keep happening. Either fire erupts, or it rains, or the wind kicks up. Once after reading part of one of the stories out loud I could see in the dark. I am not kidding. Prof. Happ didn't believe me and said I should stop making up stories, and that my eyes must have adjusted after reading and when I looked up my vision was clear. When I told him I could see him on the other side of the room sucking his thumb he took the book away from me for 3 days. I now have it back and am going to keep translating.

I have a theory but I want to explore it more. Sorry we have been out of touch. I know a lot of things are going on back in Boston and at the Makeshift office. The Sox have started spring training, I got an email that said what shows Makeshift will be doing next year. Also, auditions for SLEEPING BEAUTY are this Saturday. I really, REALLY want to come home.

and i may have found a way.... *insert evil laugh.

~Nero
nero@makeshifttheatre.com

The more ya read the more ya know....

Hi Team!

Nero the hero here. We have gone back to using our real names when we are in private after that very close call in the fishing village. It makes us (meaning me) feel a bit safer. I thought the Prof was going to have another breakdown like he did in China when Litmonger left. He kept mumbling "... so big ... so big ... " I though I was going to have to turn us in just to get him some help. A few times I have asked him what it was they talked about during their brief conversation, but when I do he just looks at me with this blank empty stare. I finally got him to snap out of it a bit by letting him navigate. I know, I know that might not be the best decision in the world, but if it gets him to come around so much the better. I really don't think we could end up anywhere worse than where we are right now, and I don't even know where that is.

Since Prof. Happ is just outside the cave (don't ask, I let him navigate remember?) with my compass, map, and flashlight I have decided to take a look at the thing that has gotten us into so much trouble. The Grim book...if you get my double meaning. HAHA GRIM BOOK... I am so funny. It was pretty amazing that the Prof even let it out of reach at all. The first thing I have noticed is that there are hardly any pictures in it at all. What kind of children's book has no pictures?!?! Also, the whole thing is in German! Now this may be just my opinion, but I think they would have gotten more mileage out of it by printing it in English. I have picked up a bit of German while we were there but most of it is not suitable for a public blog. That being said, I do not understand much of what's going on in the stories. I did however find an interesting section in the back of the book. It's called:

MAGIE und ENSORCELLEMENTS.

I believe it translates to The Scrolls of Maggie. It must be one of the more unknown fables. Especially since I have never heard of it. So I have been sitting here trying to decipher the beginning of the story but it does not make any sense at all. The only thing I seem to understand is a warning. Well, Duh a lot of fables start off with warnings.

iuwbfiouh2klep'grvndfblnadl nbbbn ;kfbv ......HOLY COW!

Woah. So, I just tried reading the first paragraph out loud to see if that helped and there was this big flash of light outside the cave and the Prof. came running in side wacking at the back of his pants which were smoking. I threw my vitamin water on him to help him put it out. I asked him what happened and he said he he didn't know but the back of his pants had caught fire. I asked him if he had the lighter in his back pocket again because we know what happened last time he forgot where he placed the lighter. He just got a little irate and went back out side... Well that was odd. I better go out there and make sure he does not go back into the comatose state he has been in. I will take another crack at translating The Scrolls of Maggie Later. I don't think I will tell the Prof and surprise him with the translation when we get home.

An intern/hero's job is never done.

Nero
nero@makeshifttheatre.com
Inter/hero/master translator

SLEEPING BEAUTY Auditions...

MAKESHIFT THEATRE CO. ANNOUNCES AUDITIONS FOR:

Sleeping Beauty
By: Jack Neary
This fun and silly version of the classic fairy tale is told as a fast paced hard hitting news broadcast.

Performance Dates:
Coolidge Corner Theater
Saturdays: April 21 & 28, May 5 & 12; Sundays: April 29
&
Regent Theater
Saturdays: June 16, 23, 30; Sundays: June 24
All performances start at 10:30 in the morning.

A stipend of $100 shall be paid to performers who can commit to all nine performances at the completion of the second run.

Makeshift Theatre Co. is currently looking for possibly 2 men and 4 women for its production of SLEEPING BEAUTY. Most actors will play multiple parts.

Roles available:
(WOMEN)
Tiffany Stephanie……………. field reporter

Fairy Zee Zee………………….….good fairy
Doctor Quack………..local medical expert

Princess Briar Rose…...…cursed princess
Girl I……………….……..commercial actor
Girl II…………………..…commercial actor

(MEN)
Prince Tentative….………………….timid prince
Prince Burly.........................not so timid prince
Scuba Man…………….……….commercial actor
Mandrake….……………….…….a wizard prince

Fairy Dicky Dock. ……..…….............good fairy
The Wolf…………………..….commercial extra

(MAN OR WOMAN)
King (or Queen)……….the father (or mother) of Briar Rose
Man (or Woman)……………………………..commercial actor

Auditions Dates:
Saturday, February 24
12:00 to 3:00
&
Monday, February 26
7:00 to 10:00.

Please bring a current headshot and resume.
Email Co. Manager Larry Leggett with your preferred date and time.
Larry@makeshifttheatre.com

Rehearsals begin March 12 and run every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, with an additional rehearsal on Thursday, April 19. An additional brush up week is scheduled for June 11, 12, 13, and 14. All rehearsals are to be held at 50 Vassar Street on the MIT campus.

Founded in 2005, Makeshift Theatre Co. is committed to the production of affordable, high-quality theatre that will entertain and engage audiences of all ages and excite a new generation of theatergoers.

Happy birthday to Artūrs Žoltoks & Martin Klingáčik. Who are they you ask?? …. Them is us!! They are we!!!

Since we have another new set of identies, and this time they are official (well, the guy in the car with the funny accent and smell said they were official) I convinced the Prof. that we should celebrate birthdays. I figured that since we were missing the opening of RUMELSTILTSKIN we should at least be able to celebrate something. So after we delivered the “brown Jelly beans”…ech, I showered for like 2 days! I found us a nice pub near where we are in Liepāja to have a celebratory libation or two. I tried the local favorite and the Professor had his usually Shirley Temple. In the middle of this marry making who should storm into the pub but Eve Litmonger and a few of her storm troopers. I kid you not, as soon as I saw her I spit up some of my drink right over professor Happ, and I swear I could hear Darth Vader’s theme in the background.

How could she have gotten this close?!?!? It’s my own fault. I was so disturbed by the thought of what was in the icebox that I stopped keeping track of the Interpol website and her movements. So, there we were face to face, the hunter and the hunted. Our only saving grace is the facial hair we have grown to fit in with the local fisherman, and the fact that they did not have clear pictures of me from the library incident.

The professor had never seen her in person before. I had that incident outside of Minsk where I was almost caught and will never feel comfortable around womens shoes again. She is easily double the Prof.’s size. Neither of us knew quiet what to do. She began showing that distorted picture of me from the library around to the patrons while her personal guard stood by the door.

She finally came around to us. I turned around to fiddle with the birthday balloons tied to the bar. But the Prof. was dumbstruck and looked her right in the eyes. She showed him the picture and spoke something in German. The Prof. didn’t say anything at first. I had to deliver a swift kick to the shin to restart him. Finally he started speaking. I am not sure what they talked about, but she smiled a very scary smile and looked at me and slapped me on the back, which about knocked me over the bar and turned to head out. The Prof turned back to me and I thought he was about to cry. Suddenly she came back over and adjusted the prof’s backpack and said his book (THE BOOK) was about to fall out and put it back in and zipped it up for him. The Prof. was frozen so I turned and said thank you in German, the only phrase I could remember, and then she looked the prof. up and down one more time gave him her card and left.

Needless to say we are on the move again. They do not come any closer than that dear friends. Still, I wonder what her and the professor Happ chatted about, and why did she give him her number? He refuses to talk about it.

I am glad the opening of the show went well!!! I miss all of you and should be home as soon as we put some distance between us and Litmonger!!

Incognito Nero
Intern/man on the run
nero@makeshifttheatre.com

RUMP opening....

A big thank you to all of you who came out to see the opening of RUMPLESTILTSKIN at the Coolidge. We had 140 smiling faces.

Here is our newest cast member preparing before the show. Erin webb is playing Cynthia this time around. She is a graduate of Emerson and is excited to be performing with Makeshift!

Next we have the cast of RUMPLESTILTSKIN braving the early morning snow and 14 degree weather to have their picture take with our full size poster hanging out front at The Coolidge.

We have 4 more weekends at the Coolidge and then we will be performing at The Regent Theatre in Arlington. Also, coming up next month we will be having auditions for our spring production of SLEEPING BEAUTY!!!

Again THANKS to all of you who came out for our opening day! And, as always, we disavow any knowledge of the goings on of our wayward Dramaturge and intern.

~Cast and Crew of Makeshift Theatre Co.

Rumplestiltskin

Salutations Fellow Scholars,

In one week, Makeshift Theatre shall open its production of Jack Neary's Rumplestiltskin, the fourth and final installment in his Misdirected Series. I know for a fact that it shall be their finest production yet, as I have just recently forwarded to them my fully compiled report on the Aarne-Thompson Type 500 folktale. With the wealth of information it contains on the subject of Rumpelstiltskin, they are sure to give the most accurate portrayal of the story since its first telling in 1577! There are five performances of Rumplestiltskin at the Coolidge Corner Theater and only one at the Regent Theater in Arlington, so make sure you buy your tickets today!

I'm sure you're all familiar with the story of Rumpelstiltskin in one version or another, but did you know that in the Hebrew telling of the story, his name is Ootzli Gootzli? As it turns out, the character of Rumpelstiltskin has almost as many names as Santa Claus! In Spanish, his name is el enano saltarín (which translates to "the jumping midget") and in French, he's called Grigrigredinmenufretin. Of course, the Slovak prefer to keep it simple; they call him Martin. Needless to say, their version of the story is exceptionally brief.

Now, I understand that the last time you heard from me, Nero and I were in a particular state of distress, being without a home and consistently pursued by the nefarious secret forces of Interpol. In the event that any of you are worried about my safety, I can assure you that I am quite well; I managed to devise a rather ingenious plot that shall keep Nero and I out of harm's way for the time being: we need simply lay low long enough to establish our newly obtained identities as irrefutable.

While in Belarus, Nero and I made arrangements to pick up two completely legitimate, definitely not stolen identities from a salesman in Homyel; his office was a bit cramped at first, but it became much more accommodating once Nero climbed into the back seat. Unfortunately, since we didn't have any money on us, Nero and I had to pay him with our service, instead: we were enlisted as couriers to deliver an icebox to Riga, Latvia where, upon its receipt, we would receive our new birth certificates and passports.

The journey to Latvia was not an easy one. In addition to our constant vigil for Interpol agents (one Detective Inga Litmonger, in particular), Nero and I had received explicit instructions not to open the icebox under any circumstances whatsoever. You can guess what happened there. Five minutes after we boarded the train to Riga, I had to convince Nero that what he had seen in the icebox were just two remarkably large, brown, slimy jelly beans just to keep him from bursting into tears and vomiting. He asked if they were internal organs. I told them that they were certainly not internal organs any more. He seemed okay with that.

Eventually we made it to Riga, where we exchanged the icebox for our new identities. As this included the receipt of our new birth certificates, Nero insisted that we throw ourselves a birthday party; at first I was nonplussed, but, as the trip over had left my assistant's demeanor in a rather dismal state, I figured there was no harm in a little cake and ice cream. For Nero's sake, you know. Think of it as counselling.

At any rate, Nero (or Artūrs Žoltoks, as he is now called) and I have settled into a beautiful little two-bedroom apartment in the coastal city of Liepāja, a fishing community first established in 1253. Nero's had to get a job as a fisherman to pay for rent while we stay here, but there also happens to be an international airport not far away. Once we've been here long enough to blend in with the local laymen, we shouldn't have any trouble getting past airport security and onto a return flight to Boston!

And, as always, The Book remains safely in my possession.

Brilliantly Sincere,

Martin Klingáčik
Director of Field Dramaturgy
Makeshift Theatre Co.
profhapp@makeshifttheatre.com

HOLD THE PHONE.....

Now wait a minuet....WAIT JUST ONE GOSH DERN MINUTE!!!!

I am out trudging around with Mr. Profy Pants lost in eastern Europe, where come to find out Dr. Doom does not live, and sleeping in barns and getting chased by the police, missing Christmas and Thanksgiving and Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Legget are AT HOME PLAYING WITH UBER SWEET LIGHT SABERS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Ok, life is just not fair. This is miserable. The prof said something about entering the "Communist block" because there are ways to smuggle anything there now including people. So I confirmed with him that it was a hive of scum and villainy and he didn't get it. At least he said he was glad he was having an effect on my vocabulary. All of this and I have to see pics of other people with light sabers posted on my own blog?!?!?! Where is the justice in that?? I am going to have to rethink my situation with Makeshift when I get home ... If I get home.

I even went out of my way to set up a Makeshift Myspace page so we could reach more people... http://www.myspace.com/makeshifttheatre .... and this is the thanks I get?!?!?!

RUMPELSTILTSKIN start in 9 days and I will not be there for the opening?!?!!? What will everyone think???

That's IT! I have had enough I am going to get us outta here. I am signing off to go make plans. PLANS I TELL YOU!!! and that Prof. better not get in the way.

Light sabers....HURUMPH! We shall see about that!!

Nero
Intern with a mission!
nero@makeshifttheatre.com