tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27169981919721593512011-12-13T11:59:11.037+01:00True, I talk of dreams, which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy...Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-76373651418272202952009-02-23T17:42:00.017+01:002009-02-23T18:41:12.547+01:00

In addition to his many performance talents, Angelo Crotti is also a gifted cartoonist. Here are sketches summarizing our production's life, from both on stage and off; just click one to get it full-sized...And finally, our own Conor McGuigan is a pretty dang neat-o drawer, too...Here's to love!

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-27644825913196477202008-10-20T17:50:00.003+02:002008-10-20T18:09:55.515+02:00

I just finished up writing a bit about our upcoming show over on my personal 'blog, Odin's Aviary. You can read the whole entry here. But in pertinent part, and purely in the interest of putting down some ideas and impressions:"Things get out of hand." This sums up pretty nicely for me what I'm imagining as a central action of our play. Much of the action of the basic story reminds me of children

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-52530194914647055232008-10-17T17:04:00.008+02:002008-10-17T18:26:13.936+02:00

Some interesting tidbits about the play from Wikipedia (which, of course, means they should all be taken with a shaker of salt). I wonder -- should we get Kim W. to work on this with us soonish? She was a treasure for Prohibitive Standards. Tidbits:Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to Ancient Greece. Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-37883475772085846502008-07-30T18:13:00.006+02:002008-07-30T21:01:29.127+02:00

Well, not all of us. Not even remotely all of us. But yesterday David Zarko, Heather Stuart and myself (Jeff Wills) met deep in the heart of Scranton to discuss various Zuppa-related issues. Central to this was some discussion of our upcoming production of R&J, titled thus far in releases as The Very Nearly Perfect Comedy of Romeo & Juliet. I believe this title comes about as a result of one of

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-27099061085124045692008-04-08T22:50:00.004+02:002008-04-08T23:36:10.260+02:00

Okay. Reckon I'll get us started here on replying to my question of 2-April-2008.I'm not one of those people who enjoys re-reading novels. In fact, I sometimes wonder why I own any at all; I should just use the library (right, Grey?). But Shakespeare I always enjoy re-reading. Probably mostly because I have both developed a bit of an "ear" for it, and could never hope to understand even a single

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-73537209414124396602008-04-04T15:00:00.003+02:002008-04-04T17:44:44.659+02:00

Is it possible that we might cast outside Zuppa? Or do we have so many people in Zuppa that we are trying to choose among us? I'm asking because I know people who would be screamingly excellent for this project.Also, would we want non-Zuppa people to contribute to the blog? Or no?Useless information: I have a copy of the play that has a picture of Juliet in a black shroud on the cover. Every time

greynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-42135261747116836622008-04-02T15:19:00.003+02:002008-04-02T15:32:07.708+02:00

This morning, I'm thinking about the play. It ocurred to me that one of the crucial steps in these early stages might be to discuss the play just as it is, to not assume anything about what we think we understand, or about what we perceive the play to be about. It's a play, and any good play is about any number of things; they leave space for personal reaction. That's part of the beauty of plays.

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-88648466796625296292008-03-31T23:04:00.002+02:002008-03-31T23:06:43.471+02:00

I was looking at the blog address and was seeing 'lamen table comedy.' I was thinking, what's that? Does it have to do with being a layman? Or being lame?Reminds me of Deli Very Coffee and Deli Very Cold Drink.

greynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-81025724679624712442008-03-30T05:03:00.002+02:002008-03-30T05:47:42.021+02:00

Whew! Where to begin? I haven't had a moment to read the additions, so some of this may be redundant. First some ideas that got tossed around after Jeff left on Sunday. We played with balcony scene and the longer we worked on it the more I feel that Romeo & Juliet seem to fit so naturally into clown.We talked also about the idea of Romeo and Juliet being the only clowns in the piece and rest

Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731169323205684381noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-29930641969151647242008-03-30T04:44:00.002+02:002008-03-30T05:03:16.991+02:00

Andrea was reading the play and some of Romeo and Juliet's verse reminded him of the poems of Petrarch. David helped him find the poems on the web and we printed some of them out. Andrea went through those and marked ones he felt were important or possibly helpful. I am jotting down the numbers of those sonnets and the title. If I can find the site David did I'll post that link here.Laura is

Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731169323205684381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-84129510686858773442008-03-30T04:24:00.002+02:002008-03-30T04:44:18.781+02:00

Hello! So finally I am getting to putting the notes I've taken and remember from the two weeks of play. This is a list of the cast with specific commedia character possibilities as discussed with Andrea, Jeff, David and Rich last Sunday.Romeo - InnamoratoJuliet - InnamorataNurse - Franchescina (please note my spelling is off)Friar - Dottore, Covello, possible everymanMontague - DottoreCapulet -

Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731169323205684381noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-43258137529193249802008-03-30T03:31:00.006+02:002008-03-30T20:04:21.546+02:00

Uhhhhhh...We, uh...Okay. So in June 2007, David Z., Heather, Todd and I were sitting around discussing potential shows to collaborate with Italian artists on. For some reason, Shakespeare kept coming up in general discussions prior to that, with Italians and amongst ourselves. Romeo & Juliet in particular, actually. I wrote a little bit about why here.I've been trying to remember who brought

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-58672449705305396292008-03-29T17:52:00.002+01:002008-03-30T00:49:42.549+01:00

So, I'm curious how we got to the idea of clown R&J in the first place. Those who were there at conception, tell: how did the idea get hatched?I had a great time working with Mark last week. Do we know if he is directing yet? Or will that not even be a possibility until David figures out which shows in the season he is directing? Did you all talk about this anymore last week?My understanding of

greynoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-56028254020467161592008-03-28T17:00:00.005+01:002008-03-28T23:21:56.591+01:00

I was reading the Queen Mab speech again and it keeps making me think of a collage-novel by Max Ernst called "A Little Girl Dreams Of Taking The Veil." They aren't really related, but they deal with many of the same themes: nightmares, innocence/loss of innocence, sex with a very young girl, a priest of questionable character, a bridegroom who leaves, violence.I have a copy somewhere. If we ever

greynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-65327879584094268282008-03-26T19:11:00.002+01:002008-03-27T12:16:47.056+01:00

Jeff -- I wrote this before your mask post, but lost internet connection and couldn't post. So, don't read it as a reply or critique, so much as a parallel thought.I was watching "Blues Clues" and the characters were playing at being pigs. Instead of dressing up as pigs, they had very simple pig noses tied on with string. I thought--- hmm--- all of our characters could have noses tied on with

greynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-59451144836242456182008-03-26T14:22:00.005+01:002008-03-26T15:31:48.976+01:00

That's Italian. (Er: I hope.) I don't mean black gunk you put on your eyelashes; I mean masks.We keep talking about "mask characters" for R&J, but I'm not entirely clear on whether or not we're actually diving into mask performance for this show or not. I would guess that we are, given how much we've been talking about masks lately, having an actually Italian actor working with us and the fact

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-38190265517719758842008-03-25T14:26:00.003+01:002008-03-25T16:01:38.120+01:00

I am so jealous that I can't be there playing with everyone today.It seems to me, theoretically speaking, that there isn't a general problem with having clown types and commedia dell'arte types interacting. At first, I worried that the commedia types -- which seem very selfishly motivated and, at times, murderously intentful -- would overpower the clown types. The more I think about it, however,

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-42299009286532788432008-03-24T15:56:00.005+01:002008-03-24T18:20:50.667+01:00

Here I am, back at my day job, thinking of nothing but the last week of play and exploration. Thanks, everyone, for your enthusiasm and time. David, Heather, Andrea and I all agreed that part of what was so energizing about this project was the way in which it seemed to draw so many talented people together, and I am full of gratitude in the afterglow.How to summarize our week? Well, it can't be

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2716998191972159351.post-11286623964459345062008-03-22T19:08:00.005+01:002008-03-24T21:16:22.439+01:00

Welcome to the friar's cell. Here is where we will continue the collaboration begun at The Northeast Theatre in March of 2008, under the auspices of their contemporary commedia dell'arte troupe, Zuppa del Giorno. Please sign up for a Google account (if you haven't one already) in order to accept the invitation you have been sent, and post your ideas to this weblog. In case you haven't been a

Jeff Willsnoreply@blogger.com0