50 Plays - June 23, 2011 8:00pm - IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

Juggling 50 directors and casts, this had to happen. There has been a scheduling mix-up. Belmont, featuring Michael Pieper and Peyton Daley, is in the Friday, 8pm show. NOT on Thursday. So, if you come this Thursday, in place of Belmont, you will see an encore performance of last Thursday's Baby Blue Sedan with Ryan Hake, Torian Miller and Johnathan Wallace, directed by J. Cody Spellman. And, if you come see the 8pm show on Friday, you'll see six plays instead of the usual five. More bang for your theater-going buck!

25 plays down, 25 to go! If you come on Thursday, and you should, here's what you'll see...

Thursday, June 23 8PM

Suddenly Stupid – director: George Lyons – cast: David Gibbons and Monica Gilley

The Saddest vacant Lot In All The World - director: Jay Steigmann – cast: Allison Black, Katie Dufresne, Liz Reuss

Custard with Ukulele – director: Kayla Mae Anderson – cast: Kathryn Acosta, Provvidenza Catalano, Robert Francis Curtis, Zan Rosenthal

Baby Blue Sedan – director J. Cody Spellman - cast: Jonathan Wallace, Torian Miller, Ryan Hake. Special Thanks to David Woolley, Sam Hubbard, Kathryn Acosta

Bunny – director: Kaiser Ahmed – cast: Kristen Anderson, Anne Sears, Pat Whalen

Director's Bios

George Lyons is a recent directing graduate from Columbia University. He's done lots of stuff, except make sure I have his director's bio. George!

Kayla Mae Anderson is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago's directing program, where she directed, wrote and performed in many pieces, her favorite and most recent being Rag and Bone by Noah Haidle. Kayla recently participated in the 14 @ Stage773 festival where she performed in her original solo piece Of Mice and directed for the Naked 24 Hour Project. Look for her upcoming work at the side project's site specific play festival where she will be directing Ceremony by Mark Schultz and assisting Kimberly Senior at American Blues Theater's Waiting for Lefty.

Jay Steigmann is an Associate Faculty Member of the Second City Training Center, where she’s been teaching writing and improvisation since 2004. Steigmann has written and directed several plays (Funeral), Cabaret Shows (LEGS!), and countless sketch shows. Steigmann says thanks to Joe Janes and the crew of The Saddest Vacant Lot in All the World!

J. Cody Spellman is a Junior Directing Theatre Major at Columbia College. His previous works include assistant directing The Normal Heart, Equus, and Floyd Collins, where he also was the dramaturg. Right now he is directing a film with Postmark Productions, stage managing the Neapolitan Theatre Co's Off Chekhov Fest, and will be assisting Brian Posen on This Is Our Youth, as well as Dramaturg for Columbia's next mainstage show Splendora.

Kaiser Ahmed is the co-founding artisitic director of Jackelope Theatre Company. He co-directed The Last Exodus of American Men, Jackalope's inaugural production and directed the recent production of Slaughter City. Kaiser is also an Artistic Associate at The Artistic Home Theatre Company. A member there for many years, directed House of Yes, Memories from Dreamland, and Last Days of Communisn. He performed in their Jeff-Recomended Modigliani, assistant directed the Jeff Recomended Sweet Bird of Youth, Skin of Our Teeth, Look Homeward Angel and Juno and the Paycock (Jeff Nominated for Best Production.)

Why This Show May Be Of Interest To You...

Suddenly Stupid - written for George and his cast. This was tricky to write because it is loaded with twists. This is about two co-workers trying to screw each other while trying to screw each other.

The Saddest vacant Lot In All The World - written for Jay and her cast. This is a piece where the three actors and Jay told me the do tons of sketch comedy and broad characters and would like to try something different. While having it's moments of humor, it's also very sad, I think. It's about a woman visiting the spot where her abducted child's body was found a year ago. The title comes from a song by Grandaddy. While the play has little to do with the song, I love the mood it evokes. You can hear it by clicking HERE.

Custard with Ukulele - written for Kayla and her cast. This is where meeting with the director and cast before writing their piece really paid off. They all knew each other, but there's something they all didn't know. They all knew how to play the ukulele! When we discovered that, it was like a lightbulb exploding. I couldn't NOT use that. It's a fun, slightly surreal piece.

Baby Blue Sedan - This is an encore performance of a piece from opening night. This Tarrantino-esque glimpse into three hitmen waiting for their target, a colleague, is a lot of fun. Cody did a great job creating the tension and the humor the play needs and Torien, Johnny and Ryan look like they're having the time of their lives. Definitely one of the plays that meets and exceeds my expectations as the author.

Bunny - Was written during 365 Sketches as part of Columbia College's 24-Hour New Plays Festival. It is ridiculous. A senior in high school finds himself the at the apex of a love triangle while being aggressively pursued by a female vampire and a gay werewolf. Lots of fun while taking digs at Twilight.

50 Plays - Opening Night June 16, 2011 8pm - updated 6/7/11

In case you were wondering why my blog updates have been rare, it's because I have been busy working on 50 Plays. It's this year's 365 Sketches. 50 directors, 50 casts, 50 ten minute(ish) plays. All at the Strawdog. Tickets can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets.

Unlike 365 where I wrote a comedy sketch a day for a year, this has been about assembling 50 ten minute plays. Some have been previously produced. Most of them have been written for this event. Directors cast their piece, I met with them and asked them some questions, then I went off and wrote a piece with that cast and director in mind. It's a fun process and allowed me to confidently add things to a script and not worry about whether or not the director could find someone who played ukulele or juggled or roller skated.

Here's what's playing opening night. Still in the process of gathering information from the directors. Info like, who their cast is! Quite a task getting 50 directors to give you what you need in a timely fashion.

Here's the first five plays to be present at 50 Plays with my comments about them below. One piece, WRWR, has been split up into three parts.

We Reach With Radio (1) – director Brea Hayes - cast: Kai Young, Max Lapine

Cheddar Moon – director Danni Parpan - cast: Alex Marcus, Conor McCahill, Ike Holter, David Seeber

WRWR (2) – director Brea Hayes - cast: cast: Kai Young, Brendan Buckley

Baby Blue Sedan – director J. Cody Spellman - cast: Jonathan Wallace, Torian Miller, Ryan Hake. Special Thanks to David Woolley, Sam Hubbard, Kathryn Acosta

Sleeping Handsome – director Tyler Wilsey - cast: Danni Parpan, Joe Barlow

WRWR (3) – director Brea Hayes - cast: cast: Kai Young, Max Lapine, AJ Ware

Burka Betty – director Kyra Lewandowsky - cast: Dana Black. Special Thanks to Sally Akrawe (dialect help), Jennifer Kincaid (rehearsal space), John Pierson (wheelchair)

Directors' Bios

Brea Hayes is a very nice girl who sometimes directs plays and makes theater throughout the Chicago area. She is a graduate of the theater program at Columbia College Chicago. Her day job is at Court Theater. She is motivated by cupcakes and cute animals.

Danni Parpan is thrilled to be working on Joe Jane's 50 Plays! She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2010 where she received her BA in Theater-acting. Danni directed for Joe Jane's 365 Sketches last year and has assistant directed several shows at Act One Studios under under the direction of Kimberly Senior and Steve Merle. She also assistant directed "Zombies Attack Chicago" with Anna Rose Epstein for NWaC and "Uncle Vanya" at Strawdog Theater Company under the direction of Kimberly Senior. Her acting credits include Ilse in "Spring Awakening", Hattie in "Laundry and Bourbon", Roberta in "Jack, or the Submission", Bree, in NWaC's "Corner Critics" and Mystical Mary in NWaC's first ever "Spooktaular". Special thanks to Joe Janes, Tyler Wilsey, NWaC, and Jack Bourgeois for letting me use his internet to write this in the middle of moving!

J. Cody Spellman is a Junior Directing Theatre Major at Columbia College. His previous works include assistant directing The Normal Heart, Equus, and Floyd Collins, where he also was the dramaturg. Right now he is directing a film with Postmark Productions, stage managing the Neapolitan Theatre Co's Off Chekhov Fest, and will be assisting Brian Posen on This Is Our Youth, as well as Dramaturg for Columbia's next mainstage show Splendora.

Tyler Veronica Wilsey is very excited to be directing something on her home turf. She was recently hired as the Production Manager for Strawdog's 24th season. She is also a graduate of Columbia College's Directing Program, and has worked as a stage manager for several companies around town. She hasn't gotten to write music in a hot minute, and had a great time working on the show. Love to the Fifis, Garbo, and Danni Lee.

Kyra Lewandowsky: Kyra met Joe while directing for WNEP’s Nighthawk Sandwich last year and is tickled to be working with him again on this awesome project. Previous directing credits include Verse Chorus Verse with Tympanic Theatre, Curse of the Starving Class with New Leaf Theatre, Polaroid Stories with Village Players Theatre as well as work with Rivendell Theatre, Teatro Vista, the side project, Griffin Theatre, Collaboraction, Infusion Theatre, Hobo Junction Productions, Appetite Theatre and 20 % Theatre.

Here are my notes about these pieces and why I think you should see this show.

We Reach With Radio was previously produced as part of 365 Sketches. WRWR is biographical about my days working at a local radio station when I was a year out of high school, but not yet in college. The scenes represented really happened. I cherish those days.

Cheddar Moon was previously produced for Columbia College's 24-Hour Plays festival and Chicago Dramatist's and The Second City Training Center's 10-Minute Play festival. Cheddar Moon is one of my all time favorite pieces. I wrote it a few years ago (2007?) for the Columbia College 24-Hour Plays Festival. It was the first festival I ever did of that nature and I was so happy with the results, I did more of them. It put me on the path that led to doing 365 Sketches, for sure.

Baby Blue Sedan is a world premiere. Baby Blue Sedan was written for actors from Columbia College that I enjoyed having as students. It's a thrill to have Ryan in the piece because I flunked him. He's talented, but abused the tardy/attendance policy. I felt bad about it. I'm glad he doesn't hold a grudge. Or he does, and he's going to take it out in this play. Worth seeing, either way.

Sleeping Handsome is a world premiere. It's a mini-musical and gender swap on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

Burka Betty is a world premiere.The evening ends with one of my favorite actresses, Dana Black, in Burka Betty. She worked with Don Hall and I on our Sketchfest show. She's as brilliant at comedy as she is drama. I took writing her piece very seriously. She plays an Iraqi woman who takes to the airwaves at night a la Tokyo Rose. There's more to her pain, but I don't want to spoil it.

UPDATE!!!

There is now a post-show event added to opening night of 50 Plays. The bulk of 50 Plays was written through meeting with directors and then casts and then writing a play with them in mind. Right after the first five plays, the audience is invited to stick around and watch Joe interview Jason Fleece and his cast before writing their 10 minute play which will go up two days later on Saturday, June 18th in the 8pm show. Good times.