Ed Sobel started the evening with a story about a young writer who, having failed to secure a production of his  new play, sent it  to  the famed Harold Pinter, asking “What does this play need?” Upon reading the script, Pinter responded with “What this play needs is a production.” With Pinter’s support, the  play ended up getting just that at the National Theatre of Great Britain, The young writer was David Mamet, and the play was Glengarry Glen Ross.  Just like with Mamet’s play, The Writers’ Room seeks to give a playwright a production, rather than the constant workshops and readings that have become the norm in the new play development cycle.  The Writers’ Room takes this idea even further, compressing the time between writing the play and seeing it on a stage down to just four months, keeping the work close to the writer’s initial creative impulse for the work.

Becky Wright took the passholders through a variety of materials to prep them for the experience, including a production calendar, a play development vocabulary sheet, and a set of suggestions for approaching new work. Instead of responding to a play and asking “What do I want this to be,” Becky encouraged the passholders to think “What is this trying to be.” This and other discussion topics will guide the conversations Becky will have with our group of passholders before and after each of their experiences with the play – from the table read in just a few weeks, to rehearsals in June, and the final production in July. While witnessing the process itself, the passholders are asked to be observers.  The Writers’ Room has not altered the process itself, but instead opens the door to what already exists.

Wendy MacLeod then shared her story of how she became a playwright, and what led her to be the first resident writer for the Arden’s new program. When Ed called asking her to write a new play for production, she replied:  “But I already have two other plays no one is doing. Why not one of those?”  But Wendy responded to the notion of a theater committing to a playwright, rather than a finished play and happily said yes.   When asked what she thought of the added component of having 50 strangers in the room, Wendy said that as a professor, she is comfortable talking about the process in front of people.  Adding to Becky’s overview of rehearsal etiquette she advised the passholders that she was writing a comedy and it would be polite of them  to laugh!

We then took additional questions from the passholders, which turned into a discussion that ran past our allotted time and could have gone on much longer! These questions ranged from: What scares you most about this process? What are you most confident in about your writing? What can you tell us about the play so far? But how will you audition actors if the play isn’t yet finished?

All the answers to these questions and those we haven’t thought of just yet will be addressed for the passholders and we hope here on the Blog. Stay with us for this very new journey into The Writers’ Room!

I have always told people if I didn’t work in the theatre, my dream job would be a food critic. Philadelphia is known for being such a “foodie town”, and I am so proud to be part of a culture that is known for super pretzels, whiz wit cheesesteaks, and now recently - milkshakes!

I have lived in Center City for three years, and every summer I look forward to burgers and milkshakes at Square Burger in Franklin Square. Not only can you get a Tastykake Milkshake (oh yes it’s real), you can enjoy a “Shake of the Month” which is a different yummy concotion every month. It has always been my dream to design a “Shake of the Month” at Square Burger, little did I know that my dreams would come true!

Through a partnership with Historic Philadelphia and Arden Theatre Company, I was able to create the “Sherwood Forest Very Berry Shake” in honor of our Children’s Theatre Production Robin Hood. This yummy shake is made with Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries and Blueberries. Better run out and get it now as it is only here for the month of May!

Here are some photos of the Robin Hood Cast and Crew grabbing a burger and shake!
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In these early pages, Wendy sends some characters camping. If one decides to head back alone, would there be danger of wolves? She found this site about gray wolves in the wild of Utah.

In search of a title for the play, Wendy is researching a classification of film called “Women in Jeopardy,” which focus on a woman put into peril by a crime, and her struggle to overcome or outwit her perpetrator. (Here’s a list of movies that fall into this category.)
Wendy is debating between calling the play “Women in Jeop” or “Women in Jep.” “I’d be inclined to go with the latter title,” Wendy says, “So that nobody thinks the word is pronounced GEE-OP.”

So to add to the dentist and the migrant birds we learned about last week, the play now has some women in peril, potentially from wolves. Next week, Wendy will meet the Inside the Writers’ Room passholders and hold auditions for the play. We’ll have more to report then!

Wendy has also been taking classes at Dhyana Yoga Old City branch, down the street from the Arden. “Before my first class with the famously tough Noelle, I heard a man describing his first class with her. Apparently he lasted 20 minutes and then had to go out to the sidewalk to throw up. This made me tremble. But afterwards I felt this huge sense of accomplishment just for making it through the class.” For a more mellow, but still challenging, yoga experience, she highly recommends Gina’s Anusara-inspired classes and Jason’s Beginning Yoga class. “But dress in lightweight clothing. They seem to believe in the healing powers of humidity over there.”

What Wendy Saw: Robin Hood
“The best part about Robin Hood was watching children’s theater with GOOD ACTING (as opposed to the emphatic, insincere, condescending children’s theater acting I’d seen elsewhere). The second best part was watching the children as they watched the play—it did my heart good to know I was looking at future theatre-goers. The third best part was the question and answer period afterwards when a little girl wanted to know where the swings went.”

The Arden happily celebrated the opening night of Robin Hood on Saturday, April 28^th by turning the lobby into our own Sherwood Forest! We welcomed community partners Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and its Plant One Million booth, Ricochets Gymnastics Club lead our child guests through a tumbling obstacle course, and Historic Philadelphia came as well to help spread the word about Franklin Square and Square Burger’s Sherwood Forest Very Berry Shake (on sale through the month of May!). Arden staff helped the kids transform into merrymen with crafts and face painting! Then, our competitive guests moved on to the bow and arrow competition in the upstairs lobby. Kid-friendly food and beverages were provided by 12^th Street Catering and Hatboro Beverages. After the show, families enjoyed green apple sorbet over vanilla ice cream topped with caramel sauce, courtesy of The Franklin Fountain.

Here are some photos from the evening:

Our 2012 fundraising event, the Arden Spring Gala, took place on Saturday, April 21. Over 100 guests gathered at The Rittenhouse Hotel to honor the inaugural members of the Cornerstone Society: Frederick W. Anton, III, Gerard J. Conway, Sr., Carole Haas Gravagno, and Aaron Posner. These four individuals have been part of the Arden’s story since its founding twenty-four years ago, and their support, connections, contributions, wisdom and guidance have helped us to become the theatre company we are today.

The evening began with cocktails and a silent auction in the swank Cassatt Lounge of the Rittenhouse. Guests then moved upstairs to the ballroom for dinner, where Alex Keiper opened the evening with a spirited rendition of “Life of the Party” from Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party. Throughout the evening, Amy Murphy and Terry Nolen individually recognized each honoree with great stories of their history with the Arden, as well as fond memories.  Each honoree received a hand-crafted paperweight, modeled after the Arden marquee.   Harkening back to the early days of the Arden, Anne Robinson sang “Song for Old Lovers” from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well, and John Stovicek sang “The Mason” from Working.

The evening could not have been possible without our generous sponsors Harmelin Media, the Independence Foundation, and Karr Barth Associates and Charles and Dr. Mindy Goldberg Rose. Special thanks to Special Events Chair Ronna Hall and the entire Board of Directors for their support as well.  The gala grossed over $89,000 in support of the Arden’s programming.

Here are some photos of the Spring Gala:

Have you ever sat in math class wondering, “When am I ever going to use this?” Well, if you’re a Scenic Artist painting the set for a show like Robin Hood at the Arden, you’re going to have to do your math.

The painted tubes ready to go on the set.

The set for Robin Hood, which takes place in the Arcadia Theatre, is surrounded by an abstract forest comprised of many cardboard tubes, metal poles and pieces of lumber of varying diameters and widths. These tubes and boards line the walls of the Arcadia – all at a height of 14 feet from floor to ceiling – and also hang horizontally from the ceiling in a canopy of abstract branches. Additionally, the structure at the center of the set is made of steel poles. All of these tubes, poles, and boards are painted various shades of green from a bright lime color to an almost-black forest green.

(If you were to take every section of steel pole, every cardboard tube and every piece of painted lumber that decorates the stage, and then line them up end to end, they would stretch over a mile in length!)

Our Technical Director Glenn Perlman.

When preparing for a show like this one, you must know how much paint you will need to use. A good starting point is to figure the amount of square footage that needs to be covered by each type/color of paint that you need. Our Technical Director, Glenn Perlman, ordered a total of 300 cardboard tubes of varying diameters from 2 inches to 8 inches, all 14 feet in length. To find the square footage of each tube’s surface you must first find the circumference then multiply it by the length. The equation 2 x Radius x Pi (approx. 3.14) gives you the circumference. A 6-inch diameter tube would have the circumference of approximately 18.84 inches, or 1.57 feet. At a length of 14 feet with a circumference of 1.57 feet, each 6-inch diameter tube would have 21.98 square feet of surface area. There are 19 tubes of 6-inch diameter in the set for Robin Hood, meaning the total square footage of the 6-inch tubes was 417.62. One gallon of paint covers roughly 400 square feet; therefore you would need a little more than 1 gallon of paint for those 19 tubes. Similar calculations were made for the other diameters of cardboard tubes (2, 3, 4 and 8 inches), and for the various pieces of lumber and the steel pipes. 

That's Me! Starting to paint the one of many trees.

Overall, we used nearly 10 gallons of paint for the set of Robin Hood, filling the Arcadia space with almost 4,000 square feet of green!  That’s 1,000 square feet larger than a regulation Little League infield.

When you see the show, we hope you will feel inspired by the atmosphere and math all around you!!!

We’ve asked Wendy to let us peek into her process to not only learn a bit about this play as its written, but to also have a small window into what a full-time playwright’s job is like.

This week, Wendy shared a few bits of research she’s conducted for the new play.

Is there, she wondered, an antique dental tool that could serve as a murder weapon?
A bit of googling led her here
“I learned that dental tools grew out of woodworking tools, which was very helpful plot-wise as I also had a tree surgeon in the background.” (Along with the dentist, we can assume)

Wendy was recently in Salt Lake City, where the new play is set.  One of her characters claimed to have rescued a duck from a fishing net and she wondered if that could have happened: were there ducks in Utah? It turns out there are–at least in January when they’re migrating.  Scrolling through this page, she also learned there were peregrine falcons and burrowing owls. “I liked the name Burrowing Owls,” she said.

So, two weeks into the residency and we know the play has some deadly dental instruments and some migrant ducks. Perhaps in the coming weeks we’ll learn how they fit together!

When Wendy isn’t writing the play, she and her painter husband Read explore Philadelphia. We’ll also share in these blogs new-to-them restaurants, Wendy’s theatre going activities, and anything else fun they discover about our city!

Where Wendy Ate: Vedge

An aspiring vegetarian, Wendy enjoyed eating the salt-roasted gold beets and the grilled seitan with black lentils and grilled leeks.  “I know what you’re thinking:  what the hell is seitan?  Made from gluten, it is the opposite of gluten-free but it was delicious and totally satisfied the lingering meat cravings.  The space is beautiful, our waiter was very sweet, and even though the vegan menu was unfamiliar territory, I was convinced that there are no wrong choices.”

What Wendy Saw: The Curse of the Starving Class at the Wilma Theater

This is one of the first plays I ever loved but I’d never seen a professional production.  As a teen-ager I was obsessed with Emma, the 14-year old girl character; I knew her ALL-CAP lines by heart.   But this time around, I was struck by the mother’s dilemma and admired the way the actress lifted every line from the page and made it real.

Counncil Rock High School South's French Honors III Class outside Arden Theatre Company

What a superb Cyrano!

My French classes loved the energy of the play and were abuzz today sharing their impressions of the actors…describing the drunk, the nurse, Roxane, her nanny , Christian, Montfleury, De Guiche, the narrator’s deep voice, and of course Cyrano’s illustrious panache surrounded by his valiant Gascons! We loved the words, the song, the pace  and the vivid retelling of the classic French story! We study it in French III Honors… so you see…Cyrano means a lot to us!

Merci beaucoup!

Merci mille fois to the amazing cast and crew and the Arden’s organization. We will be back and please do send us the program every year! Bien amicalement!

-Madame Elizabeth Kohl

Arden Theatre Company’s next First Friday event will be TONIGHT – Friday April 6, 2012 5:30-8:00pm. The event will include:

A First Friday crowd enjoying their free beer and performance in our Independence Foundation Studio

• Performances from “Tell Me A Story” hosted by former APA Hillary Rea. Local actors and storytellers will reveal true stories based on a theme. Secrets are spilled, confessions blurted, and memories shared. Plus one lucky audience member becomes the Wild Card Storyteller, who will tell a tale connected to the evening’s theme.
• Cyrano-inspired flash duels from Fencing Academy of Philadelphia
• FREE BEER from Boxcar Brewing Company (one per person, 21+ with ID)
• Raffle to win tickets to The Scene on Friday May 25, 2012 for Tulipomania: the musical.

Students can buy $5 Tickets to CYRANO with their student ID 5 minutes before showtime at 8:00pm. Limit one per ID, subject to availability.

Stop by and enjoy a free brew on us and an exciting performance you don’t want to miss!

Don’t have any plans for the rest of the evening? Stay and enjoy the 8:00pm performance of our romantic, modern adaptation of Cyrano. This is probably your last chance to see what Philadelphia Weekly calls, “the rare production that will satisfy any theatergoer.”

It’s our intern Fen’s birthday! What better way to celebrate then with episode 2 of The Fen Show! In this episode, Fen goes behind the scenes in the Haas Theatre, the green room and the rehearsal hall. Check it out: