The Method Gun (2019)

THE METHOD GUN CREATED BY RUDE MECHS

October 4-5, 2019 | B. Iden Payne Theatre

THE METHOD GUN CREATED BY RUDE MECHS

OCTOBER 2 AT 8:00 P.M. OCTOBER 4-5 AT 7:30 P.M.

B. IDEN PAYNE THEATRE F. LOREN WINSHIP BUILDING

THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Presented in the 2010 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Kirk Lynn – Playwright • Shawn Sides – Director Madge Darlington – Production Manager/Technical Director • Brian H Scott – Lighting Designer Leilah Stewart – Scenic Designer • Katey Gilligan – Costume Designer Graham Reynolds – Sound Designer/Composer • Lowell Bartholomee – Stage Manager Lowell Bartholomee / Michael Mergen – Projection Designers • Adrien-Alice Hansel – Dramaturg

CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Carl Reyholt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Graves Robert “Hops” Gilbert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joey Hood Connie Torry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hannah Kenah Koko Bond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lana Lesley Elizabeth Johns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shawn Sides The Method Gun is approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.

The Department of Theatre and Dance is a world-class educational environment that serves as the ultimate creative incubator for the next generation of artists, thinkers and leaders in theatre and performance.

ABOUT RUDE MECHS Based in Austin, TX, Rude Mechs creates genre-averse live performance peppered with big ideas, cheap laughs and dizzying spectacle. What these works hold in common is the use of play to make performance, the use of theatre as meeting places for audiences and artists, and the use of humor as a tool for intellectual investigation. We tour these performances nationally and abroad; maintain a multidisciplinary art space, Crashbox, a home for the creation and sharing of new work; and run Why We’re Here, a writing and performance workshop for displaced migrants. The quality and innovation of the company’s theatrical productions have firmly established Rude Mechs as one of Austin’s most highly valued cultural assets.

Rude Mechs creates new works collaboratively. The work wouldn’t exist without the generative contribution of every artist in the room. We are deeply proud to represent Austin as a home for cutting-edge theatre.

A VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE COLLABORATIVE CREATION OF THE ORIGINAL PLAY

The Method Gun, a project of Creative Capital, received creation support from the Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, The Orchard Project Theatre Residency Program orchandproject.com, the National Endowment for the Arts, The University of Texas Humanities Institute, The Harry Ransom Center and The Long Center for the Performing Arts (2008 Premiere). Rude Mechs is supported in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.

Rude Mechs Exclusive Worldwide Tour Representation: ArKtype | Thomas O. Kriegsmann, President t. (917) 386-5468 | f. (212) 749-7696 | e. tommy@arktype.org

ABOUT THE METHOD GUN The Method Gun explores the life and techniques of Stella Burden, actor-training guru of the 60s and 70s, whose sudden emigration to South America still haunts her most fervent followers.

Ms. Burden’s training technique, The Approach (often referred to as “the most dangerous acting technique in the world”), fused Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to infuse even the smallest role with sex, death and violence. A play about the ecstasy and excess of performing, the dangers of public intimacy and the incompatibility of truth on stage and sanity in real life.

Using found text from the journals and performance reports of Stella Burden’s company, The Method Gun re-enacts the final moments of her company’s rehearsals for their nine-years-inthe-making production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Stella left the company under mysterious circumstances in 1972. Diaries and letters from actors in the company express a sense of desperation, inadequacy and frustration inherent to the process of creating meaningful work for the stage and in everyday life. Set amid swinging pendulums and talking tigers, The Method Gun bounces between interior monologues, rehearsal sequences of Streetcar and group interactions – all gleaned from historical documents – to express a longing for the return of inspiration and a more believable presentation of self in everyday life.

KISSING PRACTICE From Theatre: Art in Action © Glencoe/McGraw Hill

motherly peck or a romantic embrace. The first part is getting into the embrace. The woman usually faces the audience with your feet about six inches apart. The man then steps towards the woman on the foot closest to her, puts that foot between her feet and swings around so that they end up facing each other.

Body position I the second part of a stage kiss.

For most romantic kisses little or no light should be seen between the couple. The woman should be facing the audience, and the man should be facing her, his back squarely towards the audience. The couple should decide ahead of time which way they will tilt their heads-to the right or to the left. The couple does not have to make any actual physical contact at all; many professional actors do not. Correct foot and body position give the illusion of a real kiss.

The third and most important part of the kiss is the count. A sweet romantic kiss lasts one second; a reasonably romantic kiss lasts two seconds; and a very romantic kiss lasts from three to five seconds. Anything over five seconds will usually cause the wrong audience response.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the stage embrace is the parting or separation of the couple.

First, it must be done with the same emotional value as the kiss established, usually a smooth slow release. Second, it is important for the couple to maintain physical contact with the hands until the “break” – the actual separation.

To do this, the couple slowly pulls apart while sliding their hands down each others arms. The break may occur at the forearms, or the couple may continue until they are holding hands.

Romantic scenes require careful rehearsal. They should be rehearsed privately with the director before they are attempted in rehearsals with the entire cast.

RASABOXES ™ www.actorsmovementstudio.com/rasaboxes

There are four key parts to a successful stage kiss: (1) proper foot position; (2) correct body position; (3) exact time count; and (4) a smooth break. The script or the director will tell you what kind of kiss is needed in the scene – a

This actor-training technique was adapted from a theory of emotion detailed in an ancient Sanskrit manual on performance (circa sixth century BCE to second century CE) called the Natyasastra. Rasa, from the Sanskrit language, literally

ABOUT THE METHOD GUN means flavor, essence or “juice.” It also refers to specific “emotional flavors” or states that are shared between performers and audience.

There are eight primary rasa states: sringara (love), adbhuta (joy, wonder), hasya (humor, cheekiness), karuna (pity, grief), vira (courage, energy, also translated as “like a stallion”), bhayanaka (shame, regret), raudra (anger), smaronmada (insanity), and bib-hatsa (disgust, also translated as “disdain”). The RasaBoxes method also incorporates modern ideas such as those of French playwright, actor, and director Antonin Artaud, who demanded that actors be

“athletes of the emotions,” capable of hopping in and out of a scene’s needed sensibilities with the same dexterity that an athlete uses when moving between the bench and live action.

The Natyasastra gives very specific instructions on the portrayal of each emotion; RasaBoxes uses an improvisational approach that allows for each actor’s individual expression. In the RasaBoxes exercises, participants move through nine boxes of equal size drawn on the floor. Each represents a rasa state. Participants spend time allowing the rasa state to possess them, rather than attempting to portray the state.

RESIDENT THEATRE COMPANY Rude Mechs is proud to serve as the Resident Theatre Company for The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance.

Through this innovative partnership of a renowned Tier 1 research university and Rude Mechs, a generation of new undergraduate and graduate students will gain a unique perspective on collectively creating new plays and managing a mid-size theatre company.

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FIELD GUIDE Created by Rude Mechs Featured: Lowell Bartholomee, Robert S. Fisher, Mari Akita, Hannah Kenah, Lana Lesley, Thomas Graves Photo by Joan Marcus

FIXING TROILUS & CRESSIDA Written by Kirk Lynn Featured: Crystal Bird Caviel, Noel Gaulin Photo by Bret Brookshire

NOT EVERY MOUNTAIN Created by Rude Mechs Featured: Eva Claycomb, Mari Akita Photo by Bret Brookshire

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THE COLD RECORD Featured: Kirk Lynn Photo by Christopher Shea

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TICKETS AND SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT JOINTHEDRAMA.ORG Titles, dates and venues are subject to change.