Veselé Vánoce (Merry Christmas in the language of Bohemia)

It’s been just over two months since “Lauren Leaping” closed and a storm is blowing in. Finally there’s a moment to sit and reflect.

Every once in a long while I’m involved in a project that touches people. I never dreamed this show would be inspiring – but many have said they’re ready to tackle new creative endeavors after seeing our play. The enthusiasm and appreciation we received from our audiences was overwhelming.

There’s always a point early on in rehearsals where I question my passion for theater. At times it feels like it’s something I do out of habit and training. As opening draws near, I’m resigned to get the show up and running but really look forward to the vacation that follows. Then performance week arrives, the juices kick in and I feel more alive than I know how to feel. Nights are long, days are exhausting, but then comes that moment on stage when the audience connects with your character. The people in the play and the people in the house share an indescribable communion. Six months of (unpaid) work becomes completely worth it.

Thank you, everyone, for letting me have that moment. Kim, Jeff and Jim, there is no way I could have had a more perfect cast. The integrity and commitment you brought to your roles inspired me. Kenji, our show would have absolutely failed if you hadn’t stepped in at the last minute to be our House Manager. Debby, Brian and Ana – you were all there when I needed you because of broken locks, blown circuits and venue changes. To those of you who gave us your time to attend; your presence meant a lot more to us than the money we could charge for a ticket.

And to our playwright, Kristen, thank you for sharing your words, your ideas and the people that inhabit your mind. We tried to render those words with clarity and become your voice. I hope we conveyed the warm heart at the center of your play.

I can’t imagine a better beginning for Bohemia Players, and Santa has already dropped a new project in my lap. Stay tuned. May the new year bring many special moments.

Lesley

The Details

LAUREN LEAPING

an original play by Kristen Davis-Coelho

Thursday, October 8, 2009 – 8:00 p.m. Preview

Friday, October 9, 2009 – 8:00 p.m. Opening Night

Saturday, October 10, 2009 – 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 11, 2009 – 2:00 p.m. Matinee

At the Mammoth Lakes Arts Center Theater, 549 Old Mammoth Road,
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
No tickets, no reservations, just show up!

Meet the Playwright at the Mammoth Lakes Library
400 Sierra Park Rd., Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

Saturday, October 10, 2009 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Mini-performance by the cast and question and answer session with Kristen Davis-Coelho

For more information call: 888 566-4787

T-Minus 7 Days

We're a week away from our preview performance. I should be freaking out, but I'm not. The cast has worked really hard and the characters have developed. There are some last minute technical details to work out (what's new), but I'm confident it will all come together. What's unusual about this show is that our actors are spread over 500 miles - from Jim in LA to Kim in Bishop, me in Mammoth and Jeff in Carson City. We've only had one rehearsal with all four of us in the same room. But we meet next week as a team - ready to pull it all together.

I am so grateful to everyone who has supported this project - it's been an incredible experience. I just left the annual meeting of Sierra Classic Theatre, a group who gave me the freedom to grow as an actor and director. It was wonderful to reminisce with old friends and the evening helped me understand the power of theater to connect people.

Hopefully if you're readng this, you'll be able to come out for our shows next week. "Lauren Leaping" is our gift to our community - a free theatrical performance about people connecting. It's funny, it's sad, but above all, it's about the hard choices we all face.

See you there!

ONE MONTH AWAY!

Here are our finally official performance details:

FREE THEATER IN MAMMOTH!!


Bohemia Players present:

The world premiere of

Lauren Leaping

A dramedy in two acts

Written by Kristen Davis-Coelho

Directed by Lesley Bruns

Performed by:

Kim Stoiber
Jeff Chamberlin
Jim Harnagel
Lesley Bruns

Thursday, October 8, 2009 – 8:00 p.m. Preview
Friday, October 9, 2009 – 8:00 p.m. Opening Night
Saturday, October 10, 2009 – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 – 2:00 p.m. Matinee

At the Mammoth Lakes Arts Center Theater, 549 Old Mammoth Road,

Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

No tickets, no reservations, just show up!

Meet the Playwright at the Mammoth Lakes Library

400 Sierra Park Rd., Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
Saturday, October 10, 2009 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Mini-performance by the cast and question and answer session with Kristen Davis-Coelho


For more information call: 888 566-4787

We have no business doing theater!

Our new slogan – which pokes fun at our mission to produce plays without money. So far, so good. We’re a month away from our opening dates (October 8-11 at the Mammoth Lakes Arts Center). We’ve had very productive rehearsals – it’s a joy to work with a professional, talented and inspired cast. Now we’re down to the nitty gritty of getting sets, lights and props together. Sierra Classic Theatre has generously offered the use of the book flats I built for “The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare” many moons ago. We need to borrow some furniture – most urgently a love seat. We also need some general apartment type furniture – coffee tables, end tables, lamps, sofa, dinette tables and chairs. If any one has extra furniture in a spare room that we could borrow for a couple of weeks – please call me at 888 566-4787. If you'd like to be on our e-mail list, either add a comment to this blog or send me an e-mail at lestravel@hotmail.com Many thanks to everyone who has provided assistance and encouragement. It’s been great to have friends step up and offer help with publicity, stage management and ushering. If you’d like to be involved – let me know. We're SO excited about our upcoming debut!

Words of encouragement

Here's an e-mail excerpt from Brian Elerding, an actor and writer of the film "Autodoc." We had a fun discussion about life and art (which mimicked his screenplay) after his movie had its "soft" premiere at the Mammoth Film Festival last year. Check out the website: http://www.thedrivecollective.com/

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Hey Lesley! I took a look at the blog and I'm really so happy to hear that you've done it! I especially like the Burgess quote...very appropriate.

There really should be more of that going on everywhere. Sometimes I wonder if there should be no money in art at all, and it's something that we all just DO. That it's such a part of our culture that we all become storytellers. We come from storytelling cultures that handed down our histories through generations...why not bring it back? Why do we have to be CONSUMERS of culture, rather than CREATORS?

The two things that I've been passionate about in my life are activism and art. The toughest part of doing either is realizing that both are things that I believe people ought to do for free. But then, of course, I go and try to get paid for it. I've been fortunate enough to be in a few commercials and TV shows in the last year. There are a couple I'm not super proud of, but then I'm also not embarassed by any. It's a fine line to walk between crass commercialism and seeking a "career" in art, but so far I've been able to walk with pretty good confidence. Being able to do things like turning down commercials for moral reasons gives me at least the illusion that I'm in control of my career.

Musings on theatre in Mammoth Lakes

Here's a letter our own Jim Harnagel submitted to the Mammoth Times:

Flourish the arts

Dennis Kostecki’s eloquent letter (Mammoth Times, 6/17) about the power of theatre and its value to the community gets a standing ovation!! That letter alludes to “those in power positions” that may determine the direction and future of theatre in Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra. I maintain that moving and powerful letter proves that power resides, not in a venue or in a board, but in the ardent commitment to the art. It’s because of people who love it that theatre exists. Why will theatre in Mammoth continue to flourish? Because the writer – and others like him – WILL it to be so!

I’d like to reassure people that theatre in Mammoth does indeed have momentum: Sierra Classic Theatre is celebrating its 10th year anniversary this year (check out Diane Eagle’s article on them in the March/April 2006 issue of Mammoth Sierra Magazine). SCT has articulated a clear vision and has consistently and successfully brought that vision of classic theatre to fruition. And, so I’m told, they’ve been able to do it and stay “in the black” – by dint of their deep passion and enormous amounts of sweat. As an actor who has trod the boards in LA for 30 years – in theatres opulent and, uh, “less than opulent” – I admired them as much as for their fearlessness as for their smart and fiscally sound way of producing theatre. So much so that, three years ago this weekend, I brought my own modest production of Jon Robin Baitz’ “Three Hotels” to perform for them – with your own Lesley Bruns in the female lead.

And, of course, Tony Barrett looms large in the Mammoth theatrical firmament, having produced the well-received “Light Up The Sky” and “Friends Like These,” as well as Theatre Neo’s productions in the Village. Let’s not forget the steady growth of Playhouse 395 “down the hill” in Bishop. And, even in these difficult times, Rusty Gregory bought out the house for a extra production of “Sylvia” for MMSA employees.And, later this year, look forward to the inaugural production by the Bohemia Players! But none of this would be possible were it not for the likes of you who will stand up and say “This is good. This is valuable. This must continue.” I applaud you!

Jim Harnagel
Pasadena, Calif.

Why Bohemia

The original working title of this endeavor was Eastside Actors Project. However, it seems like everything is coined “project” these days and Eastside is also a popular descriptor. While seated at a production of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” at Loyola Marymount University, my mind began to wander (as it often does during Shakespeare plays):

This is one of the bard’s later works, written at age 46. This new theater project is starting up as I enter the AARP eligibility years. The wacky rustics in “The Winter’s Tale” are from Bohemia. There are certainly a lot of wacky rustics on the Eastside. I was there watching a performance of a close friend’s son, and was seated next to the head of LMU’s playwriting department. I started networking, and asked if he had talented students who might want to submit a play for a new free theater in Mammoth. It was the first time I had pitched the project.

Back in the mountains, I started doing a little research on the Bohemian artists movement. The whole “starving artist” premise and the idea that creativity thrives in a non-commercial environment completely dovetailed with the impetus behind this new drama club. Courtesy of Wikipedia, I stumbled upon this quote by Gelett Burgess:

To take the world as one finds it, the bad with the good, making the best of the present moment—to laugh at Fortune alike whether she be generous or unkind—to spend freely when one has money, and to hope gaily when one has none—to fleet the time carelessly, living for love and art—this is the temper and spirit of the modern Bohemian in his outward and visible aspect. It is a light and graceful philosophy, but it is the Gospel of the Moment, this exoteric phase of the Bohemian religion; and if, in some noble natures, it rises to a bold simplicity and naturalness, it may also lend its butterfly precepts to some very pretty vices and lovable faults, for in Bohemia one may find almost every sin save that of Hypocrisy. ... His faults are more commonly those of self-indulgence, thoughtlessness, vanity and procrastination, and these usually go hand-in-hand with generosity, love and charity; for it is not enough to be one’s self in Bohemia, one must allow others to be themselves, as well. ... What, then, is it that makes this mystical empire of Bohemia unique, and what is the charm of its mental fairyland? It is this: there are no roads in all Bohemia! One must choose and find one’s own path, be one’s own self, live one’s own life.

How’s that for a mission statement?

The story begins .. .

After eight years at Sierra Classic Theatre in Mammoth Lakes, California, Lesley Bruns had lost the muse. The stress of running a non-profit organization in her spare time was taking its toll on her health, attitude and inspiration. The once close-knit company was encountering growing pains and the fun was gone. While it was difficult to leave a company she helped create, after extensive soul searching Lesley decided to walk away and take a much needed break.

It took less than a year for Lesley to start missing the stage. What she didn’t miss was balancing accounts, reviewing insurance, filing permits, and handling box office. If only there was a way to just do the “art” part of theater without doing the “business” part. After all, SCT was an all volunteer effort, so it’s not like anyone was making any money for their efforts.

A light bulb went on. As long as you removed money from the equation, you could rehearse a play and perform without administrative hassles and just focus on the creative aspect of the project. To begin, you’d need to start a drama club, where everyone participated because of their love for live theater. Performances would be free, a gift to the local community who have been “fundraised” to death. In order for this to work, the group would have to perform a play that did not require royalties in a venue that did not ask for rent or insurance. Not an easy feat.

The first hurdle was crossed when Jeff Chamberlin, a former SCT member who is now involved with Reno Little Theater, introduced Lesley to playwright Kristen Davis-Coelho. Kristen authored a new play, “Lauren Leaping,” which had been presented as a staged reading at the Bruka Theatre but never had a full production. She offered her “dramedy” free of charge to the fledgling group.

Next, Lesley contacted Ana Danielson-Wells at the Mammoth Lakes Library. The library was eager to have performances in their beautiful new facility and offered up a spacious meeting room for this world premiere. Now, all that was needed was actors. Lesley’s favorite performers agreed to be part of the project. Kim Stoiber (another SCT co-founder) accepted the title role of Lauren, Jeff Chamberlin agreed to drive down from Reno to take on the part of Andrew, Jim Harnagel (an LA actor recently seen in “House of Blue Leaves” at the Mark Taper Forum) signed on as Tom and Lesley cast herself in the role of Eleanor, while also assuming directorial duties.

With everything in place, it became time to spread the word about this exciting new project. Let the rehearsals begin!

Welcome to the new Bohemia Players blog! We'll keep you updated with all the latest information on Mammoth's first free theater project. Rehearsals have just begin for our inaugural production - the world premiere of "Lauren Leaping" written by Kristen Davis-Coelho.
Check back here for more details.