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In the art that we produce, we enter into a process of creation.
What we want to express, how we want to express it and the characters
we are creating unfolds before us, revealing to us, in layers, that
which leads to what we manifest and demonstrate in our theatrical productions.
Current Project
 Circle Mirror Transformation
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DramaDogs proudly presents Annie Baker’s Obie award winning play “Circle Mirror Transformation." Charles Isherwood of The New York Times declared it as “the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word.”
An absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny play which traces the lives of a handful of small-town Vermont residents who gather each week for an acting class taught at the local community center. The theatre “games” are funny, imaginative and sometimes absurd, but the real drama lies beneath the games—where secrets come to light in unexpected ways. By the play’s end we seem to see to the very bottom of these souls, and feel how the acting class has shaped their lives in substantial ways.
Join us at Center Stage Theater
March 21 Preview @ 8 PM
March 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 @ 8 PM
March 23, 24 @ 2 PM
Preview $10.00
General $20.00
Senior & Students $15.00
Tickets available online or at the door
www.centerstagetheater.org
Upcoming Performances
Queen Undaunted stars E. Bonnie Lewis in this critically acclaimed one-woman show – the story of Margaret of Anjou -told in private reflection and memory. Margaret is the only character to appear in four of Shakespeare's plays. From her first appearance as a young French princess engaged to Henry VI of England to her defeated but unvanquished old self, we follow her through Henry VI, Parts 1, 2,and 3 and Richard III .She is there from the beginning of the War of the Roses between the Lancasters and the Yorks up to the final defeat of Richard III, the last York king.
Much of the script is in Shakespeare's words, with transitions and explanations as well as the overall structure created by the playwright Jinny Webber. Director Ken Gilbert and co-director Michelle Osborne designed the innovative staging for which theirDramaDogs, a Theatre Company, is known.
In her review for Noozhawk9.28.11, Justine Sutton stated:
“E. Bonnie Lewis shone in speaking the words as Queen Margaret in all the facets of her complex character. The elegant language, often imbued with her slightly more modern tone and expression, felt accessible and yet still authentic. More than the words, what brought Margaret to life was Lewis’ movement. A dancer as well as actor, she is able to portray raw emotion, as well as depicting the mundane moments in life that not even a queen is immune to, with her physicality. A small gesture of her hand or turn of her mouth could bring deep humanity and vulnerability to this ambitious and volatile character.”
Queen Undaunted follows Shakespeare's arc of her life as depicted in his Henry VI trilology and Richard III, largely in Shakespeare's words as she reflects on the events of her life as they happen.
This play depicts how a woman of the fifteenth century could defy the norms of her time to direct the course of England. The War of the Roses originated in Queen Margaret's era; the white rose Yorks rebelling against the red-rose Lancasters, with Margaret more powerful than King Henry on the Lancaster side. Many of the gender issues of her story still relate to today.
No background in Shakespeare or medieval English history is needed to enjoy this play, which conveys Margaret's story through words and innovative staging.
Jinny Webber devised Queen Undaunted from Shakespeare's words--a modern-day collaborator. Her lines create the structure and transitions so as to give us the story from Margaret's point of view.
Jinny Webber
Playwright Jinny Webber, PhD, is a long time college instructor in literature. Her recent historical novel, The Secret Player, (see www.ShakespeareanTrilogy.com), focuses on an actor in Shakespeare's England. Artistic director and producer for New Bard Productions, Jinny has acted in amateur Shakespeare productions, co-directed As You Like It for a Santa Barbara City College faculty production, and directed David Starkey's How Red the Fire.She wrote a ten minute play which led to Queen Undaunted, commissioned by E. Bonnie Lewis.
Available Projects for Tour
Coming Soon
Who We Are
DramaDogs is a multidisciplinary and project driven theater production
company that celebrates the creative process of performance through
collaborative dialogues between the director, performer, technical and
administrative segments of each production or event. It is the intention
of DramaDogs to develop theatrical pieces, training programs, and educational
outreach activities to touch the human spirit.
DramaDogs recognizes that theater arts provide the environment for a rich
creative and collaborative process. This process allows artists of various
disciplines to work toward the inception, development, and production of
theatrical pieces. These performances in turn enrich and entertain the
artists and the audience at large. The company is concurrently dedicated
to outreach programs and experiences for youth in public and private schools.
Different from the autocratic director/producer artistic vision practiced
by most professional companies, DramaDogs utilizes the self as the artist.
It is the artists' experiences, in life and in rehearsal, that are the most
viable creative tool toward performance. DramaDogs crafts challenging
theatrical productions and workshops that provide opportunities for actors
to explore and discover their own creativity through their personal
experiences, discoveries and awareness. Within the collaboration and dialogue
at production meetings, rehearsal and in the final performances, the director,
designers, actors and technicians are involved on two levels. Their voiced
ideas are heard and are then applied to the overall vision of the theater
piece. The artists working together reveal and bring forward an artistic
statement that potentially becomes art.
Past Projects
Ken Gilbert and E. Bonnie Lewis began their collaborative work in the theater
in Pasadena during the summer and fall of 1991. Following several successful
productions, DramaDogs was established in 1998 and registered as a non-profit
in 2000. Continuing to work with and develop original material, DramaDogs
stimulates and provokes personal and social responses from its audiences.
Queen Undaunted: Margaret of Anjou
Center Stage Theater, September 24-25 2011
Funded in part by the Organizational Development Grant Program using Funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission and by the David Bermant Foundation
FREDA
SBaDPT Festival
July 18 - 19, 2011
Visage II
Presented by Daughter of Zion Dance Company & DramaDogs, A Theater Company
Studio DoZ, March 4-5 2007
Visage
Presented by Daughter of Zion Dance Company & DramaDogs, A Theater Company
Studio DoZ, March 17 2007
A performance integrating dance, theater and low flying aerial dance.
Visage
Presented by Daughter of Zion Dance Company & DramaDogs, A Theater Company
Center Stage Theater, January 12 - 14 2006
A performance integrating dance, theater and low flying aerial dance.
The Divorce Museum by Terre Ouwehand
Center Stage Theater, April 21 - May 7, 2005.
A poem cycle about a sister and brother having survived the divorce
of their parents from when they were 5 and 7 years old.
Choir by Bradley Smith
October 31, 2003 @ Northrup-Grumman Corporate Headquarters in Los Angeles, CA @ 12 noon.
An original one-woman theater piece about diversity in the work
place of a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation.
Out
November 1st and 2nd, 2002, Friday & Saturday @ 8 PM.
A montage of scenes and monologues from our past productions.
Stoop . . .
May 4 - 19, 2001, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8PM, Saturdays 12th & 19th @ 2 PM
Four one-act plays on Women (Bedtime by Mary Gallagher, Lives
of the Great Waitresses by Nina Shengold, The Most Massive Woman
Wins by Madeleine George, and Stoop by Lanford Wilson).
Cardinal Sin, an Indulgence
January 19 & 20, 2001 Friday and Saturday @ 8 PM
A movement/theater piece as part of the New Works (choreographers'
showcase) Santa Barbara Dance Alliance based on the recipe of
Julia Childs - Cardinal Slice.
The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco
March 9 - 18, 2000 Thursday-Saturday @ 8 PM
An absurd piece about an old man and woman at the end of their lives.
Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss
New Year's Eve 2000-01 @ 7:15 and 8:00 PM
An original theater piece using the text of Dr. Seuss's work, weaving five
monologues into the narrative. Part of First Night Whittier -
Whittier, CA. New Year's Eve 2000-01 @ 7:15 and 8:00 PM
Infinite Notion by Michelle Osborne & Erica S. Connell
Preview: August 10 @ 8 PM
August 11 - 12, 2000 Friday & Saturday @ 8 PM and Saturday @ 2 PM
An original theater piece about looking back at our lives to discover who we
are and what we are becoming.
Out of Context
July 23 & 24, 1999 - Friday & Saturday @ 8 PM/Saturday @ 2 PM
Working in Process in collaboration with Julie McLeod and Terre Ouwehand. An
evening of monologues woven together by improvisational movement segues.
Collaborations
THE EXONERATED
a play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Presented by DIJO Productions; Jerry Oshinsky, Executive Director
July 21 to August 6, 2011:
July 28 at 8pm
July 29 at 8pm
July 30 at 2 and at 8 pm
August 5 at 8pm
August 6 at 2 and 8 pm
Center Stage Theatre Santa Barbara
Upstairs at Paseo Nuevo Mall, Santa Barbara, CA
www.centerstagetheater.org
805 963 0408
The Exonerated tells the true stories of six wrongfully convicted survivors of death row in their own words. Moving between first person monologues and scenes set in courtrooms and prisons, the six interwoven stories paint a picture of an American justice system gone horribly wrong and of six brave souls who persevered to survive it. Winner of the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, The Exonerated is the result of actual interviews with the wrongly convicted individuals and from volumes of court transcripts. The New York Times called it “The number one play of the year” and the Associated Press called it “Riveting. Simple, honest storytelling that demands reflection.” The Santa Barbara production is presented by DIJO Productions (Jerry Oshinsky, Executive Director) and features Leslie Story, Bill Waxman, Oliver Hamilton, Ed Giron, Travis Warren, Stan Holder, Aden Hailu, Maia Mook, Don Margolin and E Bonnie Lewis as part of an impressive ensemble cast. Director Ed Giron calls it “Deeply moving, honest, stark and hopeful.”
Tickets:
$24 General Admission and
$19 for Students and Seniors.
Group discounts available for ten or more persons.
Reviews
Independent / September 27, 2011
Noozhawk / September 28, 2011 |
