Thursday, May 24, 2012

Well, another Matrix Theatre Company production season has come to a close!  But don't you worry - we're already knee-deep in planning for next season!   Death and the Maiden is slotted to begin rehearsals in just a few short weeks, and we have TONS to do before then!  Chris, our Director of Operations, is working on a season brochure, Molly and Kate are working on plotting out our marketing schedule, and I'm finding production personnel to hire for the season.  It's a busy time here at MTC!

The joint general auditions are coming up fast, too!  If you haven't heard of them before, you can check them out here. It's a pretty cool gathering of people, and Matrix is definitely proud to be a part of it!

We have a big day here at Matrix on June 2nd!  It is our third and final WaterFest celebration!  The day kicks off at 11:30am with a collective performance from the students of our education classes.  Bring a picnic lunch and lots of sunscreen (and maybe an umbrella, too - this is Michigan, after all!) and prepare to have a great day!  We'll have face painting, musical entertainment, field games, grass dancing workshops, a Make'n'Take for the kids, and lots of all-around fun!  You can join the Facebook event by clicking here, and feel free to call us at the office if you have any questions!

Do you know about our upcoming summer camps?  July and August are always such a fun time around the office because there are so many kids doing so many great activities!  Growing gardens, making puppets, putting on plays... they're BUSY!  Camps start July 9th for 8-11 year olds, July 23rd for 14-18 year olds, and August 6th for 12-14 year olds.  For more info, click here!

That's all for today!  Back to work!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Hi Everyone!

This is Molly McMahon, the Community Relations Coordinator for Matrix and I am THRILLED to tell you about our 2012-2013 professional season!  The production department here spent months poring over scripts and we finally settled on some great scripts that run the gamut from funny to nail-biting.

Our first show is Death and the Maiden.  This story focuses on Paulina, a torture survivor who believes she has met her torturer.  It is a play by Ariel Dorfman, a playwright and human rights activist, who experienced first hand the consequences of dictatorship as a citizen of Chile.  This play is extremely complex and will force audiences to confront their own feelings about memory, torture, love and forgiveness.  One of the reasons we've chose this play for Matrix's upcoming season was that it not only highlights issues within the context of social justice, but it also will hopefully encourage our patrons to discuss these issues and their feelings about the play with others.

Our second show of the professional season is decidedly more light hearted.  Puppet Scrooge will delight audiences again this season with its unique retelling of the Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol.  For those of you who have seen productions of Puppet Scrooge in the past, this year's will be better than ever.  The production has evolved over the years from more experimental to a solid production with lots of laughs and holiday spirit.  We have put our own Detroit spin on the show that you won't find anywhere else this holiday season.

Our third and final show of the professional season is Phoenix.  Written by Scott Organ, this play tells the story of the aftermath of a one-night stand between two people searching for very different things in life.  As the characters attempt to reconcile their current situations, they discover that what they think they desire, may not in fact be what they need.  This play is very humorous, but also has tender moments as well.  The script was published in 2010 so this is the most contemporary of the plays we've chosen.  We've decided to produce this play because of its humor but also its willingness to examine themes of isolation and the way people deal with it.

And, we've got something totally new, never before done at Matrix Theatre Company... next January, we are hosting a film festival called Detroit Dreaming.  That's right, we are branching out into other artistic media and adding some film to our theatre season!  We'll start taking submissions for the festival soon so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming information.  We hope through this festival that we can expose our community to films, created by a variety film makers, centered around Detroit themes.

In addition to our professional season, we are also looking forward to our School of Theatre season.  This second stage series features the talents of our Matrix Teen Company.  Their productions of Haunted Theatre in the fall and an originally written show in the spring, are always fun events to look forward to.

Well... that's all I have for now!  Keep checking our blog for more information, announcements and upcoming events.  Thanks for reading and peace!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to the very first Matrix Theatre Company Production Blog!  My name is Megan Buckley and I'm the Director of Production here at Matrix.   We've decided to put together a production blog to give you a look at what we do here behind the scenes to get our show up and running and ready for you to see!

Right now, we have our final production of the year running: Raven's Seed.  The show was written by award-winning playwright, Stephen Most.  Stephen lives in California and has been working with us via Skype, e-mail, and some in-person visits to get the show just right.  Shaun Nethercott, our Executive Director, directed the show, and we had a fabulous team of actors and designers to support her vision.  Megan Harris created all of the animal masks and costumes and did an AMAZING job!  Check out this great photo of Coyote!

If you haven't checked out the show yet, you only have four more chances to do so!  

Saturday, May 12 at 3pm
Sunday, May 13 at 3pm
AND
Saturday, May 19 at 3pm
Sunday, May 20 at 3pm

As always, you can reserve your tickets by calling 313-967-0599.  

Want to know what some reviewers are saying about the show?  You can see John Quinn's review on Encoremichigan.com by clicking here, or see David Sands' review in the Huffington Post by clicking here.

Back to work!  Have a great day, everyone!

Megan