Oh--hello! I didn't see you there.
Don't worry, it's okay. It's good to see you. Come on over, pull up a chair.
Comfortable? Great. Now, I think, it's time for some introductions.
I'm Jesse Edward Rosbrow, one of the producers of Get S.O.M.!, as well as the Artistic Director of Theatre of the Expendable (one third of Theatre of the Small-Eyed Bear) and the director of Mare Cognitum (the "M." in "Get S.O.M.!").
For the next couple of months, various members of our production and creative staffs will be updating this blog. You'll hear a producer's thoughts on how this three-show, three-company merger is going. You'll hear a designer and an actor talking about their processes. You'll read something that a playwright has, well, written. Maybe you'll even find out about some special offer before anyone else has!
In short, if any of these things might interest you, well, you're probably going to want to read what'll get written here. I know I would!
That said, why don't I give you a quick little glimpse into some of what's going on, from my perspective?
We started rehearsals for Mare Cognitum this past Sunday. As some of you know, Theatre of the Expendable produced this show in the New York International Fringe Festival this past summer. I directed it that time, too, and the three actors from that production (Devon Caraway, Justin Howard, Kyle Walters) are all reprising their roles. Before now, I'd never directed a revival of one of my shows, and going into this rehearsal process I wasn't really sure what kind of work we needed to do. I knew we could incorporate a more fully realized technical side to the production than we were able to do in the festival setting (as wonderful as it was for us in many other regards), and that we could perfect a few jokes that we didn't quite nail the last time around, but other than that...?
But then we started rehearsing, and something amazing started happening: we're finding tons and tons of new things.
Now, some of this must be because, having some distance from last summer's process, we're able to approach this fresh and challenge some of our prior assumptions. And some of it's because our wonderful playwright, David McGee, has made some very helpful and clarifying edits to his play. What I know for sure is this past summer's production of Mare Cognitum was a joy, both to work on and, if our audience members can be believed, to watch--and this production is shaping up to be even better.
Alright. That's it for now, I think. Check in later this week for more, and from other people!
And now that I've introduced myself, perhaps it's your turn. Who are you, dear reader? And, praytell, are there any topics you'd like us to cover on this blog in the weeks to come?
--Jesse Edward Rosbrow
