The seed for Elemental was planted in the fall of 1999 when the Trinity Rep Conservatory Class of 2002 met for the first time. During three years of intensive learning and collaboration, we became a tight-knit group of theatre artists. We founded the collective in the Summer of 2004, with our first production of short plays, Outbursts!, which continued as an annual event at the Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center in the summers of 2005 and 2006.
In the fall of 2005, we mounted our first full-length show in Providence, an ambitious and critically acclaimed production of Tony Kushner’s incendiary A Bright Room Called Day. Nominated for Best Production, Best Director and Best Actress by Motif Magazine that year, it set the artistic standard for our work together.
In January of 2007, Elemental inaugurated The GoGo Plays, a series of new short plays that has become a regular part of our season. This festival of original work is inspired by Paula Vogel's Bake-Off plays, in which a group of playwrights randomly select a series of playwriting elements and are given a brief period of time in which to write the plays. Our first installment, pent.a.go.go: five stories to every side, featured five new works, and gave us the opportunity to stretch ourselves as playwrights, and to meet and work with a wider range of local artists.
Our free outdoor summer tour of King Stag, adapted by Dave Rabinow and directed by Peter Sampieri, travelled all across Rhode Island in the Summer of 2007. King Stag is a 1762 Commedia dell'Arte classic, and Dave's modern adaptation in rhyming verse was a great success with audiences all across the state, solidifying our reputation as a growing presence in Rhode Island theatre.
Fall of 2007 found us writing more plays for the GoGo series and collaborating with a new group of artists (see our blog for the artists involved). We wrote, revised and rehearsed through the holidays, and put up 3.a.go.go: three different plays with everything in common in January of 2008 at Perishable Theatre, which has been a generous supporter of our work since its inception.
In October 2008 we sold out our late-night Radio Plays, Zombie President and Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman, which drew crowds of ghoulish theater goers to Empire Street at 11 pm to see and hear a cast of six actors and a table full of sound effects bring Dave Rabinow's double bill of political monster plays come to life.
On January 22, the next installment of our annual playwrights' challenge will hit the stage.
deca.go.go: the exquisite corpse plays is our most ambitious project yet: ten plays from two playwrights, with a baroque twist to the challenge.
Here's the setup: five elements were selected from a hat. Each playwright had to use at least one of these elements in each of the five plays they wrote. The plays were written one at a time. Every time a play was finished, our dramaturg selected the final image and passed it on the other playwright as a starting point. This was all that the writers knew about each other's work.
Writing was finished on November 14th. Auditions were held November 24th. Rehearsals began in early December. Plays go up at the end of January. This year's playwrights are Dave Rabinow and Alexander Platt, and directing the whole thing is Peter Sampieri. So you know it's gonna be good.
PERFORMANCES: Two Weeks Only! January 22 - February 1 Thursdays Fridays Saturdays at 8 pm Sundays at 2 pm
Perishable Theatre - 95 Empire Street in Downtown Providence
Make a reservation at info@elementaltheatre.org or 401.447.3011. Tickets are $15 at the door - cash or check - someday, we will take credit cards, but probably only Diner's Club.
See you there!
Who I'd like to meet: ..
~ On The Horizon ~
Since 3.a.go.go, we have been planning a scaled-down, actor-driven arrangement of the transcendent Amadeus by Peter Schaffer. Directed by Elemental's Artistic Director, Alexander Platt, the cast of six will feature fellow traveller Max Vogler in the role of Salieri, as well as other members of the company.
Performances will take place at St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center in Woonsocket, a breathtaking former church covered in frescoes and alive with history. St Ann Arts and Cultural Center
Elemental...I just wanted to thank you for last night. I had SO much fun and I hope you did too. Um, so I know there's that unwritten law about waiting 3 days after a date before you call...but I just can't help myself! I want you so bad!
Zombie President and Attack of the 50-foot Woman was fantastic! You should all be very proud for the hard work you put into this flawless masterpiece. I was so impressed and inspired and MOTIVATED walking out of that theatre. Kind of had an orgasm, not gonna lie...uhh, heh heh...yeah sorry. Guess that was a little inappropriate, our first date and all. Well, anyway
Ha! Well speaking of dance...(cheesy promo segue) I would love to see my Elemental friends at Dancestravaganza. It's a Theatre Expansion event on Friday and Saturday at Perishable.
7:30pm...$15...for dance...a play I directed and am in with Chris Rosenquest(I want you all to see that so much!)...and a Gala following with beer, wine, food, and Hirschfeld art being auctioned off!
Let me know if any of you can go and I'll reserve seats for you. See you soon!
