We interviewed the cast and crew of Addition: An Unconventional Love Story and asked them each four questions. Here is the interview with Robert Medeiros, the actor playing Ben.
Keep watching for the rest of the videos to be posted in the near future!
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Monday, July 20, 2009
Interview with Robert Medeiros (Ben)
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Behind the Scenes: Media, Rehearsals, and Design
The show's been moving along very well so far, in all aspects. Rehearsals have been going very well and yesterday we had our first rehearsal since the Nextfest reading with every actor and crew member. Both Richard and Amanda were out-of-town for varying periods, so it was fantastic to have everyone in one room again. In terms of our rehearsal progress, we're currently ahead of schedule which is always a nice place to be. I've been involved in a few shows that have much last-minute scrambling in order to get everything done, so to know that we may have a little bit of buffer room helps me feel more at ease.
Outside of rehearsals themselves, much hard work has been going into preparing the advertising for a show. It doesn't matter how good a play is, if you can't find ways to let people know about it you won't have an audience. If you've been following the blog and the Facebook group, you'll have seen some of the media that Tess has created for the show. Much of my time outside of rehearsals has been spent co-ordinating these efforts by providing feedback, writing press releases, and passing on deadline information, among other things, in my many ongoing conversations with Tess.
About the only other main thing aside from rehearsals and advertising has been design. The set's been established for quite a while, but we've been taking steps on our props, sound, light, and costume design. I've starting some preliminary sound designs and on Tuesday we'll be looking at potential costume pieces. Props have been ongoing since the beginning and we have a basic idea for lighting already. It's a lot of hard work and long hours that get put in to a show, but it's certainly all worth it.
Also, while I was doing some research for the press release, I found a great blog called Polyamory in the News. It collects articles from all over the world about polyamory. There are some interesting reads in there and I'd recommend checking it out.
So, as you can see, Addition: An Unconventional Love Story is moving along at a great pace. I hope you've also taken a chance to read David Johnston's blog posts on here as well. He talks about the show from the perspective of an actor and, unlike me, who has been thinking about the show since before I put the first work on paper, he has a fresh view on Addition that's really interesting to read about. And, if you haven't already, we'd love to see you join us in the Facebook group and please share this blog and the group with your friends, so they can learn more about the show and come see it at the Fringe Festival!
Stay tuned for more media and fun behind-the-scenes information to be posted in the next few days!
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Outside of rehearsals themselves, much hard work has been going into preparing the advertising for a show. It doesn't matter how good a play is, if you can't find ways to let people know about it you won't have an audience. If you've been following the blog and the Facebook group, you'll have seen some of the media that Tess has created for the show. Much of my time outside of rehearsals has been spent co-ordinating these efforts by providing feedback, writing press releases, and passing on deadline information, among other things, in my many ongoing conversations with Tess.
About the only other main thing aside from rehearsals and advertising has been design. The set's been established for quite a while, but we've been taking steps on our props, sound, light, and costume design. I've starting some preliminary sound designs and on Tuesday we'll be looking at potential costume pieces. Props have been ongoing since the beginning and we have a basic idea for lighting already. It's a lot of hard work and long hours that get put in to a show, but it's certainly all worth it.
Also, while I was doing some research for the press release, I found a great blog called Polyamory in the News. It collects articles from all over the world about polyamory. There are some interesting reads in there and I'd recommend checking it out.
So, as you can see, Addition: An Unconventional Love Story is moving along at a great pace. I hope you've also taken a chance to read David Johnston's blog posts on here as well. He talks about the show from the perspective of an actor and, unlike me, who has been thinking about the show since before I put the first work on paper, he has a fresh view on Addition that's really interesting to read about. And, if you haven't already, we'd love to see you join us in the Facebook group and please share this blog and the group with your friends, so they can learn more about the show and come see it at the Fringe Festival!
Stay tuned for more media and fun behind-the-scenes information to be posted in the next few days!
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Nosey Neighbour Factor
In my opinion, every love story has conflict that results out of a factor I like to call ‘What Will The Neighbours Think?’
This is a measure of conflict and worry in a relationship stemming exclusively from an outside source; moreover, we’re not talking direct intervention here, but more of an emotional or expectational wedge that’s driven between people, simply based on their speculations of… well, what the neighbours will think of their doings.
Now, this doesn’t have to mean actual, literal neighbours, (though if you’re doing Three’s Company, then it probably does.) Rather, the ‘neighbours’ can refer to any outside force, group, family, friends… basically, anyone whom the subjects of the love story are influenced by, and anyone with the power to change their minds simply by existing.
Romeo and Juliet, for instance, is basically all about the What Will The Neighbours Think. Left to their own devices, those crazy kids would run off and elope in Act II, and there’d be a whole lot of awkward standing around and head-scratching for the second half of the play, because the leads are off canoodling in Venice or whatever. But because of the high WWTNT value, they’re forced apart, then together, then apart, then there’s a lot of stabbing and poisoning and everyone dies. (Sorry if I spoilt the ending for you, but… it’s Shakespeare. Nine times out of ten, ‘Everyone dies’ is practically the subtitle.)
The antithesis of WWTNT is of course conflict that’s generated inside a relationship, problems and issues that the involved parties are forced to accept aren’t anyone’s fault, just… bad stuff that happened, or people drifting apart, or disagreements of a sort that you can’t blame on the neighbours. Inter-Relationship conflict is harder to quantify because it’s messier, and because it can’t be personified through a wacky-Kramer-buddy bursting in and tsk-tsking at the goings-on.
I don’t think, overall, one form of conflict is always better than the other; going through my favourite love story movies, Brokeback Mountain is almost solely about what everyone might think of Jack and Ennis, whereas The Notebook quietly brushes away its WWTNT trappings to let Noah and Allie realize that they’ve got their own screwed-up problems to deal with regardless of judgemental mothers and hoity-toity society lines. And I love both films, because you can get wonderful conflict and drama out of either aspect, as long as it’s painted properly. On the whole, though, I think I prefer Inter-Relationship conflict, because most of the time the WWTNT can be quietly defused with the equivalent of saying ‘I don’t care what the neighbours think’ and that’s that. IR conflict can’t necessarily be swept aside, and most of the time, there’s more generated from that.
Addition is interesting (and unconventional!) because there’s a very low WWTNT value; part of that’s because we couldn’t afford to pay extras to come in and be our Mr. and Mrs. Roper. But even the offstage folks in the script are pretty open and nonjudgmental; the closest we get to a nosey neighbour trope is Daren’s landlady, who… is kind of awesome, honestly, and has a wonderful moment we hear about midway through the play. But aside from that, there’s no one to really stand around and clutch pearls and whisper to each other that they don’t know why those three young men are spending so much time together in that little apartment, my word, Alice, it’s immoral is what it is. Shame! Not much of that going on in the script.
Sure, there’s some subtle WWTNT stuff going on; Ben and Logan mildly worrying what everyone will think of their thing with Daren, Logan’s persistent curiosity about how Daren’s family regards him, the unspoken fear of how the whole shebang would function in society if they just came out in the open as a threesome… for the most part, though, the conflict is very internal, as the trio bounce off one another and try to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong and who’s scared and who’s confused. A lot of that, I think is that with a three-way love story, you can have multiple viewpoints and ideologies, and you don’t need the constant interruptions of the neighbours to generate conflict; there’s plenty to debate already. It’s why Closer works so well; it plays the emotions of four people up against one another, and that’s enough drama to keep the story going for awhile.
But let’s open this one up to discussion: what are your specific/favourite love stories with odd levels of WWTNT? How do they work or not work for you? Which style of conflict generation do you prefer? Are there any glaringly obvious facts I’m misplacing? And really, what will the neighbours think about all this?
David Johnston
Actor (Logan)
This is a measure of conflict and worry in a relationship stemming exclusively from an outside source; moreover, we’re not talking direct intervention here, but more of an emotional or expectational wedge that’s driven between people, simply based on their speculations of… well, what the neighbours will think of their doings.
Now, this doesn’t have to mean actual, literal neighbours, (though if you’re doing Three’s Company, then it probably does.) Rather, the ‘neighbours’ can refer to any outside force, group, family, friends… basically, anyone whom the subjects of the love story are influenced by, and anyone with the power to change their minds simply by existing.
Romeo and Juliet, for instance, is basically all about the What Will The Neighbours Think. Left to their own devices, those crazy kids would run off and elope in Act II, and there’d be a whole lot of awkward standing around and head-scratching for the second half of the play, because the leads are off canoodling in Venice or whatever. But because of the high WWTNT value, they’re forced apart, then together, then apart, then there’s a lot of stabbing and poisoning and everyone dies. (Sorry if I spoilt the ending for you, but… it’s Shakespeare. Nine times out of ten, ‘Everyone dies’ is practically the subtitle.)
The antithesis of WWTNT is of course conflict that’s generated inside a relationship, problems and issues that the involved parties are forced to accept aren’t anyone’s fault, just… bad stuff that happened, or people drifting apart, or disagreements of a sort that you can’t blame on the neighbours. Inter-Relationship conflict is harder to quantify because it’s messier, and because it can’t be personified through a wacky-Kramer-buddy bursting in and tsk-tsking at the goings-on.
I don’t think, overall, one form of conflict is always better than the other; going through my favourite love story movies, Brokeback Mountain is almost solely about what everyone might think of Jack and Ennis, whereas The Notebook quietly brushes away its WWTNT trappings to let Noah and Allie realize that they’ve got their own screwed-up problems to deal with regardless of judgemental mothers and hoity-toity society lines. And I love both films, because you can get wonderful conflict and drama out of either aspect, as long as it’s painted properly. On the whole, though, I think I prefer Inter-Relationship conflict, because most of the time the WWTNT can be quietly defused with the equivalent of saying ‘I don’t care what the neighbours think’ and that’s that. IR conflict can’t necessarily be swept aside, and most of the time, there’s more generated from that.
Addition is interesting (and unconventional!) because there’s a very low WWTNT value; part of that’s because we couldn’t afford to pay extras to come in and be our Mr. and Mrs. Roper. But even the offstage folks in the script are pretty open and nonjudgmental; the closest we get to a nosey neighbour trope is Daren’s landlady, who… is kind of awesome, honestly, and has a wonderful moment we hear about midway through the play. But aside from that, there’s no one to really stand around and clutch pearls and whisper to each other that they don’t know why those three young men are spending so much time together in that little apartment, my word, Alice, it’s immoral is what it is. Shame! Not much of that going on in the script.
Sure, there’s some subtle WWTNT stuff going on; Ben and Logan mildly worrying what everyone will think of their thing with Daren, Logan’s persistent curiosity about how Daren’s family regards him, the unspoken fear of how the whole shebang would function in society if they just came out in the open as a threesome… for the most part, though, the conflict is very internal, as the trio bounce off one another and try to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong and who’s scared and who’s confused. A lot of that, I think is that with a three-way love story, you can have multiple viewpoints and ideologies, and you don’t need the constant interruptions of the neighbours to generate conflict; there’s plenty to debate already. It’s why Closer works so well; it plays the emotions of four people up against one another, and that’s enough drama to keep the story going for awhile.
But let’s open this one up to discussion: what are your specific/favourite love stories with odd levels of WWTNT? How do they work or not work for you? Which style of conflict generation do you prefer? Are there any glaringly obvious facts I’m misplacing? And really, what will the neighbours think about all this?
David Johnston
Actor (Logan)
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Official Poster
Finally, after weeks of anticipation, I have the final poster design for Addition: An Unconventional Love Story! Thanks to Tess Chappell for her fantastic work thus far on all our media!
Please, as with everything we post on this blog, leave us your comments. We love reading them!
The official poster for Addition: An Unconventional Love Story
Designed by: Tess Chappell of TC design
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Please, as with everything we post on this blog, leave us your comments. We love reading them!
The official poster for Addition: An Unconventional Love StoryDesigned by: Tess Chappell of TC design
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
How Far? Productions Logo
Tess Chappell, our wonderful graphic designer from TC design, has been working diligently on all of our media. She just finished putting together the final logo design for How Far? Productions. Here's a snapshot of the logo in-progress and the final project.
The evolution of the logo for How Far? Productions
Designed by: Tess Chappell of TC design
The official logo for How Far? Productions
Designed by: Tess Chappell of TC design
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
The evolution of the logo for How Far? ProductionsDesigned by: Tess Chappell of TC design
The official logo for How Far? ProductionsDesigned by: Tess Chappell of TC design
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Life In Four Cameras
“You’ve got yourself a real nice place here.”
“Glad you like it. You know, we couldn’t decide whether to buy a house or a condom.”
“…”
-Hi Honey, I’m Home! pilot episode
The last bit of advice that Justen gave us before we headed out from our last rehearsal before the Nextfest read was “Think sitcom-y. Think those rhythms and timing, and play with that.” Now, at the time, I was slightly offended, because I was all up in my Comedy Is Serious zone, with a side of I Am Doing Important Acting Work, So I Better Do It Properly. The more I think about it, though, the more right his suggestion was, on a lot of levels.
Hi, I’m David Johnston. I’m playing Logan in this production of Addition, and as I told Justen early on, I’m a writer/blogger myself, so I jumped at the chance when he opened the blog up to the rest of us lowly flesh puppets. I wanted to talk about something that’s been growing on me more, and more as I work on the project: viewing Addition as a sitcom.
Not just, of course. I’d rate the play 80% comedy, 20% drama with unusually raised stakes in the tense moments, but in all fairness, that’s the approximate ratio of most of your standard Friends or That 70s Show memorable episodes. From the second it opens, with a darling little I Love Lucy-esque moment that the characters correctly identify, diagnose and mock as being hopelessly kitsch. Except they’re both guys, so instead of your Ricky Ricardo character coming in and smooching your Mary Tyler Moore, character, he’s going after the Fred Mertz, or the Dick Van Dyke. (Claim your punchline… now.)
Continuing on, there are more broad set-em-up-knock-em-down jokes than I can count, at least three instances of someone barging into a room without knocking with hi-larious consequences, bad puns and extended metaphors out the wazoo and one clever moment involving a surprise costume change that only works if I am a complete dunderhead and cannot see what’s happening two feet behind me. There are moments of joke, pause and beat that you can just hear a cheesy canned laugh track going insane at. (Though live audiences will also respond, I’m guessing.) Most of the action is centralized in one location (Ben and Logan’s living room) with only a handful of scenes showing the outside world, and the time-frame is alternately simplistic or spelled out clearly for the audience to see. There are sitcom-y touches sprinkled throughout the play, subtly inviting the audience to a simpler, broader time.
And what I like about the script is that, yes, it’s that, it’s not just that; it doesn’t rely only on any of the obvious stereotypes for the humour, and it doesn’t take itself so seriously that we can’t laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Ben and Logan and Daren demand to be taken as real people coping with a realistic situation, no matter how witty and acerbic the dialogue gets, no matter how mildly contrived the resolutions are, no matter the plot twist that get thrown their way.
There isn’t anything wrong with that; one thing I’m amused at in rehearsals is how well the broad sitcom timing works with both comedic and dramatic moments. You can be serious and thoughtful while playing to four cameras; you can make the cheap jokes and the clever jokes all at once, and no one will think any less of it. The play continually straddles that line, and I love it for it.
So in conclusion, Addition is your big ol’ wacky gay sitcom, and I think it’s important to view it occasionally in those terms. Specifically, it has become my ongoing quest to convince Justen that there’s no way the play can move forward if we don’t have 1) a door (for slamming and entrances and huffy exits) and 2) a couch (for lounging and leaping and sitting and living on.) Come on! What kind of sitcom doesn’t have at least one couch somewhere? They’re great! Right? Guys? Anyone?
Hmph. I’ll be in my condom.
David Johnston
Actor (Logan)
“Glad you like it. You know, we couldn’t decide whether to buy a house or a condom.”
“…”
-Hi Honey, I’m Home! pilot episode
The last bit of advice that Justen gave us before we headed out from our last rehearsal before the Nextfest read was “Think sitcom-y. Think those rhythms and timing, and play with that.” Now, at the time, I was slightly offended, because I was all up in my Comedy Is Serious zone, with a side of I Am Doing Important Acting Work, So I Better Do It Properly. The more I think about it, though, the more right his suggestion was, on a lot of levels.
Hi, I’m David Johnston. I’m playing Logan in this production of Addition, and as I told Justen early on, I’m a writer/blogger myself, so I jumped at the chance when he opened the blog up to the rest of us lowly flesh puppets. I wanted to talk about something that’s been growing on me more, and more as I work on the project: viewing Addition as a sitcom.
Not just, of course. I’d rate the play 80% comedy, 20% drama with unusually raised stakes in the tense moments, but in all fairness, that’s the approximate ratio of most of your standard Friends or That 70s Show memorable episodes. From the second it opens, with a darling little I Love Lucy-esque moment that the characters correctly identify, diagnose and mock as being hopelessly kitsch. Except they’re both guys, so instead of your Ricky Ricardo character coming in and smooching your Mary Tyler Moore, character, he’s going after the Fred Mertz, or the Dick Van Dyke. (Claim your punchline… now.)
Continuing on, there are more broad set-em-up-knock-em-down jokes than I can count, at least three instances of someone barging into a room without knocking with hi-larious consequences, bad puns and extended metaphors out the wazoo and one clever moment involving a surprise costume change that only works if I am a complete dunderhead and cannot see what’s happening two feet behind me. There are moments of joke, pause and beat that you can just hear a cheesy canned laugh track going insane at. (Though live audiences will also respond, I’m guessing.) Most of the action is centralized in one location (Ben and Logan’s living room) with only a handful of scenes showing the outside world, and the time-frame is alternately simplistic or spelled out clearly for the audience to see. There are sitcom-y touches sprinkled throughout the play, subtly inviting the audience to a simpler, broader time.
And what I like about the script is that, yes, it’s that, it’s not just that; it doesn’t rely only on any of the obvious stereotypes for the humour, and it doesn’t take itself so seriously that we can’t laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Ben and Logan and Daren demand to be taken as real people coping with a realistic situation, no matter how witty and acerbic the dialogue gets, no matter how mildly contrived the resolutions are, no matter the plot twist that get thrown their way.
There isn’t anything wrong with that; one thing I’m amused at in rehearsals is how well the broad sitcom timing works with both comedic and dramatic moments. You can be serious and thoughtful while playing to four cameras; you can make the cheap jokes and the clever jokes all at once, and no one will think any less of it. The play continually straddles that line, and I love it for it.
So in conclusion, Addition is your big ol’ wacky gay sitcom, and I think it’s important to view it occasionally in those terms. Specifically, it has become my ongoing quest to convince Justen that there’s no way the play can move forward if we don’t have 1) a door (for slamming and entrances and huffy exits) and 2) a couch (for lounging and leaping and sitting and living on.) Come on! What kind of sitcom doesn’t have at least one couch somewhere? They’re great! Right? Guys? Anyone?
Hmph. I’ll be in my condom.
David Johnston
Actor (Logan)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Photo Shoot Outtakes
During our photo shoot on June 20, we ended up with a few pictures that maybe won't be making it into our press kits. We figured while we work on touching up the press kit photos and preparing them for print that we would share some of the outtakes with all of you! Enjoy!
L–R: Robert Medeiros (Ben), Richard Lee (Daren), David Johnston (Logan)
Standing: Robert Medeiros (Ben)
Sitting L–R: David Johnston (Logan), Richard Lee (Daren)
Standing: Richard Lee (Daren)
Sitting L–R: Robert Medeiros (Ben), David Johnston (Logan)
Standing: Robert Medeiros (Ben)
Sitting L–R: David Johnston (Logan), Richard Lee (Daren)
For all photos:
Photographer: Justen Bennett
Photo Editing: Tess Chappell
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
L–R: Robert Medeiros (Ben), Richard Lee (Daren), David Johnston (Logan)Standing: Robert Medeiros (Ben)Sitting L–R: David Johnston (Logan), Richard Lee (Daren)
Standing: Richard Lee (Daren)Sitting L–R: Robert Medeiros (Ben), David Johnston (Logan)
Standing: Robert Medeiros (Ben)Sitting L–R: David Johnston (Logan), Richard Lee (Daren)
For all photos:
Photographer: Justen Bennett
Photo Editing: Tess Chappell
Justen Bennett
Director/Playwright
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