The Drilling Company

Living Small

2011-10-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight I left a memorial for our dear friend and colleague Richard Harden.

This was a memorial offered at the school where he taught for many years and powered by the lives he touched as a mentor and human. The out pouring of love from the young people touched by his wisdom was truly awe inspiring. This was not a sweetheart of a man. He was not followed by dogs and children down the street. He was noted more for his directness and gruff, off putting sense of humor. He did not suffer fools gladly, could easily be mistaken for arrogant when he was confident.

When I arrived home I was greeted with the news that another dear colleague, a playwright not yet 50 was suffering from a sever condition in a nearby hospital. His condition was stable but his circumstance was certainly very serious , as another colleague related the news.

As these emergencies awakened in my life I was also reminded of our brothers occupying wall street everyday right endeavoring to make a difference.

And in the midst of trying to coordinate a rehearsal for a children's show and a new translation of Chekov's "The Seagull", the continuation of an important workshop begun over a year ago at our theatre and promising to birth a new translation, amidst e-mails of a New York premiere of a play about breast cancer, a play about the Occupy Wall Street movement, a play about violence in prisons in Philadelphia,

I received an e-mail from a colleague in charge of a building we occupy with our theatre urging us to get our costumes and set material out of the unused stairwell in back of the building because they would be thrown away otherwise.

We had done it again with our theatre. We had taken up too much space.

Live smaller, don't think so big.

This poor man invested with the job of hounding us to clear this stairwell has been doing so faithfully for almost three years. He has a personal dream to see this staircase empty.

He feel his job is done when there is nothingness.

I felt so sad for him for he had no students to inspire or audiences to please , ther was no one gathering to salute him for the work of getting people to move their belongings from this meaningless staircase and our endeavors to make his nitpicking seem small minded were typical of artist types

Today was a sharp reminder to not live small.

A Great Director and Colleague Has Passed : Richard Harden

2011-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

It is with immense sadness that I share the news Richard Harden -
Off-Broadway director, teacher/ theatrician, theatrical innovator and longtime
Drilling Company collaborator for over ten years - has passed away.

It was some time Thursday evening September 15, 2011.

While Richard had been battling illness for sometime his passing still comes as a shock to many of us -
Richard lived with the kind of committment, integrity, and determination, it made you think
this was another challenge he would find a way through,
the way he had with so many plays and casts and opening nights before.

Richard directed work for many Drilling Company projects as many of you know as you were members of casts. Richard was responsible for introducing me to many of the finest young theatre artists
we have had the pleasure of working with in the Drilling Company: Alessandro Colla,
Brandon Reilly, Keith Fasciani among many others. Richard was always interested
in the piece with the most challenges, even while knowing directing a traditional
play would be the most comfortable.

His wit and wisdom will be missed. Richard was a tremendous theatre storyteller.
He had so much experience in the theatre
in all areas with all levels of professionals , from some of the finest writers
to some of the newest, his stories always brimmed with the enthusiasm.

Richard was a sensible progressive. He was ferociously liberal but knew
that weighing all sides of an issue was vital. He embraced a great political debate
like a great play or a great meal.

Richard was also a gifted photographer as any who visited his home would know.
He had great visual taste and an eye for balance,
which was ironic since he spent a good part of his life with
leg crippled from childhood polio. After knowing him for ten minutes you quickly forgot he was challenged in any way. He refused pity at all times in any form it was offered.

At The Drilling Company before a show we took a moment to tip our hat to Richard .
If you're in a theatre somewhere , rehearsing or performing,
or even in a classroom leading future actors to new discoveries as a
teacher, take a moment to tip your hat to the
memory of this wonderful director.

We'll plan a memorial in the coming weeks at

The Drilling Company to remember his tremendous
gifts and wonderful contribution to the theatre.

Peace,
"Joe " Hamilton Clancy

The Catch-22 of Producing New Plays and Playwrights

2011-09-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

If you want to make a reputation for yourself as a company , produce quality plays, but if you develop a play into something of quality , chances are

you can't produce it because you don't have the reputation necessary to produce a work of quality.

Someone please help me.

After years of working to develop new plays and playwrights and slowly climbing the ladder of credibility and recognition, landing our own space in the biggest marketplace of all, New York City, we're faced with a terrible problem.

Playwrights don't want us to produce their plays.

This illness is rampant and I'm not aware whether other artistic directors share my angst or no, but it seems as soon as we find a play that's worth producing or sinking our teeth into with real investment, you bet that playwright has an agent in her or his ear telling him/her to hold out for more .

This is true even of playwrights with whom we have a long standing creative relationship. It's the brick wall of development and creates literally a log jam of quality in the American Theatre.

Now, of course, there are playwrights with plays who would love for us to produce them, but customarily the hungrier the playwright for the production opportunity the less likely he/or she is to have a play that is really ready to be produced at the time . Give a playwright a reading at a big name theatre and forget it .

I will speak of the journey I had with one such playwright :.

Artistic Director: "Hi we've read your play and think it's wonderful and a perfect fit for our company."

Playwright: "Thirlled ot have your interest but it's having a reading at (major regional theatre company). Let's talk after the reading, we have to see how that goes.!"

five months pass

Artistic Director: "Hi, we're still interested in producing your play. We think it's fantastic!
What did (major regional theatre company) say?"

Playwright: "They passed on producing it, but now its getting a reading in town with (high profile off-off bradway theatre company). I have to wait and see what they say."

four months pass

Artistic Director: "Hi, we're still interested in your play. We think it's fantastic! We would love to produce it. What did (high profile off-off broadway theatre company) say?

Playwright: "They are not going to produce it. But we're going to wait."

Artistic Director: "For what?"

Playwright: "For an important theatre company to decide to produce it who has enough money and prestige to promote my career to a new level of success."

Artistic Director: "But we're importnt, doing meaningful work, getting recognized for the effort by major New York publications."

Playwright: "Of course you're important but you're not important enough and I only have a few plays and I have to hold out for the best offer."

And so it goes. Capitalism killing countless opportuinites in the theatre. This same conversation takes on differeing permutations until the only way a theatre can be guaranteed the opportunity to produce a play is to commission the work themselves which is costly and frequently ends up with a play, for whatever reason, that is unproducable.

How many plays travel across the Atlantic developed in small theatres in England where playwrights are less territorial about their works. And to be fair, the territorialism mentioned above is primarily fostered by the almost disappearing entity, the literary agent.

Literary agents have to advise their clients to protct thier most potential works because those are the hopes they have of actually negotiating a circumstance worth the effort
of negotiations.

So plays, written in the moment, in response to a particular time or problem in our society are socked away, and other plays with less to offer the moment of now are perpetrated on the public making the voice of the theatre weaker and less powerful.

Who is respnsible for perpetrating this glut? I contend the very rganizations which are also charged with developing new work here in our city, The Public Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. These fine institutions develop new writers in the same way as smaller organizations do now. They are basically reaching out in development to off set the competition from Off-Off Broadway theatres by having Off-Off Broadway styled development wings that confer more prestige on to playwrights.

Secondly, we have an American Theatre that has become obsessed with virginity, and the above mentioned agents, the matchmakers of the American Theatre. To offer the 'world premiere' of a new work is now a bargaining commodity that necessitates higher nd higher bids. If the world premiere is taken a host of theatre companies walk away from the table. The system functions in much the same way as old tribal customs bidding for a young woman's virginity to the highest bidder and walking away from the table if not enough was proposed. One can only imagine the number of beautiful women who grw into sexless spinsters during such times just as the number of beautiful and worthy plays sitting waiting to be offered to a wider audience all for the protection of the blessed 'premiere'. Our company attempted indifference to this prcatice in our younger days but four years ago we buckled with a a "if you can't beat 'em , join 'em" attitude of insisting that new work be done on our stage without conferring to us some notice of a premiere status of one kind or another . And so we joined the problem and not its solution in an effort to cultivate for our own company the respect that seemed necessary to pitch for
the quality works we were after in development.

But, of course, we've learned that demanding that respect and getting it are not enough to confer confidence upon that lgion of agents we rail aganst above.

Someone help. If you know of a really worthy play, ready for production and seeking an earnest and experienced producer, working on a shoestring budget of course, but nonetheless working, send them to drillingcompany@aol.com.

We would be happy to make their acquaintance.

Conversely, if you know of any theatre company make over artists who can convert a small, industrious well meaning theatre company into the kind of theatre company writers of quality salivate for the chance to be produced at, send them our way and we would be happy to take their advice.

2011-06-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Beginning post today with first reports on progress of Hamelt 2011. We began Saturday with a reading of the play, we were missing six of the actors who will be aprt of the cast. It was a beginning . No broad or huge strokes were made. One actor asked beforehand if it was necessary to go full out. They preferred to still work on the role. Of course, rehearsal is for the actors and so are first readings. The actor is always correct when they are working in a good way.

We have been featured in the TImes this year and have an upcoming interviw with the Villager. More soon.

SPACE...!!

2009-09-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

Drilling Company
(Short Play Projects and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot)
Has a brand new home!! 236 w.78th street.
We are now proud to Offer Rehearsal and Performance space.
Low Rates, Great Space!
55 Seat Black Box Theater
Available per hour or by week.
State of the art light and sound package over 100 instruments.
Interested... Call.
917-330-4234
212-873-9050
email
drillingcompany@aol.com

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot 09

2009-06-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

THE DRILLING COMPANY
Hamilton Clancy, Producing Artistic Director
Jane Guyer Managing Director
presents
FREE!!
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot 09
Scenics: Rebecca Lord
Costumes: Lisa Renee Jordan
Sound: Chris Rummel
Graphics: Phillip Devita
Webmaster: Stephen Bittrich

www.drillingcompany@aol.com
www.shakespeareintheparkinglot.com

Midsummer Night's DreamJuly9-July25
directed by Kathy Curtiss

assistant director: Jane Guyer
stage manager: Fayna Sanchez
assistant stage manager: Sarah Biesinger
Featuring:
Eileen Townsend, Koji Ohashi ,James Davies *,
Christine Dunn ,Hiroko Tanaka, William Apps,
Georgia Warner ,Jasper Soffer , Demetrius Kallas,
Ron Dreyer, Selene Beretta, Maria Niora ,
Amanda Dillard, Drew Valins ,Kelly Zekas, Halima Henderson
Jordan Feltner ,John K. Heath ,Adam K Fujita *, David Stadler
Aimee Whelan , Joann Sacco , Kyle T. Cheng

Measure for Measure
July30-Aug.15
Directed by Hamilton Clancy
Featuring
Mark Jeter* ,Don Carter* , David Sitler *, Nina Burns* , Ivory Aquino , Karla Hendrick*, Bill Green* , David Marantz*, Michael Gnat*, Colleen Cosgrove, Fayna Sanchez, Grant Heuke, Sergio Diaz

By: William Shakespeare
At: ludlow&broome
In: the municipal parking lotFrom: thurs-satAt: 8pm
Take: F train to delancey, I block south

chairs: first come first serve

parking available
meters in effect!

? call 212-877-0099

Auguso Boal Interview w/Amy Goodman

2009-05-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

AMY GOODMAN: Augusto Boal, the legendary Brazilian political playwright and popular educator, died this weekend at the age of seventy-eight. He was the founder of the Theater of the Oppressed, a popular international movement for a participatory form of theater as a means of promoting knowledge and democratic forms of interaction. Boal conducted workshops all over the world. His techniques of using theater to discuss power and oppression have been widely inspirational and influential.

In 1971, the Brazilian military dictatorship imprisoned and tortured Boal for four months. After his release, he was forced into exile for fifteen years. He’s written a number of books, including Theater of the Oppressed and Games for Actors and Non-Actors, as well as The Rainbow of Desire and Legislative Theater. In the ’90s, Boal also served as a city councilmember for Rio de Janeiro.

Boal was tireless ’til the end of his life. According to a statement from the Center for the Theater of the Oppressed in Rio, Boal left behind a completed new version of his book The Aesthetics of the Oppressed, and he spent the day before his death, May Day, in a solidarity vigil with workers.

Later this month, Augusto Boal’s son Julian Boal will be in New York leading workshops at the Brecht Forum on the techniques developed by his father and performing them at Riverside Church on May 25th.

I interviewed Augusto Boal here in the firehouse studio in June of 2007. This interview, we never aired before. I began by asking him to describe the Theater of the Oppressed.
AUGUSTO BOAL: Theater of Oppressed is theater in what it is more essential. It is not theater in a playhouse, not theater with written script, not theater like—some theater become the cemeterial theater, because theater is what we have inside. We are animals that have the privilege of being actors, because we are acting all of the time. But at the same time, we are spectators of our actions. Most animals or most none of them, only some dolphins, some elephants, some—I don’t know what—can do that, can do—can observe themselves in action. So we have theater inside, because we act and we are the observer. We are the spectators.
At the same time, when we get together many people looking at one point, they create a space which is different from the physical space. It’s more than a physical space. It is pentadimensional, not three dimensions. It has also memory and imagination. So we create the theatricality.

And third, we use
the language that the actors use on stage. So there is no difference. When we are in love with someone, we talk differently than if we hate the person; we don’t talk in the same way. So we do exactly what the actor does on stage, but the actor has the conscious of that, and we don’t have it in normal life, in daily life.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, “we”? Who is we?

AUGUSTO BOAL: It’s all of us. It’s the—any people, but especially, in our case, the oppressed. We believe that all relationship between humans should be a dialogue on nature. We should have the moment in which we listen to the audience, moment in which we speak. But we know that between men and women, between blacks and whites, between north hemisphere countries and south hemisphere, all those dialogues, they become very soon a monologue, in which only men speak, only whites speak, only the north hemisphere speak. And then we want to reestablish the dialogue. We want to have the right also to say our words. So that’s what “we” mean, mean us, the oppressed, be it oppressed—sexually oppressed, be salary oppressed, be politically oppressed; any kind of oppression, we fight against.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about what inspired you, Augusto, how you founded the Theater of the Oppressed.

AUGUSTO BOAL: Well, always I was very much preoccupied with that, because I—my father, he was a—had a bakery. And sometimes, when I—

AMY GOODMAN: Where?

AUGUSTO BOAL: In Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, in the working quarters of Rio. And then, every morning that I went to work with my father, when I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old, and then I saw all those workers, and I saw how they were oppressed. And always, I was preoccupied with them. I was fascinated by how could they not rebel if they were so oppressed.
And then, my beginning, it was at fifteen years old; I started writing plays about them. And I was in a moment in which I thought that as I was not oppressed as their oppression, I was not in the same circumstance, and I was pretending to be an artist, I was superior in some way. And then I said, “I’m going to teach them what they have to do to fight.” So I entered in the line of the political theater of the ’50s, of the ’60s, in which they had messages to give.
And one day I learned that I did not know more than they did, unless in the theater. In the theater, yes, I knew more. But their lives, they knew more than I. And it happened on a day when I was working for peasants in the northeast of Brazil, and I was doing a play in which the protagonist said, at the end said, “We have to spill our blood to save our land.” And then we were all singing, dressed like peasants. We were not peasants; looking like peasants, but we were not peasants, and saying, “You have to spill your blood, our blood, to save our lands, to reconquer.”
And then a peasant came to us and says, “Well, you think exactly like we do. So why don’t you take your rifles,” because we had rifles on stage, very beautiful, colorful rifles, and he said, “Why don’t you come with your rifles, and let’s go to fight against some landowners that occupied our land. We have to spill our blood.” And then we said, “Forgive us, but our rifles, they are not true. They are fake. They are setting rifles.” And he said, “OK, the rifles are not true. They are not real rifles. But you are sincere, so you come, because we have rifles for everybody. Let’s fight against them.” And then we said, “No, we are truly artists, not truly peasants.” And he said, “When truly artists say, ‘Let’s spill our blood,’ you are talking about our true blood of truly peasants and not about yours.” So I understood that we could not give a message to women, because we are men; to blacks, because we are white; to peasants, because we live in the city. But we can help them to find their own ways of fighting.

AMY GOODMAN: Augusto Boal, you, yourself, were imprisoned. When? By whom?

AUGUSTO BOAL: It was in ’71, in ’71, exactly, because in the beginning of the Theater of the Oppressed, we were doing the first form, which was called newspaper theater, in which we try—as we had been persecuted by the police, by the paramilitary organizations, and persecuted really, not—we were not paranoiac. But sometimes we had to go on stage with a loaded gun in our pockets. And it was not paranoia; it was self-defense. And so, the situation was so terrible. To do theater was such a risk always, to do the kind of theater in favor of the population and against the dictatorship. It was so terrible that we had to take that protection. And then, OK, during that time, they were arresting people, killing people, torturing people. And I was one of them that were arrested. And happily, I am alive.

AMY GOODMAN: How did that experience change your view also of theater?

AUGUSTO BOAL: In some way, it had been changed before we did this episode, in which I found that I was telling—giving advice to someone, but I was not able to take the same risks. Che Guevara used to say something very beautiful. He said, “To be solidarity is to take the same risks.” And I was not taking any risk. I went there, I did the play, and then “Go and fight,” and I take the plane back home. So my—had already changed.
But at the same time, to be in a solitary cell, to be alone there, not talking to anybody anytime, and most of the time not seeing anybody, made me, for the first time in my life, to listen to silence. I had never listened to silence. I listened to sounds. But I listened to sounds. And then, in that moment, I learned. I learned that in this moment of the silence, your thoughts, they become more concrete, almost objects.
And then, when I was moved from this cell to a cell with many other prisoners, political prisoners, I learned something very important also, that when we are free in space, we are arrested in time. We have to go look at the watch. It’s what time? And we have to go here, we have to go there. We are arrested in time. And when we are arrested in space, we have the free time. We have the liberty of using our time.

AMY GOODMAN: Describe what has happened since the dictatorship and how things have changed in Brazil under Lula.

AUGUSTO BOAL: Things changed, yes. There is no more censorship. We can do anything in the theater. But during many years, it was more or less the same idea, the same ideas, that prevailed from before. It started to change with Lula, when he was elected. And then it really changed. Now Brazil is no longer what it was ten years ago.
What did not change yet and that I regret, but I don’t know why it did not, is the agrarian reform. The land is still in the hands of those people who robbed the land, because they did not really buy nothing. It’s false; their documents are false.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the MST, the landless people’s movement in Brazil.

AUGUSTO BOAL: Yes. I worked before with the Peasants League in 1960 until ’64. What they had wrong, it was that they had one person, Francisco Juliao, who was the boss, let’s say, so—of the Peasants League. He was the leader, and he decided many things, and the peasants obeyed. So this was not good. The movement of peasants without land now, the MST, know. They are democratic. They decide. Each group decides. They have general laws, internal law that they have to abide by. But the tactics are decided by each group. So sometimes one group does things that the central direction, which is really democratic, because they have many people there from many parts of Brazil, they would not approve, but they did it. They say, “Don’t do that.” They discuss. So they are democratic. They never invade lands; they occupy lands. The land that are not productive, they occupy.

AMY GOODMAN: How many are part of MST?

AUGUSTO BOAL: How many people? Oh, millions. I don’t know. I don’t know exactly how many, but several millions, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, here, with Lula, who was talking agrarian reform before he was in power, and with the power of the landless people’s movement, it still hasn’t changed.

AUGUSTO BOAL: It still hasn’t changed. And it has changed, to tell the truth, yes, but not as much as we need it to change. And this comes also from the politics of Lula. Even when he was a worker and a president of the trade union, he was a negotiator. He has the habit of negotiate. ANd then, in the parliament, there are many people that represented the landowners, and they have a force, and they can prevent Lula from doing certain things. And I believe that’s a negotiation that is there. But I believe that he still has three years and a half to go, and many things are going to be done in those three years and a half.

AMY GOODMAN: What does the United States look like from the south, when you look up to the United States?

AUGUSTO BOAL: I think that from the south, from the north, west and the east, and from up, if we look at the United States, what we see, we see a country that is doing what they want. And not a country—we see a group of people or corporations that decide what they want to do. And they don’t respect anything. They don’t respect for.
They invaded Iraq. Now, more than half-a-million people, Iraqis, were killed, not by United States only, but also among themselves. Three thousand and five hundred US soldiers were killed. I don’t know how many billions were spent with that war. And they did that, because they said, “Oh, they have weapons of massive destruction.” And then the United Nations says, “No, they don’t have.” “Oh, yes, they have. So I go there anyway.” They invade wherever they want. They are used to that.
And we cannot appreciate that type of government. I have so many friends here in the United States. I love those friends, and I love many things here. But I cannot accept a government that does what they want and they don’t care absolutely for the public opinion or for the opinion of other countries. They do what is in their interest.
Even that billions and billions of money that were spent, in reality, it was not thrown away in the garbage. It changes the hands. That’s the money that comes from the population, from the taxes, from all that, that belongs to the state. And it goes to whom? To those who provide the weapons, to those who provides the uniform, to those—so it changed. It’s not that they burned the money. They changed the hands that have that money. So, we cannot, even though we are sympathetic of the US revolution against England, it was very nice, we have lots of heroes here, and we appreciate so many things here, but the government that does what they want without any consultation with the population itself, because I don’t believe that the population of the United States is in favor of the war. I don’t believe. Many people are, but not the great majority, I believe not.

AMY GOODMAN: Augusto Boal, what do you still hope to accomplish?

AUGUSTO BOAL: I hope so many things. I hope so many things. I always say that we are always looking after a dream. And we know that a dream is a dream. But that’s the function of a dream, is to be a dream. It’s not to be—not to get there. You have to have always a dream.
And I only have one dream. It’s to dream all my life. That’s my only dream. I would like to go on dreaming. And if I can dream of things, well, I dream of solidarity among men and women, black and white, solidarity among countries, and solidarity to create ethics.
What we think sometimes, we don’t think that there is a difference between moral and ethics. Moral is mores. It’s customs. And it was moral in this country, my country—slavery. It was moral. It was moral to buy a human being. So I’m not moralist, because I know that in moral there are horrible things. But I am ethical. We need to create an ethos. In Greek, it means the tendency to some kind of perfection. And my kind of profession is solidarity, is dialogue, is democracy—real democracy, not one that we see. That’s my—I want to—not to accomplish, because to accomplish—not to accomplish, to go on. To go on.
There is a poet, a Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, who says, “The path does not exist. The path, you make by treading on it. By walking, you make the path.” So we don’t know where the path leads, but we know the direction of the path that we want to take. That’s what I want, and not to accomplish, but to follow, until I can’t.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, thank you for making your path here today.

AUGUSTO BOAL: Thank you very much.

2009-05-04T18:56:00.001-07:00

hamilton clancy, producing artistic director
presents

FREEDOM

April 24-May 10, 2009
Additional Performance Wednesday, May 6
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm
Sunday at 3pm

78th Street Theatre Lab
236 West 78th Street
New York, New York 10024
www.drillingcompany.org

FREEDOM is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

This performance is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Producing Artistic Director....................... Hamilton Clancy
Assistant Artistic Director........................ David Marantz
Managing Director.................................... Jane Guyer
Lighting Design.............................................. Miriam Nilofa Crowe
Scenic Design................................................. Jen Varbalow
Sound Design................................................. Christopher Rummel
Costume Design............................................. Lisa Renee Jordan
Stage Manager................................................ Billie Davis
Photographer................................................. Fred Marco
Graphic Artist............................................... Phillip DeVita

board of directors
Robert A. Wilson, Jefferey Grieb, Hamilton Clancy and Karen Kitz

special thanks Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden, West 82nd St. Owners Corp., Danielle Kilcullen, Kate McCamy, Poly Prep, City Lights Youth Theatre, PS 87, Rena Shapiro, Wendy Rothstein, Eric, Ruth, James and Thomas Nightengale, Billie Davis, Karen Kitz, Rebecca Darke, Roundabout Theatre, Select Equity Group, Tom and Libya Clancy, Bennett Webster

the mission

Founded in 1999, TheDrillingCompany, a not-for-profit company, invites artists of various disciplines to create new works which explore a single, unifying theme. By selecting these themes, TDC provides a springboard for a variety of interpretations, each emerging from the same beginning. Our primary mission is to attract a diverse community of ideas and individuals that become more unified through more awareness of one another.

Our secondary mission is to create an organic home for professional artists to discover their highest quality potential.
the project

In January, we asked playwrights to respond to a now famous Franklin Delano Roosevelt address to Congress in 1941, in which he enumerated four basic freedoms that he believed the United States must work to secure for everyone, everywhere in the world. Those four freedoms were freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship and religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. That address is reprinted in this program.

We hope this evening’s offering of newly commissioned plays contributes to the discussion, and is entertaining along the way.

We invite you, in the spirit of Freedom, to join us this summer for Free Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on Ludlow and Broome Streets, when we present “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Measure For Measure”.

Enjoy!

Peace,
Hamilton Clancy, AD
ACT I

Rightsized by Kate McCamy
directed by Hamilton Clancy
Lexi........................................................ Michael Gnat*
Sheila..................................................... Shaun Bennet Wilson

The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson
by Sean Christopher Lewis
directed by Rob Wilson
Charles................................................... Tom Demenkoff*
Sarah...................................................... Sonja Rzepski
Jonathan................................................. Daisy Stone

Caseworker by Richard Mover
directed by Richard Mover
Eric........................................................ Sean Patrick Reilly*
Ducky.................................................... Don Carter*

Bong Hits 4 Jesus by Eric Henry Sanders
directed by Tom Demenkoff
Joe......................................................... Jordan Feltner

Why is This Man Dead by C. Denby Swanson
directed by Alan B. Smithee
This Man................................................ Sajeeve Pillai
Sabrina................................................... Erin Mallon*

ACT II

Incognito Indigo by Andrea Moon
directed by Hamilton Clancy
Jess........................................................ William Apps IV
Renee..................................................... Selene Beretta

SNAFU by Brian Dykstra
directed by Rebecca Hengstenberg
Patrick.................................................... Franklin Killian
Dixon..................................................... Jordan Feltner

The Significance of Louden Taser by Trish Harnetiaux
directed by Alan B. Smithee
Musical Arrangement by Mike Cassedy
Louden Taser.......................................... Hamilton Clancy*

It Can’t Happen Here by Scott Baker
directed by David Marantz
Narrator/Leader/Dad Dennis Gagomiros*
Billy........................................................ Darren Lipari

The original painting, “HONOR” by John Riveaux, was created in 2004 for The Drilling Company’s HONOR series
* Actors appear courtesy Actors Equity Association
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Address to Congress January 6, 1941

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.
Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change -- in a perpetual peaceful revolution -- a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions -- without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
From Congressional Record, 1941, Vol. 87, Pt. I.
THE WELL
Writers
Scott Baker (It Can’t Happen Here) is an actor-playwright whose work has been produced in New York at La Mama as well as at The Drilling Company, nationally and internationally at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Theatre Project of Baltimore, American Theatre Company of Tulsa and Tulsa's Nightingale Theatre Company. An original member

Brian Dykstra (SNAFU) Brian has written 11 plays for The Drilling Company, one of which (On Paper) grew into a full length called Clean Alternatives, and another of which (Mick Just Shrugs) is growing into a full length called Education. Brian is currently acting in a production of his play A Play On Words at 59E59 as part of the Americas Off Broadway Festival. Come check it out.

Trish Harnetiaux (The Significance of Louden Taser) this is her 4th piece with the Drilling Company, previous plays are The Dorsal Striatum, A Gopher in the Ninth Ward and Devon and Josh are New Anchors: The Death of Jeremy Jeremyson.

Sean Christopher Lewis (The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson) is the inaugural recipient of the Rosa Parks Award for Social Justice in Playwriting from the Kennedy Center. A former NNPN Emerging Playwright in Residence at InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, he has toured his critically lauded solo shows I Will Make You Orphans, The Gone Chair and Killadelphia. His other plays include Militant Language (National Premiere at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Halcyon Theatre of Chicago, Bang and Clatter in Cleveland) and The Aperture (Cleveland Public Theatre). He has been a playwriting fellow at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and has had his work developed at the PlayPenn New Play Conference, Lark New Play Development Center, Orlando Shakespeare Festival’s Harriet Lake Festival of New Work and at the National Center for New Plays at Stanford University.

Kate McCamy (Rightsized) is happy to be a part of Freedom and working with the Drilling Company once again. Her first play with the DC, The Deal is published by Smith and Kraus, and has been developed into a full-length play. Her theatre history goes all the way back to being a high school intern at the Circle Repertory Co. and has never stopped. She has written for film, TV, short stories (see Pink and Blue, nthposition.com) and, of course, theatre. This play is dedicated to the memory of Robert Fuhrmann.

Andrea Moon (Incognito Indigo) is a playwright, performer, poet and director. She currently resides in Boulder, Colorado where she writes plays, performs and teaches people how to fly . . . (on low-flying trapezes).

Richard Mover (Caseworker) is an actor/director/writer living in NYC. As an actor and director Richard has helped develop dozens of new works. He is the resident director of The Open Gate Theatre, where he directed a series of One Acts, all dealing with grief after 911, called Unresolved. Past credits with The Drilling Company include Acting in and directing Kate McCamy’s The Deal. He also directed Ms. McCamy’s Safe Home and Habeas Corpus. Richard appeared in Bells And Whistles by Brian Dykstra and as Touchstone in the Drilling Company’s Shakespeare in the parking lot production of As You Like It. He is happy to contribute this time as a director and a playwright.

Eric Henry Sanders (Bon Hits 4 Jesus) Eric’s plays have had performances and staged readings in theatres across the country and abroad, including the Union Theatre (London), New Group (NY), Primary Stages (NY), Cherry Lane Alternative (NY), Abingdon Theatre (NY), Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago), the Actor's Gang Ivy Substation (LA), and Moving Parts Theatre (Paris). Honors include being a nominee for the Kesselring Prize administered by the National Arts Club (NY), a runner-up for the Princess Grace Fellowship administered by New Dramatists, and a finalist for the New Work Festival at the Mark Taper Forum. Upcoming events include a reading at Rattlestick Playwrights' Theatre on May 8th (all are welcome to attend!).

C. Denby Swanson (Why is this Man Dead) graduated from Smith College, the National Theatre Institute, and the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers, where she was a fellow in playwriting and screenwriting. She has been a William Inge Playwright in Residence, Jerome Fellow and McKnight Advancement Grant recipient. Her work has been developed in the Southern Playwrights Festival, the Women Playwrights Project, the Lark Theater’s Playwrights Week, PlayLabs, SVT Reads, NYS&F (through P73), JAW: A Playwrights Festival, Culture Project’s Impact Festival, Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, and the Circle X Theater Company’s public reading series. Her work is published by Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, and Playscripts, Inc. She won a 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Special Prize for her short play The Potato Feast, produced by the Drilling Company, which was also nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award in 2008. She is a former Artistic Director of Austin Script Works and on the faculty at Southwestern University. Her blues play Blue Monday was developed at ZACH Theatre Center as part of the NEA/TCG National Theater Residency Program for Playwrights in 2008.

Directors

Hamilton Clancy (Rightsized); Artistic Director Founded the Drilling Company in 1999. Produced and conceived 16 short play projects, over 175 new American short plays which have been recognized by NYIT awards, the Heideman Award and the publication of over 30 of the titles. As an actor, Cohen Brothers latest film, Burn After Reading. Recent: American Gangster. TV: All My Children, Fringe, The Unusuals. He is married to actress Karen Kitz and devoted to his son, Joe.
Tom Demenkoff (Bong Hits 4 Jesus) Ithaca College graduate. Acting for TDC: Theft, Honor, Service, Hero, and Mutant Sex Party. NYC: Original productions of Godspell Off-B’way and Grease B’way, Macbeth Hudson Warehouse, Winter’s Tale AGT, and The Way, The Truth, The Life Vital Theatre. Regional: Art Cape Fear, Zoot Suit Mark Taper Forum, Julius Caesar Theatre at Monmouth, Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins FST, Music Man WVPT, George M! Goodspeed, and All My Sons, The Skin of Our Teeth, Metamorphoses Cornell University. TV: Law & Order, 100 Centre Street, Ed, Fantasy Island, General Hospital, Eight is Enough. Film: New York Crossing, aka Lobster Boy, Anger Management, Two Weeks Notice, Rollerblade, Sgt. Peppers…, and Surf Nazis Must Die. Directing for TDC: Theft, Honor, Justice, Sarasota Actor’s Workshop’s Honor and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’s Romeo and Juliet. Directing: Equus and Talking With Wallkill River Rep, Breaking the Code Performing Arts of Woodstock, Another American: Asking & Telling Provincetown Repertory, Gypsy and 1776 NMOB, and A Few Good Men Shadowland. Visit: www.tomdemenkoff.com.

Rebecca Hengstenberg (SNAFU) Rebecca received her bachelor's from University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point directing emphasis. Past directing credits include: Keely and Du, Horse Country, Songs For a New World. NYC directing credits include: A Fresh Start, Conversation with a Kleagle, and Calculating Route. Rebecca would like to thank Brian Dykstra, The Drilling Company, Franklin and Jordan. Special thanks also to Jake and family for their continual love & creative support.

David Marantz (It Can’t Happen Here) Has also directed pieces for TDC in HERO, SECURITY II and REVENGE II. TDC acting credits: Atomic Farmgirl, Theft, Both, Honor parts I and II, Security I, Revenge I and Justice. For TDC’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, Sir Toby in Twefth Night, Mercutio in Romeo And Juliet along with roles in 2 Gents and Tempest. Other credits include Kippy in Take Me Out for The Human Race Theatre in Dayton, OH, productions with The Mint Theatre, TheatreWorks USA, and Nicu’s Spoon. Film and TV: Another World, As The World Turns, One Life To Live, Law and Order, and the award-winning Indie, Nail Polish. David was producer/GM for New York Musical Theater Festival entries Castronauts (2008) and The Family Fiorelli (2007). When he joins the 21st Century you’ll be able to visit him at www.davidmarantz.com, but not just yet.

Richard Mover (Caseworker) See Playwrights

Alan B. Smithee (Why is This Man Dead, The Significance of Louden Taser) First time director for The Drilling Company, and happy to have the opportunity to work with these fine actors. Alan is the Grandson of famous film director Alan Smithee, whose name appears on many of the great films of the 20th Century. Thanks to Joe for his tireless efforts.

Robert A. Wilson (The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson) Robert has been acting and directing with the Drilling Company since early in its inception. He as worked as an actor regionally, Off-Broadway and on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. He is the proud father of three amazing girls!

Actors

William Apps IV (Jess Incognito Indigo) is excited to be working with the DRILLING COMPANY again. His first experience with the Drilling Company was in the staged reading of Healer. William hopes that his work will force people to feel and give them a desire for understanding of self and humanity alike. “I was told once that as actors we are on a path to enlightenment , and more and more I find that to be true”

Selene Beretta (Renee Incognito Indigo) was born in Switzerland and grew up in Australia before moving to NYC in 2005. She is thrilled to be working with The Drilling Company for the second time. Recent New York credits include; Loni in The Amoralists' Amerissiah, The Chorus in Shakespeare in the Parking Lot's Henry V and Kate in Gin & Milk. Other favorite roles include; Hedda Gabler, Cassius, Phebe, Carol Cutrere and Lil in Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. She is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She thanks her crazy family back home for their wildness and her NY family for their inspiration. "This is for Odette and Mauritz who taught me how to find freedom despite all the odds".

Don Carter (Ducky, Caseworker): With the Drilling Company; Don’t Quit, Romeo & Juliet, Henry V, The Dorsal Striatum, By The Book and Thor’s Hammer. Don’s play Coming To The Table was produced during TDC's HONOR series and published in Plays and Playwrights 2005. Other NY credits: Target Margin Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre and Blue Coyote Theatre Group. Regional credits: Virginia Stage Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and The Public Theatre (in Maine). Film: Hitting the Ground (Living Pictures) and Kingdom Come (Rockville Pictures). Television: One Life To Live (ABC TV). MFA/Acting: Rutgers. Visit Don’s website at www.doncarternyc.com

Hamilton Clancy (Louden The Significance of Louden Taser) see Directors

Tom Demenkoff (Charles The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson) see Directors

Jordan Feltner (Joe Bong Hits 4 Jesus) is happy to be working with The Drilling Company for the third time, having recently taken part in the work shop and staged reading of The Healer, as well as venturing to Ludlow and Broom to play in Henry V last summer. Originally from East Tennessee Jordan has studied his craft with some very exciting and challenging professionals from North Carolina School of the Arts, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and Terry Scrieber Studio. Recent New York stage credits include, Alley of Masks at Wings Theatre, Confessions of a Stalker and A Grave For Sister Agatha at the American Theatre for Actors, and The Blank of the Blank Blank which was written and directed by Jordan's brother Ryan Feltner and performed at The Barrow Theatre. Jordan is currently working for The Castle Theatre in New Jersey in their production of Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio. Jordan thanks his friends, family, and casting directors for their continued support.

Dennis Gagomiros (Narrator/Leader/Dad It Can’t Happen Here) is ecstatic to be a part of the TDC family. He’s lost count of the number of productions he’s done with them, but they’ve all been joyous occasions filled with cherished memories. Rock on, Joe and Karen.

Michael Gnat (Lex Rightsized) plays Wall Street Jimmy in the 2008 interwoven-crime-story feature Off Jackson Avenue. Recent NYC stage: T.D. Rice in Henry Meyerson's Jump Jim Crow (MITF); Malvolio in Twelfth Night (TDC/Shakespeare in the Parking Lot); Scott Sickles's Turtles and Bulldogs (WorkShop Theater); Brendan Cowell's 967 Tuna (in The Australia Project II). Other TDC: Hero (plays by Brian Dykstra, Sheri Graubert, David A. Miller); Security I & II (plays by Brian Dykstra, Kate McCamy, Trish Harnetiaux, Colleen Cosgrove); Honor 2 (IT Award Nominee for Edward Manning's Titus Lucretius Carus); and Hamlet (Polonius) in the Parking Lot. Spotlight On Award for Kiwi Dreams by TDC playwright Reneé Flemings. Michael can be seen as yuppie would-be coke dealer Tim in the feature Bobby G. Can't Swim. His thanks & love, as ever, to Linda & Nick. [AEA, SAG, AFTRA]

Franklin Killian (Peters SNAFU)

Darren Lipari (Billy It Can’t Happen Here) is thrilled to be back working with the Drilling Company in "Freedom." His last efforts with DC was the staged reading of "Over The Line" and the play "Safe" in Security. Darren's film work can be seen on Hulu.com within the independent film "In Search Of." Darren would like to thank his friends and family for their constant support and optimism, Joe Clancy for his enthusiasm, Dennis for being a great stage dad (twice) Scott for such a fun script to work with and David for his insight into the frightening world of Promise Keepers! Thanks to Jennifer.

Erin Mallon (Sabrina Why is This Man Dead) One of Erin's greatest joys is contributing to the development of new plays. She's happily played with Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood Company, The Drilling Company, First Look Theatre Company, Vital Theatre Company, The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and more. This past Winter she played with folks at Les Freres Corbusier in "Dance Dance Revolution" and shot a role in the upcoming film Momma Would Be Proud. When Erin isn't onstage, you can find her teaching yoga classes throughout NYC, hammering out short screenplays on her laptop, or playing a nurse on the set of Guiding Light.

Sajeev Pillai (This Man Why is This Man Dead) started his explorations with acting in the fall of 2002. His first theatrical performance was as an ensemble actor in Shakespeare's Greatest Hits at Northlake Community College in Texas. In 2006, Sajeev attended a summer intensive actor training program with Circle in the Square Theatre School. His stage credits include The Time of Your Life, Phantom of the Opera - The Melodrama, The Father of the Bride and Romeo and Juliet.

Sean Patrick Reilly (Eric Caseworker) Recent Theatre Credits Include: Of Mice and Men (Westport); The Front Page (Williamstown); Doubt (Geva); Glengarry Glenn Ross (Alley); American Buffalo (Two River and Geva); Emancipation (Classical Theatre of Harlem); and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Broadway) Film and Television: HOWL; Bored to Death; Damages; Back; Third Watch; The Black Donnellys; Man of the Century; Following Bliss; Law and Order(s) and Sleepers. He studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse, The Atlantic and R.A.D.A.

Sonja Rzepski (Sarah The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson) is currently spending most of her artistic time in the air as an aerialist with New York Circus Arts, but is very happy to come down to earth with her first Drilling Company production. She has recently been seen at the Kitchen in Alix Pearlstein's film After the Fall, and is very thankful to Daisy, Rob and Tom for making this such a family experience!

Daisy Stone (Jonathan The Home Schooling of Jonathan Anderson) Daisy is currently a student at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. She has modeled for GAP, Sisley, Bloomingdales, Macy's & K-Mart to name a few. She can be seen in Greg Saltiel's short film Theory of Change and the newest Comcast television campaign. Daisy is thrilled to be acting in her first Drilling Company production.

Shaun Bennet Wilson (Sheila Rightsized) NY theatre: Summerfolk (dir. Austin Pendleton, HB Playwrights Foundation), Strangulated (dir. Kate Bushmann, Abingdon Theatre) The Letter (dir. Rasa Allan Kazlas, Emerging Artists Theatre), The Conjugality Test (Midtown Intn’l Theatre Festival), Monday Morning Baseball (The Turtle's Shell Theatre), Waiting For Anthony (HB Playwrights Foundation) and The Odyssey (Creative Educational Systems). Film: Pieces of Cake, Mothers' Day Special. Shaun is a member of the HB Ensemble and The Workshop Theater Company. She received her training at AMDA, Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting, and HB Studio. Many thanks to JC. www.shaunbennetwilson.com

Designers / Technical Crew

Miriam Nilofa Crowe Light Design Previously with TDC: Justice, While You Wait, Fathers, Service, Revenge 2, and Security 1 & 2. Other recent credits include Lila Downs’s US and European tours, Flags (59E59), Manhattan Children’s Theater, The $trip (Nerve), Princeton University, Bard College, Woman in Waiting (Farber Foundry), Beowulf (Lincoln Center Festival), and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Yale Rep). Also Yale School of Drama, Yale Cabaret, BAM Next Wave, Juilliard, Chautauqua Conservatory, Adirondack Theater Festival. www.wingspace.com/Miriam

Billie Davis Stage Manager

Phillip Devita Ggraphic Design is pleased to be working with the drilling compaNY once again. Phillip has created graphics for The Drilling Company's - Revenge 2, Security 1 and 2, Justice and the Youth Theatre Discovery project, Atomic Farmgirl and now HERO. Other theatrical graphic work includes Arlene Hutton's The Nibroc Trilogy: New York Off Broadway Premier at the 78th Street Theatre Lab; Phillip created the trilogy postcards, poster & website. Other works include, The Belmont Italian American Playhouse's 1995 season: Son for Hire, Turandot and The Fifth Annual One-Act Play Festival. Phillip is a freelance graphic artist and web designer as well as an accomplished painter who is currently working on the web site and marketing for The Adventures of Nicolai Fly a new musical by Greg Steinbruner. For contact information and artist's portfolio please visit: www.solitaryearth.com

Lisa Renee Jordan Costume Design credits include: Boy in the Bathroom, Castronauts, and Suicide, Anyone? (Off-Broadway); The Witching Hour, and Triangle (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Neglect, and Thicker than Water (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Twelfth Night, Atomic Farmgirl, Hero, Justice, (Drilling CompaNY,); Safe Home, Dr. Faustus: Occult Remix, Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Uncle Vanya, A Dream Play, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, The Seagull, Etymology of a Person, Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$: A Peddler’s Tale (Off-Off Broadway); The Underpants, Beauty& The Beast, (Regional Theatre), Nights at the Circus (NYC Fringe Festival); Mother Courage, Our Town, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, Urinetown, Fiddler on the Roof, The Potboiler, La Dispute, (Richard Perry Theatre). Assistant Design credits include Chita Rivera: the Dancer’s Life (Broadway); Bernarda Alba (Lincoln Center Theatre). She is the resident Costume Designer at the Poly Prep School in Brooklyn. She received her MFA in Costume Design from the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.

Chris Rummel Sound Design is happy to return to TDC, having designed here over the past few years! Recent designs include Stockton (Ensemble Studio Theater), Wood (NYMF’08), Boy Girl Mind Rock Fun Love (Roundabout Theatre Co.), Big Love (Columbia University), Raised By Lesbians (NY Fringe), The Real Thing (T Schreiber Studio), The Jack of Tarts (La Mama ETC), The Listener of Junk City (New Dramatists), Pied A Terre (Stageplays Theater Co.), The Girl Detective (Ateh), Two Rooms (Harold Clurman Festival), How I Learned To Drive (TSS, NYIT nominee), Belles (Heiress Productions) Angels In America (Stella Adler), tempOdyssey (SPF), and the short films The Waiting Room, and Pirates Vs. Ninjas (piratesversusninjas.com). Chris is a Teaching Artist at Roundabout Theatre Company, the resident sound designer for Personal Space Theatrics, and an Artistic Associate at Stageplays Theater Company. BFA Syracuse University.

Jen Varbalow Set Design Jen is so happy to be working on Freedom with old and new friends. Jen Varbalow has been designing scenery in NYC for 11 years. Past credits include designs for Ensemble Studio Theatre, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, The DR2 Theatre, Queens Theatre in the Park, and many other Off and Off-off Broadway companies. Jennifer was nominated for a 2004 IT award for the design of “Hazard County”. She is a teaching artist with the Roundabout Theatre Company;, as well as TADA! and the Children's Aid Society. Jennifer received her BFA from Rutgers University and her MFA from Brandeis. Special Thanks to Hana who has curtailed my day to day freedom but opened up whole new worlds to me.

On the Death of Augusto Boal

2009-05-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

TOBLAB and organization devoted to the work of Mr. Boal, sent out this today in memory of this great THEATRICIAN

Excerpted from the book Theater of the Oppressed
(1974; first Englishedition, 1979) by Augusto Boal

We must emphasize: What Brecht does not want is that the spectators
continue to leave their brains with their hats upon entering the
theater, as do bourgeois spectators.

The Marxist poetics of Bertolt Brecht does not stand opposed to one or another formal aspect of the Hegelian idealist poetics but rather denies
its very essence, asserting that the character *is not absolute subject*but the object of economic or social forces to which he responds and in
virtue of which he acts...

In Brecht's objection [to idealist poetics], as well as in any otherMarxist objection, what is at stake is who, or which term, precedes the other: the subjective or the objective. For idealist poetics, socialthought conditions social being; for Marxist poetics, social being conditions social thought. In Hegel's view, the spirit creates the dramatic action; for Brecht, the character's social relations create the dramatic action....

Brecht was a Marxist; therefore, for him, a theatrical work cannot end in repose, in equilibrium. It must, on the contrary, show the ways in which society loses its equilibrium, which way society is moving, and how to hasten that transition.

Brecht contends that the popular artist must abandon the downtownstages and go to the neighborhoods, because only there will he findpeople who are truly interested in changing society: in the neighborhoods he should show his images of social life to the workers who are interested in changing that social life, since they are its victims. A theater that attempts to change the changers of society cannot lead to repose, cannot re-establish equilibrium. The bourgeois police tries to re-establish equilibrium, to enforce repose: a Marxist artist, on the other hand, must promote the movement toward national liberation and toward the liberation of classes oppressed by capital.

[Hegel and Aristotle] desire a quiet somnolence at the end of the spectacle; Brecht wants the theatrical spectacle to be the beginning of action: the equilibrium should be sought by transforming society, and not by purging the individual of his just demands and needs.

I believe that all the truly revolutionary theatrical groups should transfer to the people the means of production in the theater so that the people themselves may utilize them. The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it."--Augusto Boal, The Theater of the Oppressed**World Theater Day Messageby Augusto Boal. All human societies are "spectacular" in their daily life and produce"spectacles" at special moments. They are "spectacular" as a form ofsocial organization and produce "spectacles" like the one you have come tosee. Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theater! Weddings and funerals are "spectacles", but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp andcircumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting--all is theater. One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the"spectacles" of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theater, we learn to see what is obvious but what weusually can't see because we are only used to looking at it. What isfamiliar to us becomes unseen: doing theater throws light on the stage ofdaily life.

Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote andwild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader's hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all andneither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theater, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they foundsome magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony.Twenty years ago, I staged Racine's Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before eachpresentation, I used to say to my actors: "The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theater is the Hidden Truth".When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we seean unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we knowit is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life.Participate in the "spectacle" which is about to begin and once you areback home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you werenever able to see: that which is obvious.

Theater is not just an event; it is a way of life!
We are all actors: being a citizen is not living
in society,
it
is
changing it.

2009-05-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

2009-01-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

We've commissioned 22 writers
around the a common theme. Below are the details of the commission. If interested in submitting a play, drop an e-mail to drillingcompany@aol.com.

New theme:

FREEDOM

The Why: well thinking about so many things going on in the world today, the basic concept of 'freedom' seemed to be at the heart of the conversation: whether it was war, or health insurance, or the economic recovery, or Rod Blagojevich, or Israel and Gaza,the word freedom cropped up rather quickly in the conversation. Certainly, relative to the media, it's a huge word, and of course, relative to our economy and the free-enterprise or free market system - again FREEDOM comes roaring in.

So in thinking about this one I found this quote from a speech FDR gave to Congress in 1941:
"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.
Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change -- in a perpetual peaceful revolution -- a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions -- without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory."
What is it and why are we dying to get it? Who has more and what a are they doing with it once they get it.
In a nutshell, FREEDOM: what's the big deal?

When : seeking new short plays by
March 6th - (first draaft welcome)
April 14th - May 7th expected run

The catch: None. That's what freedom is all about , right?
But that's no fun, so here we go:
- use one of the four freedoms
- something should be given (not as in a circumstance but as in a gift, within the work)
- avoid prisons and guns - if you can - but if that 's where you inspiration goes....

As in the past, we'll endeavor to have at least one role in every play cast with an actor of an ethnicity other than Caucasian. In this project, not asking the writers to think about that - just letting you know we are.

How many people: Hopefully, more than one . As always, brilliant monologues welcome.-

How long: As long as it should be but not too long to allow another work or five to be produced with it.

How to send: relay a copy of the play for every character in the play plus one to 107 West 82nd Street 1A
New York, New York 10024
and
e-mail a WORD copy to
drillingcompany@aol.com

Call me with questions. I'll also post this in the BLOG section of our website so if you misplace the e-mail - check back there.

Happy New Year!

peace,

2008-12-06T08:21:00.001-08:00

The Gift by Lewis Hyde, now celebrating it's 25th year of publication is a good start in hte discussion t oanswer this question. Or at least begin to wrestle with its many complicated challenges. This question is the white elephant in the room of every artist in America. Every artist in America must profess some indifference to this idea or a stubborn determination to "have it all". Of course, there are risks and costs. The question is, do the risks implied by such a challenge and meted out by many artists before me, improve the quality of the artistic investigation and inquiry, do they fire the passion of the art, force the artis into a cahmber of his/her own deliberation from which only the artist and ther partners may emerge , with scars and stories - and sometimes the offspringfg of the artis ts emerge to tell the tales of the households in which they are raised - now one of the fetished of reality TV is to go inside the home of famous artists and see how they negotiate the banal complications of family life. It's literally a specatator sport - but is it Roman spectator sport - are we watching to see humna beings crushed a and emotionally flayed.

At any rate the gGift is a sound beginning in addressing how and why this question is not in more seminars.

peace,
Hamilton

Art and Family

2008-11-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

are they incompatable?

Letter from the Spring to the HERO Cast

2008-11-11T12:31:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

Thanks. Attached is a contact sheet.
After the set was struck
and we were having some beer and pizza,
I took a second to count
and realized we had just finished
the 25th Drilling Company
production over the last 8 years.

Each time we do a show,
it is the result of so much
effort and sacrifice that goes
unrecognized by any reasonable measure.
Even if we were obscenely financially successful or had
reams of reviews and television coverage
it would still fall short of capturing the small sacrifices
that are made so many times by so many people
in order for one of these projects to happen.

Everyone is guilty of having made some
unredeemable contribution, unredeemable
in the terms of trade our world is most
likely to recognize.

It begs the question why and
each of you I'm sure asks the
question on your own at some
point in some way.

For myself I can only refer to the
satisfaction of the opportunity to see several
performances grow, in worthwhile
plays, under the guidance
of thoughtful directors and with
support of memorably executed designs.

Moments of generosity and moments
of real quality.

So I wanted to thank everyone for
making those opportunities happen again.

I share your disappointments as well -
but as I tabulate the budget and
financials for this project
I am again stunned by the
wealth that is contributed that
does not appear on the ledger.
The amount that is given that cannot
be described or accounted for but is felt
in performance.

Thanks to each of you
for making it possible.
Without the singular contributions and sacrifices
you each made, and the standard of quality
you each hold yourselves to,
I couldn't answer the question of why.

I can.

In gratitude,

'Joe' Hamilton Clancy

An open letter to a playwright colleague in distrss

2008-11-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Dear ABCDE,

well xxx was correct.
and , of course, blind to your intent
which is the difficulty of the reading/development model
in our country

of course, what you're also seeing
is that audiences
more and more
are no longer satisfied by theatre
where the performers only speak

the desire for theatricality is high
and therefore
the desire for performers who are multi-talented

when people don't have access to this kind of talent
their imaginations become more limited
writers
like yourself
of course
are not limited in this way
your only limitation
is your ability to get your idea attempted in full theatrical form
no small limitation
but your imagination
and your ability to put suggestions onto a piece of paper
as you have
are not limited
and indeed,
often exceed the resources and the talent
of those assembled around you.

you offer suggestions for others
of how they can exit the prison of their ignorance
but you cannot give them the key,
and like horses
who long
to be running with others
who are not limited by these fences
you see them and know it is where you should be
and look for the next sign of how to escape these fetters

before you begin to believe that you were incorrect all along and and have belonged with the
imaginatively limited
special needs artists
of our world

this is the ceiling where
our egalitarian , capitalist
system
comes in conflict with a less forgiving
state run system
like those in Europe
they are less generous with professional opportunities
in a way
but clearer in establishing communities of excellence

the admission into those communities
here
is just as limited
but one cannot recognize this

in art there is no greater hell
than to find yourself
in the same room
with the boring
i think every artists
no matter how successful
knows this hell
i think some are more limited than others
and i believe the fear of this
fires a good many artists
to reject others and to practice
a kind of elitism
that is all at once cruel
and self-serving

those in the arts unwilling
to cut so hard
are often weighed down with the burdens of associations
with the mediocre

can we practice an art that is at once loving, forgiving
and
the essence of true excellence and prosperity?

i think the prosperity becomes the true issue for all
because necessarily
the system rewards excellence
those that stand out from the norm
and to stand out from the norm
to be in a word
extraordinary
means in a way
not to associate
with the mediocre

every artist of excellence understands the dynamic above
I speak of
and every artist of excellence must somehow
keep their understanding of this to themselves,
because to share it with anyone
even as I share these thoughts with you
is to make us aware that we are only one phone call away from being put on the blacklist
of the critically inferior
the imaginary list which haunts our lives and even our inner psyches

in order to cope
some artists
create a world
in which they pass judgement on others
and in so doing , craft their own superiority
in each disapproving verdict

each decision to advise upon improvement
with a tone of serious knowledge and severity

again, artists of excellence
over time
not immediately always
begin to recognize such characters and they
normally avoid them
literally like the plague
enforcing the isolation from genius
for those absent of it

and so
we are mindful of our associations
the clarity of our intentions
and
the honesty of our struggle
knowing it is that honesty that might set us apart
knowing we cannot know if it will or not
knowing that the self -knowledge
that true excellence is beyond our full control
that we are only vessels through which we may allow it to pass
and that the conditions of its realization
are frequently outside the
practical control of one another
knowing we do not and cannot know
it is with this lack of presumption
we work
or try to work
and live

the misperception is that this
is the road to happiness
it never has been
but rather the road to perdition
on which we are walking
and along which we recognize one another with easy glances
hold one another's hands easily
and let go
when we see another calling pulling a fellow soul
from the path
without words and without explanation

it is lonely
as you know

peace,
clancy

Casting

2008-05-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

What makes a company?
Waht is the best way to selcet actors for a project?
I there a better way to proceed than the traditional method we are acquainted
with - audition - callback-cast or not cast?
I describe it this way.
Company is like a tribe.
Its activities are sacred - to the tribe.
Guests may come or go, but the experience of the guest and the tribe with the guest is based on the sensitivity of the guest to the traditions and honor of the tribe.
If you begin to understand the tribe , the primitive association of native americans , as the core
model for the theatre companies, one begins to understand how each tribe is careful to vet new members.
One also understands the motivation of the new warriors to begin tribes of their own?

Shakespeare in the PArking Lot is almost cast and rehearsall are almost underway.
Twelfth Night a la new rock and Henry the Fifth in modern dress.
Simple and straight.
July 3- July 19
Thurs-Sat
at 8 pm at Ludlow and Broome
Shakespeare in the PArking Lot - the fifteeneth season!

Atomic Farmgirl

2007-10-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

Challenges in bringing the latest DrillCo project to the public have been many , but we're excited to shout out to the wrold that Atomic Farmgirl is coming!
The performance dates are below:

Wednesday November 14 (Preview)
Thursday November 15 7:30pm
Friday November 16 7:30 pm
Saturday November 17 7:30pm
Sunday November 18 3:00pm
Tuesday November 27 7:30pm
Wednesday November 28 7:30pm
Thursday November 29 7:30pm
Friday November 30 7:30 pm
Saturday December 1 3:00pm

Where : 78th Street Theatre Lab
236 West 78th Street
1 block from the 1 train at 79th Street
The reservation line is 212-414-7717.
Tickets are $18.
$12 for students and and seniors.
For more infor check out www.drillingcompany.org

The DrillingCompany
Hamilton Clancy , Artistic Director
presents
Atomic Farmgirl
by C. Denby Swanson
developed, conceived and directed with
Brooke Brod
based on a memoir by Teri Hein

scenic design: Rebecca Lord
light design: Miriam Crowe
sound design: Chris Rummel
costume design: Lisa Renee Jordan
publicity: Publicity Outfitters
stage mangement: Billie Davis
original music: Rock Wilk

with

Hamilton Clancy*
Melissa Condren*
Brad Coolidge*
Dawn Evans*
Dennis Gagomiros*
Jane Guyer
Karen Kitz*
David Marantz*
Maria McConville
and
Kathleen O'Grady*

*appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association

The Drilling Company in the Fall of 2007

2007-09-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

After an amzing summer in the Parking Lot The Drilling Company is attmpting to gear up for a full production this fall of C. Denby Swanson's Atomic Farmgirl. But the full production has brought up a number of issues that strike to the core of the company's identity.
Meanwhile we have the wonderful news that Jane Guyer has joined the staff as Managing Director. Jane brings a fresh original perspective to the company's outreach and activities.

Hamilton Clancy, blogger, artistic director and founder of TDC , recently logged a day of shooting on the Coen Brothers new feature film, "Burn After Reading" - look for him in the opening scene with John Malkovich.

In other news, lontme TDC Associate Artists both as an actor and photographer, Fred Anthony Marco is enjoying tremendous exposure as his musical "The Family Fiorelli" (he is the book writer) is enjoying a SOLD OUT run at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Musical also features this summer's leading man of the PArking Lot, Brad Coolidge.

Stephen Bittrich 's full length EVEN received further development at Hudson Warehouse earlier this month.

The WORKOUT Returns

2006-01-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

TheDrillingCompaNY
WORKOUT
returns

When : Feb. 18, 2006
What Time: 11am-2pm
Where: 78th Street Theatre LAb
236 West 78th Street
2 nd floor
between Amsterdam and Broadway
one block south of 79th Street Subway stop on the
1 train

RSVP to: drillingcompany@aol.com
Space is limited so be sure to reply

What's TheDrillingCompany WORKOUT?
How do actors, writers, playwrights and other theatre persons - in a word - "theatricians"start gathering to exercise their craft? How do all these different disciplines begin to come together to form one discipline that is harmonious and open to all comers - a discipline that promotes both high quality artistry and high quality acceptance of others.
Enter the WORKOUT.Begun by TheDrillingCompany well known for their theme based theatre projects, TheWorkout is an exercise of the voice, body, imagination and heart in one afternoon.
There's no charge, but $5 donation is suggested and gratefully appreciated.
the WORKOUT exists for professional theatricians: writers, actrs directors, technicians, designers -those involved in the pursuit of the highest quality in theatre -to exercise their craft and get to know one another.

Katrina, Karma, New Bradbeer, New Marco

2005-09-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

DrillingNotes for September

First and foremost. I know you're hearing about this stuff from all sides
but we're a bridge for information so here you are:
TDC actress Jane Ray, has e-mailed us about an important opportunty to volunteer
to help Katrina victims find homes. It was a much longer e-mail that I can condense into a few vital words:
Help is still desperately needed. Your time can make a difference, even a little bit of it.
Check out the website and find a place where you can pitch in
www.KatrinaHomeDrive.Org
###########################################################################

Thanks for all the replies to our recent kudos received at the
New York Inovative Theatre Awards. Great mark for
everybody - let's hope they continue. If their first
awards were a sign of what's to come, very classy and well -done.
A real showcase for independent theatre producers throughout Manhattan
(*Note - Kirkwood Bromley of Inverse Theatre Company suggested
'off-off-Broadway' be replaced by 'independent' - he noted that indie films
don't call thmeselves 'off-off--hollywood')

#######################################################################

Suzanne Bradbeer has a new show going up
down at the Sanford Meisner featuring frequent
TDC actor, Andrew Lawton. Wonderful play -
catch it if you can. It won't be fif teen bucks to
see her new plays for much longer.

Set in Hell’s Kitchen, the play follows 22 years (1919-1941) of one family’s journey through war and peace, adolescence and adulthood, from the refuge of the city below which is “The Roof”.Running until October 1st, "The Roof" performs
Wed through Sat @8pm with matinees on Saturday at 2pm and
Sunday at 3pm.
Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling 212-592-3855.
Directed by Maggie Low and written by Suzanne Bradbeer, the play performs at
The Sanford Meisner Theatre, 164 11th Ave @22nd St.

##############################################################################

We've got another DrillingCompaNY-WORKOUT on October 1 from 1 to 4.
It's a suggested $5 donation for an afternoon of getting creative enrgy
in shape. Open to all theatricians - (actor/ writer/ director/designers,/musician)
led by Tom Demenkoff who's coming down from Cornell.
The Workout will be featured up at Cornell University this fall.
There are limited slots so be sure to RSVP to this e-mail if
you think you might join us!

##################################################################################

The Karma Cookie by P. Seth Bauer
is a new play we have workshopped
with 78th Street Theatre Lab.

Originally a short play for PAPER, it's now a full length
comedy of two cockney blokes searching for
the meaning of life. We've been working on the play for the last month
and will present it drom September 29-October 8 -
Thursday - Saturday at 8 pm.

212-414-7717 for Res
$10

directed by Eric Nightengale
featuring Phillip Douglas and Hamilton Clancy
with design by Kaylenne Koval-Bauer
#######################################################################################

Photographer/sometimes TDC actor Fred Marco is offering a 10%
off deal to all TDC folks (that means you if
you're getting this e-mail).

Here's his new website:
http://www.fredmarcophotography.com/

A wonderful artist.

###############################################################

REVENGE part 2 is coming in December 3-18
with new plays from P. Seth Bauer, Molly Rice, Kate McCamey, Sheri Graubert,
Nicholas Gray, Katherine Clark-Gray featuring the direction of Richard Harden, Nancy Chu,
Kate Moloy, Hamilton Clancy and more....
###############################################################

Driller Evander Duck is appearing in a new play the Karen just
got a chance to see. She described it as outstanding
and thought we should let everyone we know hear about it!

FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL--TURTLE SHELL PRODUCTIONS HONORS HIS STORY BLUES FOR MISTER CHARLIE by James Baldwin Fifty years ago, the lynching of Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black child whose butchers walked free, opened the door to the Civil Rights Movement and justice for a persecuted population. As a tribute to the bravery of this child and his defenders, TURTLE SHELL PRODUCTIONS and its award winning team is proud to present a play inspired by and loosely based on this event which sought to give voice to Till and the many others whose voices were silenced and ignored by racism. It is as moving in 2005 as when it was first published in 1964. Blues for Mister Charlie, with its critique of social injustice and powerful depiction of how deeply the wounds of racism run, continues to speak to audiences. Produced by John W. Cooper
Directed by Brad Malow Set Design by Gino Ng Costumes by Meredith Neal
Lighting by Lance Darcy Musical Supervisor Gary Samuels
Guitarist Daniel Leanse
Cast: Marcia Berry, Michael Carlsen, Frances Chewning*, Brian Cooper*, Evander Duck, Jr.*, Mika Duncan*, Jason Drumwright, Mark Hairston, Zoey Martinson, Nia McGovern, Madalyn McKay, Matthew S. Morgan*, Bristol Pomeroy, W.D. Richardson, Jessica Taylor, Lloyd Watts, Page Hearn, Kamahl Palmer, and Justin Stevens. *Denotes AEA Members **Asst Director: Courtney Wagner, Asst. costume design: Megan Asbee
Production Asst.: Ephraim Abdelhak & Brenda Bell, Dramaturgy: Cassie Farrelly

Venue: Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre - 5 W. 63rd Street
(Entrance on 64th)
Dates: last performances this weekend
Friday, September 23....8PM
*Saturday, September ...24....8PM
*Saturday, September 24....2PM MATINEES as well
Sunday, September 25 .....7PM
Closing: Monday, September 26....7PM
Tickets $15, Students $12, Groups of 10 or more $10
Ticket info: www.smartTix.com or 212-868-4444
Proceeds from September 20th performance will be donated to The Emmett Till Scholarship Foundation

More HONOR for HONOR

2005-09-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Last night at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Greenwich Village TheDrillingCompany was 'honored' to have five nominations for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Fittingly three were in the same category - writers - for best original short script!

TheDrillingCompany artists received awards in two of the three categories in which they were nominated..

For Best Original Short Script, the nominees included:

Renee Flemings for LEGEND in Honor pt. 2
Edward Manning for TITUS LUCRTIUS CARUS in Honor Pt. 2
and P.Seth Bauer for FIRST TIME OUT OF BOUNDS in Honor pt 2

and P.Seth Bauer won the NY innovative Theatre Award for Best Original Short Script! His play will be published as part of the award.

Also

Michael Gnat was nominated for his performance in TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS for Best Featured Actor and Maria McConville was nominated for Best Actress in a play for her role in FIRST TIME OUT OF BOUNDS .

Maria won the NY Innovative Theatre Award award for best performance by an actress!
The award was presented to MAria by the incomparabel Marian Seldes. What an honor!

TDC was proud to be so strongly represented. We send a congratulations to all of last night's nominees and winners and to all of the artists who made HONOR part 2 such a wonderful evening last fall.

Still An Emergency!!!

2005-09-17T06:11:00.001-07:00

An Urgent Letter of Hope and Desperation
by Michael Moore

Friends,
Last week I closed my New York production office and sent my staff down to New Orleans to set up our own relief effort. I asked all of you to help me by sending food, materials and cash to the emergency relief center we helped set up on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain with the Veterans for Peace. We did this when the government was doing nothing and the Red Cross was still trying to get it together. Every day, every minute was critical. People were dying, poor people, black people, left like so much trash in the street. I wanted to find a way to get aid in there immediately.
I hooked up with the Vietnam veterans and Iraqi war vets (Veterans for Peace) who were organizing a guerilla, grass-roots relief effort. They were the same group that had set up Cindy Sheehan's camp in Crawford and now they had moved Camp Casey to Louisiana.
I have good news and horrible news to report. First, your response to my appeal letter was overwhelming. Within a few days, a half-million dollars was sent in through my website to fund our relief effort. This money was immediately used to buy generators, food, water, a mobile medical van, tents, satellite phones, etc.
Others of you began shipping supplies to our encampment. People in communities all over the country started organizing truck caravans to us in Louisiana. Twenty-two trucks from southern California alone have already arrived. A semi-truck from Chicago delivered ten tons of food. A group of friends in New Jersey got two 24 foot trucks, got their community to load them up with goods, and arrived in Covington tonight. Fifteen iMacs are inbound from California. One man gave us his pick-up truck and another donated truck is en route from Houston.
Your response to my appeal has been nothing short of miraculous. And it has saved many, many lives.
A number of you decided to just get in your cars and drive to our camp to volunteer to help. We now have had 150 volunteers here doing the work that needs to be done. Last night they unloaded twenty tons of food from a tractor trailer in under two hours. Each day more volunteers arrive. Everyone is sleeping on the ground or in tents. It is a remarkable sight. Thank you, all of you, for responding. I will never forget this outpouring of generosity to those forgotten by our own government.
My staff and the vets spend their 18-hour days delivering food and water throughout the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. What they have seen is appalling. I have asked them to post their daily diaries on my website (www.michaelmoore.com) along with accompanying photos and video so you can learn what is really going on. What the media is showing you is NOT the whole story. It is much, much worse and there is still little being done to bring help to those who need it.
Our group has visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places the Red Cross and FEMA haven't visited in over a week. Often our volunteers are the first relief any of these people have seen. They have no food, water or electricity. People die every day. There are no TV cameras recording this. They have started to report the spin and PR put out by the White House, the happy news that often isn't true ("Everyone gets 2,000 dollars!").
The truth is that there are dead bodies everywhere and no one is picking them up. My crew reports that in most areas there is no FEMA presence, and very little Red Cross. It's been over two weeks since the hurricane and there is simply not much being done. At this point, would you call this situation incompetence or a purposeful refusal to get real help down there?
That's why we decided not to wait. And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us. The Veterans for Peace and my staff aren't leaving (and that's why we are hoping those of you who can't get to Covington will make it to the Veterans for Peace co-sponsored anti-war demonstration in DC on September 24: www.unitedforpeace.org.)
If you want to help, here's what we need in Covington right now:
Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.Bottled WaterCanned GoodsHygiene SuppliesBaby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, PedialyteSterile GlovesBatteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.Volunteers with trucks and carsSelf contained kitchens with generators, utensils, workers
Consider sending supplies in reusable containers. List the contents on the outside of the package so the folks in the warehouse can easily sort the items.
Clothes are not needed. If you go, keep in mind that you MUST be self-sufficient. Bring a tent and a sleeping bag. People are driving to Covington from across the country and often have extra room in their cars for you or for an extra box of supplies. For more information, go to the Veterans for Peace message board: www.vfproadtrips.org/katrina/.
Send supplies via UPS to:Veterans for PeaceOmni Storage74145 Hwy. 25Covington LA
Thanks again for funding and supporting our relief efforts. It has been a bright spot in this otherwise shameful month.
Yours,Michael Mooremike@michaelmoore.com www.michaelmoore.com

Still An Emergency!!!

2005-09-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Two Paramedics First -Hand Account

2005-09-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

>Hurricane Katrina-Our Experiences
by Larry Bradshaw, Lorrie Beth Slonsky

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and managers had locked up the food, water, pampers, and prescriptions and fled the City. Outside Walgreen's windows, residents and tourists> grew increasingly> >thirsty and hungry.

The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters. There was an alternative. The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices, and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not. Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home yesterday (Saturday). We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreen's in the French Quarter. We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the "victims" of the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed, were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients> to keep them alive.> >Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators.> Refinery workers who broke> >into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their> neighbors clinging to> >their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped> hot-wire any car that> >could be found to ferry people out of the City. And> the food service> >workers who scoured the commercial kitchens> improvising communal meals for> >hundreds of those stranded.

Most of these workers had lost their homes, and had> not heard from members> >of their families, yet they stayed and provided the> only infrastructure for> >the 20% of New Orleans that was not under water.> >> >

On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left> in the hotels in the> >French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists,> conference attendees> >like ourselves, and locals who had checked into> hotels for safety and> >shelter from Katrina. Some of us had cell phone> contact with family and> >friends outside of New Orleans. We were repeatedly> told that all sorts of> >resources including the National Guard and scores> of buses were pouring in> >to the City. The buses and the other resources must> have been invisible> >because none of us had seen them. We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled> our money and came up> >with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the> last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited> water, food, and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderlyand new born babies. We waited late into the night> for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute the arrived to the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water.> Sanitation was> >dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair> increased, street crime> >as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels> turned us out and locked> >their doors, telling us that the "officials" told> us to report to the> >convention center to wait for more buses. As we> entered the center of the> >City, we finally encountered the National Guard.> The Guards told us we> >would not be allowed into the Superdome as the> City's primary shelter had> >descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole.> The guards further told> >us that the City's only other shelter, the> Convention Center, was also> >descending into chaos and squalor and that the> police were not allowing> >anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we> can't go to the only 2> >shelters in the City, what was our alternative?"> The guards told us that> >that was our problem, and no they did not have> extra water to give to us.> >This would be the start of our numerous encounters> with callous and hostile> >"law enforcement".> >> >

We walked to the police command center at Harrah's> on Canal Street and> >were told the same thing, that we were on our own,> and no they did not have> >water to give us. We now numbered several hundred.> We held a mass meeting> >to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp> outside the police command> >post. We would be plainly visible to the media and> would constitute a> >highly visible embarrassment to the City officials.> The police told us that> >we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle> in and set up camp. In> >short order, the police commander came across the> street to address our> >group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk> to the Pontchartrain> >Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge> where the police had> >buses lined up to take us out of the City. The> crowed cheered and began to> >move. We called everyone back and explained to the> commander that there had> >been lots of misinformation and wrong information> and was he sure that> >there were buses waiting for us. The commander> turned to the crowd and> >stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses> are there."> >> >We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off> for the bridge with great> >excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the> convention center, many> >locals saw our determined and optimistic group and> asked where we were> >headed. We told them about the great news. Families> immediately grabbed> >their few belongings and quickly our numbers> doubled and then doubled> >again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people> using crutches, elderly> >clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs.> We marched the 2-3 miles> >to the freeway and up the steep incline to the> Bridge. It now began to pour> >down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.> >> >

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs> formed a line across> >the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough> to speak, they began> >firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the> crowd fleeing in> >various directions. As the crowd scattered and> dissipated, a few of us> >inched forward and managed to engage some of the> sheriffs in conversation.> >We told them of our conversation with the police> commander and of the> >commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us> there were no buses> >waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to> move.> >> >We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge> anyway, especially as there> >was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They> responded that the West Bank> >was not going to become New Orleans and there would> be no Superdomes in> >their City. These were code words for if you are> poor and black, you are> >not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not> getting out of New> >Orleans.> >> >Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to> seek shelter from the> >rain under an overpass. We debated our options and> in the end decided to> >build an encampment in the middle of the> Ponchartrain Expressway on the> >center divide, between the O'Keefe and> Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we> >would be visible to everyone, we would have some> security being on an> >elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for> the arrival of the yet to> >be seen buses.> >> >All day long, we saw other families, individuals> and groups make the same> >trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the> bridge, only to be turned> >away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply> told no, others to be> >verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New> Orleaners were prevented> >and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on> foot. Meanwhile, the only> >two City shelters sank further into squalor and> disrepair. The only way> >across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers> stealing trucks, buses,> >moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be> hotwired. All were> >packed with people trying to escape the misery New> Orleans had become.> >> >Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone> stole a water delivery> >truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for> looting! A mile or so down> >the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets> of C-rations on a tight> >turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in> shopping carts. Now secure> >with the two necessities, food and water;> cooperation, community, and> >creativity flowered. We organized a clean up and> hung garbage bags from the> >rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and> cardboard. We designated a> >storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an> elaborate enclosure for> >privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other> scraps. We even> >organized a food recycling system where individuals> could swap out parts of> >C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for> kids!).> >> >This was a process we saw repeatedly in the> aftermath of Katrina. When> >individuals had to fight to find food or water, it> meant looking out for> >yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to> find water for your kids> >or food for your parents. When these basic needs> were met, people began to> >look out for each other, working together and> constructing a community.> >> >If the relief organizations had saturated the City> with food and water in> >the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the> frustration and the ugliness> >would not have set in.> >> >Flush with the necessities, we offered food and> water to passing families> >and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us.> Our encampment grew to> >80 or 90 people.> >> >From a woman with a battery powered radio we> learned that the media was> >talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway,> every relief and news> >organizations saw us on their way into the City.> Officials were being asked> >what they were going to do about all those families> living up on the> >freeway? The officials responded they were going to> take care of us. Some> >of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us"> had an ominous tone to it.> >> >Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the> sinking City) was> >correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff> showed up, jumped out of his> >patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces,> screaming, "Get off the fucking> >freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind> from its blades to blow> >away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the> sheriff loaded up his> >truck with our food and water.> >> >Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the> freeway. All the law> >enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we> congregated or congealed> >into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of> "victims" they saw> >"mob" or "riot". We felt safety in numbers. Our "we> must stay together" was> >impossible because the agencies would force us into> small atomized groups.> >> >In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and> destroyed, we scattered> >once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people,> in the dark, we sought> >refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the> freeway on Cilo Street. We> >were hiding from possible criminal elements but> equally and definitely, we> >were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their> martial law, curfew and> >shoot-to-kill policies.> >> >The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the> day, made contact with> >New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually> airlifted out by an urban> >search and rescue team. We were dropped off near> the airport and managed to> >catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young> guardsmen apologized> >for the limited response of the Louisiana guards.> They explained that a> >large section of their unit was in Iraq and that> meant they were> >shorthanded and were unable to complete all the> tasks they were assigned.> >> >We arrived at the airport on the day a massive> airlift had begun. The> >airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were> caught in a press of> >humanity as flights were delayed for several hours> while George Bush landed> >briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being> evacuated on a coast> >guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio,> Texas.> >> >There the humiliation and dehumanization of the> official relief effort> >continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a> large field where we> >were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the> buses did not have> >air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were> forced to share two> >filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed> to make it out with any> >possessions (often a few belongings in tattered> plastic bags) we were> >subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.> >> >Most of us had not eaten all day because our> C-rations had been> >confiscated at the airport because the rations set> off the metal detectors.> >Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women,> children, elderly,> >disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be> "medically screened" to make> >sure we were not carrying any communicable> diseases.> >> >This official treatment was in sharp contrast to> the warm, heart-felt> >reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We> saw one airline worker> >give her shoes to someone who was barefoot.> Strangers on the street offered> >us money and toiletries with words of welcome.> Throughout, the official> >relief effort was callous, inept, and racist. There> was more suffering than> >need be. Lives were lost that did not need to be> lost.> >> >LARRY BRADSHAW, chief steward of the Paramedic> Chapter of SEIU Local 790> >in the Bay Area, and LORRIE BETH SLONSKY, a member> of the same chapter and> >editor of the Gurney Gazette. If you google> "paramedic conference new> >orleans" you'll get lots of stories about> paramedics from all over the> >country stranded in N.O. after the hurricane hit.

The Karma Cookie is on its Way

2005-09-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Press Contact: Billie Davis / 212-414-7717/ drillingcompany@aol.com

78th Street Theatre Lab and TheDrillingCompaNY
present a workshop of P. Seth Bauer's
The Karma Cookie

Is that fortune cookie a message? Does the Dalai Lama know why the chicken crossed the road? Two brothers attempt to follow the 'laws of the universe' in P.Seth Bauer's charming new absurdist comedy, THE KARMA COOKIE . Directed by Eric Nightengale and co-produced by 78th Street Theatre Lab and TheDrillingCompaNY at 78th Street Theatre Lab , where the play will be workshopped
September 29th-October 8th.

Originally a short play penned for TheDrillingCompaNY's PAPER project, the play follows the exploits of Alistair and Barry. Their hilarious romp leads them from crypts in Westminister Abbey across the world through the maternity ward and back out again and their guides include a yellow kite and a choo-choo train. The workshop brings together two award winning companies that have been long associates, TheDrillingCompaNY, known best for its unique themed projects and 78th Street Theatre Lab, known for its history of developing new work and consistently recognized for excellence in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival .

Playwright P.Seth Bauer is nominated this year for New York Innovative Theatre's Outstanding Original Short Play for FIRST TIME OUT OF BOUNDS which was first penned for TheDrillingCompaNY's HONOR. In addition to THE KARMA COOKIE, Bauer's work includes IPHIGENIA, THE BURGLAR OF SUBURBIA, EARLY IN THE MOURNING and THE TIP . He is well known as a frequent contributor to the A Train Plays In New York his work has been presented by The New Group, Epic Theatre Center, The Lark, WorkShop Theatre Company, and Hypothetical Theatre among many others..

Director Eric Nightengale has been recognized with Edinburgh's Fringe First Award on several occasions (THE MAN IN THE FLYING LAWN CHAIR, David Mamet's THE WATER ENGINE, Paul Almman's WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY). The workshop features Hamilton Clancy, founder and artistic director of TheDrillingCompaNY and Phillip Douglas, an original DrillingCompaNY member.
Clancy has originated work by such notable authors as Will Eno, Brian Dykstra, and most recently, Neil Olson. . Phillip Douglas originated the role of Barry and has appeared in new work throughout the regions and NY, notably featured in both THE WATER ENGINE and WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY with Nightengale and 78th Street at the Edinburgh Fringe.
THE KARMA COOKIE will be workshopped at the 78th Street Theatre Lab, located at 236 West 78th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam) from September 29th through October 8th. Show times are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm. Tickets: $10.00. Reservations: 212-414-7717..

WHAT:
The Karma Cookie
By P.Seth Bauer
Directed by Eric Nightengale
Produced by 78th Street Theatre Lab and The DrillingCompaNY

SYNOPSIS:
Two working class British brothers go on a comic search for meaning
and destiny, following signs from a fortune cookie to a yellow kite.
85 minutes.

DIRECTOR:
Eric Nightengale

CAST:
Hamilton Clancy and Phillip Douglas

WHERE:
78th Street Theatre Lab
236 West 78th Street (btw. Broadway and Amsterdam)

WHEN:
September 29th-October 6th
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm

TICKETS:
$10.00
RESERVATIONS:
212-414-7717

SUBWAY INFO:
1 block south of the 1/9 at 79th Street

The Drilling Company Workourt Returns October 1 at 78th Street

2005-09-05T03:13:00.000-07:00

The Workout
How do actors, writers, playwrights and other theatre persons - in a word - "theatricians"start gathering to exercise their craft? How do all these different disciplines begin to come together to form one discipline that is harmonious and open to all comers - a discipline that promotes both high quality artistry and high quality acceptance of others.

Enter The Workout.

Begun by TheDrillingCompaNY, well known for their theme based theatre projects, TheWorkout is an exercise of the voice, body, imagination and heart in one afternoon.
There's no charge, but a $5 donation is suggested and gratefully appreciated. TheWorkout exists for professional theatricians: writers, actors directors, technicians, designers -
those involved in the pursuit of the highest quality in theatre -to exercise their craft and get to know one another.
When:
The next workout is scheduled for
October 1 from 1 to 4.
Where:
the 78th Street Theate Lab
236 West 78th Street, between Broasdway and Amsterdam
New York, NY 10024
A block from the 79th Street subway stop on the #1 line.
Let us know you're coming.
e-mail:drillingcompany@aol.com

The Workout Returns October 1

2005-09-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Workout
How do actors, writers, playwrights and other theatre persons - in a word - "theatricians"start gathering to exercise their craft? How do all these different disciplines begin to come together to form one discipline that is harmonious and open to all comers - a discipline that promotes both high quality artistry and high quality acceptance of others.Enter the Workout.
Begun by TheDrillingcompaNY, well known for their theme based theatre projects, TheWorkout is an exercise of the voice, body, imagination and heart in one afternoon.There's no charge, but $5 donation is suggested and gratefully appreciated. TheWorkout exists for professional theatricians: writers, actrs directors, technicians, designers -
those involved in the pursuit of the highest quality in theatre -to exercise their craft and get to know one another.
When:
The next workout is scheduled for
October 1st from 1 to 4.Where:
the 78th Street Theate Lab
236 West 78th Street
New York, NY 10024
1 block from the 79th Street stop on the 1.
Let us know you're coming
.e-mail drillingcompany@aol.com

August DRillNotes

2005-09-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

We’ve been absent for a month or so due to technical difficulty – computers crashing, gas leaks – the walls have trembled. But we’re back with a load of info and instead of sending out twelve of these it seemed better send one
with everything in it. So enclosed is news about some things that are going on and some things that have happened and some things that are going to happen.

And if any of the info seems too last minute, let's just say we have no control over New York power outtages.

Without further……
************************************************************************
Go See

There are two DrillingCompaNY artists with wonderful shows at
The New York International Fringe Festival.

First Dana Slamp started writing a play for our BOTH project , now two years ago, and
couldn't stop writing. The result was a full length: The Importance of Marrying Wells.
It has Slamp's signature wit, a classic turned on its head a little but just right so we can see it all brand new. She's veteran DrillingCompany director Nancy Chu at the helm
(Nancy directed last summer's 2G and most recently Ms. Santos' Medea for Revenge)
and sound design by Michael Graetzer who has captured so many of our shows with fantastic sound design it would be too many to list.
They are in the big theatre for the Fringe. Great cast! The Lucille Lortel
121 Christopher Street
Friday the 19th at 9:45pm
Saturday the 20th at 12 noon
Sunday the 21st at 5pm
Monday the 22nd at 7pm
www. whoiswells.com
212-279-4488
***********************************************************************
Okay only three performances remain but The Cross is extremely worth your attention.
Toby Wherry and Laura Strausfeld have teamed up as actor and director.
You may remember their unforgettable version of Rodes Fishburne's Gaggle for PAPER TheLateEdition, again two years ago.

Truly one of the most engaging actors we've had the pleasure of working with,
Toby is well known to anyone who has seen shows produced by
78th Street Theatre Lab ( like Kenneth What is the Frequency or Man in the Flying Lawn Chair or Mamet's The Frog Prince) . The Lab is also a producer on this one. Don't miss this really amazing work if you can help it. Toby takes the acting moment many of us have experienced - if you've ever worked as an extra - and turns it into a fantastic journey of self-discovery. It's a great hour of theatre. Here's the info:

The Cross by Toby Wherry
13th Street Repertory Company
50 West 13th Street
Friday 19 at 3:30
Saturday 20 at 5:45
Wedenesday the 24th at 8:00
for reservations call that fringe number - 212-279-4488.
go to thes page t read the blurb on the show:
http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.asp?ltr=C

************************************************************************
Gotta Brag!

Because of our furious summer activity and the above crash, I haven't had an opportunity to announce our FIVE NOMINATIONS for excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre which is being recognized by Off-Off-Broadaway's newest friend,
the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. With FIVE NOMINATIONS, The DrillingCompany was one of the most lauded companies - all for HONOR part two ( which was the only show we produced that was eligible for consideration),

Renne Flermings - Outstanding Original Short Play, "Legend"
P. Seth Bauer - Outstanding Original Short Play, "First Time Out of Bounds"
Edward Manning - Outstanding Original Short Play, "Titus Lucretius Carus"

Maria McConville - Outstanding Performance by an Actress, in P. Seth Bauer's
"First Time Out of Bounds"

Michael Gant - Best Supporting Performance by and Actor, im Edward Manning's Titus Lucretius Carus.

The awards are on September 19, 2005. For TDC, we've already decided for us it's a three way tie for Outstanding Original Short Play.

New Drillers

Actor David Sinkus (PAPER) and his wife Beth have welcomed a son, John Sinkus in to the big experiemnt, while LAurent Nahon (Dealers, HONOR pt. 2 "Pec") and wife Francine have hit double euphoria with the birth of their TWIN sons.

Coming this fall

P.Seth Bauer's The Karma Cookie (workshop production with 78th Street Theatre Lab)

The Workout returns October 1.

C.Denby Swanson's Atomic Farmgirl (reading)

REVENGE part 2 Dec3 - 18 with new plays by

Molly Rice Brenner
Kate McCamey
Nicholas Gray
Katherine Clark Gray
Rodes Fishburne
Robin Rice Lichtig
Sheri Graubert
and more......

Did you know?

DrillingCompany playwright and actor, Bruce Faulk's "Wally and the Chosen Few", first presented in BOTH was being turned into a short film this summer featuring the writer and , Dana Slamp, and Karen Kitz.

Frequent DrillingCompany contributor Kerry Logan has just completed a final cut on his first feature film, TRUE MEN, written and directed by himself with a co-story credit going to Hamilton Clancy. Film will premiere in Los Angeles this fall.

Andrew Lawton's film company Thursday Films has completed a cut of
KUWAIT by Vincent Delaney, originally a short play for TheDrillingCompany's SERVICE and now a short film and full length play . The film features
Andrew in the lead role.

Madelaine and George, Rodes Fishburne's new Revenge play , was alos featured this summer at the Strawberry One -Act Festival - it made it onto the second round but had to withdraw because of an actor

Former DrillingCompany Short Grows Up

2005-02-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

This was a short in TheDrillingCompany's
Theft in 2002.

Will also wrote
"Intermission" for
TDC's While You Wait,
in 2000 and
the full length "King"
which we read in
2002.

THEATER REVIEW New York Times

'THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING)'

Life's a Gift? Quick. Exchange It.By CHARLES ISHERWOOD Published: February 2, 2005
s there such a thing as stand-up existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it.
The name, an appealingly and appropriately quirky one that suggests a rebel warrior in a sci-fi movie, is probably not known to most New York theatergoers. The Brooklyn-based Mr. Eno has won scads of major fellowships, but the Off Broadway production of his play "Thom Pain (based on nothing)," which opened last night at the DR2 Theater in Union Square, is his first major New York production.
It surely won't be his last. Mr. Eno's play, a monologue that runs just over an hour and requires minimal stagecraft, is as unassuming in its means as it is astonishing in its impact. It's one of those treasured nights in the theater - treasured nights anywhere, for that matter - that can leave you both breathless with exhilaration and, depending on your sensitivity to meditations on the bleak and beautiful mysteries of human experience, in a puddle of tears. Also in stitches, here and there.
Speechless, in any case.
It nearly defies description, and yet invites embarrassingly vague panegyrics, the kind critics like to think they're above. Are above. Except for this one occasion. Really. So here goes: Run, don't walk. Four stars. Plus an extra. If you care about theater, blah blah blah. If you only see one show Off Broadway this season, etc.
Uh-oh. Mr. Eno's voice is so jaggedly quirky, crisp and hypnotic that it seems to have co-opted my own. Forgive the hysteria. Or the faux hysteria.
Anyway, "Thom Pain (based on nothing)" is, as noted above, a solo show. But don't turn the page just yet. Mr. Eno and his performer, the actor James Urbaniak, hereby reinvent that seemingly moribund theatrical genre. Mr. Urbaniak, a much-employed Off Broadway actor, also establishes himself as a significant artist with his sly, heartbreaking, exquisitely calibrated turn as Mr. Eno's antihero/narrator/master of ceremonies. Before going farther it's only fair to include the evening's director, Hal Brooks, among the triumphant; his work, too, is witty, sensitive and close to perfection.
The show opens with Mr. Urbaniak shuffling on stage in the dark. He lights a cigarette. Or tries to, anyway. As will soon become achingly clear, the character before us is not the kind of guy who gets things right the first time, or even the second. "Anyway. Now. I guess we begin," he begins. "Do you like magic? I don't. Enough about me. Let's get to our story."
Flashing the occasional friendly but slightly menacing smile, he gives us a picture to imagine: a little boy in a cowboy suit tracing words in a puddle on a cloudy day. A pet dog nearby. Tragedy strikes, and Mr. Urbaniak asks, in a gray monotone that over the course of the evening will seem to contain a hundred different inflections of deadpan: "When did your childhood end? How badly did you get hurt, when you did, when you were this little, when you were this wee little hurtable thing, nothing but big eyes, a heart, a few hundred words?"
Then comes the kicker, both devastating and hilarious: "Isn't it wonderful how we never recover?"
Mr. Eno's voice, or rather the voice of Thom Pain, the ostensible narrator who is also, ostensibly, that dazed and changed little boy, is alternately lyrical and affectless, ecstatic and flat, sardonic and sincere. It reflects precisely in its disorienting rhythms and colors the range of perceptions embedded in the monologue. Life is awe-inspiringly wonderful. It's entrancingly mysterious. It's utterly disappointing.
A big joke. An inscrutable journey. A bountiful gift.
But one you want to exchange for something that fits a little better around the hips.
Standup-style comic riffs and deadpan hipster banter keep interrupting a corrosively bleak narrative: Mr. Eno might be called a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.
Let's try that again, minus the conditional: Mr. Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.
The tale of a little boy's anguished journey to adulthood, and to a more thorough acquaintance with heartbreak and loneliness, is the central narrative thread of "Thom Pain," but it is continually being spliced into fourth-wall-breaking bits of business and tongue-in-cheek forays into cheesy showbiz hucksterism. ("Now I think would be a good time for the raffle.") Morsels of philosophy are juxtaposed with more pedantic observations: "It's sad, isn't it? The dead horse of a life we beat, all the wilder, all the harder the deader it gets. On the other hand, there are some nice shops in the area."
Time to stop quoting. Mr. Eno's voice is so assuredly his own, simultaneously delicate and audacious in its measurements of poetry, philosophy and Monty Pythonesque silliness, that he should be allowed to speak for himself, in full. Similarly, Mr. Urbaniak's performance is so peculiar and precise that descriptions can only be approximate. Think a miserable postal-service clerk too stuffed with irony and anomie to put up a fight against life's indignities.
Mr. Eno is speaking, with infinite compassion and wit, to the lowly clerk in all of us, or, to borrow one of his images, to anyone who has ever felt "not really outfitted for this life, not properly clothed, not enough skin." (Ecstatically happy folks had best stay home. All two of you.) Interaction with the audience is used here not as an ingratiating gimmick but in the spirit that art shouldn't be afraid to reach out and grab us by the throat, to insist that it's not there to be admired at a distance, but experienced intimately and maybe even painfully.
To sum up the more or less indescribable: "Thom Pain" is at bottom a surreal meditation on the empty promises life makes, the way experience never lives up to the weird and awesome fact of being. But it is also, in its odd, bewitching beauty, an affirmation of life's worth. A minor proof of it, even. Nearly the last words spoken by Mr. Urbaniak are as follows: "I know this wasn't much, but let it be enough." It is. A small masterpiece had better be, for heaven's sake.
P.S.: Hope I haven't gotten your hopes up.
Just kidding! Sort of.
"Thom Pain" runs through April 3 at the DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, Manhattan.

TDC Workout February 19th The Report

2005-02-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

The DrillingCompany Workout
February 19th, 2005

The Workout was attended by 18 artists among whom were Scott Baker, Gabrielle Forester, James Mc Minnamon, Victoria Trolongo, Chris Smith, Jim Tully, Katie Hawley, Phil Douglas, Robin Rice Lichtig, Nancy Saklad, Colleen Cosgrove, Tom Demenkof, Hamilton Clancy, David Douglas, Doug, Rebecca Darke, and Bill Green.

The crowded stage on the 3rd floor of 78th Street Theatre Lab was kicked off
by this week's leader, Tom Demenkoff. Nancy Saklad led a terrific Feldenkreiss workout for voice. She was followed by a series of Workout Exercises - three-line, single word, no words and others. The theme for this workour was UNCLE and the grab bag features some very memorable moments.

An uncle from Florida in sungalsses who taught someone's sister how to misbehave...
an uncle with loud expressions who spent to much, especially on hair oil for little girls to grow their hair...an uncle who gave his niece an orange cape she could never wear, an uncle who taught his future boxing nephew what boxing was all about with one punch, an uncle who taught his nephew all about racism in a single gesture, a little boy who just said, "it's 2:30,, an uncle who taught his nephews that being gay was okay, an uncle who made his nieces and nephews laugh when no one else woulf, an uncle who whispered, when he loses his confidence he starts to lose" during Rocky 4 and left a message that would last a long time, an uncle with a stutter who taught his nephew that you live for a long time just before you think you're going to die - that in Las Vegas th-th-they s-ss-leep during and at night we ROOLLL, an uncle who plays video games with his nephews just his uncle played the same games with him, an uncle who gave his nephew the stright story about the story of his life, a competitive uncle who collected knives for his nephews, an uncle in a Naval uniform who had to sleep where he would have preferred not,
uncle Boris who changed his name to Bob, and uncle whose flask and a pack of cigarettes wound up in a very symbolic place, and an uncle Ed who said his name in a gruff voice.

it was an amazingly wonderful afternoon. The images that rolled out all afternoon were enough to fill a poet's notebook for years. It was an extraordinary afternoon for all.

In Memoriam Arthur Miller

2005-02-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

And that is the glamour of the theatre. And it is enough once discovered, to make people stay with the theatre and for others to come seeking it. For underneath our shiny fronts of stone, our fascination with gadgets and our new toys that can blow the earth into a million stars, we are still outside the doorway through which the great answers wait. Not all the cameras in Christendom nor all the tricky lights will move us one step closer to a better understanding of ourselves, but only, as it always was, the truly written word, the profoundly felt gesture, the naked and direct contemplation of man which is the enduring glamour of the stage.

Arthur Miller
January
1955

his heart
will be
greatly
missed.

PEACE IS OUR CHOICE - March 19

2005-02-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

TheDrilingCompany
presents

PEACE IS OUR CHOICE

a celebration and call to peace
a collection of plays, poems, essays, & songs

When : Saturday, March 19, 2005. 8pm
Where: 78th Street theatre Lab
How Much: Free - but a donation of $5 is suggested

78th Street Theate Lab is located at
236 West 78th Streeet
Between Amsterdam and Columbus
just one block South of the 1/9 Subway stop at 79th Street.

Join us for an evening of moving and entertaining protest.

212-414-7717
http://www.drillingcompany.org/

peace,Hamilton Clancy, AD

TheDrillingCompany

bringing artists together since 1999

212-229--8310

107 West 82nd Street Suite 1A

New York,NY 10024-5535

2005-02-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

Begun by TheDrillingcompaNY, well known for their theme based theatre projects, TheWorkout is an exercise of the voice, body, imagination and heart in one afternoon.
There's no charge, but $5 donation is suggested and gratefully appreciated. TheWorkout exists for professional theatricians: writers, actrs directors, technicians, designers -

those involved in the pursuit of the highest quality in theatre -
to exercise their craft and get to know one another.

When:

The next workout is scheduled for

February 19th from 12 to 3.
Where:

the 78th Street Theate Lab
236 West 78th Street
New York, NY 10024
1 block from the 79th Street stop on the 1/9
Let us know you're coming.
e-mail
drillingcompany@aol.com

not sure? let us know and we'll relay the e-mail of some who have enjoyed the Workout and come back for.

An Interview with Hamilton Clancy

2005-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Plays and Playwrights 2005
www.nytheatre.com

Hamilton Clancy, artistic director of TheDrillingCompany
and conciever of
Honor
by

Don Carter, Brian Dykstra, Andrea Moon, Scott Baker,
Allison Moore, Stephen Bittrich,
Joanna Cherensky

Plays and Playwrights 2005 will be released in February 2005. In advance of publication we invite you to read a q&a with each of the authors.

First of all, let me congratulate you. You have recently become a father. How's it going so far?

Well, having a new baby is a continual discovery of how best to nurture new work. It’s a tremendous time challenge and an interesting balancing act for my wife and I. This makes sharing the stage a piece of cake. We’re very fortunate that our son is extremely healthy and happy. I mean he seems willing to spend time with anybody and he’s got a smile for each one of them.

What are some of the more notable changes fatherhood has made in your career thus far?

The most notable change is having something that actually competes with your heart. My wife and I have always been able to adapt our relationships to out of town jobs, but suddenly I find myself planning not to go out of town because I want to see him grow. It’s like living with a mini-series you can’t miss an episode of. TIVO doesn’t work for this. You’re either there or you’re not.

Okay, now on to business. You are the Artistic Director of TheDrillingCompaNY. What is the origin and significance of the company's name?

Well there are two stories. First is I thought it would be a good name for a company that was searching for the best new plays and playwrights in America. I thought I would aptly capture what we literally have to do – drill. August Wilson suggested that the way to develop playwrights was to do the first five plays that they write. Economically that’s hard to do for full length plays, but with shorts it’s a way we can really support writers we embrace.

Then secondly, my grandfather started an offshore oil drilling company. When I was a young boy I used to hear it referred to all the time. The company was sold long ago when I was young, but I received a windfall that helped me get started in New York. By the time I founded the company, none of it was left. It had all been spent over the years as a performer during low periods of employment. All I had left was the vast network of artistic contacts my life in the arts had earned me. I figured it was appropriate to name the theatre company after the company my grandfather started. I don’t think he ever would have imagined his grandson doing what we do.

According to the company bio, TheDrillingCompaNY "is based on jazz. The collection of many voices around a common universal theme, or melody, as a springboard for the expression of the individual." That's a very evocative image: theater as jazz, and jazz inspiring theater. How did this idea come about?

Well, it was mostly a translation of what I observed happening and what occurred to me was the great potential of the idea of inviting playwrights to write around a single theme: to create a new form altogether. After we began with this idea of inviting writers to work around a common theme, I was fascinated by the conflicts that emerged when you brought so many artists together. There were some good plays being written but I was most attracted to the nature of the arguments over how to do them. “How are we all going to get along?” I used to wonder. The whole thing was a giant exercise in peace making. Wynton Marsalis has referred to jazz as “a musical argument that comes to some conclusion.”
Before starting the company I had spent time in jazz clubs and noticed that jazz musicians were great storytellers and frequently invoked a sacredness when referring to great musicians. I often thought they all seemed like actors, they took their business so seriously. I had heard of other companies doing projects that were theme centered but I had yet to hear of anyone that made it their central mission. I had some experience leading visitors to New York around as a part time tour guide and I noticed that people wanted to go to theatre that had something in it that they could recognize. I became aware of a movement in theatre to bring theatre back to the audience by making theatre that the audience recognized their relationship to. It all seemed like what was happening in jazz music.

I listened to a lot of jazz and was inspired by other theatricians, (that’s a word I’ve coined to describe people in the theatre today – they often do a little of everything, not unlike electricians who can execute many different tasks related to electrical wiring. Since we’re not limited to one role in the theatre anymore we need a new word – theatrician) who respond to jazz music – director, Wynn Handman and playwrights like [Sam] Shepherd. To me it was essentially the most democratic form of music around, combining form and the freedom of improvisation. Jazz music was essentially the most American form of music.

I assume, then, that you're a jazz fan. Any favorites?

Sonny Rollins was the first jazz artist I ever heard and understood. Wynton Marsalis and I are both from New Orleans and as it would happen, the same age. A good friend of mine played in high school band with him. I never understood why my friend never made first trumpet until I went away to college and ran across an album with his name on it in a record store. So, naturally, I’m a fan of Marsalis, not only as a player but also how he has changed the art form of jazz. He has placed in an entirely different arena than his forerunners could have ever foreseen.

Most of the other guys I like have all passed away, Coltrane, Parker, Mingus.

What inspired you to start your own theater company in the first place?

Well, my wife suggested it when we were on a date before we ever got married. I tell the story in the book so I won’t ruin it here. But, Karen Kitz would certainly be my first answer. When we began it was very clear to me that there were not enough theatres that were really bringing people of diversity together. I was very naive at the time. I didn’t understand the difficulty of what occurred to me to do. It seemed that there needed to be new investment in bringing people together across demographic boundaries.

I thought the biggest problem that was developing in the world was that people didn’t know enough about one another. I would go to the theatre with my wife, who happens to be African American. If the play was targeted for a black audience the audience was primarily black. If it was for a white audience, as most theatre is deliberately, the audience was primarily white. Everyone talked about “who’s your audience?” when I first began and they still do.It seemed to me that we needed to commit ourselves to bring people from a lot of diversity, not just racial, together.

I had thought of starting theatre companies before I had just never come up with a better reason than self promotion. It always seemed to me if you didn’t have really good reason to start a company, why do it.What I’ve learned since then is that bringing people of diversity together is something we need to be much better at. The obstacles to doing so are sometimes greater than we can overcome. But we’re still trying.

Finally, I thought the whole thing was a catchy idea. After leaving the Signature one night it occurred to me that a young actor who I had done summer stock with when he was still in college had done quite well for himself. He came to the Signature and was one their first managing directors. I thought the key to a good theatre company like the key to a good play was to have a hook that you stuck with. When we began I thought, well the only other theatre doing short plays is EST and they use stars. We’ll have no trouble being immediately recognized. As with most good ideas in the arts, no one person corners the market. There were several I didn’t know about at the time and of course many have followed, not necessarily in our foot steps but along the same path you might say.

What was the process of putting HONOR together like? Why did you select that particular theme? And how did you select the writers you commissioned?

Unlike some of our themed evenings, as soon as this one occurred I knew it was right and never questioned it. My wife mentioned something in the fall about someone being ‘honored’ for something and the word sounded in my head like a gong. It occurred to me that the word was fraught with dilemma at the time and still is. From my point of view, soldiers were dying honorable deaths in a war that was perpetrated on a “dishonorable” war. The President seemed to be borrowing the “honor” of the dead soldiers to cloak his actions.

Then it occurred to me how fascinated we were with awards shows and benefits. Giving people honor had come to be a big market. Honor was a commodity that was now for sale.
Themes come around. We have workshops now where we explore themes with actors in something we call TheDrillingCompaNY Workout. Sometimes audience members suggest them. We seek themes that will open writes up to a wide variety of responses. We want the plays to be as different as possible while sharing this common thread. For myself, you sort of date them in your head, bounce them off fellow artists who act like your family and tell you whether to get married or not and then finally you just jump and say “Let’s spend a lot of time wondering about this.”

You run TheDrillingCompaNY with your wife. How do you two balance the dynamic of living and working together?

We talk a great deal. She has stepped back a bit since the baby was born. She has very sharp eye that usually gives voice to something that I can’t see. We keep the business of our family between ourselves. I think that’s very helpful. The truth: this is an absolutely crazy thing to do. We have not found the “balanced” way to pull it off. When shows are on and the moments are happening onstage there is a wonderful pay off, but the amount of focus and energy required to bring even the small things off constantly has us evaluating our roles and trying to find strategies that serve both our needs and the needs of the company.

I listen to her, but it’s more selfish than any thing else. She has most of the best ideas and allows me to assume credit for them. She’ll laugh when she reads that but it’s true. We take great stock and comfort in the web of incredible artists that have joined us in the past. Really wonderful people. By their presence they remind us that what we do has meaning. It’s an indescribable benefit. My wife is a realistic dreamer and I am a pragmatic optimist. Other ingredients: lots of patience, flexibility, faith.

Whenever we can we try to see good theatre together – if we’re not making some we should be seeing some – when you see good theatre together it’s a reminder of why we’ve made these choices.

TheDrillingCompaNY is five-and-a-half years old now. What have you learned about running a theater company in that time?

Okay, that’s a book but I’ll try to sum up a few things that stick out:
• “If you build it they will come” is a phrase in the movie Field of Dreams –nobody uses it in show business these days. If you build it they want to know exactly who you think is going to plunk down some money to see it. So figure it out and be honest about it. That’s a good place to start.
• At the same time, it’s all about the work you do. All of your energy should be devoted to making it as special as possible, when it’s not devoted to everything else.
• The Catch 22 – No one will come to see your work unless you have a reputation, and your reputation is based on the people who come see your work.
• #2 Catch 22 – Our foundation invites persons to make applications for funding. To get an invitation to apply for funding you must come up on our radar and to come up on our radar you must be doing work that is funded by others.
• #3 Catch 22 – You cannot apply for funding for general operating support unless you have a paid administrative staff, and you cannot pay your staff unless you receive funding for general operating support.
• General Operating support is understood to refer to the miscellaneous costs of administration. It’s a grant-speak term.
• Respect those who have gone before you. They have paved a way you might enjoy walking behind them on.
• The person who makes the contact sheet is the person in charge.
• Save contact sheets.
• Never take chances on stage managers.
• If you treat actors like stars they are more likely to deliver performances of that caliber.
• Always ask a writer’s permission before relaying their work to anyone else, no matter what the reason.
• Theatre companies turn over every four years or so: if you’ve been a running a company for four years or so, the fifth and sixth can be the toughest to continue.
• People in the press want to write about something they think people will read about – that’s their job. Yours is to give them something that people will read about, if you want them to write about you.
• In not-for-profit theatre, the process you use to discover the work is just as important as the end product itself. Put another way, it doesn’t matter if it’s good if you can’t tell a story about how it got that way. Process process process.
• If you have very little money, spend more of it on tech.
• If you have no money to spend on publicity you will have to spend a lot of time. If you have not a lot of time to spend on publicity you will get less of it. That’s the reality of New York.
• The professional artistic community in New York, both off and off-off Broadway can be very segregated. If we want diversity in our audiences we have to start by filling our lives as artists with true diversity.
• You don’t often get somethin’ for nothin’ – so be prepared to be flexible if you want to do business.
• IMPORTANT: Hiring a publicist does not guarantee you coverage. Strategic producing merits that.
• Pay yourself.
• Don’t start a company and think you’re going to be like Steppenwolf. They already happened.
• Producing in April or May is a bad idea if you want media coverage in New York.
• The only advice worth taking is to do the best work you possibly can. Everything will come if the work is truly original and well presented.
• Your board comes from people who see the work you do.
• If you build it they will come.

Are you one of those rare (and lucky) individuals who make a living running their own company?

No I’m not. I make a living as a performer. Obviously I would like to draw something more than the occasional travel compensation for projects. The company has created a number of revenue opportunities for myself and many of the artists who have worked with us, but our operating budget is still too small to accommodate a full time salary.

Between the responsibilities of both the company and your family, do you ever get to see any theater?

As I mentioned before, it’s tough. We seem to have three tiers of theatre going these days: 1) Colleague Motivated – an artistic colleague or friend is in a show. 2) Company business 3) “I just like it” – theatregoing.

What was the last thing you saw in the theater that really knocked you out?

I am a big fan of the latest August Wilson play, Gem of the Ocean – there are some wonderful performances and I believe it’s his best play in some time. I believe the only language that holds an audience in the theatre is what my mentor, Wynn Handman, calls theatrically charged language. August Wilson is one of the only new playwrights you hear on Broadway with such charged poetic language.

You're originally from New Orleans. Has your Southern upbringing shaped or influenced you in any particular ways?

Well, I was brought up in a very racially divided town during a time of great racial division. My parents happened to have joined the Civil Rights movement early, but I think growing up in an area where conflict about race was regularly discussed, shaped me to be very conscious of how such things push people apart.

How long have you lived in New York? Did you experience any culture shock when you first arrived here?

I’ve lived here since the fall of 1990 when I moved up with others from Baltimore where I had been working in dinner theatre after a short stint in the Old Globe’s M.F.A. program. I will always remember the first six months of living in New York. A little like I hope I’ll always remember the first six months of having a son. Both journeys had a lot of similar qualities: I got lost a lot, I walked everywhere in lieu of taking the subway in which I would always get lost, everywhere I went I seemed to bump into famous people. I think famous people are actually tourist attractions in New York. It’s part of the untold price of fame- you literally become some kind of living statue that visitors come to New York, recognize and feel special about seeing. There was a lot of that in the first six months then everything settled down. Since I had been up east for college I wasn’t shocked by the big city, but living here was still daunting. Everyday was some kind of story or adventure. Not many places that can give you that. I believe it’s even more difficult now to begin in New York. The competition for survival work is daunting.

Who are your biggest influences, theatrically speaking?

My biggest influences are Wynn Handman, Peter Brook, Arthur Miller, and Joseph Papp. Handman is a mentor, both as an actor and theatre director. The kind of plays he brought to life at The American Place Theatre are the kind of plays I hope TheDrillingCompaNY will be a place for in the future. He championed playwrights who did not fit into the mainstream of American theatre. His organic way of working with actors, his integration of different styles of acting for different styles of writing and his passionate embrace of plays with a strong voice underneath are all inspirations. Peter Brook has a way of building theatre in which all artists are integrated in the building of the production almost from start to finish. His ideas of what theatre is and why we do it have always awakened my choices.
Arthur Miller, besides writing several plays I believe are glorious, once wrote an article called, “The Lure of the Theatre”. I keep it close to me. It has always inspired me and reminded me why I chose to be in the theatre.Joe Papp was a magnifier and a maximizer. He maximized the talents of those around him and he magnified the attention brought to the artists he worked with. I hope to accomplish both in our work.

What book(s) are you currently reading?

The Path is the Goal by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It’s a book about meditation which is wonderful reading.

Is there anything you haven't done yet that you'd like to do?

Repertory presentation of some of our full length plays that have emerged from these shorts.
Pay actors a good salary.
Broadway as an actor.
Meet Arthur Miller.
A television series regular.
Featured roles in feature films.
Cyrano.
Richard III.
Trigorin.
The Scottish Guy.
Jamey.
Go to Edinburgh with a show.
Ride one of our shows to an Off-Broadway run or see it adapted as a film.
I always wanted to play P.T. Barnum in Barnum the musical. My wife says I don’t have to play that part now. It plays me.
Take my wife to Antarctica. She’s always wanted to go and she’s the person I know who is most fun to travel with.

The Workout

2005-01-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Workout

How do actors, writers, playwrights nad other theatre persons - in a word - "theatricians"

start gathering to exercise their craft? How do all these different disciplines begin to come together to form one discipline that is harmonious and open to all comers - a discipline that promotes both high quality artistry and high quality acceptance of others.

Enter the Workout. Begun by TheDrillingcompaNY, well known for their theme based theatre projects, TheWorkout is an exercise of the voice, body, imagination and heart in one afternoon.

There's no charge, but donations are gratefully accepted. TheWorkout exists for professional theatricians - those involved in the pursuit of the highest quality in theatre -

to exercise their craft and get to know one another.

When: The next workout is scheduled for January 15th from 12 to 3.

Where: the 78th Street Theate Lab

236 West 78th Street

New York, NY 10024

1 block from the 79th Street stop on the 1/9

Let us know you're coming.

e-mail

drillingcompany@aol.com

PEACE IS OUR CHOICE

2005-01-05T05:56:00.000-08:00

Peace Is Our Choice

On January 30, 2005 between 7 and 8:30 PEACE IS OUR CHOICE- an evening of poems, plays, and songs will be presented by TheDrillingCompaNY .

Originally presented on March 2, 2003 in response to the proposd invasion of Iraq

PEACE IS OUR CHOICE returns in response to the continued violence and the “free” elections being held there on this day. It is the beginning of a conversation through written, found and sung word on the nature of peace. We have asked writers to compose new work around the question: What is peace? The evening includes the Dialogue Project, an attempt in the aftermath of the election to initiate a conversation rather than a debate.

January 30th

7:00 – 8:30

78th Street Theatre Lab

236 West 78th Street

free.

thought provoking.

community building.

contribute your presence

if you can.

let us know you're coming with an e-mail, http://www.drillingcompany.org

(followthe building blocks to contact us) or call

212-414-7717

Hamilton Clancy, AD

TheDrillingCompany

bringing artists together since 1999

107 West 82nd Street Suite 1ANew York,NY 10024-5535

http://www.drillingcompany.org/drillingcompany@aol.com