And we’re off!  The Colorado New Play Summit has officially begun.  First on the agenda tonight was a performance of the world premiere production of When Tang Met Laika, a play by Rogelio Martinez read at the Summit last year.  Because it takes place largely on the International Space Station, the play has a lot of interesting technological elements (video projections, turntables, moving scenery, etc), but they don’t distract from Rogelio’s compelling story.   The audience loved the show;  Actor Ian Merrill Peakes, who plays Patrick, said “The show was great tonight, we had a full house of smart, savy theatre-goers.  It was awesome.”

 

Before the performance, Charlie Miller had a chance to hear from Artistic Director Kent Thompson and playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez:

 

After returning from their (theatrical) journey to space, festival attendees went up to the Seawell Grand Ballroom for the Opening Reception.  DCTC Artistic Director Kent Thompson gave a brief welcome to the enthusiastic crowd and mingling ensued.   At the reception, Charlie chatted with several theatre professionals about When Tang Met Laika:

That’s all for today – check back tomorrow for the next daily recap of the Summit.

Popularity: 17% [?]

It’s Groundhog Day AND the first Tuesday of February,  which means it’s time for a new episode of “10 Minutes to Curtain”!

 

This month, Charlie explains why he’s only had time to make 2.5 Minutes to Curtain (hint: it has to do with his work on the new production of When Tang Met Laika). Then, get an exclusive backstage tour of The Denver Center’s Space and Stage theatres, home to the world premiere productions of WHEN TANG MET LAIKA and EVENTIDE. And don’t forget to tune in next week for live video blogs from the 5th Annual Colorado New Play Summit.

Popularity: 22% [?]

By Amy Hartman, Assistant Projection Designer and Video Operator for When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

Hi everyone!  Amy Hartman here, Assistant Projection Designer and Video Operator for WHEN TANG MET LAIKA. Last week we started tech rehearsals for the show.  This is one of the most “tech-heavy” show the Denver Center Theatre Company has ever produced!  Here is a recap of our second tech day:

5:52pm

8 minutes ’til we resume work. Crew all seems happy and well fed as they trickle in from dinner break. Ronnie just said he made “good” coffee. Must go investigate this claim.

5:56pm

Ronnie has indeed made “good” coffee. The set all of a sudden looks much more colorful.

6:04pm

And we’re back…

6:31pm

Running the retirement community scene. Having some technical difficulties involving a shuffle board mat. The seagull sounds and palm tree projections make it seem very tropical here in The Space Theatre. There is a cabinet filled with board games, which makes me wonder, when

was the last time I played Battleship? If I have to ask, it was probably too long ago.

6:55pm

And just like that, it’s winter again. Running the Moscow scene; the lights and video are chilling.

7:19pm

The amount of technology in this show really is amazing. Pallets on, pallets off, lights, videos, sounds and music. Our stage manager Christi has her work cut out for her keeping up with all of it. And it’s her birthday! Happy birthday, Christi! Maybe she’ll get a birthday surprise, later on…

7:29pm

Everyone is singing along to Frank’s “Fly Me To The Moon” during our first 10-minute break. Awesome.

7:32pm

Just finished some delicious shortbread from Backstage Coffee. I highly recommend trying it.

7:52pm

…let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars….

8:02pm

Ward Duffy, who plays Yuri Gagarin, keeps barking. Well, his vest does. Have I mentioned how high tech this show is? I mean, there is a barking vest! How awesome is that?

8:27pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTI! We just had a cake rise on the elevator during the first International Space Station (ISS) scene, accompanied with a custom projection. She was so surprised. Too bad we have 2- minutes until our next 10-minute break to eat cake.

9:08pm

Cake was delightful.

9:14pm

In the first ISS scene, there are 32 separate cues — for a four-page scene. That’s impressive.

9:50pm

The space station looks incredible. Every detail is spot on! If I didn’t know better I would think we had real astronauts not actors. The revolving stage floor does a great job giving off that zero gravity feel. Clever effect.

10:14pm

Of course, the revolves do make finding your entrances and exits tricky. And catching up to your fellow actors. This whole show is an exercise in extreme blocking. The weak of heart need not audition.

10:37pm

Eleven and a half hours into a 10 out of 12: That’s when the crew starts getting giddy…and starts playing on the revolves. At least were all in good spirits.

10:52pm

And now it’s an all out dance party. WOOOO! Fortunately for all of us, it’s in the script. Charles McCloud did a bang up job making it feel like a real club in here.

11:03pm

Just broke for the day. Now notes and off to sleep. Tech day two — overwhelming success.

Popularity: 25% [?]

By Megan Byrne, actress in When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

The “tang” in our play title WHEN TANG MET LAIKA refers to Kraft’s orange-flavored soft drink, not the Chinese dynasty as some have thought. In 1965, NASA began using Tang on the Gemini flights. Subsequently, the general public came to associate the beverage with astronauts. NASA stopped serving Tang in space after the Gemini program. However for Americans of a certain generation, including President Obama, Tang will forever be thought of as the astronaut drink. In March 2009, while on a video conference with the orbiting crew of space shuttle Discovery, the President jokingly asked “Do you guys still drink Tang up there?”

 
Growing up, I also thought of Tang as the astronaut drink. It wasn’t until I began working on this play that I was introduced to some of the non-beverage uses for the orange powder. I play Samantha, wife of astronaut Patrick Norman. Sam makes Tang pie in the play. The key ingredient is, you guessed it, Tang. The pie tastes a bit like a creamsicle to me, but you should try it for yourself. Here’s the recipe:

 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Tang orange drink powder
8 oz. sour cream
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 graham cracker pie crusts

 

Preparation:
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into the two pie crusts. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving. Bon appétit!

 

Tang is not just for consumption. Apparently you can also use Tang to clean discoloration and scale from your dishwasher. Add one half container of Tang to your detergent and run a regular cycle. The citric acid present in the mixture helps to loosen up the hard water deposits and remove scale from your dishwasher. I admit I myself haven’t tried this out, but some people swear by it.

 

So the next time you are at the supermarket, you might want to consider heading down the powdered drinks aisle and throwing a container of Tang into your cart. Could come in handy. You never know when you might get the urge to whip up some Tang pie, clean your dishwasher or mix up a drink for an astronaut.

Popularity: 45% [?]

By Terrence J. Nolan, Director of When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

Playwright Alan Bennett has said that “theatre is often at its most absorbing when it’s school.” The same holds true for making theatre. One of the great joys of directing is the opportunity it affords to continually enter new worlds – to be surrounded by teachers who generously share their knowledge and experience. I have discovered that I am my best as a director not when I tell people what to do, but when I listen for it is then that I learn. And there is much I have had to learn to direct the world premiere production of Rogelio Martinez’ WHEN TANG MET LAIKA.

 

When Tang Met Laika tells the story of the US and Russia’s cooperative efforts to build the International Space Station. It is also a fantasia, jumping from space to earth and back again. As you might have heard, there is a dog — and several other surprises.

 

We have been fortunate to have a team of teachers helping us find our way: Dramaturg Doug Langworthy provided extensive research so that we better understood the political and historical context in which this story is told; Russian Language Consultant Maria Pakulova and Dialect Coach Kathy Maes made sure we understood what we are saying and how it should be said; Video Designer Charlie Miller, with tremendous assistance from NASA, helped us visualize life in space; and astronaut Bruce McCandless shared with us what it is like to be an astronaut and, most importantly, put us in touch with the authentic. In addition, we have had an extraordinary team of stage managers and artisans and technicians and assistants (our own Mission Control) to ensure that we can successfully launch this amazing new play. The Denver Center knows how to make school fun.

 

I live in Philadelphia where I am the Artistic Director of the Arden Theatre Company. My wife and two boys, Liam and Flynn, came to visit during rehearsals. (While Amy was here, she helped train Paul, our dog. Another teacher.) Liam and Flynn are 10 and 6, so a plane ride to Denver and staying in a new place was a grand adventure. We saw the fireworks on the 16^th Street Mall on New Year’s Eve. We ate at Sam’s (the boys’ favorite). One beautiful day we went up into the Rockies. But the highlight of the trip was a visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science where Liam and Flynn discovered Space Odyssey.

 

Space Odyssey is an exhibition that celebrates space exploration. It is When Tang Met Laika brought to life. There is a display of the International Space Station where you can dock the space shuttle. There is a room in which kids can get dressed up as astronauts and sit behind the control panels of the shuttle. Overlooking the exhibition is an astronaut wearing a replica of the Manned Maneuvering Unit that Bruce McCandless wore when he made the first, untethered space walk. How amazing to look up at that astronaut and say to my boys, “I met this man.” How amazing to see my sons sit behind the shuttle controls — dressed in blue NASA jumpsuits — and “pilot” the shuttle (though the jargon Flynn used was more Star Wars than NASA). How amazing to be in school with my family here in Denver.

 

I was Flynn’s age when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon. My parents woke us up so that we could watch the live coverage on TV. I remember gathering together late that night, dressed in our pajamas, watching the black and white images of Neil Armstrong taking those first steps. There is a mystery to space, a sense of possibility. Rogelio Martinez’s play has awakened in me a renewed fascination for this mystery.

 

I thank Rogelio for this great adventure — and all the teachers who have made it seem possible.

Popularity: 27% [?]

It’s George Washington’s 251^st wedding anniversary AND the first Tuesday of January, which means it’s time for a new episode of “10 Minutes to Curtain”

 

The Denver Center celebrates the New Year with the opening of two world premiere productions; this month, Charlie gives you a behind-the-scenes look at both shows. Meet NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, who talks with the cast of WHEN TANG MET LAIKA about life in zero gravity, and hear from the cast and creative team of EVENTIDE as they revisit familiar characters. Then, look back on five years of the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT and don’t miss the auditions for the coveted role of Laika the dog.

Popularity: 14% [?]

By Richard Thieriot, actor in When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

My name is Richard Thieriot and I’m playing The Young Communist (retired) in the world premiere production of WHEN TANG MET LAIKA I was part of the first reading of the play at Perry Mansfield right after I finished my degree at the National Theatre Conservatory (2008). The play has changed and grown a great deal since that first reading. I’ve never worked with a writer who is as active in changing and editing a script as Rogelio Martinez; he has given us a stack of new pages every day since began this rehearsal period on Monday the 14th. An actor gets to watch performances and themes develop in all rehearsal processes but it is a rare treat to watch the actual script change shape and evolve every day. Terry Nolen, our director, has put together an awesome group of actors for this play as well. I sit back during most of the read-throughs and just watch my cast-mates tell this story. They make me forget where I am. Just awesome.

 

A great deal of the play takes place in space and we’ve been researching the space race a great deal and talking about it. Last week, we had a real life astronaut come into the rehearsal and tell us about his experience in space. Bruce McCandless went on two expeditions in a Nasa orbiter totaling fourteen days in space. He looks pretty unassuming, just a quiet older guy with a bit of a Texas accent, but the stories he had about his life were unbelievable. He was the first man to do an untethered space walk (which means he was just floating around in space with nothing attaching him to the spacecraft). I’ve been on boats far from land and it was enough to make me nervous. FLOATING FREE IN SPACE! It’s a real stretch for me to conceive of being calm doing what Bruce did. He was absolutely calm in talking about it though and said he wasn’t that scared when he did it. I feel brave jay-walking in Denver.

Popularity: 100% [?]

It’s World AIDS Day AND the first Tuesday of December, which means it’s time for a new episode of “10 Minutes to Curtain”!

 
With Thanksgiving past and the holiday season upon us, one thing is certain at The Denver Center: A CHRISTMAS CAROL is up and running. Charlie goes backstage to talk with some actors about the real drama in the production, then climbs up to the catwalks to give you an exclusive birds-eye-view of the complicated scene changes in ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR. Then, join Ann Kron for a tour of her living room on the WELL set and learn about the upcoming world premiere productions of EVENTIDE and WHEN TANG MET LAIKA.

Popularity: 28% [?]