News
Another “Four Actors” review at watchingthetide.com!
Posted February 19, 2013 | View Post
By Carly Sletten
“I have always loved going to the theater. I love the passion in the lines, the swelling of the orchestra, and the colorfulness of the costumes. That being said, I am well aware that going to the theater isn’t always something twenty-somethings find stimulating (or affordable) and needless to say there has been many a play that has bored me to tears. Minneapolis’ own Ghostbridge Theater’s latest production, however, throws all of the above notions out the window.
“Four Actors in Search of a Moment” is a production that is both thought provoking as well as pretty darn funny! The idea behind the production is the line that actors dance across when juggling the role they play on stage and their true selves. Four actors start out fully immersed in the characters they play. As they move forward, they slowly become aware that they are not just acting parts on stage, but real people with thoughts, relationships and feelings of their own.
Full of wild dancing, whoops and hollering as well as sharp-witted lines that invoke both thought and laughter, this play was more than enjoyable. Local band The Poor Nobody’s provide an understated soundtrack. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, “Four Actors in Search of a Moment” is unlike any theater production I have ever seen and it kept me on my toes every second!
Come by early at 9 pm for music by The Poor Nobody’s and enjoy a complementary glass of wine! Tickets are only $12 so this makes for a great night out with friends or an inexpensive date night with that special someone. Either way it’s a unique experience so check it out! Maybe it’s just the “moment” you’ve been looking for. Enjoy!”
Audience review of “Four Actors”
Posted February 19, 2013 | View Post
Paul Herwig (co-artistic director of Off-Leash Area in Minneapolis) liked our show so much, he wanted to write about it! Thanks, Paul!
“Saw a wonderful show by a pretty new company, Ghostbridge Theatre, called Four Actors in Search of a Moment, a rather dry title for what was a super playful, witty, comically absurd play about role playing and an honesty-vs-fakery struggle that’s reflected in both life and art.
Kudos to the four actors (and dancer, my wife and ever generous performer Jennifer Hupfer Ilse) for pulling it off and avoiding the many “actors talking about how hard it is to be an actor” traps laid throughout the script.
After the pre-show Warholian (though unnecessary) video, there are the great sweeps of physical staging by “Movement Director” Jennifer Ilse and the super-charged but controlled playfulness of the well-cast quartet of actors, and the artistic voice of playwright Jeff Nichols, which has an emerging and distinct style well beyond what one usually gets in script driven theater that’s more concerned with teaching us about a social issue than exploring the unexplainable (and that’s art, mes copains!).
Could Jeff be the new Richard Foreman of Minneapolis (minus the props ;0) ? !!!!!
Really a wonderful show – go see it!”
Feature Article in MN Daily…
Posted February 19, 2013 | View Post
See full article and pictures here
By Joe Kellen
“Fallout Arts is getting the full aural treatment. Endless amounts of noise have been reverberating inside the space this week: the howl of orangutans, the scurrying stutter step of squirrels and a three-piece band named The Poor Nobody’s underscoring it all. Sound chaotic? That’s because it is, and it’s only a warmup in an average rehearsal of “Four Actors in Search of a Moment.”
The ensemble of Ghostbridge Theatre’s premiere of the surreal journey has taken on a dreamlike aesthetic in their exercises. This cast has done everything from rampaging around their rehearsal room in the roar of noisemakers and wild shouting to transforming their characters into untamed animals in order to discover the rhythm of the contemplative, absurd comedy.
“I want to see how many different ways I can come at the audience from an unexpected angle,” playwright and director Jeff Nichols said.
“Four Actors in Search of a Moment” follows four people stripped of their identities and sense of reality only to find themselves lost on a stage. Eventually, the group comes to realize that they’re actors playing characters through repeated moments of meta theater; there’s a character named Stage Directions, for example. The four pass the time with genre-hopping acting school-style improv scenes, including dramatic monologues about made-up car accidents and fighting a riotous “imaginary war” with each other. They can only entertain the façade for so long, though, because each individual slowly becomes aware that they’re living in a non-fictional reality. This leads to the complete dissolution of the world they created, leaving nothing but the real-life actors to present themselves characterless to the audience.
Adam Scarpello, one of the performers in the ensemble, has never had the experience of coming onstage as an unembellished version of himself.
“How am I a human being on a naked level? It’s hard because you’re trying to strip every single wall you’ve ever built up to tell an audience, ‘This is who I am right now,’” he said.
It’s an unorthodox task for actors, and this reflects what Ghostbridge seeks to produce in its future. Artistic director Nichols’ young company took its current form in 2011 when he moved back to the Twin Cities after attending graduate school in southern Illinois. His return with executive director Karen Elaine Massey marks the beginning of what the pair hopes will be a successful vehicle for producing new work and conjuring the experimental — something they feel the local theater scene could use more of.
“Theater is a very particular art form, so if you’re going to go, it should be giving you something different,” he said.
“Four Actors in Search of a Moment” caters to his sentiment well, combining a live score that builds toward circling, delirious soundscapes and sections of abstract theater dance. All in all, the play could easily overwhelm and detach an audience with its frenzied action. Eric Cohen, an actor in the production, insists that this is all a part of having a visceral experience with the work.
“The script is a little bit obtuse, but there’s more to it than that.”
Nichols agrees, stating that overstimulation has become normality in the information age. He asserts that the play isn’t just a response to the conventions and structure of theater; it’s a commentary about the characters people adopt when they go in public and an exploration of how possible it is to reach deep, intimate contact with another person.
“To me, the play is very humanistic — experiences have value when we find that moment we’re all in search of, this moment where we can really connect with someone.”
AUDITION for “Four Actors in Search of a Moment”
Posted November 6, 2012 | View Post
Ghostbridge Theatre announces auditions for “Four Actors in Search of a Moment” to be performed in late February 2013.
Bereft of identity and personal gravity, four actors are lost on the stage. Filling their time with theatre games, role-switching, word-play, and their own twisted versions of classics, the four gradually reclaim memories of their real selves. A journey to self-realization in the guise of a theatrical reality, Four Actors in Search of a Moment follows a script to its logical conclusion, then abandons it.
Seeking 3 actors of any age or gender, with a particular interest in those with experience in ensemble-created work, dance, and movement-based theatre creation.
This is a one-act that pays a $300 stipend. It will be part of an event that includes live music and dance.
Auditions:
Monday, November 19
5-7:30 pm
St. Louis Park library meeting room (3240 Library Lane)
Tuesday, November 20
7-10pm
Uptown Lund’s Community Room (1450 W. Lake St. Mpls)
Prepare 2 contrasting monologues of your choice, 2-3 minutes each.
If you have another talent (dance, juggling, singing, acrobatics, etc.) we would certainly like to see it!
Contact Jeff at janjj@hotmail.com for a 10 minute audition slot (with audition in the subject line).
If you can’t audition either of these days but are still interested, let us know and other arrangements can be made.