Seattle critics praise The Temperamentals.
Continue reading “The Temperamentals Review Round-up”
The Temperamentals Review Round-up
The Temperamentals Production Photo Gallery
Production stills from The Temperamentals taken by Michael Brunk.
“The Hen Night Epiphany” Production Gallery
Photos by Michael Brunk, NW Lens
The Temperamentals – Sneak Peek
Rehearsal stills from The Temperamentals taken by Michael Brunk and Roy Arauz.
Cast and Crew of “The Temperamentals”
Daniel Wood (Harry Hay)
Daniel is so excited to be debuting with Arouet. As an ardent supporter of and advocate for LGBTQ rights he is especially delighted to be debuting in this play, a play that touches him personally and has sparked a continued interest in the history and development of the gay civil rights movement. Some of Daniel’s favorite roles around town include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (SecondStory Rep), the title role in The American Pilot (Theater Schmeater), Stephano in The Tempest (GreenStage), John Alex in the world premier of Of Dice and Men (Critical Threat Theater @ PAX) and multiple roles in the Seattle Times Footlight Award winning production of Edmond (Balagan Theatre). You may have also seen him perform with Book-It Rep, Seattle Public Theater, Wooden O, Annex Theatre, Centerstage, Sound Theatre Company, Harlequin Productions, the Schoolyard and the Seattle Opera. Much love to his beautiful wife and strongest supporter Julia Evanovich. He would like to take this time to express his extreme pleasure that his gay brothers and sisters can now enjoy the same joys of marriage that he does. Love and equality for all!
Jaryl Draper (Rudi Gernreich)
This is Jaryl’s first show with Arouet. He is thrilled to take part in this production of The Temperamentals, and feels very lucky to join this incredible cast. Around town he has worked with such theaters as Book-It Repertory, Stone Soup Theatre, Greenstage, Harlequin Productions, Women Seeking…, Pacific Play Company, Seattle Playwrights Collective, Woodinville Repertory, UPAC, and Eclectic Theatre Company. He received his B.A. in perfomance at Central Washington University in 2009 and has hopes for Graduate school in the near future. Some of his favorite roles include Bill in Sure Thing, Sherwin in The Lifeboat is Sinking, Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Uncle Peck in Stone Soup Thatre’s production of How I Learned to Drive, for which he received a 2011 Gypsy Rose Lee Award for Excellence in performance by a lead actor.
Greg Bee (Chuck Rowland and others)
Greg is a writer, actor and nationally recognized performance poet who lives in Seattle. He has written and performed poetry at Poetry Slams across North America for more than 10 years, and was a contributing writer on Arouet’s 2012 production of Lawfully Wedded in Seattle.
Will Halsey (Bob Hull and others)
Will is thrilled to make his Arouet debut in The Temperamentals with this wonderful cast and crew. Will grew up in Missouri, way too shy and closeted to perform. During the past 10 years in Seattle, he’s been trying to make up for lost time with local companies, including The Village Theatre, Puget Sound Opera, Book-It Repertory, Driftwood Players, the Seattle Men’s Chorus, and the former Northwest Actor’s Studio. Favorite roles include Joshua in Corpus Christi, Mitch in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Brian in Party, and Toby (the mute), in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera, The Medium. Will’s formal training is in music – trumpet performance and conducting. Much gratitude to Roy for this opportunity, to the men portrayed here for their world-shifting strength and conviction, and Charlie – for your love and acceptance of me in all my temperamental-ness.
Justin Ison (Dale Jennings and others)
Justin is an artist who has worked in illustration, animation, comic books, graphic design, and of course, theater, as well as less-successful forays into sculpture, music, and stand-up comedy. You may have seen Justin on stage in 2012 as Judge Littlefield in Ghost Light Theatricals’ production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, or playing guitar in the house band for Scapin, or as straight-laced Detective Ed Shepard in LAPDSMU, produced for the Seattle Fringe Festival. In January 2013, Justin will be making his directorial debut with The Rest Is Silence (which he co-wrote with Stephen Scheide), an absurdist comedy exploring the relationship between Hamlet, Horatio, and reality television. He also has a website, which you can see here.
Roy Arauz (Director)
Roy is very excited to bring The Temperamentals for the first time to the Northwest stage, and for the chance to work with his first all-male cast. With a background dance, choreography, and stage management, he now directs around the Puget Sound and is Artistic Director at Arouet. Locally he has worked in various capacities at ArtsWest, The Driftwood Players, Redwood Theatre, SecondStory Repertory Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theatre, Studio East, and Valley Community Players. Recent directing credits: The Hen Night Epiphany (a The Driftwood Players’ TIP/Arouet collaboration), The Music Man (The Driftwood Players), and Anna in The Tropics (Latino Theatre Projects.)
Mariajose Barrera (Production Manager)
I am a Guatemalan born and raised, have lived permanently in the U.S.A. for 12 years, a business manager and owner who came into theater by chance, when given the opportunity to write and perform a short monologue for the 2011 Latino Community fund.
John Epperson (Sound Design)
John is a recording artist. His work appears on many albums, compilations and DVDs as well as television, film and video games. When not making weird noises with synthesizers, Epperson designs sound for theatre. He has previously worked with Arouet, ArtsWest, Driftwood Players, Latino Theatre Projects, Redwood Theatre and Theatre 9/12. John has a website.
Keith A. Gehrig (Lighting Design)
Keith is a 20 year veteran of theater in the Puget Sound area. He has designed lighting for Evergreen Theatre, Civic Light Opera (now Seattle Musical Theatre), Driftwood Players, Tacoma Little Theater, Northwest Savoyards, Seattle Comic Opera, and Gaydar Productions. Also a scenic designer, master electrician, actor and playwright, his day job is running the front office for The Driftwood Players in Edmonds. When not in a theater, he spends his time with his two “guys”, Chazz and Dave.
Dani Dodge (Stage Manager)
Dani has been in Seattle since October and is loving it. She last Stage Managed Ghost Light theatricals Hamlet, and will be working on Props for Theater Schmeater’s Game Show. She is a legal assistant by day, Theatre enthusiast by night, and an artist on the weekends.
Kim Rosin (Set Design)
Kim’s path to set design has meandered through several creative jobs in the architecture and interior design fields, with a start in her working life at Sotheby’s in Johannesburg and London, all of which provided valuable influences to her work. She has also designed her own fabrics and line of products, manufactured locally under the label: Kimthings. She has a degree in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied Textile Design at Central St Martin’s College of Art in London.
In 2012 she designed and painted the sets for Timepieces, The House of Bernarda Alba and Woman in the Wall. She has also designed sets for productions of Snakes and Ladders, The Torch Bearers, Once in a Lifetime and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
Kristina Hestenes Stimson (Costuming)
Kristina recently provided Costuming for Arouet’s production of The House of Bernada Alba, and Set Design, Costuming, and Props for the play Frankie and Johnny. In film, she did Set Decoration and Production Design for Sister Billie’s Sinner Hour, which won best costuming in the 2010 48-Hour Film Festival; and she was the Production Designer for the film short Three Mothers. She is a licensed architect and studied fine art in France at the L’Ecole Des Beaux-Arts.
The Rewards and Challenges of a Prop Designer
For me designing props for a play is a process unique to each individual show. Most of the time when I read a script it will be immediately obvious to me what most of the props will be, what they’ll look like, where to get them or how to build them. For some unexplained reason this show was the exception. I read the script and it wasn’t immediately obvious, I mean yes there were some obvious props that were spelled out such as a bottle of Jack Daniels but there were so many things I couldn’t get the feel for—the images just weren’t coming. It was a scary and frustrating experience. So to overcome this “block” I decided to make a list of everything that was obvious and then wait to go to the reading of the script with all of the actors in place, I thought then I’ll get to know the character’s personalities better and get a feel for what sorts of items these people would use in their every day lives and in particular for this specific event in their lives. The reading cleared some things up, but not everything. After that I needed to balance what I wanted with what the director wanted and what would ultimately fit within the budget—which can be tricky with so many props called for. Through weeks of scouring the prop storage space at the theatre plus items borrowed from individual people and some shopping a cohesive design seemed to pull itself together, almost taking on a life of its own, it’s this part that I find most rewarding, the feeling of it come together…under budget (phew!).
The biggest challenge for me on this show believe it or not, was the champagne bottle. I struggled for weeks on what to do about it! Which is crazy, it’s just a fricken champagne bottle. But it wasn’t just a champagne bottle. At first it was going to be a champagne bottle that was going to be opened and the champagne was going to be poured into champagne glasses. This seems easy enough to make happen, just open a bottle of champagne and pour it, right?! Oh contraire, first we have the aforementioned budget to stay within, a new bottle of champagne for every show plus tech rehearsals will not achieve that goal. Second, it’s alcohol, which can come with its own set of issues. So real champagne was out and I needed to come up with a way to re-cork a bottle of champagne, fill it up with a carbonated beverage that would produce enough pressure to make the “pop” sound and have it look like actual champagne once poured. After days of playing with re-usable bottle stoppers, carbonated water and food dye I wasn’t getting the look and sound I wanted. Finally after I could not come up with anything else and was going crazy trying to figure it out my husband suggested instead of continuing to mess with the liquid inside why notget a different stopper—like magic, that solved most of my issues (he’s truly a genius)! I actually had a stopper in my house that allowed me to achieve the outside look I wanted and for the liquid I decided I would just fill the bottle up with sparkling cider, the only component that I really couldn’t achieve was the pop, without a good shake of the bottle which unfortunately would make a fantastic unwanted mess. It turns out that wasn’t necessary because the bottle never ends up getting opened. Sometimes it’s the simplest props that end up being the most challenging, which sometimes also ends up being the most rewarding.
Jen Cabarrus, Properties
A Partnership to Help Raise Awareness About Domestic Violence
I have really fallen in love with The Hen Night Epiphany over the past few months. I have read through the script at least five times since the education team began working on our lesson plans, and I find that I am touched emotionally every single time. Award-winning author Jimmy Murphy is incredibly insightful and gifted, and he succeeds in creating a hauntingly realistic portrayal of domestic violence. As the production and education team explored the script we realized that Murphy’s story mirrors reality, and that this production is one that cannot be produced for entertainment purposes alone.
As a company with a mission that supports all people in need, we found our call to action was to take an active role to speak out against domestic violence. There are some great resources for those suffering from domestic violence in Washington State, and I am excited to announce that Arouet will be partnering with Domestic Abuse Women’s Network (DAWN). This fantastic organization works diligently to speak out and prevent domestic violence, as well as support those who are, or have been, affected by domestic violence.
To help DAWN with their incredible efforts, Arouet will be collecting donations at every performance. I encourage all of you to take a stand with Arouet and speak out against domestic violence. Below I have included statistics regarding DAWN and domestic abuse in Washington State.
DAWN’s mission is to lead and support efforts in south King County communities to end domestic violence. Over the past 33 years, DAWN has provided programs and services to an estimated 370,000+ survivors of domestic violence and their children.
For more information, please visit www.DawnOnline.org
DAWN is a 501(c)(3) organization
Daniel Cords,
Arouet Director of Education and Outreach
About DAWN
- DAWN has been committed to providingculturally fluent services to survivors of domestic violence since 1980. DAWN remains the ONLY non-profit agency located in south King County that operates a 24-hour advocacy and crisis line and provides confidential emergency domestic violence shelter and services. 82% of every contributed dollar goes toward providing direct services to women and their children escaping domestic abuse.
- In 2012, DAWN served a total of 13,068 clients including: 8,283 bed nights to 209 women and their children at DAWN’s emergency confidential shelter; 120 bed nights to 60 women, men and their families through hotel and motel vouchers; 3,245 bednights to 19 families in our Extended Stay transitional housing program;
- 11,564 crisis calls from women, men and teens; and 1,216 individuals in our Community Advocacy Program, which includes support groups (in English and Spanish), mental health counseling, legal advocacy, children and you programs, and direct rent and utility assistance.
- Also in 2012, DAWN’s DV institute trained more than 100 new ambassadors in the
movement to end violence. - Over the past 33 years, DAWN has provided services to approximately 376,000+ survivors and their children.
About Domestic Abuse
- 1 in 3 women and 1 in 7 men will experience domestic violence at some point in their lifetime.
- On just one day in 2011, domestic violence programs in WA could not meet 502 requests for services due to a lack of resources – 79% of these requests were for emergency shelter and transitional housing.
- Battering is the single major cause of injury to women – exceeding rapes, muggings, and auto accidents combined.
- Ex-boyfriends perpetrate 11 percent of domestic violence homicides.
“The Hen Night Epiphany” Rehearsal Gallery
Photos by Roy Arauz
We did it again! Thank you!
Thank you to everyone that contributed to our Kickstarter campaign. Your support makes it possible for Arouet to present this great piece of theatre for the first time in the Great Pacific Northwest.
Visit the links below – learn more about our supporters!
This list is presented in chronological order:
Meditation Music
Matthew and Daniel Cords
Michael Brunk of NWLens
Kären Engelbrecht
Eric Olson
Arian and Carissa Smit
Patricia Arauz
Josephine Lowry
The Bitter Single Guy’s Relationship Advice
National Payday
Morgan Ludlow
Danielle Villegas
Mary Springer
E. Durso
Anonymous
Machelle Allman
Charles Bryan Colson
Corey D. McDaniel
Matthew and Jennifer York
Gene Bahng
Courtney & Matt Hough
Amanda Falcone
Anonymous
Brian D. Robick
Luis Tobar
Patrick Hogan
Maggie & Jon Adams
Deborah L. Alexander
Anonymous
Tom Falcone
Gay City Health Project
Redwood Theatre
Kim + Richard Rosin
Theatre9/12
Mr. Keith McGregor
John and Claire Koenig
Alyssa Keene
Anonymous
Russ Welti
Lisa at Haven Salon, a fabulous Stylist in Ballard
Cole Hornaday
Anonymous
Alfred Zem Hill
Deborah L. Innes
Bruce Erickson
Rob Bergquist of www.ghostlighttheatricals.org
Kathy Weir
Samara Lerman
Stephanie
Tiffany Mak
Joan Sandler and Rita Shaw
Gabriel Sedgemore
Anonymous
Laura Smith
Mr. Fernando Luna latinotheatreprojects.org
Lisa Zelenetz
Sarah Milici
Carolyn Conn
Stephen Burnside, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Sonya Reasor
Mariajose Barrera
Tim Sauke
Anonymous
Anonymous
Thomas Christopher Maxfield
Caitlin Gilman
Glenn Bafia
Anthony Hesseltine
L.T.
Lisa Larsen
Cindy Apple
Pocket Protector Productions
Christine Pomeroy
Anonymous
Press Music
Black Cape Marketing
Anna Springer
Sarah Anne Simmons
Anonymous
Anonymous
Ellen Dessler
Anonymous
Anonymous
Ann G
Steven Contreras
Scott Bloom
Tony Barrera
Mike and Lisa Finch
And thanks to those of you who missed the deadline and still wanted to contribute:
Brent Amaker
Kevin Teeley and Greg Stair
Education Internship
Education and Outreach Intern at an Up-And-Coming Dynamic Theatre Company With a Mission in Social Justice
Are you passionate about arts and literature? Are you equally passionate about social issues? Have you considered a career in teaching? Do you often draw connections between social inequalities in literature and those in current society? Arouet is a Seattle based theatre company that produces works that speak of civil rights, tolerance, freedom of and from religion, social justice, and the celebration of differences.
Arouet is a new production company with growing exposure. This spring we will produce the North American premiere of Hen Night Epiphany and the Northwest premiere of The Temperamentals. As an education and outreach intern you will get an opportunity to create meaningful lesson plans that can be shared with our student audiences. Additionally, interns will be given the opportunity to assist with post-show discussions with the audience.
The education and outreach intern’s role is a vital one, with a mission to inspire our audience to ask a question that they have not yet thought to ask.
What You Will Learn:
- How to create meaningful lesson plans that demonstrate educational connections between Arouet’s productions and Washington State Learning Standards
- How to conduct effective and responsive post-show audience discussions
- Much more – you will be regarded as a valued member of the company
What We Require:
- Have completed English 101 or be enrolled
- Organized and self-starter
- Open minded and accepting of all people
This position has flexible hours. Hen Night Epiphany runs March 21 – April 6 with performances in Edmonds and Seattle. The Temperamentals runs May 9 – 25. Availability for the performances are not required but strongly encouraged. You will be expected to contribute a minimum of 15 hours per quarter.
This is an unpaid internship.
To apply please submit your resume and cover letter to Daniel Cords, the Director of Education and Outreach, by emailing Daniel@Arouet.us
“Our mission is to present works that speak of civil rights, tolerance, freedom of and from religion, social justice, and the celebration of our differences.”
-Arouet’s mission statement