The FISHTANK

February at the FISHTANK

2012-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

ROMANTIC FOOLS
FEBRUARY 2 - 19

Men. Women. Dating. Relationships. Taking a chance on the hope of romance....you'd have to be a fool, right? From a cavemen with a heart of gold, to a couple of vegans with one greasy secret, Romantic Fools presents us with a world where no blind date can be too horrific, no relationship too weird. This two-character comedy examines love, lust, dating, and romance.

Written with the comedy stylings of Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, Classic Vaudeville, and Late Night Theatre in mind, this is one night of live sketch-comedy you won't soon forget. Husbands bring your wives, wives bring your boyfriends, come have a laugh... and maybe a drink or two.

MY CINEMATIC VALENTINE
or Love's Lost Reels & Deleted Scenes
FEBRUARY 13 7:30pm
$ donations accepted at the door $

Thirteen days before the Oscars and 306 days before the 2012 Presidential Election, in which the GOP candidates have given us some entertaining moments, the Fishtank Performance Studio invites you to MY CINEMATIC VALENTINE. This third installment of the anti-Valentine series features our performers blowing the cobwebs off the reels of their own love stories, careless make-out sessions in the back row and power-hungry love triangles in which the outcome could affect our Constitutional freedoms.

Ok, maybe that third one’s a stretch, but with this group – Peter Bakely, Gail Bronfman Bunch, Lisa Cordes, Philip Hooser, Laura Jacobs, Tom Kessler, Jeremy Lillig, Mark Manning, Sarah Beth Mundy and Tyson Schroeder – anything’s possible. This one-night event features music by Jason Beers.

SCREW THE ROSES
FEBRUARY 16 8:30pm
$10 online or at the door

Troupe Somnium, Kansas City's Premiere Dark Cabaret Troupe, is pleased to present our 2012 Season Opening at the Fishtank with 'Screw the Roses', a close up look on the darker sides of love, obsession and the passions of the heart.

With the men and women of Troupe Somnium, along with special guest stars.

Tickets are $10 and available online here!

SHITTY DEAL PUPPET THEATRE

FEBRUARY 24 & 25

MORE INFO TO COME

Original LIVE Late Night Talk Show Debuts at the FISHTANK!

2012-01-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

THE NIGHTCAP

FRIDAY THE 13TH

10PM

tickets are $15 and available online here!!!

The theatrical team of Damian Blake and Annie Cherry present a new live talk show at the Fishtank Performance Studio at 10pm the second Friday of each month. The show features interviews with local performers, and occasional historical and/or fictitious characters. Blake plays his infamous lounge lizard-esque character, Arty Vulgaris, and asks the hard hitting, the intimate, and the awkward questions. The show also features notable musical guests. The lineup for the debut show includes Annie Cherry, actor Katie Gilchrist, comic Martin Plant, music by The Vi Tran Band, and burlesque by Violet Vendetta. The program will be webcast the week of the performance.

Damian Blake and Annie Cherry are a performing duo, specializing in vaudeville style entertainment, though their talents defy confinement to just one genre. They sing, dance, act, pantomime... They are as comfortable and engaging performing in a fancy-schmancy theater as they are on a rural sidewalk. With performances ranging from family friendly clowning to bawdy material they will charm the pants right off of you (usually figuratively speaking). Always searching for new creative outlets, these two are guaranteed to captivate, titillate, and twitterpate. The two perform as well as writing and producing their own material.

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS DECEMBER 18 & 19 ONLY

2011-12-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Fishtank Performance Studio is happy to host

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS

a one woman memory play

by Christopher Martin

Starring LINDSEY MCKEE

DEC 18 & 19 8PM, $15

tickets available online here

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS is Lindsey's story.

A native of Great Britain, Miss McKee was born in the big bedroom of her grandmother's house in Kingston on Thames, London. The middle child of dysfunctional parents, her family moved to South Africa where a discerning music teacher discovered Lindsey's voice. After taking the lead in Pirates of Penzance at the local boys school, she developed a taste for treading the boards and there was no looking back. On returning to the U.K., she completed high school, went to college, received her degree in music education, then was sidetracked by her opportunities to perform. She attended the Guild Hall School of Music in London and received her degree in vocal performance. Whilst a student at the Guild Hall, she sang with the London Bach Choir for the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer her invitation only being issued after she boldly invited the Prince for a drink at a local pub. She made her professional debut in London singing Mary in Elgar's The Kingdom before marrying and moving to the United States. Since crossing the puddle in 1982, Ms. McKee has performed with numerous orchestras, opera companies and professional theatres.

Today she is a professor of voice for both the University of Tulsa and the University of Missouri, Kansas City. After having been asked to tell her story for many years at various events and parties, she asked playwright Christopher Martin to combine her life experiences into a piece of relevant art, CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS.

A VERY FISHTANK HOLIDAY SEASON!

2011-11-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

AD HOC MUSIC SERIES CURATED BY PETER LAWLESS

NOVEMBER 27 8pm, $8

Peter Lawless' GAME NIGHT - This special event will feature series curator PETER LAWLESS and his closest musical friends performing a number of original "game pieces." Written over the last five years and inspired in part by the early work of John Zorn, these interactive pieces of for improvising musicians inject much-needed humor and fun into the often stuffy world of Avant-Garde music.

Advance tickets are only $8! Get your at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/183027

SHITTY DEAL PUPPET COMPANY LAWRENCE, KS
PRESENTS: A SHITTY CHRISTMAS CAROL
FIRST FRIDAY DECEMBER 2 and SATURDAY DECEMBER 3 - 8pm AND 10pm TICKET PRICES COMING SOON

"Shitty Deal Puppet Theatre Company is like a Chinese meal, in that 15 minutes later you want another one... Brilliant stuff." - TheScotsman.com

From London, England to Edinburgh, Scotland to Lawrence to the Fishtank! We are happy to host the Shitty Deal Puppet Company! Each show is based on Mr Doper's exposition of the given topic for the benefit of his "little friend Bobby", a creature so adorably cute you'd kick Bambi out of the way to cuddle him. In Shitty Deal Christmas Carol Bobby learns meaning of Christmas through a series of heartbreaking yet funny events. Four puppeteers play all the roles in this Lawrence company that has performed in the states and at the Edinburgh Fringe from 2007-2009 in which they received five-star reviews from one of the toughest comic critics at the Edinburgh Fringe!

GETTING LUCKY:
A STAND-UP SHOW FROM A LAY-DOWN LADY
KC NATIVE, SUSANNA LEE, BRINGS 1-WOMAN SHOW HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

DECEMBER 9 AND 10, 9PM $10

Lucky DeLuxe (Susanna Lee) is a notable figure with a very noticeable one. Calling to mind a modern-day Mae West, she tickles her audiences with a combination of sharp-wit, shameless experience and teasing sensuality. Having successfully integrated burlesque routines into her standup stage show, this lovely lady brings a bevy of sauce and seduction to every performance. She’s been described as “a cross between June Cleaver and Columbia from Rocky Horror, with the vernacular of a stevedore.” “Getting Lucky”, was awarded the “Best Of Fringe” title for its venue, during its debut run at the 2011 Kansas City Fringe Festival.

"I can't wait for these shows! KC is my hometown and I'm excited to film my dvd at the Fishtank! One of my favorite venues!" -Susanna Lee

Tickets are $10 and available online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/212959

CHRISTMAS LEFTOVERS

DEC 11, 12, 18 and 19, 8PM $15

These leftovers require much more than tupperware and a microwave.

An original solo show inspired by her own experiences, Christmas Leftovers is the story of Lindsey, a mother of one daughter and sister to two siblings, who is left to survive and breathe in the shadows of her recently deceased mother. It is now her responsibility to create the idyllic Christmas that her family has grown to know and expect. She discovers that she must confront her past so that her family can realize a more perfect Christmas right now. Written by Christopher Martin. Directed by James Wright.

Tickets available online for $15 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/208674

BUMP! "Savagely Funny" - KC Star

2011-10-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank Performance Studio Presents:
BUMP
BY David WAYNE REED BESS WALLERSTEIN & HEIDI VAN

NOVEMBER 4 - 14 at the FISHTANK

CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE TIX - ON SALE NOW!

From the creators of WHITE NOSE CHRISTMAS: A Tabloid Nativity of Rehab and Rebirth comes the next installment in the life and times of Brindsay Kardilton, America's favorite celebutataunte.

Brindsay Kardilton, desperate to restart her career in the wake of her jail time and rehab stints, decides to give back to the world by becoming a surrogate. Due any moment, she heads to the Big Apple for a whirlwind press junket to promote her new lines, a new life and her big bump!

BUMP IN THE NEWS
KC STAR Review! Bump gives Birth to Laughter at the Fishtank!

BUMP Brings Faux Celebrity Back to the Fishtank

KC STAR Preview Article: Heidi Van's Baby Bump Has A Starring Role in Fishtank Production


White Nose Christmas, winner of 2011 "Best Stocking Stuffer"

SHOW TIMES
NOV 10, THURS.    8PM
NOV 11, FRI.          8PM & 10PM
NOV 13, SUN.        6PM & 8PM
NOV 14, MON. 8PM

TIX are $15. On sale Online NOW!
WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND PURCHASING TIX IN ADVANCE! SEATING IS LIMITED!

COMING UP AT THE FISHTANK!

2011-10-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

WORKSHOPS @ the FISHTANK

Actors with Moxie Presents:

Workshops in IMPROVISATION

Registration required: CONTACT STACEY SIEGERT @ Actorswithmoxie@gmail.com

October 16, 9am - 12noon, $50

Move it! Yes, I mean you. (Physical Improv class)

Karen Elanor Wight

By freeing up the body, the student will discover new characters, different approaches to creating a relationship onstage, and tools to add variety to their scene work.

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes and be prepared to move!

INSTRUCTOR: KAREN ELANOR WIGHT is a NYC-based actress, dancer, improviser, and teacher. Karen has been improvising for 17 years and is one-half of the wordless improv duo Imp with Asaf Ronen. In addition to performing, Karen teaches improv at festivals nationally and internationally including Seattle, Toronto, New Zealand, Austin, Baltimore, Providence, Oberlin, Miami, and Los Angeles.

OCTOBER 29, 2011 Two Sessions: 1pm-3:30 or 4pm-6pm

Improvisation for Intermediate & Advanced Actors*

with Megan Hovde Wilkins from the Second City in Chicago

Megan Hovde Wilkins

Impressionism Advanced Improv for Actors 1-3:30pm $45

What impression do you make as an improviser? Sometimes an outside eye can inspire you in a new way, let’s see… This workshop provides a one on one opportunity to perform and receive assessment from the perspective of a director, teacher and fellow inproviser.

Intermediate Improv for Actors

4-6pm $40

For the day player. Had a little improv in your life? Want some more? This workshop will hone your skills and focus on character work- developing and maintaining interesting choices and creating sustaining believable characters. Solid character work is one of the most important elements of both long and short form improv. *Experience level: Must feel comfortable improvising.*

INSTRUCTOR: Megan Hovde Wilkins is a professional actor and improviser in Chicago, and has been performing and teaching improvisation for 10 years. She's a member of the Second City National Touring Company, performing improv and sketch comedy all over the world. She also performs at the IO Theater (Improv Olympic), the Annoyance Theater and at improv festivals all over the country with improv teams American Dream and KOKO, among others. Offstage, she is an instructor at the Conservatory at the Second City Training Center.

OCTOBER at the FISHTANK!

2011-10-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

FIRST FRIDAY @ the FISHTANK: OCT 7

Ashlee LaPine & Todd Carlton Lanker star in DYING CITY

DYING CITY

A Kansas City Premier, DYING CITY is a staggering & intimate drama about dealing with loss in our post 9/11 world.

Friday, October 7, $15 online & at the door

7PM Reception & 8PM Show!

Find out what's next at the studio and enjoy a delicious spread by Californos and cold beverages courtesy of Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Tickets are available online for $15

Seating is limited.

Photo by Noah Whitmore

Featuring

ASHLEE LAPINE & TODD CARLTON LANKER

Remaining Performances:

October 6 - 10, All performances 8pm.

Special $10 INDUSTRY PRICING

SUNDAY OCT 9 & MONDAY OCT 10!

Seating is limited and we strongly encourage purchasing tickets in advance. Tickets are available online here!

WORKSHOPS @ the FISHTANK

Actors with Moxie Presents Workshops in IMPROVISATION

Registration required: CONTACT STACEY SIEGERT @ Actorswithmoxie@gmail.com

October 16, 9am - 12noon, $50

Move it! Yes, I mean you. (Physical Improv class)

By freeing up the body, the student will discover new characters, different approaches to creating a relationship onstage, and tools to add variety to their scene work.

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes and be prepared to move!

Improvisation for Intermediate & Advanced Actors*

October 29, with Megan Hovde Wilkins from the Second City in Chicago

Two Sessions: 1pm-3:30 or 4pm-6

Impressionism Advanced Improv for Actors 3.5 hours 1-3:30pm $45

Intermediate Improv for Actors 2 hours 4-6pm $40

*Experience level: Must feel comfortable improvising.

SEPTEMBER AT THE FISHTANK

2011-09-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank has an exciting line up for the Fall. Here is what is coming up this month in the studio. Each event has a different producer and different ticket prices. If you have any questions or need further information I will be happy to help you at Heidi@FishtankTheater.com

SEPTEMBER 22 - OCTOBER 10

RELEVANCE PRODUCTIONS Presents
DYING CITY

By Christopher Shinn, Directed by TREVOR BELT
A Kansas City Premiere & 2008 Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Starring
ASHLEE LAPINE and TODD CARLTON LANKER

The time is July, 2005. A year after her husband’s death in Iraq, Kelly, a young therapist, confronts his identical twin brother, who shows up at her apartment unannounced. A Kansas City premiere, DYING CITY is a staggering and intimate drama about dealing with loss in our post 9/11 world.

“The finest new American play I’ve seen in a long while…”

–The New York Observer

DYING CITY runs September 22-24, September 29-October 2 and October 6-10 at 8PM Tickets are $15 General Admission. Seating is limited! We encourage purchasing in advance.

Tickets can be purchased online here!

Relevance Productions: "Bringing Socially Relevant Theatre to Kansas City."

SEPTEMBER 25, 8pm

Peter Lawless & The Ad Hoc Music Series Present

HOMINID

HOMINID is Hunter Long's project exploring the use of electronic sounds in new modern jazz. Hunter combines his love of the beats of Bjork, Kanye West, and Radiohead with his studies with modern jazz icons Dave Douglas and Greg Osby.

With Russell Thorpe, Matt Leifer, and Jeff Stocks, they expand the music to create one of the most forward thinking groups in Kansas City.

Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door.

Tickets are available online here!

SEPTEMBER 26, 7pm

Philip blue owl Hooser Presents

Eat Their Words

$5-15 at the door

Ironic toward the iconic, "Eat Their Words" returns to the Fishtank Performance Studio after summer vacation with a fresh new set of stale celebrity books to read from, and all for laughs.

"It's like adult story time -- and sometimes very adult, "says series curator Philip blue owl Hooser. "Some very talented and funny performers gather to read from literary heavyweights like Suzanne Somers, Marilu Henner, and Keith Richards. We will also premiere a selection from a very special collective autobiography which is not just beyond belief, it is Beyonce belief."

The books are brought to life by a revolving cast of some of the area's best comedic performers, including Bess Wallerstein, Mel Neet, Pete Bakely, Gail Bronfman Bunch, and Samantha Silveira.

First Friday at the Fishtank Presents a Benefit Performance

2011-08-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

Photo by Richard Sutton

September 2, 2011 8pm - 10pm

First Friday Benefit & Performance

$20, Kids 12 & under are free

8pm Doors Open

Cocktail & Hor D'ourves Reception

Resident & Associate Artist Meet & Greet

2011 Fall Season Preview

9:30pm Performance: Rubble by Heidi Van

Experience a Fishtank trademark window play. Rubble is a surreal & cinematic story played out in the Fishtank’s storefront window, giving Kansas City audiences a truly unique “theater al fresco” experience.

Tickets are $20 and available online at Brown Paper Tickets or by clicking this link. Kids 12 & under are free!

SPONSORED BY

RUBBLE: A new play by Heidi Van with music by Peter Lawless examines what's left behind after devastation & destruction. Performed in and outside the windows of the Fishtank, "an environmental theatre break through" (The Pitch). Featuring Doogin Brown, Coleman Crenshaw, J. Will Fritz, Ashlee LaPine, LowRain Milburn, Vanessa Severo & Heidi Van with original live music by Katelyn Boone, Katie Guillen &

Peter Lawless.

Heidi Van is the recipient of a 2011 Inspiration Grant awarded by the ArtsKc Fund which provided financial assistance to make this performance possible.

RUBBLE REVIEWS AND PHOTOS FROM THE 2011 KC FRINGE FESTIVAL

RUBBLE Reviews & Photos

RUBBLE REVIEW: LOOK FOR THE SIGNS...

RUBBLE... IN KC STAR

FIRST DAY SLIDE SHOW OF FESTIVAL INCLUDES RUBBLE... KC STAR

RUBBLE REVIEW - THIS SHOW IS WHAT FRINGE IS ABOUT

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/First-Friday-at-the-Fishtank-Presents--RUBBLE-by-Heidi-Van.html?soid=1102184412665&aid=NkjxD_EpmMc

2011-08-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/First-Friday-at-the-Fishtank-Presents--RUBBLE-by-Heidi-Van.html?soid=1102184412665&aid=NkjxD_EpmMc

BLANK by Brian Stanton

2011-05-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!

(click the link above to be re-directed to purchase tickets)

Kansas City Native Returns Home with Award-Winning Solo Play Exploring Adoption & Identity

Los Angeles based Playwright/Actor Brian Stanton announces the Midwest Premiere of his award-winning, critically acclaimed, original solo play BLANK, directed by McKerrin Kelly.

Produced by Heidi Van and The Fishtank Performance Studio in association with BLANK Productions, BLANK, written and performed by Kansas City native Stanton, will run June 23 – July 10, Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8:30pm with Sunday matinees at 3:00pm at The Fishtank Performance Studio in the Crossroads District of Kansas City at 1715 Wyandotte. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/178955.

Stanton plays 12 characters to share his true adoption story, the title referring to the name space on his Original Birth Certificate. He has 2 birth certificates: one stating the names of his adoptive parents, and, although illegal for adoptees to possess in his birth state of Missouri, one revealing the name of his birth mother. Brian embarks on a mythical quest for identity only to learn he’s a product of rape. This horrific truth ultimately leads Brian to discover an instinctive love for his birth mother, a grateful dedication to his adoptive family and a sense of wholeness within.

BLANK had its World Premiere in Los Angeles, CA in April of 2010. Since then, BLANK has visited Off Broadway New York, Dallas, Orlando and several cities in Southern California garnering critical acclaim along the way including a “Best Solo Actor” award at the United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City and 2 StageSceneLA awards: “Outstanding Actor in a Solo Performance” for Stanton and “Outstanding Director of a Solo Performance” for Kelly. Following the Kansas City run, BLANK will return to New York City in August for the New York International Fringe Festival. Stanton has also reached out to the adoption community performing for national support organizations such as the American Adoption Congress and the Concerned United Birthparents.

Stanton began his professional acting career in Overland Park, KS at Theatre for Young America in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Mike TeeVee in 1988. He was last seen acting in Kansas City in The Rose Theatre at Rockhurst High School in 1993. After receiving his MFA in Theatre at California Institute of the Arts, he has made a theatrical career in Southern California. BLANK marks Stanton’s first turn as playwright.

For further information on BLANK, please visit www.thebrianstanton.com and “Like” BLANK on Facebook.

BUY TICKETS HERE!

Pies From the Porn Kitchen -EXTENDED! April 7-9!

2011-03-22T10:02:00.002-07:00

A new play by Natalie Licardello

"A potent bit of alternative theatre." - KC Star
Read the full review here!

Two cleaning ladies walk into an upscale Manhattan apartment and encounter an unlikely mix of baked goods, pornography, and a naked dude named Zeke. Shenanigans ensue, hearts are won, and a star is born in “Pies from the Porn Kitchen”, a new play by Natalie Liccardello, directed by TJ Chasteen and starring Emily Peterson, Maggie Hogan and J. Will Fritz.

Performances are 8:00pm on Thursday April 7, and Friday, April 8.
A late night performance at 10pm on Saturday, April 9.
Pie and refreshments will be served.

To reserve you ticket call (816) 809-7110 or email heidi@fishtanktheater.com. Tickets are $10 - 20 on a sliding scale. Proceeds benefit the University Theatre Association.

Pies From the Porn Kitchen,

2011-03-22T10:02:00.001-07:00

Get Committed!

2011-02-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

THREE PERFORMANCES LEFT!
MARCH 17,18 & 19
All shows at 8:30pm
Tickets: $15

This devastatingly funny show follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at New York's number-one restaurant. From a high class housewife, to Naomi Campbell's light in the loafer assistant and many more in this cast of desperate callers who will stop at nothing to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Amid the insanity, Sam's got his own needs to contend with—his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself? Fully Committed boasts a cast of 40 all played by one man!

Shea Coffman as Sam Peliczowski
Directed by Fishtank Curator, Heidi Van

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE

Birdies

116 W. 18th Street

12:00PM - 7:00PM (Tuesday - Sunday)

You can also purchase your tickets at the door 1/2 prior to showtime.

Seating is limited and tickets are going fast!

Get Your Seats TODAY!!

2011-02-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

TICKETS NOW ON SALE! $15
Fully Committed
by Becky Mode

MARCH 3,4 & 5; 10,11,12 & 14; 17,18 & 19

All shows at 8:30pm

Tickets: $15

This devastatingly funny show follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at New York's number-one restaurant. From a high class housewife, to Naomi Campbell's light in the loafer assistant and many more in this cast of desperate callers who will stop at nothing to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Amid the insanity, Sam's got his own needs to contend with—his recently widowed dad wants him home for Christmas, and he's up for a choice part at Lincoln Center. While juggling scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he manage to look out for himself? Fully Committed boasts a cast of 40 all played by one man!

Shea Coffman as Sam Peliczowski

Directed by Fishtank Curator, Heidi Van

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE

Birdies

116 W. 18th Street

12:00PM - 7:00PM (Tuesday - Sunday)

You can also purchase your tickets at the door 1/2 prior to showtime.

Seating is limited and tickets are going fast!

Get your tickets today!!

A Night of Re-defining Social Conventions

2011-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Rhiannon Birdsall Invitational Performance

A Fishtank monthly series

presents

PRIVATE vs. PUBLIC

February 24th 7:00pm

Come enjoy another round of performances at The Fishtank Studio! This month's theme PRIVATE vs. PUBLIC challenges and blurs the boundaries between social, private and public content. You can expect a night full of dynamic original new perspectives on how we extend, and define, and re-appropriate our public and private conventions. So come with an open mind and experience how each artist personally defines this month's theme!

Adults drinks and perhaps some snacks!
Donations: $5-15 sliding scale donation (no one will be turned away!!!)

The “Rhiannon Birdsall Invitational Performances” is a conceptually themed performance series featuring local artists, and performers every last Thursday of the month at The Fishtank Performance Studio. The monthly performance series was founded in the Fall of 2009 by local artist Paul Shortt and is continued by friend, and collaborating local artist and actress Rhiannon Birdsall.

The "Invitational Performances" support artists and viewer pursuits in experimental, interactive, and non-traditional forms of expression with a live audience.

Second Year of Celebration!!

2011-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

KC Crossroads Comedy

Friday, February 25, 2011

7:00PM - 9:00PM

Fishtank Performance Studio and KC Crossroads Comedy are celebrating their second year of partnership. This collaboration has generated some of the most innovative improv of 2010, and in keeping with that tradition, Kansas City Crossroads Comedy will offer a pair of first-ever collaborations in their February improv show.

Featuring: comedy troupe Jane Goodall - a collaboration between two elite troupes Your Mother Called and Not A Great Gorilla, Mike Farris and Christian Robinson performing Non De Script and Kansas City's best Babel Fish.

These show are very popular and sell out quickly, get your tickets in advance or arrive early and pay at the door. Doors open at 6:30!!

Tickets: $8
Purchase at the door or in advance at www.kcxrc.com/tickets.

Haunted by a Dead Man's Cellphone!

2011-02-13T17:44:00.001-08:00

Friday, February 18, 2011
Dead Man's Cellphone 

by Sarah Ruhl
presented by Laurence Arts Center Theatre  

“'Dead Man’s Cell Phone' educates, imagines, surprises, and entertains in perfect proportions, and if the Lawrence Arts Center keeps bringing remarkable plays, it would be exciting indeed." Thomas C. Hardy, Lawrence.com

While at a café, a man dies - but his cell phone will not stop ringing. The woman at the next table, Jean, picks it up and finds herself stuck in the middle of the dead man's troubles. She meets his widow his mother, his mistress, and ends up falling in love with the dead man's brother. Come enjoy this professional "over 18" comedy - bring your friends and turn off your Cell Phone!

Featuring:

Jeanne Averill

Will Averill

Doogin Brown

Natalie Liccardello

Kitty Steffens

Dian Yvette

Directed by Ric Averill

 Tickets: $15
www.lawrenceartscenter.org

Read the reviews!!
Lawrence.com
LJWorld.com

The Fishtank Goes BOOM!!!

2011-02-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, February 20 at 7PM join us for the first of our BOOM! Unplugged Series.

Meet the siblings of Boom! An International Lost and Found Family Marching Band in a casual, hip setting doing brand new strange and revealing material.

The above video clip is an excerpt from their KC Fringe performance!

Sunday's performance features Lily, Baloo and Neil (aka Stephanie Roberts, Heidi Van and Peter Lawless)

Tickets: $5-$15 sliding scale

All proceeds go toward the Boom! Spring Tour!!!

The lines are long... so get your tickets in advance!

2010-12-15T12:10:00.001-08:00

WHITE NOSE CHRISTMAS
created & performed by
DAVID WAYNE REED, BESS WALLERSTEIN
& HEIDI VAN

Now Playing Dec. 16 - 23 at 8:30pm
Tickets are *$15 and available in advance at
Birdies Panties, 116 W. 18th Street
*SEATING IS LIMITED, WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND PURCHASING TICKETS IN ADVANCE. TIX ARE $15, THERE WAS A MISPRINT IN THE KC STAR ON PRICING.

"Runaway winner for best holiday show...story flies like a Friday night on ecstacy and is as crisp as this week's issue of US Weekly."

-GRACE SUH, PITCH WEEKLY

"A holiday show unlike anyother...the room resonated with a vibe that wouldn't be out of place in a hole-in-the-wall theatre in downtown Manhattan."

-ROBERT TRUSSELL, KANSAS CITY STAR

Brindsay Kardilton is a Hollywood It Girl with a penchant for all vices great and small. It's all fame and reindeer games till a car accident/DUI/altercation lands her in the slammer. On a not-so-silent night in Jail, Brindsay Kardilton is visited by the Ghosts of Rehab Past, Present & Future where visions of booger sugar and fenemies dance in her head.

Don't miss this original Fishtank Holiday Show by David Wayne Reed, Heidi Van & Bess Wallerstein!!!

A Big Easy Welcome to KC's Fishtank Performers

2010-12-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

Kansas City’s growing reputation as a theater town was enhanced last weekend when Heidi Van and performers from the Fishtank Performance Studio staged “L’Histoire D’Amour: A Clown Love Story” at the New Orleans Fringe Festival.

Van and Matt Weiss, along with musicians Daniel Eichenbaum and Peter Lawless, delivered four performances of the piece in the window of Le Chat Noir, a New Orleans cabaret and bar on St. Charles Avenue in the Warehouse District, where other festival artists performed.

“L’Histoire D’Amour” was initially staged in 2009 at the Fishtank, a small venue near 17th and Wyandotte streets. Audiences seated in folding chairs on the street watched the 30-minute show through the Fishtank’s picture window and on the sidewalk.

Van plays Lucette, a pastry chef who falls in love with Marcel (Weiss), a Charlie Chaplin-like vagrant, but the window glass prevents them from being together. The action is accompanied by Eichenbaum on clarinet and Lawless on accordion.

Van said she applied to the New Orleans festival in the “bring your own venue” category, which meant it was up to her to find a place to perform. She said she looked at 50 locations, including a park, on Google Earth before Le Chat Noir invited the group to perform.

“They have a classy, sexy bar in front and a little cabaret theater in back,” she said. “And their window was huge. It’s twice as big as the Fishtank window.”

Van said she and Weiss brought minimal scenic elements with them. They had to build platforms once they arrived.

“I had a tub of scenery, a tub of extension cords and lights and a tub of props,” she said.

Van said that the show was well-received and that people were often surprised when they discovered the troupe’s home base.

“They said, ‘Where are you from? Montreal? Greenwich Village? You mean you’re from Kansas City?’ ” Van said.

Van said it was such a good experience that she wants to return to the Big Easy.

“The four of us have all decided we want to do this again next year,” she said. “I really didn’t know if I could pull this off, and I did. And that makes me feel like I can do almost anything. I’ve got a big appetite. And I love touring.”

Up next for Van is a new piece in December at the Fishtank — “Brindsay Kardilton’s White Nose Christmas,” which she’s creating with theater artists David Wayne Reed and Bess Wallerstein.

To learn more about the Fishtank, visit www.fishtanktheater .blogspot.com.

To reach Robert Trussell, theater critic, call 816-234-4765 or send e-mail to rtrussell@kcstar.com.

Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2010 10:15 PM

Fishtank Generates Original Show for the Holidays

2010-11-29T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Fishtank Performance Studio Presents:
WHITE NOSE CHRISTMAS:
A Tabloid Nativity of Rehab & Rebirth
Created & Performed by
Late Night Theatre alum, David Wayne Reed
Bess Wallerstein of CounterClockwise Comedy
Heidi Van (as Brindsay), Curator, Fishtank Performance Studio.

Brindsay Kardilton is a Hollywood It Girl with a penchant for all vices great and small. It’s all fame and reindeer games until an altercation/accident/DUI sends her to jail. On a not-so-silent night in jail, Brindsay Kardilton is visited by the ghosts of rehab past, present and future, where visions of booger sugar and frenemies dance in her head.

This parable is a sobering satire of celebrity, Christmas and cocaine.

The show opens on December 11, 2010 at the Fishtank Performance Studio located at 1715 Wyandotte. The show runs December 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23.

Tickets are $15 and available in advance at Birdies starting on December 1 or by calling 816.809.7110.

Fishtank tours Original Window Play to New Orleans

2010-10-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank is sending it's original production
L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR: A Clown Love Story to the Big Easy for the New Orleans Fringe Festival. L'Histoire is one of the Fishtank Performance Studio's trademark window plays, performed inside of a window with the audience on the street. I've found a wonderful window in the Big Easy at the Le Chat Noir Theatre!

This is an incredible opportunity to expose work to a different market, acquire new patrons and forge new connections with other performing artists and performing arts venues.

I've started a fundraising campaign to support the travel & accomodation costs associated with remounting L'Histoire in New Orleans. Can you help us get to New Orleans?

Pledge now on Kickstarter! Pledges start at $5.

There are some cool kickbacks for backers of this project:

A Patron's Party at Californo's in Westport on Saturday, November 6th

Tickets to December's First Friday at the Fishtank: A Holiday Circus

First Friday at the Fishtank Passes for a Year!

History of L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR
In August of 2009, Fishtank Performance Studio founders Heidi Van & Corrie Van Ausdal collaborated with actor Matt Weiss and musicians Peter Lawless & Daniel Eichenbaum to create L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR: A Clown Love Story. It was developed to be performed in the windows of the Fishtank Performance Studio giving Kansas City audiences a unique "theater al fresco" experience.

L'Histoire is a tender tale of a street-sweeping, window-washing clown (Matt Weiss) who falls for the luscious Lucette (Van) whom he sees each day in a pastry shop window. The sweet story turns to a bitter tragedy in this original play that places the audience in the street, looking into the pastry shop.

"Without words, and in just a half-hour, L'Histoire D'Amour works up more excitement between its lovers than most full-length romances." - Pitch, Kansas City

L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR, produced by Heidi Van's HYBRID: A Theatre Collective, enjoyed a three week run in the windows of the Fishtank and was selected to perform for the Arts KC Luncheon at Starlight Theatre in March of 2010.

This November L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR has the opportunity to perform in a New Orleans window at the Le Chat Noir Theatre. This fundraising campaign will support costs related to touring the production to New Orleans and participating in the Fringe Festival. This opportunity will provide networking opportunities for the performers as well as producers from HYBRID and the Fishtank to make new connections, gain new patrons and introduce Kansas City window theatre to New Orleans.

Sonlight Productions Presents john & jen

2010-09-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

"The Fishtank Performance Studio is a dream space. A space where the fearless show us their dreams on a stage. I love the creative energy here and that folks just think and do and could care less about how much it will cost, what they can or cannot do, say or cannot say."

Read the rest of the story at KC STYLE

Sonlight Productions presents john & jen, an intimate musical by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald featuring Molly Denninghoff & Price Messick, Directed by Nathan Norcross with Musical Direction by Baker Purdon.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:
October 1*, 2, 4** (Fri, Sat, Mon)
Octber 7, 8, 10 (Thur, Fri, Sun)

All performances 8:00 pm. Tickets $10-$20 sliding scale.
*Opening on October First Friday!
**Industry Night Performance - Monday October 4th

An intimate chamber musical orchestrated for piano and cello, "john & jen" is a poignant portrait of family relationships through the journey of Jen Tracy; both with her brother John who is killed at war and her son John, her brother’s namesake.The show really explores how far-reaching the consequences of our actions can be. Ultimately, Jen must face the fact that the past cannot be changed. Sometimes the only way to atone for past mistakes is to accept them and make a life change moving forward.

PROP 8 ON TRIAL debuts @ Lawrence Arts Center this Saturday

2010-09-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Fishtank Performance Studio resident artist, Lisa Cordes, will premiere her new performance work, Prop 8 On Trial, in the Mainstage Theatre of the Lawrence Arts Center , in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, September 18 at 7:30 p.m. as part of their new play series. The production will be presented the following week at the Fishtank Performance Studio, 1715 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO, from September 22-25 at 8:00 p.m. each evening.

Saturday, September 18 7:30pm Lawrence Arts Center
940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS $15

Fishtank Performance Studio, 1715 Wyandotte, KCMO Shows:
Wednesday, September 22 8:00pm
Thursday, September 23 8:00pm
Friday, September 24 8:00pm
Saturday, September 25 8:00pm
Donations are accepted at the Fishtank on a sliding scale of $5-$15 at the door.

Prop 8 On Trial is based on the federal court case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, challenging the constitutionality of California’s Prop 8 that banned same-sex marriage. The trial, and ensuing appeals, will go down in the history books as the civil rights case of a generation, stirring vigorous public debate along the way.

The “Prop 8” trial that began on January 11, 2010 in federal court in San Francisco is a landmark case that marks the first time in the United States' history, same-sex marriage was mentioned, let alone debated, by the federal courts. The June 16 final arguments and August 4 ruling in which Judge Walker ruled that Proposition 8 violated the United States Constitution have elevated the media attention on this case that will likely continue through its appeal in the 9th Circuit District Appeals Court.

It is widely predicted the case will eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. While trials are inherently dramatic, the case prepared by Ted Olson and David Boies, nationally prominent attorneys who argued on opposite sides of the landmark Bush v. Gore, is a rhetorical Leviathan. By including the deeply personal stories of the gay plaintiffs and witnesses, they bring a
human dimension to their argument, buttressed by internationally renowned experts in the fields of history, psychology, sociology, and economics. The result is the raw material for a riveting piece of theater has been called by one journalist, “a theatrical classroom.”

Take an IMPROV workshop this weekend and get one FREE!

2010-09-16T11:24:00.001-07:00

Take this weekend's beginner/intermediate level classes at
Fishtank Performance Studio, featuring nationally recognized
improvisers, JoKyR and Jesster (Joe Rogan and Jesse Parent), and we'll give you a FREE workshop at the Improv-Abilities Training Center!
That's right, two workshops for the price of one! Click the link below for details and RSVP, then contact kessler.tom@gmail.com to claim your free workshop. Don't miss it! This deal will only come around once!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148943395124849&ref=ts

Improv Workshops This Weekend

2010-09-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Improv Workshop in conjunction with the Kansas City Improv Festival

IMPROV 101: It All Begins With "Yes"
10am - 12:30

WHOLE BODY LISTENING
1:30-4
In the class “Whole Body Listening,” Chicago’s Jonathan Pitts, Second City instructor and contributing author of The Second City Almanac of Improvisation, draws on the influence of Sanford Meisner to create exercises that allow actors to access their whole range of emotions and reactions.

Pitts is Executive Director of Chicago Improv Festival Productions,
co-founder of the Chicago Improv Festival, and creator/producer of the College Comedy Championship and the Teen Comedy Fest. He also created and directs Storybox, an improvised one-act production that combines Story Theater, Noh Theatre, and Viewpoints.

He’ll also be teaching an Improv 101 class. To register, visit
http://kcimprov.com/festival, or RSVP here:

Whole Body Listening -
http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1537936842665&sk=messages#!/event.php?eid=141990259171311&ref=ts

Dear Diary continues September 12

2010-09-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 12, 2010
7pm - 10pm
$5 at the door

"Dear Diary..." brings you a night devoted to the mortifying moments of adolescence and beyond--a live reading of real diary entries from some of Kansas City's finest writers and performers. Join us at the Fishtank Performance Studio as we delve into the depths of our readers' most humiliating revelations that, until now, have been collecting dust in boxes. Bad teenage poetry, self-indulgent manifestos and tales of awkward, unre...quited love await you!

Hosted by Lucky DeLuxe
Featuring songs by Blondie Brunetti
Readings by David Wayne Reed, Rita Brinkerhoff, and more!!

The Howl Factory - September 3

2010-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

Fishtank Resident & Special Guest Artists perform Allen Ginsberg's epic poem HOWL plus original spoken word inspired by the poem that changed poetry - and a generation. Featuring poets Lisa Cordes, Damian Torres-Botello, Mark Manning, Mel Neet, Jeremy Lillig, Phil Hooser and more with musicians Peter Lawless, Russell Thorpe and company.

Doors open at 8:30, performance at 9pm. Donations accepted at the door $5-15.

(First performed at the KC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in honor of the premiere of HOWL, a film about the writing of Allen Ginsberg's iconic poem that opens across the country on September 24.)

From KCFreePress.com (posted August 27th 2010)

2010-08-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Questions with Damian Torres-Botello on his play, “Discernment”
August 27th, 2010 · By Mel Neet.
Damian Torres-Botello is one of the artists-in-residence at the Fishtank, which is opening his play Discernment tonight. The play had a staged reading several months ago; audiences were invited to stay after the reading for a question-and-answer session, as well as leave comments for Torres-Botello. Between breaks rehearsing his cast – Grant Wayman, Mark Manning, Jeremy M. Lillig, Phillip Hoosier and fellow artist-in-residence Lisa Cordes – took a few moments to answer questions about the play. Against the backdrop of the 2005 Vatican-ordered evaluations of all its seminaries, Discernment follows the events that transpire at Ignatius House after a letter surfaces regarding one seminarian’s homosexuality.

1. Discernment is a compelling sounding title. Can you explain it in relation to the story?
Discernment is a process that an individual goes through when making the choice to live a religious life in a Catholic order as a priest, brother or sister. In thinking about that further I realized that everyone goes through a discernment process in their life, and even further everyone is “called” by God or some higher power to take on something in their life. I feel it is my job as a playwright to compose something that everyone can identify with regardless of the topic, time period, and so on. And it started, for me with the word discernment. The story of Discernmentcenters around individuals who are not only discerning their calling to become or continue being in a Catholic order, but also discerning who they are as people, their relationships with others and their relationship with God.

2. Having seen the staged reading of the play several months back, I would like to know what you felt valuable from the reading and how you used comments to inform your completion of the play.
The staged reading was very valuable. Especially to hear if a line was too long or too short, if the point was clear, if a monologue actually worked and so on. Hearing it in your head versus hearing it in person makes a remarkable difference. I wrote all comments down and even had a survey for those in attendance to complete. I took those comments and weighed their importance on what made the play stronger. Many of the comments had to do with plot, a challenge I did not know how to solve until this production started. But what I found most important during the reading was watching the audience experience the play. I feel the audience is most important in a reading/workshop stage of a play. I tend to listen to what is being performed as I watch the audience: are they shifting in their seats, are they leaning forward, are they coughing, what is their body saying, how are they at the act break, and so on. Watching body language is key to the process. I believe theatre is a people’s art, and I try to write to that point. And if I believe that then I want to be sure the audience is part of my process.

3. Can you, just briefly, recap the main characters and how you felt each was integral in making a specific argument in this ongoing discussion of the Catholic Church and its stance on homosexuality?
The protagonist is Father Patrick Morris (Mark Manning). This character represents who a person can become when they choose to suppress parts of themselves. I feel that if a person has a calling from God to become a priest – as it was in this characters case – then in order to fulfill that calling then they would have to do everything in their powers to become what they feel they are called to be. This particular point is represented through Edward Preuss (Jeremy Lillig), a novice in the seminary. I have Father Edwin Gratiano (Phillip Hooser) who portrays the Catholic church…in essence he is the Conservative Catholic. On the other end of the spectrum we have Sister Marianna Bauer (Lisa Cordes) the liberal, more loving side of the Catholic Church. Then we have Paul Muños (Grant Wayman) who represents the everyday person trying to fit in, scared, worried about their choices but yet strives to do right. I tried to capture not just the Church but the whole bodies that make it a religion because in the end they too are human. A sort of human that, when stripped down, are people we can identify with.

4. Your Catholicism is obviously important to you, personally, and as an artist. Does being able to write about the cracks in the veneer of the Church make you a stronger Catholic?
It does make me a stronger Catholic. It makes me love the faith and spirituality more and somehow makes me closer to God. Being a playwright and theatre artist is my calling, and I take it on as a vocation because I do believe that my talents are to serve a purpose and create a conversation and action towards change. And I say that because I do not want to take my talents for granted; giving it an active purpose allows me to work from an activist artist perspective so that one day I can hopefully instigate change. I feel this play, despite its topic being Catholically controversial, is sort of a love letter to my faith.

5. Are there aspects of Catholicism that, early on, appealed to you as a theater artist? If so, what are they?
I feel the rituals inside the Catholic masses are theatrical. Even the Physical set up has a theatrical look. But what appeals to me about religion in general is how much it is the central most center of any person’s life. I think deeply rooted faith is amazing especially when it becomes the factor that directs and dictates a person’s life. How it is able to drive a persons life when unchallenged and how it can tattle a person’s life when challenged has dramatic aspects worth exploring. And that is part of what inspired me to write Discernment.

6. What do you want audiences to take away after seeing this play?
I want audiences to understand that despite how screwy the Catholic church may be, there are people inside who strive to change it for the better just by simply being present. I want the audience to consider that we are all asked to make our lives fantastic just by simply being born, and we must take on our lives with purpose and intention.

Discernment is produced by Doozers Theatre Project (begun by Torres-Botello) and the Fishtank (1715 Wyandotte), where it will be performed tonight and tomorrow, 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$15 (sliding scale).

DISCERNMENT

2010-08-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

A new play by Fishtank Resident Damian Torres-Botello.

Cast:

Mark Manning

Jeremy Lillig

Grant Wayman

Phillip Hooser

and Fishtank Resident Lisa Cordes

August 27 & 28, 2010 @ 8pm.

The Mask of the Broken Heart: A Meridian Mystery

2010-08-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

August 20 8:00pm
August 21 8:00pm
August 22 2:00pm
$5-15 suggested donation at the door

When private dick, Ray Meridian, takes on a case for Lillian Mallicoat, the daughter of a famous Kansas City tractor baron, he confronts a mysterious past involving scandal, supernaturalism, and his own lost love. Written & performed by Stephanie Roberts, Directed by Fishtank Curator Heidi Van.

Stephanie Roberts, the creator of Boom! and recent Charlotte St. Foundation Generative Artist awardee, combines genres in her new film-noir style, one-woman mask play, The Mask of the Broken Heart.

This virtuosic thriller combines humor, pathos and beauty while paying tribute to classic film and contemporary Commedia dell’Arte. Roberts plays 13 characters in this original play made possible by an Inspiration Grant from the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City.
photo credit: Matthew Collins

Thrill Me Extends to August 15

2010-08-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

THRILL ME
a musical about Leopold and Loeb ~
Relationships can be murder!

August 5-15 Thursdays thru Sundays, 8:30pm

The hit of the KC Fringe Festival extends!
Thrill Me ...written by KC native Stephen Dolginoff,
featuring Shea Coffman & Bryan LaFave
with direction by Jeff Church & Daniel Doss.

"...the Fishtank production [of Thrill Me] is a breath of fresh air. Performed with only a piano and two voices unencumbered by microphones, the show delivers unadulterated theatrical values with an immediacy you don't often encounter." Read the entire KC Star Review here.

Thrill Me will follow its sold out Fringe-Festival run with two more weeks of performances beginning this Thursday, August 5 and running through August 15. Performances are Thursdays - Sundays at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance (cash only) at Birdie's (116 W. 18th St.) - just around the corner from the Fishtank (1715 Wyandotte). Tickets are also available at 7:30pm the evening of the performance at the Fishtank Performance Studio.

Thrill Me is part of the Fishtank Performance Studio's Summer 2010 Home Grown Series.

American Alphabet in Fringe Hangover

2010-08-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

American Alphabet, created by Fishtank resident artists Lisa Cordes and Damian Torres-Botello has been selected for the 2010 Fringe Festival Hangover series. If you missed the sold-out Fishtank performances, two additional performances will be presented on Saturday, August 7 at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 8 at 3:30 p.m. at Fringe Central, 1701 Broadway. Advance tickets may be purchased www.kcfringe.org

Thrill Me Extended @ The Fishtank

2010-08-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Thrill Me will follow its sold out Fringe-Festival run with two more weeks of performances beginning this Thursday, August 5 and running through August 15. Performances are Thursdays - Sundays at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance (cash only) at Birdie's (116 W. 18th St.) - just around the corner from the Fishtank.

Read the Kansas City Star article on the show.

Thrill Me Opens @ The Fishtank

2010-07-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Thrill Me debuted at the Fishtank last night. Read the Kansas City feature on the show, written by Kansas City native Stephen Dolginoff and directed by Coterie Artistic Director Jeff Church with Musical Direction by Daniel Doss, featuring Shea Coffman and Bryan LaFave. Don't miss the remaining performances Thursday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m. and July 31 at 6:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.

Fishtank Resident Artists Fringe @ The Fishtank

2010-07-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Fishtank resident artists Lisa Cordes and Damian Torres-Botello premiered their new work, American Alphabet on Tuesday night to a full house at the Fishtank. And the reviews are in! Remaining performances are Friday, July 30 @ 9:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 31 @ 8:00 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased through the KC Fringe Festival.

Kansas City Star review:

"Some people go to the theater for light entertainment, which can sometimes take the form of thin dramas or overwrought musicals. But a few folks go in search of something true, honest and meaningful. That's what I found at the Tuesday performance of "American Alphabet..."

From the KCFreePress :

"The show is a must-see for the message it gives. It’s true that we don’t learn hate in the classroom, but there sure are a lot of people out there to teach it. And, Damien Torres-Botello and Lisa Cordes remind us that the only thing to do is to keep fighting those who try to teach hate by inventing words to do it."

And from KC Stage blog:

"But where better than the theater to dramatize the high price we pay for our own American stories, and shine a light toward the future?

In all, "American Alphabet" offers up a fascinating and thought-provoking evening of theater. The only hickory stick involved in this teaching is our own difficult history: let the healing begin!"

FRINGE @ THE FISHTANK!

2010-07-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Make the Fishtank Performance Studio your one-stop shopping destination for the 2010 Kansas City Fringe Festival. Check out the video and learn more about the five HOT shows in our COOL space!

Fringe @ The Fishtank from Lisa Cordes on Vimeo.

Vol. 7: Words & Music - the music of Kevin Hiatt

2010-07-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2010 - 8:30pm

World music influenced chamber music meets the spoken word. This concert will present world and KC area premieres of works for oboe and percussion, violin and guitar, and poetry by Kevin Hiatt. Kevin will also perform acoustic solo works on 6, 7, 12 string and baritone guitars.

Performers:
Kevin Hiatt - guitar, spoken word, composer Dustin Mott - percussion
Lauren Wells - violin Patrick Ketter - oboe

http://www.kevinhiattmusic.com/
(816) 379-8105

The Reviews are In!

2010-07-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Read the Kansas City Star review of 53 Days and 52 Nights. In the window for four more shows: July 8, 9, 10 & 12!

Let's just say up front that sitting in a chair on Wyandotte Street to watch a play enacted on the sidewalk and in a big picture window among First Friday's milling crowds may qualify as an act of madness.
Yet, amid the ambient sounds of gallery gawkers, street musicians and the occasional barking dog, a whimsical little show called "53 Days and 52 Nights" works its will on attentive viewers.
Created by Heidi Van and Ingrid Andrea Geurtsen, two performers well versed in the art of physical theater, and directed by Damian Torres-Botello, "53 Days" is European clown show that mixes comedy, charm and poignancy in roughly equally proportions.
It's a tale of two nameless clowns (Van and Geurtsen) who are barred from boarding a train by an officious station agent (Coleman Crenshaw) and then must wait 53 days and 52 nights for the next train. They share a couple of meager meals. They have odd encounters with clothing that seems to come to life (a hat for Van and a coat for Geurtsen). The short clown, Van, goes looking for water but comes back empty-handed.
Eventually the tall clown, Geurtsen, boards the train, leaving her friend behind. Just why the short clown decides to stay is unclear, but Geurtsen and Van have so successfully created distinct personalities that the tinge of sadness in the final moments is palpable.
The live music, which alternates between light-hearted and melancholic, performed by Peter Lawless (accordion) and Daniel Eichenbaum (clarinet), heightens the comedy and colors the poignancy.
This is the latest "window show" from the Fishtank Performance Studio, a nonprofit company in the Crossroads that definitely marches to its own drummer. Kansas City has become a dynamic theater town and this small organization, with its unconventional approach, helps explain why.

The Fishtank Performance Studio Debuts A New Window Play at July's First Friday

2010-06-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank is sending audiences outside to play! Fishtank Curator Heidi Van and collaborator Ingrid Andrea Guertsen team up for "53 Days & 52 Nights", an epic and cinematic clown story in the Fishtank’s storefront window, giving Kansas City audience a truly unique “theater al fresco” experience.

Featuring Heidi Van, Ingrid Andrea Guersten & Coleman Crenshaw, with live musical accompaniment by Fishtank Resident Peter Lawless and Daniel Eichenbaum. Directed by Fishtank Resident Damian Torres-Botello, produced by HYBRID: A Theatre Collective.

Running July 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 & 12 at 9pm in the windows** of the Fishtank Perfomance Studio. Donations accepted at the door $5-15.

**All window performances are 30 - 35 minutes in legnth.

Support this show by pledging to our fund drive and receive VIP seats.

This production is generously sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon, the New Theatre Restaurant, Birdies, the Fishtank Performance Studio and Digital Milk.

Digital Milk is a Kansas City based creative media collective providing our clients with unique, effective solutions to make noise in this competitive market. Defined by its trilogy of talent Digital Milk provides a full service audio and video production suite as well as in house motion graphics and design.... This allows us to create HD video and animation to use in social media, viral campaigns, web and television spots. Digital Milk services include: audio, video and graphic production, original music composition, creative services, corporate branding and identity campaigns, photography services, 3D imaging (CGI) and much more.

SUPPORT THE FISHTANK!

2010-06-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Prop 8 On Trial Receives Rocket Grant

2010-06-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Final selections have been made for the first recipients of Rocket Grants, a brand new funding opportunity available to artists who live within an 80-mile radius of downtown Kansas City. Rocket Grants are specifically intended to encourage work that is inventive and “under the radar”, and that engages or benefits an audience somewhere other than in a museum or art gallery. The long-term goal of the program is to not only encourage emerging and non-traditional art practices in the Kansas City region, but also to contribute to a thriving artists’ community.

"Prop 8 On Trial" is a multi-media performance examining the 2010 trial, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, challenging the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage. A workshop of "Prop 8 On Trial" debuted at the Fishtank in February.

Watch for news about upcoming performances at the Fishtank in September 2010!

Photos from Friday night's Singer Songwriter Showcase

2010-06-07T05:44:00.000-07:00

FIRST FRIDAY JUNE 4

2010-06-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank introduces a new series for singer/songwriters showcasing their original music and the stories behind them. Hosted by series curator, Daniel Quin Shay and featuring his original music as well as Kyle Hatley and Michael Hilboldt.

Doors open at 8:30, show starts at 9.
Donations accepted $5-15
Sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon

FRINGE @ THE FISHTANK

2010-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Fishtank Performance Studio will premiere Stephen Dolginoff's Thrill Me as part of the Kansas City Fringe Festival (kicking off on July 23). Starring Shea Coffman and Bryan LaFave as the thrill killers Leopold & Loeb, directors Jeff Church and Daniel Doss heat up the Fishtank with this chilling musical about the committing the perfect crime.

Read what Jeff says about the project:

"Kansas City born playwright Stephen Dolginoff's chamber musical gets killers Leopold and Loeb just right - sexy, through sick and fascinating. It's been performed all over the world and in various languages, but it needed to be done here in the playwright's home town. Heidi and I fell in love with the idea that a MUSICAL can be done in the intimate little Fishtank. And we have such powerhouse musical theater talent involved...Shea Coffman Kansas City who audiences will remember from the Unicorn's bare, and the Coterie's U:Bug:Me and Bryan LaFave, seen in Egads Theater Company's Dog Sees God, and the Unicorn's La Cage...imagine both of them under the accomplished musical direction of Daniel Doss."

AND, take a look at this Thrill Me photo shoot video with photographer Dusty Cunningham.

Happy Birthday Fishtank!

2010-05-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Onward Christian Soldiors, a new comedy by Jeremy Lillig

2010-05-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

MAY 19 & 20 7:30pm
donations accepted $5-15

The Smith family are strict believers in their church of the Saved and Chosen of the Righteous Disciples of Jesus Christ, third revelation. However, one day the Smith's life is turned upside down. Their oldest son, Levi, comes home to visit from Worthington Bible College with his new "special friend," thus challenging the "norm" that the Smith's have grown accustomed to. Is this new visitor the work of the Devil? Or are they the second coming? Find out in this new satirical comedy by Jeremy M. Lillig.

Join The Doozers Theatre Project at the Fishtank Performance Studio May 19th or 20th at 7:30 p.m. for a staged reading of this hilarious new work. A donation of $5-$15 is greatly appreciated with all money going to help continue the mission of the Fishtank Performance studio.

Featuring:
Walter Coppage
Damian Torres-Botello
Philip Denver
Sabrina Henderson
Sam Cordes
Jay Martinez
Ashley Harp
Lucas Villanueva
and Alexa Washington

Ad Hoc Music Series

2010-05-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

Vol. 4: The Diverse Composition Project - May 7, 2010 - 8pm

What happens when you combine one of the most talented jazz groups in the country with some the most innovative student composers in the midwest?

The Diverse Composition Project seeks to find out. The project strives for the eclectic.

This First Friday event will feature a concert by Kansas City-based jazz quintet Diverse performing a mixed set of their own original works and those of UMKC student composers. Expect a night of inventive music combining jazz, improvisation and contemporary compositon.

ALL FOR ONLY $5!

featuring DIVERSE:
Hermon Mehari - trumpet
Matt Chalk - sax
John Brewer - keys
Ben Leifer - bass
Ryan Lee - drums

playing compositions by UMKC composition students

Paul Shortt Invitational Performances: Musical Alter Ego Night!

2010-04-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Musical Alter Ego night. Various performers will perform music as there alter ego's, bringing you a mix of hip hop, electronic, noise and more. Performers will be:

Rhiannon Birdsall
Wm. Howell
Claytron
Unlord Drewcifer
and Financial Aid Collective!

Cost is $5 bucks. There will be FREE BEER! and PRIZES

Find out more about Paul Shortt here!

Margo May at the Fishtank

2010-04-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 30 7pm
$10 gets you in AND a copy of the LP Summerof

"Margo May's first full-length, Summerof, carries on that spirit of bleached-out brightness, atop guitar chords that recall the fresh-faced innocence of Karen Peris and the shuffling lines out of Cat Power's songbook. Fleshed out with '70s-sounding keyboards and breathy backing vocals, May's songs evoke coy flirtations, California summers and suburban bliss."

- Elke Mermis, The Pitch, Kansas City

Heidi Van recognized as one of Kansas City's Masterminds

2010-03-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

Masterminds 2010: This year's creative geniuses

Thursday, Apr 1 2010

Meet Our Masterminds: Winners of the 2010 Awards

Once again, The Pitch presents some of this city's aesthetic adventurers with $1,000 each — no strings attached — just for doing what they do.

Each year, we ask our readers to nominate artists, innovators and entrepreneurs who are changing the city's cultural landscape. This isn't a popularity contest or a lifetime-achievement award; instead, we want to recognize individuals or groups whose contributions are influencing the city's cultural and creative landscape.

We back up our appreciation with cash because we know that these people often do their work with little financial reward. A thousand bucks, we figure, is a small investment toward keeping the city interesting.

We'll hand out the checks at our annual Artopia party — a night of fashion, music, food and all-around creative energy — on Saturday, April 3, at the Screenland (1656 Washington). Until then, you can read about this year's Masterminds in this Artopia pullout section. The party that night starts at 7; tickets cost $25 at the door, or $20 if you get them sooner by calling us at 816-561-6061.

Mastermind: Performance
Heidi Van

When she puts on the nose, Heidi Van is free.

"Clowns make the rules," Van says. "They have the authority to change those rules. They can die. They can come back. They can look out at the audience and say, 'You know what? I'm an all-caps CLOWN!'"

Van makes rules, too. The pixie-ish native of Kansas City, Kansas, is as comfortable farcing it up for the New Theatre's dinnertime crowds as she is gliding through dark, experimental, movement-based clown extravaganzas like The Coppelia Project.

In the latter show and other shows like it, Van and her Hybrid-theater cohorts have achieved, through clowning, a casual profundity — work that seems simple yet cuts deep.

An actress, director, teacher of incarcerated juveniles, and manager of the Fishtank theater at 17th Street and Wyandotte, Van buys the freedom to clown through labor that's mundane (sweeping the Fishtank, painting its walls), instructional (guiding artists interested in a Fishtank show through the process of writing proposals and estimating budgets) and managerial (gathering the team to nurse an idea into a fully realized performance). The effort is also altruistic: By keeping the Fishtank alive, she gives Kansas City a space where the unlikely flourishes — where other performers are free to put on the nose, too.

Still in its first year, the teensy theater has hosted local and national performers putting on work old and new. It has given us Lisa Cordes' series of living-news performances in which motley casts declaim the writings of Sarah Palin or Carrie Prejean. It has mounted one-woman shows from out of town as well as locally cast plays that otherwise wouldn't have been staged here. It has put on a citywide show-and-tell, and it has dared improvised comedy every Saturday and themed celebrations of new performance art on First Fridays. (At one show inspired by Union Station's Warhol exhibit, Van dressed as Warhol-shooter Valerie Solanas.) We've seen workshops, rehearsals and Peter Lawless composing and performing music in the windows.

Those shop windows overlooking Wyandotte Street give the space its name as well as its greatest inspiration. Fishtank founder Corrie Van Ausdal even hatched an environmental-theater breakthrough when she staged Dial 'M' for Murder entirely behind the storefront's glass. The Hybrid theater collective followed up this past fall with clown love story. Written by the group, it was a tender and riotous tale of a street-sweeping clown (Matt Weiss) who falls for a comically buxom baker (Van, padded à la Dolly Parton) whom he sees each day in a sweet-shop window. For most of the show, Weiss was outside looking in, just like the audience members, who sat in folding chairs out on Wyandotte.

An original show, sharply written and performed, that actually spilled out into our city itself? That's why we call Van a Mastermind.

-- By Alan Scherstuhl

Read about the other MASTERMIND recipients at the link below.

http://www.pitch.com/2010-04-01/news/masterminds2010/1

This Weekend at the Fishtank! March 26-28!

2010-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, MARCH 26

Ad Hoc Music Series Presents:
derive/devise/improvise: music by lauren wells

Friday, March 26, 8pm - 10pm $5

Fishtank Resident Peter Lawless curates this exciting new music series. This month is the fourth installment of the series and features composer Lauren Wells with a focus on improvisation.
Performers include Ben Leifer, Steve Lambert, Brenna Hayes, Mike Harte, Chaski Dye, Peter Lawless, Tom Kessler & Jessica Robins.

SATURDAY, MARCH 27
Kansas City Crossroads Comedy Presents:
The Comedy Triforce

Saturday, March 27, Shows at 7 and 9pm
$6 in advance www.kcxrc.com/tickets $8 at the door

Every Saturday KCXRC assembles a winning line-up of comedy teams. So fill up your hearts, grab your swords and arrows, and prepare to journey on an epic quest to redeem the Triforce of Comedy!
Featured Troupes: Not A Great Gorilla, Loaded Dice & Spite

SUNDAY, MARCH 28

Burlesque Downtown Underground Presents:
Burlesque Extraordinaire: a benefit performance

Sunday March 28, 7:30pm
$5-15 donations accepted on a sliding scale at the door

Featuring Burlesque Downtown Underground's Foxy Von Trap, Madame, Puss-N-Boots and Sweet Louise and more!

Proceeds from this show benefit Burlesque Downtown Underground's Burlesque Revival at the historic Folly Theatre this summer.

The Fishtank Performance Studio is located at 1715 Wyandotte, Kansas City, Mo 64108.
For more information contact Fishtank Curator Heidi Van at (816) 809-7110 or
heidi@fishtanktheater.com

Fishtank Performance Studio is a KC Fringe Venue for 2010

2010-03-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Fishank is excited to be a Kansas City Fringe Festival Venue for 2010. The Kansas City Fringe Festival will take place from July 25 - August 1, 2010. The Fishtank will host local, regional and national performance artists.

Showing at the Fishtank during the Fringe Festival will be THRILL ME: The Leopold & Loeb Story by Kansas City native Stephen Dolginoff. Directed by Jeff Church.

For more info on the Fringe visit www.kcfringe.org

L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR: A Clown Love Story

2010-03-15T15:56:00.001-07:00

The Fishtank Performance Studio & HYBRID: A Theatre Collective presented an original window play in the late summer of 2009. The play was L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR: A Clown Love Story, featuring Heidi Van & Matt Weiss (actors) Dan Eichenbaum & Peter Lawless (live musicians, composers) and Corrie Van Ausdal (director.)

THE TANGO from L'HISTOIRE D'AMOUR was one of four featured presentations at the Arts KC Luncheon at Starlight Theatre on Friday, March 5.

See photos from the show!

L’Histoire d’Amour is a window into the soul

By Alan Scherstuhl

September 08, 2009, The Pitch

The humble miracle of Corrie Van Ausdal's Fishtank performance studio isn't simply that such a lark exists, although it is remarkable: a theater where actors perform behind a storefront window for a crowd seated in folding chairs on Wyandotte. Still, theater today is always unlikely; this one is just a touch more than most. What's most worth celebrating is that the theater at Fishtank has been so memorable.

First, Van Ausdal crammed herself behind the glass to star in a version of Sorry, Wrong Number that took on the voyeuristic edge of Rear Window. Even better, Van Ausdal has now paired up with clown-of-all-trades Heidi Van — also adept at bringing the unlikely to life — for L'Histoire d'Amour, a daft dream of a romantic one-act. It's a show that could only find life at the Fishtank, mining all the possibilities of a window, a street and clowning.

Wearing a great red nose and padded out like a comic-book sexpot, Van flounces behind the glass as a Parisian pastry chef smitten with her own delicacies. Smitten with her, meanwhile, is the window washer played by Matt Weiss, a clown himself, who charms the crowd, woos the girl, and folds a tissue into a white rose with comic aplomb. He courts her through the window; eventually, with that glass still between them, they tango. Both Van and Weiss are adroit physical comedians, and their dance is as odd and hilarious as one might hope. It's also charged with an undeniable clownish eroticism and even a little violence.

Like all good love stories, L'Histoire d'Amour teeters between passion and pain. Faced with the typical misunderstandings that love stories depend upon, these lovers also dip into surprising anger. What struck me most, though, were the highs: Weiss pirouetting around a signpost, Van painting a heart in pastry cream right on the glass. Without words, and in just a half-hour, L'Histoire d'Amour works up more excitement between its lovers than most full-length romances.

Van Ausdal, who directs, ably proportions elements that might otherwise have conflicted. Original music composed and performed by the accordion-and-clarinet duo of Dan Eichenbaum and Peter Lawless is invaluable. Its melancholy whimsy shapes these characters' lives just as much as the window does. I relished the clarinet glissando that accompanies every wipe of Weiss' squeegee — except when the glissando doesn't, for some reason, and these moments are funnier still. Stumped by the silence, Weiss glares at the squeegee, and then at the clarinet, and then tries again. He wears a clown nose but no face paint, so his frustration — like his passion — feels like the real deal rather than an abstraction. He and Van are proof that clowns don't need the makeup to show us the human.

Skinny Dipping Press Release

2009-11-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

Chicago based actress and writer, Shanna Shrum, performs her one woman show, Skinny Dipping, at FISHTANK Performance Studio, November 12^th, 13^th and 14^th at 8:00pm and will be teaching a Solo Performance Workshop, November 15^th at 1:00pm.

Kansas City, MO (October 5, 2009)-Versatile Chicago based actress and writer, Shanna Shrum bares the souls of six incredibly different women in her hilarious one woman show, Skinny Dipping, as she makes Kansas City the 2^nd stop on her four city tour, which includes venues in St. Louis, Chicago and New York City.

Skinny Dipping combines improv, audience participation and a dash of cabaret to create a solo show unlike any other. It is an outrageous, hilarious and even heartfelt piece of theatre that explores what can happen when we break through, strip down and jump into the pool of acceptance.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Shanna Shrum moved to Chicago in the summer of 2005. After performing on a variety of impov teams at The Second City’s Skybox Theatre and The Playground, as well as appearing in scripted works. Shanna then focused her attention on writing, producing and performing Skinny Dipping.

Part of Shanna Shrum’s draw is her unique ability to vocally and physically embody each of the six characters. Whether she is portraying a 50 something Liza Minnelli obsessed diva or a spoiled lonely 17 year old girl, Shanna Shrum acts as a conduit for each of their spirits to connect with her audience.

During the most recent run of Skinny Dipping, at Chicago's Davenport’s Piano Bar and Cabaret, The Chicago Reader exclaimed, “Shanna Shrum channels a series of increasingly complex personalities…with impressively precise and sincere characterizations.”

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale and range from $10 to $15.

Advanced ticket purchase may be made online at brown paper tickets or by calling (816) 809 – 7110

FISHTANK Performance Studio is located at 1715 Wyandotte, Kansas City, MO.

From KC Confidential.com

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

Edelman: Summer Camp Comes to the Crossroads

mark

It’s summer camp time in the always hip Crossroads Arts District. Now, before you put on your khaki shorts and dig the silver-plated whistle out of your dresser, I should tell you I mean camp as in Corrie Van Ausdal’s star turn in the 40s suspense thriller “Sorry, Wrong Number.” You’ve got one more chance (next Saturday, 8:30 at the Fishtank, 1715 Wyandotte– bring a lawn chair) to enjoy Ms Ausdal– famed for her birdies panty creations–as she beats the pants off any number of more experienced actors in town when it comes to playing it “over the top.”

Corrie and Company picked the right scary campfire story for their summer outing. “Sorry, Wrong Number” was a radio suspense hit for Agnes Moorehead back in 1943. That’s before Miss Moorehead grew up (or down, as the case may be) to become Samantha’s mom or aunt– I was never sure “witch”– on “Bewitched.” That performance was so out there, I knew people who thought Endora was a guy.

If that wasn’t camp grounds enough, “Sorry. Wrong Number” earned scenery-chewer Barbara Stanwyck an Oscar nomination for the film version in 1948. Both the radio and movie scripts were penned by Lucille Fletcher, who was married to Bernard Herrmann, the great film composer of some of Alfred Hitchcock’s most heart-stopping thrillers, including those scary strings in the “Psycho” bathtub sequence. Taking camp from the sublime to the ridiculous, Loni Anderson played the role in the TV version of “Sorry.”

So Ms Van Ausdal had a big, sticky roasted marshmallow of a play to work with Monday night. And taking the notion of “two dimensional characters” to a whole new level, this “Sorry, Wrong Number” is acted out across several storefront windows at 17th and Wyandottte. The audience sits on the street. watching the proceedings through the glass window (like I said, bring a lawnchair). It’s an interesting conceit, using a storefront to evoke elegant Sutton Place on Manhattan’s East Side. And it mostly works, though I wish Corrie had had another three feet of depth to work with.

I won’t give away the plot, but you can probably guess– things don’t go well for the lady in the window. As she moves from smaller to ever smaller portal, Van Ausdal creates a sense of claustrophobia that becomes palpable. Production values– always difficult in street theater– are pretty good. It’s only thirty minutes long and the price is right–donate $5 to 15 and you’re fine.

Besides, you’re too old for the other kind of summer camp anyway. So head down to the Crossroads Saturday at 8:30 for Counselor Corrie’s little show. Afterwards, grab a table at La Bodega and have them light up one of those flaming drinks. Make that your campfire; in this economy, there should be plenty of scary stories to tell.

Mark Edelman

photo by Dale Monaghen

http://www.kcconfidential.com/?p=5783

Thanks, Bob!

2009-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

See the glowing review from the star below. Here's the photo that goes with it:
Tonight we have a brush up rehearsal... I'd better go back to the space and prepare myself. We've gotten a great response from today's Star Preview article. The phone has been ringing and ringing with questions about seats and tickets. Here's the scoop: 1/2 hour before showtime, we'll start selling chairs. We're asking a $5-15 dollar suggested donation, which means we hope everyone gets to see it. If you're inspired to pay more, we're awfully glad to have it. If you can't rub two coins together, and I've been there, sister, we want you there too. This is the innaugural production and we want everyone to spend 30 minutes playing with us.

Two chances to see it on first friday!

Stylish 'Sorry, Wrong Number' strikes the right chord - Kansas City Star

2009-07-02T13:39:00.001-07:00

Stylish 'Sorry, Wrong Number' strikes the right chord - Kansas City Star

Shared via AddThis

Public Arts : Fishtank Performance Studio Opens with

2009-06-29T09:45:00.001-07:00

Public Arts : Fishtank Performance Studio Opens with "Sorry, Wrong Number" (2009-06-26)

Shared via AddThis

Opening Night!

2009-06-27T10:20:00.003-07:00

Last night I helped Gary Campbell sew and install curtains. The curtains add this great voyeuristic effect--amazing how adding a layer can make something look more naked.

Gary did a hilarious silent version of the show for me so I could see what it looked like from the outside, and through tears of laughter I figured out about 3 more magical things that I can add. Thanks, Gary Boy!

Still left to do:
Steam curtains and costumes
Hang outside curtains
Set up for reception afterwards
Run lines 3 more times to make sure they're tight (I'm aiming high here)
Speed through show w/ guest stars DWR and Vanessa
Figure out how to set up the box so that people have a natural path to donate money
ummmm
probably more stuff...

2009-06-27T10:20:00.001-07:00

Rain rain?

2009-06-26T06:52:00.000-07:00

So the weather report says it's going to be super duper hot with a 30% or 60% chance of rain, depending on the optimism of the reporting agency, apparently. Hm.

Well, there's no real contingency plan for rain. We went 8 years on dumb luck with the W 18th St Fashion Show and always got away with it--this year was the first time we had a rain backup location. Have I used up all my weather luck? We shall see...

The real drag of this first weekend getting rained out is that we wouldn't be able to get a review of the show, since it's only a 3 week run, the bare minimum for a review in Kansas City.

Today we just say hmmm.

Weather for Kansas City, MO

- Change location

- Add to iGoogle

81°F

Current: Clear
Wind: N at 0 mph
Humidity: 74%

Fri

95°F | 76°F

Sat

97°F | 70°F

Sun

88°F | 67°F

Mon

90°F | 68°F

KC Star Preview

2009-06-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Corrie Van Ausdal fills her Fishtank theater with life

By ROBERT TRUSSELL

The Kansas City Star

C ount on Corrie Van Ausdal to do things her own way.

The actress, playwright and Late Night Theatre veteran plans to inaugurate her new performance studio, Fishtank Theatre, with a typically unorthodox enterprise: a solo performance of “Sorry, Wrong Number,” a classic radio play by Lucille Fletcher that later became a classic film noir with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster.

But it was the original radio play that captured Van Ausdal’s creative imagination. Agnes Moorehead starred as the bedridden daughter of a millionaire who overhears a murder plot on the telephone. Van Ausdal recalls hearing it in 2002 as she delivered pizzas.

The Fishtank, at 17th and Wyandotte, has a series of picture windows on Wyandotte, and the windows are where Van Ausdal will perform. The audience will stand or sit on the sidewalk. Van Ausdal is working with a team of directors: Katie Gilchrist, who helped her develop the adaptation, Vanessa Severo, Martin Buchanan and Missy Koonce.

“At the very end I’m in the smallest space and the smallest window,” she said. “The character is an invalid, in the parlance of the time, and that’s another way to heighten it.”

In January Van Ausdal sold her interest in Birdies, the panties boutique she owned with artist Peregrine Honig, and began to think about finding a multi-use performance space. She settled on 1715 Wyandotte, just around the corner from Birdies, in a building owned by artist David Ford.

Van Ausdal, in turn, is renting out the space to other performers who want to develop new material. One of them is Heidi Van, who has formed a new performance company called Hybrid. The space also will be used for classes.

But the Fishtank is also set up for public performances. Van Ausdal said she’d like to have at least one public event a month.

Van Ausdal hopes the space can be used by a diverse range of performing artists, but she really created the Fishtank for herself. She wants a place to work continually on new projects.

“I looked back on the time when I was happiest as a performer and those were the times I was working all the time,” she said. “I found I really did need to define my life around performance.”

Officially, Van Ausdal is the executive director of the Fishtank. She said she thinks of herself as a curator.

“Once you’ve been your own boss, it’s hard not being your own boss, man,” she said.

the show
“Sorry, Wrong Number” opens at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fishtank, 1715 Wyandotte. Additional performances are scheduled at 8:30 and 10 p.m. July 3 and 8:30 p.m. on July 6 and July 11. A sliding scale of donations from $5 to $15 will be requested. For more information call 913-621-1304 or go to www.fishtanktheater.com.

DAVID EULITT/The Kansas City Star

The audience for “Sorry, Wrong Number” will either stand or sit on the sidewalk outside the Fishtank, 1715 Wyandotte. Vanessa Severo, co-director, checked out the perspective in preparation for Corrie Van Ausdal’s solo production, which will be performed in the building’s large windows. Van Ausdal, executive director of the Fishtank, said the building also will be used for classes and performances by other area artists.

Publicity Train

2009-06-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

David Wayne Reed did PR for Sorry, Wrong Number. He's really good at promotions. He wrote up a killer press release with good hooks that got everybody curious. I followed up with folks and got some great publicity opportunities....

Monday I recorded an interview w/ Laura Spencer from KCUR, which will air thursday or friday. Today I got to be on Midday Medley with Mark Manning at KKFI. Bob Trussell interviewed me last week and sent a Star photographer over to take pictures of rehearsal on Saturday afternoon. All good stuff-thanks David!

I'm alot more comfortable doing press than I used to be. I learned so much working with Peregrine for 6 years at birdies, producing the West 18th Street Fashion Show and also getting to do publicity for Late Night Theatre with Ron Megee. I used to get very nervous about interviews. I felt like I needed to provide completely different information to each source, or I'd try to be modest, which only ends up sounding wishy washy in print or over the air. Press isn't about modesty. I guess it's about the sound bite--but the sound bite backed by knowledge and interest and fact is the one that will keep the press train chugging along. I think I can, I think I can. There's nothing wrong with knowing what you're talking about and believing that you're selling a good product.

Sometimes it's hard for me to have perspective about the things I do. I often feel like my different interests and experiences pull me in different directions so it's nice to see that I've been learning valuable lessons along the way that will help me figure out how to make the Fishtank work.

So, more publicity. My website, corrievanausdal.com. My other one, reverendcorrie.com.

Once you get started, you just can't stop. Here's the show poster! Photo by Matthew Collins.

First Look

2009-06-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is the part where I'm frustrated

2009-06-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

This script is a little pain in the butt to memorize. I see why it was a damn radio play. Everything is repeated over with important clues dropped in and there are no real cues to go off of. grrr. Solo performance is frustrating this way, too, because there's no break, when the attention goes onto someone else. Love/hate. You're either rehearsing or you're not. You're getting it right or you're horribly off track.

little bits of ideas come together

2009-06-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

From Corrie 6/16/09:

I heard the radio play Sorry, Wrong Number back in college when I was delivering pizzas. I hopped in the car just as the play was starting--I remember hearing the announcer say that it was Agnes Moorhead in the title role. It's from the Suspense Radio Series, which ran from the 40s through the 60s. Sorry Wrong Number begins with a woman who overhears 2 men planning to kill a woman. Through the course of the play our housebound heroine tries desperately, frantically, to get someone, anyone, take her seriously and help her stop these 'cold-blooded killers' before they murder this 'poor, innocent woman who is all alone'...

I was absolutely riveted. I got to the address and sat in the car and let the pizzas get cold so that I could hear how it would play out. It’s a wonderful script with all those great Suspense clues along the way.

There’s Agnes (later).

I wanted to play this part, though when I first heard it I was way too young. So I wanted to figure out how you pull off a radio play on stage.

This script was turned into a movie with Barbara Stanwyck, and I tried to watch it, but it was drawn out to feature length and visually kind of boring, and I think I fell asleep. (A great single set play-turned-movie is Tracy Letts’s Bug, directed by William Friedkin. He keeps that set fresh and hot.)

There’s Barbara in all her Blonde, B-cup Glory.

The script was also made into a TV Miniseries in the late 70s. I haven't seen that one, but the stills look wonderfully Dynasty-y.

Anyway, I kind of forgot about the play for a few years until I saw the bank of windows here at the Fishtank. I’ll put up a picture of those windows as we start to dress them, but it’s a big picture window plus 3 more big windows, with room to play, but tightness for the weird visual tension the play needs to pop.

Heidi’s dogs Bruno and Falstaff guarding the window

So here's the concept: I'll be in the windows, miked. Set designer Gary Campbell is transforming the window bank into a 1940s parlor/sitting room. David Kiehl, the sound designer, will be out on the sidewalk and my lines will be sent out over the PA to the audience, who will also be sitting and standing outside.

5 Shows:
Saturday, June 27th, 8:30 pm
First Friday, July 3rd, 8:30 and 10 pm
Monday, July 6th, 8:30 pm
Saturday, July 11th, 8:30 pm

STAY TUNED.