Jungle Book Tour- Washington DC

This week we had 4 shows at the Publick Playhouse in Cheverly MD. The shows were in the morning and in the afternoon we took the opportunity to go to Washington DC. Kelly, Anthony, Damian and I got on the train and took it to the Smithsonian stop. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and there was a cool breeze that sometimes blew so hard that it blew Anthony's hat right across the mall.

We walked from the Smithsonian across the monument to the Lincoln Memorial before turning north to go through the Vietnam Memorial. Then we walked to the White House, by Fords Theatre and back across to the FBI building before getting back to the train to Cheverly.

Jungle Book Tour 2009 Has Begun!

A few pics from our opening performance at the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater in Houston, Texas, beginning with sound check...

Jungle Book Blog- On our way!

Today we finished our 2-show run at Our Lady of the Lake and then packed up and drove to Houston. We perform tomorrow at the Wortham Center in downtown Houston. This is the very beginning of our tour, and everyone is very excited. From Houston we will make our way to Maryland. It will be a long drive but we are excited to be on our way.

Tour Dates and Venues

THE JUNGLE BOOK opens in Houston this Thursday, before making a BIG loop around the U.S. over the next 8 weeks.

It's a great show -- very true to the original Kipling stories -- and we're not just saying that because it's ours!

Here are the great venues where you can catch the show for yourself...

September
24 - 25: Houston, TX
Wortham Theater Center / Cullen Theater

29 - 30: Cheverly, MD
Publick Playhouse


October
5: Alto, NM
Spencer Theater

7: Junction City, KS
C L Hoover Opera House

10: Muskego, WI
Muskego High School

11 - 12: Hartford, WI
Schauer Arts & Activities Center

16: Sugar Loaf, NY
Lycian Centre

17: Brentwood, NY
Van Nostrand Theatre

18 - 19: Manasquan, NJ
Algonquin Arts Theatre

20: Bronx, NY
Bronx Science

24: Detroit Lakes, MN
Historic Holmes Theatre

27: Helena, MT
Helena Middle School

28: Billings, MT
Alberta Bair Theater

29: Idaho Falls, ID
Colonial Theater


November
1: La Mirada, CA
La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts

4: Brawley, CA
Palmer Performing Arts Center

5: Lancaster, CA
Lancaster Performing Arts Center

7: Glendora, CA
Haugh Performing Arts Center

12 - 13: Columbus, GA
River Center for the Performing Arts

17: Waterville, ME
(venue TBA)

20: Union, NJ
Kean University, Wilkins Theatre

22: Owings Mills, MD
Gordon Center for Performing Arts

The Jungle Book Tour- Costumes

Rehearsal Update- Friday we ran though the show twice! It is still very loose but getting better each time. Next week we move into Northwest Vista college to have rehearsal there. We will also be available to talk to students who want to know more about professional theatre.

In The Jungle Book all of the actors will play more than one character. The actors will use their body and voice to convey to the viewers which character they are playing. However, so that it is very clear, the audience will also be able to tell by the costume that they are wearing. Each actor will wear a black shirt and black pants. Then they will put on a tunic and a headdress. The tunics are called dashiki and are the native dress of several countries in Africa. The tunic and headdress, along with their physical movement and voice, will tell the audience which character they are playing.

This is a picture of the 2 of the headdresses. The green one is for the jackal, Tabaqni. The blue one is for the bear, Baloo. Once we get into costume I will put up pictures of the actors wearing each headdress.

Jungle Book Tour- Set Building

Rehearsal Update- Yesterday we learned the choreography for Monkey Dance and Pride and Power. They look amazing. Apollo Bradley, a Company Member at The Magik Theatre, did the choreography for Monkey Dance and Dave Morgan worked on Pride and Power. Today we are reviewing the dances and blocking/ choreographing the other musical numbers. We are hopingto have the entire show blocked by Friday. Wish us luck!

While we rehearse the technical team at The Magik Theatre is building our set, props and costumes. Everything will have to fit in one van so they need to be very careful and design items that can be stored easily and set pieces that fit within the van space. These are going to be part of the rock piece in the center of the stage. First they built them out of steel so that they are sturdy since the actors will be climbing on them. Then they added plywood steps. They are currently being painted black and then foam and wood will be added for texture. Finally our graphic artist, Chris Boneta, will paint them to look like rocks.

This is our Narrator Elephant. Some of the story is told by this Elephant so we don’t have to show you everything that is going on over the ten years the story takes place. That would make for an EXTRA LONG show! The Elephant was made from foam and will be glued to a framework that will allow her to stand upright. Then it will also be painted.

The set will also have a hut piece to remind the audience that the people are not far away from the jungle and it will have bamboo “trees” to make the set feel more like it is in the jungle. The technical crew at Magik is working very hard to get everything done as soon as possible. Dylan, Chris, Joe and Apollo are doing a great job!

The Boys

Each of the actors in The Jungle Book plays more than one role with the exception of Mowgli. For example we have only 5 actors on tour but the show calls for 9 characters. We are using different headresses to let the audience know that the same actors is now playing a different character but we also expect the actors to use their bodies and voices to create a different persona for each character. For example; Kelly is playing Tabaqni and Kaa. Tabaqni is a jackal and Kaa is a snake. As Kaa, Kelly is making her "s" sound long and hiss-like. She is also moving more fluidly and slowly. As Tabaqni she move quicker and is very defferential to the bigger more dangerous characters just like the jackal in real life who feeds after animals such as the lion or panther.

We have 3 boys in our cast. Let's meet them now!

Damian Gillen is playing Bagheera and Akela. He is a trained Shakespearian actor with lots of experience in Shakespearian plays. He has performed in Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston. He also runs his own theatre company, The Company Theatre, and in the winter perfoms in a one man version of A Christmas Carol called BAH HUMBUG!

Andrew Heinrich is playing Shere Khan. He is originally from Wisconsin and is a musician as well

as an actor. He has a few albums out with Celtic music. He is also a

trained stage-fighter. He works around San Antonio choreographing and teaching stage fights for St. Philips College, Northwest Vista College and with The San Antonio Opera.

Anthony is a Company Member at The Magik Theatre. He works there full time and is the youngest company member at this time. He only discovered acting a few years ago and became quite good very fast. Last season he was a member of the local touring company and this summer he performed as Charlie in Willy Wonka at the theatre.

Rehearsal Update- Today we had a read through of the script with the music. Tomorrow we will start blocking! Blocking means "telling the actors where to move and when."

The Ladies of the Jungle

In our cast we have 2 ladies.

Ariel Rosen plays Baloo, Rakaha and a Monkey. She is from San Antonio and went to a performing arts high school before moving to New York City for a few years. She has a beautiful voice and sings sophrano in most of the musical numbers. Ariel has been onstage since she was a little girl. Some of her favorite roles include Rosaline in As You Like It, Lucy in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown and the first Witch in Macbeth.

Kelly Petlin is also a San Antonio native. She currently lives in Brooklyn NY.

She just finished a tour of If You Give A Pig A Party with American Family Theatre. She has also performed with the Manhattan Children's Theatre and attended The New School in NYC. Kelly is an amazing actress and sings the alto part in most of the musical numbers. Kelly plays the snake, Kaa, and the jackal, Tabaqni.

Today in rehearsal we continued to go over the music for the show. We are hoping to record a cast album on Saturday so the actors are all working very hard to learn it.

Production Team

Our first day of rehearsal went really well. The cast and production team met and went over calendars and contracts before they ran through the music. We will be learning the music all week.

Some introductions are in order.

My name is Shelley Laabs. I am the Tour Production Manager. That means that I am in charge of the schedule, booking hotel rooms, advancing the show with each venue, making sure that the props, costumes and vehicles are properly maintained, handling the finances and basically keeping the tour running. I have been working in theatre since college. I also have my Masters degree in Teaching and taught school for three years. Now I am living in New York City and I work as a Stage/ Company Manager.

Our author/ producer/ director is named David Morgan. David has been working professionally in theatre for years and works as the Artistic Director and Technical Director at The Magik Theatre. David has written several plays including The Jungle Book. He is also an artist. He will be the person in charge of the look and feel of the show. He will decide where each light cue goes, when the actors move on stage and how all the set pieces will come on and off.

Richard Rosen is the Executive Director of our parent company, The Magik Theatre. He is the head of the company and is also an author. Richard has been adapting children’s literature for the stage for many years and has been running The Magik Theatre for 15 years.

For more information on The Magik Theatre click here. For information on the people who work at The Magik Theatre full time click here.

In our next blog you will meet “the girls” of the cast.

Day One- Rehearsing the Jungle

This blog is written by the cast and crew of the national tour of The Jungle Book produced by The Magik Theatre. We will be on tour from the end of September 2009 until Thanksgiving 2009.

Before we can leave on tour we have to rehearse the show. Rehearsal allows the cast and crew to learn how to perform the show. It also allows the director to try different things to see how he wants the actors to move, when he wants people to enter and exit the stage and if he likes how they are portraying the characters. Rehearsal gives the actors time to learn their lines and the designers time to create and build any costumes, props or set pieces that the show will need.

Rehearsal will begin on September 1^st at The Magik Theatre. The Magik Theatre are the producers. That means that they are paying for the tour and that they have a say in the artistic direction of the play. Artistic direction means the way the show takes shape.

The Magik Theatre is a children’s theatre in San Antonio TX. They produce over 9 children’s shows a year and many of them are original scripts. They also have summer camp and after school classes in acting and the creative process.

Please stay tuned and follow us as we start this fascinating trip!