Bottle Alley Theatre Company Seeking Stage Mangers for Second Season

Bottle Alley Theatre Company, following out their sold-out runs of The Ivy House and Make-Believe, are beginning their second season and are looking for a few awesome stage managers to come on board.

Currently in pre-production is their season-opener, a devised ensemble piece entitled Florence, which shall premiere in November.

Bottle Alley Theatre Company is an experimental company made up of misfits and rogues, dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what theatre is, or what it could be. We produce only original, daring, smashmouth, unapologetic theatre that challenges our audiences. Our website says it best: controlled chaos. Badass theatre.

Normally stage managers get to yell at actors about being late, be on book, and generally hold the show together (don't worry, you'll get to do that too) but these stage manager positions come with some creativity as well - they are a part of the ensemble and get to be apart of the group that devises Florence, ultimately creating the show.

Sounds like a pretty cool gig, right? We think so. If you have experience that's great. If not, that's okay too though an understanding of what a stage manager is would definitely be helpful.

If you're interested, please email your resume to the Florence director, Katherine Wilkinson, at katherinedirects@gmail.com to set up an appointment for an interview.

Come out. Have an experience. Meet some people. Be apart of something. Hope to see you soon.

Auditions for Bottle Alley Theatre production of Florence, by appointment

Bottle Alley Theatre Company is seeking some amazing actors and actresses to join up with the first show of their second season, entitled Florence.


Florence is an abstract experimental piece, revolving around the real life of silent film starlet Florence Lawrence, regarded as the world's first movie star. The play takes a introspective look at her rise and fall to stardom, while balancing additional themes of modern fame, suicide, hope, and what it is like to be forgotten.

Florence Lawrence (via Google)

The play is unique in the sense that it shall be a devised work. What does this mean, exactly? It means that a certain story, themes, and scenes are presented and that the entire company (director, actors, stage manager) essentially fills in the gaps, creating scenes, alternate stories, plot twists, etc during the rehearsal process based on prompts - ultimately creating a unique script that has a little of everyone's ideas within it.

Ultimately, Florence is a unique blend of surreal film noir, movement, Old Hollywood mixed with movement with a dash of youtube fame and Kanye West thrown in.

Who are we? (You might be asking) Bottle Alley Theatre Company is an experimental company made up of misfits and rogues, dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what theatre is, or what it could be. We only produce original, daring, smashmouth, unapologetic theatre that challenges our audiences. Our website says it best: controlled chaos and badass theatre.

Intrigued? Have questions? Then please email a resume and headshot to director Katherine Wilkinson at katherinedirects@gmail.com to schedule an audition slot. This is very much so first come, first served so please email ASAP to ensure a spot (we only have so many). Auditions shall be in the first week of September, with performances to be held in November. And if all that wasn't good enough - yes, this is a paying gig.

Make-Believe by Chris Fontanes, Bottle Alley Theatre at Grayduck Gallery, July 12 - 20, 2013

by Jessica Helmke

A Commentative Search for Truths 

 

I ended up parking two blocks away by accident and only once had to stop and ask for directions to the Grayduck Gallery [click for map]. I was really excited to watch the premiere of Make-Believe, a new work by Chris Fontanes of Bottle Alley Theatre Company. I'd received an early version of the full length play from Chris a couple of months earlier, so I'd gotten an actresses's inside view of the work early on. 

Described as 'an experiential theatrical piece' and 'an abstract narrative of...all the things you wish you remembered,' the new work was everything I expected: a frank depiction of abstract ideas, using theatrical staging conventions and interesting choices in characterization.

The dreamlike hospital setting was close before us in a contemporary art gallery. The white walls and simple set consisting of two beds and nightstand cleared the air so an audience member could interact thoughtfully with the action and dialogue. We were allowed to form opinions about the piece as we watched it and to respond to the play in a direct and unforced fashion. The gallery and the setting were suited to the experience of new theatre work.

Experiencing Make-Believe was like watching a painter fresco a wall in lime plaster.Tension mounted as the plot was slowly revealed. Neither the protagonist nor the audience benefited from the omniscient viewpoint of realism or natualistic theatre. The playwright revealed information simultaneously to the central character and to the audience, filling in the characters and the events surrounding them. Only at the end of the play were all the loose threads woven back into the plot to produce a neat, concise, engaging pattern.

Questions arose throughout the play and kept both the audience and the nameless central character guessing. We were asked repeatedly what to think about love, friendship, morality, and societal roles. Subplots and minor themes emerged from the interplay of these four embracing ideas. We experienced all the other characters through the eyes of Nameless.

We wanted to know a great deal. How did all the characters end up in a hospital? Why did certain things happen to particular characters? What roles did each of them have in the life of Nameless? Who was - or is - responsible? Near the end of the play, I roused myself for a moment and noticed everyone in the room completely dedicated to the events on stage, mesmerised in the hypnotic 'Make-Believe' world of Nameless, eventually revealed to have been in coma throughout the entire play.

I have two technical notes for the production. One takes exception to a spider character who eats human food (flies do this, not spiders). Second, and possibly more controversial, is the playwright's choice not to address the issue of involuntary manslaughter. If an accident involves fatalities, chances are the authorities will be obliged at least to attempt to identify the person at fault. But I understand this new work was abstract, with focus was placed elsewhere in the play.

Moving, at times humorous, and intriguing, Make-Believe by Chris Fontanes dealt with important questions about reality, life, and extreme circumstances. It was nice closing to Bottle Alley's first season of plays. 


Make-Believe by Chris Fontanes will be presented again at the Grayduck Gallery, 608 W. Monroe St., on July 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m.. Tickets are available via brown paper tickets.

Bottle Alley Theatre Co Seeking Scripts & Directors by May 31, 2013, for Second Season

Bottle Alley Theatre Company is seeking new and original scripts for production as well as directors interested in directing experimental projects.


We are currently in the midst of Make-Believe, our fourth production as well as our final show in what we are calling our "first season" of shows. We would like to start planning for the future and to read new words and meet new, talented people who can come in and bring a fresh perspective.


A little bit about us, and the kind of theatre that we do: We produce experiments. New work. Unapologetic, smashmouth theatre that makes the audience THINK and FEEL. Theatre that is not afraid. If you can dream it, we might be able to produce it. Puppet shows. Theatre in warehouses. Movement pieces. Poetry. Theatre that will move us and the audience to discuss the work, long after the performance is over. Drab theatre, works by playwrights that have been dead for years, curtains and blackouts are not our style.


Still interested? Hope so!


Scripts: Pretty simple: Send your scripts! It might take a while to get back to you, but know that your words are being read and kicked around by our talented group of minds. We might or might not suggest edits and you might or might not be interested in making them. Either way, we'd love to read these words.


Unfinished scripts/proposals are kind of a risky business. We LOVE hearing new ideas, but would greatly prefer finished product. But if you feel so passionate about an idea that you just have to share it, then please do!


So, yeah. Send your script along with a brief bio about it (where'd the inspiration come from, how long have you been working on it, etc) as well as any production history that it has (if any) as well as a little bit about yourself. Just simple stuff. Are you a student, a graduate, you work at a record store, stuff like that.


Directors: Pretty simple as well: send your resume! If we are interested, we'll set up a interview so we can get to know you a little better. Now, maybe you come with your own scripts and ideas. That's fantastic! Include it in a brief cover letter. Like so: "Hello Bottle Alley. My name is Chris Fontanes, a director here in Austin. I have an idea to direct a play about bugs."


Maybe you are a director in search of a project or the right script for you. That's great too! Send us your resume! If we're interested, we'll set up an interview, and try and find the right script/project for you.


Contact: Email Artistic Director Chris Fontanes at his personal email address cmfontanes@gmail.com. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY, PLEASE


Deadline: The deadline for ALL submissions is the end of May - the 31st, to be exact.  Hope to hear from you soon!

Auditions for Stage, Bottle Alley Theatre, Austin, by appointment for September performances

 

Bottle Alley Theatre Company is auditioning for STAGE, a new, experimental drama written and directed by Chris Fontanes, that is the Austin debut of the company. 

Casting 1 man, 3 women for a brief rehearsal period followed by performances at The Broken Neck, 4701 Red Bluff Road (click for map) on September 7th, 8th, 14th, and 15th.

Auditions are now strictly by appointment only and shall consist of cold readings from the script, though prepared pieces are nice, but not necessary. Actors are to bring a copy of their headshot/resume to The Broken Neck (4701 Red Bluff Road) where the audition shall take place. To schedule an audition, please email cmfontanes@gmail.com

Compensation: Yes! Actors shall be compensated!

STAGE is basically a play-within-a-play - a look inwards into the very soul of what the rehearsal process is like, and seeing the underlying tensions that occur when different artists don't see eye-to-eye. It is also a very metaphysical/philosophical production as it asks the question of what theatre, or what performance even is. The production brings up the concept of acting - the idea that everyone acts in their everyday lives. The actors, aware of the audience, aware that they are onstage, question the audience frequently if they truly know what they are seeing. "If," they ask at some point "we were to just walk offstage, how long would you sit there, looking at the blank stage, certain that it is just part of the show?" STAGE shall take place after a very brief rehearsal period and shall be performed in an alternative venue called.

About The Broken Neck: Sandwiched between two automotive repair shops on the east side of Austin, most completely miss The Broken Neck upon trying to find it for the first time. With no sign of any sort, The Broken Neck is a warehouse, covered in grafitti, where punk concerts are regularly performed.

Click to view character descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com