Archive for March, 2012

“Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!”

By Nihan Tanışer on March 28th, 2012
Nihan as Little Dead Riding Hood in Thespians Anonymous Halloween Party 2011

There are two types of people in the world: (1) The ones who love musicals, (2) the ones who mock those of the first type and the musicals they love.

Mock all you like, it does not change the fact that musicals are probably the best entertainment value you would get for your money (despite the notoriously high ticket prices, especially of the big productions originating from Broadway/West End), since they bring together several forms of stage art like theater, music, dance, occasionally acrobatics, puppetry, juggling, even roller skating. Because of this rather complex nature of it, an awful lot of effort goes into the production of a musical and this means there are a million things that need to be thought of, planned and run in a meticulously coordinated fashion until the very final curtain call.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on the perspective) we had the chance to learn about these “million things” the hard way: In early spring 2011 Thespians Anonymous staged its first musical “Love, Lust, Loss, Life”, a musical revue written by none other than our own Thespians and including songs from a variety of musical shows. We loved doing it, our audience appeared to have shared the sentiment, so we knew we wanted more. But this time we were going to do this properly, planning ahead. Hence came to life TA’s musical production group.

In order to select a play, we the musical nerds locked ourselves in our rooms (well, figuratively), listening to many musicals about anything and everything: love, family, murder, revolutions, teenage love, spies, monsters, aliens and other magical creatures, fairy tales, star-crossed love, twisted relationships, betrayal, friendship, love triangles, and urine (yes, you read correctly). Did I mention love?

And so we made lists of musicals, discussed, voted, went back to our rooms, listened some more, shortlisted, watched a little, made feasibility calculations, called others to read/watch/listen with us, asked their opinions, and finally voted a few more times. But at last we picked a play!

Our musical production group is now working on making the practical arrangements and will keep on doing so until autumn, when we hope to finally start rehearsing. Keep your eyes in this direction, because Love, in its funniest and most inconvenient ways, is going to come on stage in Helsinki in Spring 2013. You’ll want to be there when it does.

Nihan Tanişer made the fortunate mistake of joining the backstage crew of a musical company while looking for stuff to do during her freshman year in the university in Turkey. Since then simply being around stages is energy drink for her soul. Her love for musicals also led to a great fondness for Bollywood movies during her years in India. She is very excited to sit on the director’s chair for the next musical production of Thespians Anonymous.

Category: Productions | Tags: , , , , ,
| 2 Comments »

Visiting the Backstage: Rubber Costumes, Wooden Masks and Puppets

By Lotta Heikkinen on March 21st, 2012

A costume out of rubber at the Theatre Museum

A costume out of rubber

Japanese masks at the Theatre Museum Helsinki

Japanese masks

A lot of work goes into putting on a theatre show – most of which the audience doesn’t even get to see. Thespians Anonymous went to the Theatre Museum in Kaapelitehdas in order to shed light on the world backstage. Even for a theatre enthusiast like yours truly, the visit was not only fun but also educational.

Backstage, a permanent exhibition at the museum, shows the different aspects of theatre and all that goes into making a production. In the audience, you mostly concentrate on the acting and the story. You might look at the costumes and the sets, and perhaps you even notice the different lights, sounds and music. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Before that, someone has built a miniature layout of the stage and planned the sets. Someone has drawn the costumes and hunted down different kinds of fabrics, and someone has been sitting up at night making a wedding cake out of Styrofoam, fabric and beads.

It’s a lot of fun to see how different materials can be used in unconventional ways and you won’t be able to tell the difference. The costumes gave me ideas on how to make clothes and sets on a small budget or with materials that might be considered strange, such rubber, which was used for a costume for Tchaikovsky’s opera The Queen of Spades.

Talking about strange, there are also aspects of theatre that may seem weird or old-fashioned to us, like the use of masks or puppets. Then again, masks force the actor to concentrate on other things than facial expression, like movement and body language. Because the walk of an old person or a little child can be just as different as the walk of an elephant or the flight of a bird.

Puppet shows are primarily seen as children’s shows, but just like you can set a story in a different time or a magical place and address a problem that way, puppets can comment on social matters and get away with it. Especially in the Czech Republic, where puppet theatre is an old tradition, the shows were an underground way for people to express their political opinion during times when theatre was censored by the government. Because who thinks about checking what goes on at a children’s show?

Now, let’s skip the educational and get to the fun part: we got to try on costumes! Because that’s really what we love: to dress up and act as someone else.

Thespian Saga dressed as a fine lady

Thespians Saga...

Thespian Nicola dressed as a clown

...Nicola and...

Thespian Zach dressed as lady in pink

...Zach all dressed up.

 

Lotta Heikkinen is an addicted thespian and has been part of Thespians Anonymous since autumn 2009. She enjoys seafood & British period drama and will one day live in a castle and rule Scotland. Or, alternatively, sell her soul for some cheesecake.

On 22nd February, 6 eager members of Thespians Anonymous took part in a guided tour at the Theatre Museum in Ruoholahti, Helsinki.  Our thanks to the Theatre Museum.

Category: Events and Activities | Tags: , , , , ,
| 1 Comment »

Opening Line

By Alicja Kocańda on March 16th, 2012

Alicja as Princess in Snow Queen, photo by Sedeer El-Showk, Thespians Anonymous 2010

Welcome!

Thespians Anonymous Theatrical Society has come a long way since when it was established in 1999. We will continue to strive towards impressing you with new endeavours in the future – starting with this blog.

2011 was an awesome year for TA. We put on a lively musical revue, a popular production of Orwell’s 1984 and a fun collection of short plays. This amounts to a total of:

  • over 1000 audience members;
  • 59 cast;
  • 24 crew;
  • 7 directors.

Not too shabby for an amateur theatre group performing in a foreign language.

What else has happened over the last 10+ years? To start with, 31 productions were staged. Yes, we counted. Furthermore, we witnessed a transition from “we do it for friends & family” attitude to seizing the opportunity and addressing a wider audience.

We thought it’s time we shared our experiences. With yet another exciting year ahead of TA, this blog is our new conquest – introducing a new way of communicating with you. What we do is a gift back to the community we live in. Join us in building on this momentum. Together let’s become more popular, fill thousands of seats, maybe even go on tour…

Come back to read about what our productions and other theatre related activities entail – from backstage, individual actors’ experiences, costumes/make-up, set building to directing and creative writing, and much more. With that many post ideas, our blog will be cracking at the seams.

We do it out of heart, for you.

It’s show time!

Alicja Kocańda has been passionate about performing arts since age of six when she began giving piano recitals and loved all the attention. Current Chair of TA – her third Executive Committee role – she began as stage manager in 2009 and has subsequently done PR, directed, acted and produced.

About Thespians Anonymous Theatrical Society ry

Category: About TA | Tags: , , , , ,
| 4 Comments »