2022 was my year of a gentle, intentional, return to theatre.
april 2022 saw me reunited in person (tears, hugs and booster shots!) with my fellow collaborators/ARTISTS of the director’s theatre/writer’s theatre at our artistic home the london performance studios.
valerie mccann, joseph connolly, josef mohammed, laura schuller and myself performed ‘Death at five o’clock’ written and directed and set designed by than hussein clark, with assistant direction by andy mccredie, movement, vocal direction and production images by maya yoncali, with bespoke costumes and wigs by Adrian at Academy costumes, london.
About TDTWT:
“The Director’s Theatre Writer’s Theatre is an international ensemble of actors who work under the artistic direction of Than Hussein Clark. They have devised scripted performances together for the last seven years and performed large scale productions in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, primarily within the confines of the contemporary art world. Their performances have taken place in museums, galleries, theatres, and various site specific locations. Their work draws on continental post-dramatic aesthetics, queer theory, Meyerhold, and Grotowski, however these modes of operation are applied to ‘classic’ narrative situations, drawn from melodrama, serials, and classic dramatic texts.”-London Performance Studios
as regina morti in ‘death at five o’clock’. images: maya yoncali
as regina morti in ‘death at five o’clock’. image: maya yoncali
in rehearsal for ‘Death at five o’clock- photo: maya yoncali.
from the before times:
The War of The Roses | Cal Shakes
I am just winding down an incredible two months at Cal Shakes in The War of The Roses http://calshakes.org/v4/ourplays/2018/2018_warroses.html. I had the roles of Winchester (the overpowering Lancastrian priest), and Lady Elizabeth Grey, who becomes Queen Elizabeth. Artistic Director Eric Ting and Resident Dramaturge Phillipa Kelly’s epic adaptation of the Henry VI tetralogy and Richard III, was an outrageous, ambitious and beautiful work. It took Eric’s stunning vision and an outstanding crew and cast of the Bay Area’s best: Aldo Billingslea* Aysan Celik* Lance Gardner* Sarita Ocón* Joseph Patrick O’Malley* Josh Pollock, Stacy Ross* Marie Sadd, Danny Scheie* Jomar Tagatac* Abdulrahim Harara, Justin Howard and Iris Stone.
The result was an almost four hour performance packed with movement, fighting, singing and many, many murders and intrigues. I shan’t forget this show or these most generous and talented folks.
This is how I felt going to work every day:
‘Wonder Woman’ Image copyright WB/DC Comics.
*member, Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers. (It shall also be remembered as the show in which I joined the AEA.) Hazaaah!
Previous/Recent Projects:
Revolt. She said. Revolt Again. By Alice Birch, Crowded Fire, Directed by Rebecca Novick.
The Lion in Winter. By James Goldman, Custom Made Theatre, Directed by Stuart Bousel. (Finalist-Principle Actor, SFBACC Awards, 2018)
‘Paradise Street’ By Clive Barker. (US Premier)Directed by Stuart Bousel.
Henrietta in ‘This Is It or Dawn at Bar Bazooka’ by Than Hussein Clark, Villa Design Group at M.I.T. Boston.
“If a machine could write dramas, what would they be? This is the idea that London-based artist collective Villa Design Group explores with Tragedy Machine ” – Vice Magazine
Hand-painted screen Bait and Glitch (Cancancancancancancan Smash) (2016) features a scene from Roland Emmerich’s 2015 film Stonewall, in which a white male protagonist replaces the historical Marsha P. Johnson in throwing the first brick of the eponymous 1969 riots.
“Tragedy Machine also serves as the premiere of This Is It or Dawn at Bar Bazuhka (2016), the group’s most recent theatrical production, an adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh (1939), transposing the story from New York’s Greenwich Village to a gay nightclub on the Greek Island of Skiathos.” –M.I.T. LIST
‘Middletown’ by Will Eno March-April, 2016 Custom Made Theatre co.
An absurdist with the comic sensibilities of Jon Stewart, Eno’s take on Our Town follows the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown as they intersect in strange and poignant ways, in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between. It is a wry, human portrait of a town with two lives, one ordinary and visible, the other epic and mysterious.
Debts-The Erotic Review Sinai by Than Hussein Clark
The epic tale of love, murder and the weight of promises. See my post about it here.
HAY FEVER by Noel Coward, Directed by Lynne Soffer.
Nominated BATCC ‘Best Production’
Stanford Repertory Company, July/August 2015
‘THE BRAGGART SOLDIER (Or Major Blowhard)’ Adapted and Directed by Evren Odcikin.
Nominated BATCC ‘Best Ensemble’.
MARCH 27-APRIL 26 2015
‘RABBIT HOLE’ by David Lyndsay-Abaire, February 2015.
Directed By Justin Gillman.
Artist’s Rep San Francisco
‘BLOOD WEDDING’ NOV 7-22 2014
Directed by Ariel Craft
BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX THEATRE CO.
http://www.breadboxtheatre.org/
NEWS
I was thrilled to be nominated for a Theatre Bay Area Award in the category of ‘Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Featured Role in a Play’ for my work in ‘Top Girls’ at Custom Made in 2014. Thanks to all who saw the show, supported and believed in me!
| Catherine Luedtke | Actor 