A Night At The Theatre.

Posted by Matt Shea, Assistant to the Artistic Director

Hey everyone!

Today was a very exciting day at the WordBRIDGE camp. Vasilena Radeva had a great guest artist hour on the state of Bulgarian Theatre this afternoon, and then this evening the company went and enjoyed a fabulous performance of Iron Crow Theatre Company's Brad Fraser's Love and Human Remains, which features WordBRIDGE Director/Actor Michele Minnick, and was directed by WordBRIDGE 2010 Playwright Joseph Ritsch. Iron Crow featured a production of his play Apartment 213 this past fall, which was developed at the lab this time last year!

All the different rehearsal processes are in full swing, and everyone is getting very excited for the arrival of Bill Harley, who will be tomorrow's Guest Artist talking to the company about storytelling.  Once again, we will feature a LIVE STREAM of his talk, which begins at 5:30pm.

To check out Bill, and all the other Guest Artist Hours that will be broadcast LIVE from WordBRIDGE, follow this link to our USTREAM account, and please pass it along!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wordbridge-2011-guest-artist-hours

And, of course, I wouldn't want to leave you without a little video update! Here the company answers the question: "Who or what is one of your theatrical inspirations?"

New QOTD!

Posted by Matt Shea, Assistant to the Artistic Director

Hey everyone!

So from now on we're going to spread out our timing of these videos a bit. Now that being said, i know we're a few days behind on the round-up material, so here is Day 7's (Sunday's) Question of the Day. Later on today I'll get yesterday's question: "Who or what is one of your theatrical inspirations?" online.

The first official rehearsal block was yesterday and today we move into a somewhat 'normal' schedule, with rehearsals in the morning and afternoon, and a Guest Artist Hour at 5:30pm.

Look for more posts soon!

Come To The Guest Artist Hours

Posted by Matt Shea, Assistant to the Artistic Director

Hey everyone!

Been wondering if there was someway for you to be directly involved with WordBRIDGE this year? Well while our readings are not open to the public...the Guest Artist Hours are!  Below is a list of the Guest Artist Presentations that you are more than welcome to join us for:

Tuesday, June 14: Dramaturgical Innovations and New Plays 

Wednesday, June 15: Contemporary Bulgarian Theatre

Thursday, June 16: Story Telling with Bill Harley 

Sunday, June 19: State of Hungarian Theatre with Phillip Arnoult 

Monday, June 20: READING: "Panties" by Maxim Kurochkin

Tuesday, June 21 : Crosby Hunt's "Tiger, Tiger" 

Wednesday, June 22: Reading of a TBD Play by George Brant

All Guest Artist Hours take place between 5:30 and 6:30 in Towson  University's Center For The Arts' Studio Theatre.

Come check it out!  For more information, or if you have any questions, e-mail  info@wordbridge.org

Check back later for more updates!  

Rehearsal Check-In: "Caleb's Moon"

Hey all!

So I'm going to start writing these throughout the day, splitting up the Daily Round-Up segments into individual videos, so make sure you keep checking back here!

This update brings you the rehearsal check-in with "Caleb's Moon" playwright Dani Faulkner. Check out the video before!  Thanks everyone!

Day Five: Final Touches

Today was a busy day for everyone. Morning tasks included finishing the Lab Manual, getting everything in the Script Office in place, and, most importantly, picking up the rest of the company and making sure their move-in to the apartments was flawless.

Unfortunately, such a busy day resulted in no Daily-Round up, as everyone was literally too spread out to...round-up. But I was able to grab a few minutes with Student Artist Playwright Eric Poch and chat about his process with A Soldier Went To War. To see that, check out the video below.

Tomorrow things really get going, so make sure you come back tomorrow to find out what's happening now that the rest of the company is here!

Day Four: 103 Degrees

That was the official temperature at Towson University today, a day that brought two readings from each of the students plays, the assembly of the script office, final preparations for the arrival of the rest of the company over the next two days, and fifteen cases of donated sugar from the local Domino Sugar Factory.

What it did not bring was an interview with either of our two student playwrights, so their check-ins will be coming along shortly. I was able, however, to put together a short round-up, (minus a Word of the Day), so check that out below. We may, in the future, be breaking these videos up into individual videos rather than segmented ones, so keep a lookout for lots of different updates coming out of WordBRIDGE!

Things are getting very busy around the Center For The Arts, but they're also getting very exciting as our four playwrights arrive tomorrow! Make sure you come back for another post (or two) tomorrow.

Also, Mike Perrie just added some pictures to the Picture page, as well as WordBRIDGE 2011's Photobucket! Check out 'Pictures' for more details!

And don't forget to follow us on Twitter! @WordBRIDGE! (feed on the sidebar)

Day Three: Titles, Gnats, and Chicken Wings

Day Three brought exciting developments to the two Student Artist Plays. Caleb's Moon had their improvaturgy rehearsal with Will Manning, while No Title Yet...found a title! A Soldier Went To War proceeds with its final day of rehearsal tomorrow.

The day ended with a great grilled chicken dinner back at the apartments, with a few unwelcome insect friends.

In addition to today's Round-Up, today was supposed to also deliver to you a rehearsal check-in with A Soldier Went To War playwright Eric Poch, but due to faulty audio...we'll be bringing you that video tomorrow. The Caleb's Moon check-in will be right behind. 


So for today, another lovely Round-Up:

Day Two: Back Where We Started

Hello again!

So, as it turns out, I lied in the last post.  Due to some technical difficulties we are back at the old blog (but with a new look!) as opposed to wordbridge.org/blog.  Maybe next year...maybe. But for right now, this is where the WordBRIDGE 2011 Blog will be staying. You can check out the individual play pages as they develop, as well as keep an eye out for new Under The Bridge videos, and of course, the Daily-Round ups featuring rehearsal check-ins. Word of the Day, Question of the Day, and Deep Thoughts with Will Manning.

Again, during the first week at WordBRIDGE the students artists are hard at work prepping Towson University's Center For The Arts for the next two week when the rest of the lab participants arrive. At the same time we are in rehearsals for the two Student Artist plays being developed this year: Caleb's Moon and No Title Yet, by Dani Faulkner and Eric Poch respectively.

Tomorrow's Round-Up will feature Eric Poch and No Title Yet. Although, from what I hear...we might just have a title for you.  See you then!

WordBRIDGE 2011 Kicks off!

Hey everyone! WordBRIDGE 2011 has officially begun! As with last year I’ll be making daily updates to this site to make sure everyone knows what is going on here in Baltimore during WordBRIDGE 2011!

This year’s lab is being hosted by Towson University. The pre-lab week this week will feature two student-artist written plays: Caleb’s Moon by Dani Faulkner and No Title Yet by Eric Poch. Both had their initial readings today and will continue rehearsals all week.

The other plays featured at the lab this year are:

Krista Knight - Unhinged: A Silent Opera * Caroline V. McGraw - Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys Sarah Saltwick - Rabbits Katharine Sherman - christopher marlowe’s mystery play

Check out the play’s individual play pages as they evolve over the next three weeks. Also make sure you keep looking out for new ‘Under The Bridge’ videos and ‘Daily Roundups’

I made a video for the first day, but the camera cable was left at Towson for the night, so that will come out tomorrow night, if not before.

Check back here tomorrow for more information!

-Matt Shea, Student Artist