Last night we had our first audience, and it was a sold out house! If I had the budget for it, I’d buy one of these for every single person who has helped bring this project to fruition:
Thank you, everyone.
We Are in Tech!
We’ve been in tech this week, preparing for our opening showon Friday, March 23rd.
Here’s a sneak peak at what we’re up to. Check out the full slideshow on the Company One Facebook page.
Photo Albums
We’ve been posting quite a few photo albums up on Facebook. Check them out!
Behind the Scenes at our Photo Shoot
Throat Slit Effect
This video is for Nikki, so she can see what getting her throat slit looks like from the audience’s point of view. We aren’t using this special effect technique, so it won’t look exactly like this in performance, but it should give a good general idea. Also, since Nikki pretty much can’t stand horror movies, this is a nice, non-scary way to check it all out. The whole video is pretty interesting, but if you just want to see the effect in action, skip ahead to minute 8.
For a slit throat in action, see this clip from Scream, starting at about 2:40…
Interview with the Playwright
Click HERE to read a long-form interview with Hookman playwright Lauren Yee. Here’s an excerpt with my favorite bit:
IMB: Given that you don’t love horror movies, and you shy away from scary, shocking genres, what made you want to dive headfirst into a play that demands massive amounts of stage blood, and violence, and suspenseful discomfort?
LY: I think I felt like there’s room out there in the horror genre for something that is scary, but is also awkward; that there’s more than one way to look at death, and see the different facets of it. Also, as someone who doesn’t like scary movies, it was a way to deflate the genre for myself. If I could take horror, and make it kind of awkward and goofy and uncomfortable, that might be kind of fun for me. There could be a horror story that I could sit through.
IMB: Did you watch any horror movies in preparation for this?
LY: [long pause] Not really. I thought back to all the trailers of horror movies that I watched, and got terrified by. I know some of the stories but…
IMB: …The trailer is enough.
LY: Yes. The trailer is enough. I admit it. I did not watch a lot of movies to prepare for this.
IMB: Do you remember ever having watched one all the way through?
LY: I watched The Ring. All the way through. One of my friends was a big, big Japanese horror fan, and it terrified me. I went home and – the premise behind The Ring is that you watch this kind of grainy videotape – and I turned on my TV, and it was like the grainy videotape quality, and I turned it off. I couldn’t – yeah.
IMB: Did it follow you around? Like, when you see these things, do you carry that discomfort with you for a while after you see it?
LY: I think so. I think you begin to see the ways in which your normal every day life begins to warp to accommodate these horror images.
IMB: That feels so connected to this play, that idea of being so uncomfortable about something that –
LY: – That your mind begins to change things right in front of you. Or, that you begin to see more into silences, or objects, than you should.
Front Ends
Our tireless Set Designer Mike Best, and C1’s Production Manager Alyssa McKeon, visited Nissenbaums Auto yard to check out potential options for Lexi’s car. Didjya know you can just rent an empty front end? Check these out:
Bonus: check out Nissenbaum’s Car Crusher!
(We're going with the white one.)
Being This Bloody Takes Work
Special Effects Designer Lynn Wilcott and director Greg Maraio shared some of details on making the production as full of gore as we’d hoped.
More of the Model
A few more views of the set model, by Set Designer Mike Best. (Click images to enlarge.)
Dramaturgy: Hookman 