WildClaw Theatre delivers a bi-weekly dose of horror to your inner ear and inbox!
Showing posts with label Carolyn Klein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carolyn Klein. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
MEET THE DEATHSCRIBE 2011 FINALISTS (Part 1 of 5)
We're really effing excited about this year's DEATHSCRIBE Finalists. But just who are these literary geniuses of the sonically spooky, the musically macabre, the aurally atrocious? In this five part mini-interview series, you'll get to know a little bit about each twisted writer, and their equally demented director.
We're going to kick things off with two familiar faces: Chris Hainsworth and Carolyn Klein, who will be teaming up on Chris's play, Legacy. Chris is well-known to DEATHSCRIBE audiences, as he has been a finalist all four years. Damn sir. Carolyn directed last year's winning radio play, The Change in Buckett County by David Schmidt, and performed in the first DEATHSCRIBE in 2008.
We're going to kick things off with two familiar faces: Chris Hainsworth and Carolyn Klein, who will be teaming up on Chris's play, Legacy. Chris is well-known to DEATHSCRIBE audiences, as he has been a finalist all four years. Damn sir. Carolyn directed last year's winning radio play, The Change in Buckett County by David Schmidt, and performed in the first DEATHSCRIBE in 2008.
LEGACY
Written by 2009 Bloody Axe Winner Christopher Hainsworth
Written by 2009 Bloody Axe Winner Christopher Hainsworth
Directed by Carolyn Klein
WildClaw: You've been included in every Deathscribe so far, clearly your radio plays are exceptional. What's your approach to writing for radio, any tips and tricks you care to share?
Chris Hainsworth: First - thank you.
You really have to take the medium into account. Both to take advantage of the perks and to accept the limitations. As opposed to prose novel or short stories which have the advantage of allowing you to know everything that is happening both physically and mentally in the moment, or film which opens up the story to editing and controlling where the audiences attention is focused, or even the stage which can give you the elements of visual shocks and physical spacial relationships of the participants - I know it sounds obvious - but with Audio - you just have the sounds and the words.
The challenge is conveying the same amount of information without the benefit of one of your five senses. And for human beings - one of the two main senses that alert us to danger.
The challenge comes in conveying this information in a seemingly organic way.
I always try to avoid having characters DESCRIBE actions to another character in the room because they are both there - they can both see what is happening - why on earth would they say it out loud? 'Dear God Frank! Why are you jamming that strange dagger with those Celtic runes on it repeatedly in and out of your eye! I must now run up these rickety stairs and grab the sacrificial bowl and pour this jar of Holy Water into it in order to break the Gypsy Curse that was placed on you before all of these events happened!"
If you find yourself having to go into a detailed description of what the sound/foley is - generally you need to scrap it and start over. For two reasons - 1. Either the sound should be instantly identifiable so as not to impede the story or 2. Suggestive enough to get the audience's imaginations to do the work for you. Having been to all of the Deathscribes, you would be amazed with what can be done with a several stalks of celery or a tub of gack.
In any medium - exposition is always the bear waiting to attack you. I always try to either find a way to convey as much possible through dialogue or come up with a convention that allows someone to talk directly to the audience. Think about what your characters know and why they would be talking about whatever you need to convey.
On the less technical side - start with character. What do these people want? And what are they doing to try and get it. Everyone - especially when you only have ten minutes - should have a clear goal and objectives. I try to make sure no one is just fodder.
WC: "Legacy" creeped us out. What is it about "Legacy" that creeps you out?
CH: You can tell a lot about what an author is afraid of by what they write. With the exception of Career Day - which was more of a lark on the hypocrisy of any adult/child relationship and how that can be perverted - the other pieces that have been selected for Deathscribe seem thematically linked with the idea of becoming trapped or being unable to move on. In Remembrance it was literally being trapped by your own memories. In D'arque House it was being trapped by grief. In Legacy - it is being trapped by your anger and the wrongs that you believe have been done to you. I know enough to not go into the spooky haunted house. I know not to go to the camp or town where people have been hacked to death for years running. I know that once crap starts moving freely around your house or voices start coming out of your TV - you get out. I guess what I am most afraid of is not exterior forces planning my demise - the other - but those things inside myself - the things that make me fixate on the negative - the inability to let go of things that even I know I would be better off without. I think that we are more dangerous to ourselves than the monster hiding under the bed is. So to me - what is creepy is getting so caught up in something - an emotion - an obsession - that it leads you places that you would be better off not going. And that your life could have been saved had you only been able to let it go.
WC: What's the sound cue in your piece that you're excited to hear in foley?
CH: Oooh. Not a whole lot of eerie sound cues in this one. But I am excited to see what a director might want to do with some. Oh - and not foley - but I am excited to hear "the switch."
Chris Hainsworth hadn't really written anything until 2006 when Hank Boland created the Strawdog Writing Initiative henceforth to be known as the Strawdog Hit Factory, where he matriculated with WildClaw Artistic Director Aly Renee Amidei. The focus was writing 10 minute audio plays of any genre. He turned in a ten minute piece that was actually thirty minutes long called "Teeth." A horror story about a slacker who is given the ability to read minds and the sad end he comes to. Since then, ten minute audio plays have become a staple of his writing. The greatest challenge always being to keep it to TEN MINUTES. Now an ensemble member at Lifeline, he is currently adapting Hunger, the debut novel by Elise Blackwell for their 2011-2012 season. When not writing - Chris also spends his time acting, recently playing the titular role in Lifeline's The Count of Monte Cristo. Chris would like to thank his wife, Katie (also an award winning playwright) for her continual support and for her editorial input on all of his work.
Carolyn Klein is delighted to be back after directing last year's Bloody Axe Winner, "The Change in Buckett County" by David Schmidt. Carolyn has also directed That Was Then with Seanachai Theatre Company - where she is a proud Ensemble member and Mr. Spacky and Elephant with The Strange Tree Group where she is Artistic Associate. Additionally, she has directed The Artist Needs a Wife at the side project, for Strawdog’s Hit Factory and Dry Hump Sketch Comedy. While pursuing her MFA at Indiana University - Bloomington, Carolyn directed Fool for Love, Lysistrata and Art Whore. As an actor, Carolyn has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Next Theatre, Seanachai, Strawdog Theatre, Profiles Theatre, The Hypocrites, Wildclaw Theatre, Theo Ubique, The Strange Tree Group and New Leaf.
Chris Hainsworth: First - thank you.
You really have to take the medium into account. Both to take advantage of the perks and to accept the limitations. As opposed to prose novel or short stories which have the advantage of allowing you to know everything that is happening both physically and mentally in the moment, or film which opens up the story to editing and controlling where the audiences attention is focused, or even the stage which can give you the elements of visual shocks and physical spacial relationships of the participants - I know it sounds obvious - but with Audio - you just have the sounds and the words.
The challenge is conveying the same amount of information without the benefit of one of your five senses. And for human beings - one of the two main senses that alert us to danger.
The challenge comes in conveying this information in a seemingly organic way.
I always try to avoid having characters DESCRIBE actions to another character in the room because they are both there - they can both see what is happening - why on earth would they say it out loud? 'Dear God Frank! Why are you jamming that strange dagger with those Celtic runes on it repeatedly in and out of your eye! I must now run up these rickety stairs and grab the sacrificial bowl and pour this jar of Holy Water into it in order to break the Gypsy Curse that was placed on you before all of these events happened!"
If you find yourself having to go into a detailed description of what the sound/foley is - generally you need to scrap it and start over. For two reasons - 1. Either the sound should be instantly identifiable so as not to impede the story or 2. Suggestive enough to get the audience's imaginations to do the work for you. Having been to all of the Deathscribes, you would be amazed with what can be done with a several stalks of celery or a tub of gack.
In any medium - exposition is always the bear waiting to attack you. I always try to either find a way to convey as much possible through dialogue or come up with a convention that allows someone to talk directly to the audience. Think about what your characters know and why they would be talking about whatever you need to convey.
On the less technical side - start with character. What do these people want? And what are they doing to try and get it. Everyone - especially when you only have ten minutes - should have a clear goal and objectives. I try to make sure no one is just fodder.
WC: "Legacy" creeped us out. What is it about "Legacy" that creeps you out?
CH: You can tell a lot about what an author is afraid of by what they write. With the exception of Career Day - which was more of a lark on the hypocrisy of any adult/child relationship and how that can be perverted - the other pieces that have been selected for Deathscribe seem thematically linked with the idea of becoming trapped or being unable to move on. In Remembrance it was literally being trapped by your own memories. In D'arque House it was being trapped by grief. In Legacy - it is being trapped by your anger and the wrongs that you believe have been done to you. I know enough to not go into the spooky haunted house. I know not to go to the camp or town where people have been hacked to death for years running. I know that once crap starts moving freely around your house or voices start coming out of your TV - you get out. I guess what I am most afraid of is not exterior forces planning my demise - the other - but those things inside myself - the things that make me fixate on the negative - the inability to let go of things that even I know I would be better off without. I think that we are more dangerous to ourselves than the monster hiding under the bed is. So to me - what is creepy is getting so caught up in something - an emotion - an obsession - that it leads you places that you would be better off not going. And that your life could have been saved had you only been able to let it go.
WC: What's the sound cue in your piece that you're excited to hear in foley?
CH: Oooh. Not a whole lot of eerie sound cues in this one. But I am excited to see what a director might want to do with some. Oh - and not foley - but I am excited to hear "the switch."
COME HEAR 'LEGACY' PERFORMED LIVE AT DEATHSCRIBE 2011
Chris Hainsworth hadn't really written anything until 2006 when Hank Boland created the Strawdog Writing Initiative henceforth to be known as the Strawdog Hit Factory, where he matriculated with WildClaw Artistic Director Aly Renee Amidei. The focus was writing 10 minute audio plays of any genre. He turned in a ten minute piece that was actually thirty minutes long called "Teeth." A horror story about a slacker who is given the ability to read minds and the sad end he comes to. Since then, ten minute audio plays have become a staple of his writing. The greatest challenge always being to keep it to TEN MINUTES. Now an ensemble member at Lifeline, he is currently adapting Hunger, the debut novel by Elise Blackwell for their 2011-2012 season. When not writing - Chris also spends his time acting, recently playing the titular role in Lifeline's The Count of Monte Cristo. Chris would like to thank his wife, Katie (also an award winning playwright) for her continual support and for her editorial input on all of his work.
Carolyn Klein is delighted to be back after directing last year's Bloody Axe Winner, "The Change in Buckett County" by David Schmidt. Carolyn has also directed That Was Then with Seanachai Theatre Company - where she is a proud Ensemble member and Mr. Spacky and Elephant with The Strange Tree Group where she is Artistic Associate. Additionally, she has directed The Artist Needs a Wife at the side project, for Strawdog’s Hit Factory and Dry Hump Sketch Comedy. While pursuing her MFA at Indiana University - Bloomington, Carolyn directed Fool for Love, Lysistrata and Art Whore. As an actor, Carolyn has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Next Theatre, Seanachai, Strawdog Theatre, Profiles Theatre, The Hypocrites, Wildclaw Theatre, Theo Ubique, The Strange Tree Group and New Leaf.
Friday, October 29, 2010
DEATHSCRIBE 2010 Final Lineup
After months of reading, we have made our final decisions for DEATHSCRIBE 2010. Before going any further, we at WildClaw want to sincerely thank EACH AND EVERY author who submitted a script for this years festival. We are humbled and honored that so many talented, passionate people were willing to share their talent with us. This was the most competitive crop of scripts we've received to date, and we were very excited by the quantity and quality of horror plays we had the pleasure of reading. We had some very hard decisions to make, and we thank everyone who submitted for your contribution. Radio horror is alive and well!
That said, we are very pleased to announce our lineup for
DEATHSCRIBE 2010, The Third Annual International Festival of Radio Horror Plays
Featuring:
CHATTER, by Newt Calkins, directed by Greg Kolack
TAPE DECK, by Liz Siedt, directed by Bob Fisher
MONITOR SPECTARE, by Jude Mire, directed by Lance Baker
THE D'ARQUE HOUSE, by Christopher Hainsworth, directed by Nic Dimond
THE CHANGE IN BUCKETT COUNTY, by David Schmidt, directed by Carolyn Klein.
We hope to see you at the Mayne Stage, on Monday, December 6th, 8pm. Tickets on sale now.
Monday, October 18, 2010
DEATHSCRIBE 2010 Directors
We are very excited to announce our lineup of guest directors for the 3rd Annual DEATHSCRIBE Radio Horror Festival.
These talented men and women have taken on the creepy task of crafting the eerie and spooky stories that will make up DEATHSCRIBE 2010, on Monday December 5th, at the historic Mayne Stage.
The directors for DEATHSCRIBE 2010 are:
Nic Dimond - Artistic Director of Strawdog Theatre & director of DEATHSCRIBE 2009's winning piece.
Carolyn Klein – Actor and director, ensemble member of Seanachai Theatre and an artistic associate with Strange Tree.
Bob Fisher – Artistic Director of The Mammals.
Lance Baker - Actor and director, ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre.
Greg Kolack – Jeff Award winning director, with a long list of Chicago and Midwest productions to his credit.
There you have it. Watch this blog for the announcement of the five final DEATHSCRIBE 2010 submissions, coming soon!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Hard Boiled, Hainsworth & Klein
strange connections.
so last night, Mr. Morlock treated himself to evening alone with a VHS loaned by the worthy Charley Sherman, WildClaw Artistic Director and adaptor of the upcoming ">Legion" - William Peter Blatty's Legion, not the current goofball film "Legion," which blatantly steals that lovely moment of the old lady crawling across the ceiling.
So the film last night - "Hard Boiled." Top shelf pre-Hollywood John Woo. Fantastic, operatic shoot-em up. Obviously not horror, but something about the film was eerie...
As he refilled the paper bag with the last of his precious Easy-Off, Mr. Morlock realized what was bothering him. Chow Yun Fat. Awesome, of course. Super bad-ass, especially when squinting or sneering or pretending to play clarinet.
Then Mr. Morlock visualized him wrestling with giant rubber tentacles and suddenly it came clear: Chow Yun Fat is the Chinese Chris Hainsworth.
Hainsworth never pretended to play the clarinet, but he's been know to pretend to sing. And I doubt Chow Yun Fat could rock the bleached blond rock star 'tude like FOWC, alumnus of "Dreams in the Witch House", winner of the 2009 DEATHSCRIBE Bloody Axe Chris Hainsworth can.
Which of course reminded Mr. Morlock that he plans to see " The Artist Needs a Wife " this weekend. He knows it won't be creepy awesome like "Breed With Me," but it will funny, weird awesome. Featuring people like Hainsworth, directed by FOWC Carolyn Klein, the beautiful, creepy witch in who's house we all Dreamed, Mr. Morlock has no doubts his evening will rock. Hope yours does as well.
so last night, Mr. Morlock treated himself to evening alone with a VHS loaned by the worthy Charley Sherman, WildClaw Artistic Director and adaptor of the upcoming ">Legion" - William Peter Blatty's Legion, not the current goofball film "Legion," which blatantly steals that lovely moment of the old lady crawling across the ceiling.
So the film last night - "Hard Boiled." Top shelf pre-Hollywood John Woo. Fantastic, operatic shoot-em up. Obviously not horror, but something about the film was eerie...
As he refilled the paper bag with the last of his precious Easy-Off, Mr. Morlock realized what was bothering him. Chow Yun Fat. Awesome, of course. Super bad-ass, especially when squinting or sneering or pretending to play clarinet.
Then Mr. Morlock visualized him wrestling with giant rubber tentacles and suddenly it came clear: Chow Yun Fat is the Chinese Chris Hainsworth.
Hainsworth never pretended to play the clarinet, but he's been know to pretend to sing. And I doubt Chow Yun Fat could rock the bleached blond rock star 'tude like FOWC, alumnus of "Dreams in the Witch House", winner of the 2009 DEATHSCRIBE Bloody Axe Chris Hainsworth can.
Which of course reminded Mr. Morlock that he plans to see " The Artist Needs a Wife " this weekend. He knows it won't be creepy awesome like "Breed With Me," but it will funny, weird awesome. Featuring people like Hainsworth, directed by FOWC Carolyn Klein, the beautiful, creepy witch in who's house we all Dreamed, Mr. Morlock has no doubts his evening will rock. Hope yours does as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)