Outdoor Star Trek
Just finished casting a play.
For two summers in a row![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
my_daroga and I put on an episode of Star Trek outdoors in a park. We started the theater company, Hello Earth. We are the sole producers, and for Outdoor Star Trek (so far) I have been the director. We were inspired by Atomic Arts, a Portland theater group, who gained national attention through doing Trek In The Park. Trek In The Park does an episode of the original series of Star Trek in the park every year.
We do the same thing (though not the same episodes), except we tend to be looser in our interpretations. Instead of trying to make something that looks like the original, we use the ideas of the original to create something else, that hopefully captures the love but also provides new food for thought. For instance, we cast blind. That is, we pay no attention to race, age, sex, ability, size, etc. In some respects, this has led to our cast being less diverse than I hoped; instead of searching out people who look like the original cast, we just cast whoever gave us a fantastic audition. This has, however, led to a lot more females being cast--for all three years, Kirk and Spock have been played by females. This year, McCoy and Scotty are also female.
The plays have been successful in the past. Last time we made over 2K in donations. We're non-profit, so all the money went toward this year's production.
This is a shit-ton of work, and most of the time, I stress more than I have fun. For instance, this year, I couldn't cast some awesome and lovely people we have worked with in the past. This year's episode is 'Devil In The Dark'--the one with the Horta--and there just aren't a lot of speaking roles. But I love Star Trek; I love getting out of my comfort zone (even though I hate it), and I love love love transformative works. So, here I am.
Why did I make this post? I have no idea! But if you live in the Seattle area and would like to be involved or know someone who would like to be involved, we love volunteers. We especially love volunteers who could help us with our PR and fund-raising efforts. And we love people who spread the word, so even if you're not in Seattle but know someone who is--let them know about us! We're @hello_earth on Twitter and Hello Earth on Facebook. Oh, I guess we need a Tumblr now, huh.
For two summers in a row
my_daroga and I put on an episode of Star Trek outdoors in a park. We started the theater company, Hello Earth. We are the sole producers, and for Outdoor Star Trek (so far) I have been the director. We were inspired by Atomic Arts, a Portland theater group, who gained national attention through doing Trek In The Park. Trek In The Park does an episode of the original series of Star Trek in the park every year. We do the same thing (though not the same episodes), except we tend to be looser in our interpretations. Instead of trying to make something that looks like the original, we use the ideas of the original to create something else, that hopefully captures the love but also provides new food for thought. For instance, we cast blind. That is, we pay no attention to race, age, sex, ability, size, etc. In some respects, this has led to our cast being less diverse than I hoped; instead of searching out people who look like the original cast, we just cast whoever gave us a fantastic audition. This has, however, led to a lot more females being cast--for all three years, Kirk and Spock have been played by females. This year, McCoy and Scotty are also female.
The plays have been successful in the past. Last time we made over 2K in donations. We're non-profit, so all the money went toward this year's production.
This is a shit-ton of work, and most of the time, I stress more than I have fun. For instance, this year, I couldn't cast some awesome and lovely people we have worked with in the past. This year's episode is 'Devil In The Dark'--the one with the Horta--and there just aren't a lot of speaking roles. But I love Star Trek; I love getting out of my comfort zone (even though I hate it), and I love love love transformative works. So, here I am.
Why did I make this post? I have no idea! But if you live in the Seattle area and would like to be involved or know someone who would like to be involved, we love volunteers. We especially love volunteers who could help us with our PR and fund-raising efforts. And we love people who spread the word, so even if you're not in Seattle but know someone who is--let them know about us! We're @hello_earth on Twitter and Hello Earth on Facebook. Oh, I guess we need a Tumblr now, huh.
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(Anonymous) 2013-05-09 02:52 am (UTC)(link)