The remount of Ivan Vyrypaev's Oxygen with Taffety Punk has been going very well. We (re)opened this weekend after nearly a full year away from the show in production, and have already received some really great responses and press!
Not bad since we only just stepped back into our performance space the week of performance, and only had two and 1/2 days (roughly 15 or so total hours actually) to have tech and dress rehearsals. Marcus Kyd, the artistic director of Taffety Punk, after the opening said to us, "It may have felt like you were throwing together a college production at the last minute, but you guys did it well!" To give you an idea of what he meant by that comment, we had to run the show THREE times on Friday. The first was a general tech run of the show to make sure that all the cues were in place and if any new cues (lighting and sound) had to be written into the show. The second was a full run of the show from beginning to end without stopping (which we hadn't been able to do all week), and then the third time was our opening night performance. Those are the realities of working in the modern theatre when all one has is a shoestring budget and limited access to space.
Then we did the show twice on Saturday, and believe me we noticed at the end of the evening performance that we had worked through the show five times in two days. We earned our day off today.
However, we did pull it together, and the press coverage so far has been good!
First off, although not a Russian newsletter, we got a mention on the Yahoo Group Polish Global Village from a chance encounter me and Esther Williamson (one of the other actors in Oxygen) had with Marcin Zmudzki, who maintains the group's site. If you click on the following link, "See Mark Krawczyk in the Taffety Punk Theater production of Oxygen at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop" you can read what he wrote about our unexpected Eastern European, DC-based meeting.
We had a great feature story written on the show in The Washington Post for their weekend guide, which can be found by clicking on the following link: "Taffety Punk takes on 'Oxygen'".
Some critics came this weekend and have offered positive reviews of the show. Click on the following links for those stories:
"BWW Reviews: Taffety Punk Presents Innovative OXYGEN" from BroadwayWorld.com
"Theatre Review: 'Oxygen' by Taffety Punk at Capital Hill Arts Workshop" from MD Theatre Guide.
Still, our best review has to be from The Washington Post for last year's run: "Taffety Punk Theatre's 'Oxygen' packs a wallop on Russian morality."
I saw another critic scribbling notes at last night's performance, so there are most likely more articles on the way. If you're interested in reading other responses to Oxygen I compiled all the responses to last year's run here: "Oxygen, Oxygen, Oxygen..." That includes our great review from The Washington Post and other really great responses to the show.
Yes, this is all shameless self-promotion, but all of us, me, the other actors in the piece, Esther Williamson and Danny Crane, our co-directors, Lise Bruneau & Chris Curtis, artistic director Marcus Kyd, our designers Peter Adams, Scott Hammar, & Brittany Diliberto, our assistant director Kelsey Mesa, and our stage manager Coral Elizabeth Smith, are all extremely proud of our work on this unique and provocative show.
Also, the show features NEW music, composed and performed exclusively for our show, by DC based bands The Caribbean, E.D. Sedgwick, Electric Blanketland, The Gena Rowlands Band, The Inexhaustible Chalice, and Jupiter Rex. And there are two ways to hear the music from our show. You can buy the full-length LP soundtrack to Oxygen by going to our soundtrack website, or experience it live with us as we do while performing it.
You can visit the Taffety Punk website for tickets. Please venture to the Eastern Market area of Washington DC and share an evening with all of us, our work, and an experience you won't forget!
Not bad since we only just stepped back into our performance space the week of performance, and only had two and 1/2 days (roughly 15 or so total hours actually) to have tech and dress rehearsals. Marcus Kyd, the artistic director of Taffety Punk, after the opening said to us, "It may have felt like you were throwing together a college production at the last minute, but you guys did it well!" To give you an idea of what he meant by that comment, we had to run the show THREE times on Friday. The first was a general tech run of the show to make sure that all the cues were in place and if any new cues (lighting and sound) had to be written into the show. The second was a full run of the show from beginning to end without stopping (which we hadn't been able to do all week), and then the third time was our opening night performance. Those are the realities of working in the modern theatre when all one has is a shoestring budget and limited access to space.
Then we did the show twice on Saturday, and believe me we noticed at the end of the evening performance that we had worked through the show five times in two days. We earned our day off today.
However, we did pull it together, and the press coverage so far has been good!
First off, although not a Russian newsletter, we got a mention on the Yahoo Group Polish Global Village from a chance encounter me and Esther Williamson (one of the other actors in Oxygen) had with Marcin Zmudzki, who maintains the group's site. If you click on the following link, "See Mark Krawczyk in the Taffety Punk Theater production of Oxygen at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop" you can read what he wrote about our unexpected Eastern European, DC-based meeting.
We had a great feature story written on the show in The Washington Post for their weekend guide, which can be found by clicking on the following link: "Taffety Punk takes on 'Oxygen'".
Some critics came this weekend and have offered positive reviews of the show. Click on the following links for those stories:
"BWW Reviews: Taffety Punk Presents Innovative OXYGEN" from BroadwayWorld.com
"Theatre Review: 'Oxygen' by Taffety Punk at Capital Hill Arts Workshop" from MD Theatre Guide.
Still, our best review has to be from The Washington Post for last year's run: "Taffety Punk Theatre's 'Oxygen' packs a wallop on Russian morality."
I saw another critic scribbling notes at last night's performance, so there are most likely more articles on the way. If you're interested in reading other responses to Oxygen I compiled all the responses to last year's run here: "Oxygen, Oxygen, Oxygen..." That includes our great review from The Washington Post and other really great responses to the show.
Yes, this is all shameless self-promotion, but all of us, me, the other actors in the piece, Esther Williamson and Danny Crane, our co-directors, Lise Bruneau & Chris Curtis, artistic director Marcus Kyd, our designers Peter Adams, Scott Hammar, & Brittany Diliberto, our assistant director Kelsey Mesa, and our stage manager Coral Elizabeth Smith, are all extremely proud of our work on this unique and provocative show.
Also, the show features NEW music, composed and performed exclusively for our show, by DC based bands The Caribbean, E.D. Sedgwick, Electric Blanketland, The Gena Rowlands Band, The Inexhaustible Chalice, and Jupiter Rex. And there are two ways to hear the music from our show. You can buy the full-length LP soundtrack to Oxygen by going to our soundtrack website, or experience it live with us as we do while performing it.
You can visit the Taffety Punk website for tickets. Please venture to the Eastern Market area of Washington DC and share an evening with all of us, our work, and an experience you won't forget!