Categotry Archives: mrs. hawking

Pertaining specifically to the first story in the series.

by

Video recording of Mrs. Hawking production!

No comments yet

Categories: base instruments, mrs. hawking, performance, Tags: ,

I am very proud to present the video recording of the fully produced Mrs. Hawking, the first installment of our series!

Mrs Hawking from sydweinstein on Vimeo.

This recording captures the Arisia 2016 performance on the main stage at the Westin Waterfront Boston. We were very lucky to have videographer Syd Weinstein and his crew run the cameras during our run, and he has edited together a dynamic, focused recording. What I love about it is that it captures many of the finer details of our story that might not be so clear onstage. I think it’s a great representation of all the hard work and craft coming together to tell this unique story.

image

I’m also glad to have this because, since Mrs. Hawking has seen four runs over the last two years, it’s going to be retired from production for the time being. This will enable us to free up the time and resources to produce the subsequent installments. Having this recording will still allow people to experience it even though it’s no going to be performed in the near future.

That’s especially great for the upcoming June 10th staged reading of part three, Base Instruments. Watching the video will enable the audience to get up to speed with all the spectacle of the full production before experiencing the further story. So, for those of you who missed the performances at previous shows, or for those who’d like a closer look at all the nuances of the production, please check out this awesome video.

The staged reading of Base Instruments by Phoebe Roberts will go up on June 10th at 8PM at with the Bare Bones reading series, brought to you by Theatre@First.

by

Cast for Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina at Watch City Steampunk Festival ’16

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags: ,

We now have casts set down for our upcoming performances of Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina at the Watch City Steampunk Festival of 2016!

2016 WCSF logo with Day

This will be our second time performing both of our first two shows in sequence, after a successful turnout this past January at Arisia 2016. We are very blessed to have much of our last cast returning to their roles, but we are also excited to welcome some newcomers to round out our shows.

In part I, Mrs. Hawking

Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Celeste Fairmont – Amanda Hurley
Lord Cedric Brockton – Francis Hauert
Sir Walter Grainger – Jordan Greeley
Mr. John Colchester – Andrew Prentice
Miss Grace Monroe – Sara Dion
Ensemble – Radha Shukla, Joye Thaller

And for part II, Vivat Regina

Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Johanna Braun – Joye Thaller
Mrs. Clara Hawking – Sara Smith
Constable Arthur Swann – Eric Cheung
Frau Kirsten Gerhard – Kitty Drexler
Ensemble – Sara Dion, Travis Ellis, Radha Shukla

We are so excited to work with this group, both those actors who have proven themselves with excellent performances as their characters in the past, and those who came out to join our ensemble for the first time.

Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina will be performed on May 7th as part of the Watch City Steampunk Festival 2016 in Waltham, MA.

by

PERFORMANCE ANNOUNCEMENT: Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina at the Watch City Steampunk Festival!

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags:

2016 WCSF logo with Day

Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina are returning this May!

Missed our part one, Mrs. Hawking? Haven’t yet gotten to see part two, Vivat Regina?

Our continuing adventure stories will be back as guests of the Watch City Steampunk Festival 2016, Saturday, May 7th, in Waltham, MA!

This event is free and open to the public, so there will be no cost or barrier to come out and join us. Additionally, the Festival is full of food, vendors, panels, and other entertainment events to make it especially worth your while.

More information will be available soon, but in the meantime, put May 7th on your calendars as your next chance to catch the adventures of the Lady’s Champion of London!

by

A test pilot for a Mrs. Hawking TV series

No comments yet

Categories: looking ahead, mrs. hawking, Tags: ,

The more I developed the Mrs. Hawking stories, the clearer it’s become that they’re probably not absolutely best suited to be plays. They are action-heavy and spectacle-focused, and as they grow in cast size and scope, it seems more and more that they would be best suited to some kind of cinematic format. I’ve heard many responses from audiences confirming this. Right now, producing them on film is beyond my capability, so for the moment I’ve been getting them out as theatrical plays. But I know someday I’d like to work toward some kind of serialized televisual medium.

I’ve been starting to explore what options might be viable to someday take the work in that direction. Producing a web series in installments seems a possibility worth investigating, but also preparing for any opportunity to pitch it to real production companies. To that end, to be prepared to take advantage of any chance of that nature, I decided it was finally time to take a stab at adapting the tale, or at least the beginning of it, to the screen. At long last, now Mrs. Hawking’s first story is available to read in the screenplay format.

image

This piece is basically a reimagining of the plot of the first play Mrs. Hawking to fit the hour-long American television drama format. This was developed based on excellent feedback from John Benfield, Charlotte Brewer, Nat Budin, Viktoriya Fuzyalova, Matthew Kamm, Tegan Kehoe, and Shannon Moore. I’m so grateful for their input, as discerning eyes in the writing process helps me improve my work so much.

As a pilot, this is probably not a strictly ideal production example. In the context of a series, a pilot should set up the leads and their circumstances and prime the audience’s interest to see more. This version may give away a bit more of the drama that may belong in a pilot, rather than ration it out to set the pace for future episodes. But this is strictly a kind of audition piece, designed to be considered in isolation to demonstrate the potential of the series. Choices were made in this adaptation to not only whet a reader’s appetite for further stories, but also to pack enough narrative punch to make this one installment satisfying on its own. It would have to be adapted and reedited to work better in the context of a full season of episodes.

But consider this new pilot version not only an audition of the work but a test, to examine the potential of Mrs. Hawking in another medium. I think it brought a lot of excitement and color that couldn’t be represented with the limitations of the stage. Why don’t you check it out to see what you think?

by

Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina accomplished at Arisia 2016

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags:

We did it! We did it! We performed our first two installments, Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina, at Arisia 2016!

image
Mrs. Hawking in progress

It was a great deal of work, rehearsing, preparing, and then setting up and tearing down two plays in a convention setting. But the cast and crew gave it their all and worked like champs. Despite all the challenges involved, everything came together. Our audiences were great, and gave great response. We did it. We did it.

image
Vivat Regina in progress

We’ll be doing a postmortem on the process here, analyzing what we did and what will be good to remember for the future. But for now, we’re so grateful to everyone who helped make this strange serial theater experiment a reality. To the cast and crew, the audience, and the staff of , thank you all so much for your help and support bringing Mrs. Hawking and company to life.

by

Performance times for Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina!

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags: ,

We have been scheduled for times and locations for our upcoming performances at Arisia 2016!

image

Mrs. Hawking
by Phoebe Roberts
8PM on Friday, January 15th
Grand Ballroom B

4PM on Saturday, January 16th
Grand Ballroom A

Vivat Regina
by Phoebe Roberts
1PM on Sunday, January 17th
Grand Ballroom B

At the Westin Waterfront Boston
425 Summer St, Boston, MA

Go here to sign up to attend Arisia 2016! Be sure to join us for the continuing story of the lady’s champion of London!

Mrs. Hawking by Phoebe Roberts will be performed January 15th at 8PM and January 16th at 4PM and Vivat Regina by Phoebe Roberts January 17th at 1PM at the Westin Waterfront Hotel as part of Arisia 2016.

by

Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina at Arisia 2016

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags:

image

MRS. HAWKING
part 1 and 2

at Arisia 2016

presented by The Chameleon’s Dish

Mrs. Hawking
by Phoebe Roberts
8PM on Friday, January 15th
Grand Ballroom B

4PM on Saturday, January 16th
Grand Ballroom A

London, 1880— When Mary Stone accepts a job as housemaid to a fierce, brooding society widow, she is drawn into Mrs. Hawking’s heroic crusade as secret champion to society’s downtrodden ladies. Join us for this Victorian action caper, and explore what would happen if Sherlock Holmes were more like a lady Batman.

Cast
Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Celeste Fairmont – Arielle Kaplan
Lord Cedric Brockton – Francis Hauert
Sir Walter Grainger – Jordan Greeley
Mr. John Colchester – Andrew Prentice
Miss Grace Monroe – Jennifer Giorno
Ensemble – Joye Thaller, Chris Denmead

Vivat Regina
by Phoebe Roberts
1PM on Sunday, January 17th
Grand Ballroom B

London, 1881— The continuing story of the lady’s champion of London! Mrs. Hawking is stern in training her new assistant, housemaid Mary Stone, in the art of society avenging. But when a mysterious lady under a false name brings them an impossible mission, our heroines must join all their varied strengths together to see justice done. The sequel to Mrs. Hawking, but requires no knowledge of the previous play.

Cast
Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Johanna Braun – Joye Thaller
Mrs. Clara Hawking – Samantha LeVangie
Constable Arthur Swann – Matthew Kamm
Frau Kirsten Gerhard – Isabella Dollar
Ensemble – Chris Denmead, Sara Dion, Tegan Kehoe

Crew
Director – Phoebe Roberts
Technical Director – Bernie Gabin
Costume Designer – Jennifer Giorno
Sound Designer – Neil Marsh
Violence Designer – Arielle Kaplan
Run Crew – Eboracum Richter-Dahl
Makeup Artist – Jessicalee Skarry

At the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel
425 Summer St, Boston, MA

by

Greater scope of character development across two shows

No comments yet

Categories: character, mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags: , , ,

The most exciting thing about doing serial theater at Arisia 2016 is the ability to show the characters grow and change over the course of multiple stories. This development is one of the most engaging things to present for an audience. When we develop an interest in and an affection for characters, we love to track the progress of their personal journeys. Narrative demands growth and change, which of course we’re familiar with seeing over the course of a single play, but with our attempt at serial theater, we’ve got the chance to give the audience a greater scope of character growth then they’ve ever seen onstage before.

This presents an interesting, and in many cases unique, challenge for our actors. With the lion’s share of their experience being in theater, they have not had the chance to play the same character in more than one story. When they reprise Mrs. Hawking, the first play, they recreate the characters’ original journeys that they are already familiar with. However, at the same time, they must start Vivat Regina’s rehearsal process from the place their character ended in Mrs. Hawking.

image

Early rehearsal for Vivat Regina at Arisia 2016, with Jeremiah O’Sullivan as Nathaniel and Isabel Dollar as Frau Gerhard.

So, for example, Jeremiah O’Sullivan, our returning actor playing Nathaniel, must recall where the character begins at the start of Mrs. Hawking, and show him develop into the man he is changed into by the events of that play— with a growing awareness of the ways the world fails people less privileged than he, and a determination to do better. Then, going into Vivat Regina, Jeremiah must incorporate those changes as his starting point for Nathaniel for the next play— and then grow further from there!

It’s imperative that the audience is able to see the characters progress every time we see them. This is how we will engage people for the long haul. We’re hoping to not only tell two Mrs. Hawking stories, but three and four and more– an entire series! It is investment in the characters that will keep people along for the ride— that desire to see where they’re going.

And I love the artistic opportunity it presents for us. Serial theater is something that is rarely attempted, so it’s an experience that few theater actors ever get to take on. I can’t wait to see how our fabulous cast is going to tackle it.

Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina will be performed on May 7th as part of the Watch City Steampunk Festival 2016 in Waltham, MA.

by

Cast and crew for Mrs. Hawking and Vivat Regina at Arisia 2016

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags: , , ,

For our double-header performance at Arisia 2016, we needed a serious cast and crew! I’m happy to say we’ve found them. For the two plays, we are very lucky to have many actors returning from previous performances and iterations of the Mrs. Hawking stories.

1.1. "I would not have left England for this dreary place, but I suppose there are some circumstances that can't be helped."

For Mrs. Hawking, our first installment, the majority of the cast is a veteran from a previous full production, whether our original at Arisia 2015 or the encore at the Watch City Steampunk Festival later that year. This gives us a great advantage in producing this time around, as most of the cast already know their roles well and won’t require a ton of work to whip the show into shape.

Mrs. Hawking
Cast

Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Celeste Fairmont – Arielle Kaplan
Lord Cedric Brockton – Francis Hauert
Sir Walter Grainger – Jordan Greeley
Mr. John Colchester – Andrew Prentice
Miss Grace Monroe – Jennifer Giorno
Ensemble – Joye Thaller, Chris Denmead

As for Vivat Regina, we have of course our three leads played by the same actors as they will be in Mrs. Hawking– Frances Kimpel, Circe Rowan, and Jeremiah O’Sullivan. But much of the additional cast are veterans of the Vivat Regina staged reading, with Joye Thaller, Samantha LeVangie, and Matthew Kamm all reprising the roles they read. While this will be an entirely new rehearsal process, it’s a great blessing to work with actors who know their characters so well.

Vivat Regina
Cast

Mrs. Victoria Hawking – Frances Kimpel
Miss Mary Stone – Circe Rowan
Mr. Nathaniel Hawking – Jeremiah O’Sullivan
Mrs. Johanna Braun – Joye Thaller
Mrs. Clara Hawking – Samantha LeVangie
Constable Arthur Swann – Matthew Kamm
Frau Kirsten Gerhard – Isabella Dollar
Ensemble – Chris Denmead, Tegan Kehoe, Sara Dion

And of course there’d be no show without the crew. The talented technical artists who helped bring Mrs. Hawking to life previously will be returning to bring the same magic to Vivat Regina.

Crew

Director – Phoebe Roberts
Technical Director – Bernie Gabin
Costume Designer – Jennifer Giorno
Sound Designer – Neil Marsh
Violence Designer – Arielle Kaplan
Run Crew – Eboracum Richter-Dahl

We are becoming quite the little troupe! Any theater project, not to mention any one so large and experimental as serialized live shows, requires a lot of great people to bring together. I am so honored to have so many talented people signing onto the project. Watch this space to see everything they bring to the process!

Mrs. Hawking by Phoebe Roberts will be performed January 15th at 8PM and January 16th at 4PM and Vivat Regina by Phoebe Roberts January 17th at 1PM at the Westin Waterfront Hotel as part of Arisia 2016.

by

PERFORMANCE ANNOUNCEMENT: MRS. HAWKING and VIVAT REGINA to go up at Arisia 2016!

No comments yet

Categories: mrs. hawking, performance, vivat regina, Tags: , ,

We are officially announcing it! The first two shows in our series, MRS. HAWKING and VIVAT REGINA, will be performed in the course of events at Arisia 2016!

image

Mrs. Hawking is returning to the event where she saw her performance debut, but this time, she’s going even further. This marks the beginning of an exciting experiment in actually producing serialized theater. One rarely sees live performances that build upon what happened in the course of a previous story. But the Mrs. Hawking series, with its ongoing plot and characters, is breaking down that barrier.

We will be putting together and rehearsing the two shows in tandem with each other, creating a consistent through line of narrative and character development for the audience to enjoy. We have assembled two excellent casts, with some new and some returning actors, to populate the world, including the recurrence of our three leads, Mrs. Hawking, Mary, and Nathaniel. This will afford the audience the rare chance to see live storytelling with greater scope of character development than just a single plot can allow.

It’s going to present some new and interesting challenges, and will involve some figuring things out as we go. But the chance to show a continuing theatrical story, where characters grow, develop, and change based on events that happen before the audience’s very eyes, is too exciting to pass up.

Come join us for this unprecedented event in live storytelling, and see where our heroes journey will take them on the next step!

Mrs. Hawking by Phoebe Roberts will be performed January 15th at 8PM and January 16th at 4PM and Vivat Regina by Phoebe Roberts January 17th at 1PM at the Westin Waterfront Hotel as part of Arisia 2016.

1 2 3 4 5 6