Day of Play!

Actress and Theater Pub Artistic Director, Julia Heitner, talks about what it’s been like to bring Measure For Measure from the page, to the stage.

After 3 ½ weeks with just a few rehearsals per week, we’ll be performing an 80-min version of Measure for Measure starting tonight!

Will Hand rehearses like a champ.

I am playing Isabella, a novice about to enter a nunnery, who gets pulled into the plot when her brother Claudio (played by Vince Rodriguez) is condemned to die for knocking up her homegirl, Julietta, and so she has to go save his ass. I love Isabella’s fierceness, eloquence, and that her particular character flaw is never being able to hold her tongue. I also relate to her being a sort of outsider in the play, left to fight her own battles, always speaking her mind (no matter what the consequences, and oh- the consequences!), and clinging to an outdated moral code in a modern world. Plus, I get to say things like,

Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:
‘Tis best thou diest quickly.

I am excited and extremely nervous to be performing in this role and intimidated to be in the company of such talented and hilarious actors.

Linda Ruth Cardozo, Tony Cirimele and Neil Higgins intimidate Julia, just for fun.

We’ve been working hard, stress is high and after our tech/dress at Cafe Royale on Saturday, Sunday was our day of play.

Kirsten Broadbear and Tony Cirimele sure do love to play!

It was an unexpectedly sunny and beautiful day in downtown San Francisco, so we took over a space near the Children’s Creativity Carousel in Yerba Buena and started a line through, which quickly turned into an innovative outdoor run-through, turning the area into our stage/playground. Most everyone wore sunglasses, which enhanced the severity of our Provost (Tony Cirimele) and Aeschylus (Carl Lucania) and added to the devilishness of Lucio (Neil Higgins) and Angelo (Nick Dickson). I tossed a shawl over my head to serve as a makeshift nun’s habit and we were off!

As usual, Carl Lucania is asking God why he continues to put up with our nonsense.

A few passersby gathered to watch us circle around a metal globe structure, scurry up and down stairways to the raised walkway above, and, of course, spout the beautiful and hilarious words of Shakespeare. In the final scene, as I let rip at Angelo and called him names, I felt a pang of shame when I screamed out that he was a “virgin violator” while groups of parents and their children wandered past.

Passersby were even more baffled by Will Hand and Tony Cirimele talking about beheading people.

Favorite moments of the run-through include, the moment when Mistress Overdone (Linda Ruth Cardozo), no longer restrained by a tiny rehearsal venue, made a run for it when she was about to be arrested, forcing Escalus and the Provost to chase her down. Marianna (Kirsten Broadbear) put on some extra fabulous attitude as she revealed herself to Angelo during the play’s climactic face-off, and The Duke and Lucio engaged in an imaginary sunglasses-nose-pushing-clown-off.

I turned to Stuart in the middle of the final scene and said, “It’s a comedy!” and he sardonically replied, “FINALLY!”

Linda-Ruth waves while Stuart Bousel passes judgement.

We can now take this show anywhere. All our costumes fit into one trunk. All the actors could squeeze into two cars.  We’ll need this flexibility when we hit up The Plough and Stars on August 22nd, when we have to dive into a space entirely different from Cafe Royale with no rehearsal time.

The Duke Vincentio Curse: when comforting someone just makes them cry harder.

Want to book us for your birthday party? We’re also available for Bachelorette parties! Your BART ride home? You’ll love it, I promise.

Don’t miss the show, August 14, 20, 21 and 27 at the Cafe Royale, and August 22 and Plough and Stars! Showtime is 8 PM, so get there early! Admission is Free!

There Are No Small Parts…

This month will feature the Theater Pub debut of three well-known Bay Area actors: Linda-Ruth Cardozo, Tony Cirimele and Vince Rodriguez, playing the three supporting parts in our production of Measure For Measure. Proving there are no small parts, only small actors, Linda-Ruth, Tony and Vince talk about what it’s like to step into their first Pub roles  and breath life into these small but essential character roles.

So this is your first Theater Pub, right? What’s got you excited about joining the ranks of Theater Pub’s ever expanding ensemble?

Linda-Ruth: I’m excited about the community atmosphere coupled with professional level performers. And the nice folks. I feel very welcome.

Vince: Not only is Theater Pub a group that produces work for artists who have an insatiable thirst for cool and relevant projects, but the demographic they reach out to is sexy, young and willing to re-envision classics in a modern way. It’s exciting to be a part of that.

Tony: The most exciting part about joining Theater Pub is that they asked me. No nerve-racking audition, no tension-filled callback, just an email saying, “Tony, we like your style. Bring some of that over to our motley crew of drunken theater-goers.” Also, the opportunity to wear RenFest clothes in public appealed to me greatly.

Tony Cirimele: what a guy!

The annual Shakespeare production is becoming a tradition, basically because we will now have done it twice. What do you think is the bee’s knees about doing Shakespeare in a bar?

Tony: First off, unlike this question, Shakespeare has no unnecessary ’20s jargon. Secondly, Shakespeare in a bar is great because it takes his work back to its roots. Shakespeare was first performed for groundlings, people who were dirt-poor, weren’t paying attention to the show, and would often yell things at the performers, much like your modern day alcoholic theater patron. Shakespeare is not just for the scholars, it’s for the people who can’t afford War Horse tickets.

Vince: It’s funny you bring up “groundlings” because I like to think of the audience as “grinders”: people who take the time to do their work AND appreciate the finer things in life, like exploring the depths of the human soul. Although the majority of people are content dealing with the nine-to-five stress, I think we give people who want it the chance escape the myopic and mundane.

Linda-Ruth: And when the text is edited effectively, as it is done here, the kernel and bloom (am I mixing metaphors?) of the story become accessible to a modern audience and then the actors make it fun by playing amidst the audience in a comfortable, informal place, so all the pretentious element is stripped away and the potential for genuine enjoyment increases.

Anything got you worried? Is this your first time doing a show like this?

Tony: This is definitely my first time doing a show where the audience is encouraged to drink excessively.

Linda-Ruth: I’ve done dinner theatre before, so I’m okay with it.

Linda-Ruth Cardozo: Everything’s Under Control

So who do you play in Measure for Measure, and what do you like about the part?

Vince: I play Claudio, a character who has sex with a girl he fully intends to marry and gets thrown in jail for it. Kind of wack right? Some say “test the bicycle to make sure it works for you” but back in the day this wasn’t exactly kosher with the law. I’m excited about this role because he’s like any twenty-something trying to do well and then something bad happens. We’ve all been there: desperate for success and trying to make things work but the world is working against us.

Linda-Ruth: I play Mistress Overdone, the bawd. I like that she can be feisty, sexy and funny. We’ll see how I do.

Tony: I play the Provost, who runs the local prison. Provost, by the way, is his occupation, not his name. It’s like having a character named “Officer” or “Warden”. It’s a little demeaning that he is defined by his job and not by who he really is, but such is the laziness that is the Bard. My favorite part about playing the Provost is that he is the only normal character in the show. Everyone else is working in the heightened reality that is a Shakespearean comedy, but the Provost is a just an average guy trying to do his job and get through the day.

Measure for Measure is an unusual choice for any theater venue. Why do you think this play is a challenge, good or bad, for any theater company?

Linda-Ruth: Measure for Measure is a challenge because I think we don’t know what to think of it. The characters are not clear cut bad or good. The Duke is good, but a little perverse. Angelo is a hypocrite, but still sympathetic. Isabella’s attachment to her virtue at the price of her brother’s life seems ridiculous. This, I guess, is why it’s called a “problem play.”

Tony: I think what throws people is that Measure for Measure is a comedy that deals with dramatic events. Really dramatic. There are executions, broken engagements and bastard children involved, not really “ha-ha” funny. Most productions tend to toss away the comedy in favor of the more dramatic moments, or they just don’t get the jokes (It’s 400 years old, they can’t all hold up.) What we’ve done with this production is really play up the comedy while still respecting the more serious subject matter. After all, the best comedies are the ones with the occasional dramatic moment. We’re also throwing in just a little bit of audience participation. Not too much, but just enough to keep things light.

What do you hope the audience will get from Measure?

Vince: For me, this show is about power, and as the audience sips their drinks and embarks on this journey with us I hope they think about who they relate to and why. Often we find ourselves walking past someone near a BART or Muni exit and think, “Never will I find myself like this” or worse saying something out loud to the effect of: “No I can’t help you today”. Theater allows for one to take themselves out of their set of problems and worries for an hour and a half and feel for people who aren’t related to them. This is empathy y’all! If we were all slightly more empathic imagine how much more pleasant our human-to-human interactions would be. Isn’t that legit? I’m going to answer for all of us and emphatically say “YES.”

Vince Rodriguez: Here To Feel

Linda-Ruth: I just hope they’ll laugh.

Tony: I would love to see our audience get a newfound appreciation for the play. It’s one people tend to gloss over when discussing Shakespeare and I hope people will walk away from this and say, “Oh Measure for Measure? Great play. I saw Theater Pub do it and it was fantastic.

What’s your favorite beer?

Tony: Finally, something I can answer. A nice cool reasonably priced Guinness in the tallest glass you can find. I did a play a few years back that was set in Ireland, and I got pretty much all the free Guinness I could hope for. Now they got me hooked on the stuff. It’s great tasting, plus you get that great nod of approval from your fellow bar patrons when you order it. A silent nod that says “You drink Guinness, I like that in a man. You’re hired.”

Vince: My favorite beer is Imperial. It’s a Costa Rican pilsner. As a Costa Rican I have to represent properly. If you haven’t tried it-add it to your list! You can buy it at BevMo!

Linda-Ruth: I hate beer.

Do you know the bar is trying to get a liquor license?

Vince: Say whaaaat? I think that’s super sweet.

Tony: Mazel Tov!

If it happens, what’s the first cocktail you plan to order at Theater Pub?

Linda-Ruth: Scotch and soda.

Vince: I’d have to go with a Makers Mark and Coke. I like my Whiskey.

Tony: Anything you have to set on fire to drink.

Don’t miss Theater Pub’s Measure for Measure, playing four nights at the Cafe Royale (August 14, 20, 21, 27) and one night at the Plough And Stars (August 22), always at 8 PM, always for free.

Measure For Measure Next Up At Theater Pub!

Join the San Francisco Theater Pub for its 2012 Shakespeare production! This year, we’re doing Measure for Measure: A Problem Play Solved In Twelve Scenes.

Isabella is a nun, Lucio is a drunk, Marianna’s been traumatized and this sh*t just got real… photo by Claire Rice.

The story follows Duke Vincentio (William Hand), who appoints Angelo (Nick Dickson) and Escalus (Carl Lucania) to run Vienna while he goes on a spiritual retreat. What neither delegate realizes is that the good duke has remained behind in disguise to observe whether his subordinates embody the same compassion he possesses. Angelo revives long dead sodomy laws that result in the imprisonment of Claudio (Vince Rodriguez), a young man who has gotten his wife pregnant out of wedlock. Claudio’s drinking buddies Lucio (Neil Higgins) and Mistress Overdone (Linda Ruth Cardozo) enlist the aid of Isabella (Julia Heitner), Claudio’s sister who has recently entered a nunnery, to convince Angelo to dismiss the charge but things take a dire turn when Angelo tells Isabella she either needs to sleep with him or Claudio will be executed. Vincentio hatches a plan with the help of Marianna (Kirsten Broadbear), Angelo’s ex, and the Provost of the local prison (Tony Cirimele) to find a way to save Claudio’s life, Isabella’s honor, and his own reputation as a benevolent monarch.

Directed by Stuart Bousel, Measure for Measurepromises to be a fast-paced, thought-provoking, atmospheric romp around the Cafe Royale- the perfect way to end the summer theater season!

Admission is free, with the usual five dollar donation. There are four performances- August 14, 20, 21 and 27- and no reservations necessary, but be sure to get there early since we’re bound to fill up! The show starts at 8 PM at Cafe Royale in San Francisco!