So since EMP LOVES YOU, we figured we’d share our neurosis with this month’s ODD SUNDAYS theme: HELLO, MOTHER.  HELLO, RABBIT.

Sunday, May 6

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS

(1972 – Directed by William F Claxton)  Scientists try to control a rabbit problem in Arizona.  Better luck next time.

Sunday, May 20

ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER

(1999 – Directed by Pedro Amoldovar)

“To Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Schneider…To all actresses who have played actresses, to all women who act, to men who act and become women, to all people who want to become mothers. To my mother.”  - Pedro Amoldovar

Magic Workshop with David London
Saturday, May 19, 2012
5:00PM  – 7:00 PM
$20 (Price includes all materials and props)
Buy your tickets here: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/246802

About the Workshop

 In David’s mind, Magic and Magic Tricks, are two very different things. This workshop will explore both. Through a crash course in illusion, we will examine how we interact with reality. You will go home with many more questions than you came in with, as well as 3 tricks you can amuse and amaze your friends with!

This workshop is designed for both new performers who are interested in exploring magic, as well as professional performers who are looking to incorporate magic into their pre-existing repertoire. Join David as he shares some of the secrets of magic he uses both on stage and off!

Topics covered will include Sleight of Hand, Misdirection, Secret Devices, Storytelling, Persona, Mindreading, and Human Interaction, as well as Dreams, Imagination and Creativity.

Join us for a LATE NIGHT Magic Show 

Saturday, May 12 at 11:00PM
$15 or $10 with the purchase of a ticket to EMP Collective’s A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits.
Buy tickets here: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/246799

About the show:

Join magician David London on a journey to someplace else. Featuring excerpts from all of David’s previous theatrical productions, this full-length performance combines magic, story-telling, comedy, puppetry, and that which cannot be defined, into a show of magic unlike anything you have experienced before. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience David’s magic, and find out why the Washington Post has called him “Our favorite mad genius magician!”

About David London

David discovered that he was a magician at the age of seven. He has since spent over twenty years exploring just what that means.

He is the creator of five theatrical magic productions, including Cerebral Sorcery, …Art of Dreams, and The Imagination Show, which he has performed and lectured on in over 1/3 of the United States.

David has authored eight manuscripts related to magic and illusion, including Daydreams, Imagining the Imagination, and Borderland State, and has served as the editor of Beyond The Smoke and Mirrors— a journal devoted to magic and creativity.

 When not on stage, he spends his time writing, making art, inventing things, and exploring the infinite possibilities of the world in which we exist.

Those of you who have seen our previous theatre pieces (especially NIGHT SWEATS and WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!) know we really dig non-traditional sets, low-budget DIY aesthetics, and incorporating artists of different backgrounds into the mix to create the world. For RABBITS, we paired up with local set designer David Shuhy for consultation and brought back another artist, Amanda Burnham, to bring her own approach to the table.  Amanda is a local visual artist who focuses in installation art and collage/painting and who previously worked with us on an installation for WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!. Together, they were able to bring some delightful expressionistic touches to the world of Mare and the play.

Amanda talking about the work:

Gallery of Preliminary Designs: 

You can find more photos of the set and the play in progress HERE.

We brought NIGHT SWEATS costume designer and MICA student, Natalie Drutz, back on for this show. Natalie is a powerhouse of talent and ingenuity on a budget. She has turned our artistic director into an undead swamp woman who transforms into a vulture, splayed a young woman’s guts on stage (and rigged a quick reversal), and made puppets become people (and vice versa). After conquering Gordon’s fear-riddled dream world, she is taking on the psyche of Mare, a young woman who escapes her current circumstances through her imagination (only to have it turn on her).

Natalie’s designs reflect the three-ring circus of Mare’s imagination going awry in the play. As the play progresses and Mare’s inner world takes over the outside world, each character in her life, transforms into their true animal selves (or at least what she perceives them as).  Thus, Joe and Kitty are dressed in the drab colors of their muted lives and as the play progresses, their wardrobe transforms them piece-by-piece into uninhibited animals. Mare is a pop of color and childish gleam against the black and white world of the hospital. The Stork, Cal, and the Doctor Puppets who all play parts in Mare’s alternate reality reflect the mish-mash of Mare’s brain and imagination. They are sort of a cross between circus performers and what Mare imagines the 18th century to have been like, ruffs and all.

Below are Natalie’s first sketches for the show:

Check out pictures of the show as it progresses HERE.

PLAYWRIGHT: C Denby Swanson

DIRECTOR: Elissa Goetschius (NS)

Table Work Rehearsal

CREW:

STAGE MANAGER: Nichole Chaney (NS)

PUPPET DESIGNER – Daniel Dobrosielski (NS)

PUPPET ASSIST – Lisa Krause

MAGIC ASSIST – David London

SCENIC DESIGNERS – David Shuhy and visual artist Amanda Burnham (WAGD)

SOUND DESIGNER – Steven Krigel (WAGD, ayjnge)

COSTUME DESIGNER – Natalie Drutz (NS)

LIGHTING DESIGNER – Eric Bowers (ayjnge, NS)

TECH DIRECTOR – Nolan Cartwright (ayjnge, NS)

CAST:

Mare – Carolyn Myers

Kitty – Mary-Alice Farina

Joe –  Ken Jordan (WAGD, ayjnge, NS)

Stork – Marc Rehr

Cal – Karen O’Connell

Rat Father / St. Andre – Maya Jackson

Manningham – Alex Vaughan (NS)

*WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! - 2010 (WAGD)
**(…and you’re just not good enough.) - 2011 (ayjnge)
***NIGHT SWEATS - 2012 (NS)

First Read with Cast and Crew

THE LOWDOWN:

In 1726, Mary Toft was a pregnant English peasant who chased a rabbit through the field for supper. Something happened, something that was simply too much to reveal as itself and she began to miraculously gave birth to pieces of rabbits. Mary became a national sensation, drawing the attention of the Royal Court and bringing people the country ‘round to witness and examine her maternal impressions.

That story was a hoax. This is not.

Mare is a dreamy, imaginative young woman. Kitty, her pragmatic sister, dreams of only one thing: a child. Mare reluctantly agrees to give surrogate birth for Kitty’s child.

Everything goes exactly according to protocol until Mare gives birth to a rabbit instead. . . followed by 24 more. . .

Led by The Stork himself (yes, that one) and featuring a three-ring circus of puppets, hospital magic tricks, giant vaginas, and people turning into animals, A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits explores infertility, creation, science, and the imagination.

DATES:

May 10 – May 19, 8PM

Thurs-Saturdays and Monday Special Performance

Thursday, May 10, Pay-what-you-can Preview

Friday, May 11, Opening Night

Monday, May 14, Arts Industry Night ($10 for artists)

TICKETS:

$15 http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/242639

 This production is made possible by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, The Abell Foundation and The Dobranski Foundation.

3 of 3 in the series: Idiocracy (Mike Judge) 84 min. Starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, and Dax Shepard.

Many years have passed since the apocalypse and society is back in full swing. Only the society you once knew is nothing like the world you live in today. The greatest minds have spent hundreds of years working on male enhancement and hair regeneration. The language has simplified into a mix of hillbilly and redneck (yes, there’s a difference). The overall IQ of the world has declined far below what you’d consider average. Even the simplest of tasks like trash pick-up, recycling, and water management have been long forgotten. You are now the smartest man on planet earth. What do you do? Join us on a hilarious romp as we peer through Mike Judge’s (Office Space, Beavis And Butthead) dystopian crystal ball into a future world known as Idiocracy.

@ EMP
306 W Redwood St., 21201
7PM
FREE
Sunday, 4/29/12

#2  MAD MAX: THE ROAD WARRIOR (George Miller) 95 min. Starring Mel Gibson and Bruce Spence.

Months have passed since the apocalypse hit. You found a working car and you’re on your way across the open road in search of food, shelter, people, and more importantly; gas. While wandering you come across a group of people in control of a small gas refinery. Their supply is short and the local bike gang keeps kicking in their front door. It’s time to make a decision and possibly risk everything they have built. Are you the hero or are you a coward? Find out on April 15th when you watch George Miller’s Mad Max: The Road Warrior at EMP.

Sunday, 4/15/12
7PM
Free
At EMP, 306 W Redwood St., 21201

Now that we have all come to grips with the end of life as we know it, it’s time to celebrate the inevitable dystopia that awaits. This month, EMP’s Odd Sunday Cine Club presents three post-apocalyptic films that’ll help you prepare for your dire future. In the beginning of this new era, you’ll have to hang tough if you want to survive. Your choice is either adapt and evolve or be left behind. And if you’re lucky, you will live to see the birth of a new society. Are you feeling lucky?

Odd Sundays, April #1: THE ROAD (John Hillcoat, 2009) 111 min. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Date: 4/1/12
Time: 7PM
Location: EMP, 306 W Redwood St.
Cost: FREE

Considered by many a pioneer in the movement of mobile photography, Greg Schmigel’s photographs take a quick, candid look at everyday moments — the lives of the people and strangers that he encounters on the street and in public places. Schmigel believes that 90% of photography is about what the photographer sees with his or her own eyes. The choice of camera that he or she uses makes up for the rest. All of Schmigel’s photographs are created with a simple handheld mobile device – the iPhone.

Opening Party at EMP: Friday, April 13 at 8 pm
Featuring the Baltimore roots/bluegrass band, The Manly Deeds

Just What I See  Runs: April 13 – May 4
Gallery Hours: Wed – Fri, 12PM – 6PM

ABOUT GREG SCHMIGEL
Schmigel insists that he is not an iPhoneographer, rather, a street photographer who uses an iPhone as his primary camera of choice. Schmigel’s work has been exhibited in group shows since 2010, including stops in Rome, Berlin, Madrid, New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Panama City, Florida. Schmigel’s work is currently on a year-long, 10-city, traveling exhibit through Spain with seven other mobile photographers. This is Schmigel’s first solo exhibit and first exhibit in Baltimore. Greg Schmigel was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1969, but has spent the majority of his life in and around the Washington DC Metropolitan area. All of the artist’s photographs are dedicated to his wife, Suzy (which EMP thinks is super-sweet!).