One weekend left of Curious Accidents!
See what Martha Keravuori and Chuck Galle thought of Saturday night's performance.
Tickets here!
See what Martha Keravuori and Chuck Galle thought of Saturday night's performance.
Tickets here!
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It's time! Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences opens tomorrow, May 12th! The cast includes 4 adults and two seniors from Research Triangle High School.
Want to know what the cast of Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences hope you experience at these shows? Watch the video below to find out!
"There's so much competition for our eyeballs these days and seeing something live is becoming more and more rare. It's something that artists are fighting for -- to bring people back together in one group. To witness something as a collective is a big deal. You cannot replace the experience of being in the same room, breathing the same air, as something is happening right now, for the first time." -- J Chachula, Director, Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences
VIDEO: The cast members & director of Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences share their thoughts on what they hope the audience will experience at the upcoming shows.
We hope you'll join us for Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences.
You've never seen it before. And you'll never see it again. Research Triangle High School May 12th, 8pm May 13th, 8pm May 14th, 3pm May 18th, 8pm May 19th, 8pm May 20th, 8pm Six nights only. $5 students, $10 adults. RESERVATIONS: 919-376-0054 We thought we'd get creative with our cast photos by experimenting with double exposures. It seemed appropriate because back in the day when people took photos with film, a double exposure occurred as a curious accident and an unintended consequence--often producing a more magical outcome than a planned photo.  Thaddaeus Edwards has performed in the Triangle over the past 15 years but this is his first time tackling improv. Past performances include The Best of Enemies, Spirits to Enforce, Middletown, The Brothers Size (Manbites Dog); Our Town, Celebration, Jade City Chronicles, Vol 1 (Little Green Pig); and The Parchman Hour (Cape Fear Regional Theatre). He would like to thank Martha Wayne for her unwavering companionship.  Brian Yandle is a local Raleigh actor, director and producer and is co-founder of ABigWigProduction. He was recognized in IndyWeek as one of the best directors in 2013. He has performed in film and live theatre all over the country for 25+ years and was most recently seen in All My Sons at Theatre Raleigh and Almost, Maine at Theatre in the Park. He hasn't performed as an improvisor since the early 2000s with Bay Area Theatre Sports in San Francisco, unless you count improvising thrills, joy and delight each week day as a corporate monkey. Improv is embracing failure and dancing in discovery. Let's do this.  Helen Bowen is a senior from Research Triangle High School who has done theatre for the last four years. Most recently, she performed as Kate Keller in All My Sons and the First Witch in Macbeth. This summer, she'll be studying international business in Germany before going to Western Carolina University to study law and theatre. Duncan McGregor is a senior at Research Triangle High School. He is a member of the school's improv team.  Page Purgar has performed in Uncle Vanya, Good People (Deep Dish); Blithe Spirit (Raleigh Little Theater); Fuddy Meers, Almost, Maine (Theater in the Park); Proof (Exit Through Eden); Kindertransport (Big Wig), and The Pride (Mortall Coile). Love to Steve and Marleigh. Elysha Nichols received her BA in Drama and Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. After a few years exploring the southwest, she moved to Nashville, TN and continued her training in the Meisner Technique with Actors Bridge Theatre Company. She performed with Actors Bridge and was also a member of the improv troupe One Hand Clapping. Professionally, Elysha has had a career as a Learning Specialist in a variety of settings working with elementary through community college age students. She uses her background in theatre to engage students in creative ways to break down learning barriers, whether they are a first grader struggling to learn the alphabet, a sophomore navigating through Algebra II in a high school for recovering addicts, or a sixty-two year old former New York school bus driver with a fourth grade education determined to get a GED. Elysha works at Wake Tech Community College in the College and Career Readiness Program. She lives in Raleigh with her husband Dan, daughter Ava, and Aussiepoo Maizy.  J Chachula is the director of Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences. He co-founded The Flying Machine Theatre Company with Marta King in 1999 and is a teacher, actor, and director. He is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied improvisation with Transactors Improv Company. He spent two years touring with the group before leaving to explore the intersection between improvisation and traditional acting. J has 25 years experience working with the corporate world, acting in industrial videos and using live role-play and improvisation exercises to train companies in more effective communication. We hope you'll join us for Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences. You've never seen it before. And you'll never see it again. Research Triangle High School May 12th, 8pm May 13th, 8pm May 14th, 3pm May 18th, 8pm May 19th, 8pm May 20th, 8pm Six nights only. $5 students, $10 adults. RESERVATIONS: 919-376-0054
VIDEO: What are teens and adults learning about each other through improv? Watch to find out!
We hope you'll join us for Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences.
You've never seen it before. And you'll never see it again. Research Triangle High School May 12th, 8pm May 13th, 8pm May 14th, 3pm May 18th, 8pm May 19th, 8pm May 20th, 8pm Six nights only. $5 students, $10 adults. RESERVATIONS: 919-376-0054
VIDEO: What is improv anyway? The cast and Director weigh in...
What Happens When You Take the Script Away From Traditional Actors And Turn Them Loose?
The cast of Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences take a rehearsal break and discuss their learning curves.
"It's like alchemy. You walk onstage with nothing and by the end of the scene you've created this story out of thin air in front of everyone. It's electrifying."
"Improv is scary as heck. It's like building a plane while you're still in the air."
We hope you'll join us for Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences.
You've never seen it before. And you'll never see it again. Research Triangle High School May 12th, 8pm May 13th, 8pm May 14th, 3pm May 18th, 8pm May 19th, 8pm May 20th, 8pm Six nights only. $5 students, $10 adults. RESERVATIONS: 919-376-0054
VIDEO: Watch to learn more about what inspired J. Chachula to direct Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences
I got a phone call once from a gentleman interested in taking some acting classes. He’d seen one of my flyers somewhere and thought he’d call and find out what my angle was. Very nice guy. We chatted for a while, and eventually he got around to telling me a few of his experiences. He told me about a show he’d done recently where one of the actors drove him crazy. Seems he was always changing things, and you never knew what he was going to do next. “Was he changing the lines?” I asked. No, it wasn’t that. It was that he kept changing the way he was saying the lines, and sometimes what he was doing when he was saying the lines. And since you couldn’t depend on him to do what he was supposed to do, he was behaving unprofessionally. I immediately knew which actor I’d prefer to watch, and it wasn’t the caller. Who wants to see an actor who plays it the same way every time? Who wants to see an actor who stubbornly insists on responding to what is supposed to happen rather than what actually is happening? Who want to see an actor play it safe? I once worked with a very gifted improviser who would come off stage after a wonderfully funny scene inexplicably disappointed in himself. I’ve done variations of that scene a hundred times, he’d say. There was nothing new there. Now, the audience loved the scene. But he was disappointed with himself for leaning (settling for?) on ideas that still worked but that bored the hell out of him. Some people might accuse him of being incredibly self-absorbed, that it wasn’t about him, it was about the audience. I’ve heard that statement many times, and I’ve said it myself. But come on. Acting is not a selfless pursuit. Actors are artists, and the artist that isn’t stimulated by the work he’s doing is doing a grave disservice to his audience as well as himself. From time to time I'll have students replay an exercise that we've done in a previous class. Sometimes a student will point out, "We've already done that exercise," as if I'd made a mistake or forgotten that we've done it before. I guess that some students find it odd that we're doing an exercise again. It makes me wonder: Do basketball players ever ask their coach, "Why am I practicing shooting free throws again? I did that yesterday." Or if members of a band ask their leader, "Why are we rehearsing that song again? We already practiced it once."
Maybe I'm weird, but I like trying exercises again. When I was a student I'd often have a lot more ideas about what to do once an exercise was over than I did when it started. By the time I'd "figured it out" it was over - never to be played again. A well chosen exercise teaches a skill that's important in improv. You can't expect to master that skill by trying it one time any more that you can master a hook shot by shooting a couple or learn the intro to Stairway To Heaven in fifteen minutes. In fact, the longer I studied improv the more I realized that my teachers weren't actually teaching me anything I hadn't heard before. What they were doing was reminding of stuff I knew but wasn't doing. Improv is fun to do but only looks easy. The people who are good at it have put a lot of time into their craft. Much of that time is spent practicing fundamental skills over and over. So give that exercise a second try. If you "got it" the first time, try a different choice and see how that works. Or watch the other students and see what they do. I'll bet I've learned as much from fellow players than I did from the teachers. Keep in mind that whenever you decide that you're good enough at something and stop working on it, that's probably as good as you're ever going to be. And I never want to feel like I'm good enough. I always want to get better. |
AuthorMy name is J Chachula and I'm the principal instructor at The Flying Machine Theatre Studio. 
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