Bella Union shows

	BELLA UNION SHOWS

	Lady Susan staged reading From the novel by Jane Austen; adapted by Christine U'Ren Directed by Gina Baleria April 26, 2008 Humanities Building, Room 587 San Francisco State University		ABOUT THE PLAY Meet Jane Austen's most shocking antiheroine! An early novella by the acclaimed author, Lady Susan has never been staged or filmed, despite its fascinating heroine and witty plot. Bella Union worked with the Jane Austen Society of North America, Northern California region, and the English Department of San Francisco State University (Beverly Voloshin, chair) to perform a new staged reading of the play-in-progress, and get feedback from the experts. CRITICAL RESPONSE "Without costumes, lighting, microphones or even a stage, they transported us all completely into this delightful romp of a tale." JASNA-NorCal PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	MEMBER PROJECT *Discover New Voices* Eastenders Repertory Company Performed October 3 to 13, 2007 Eureka Theatre Company 215 Jackson Street San Francisco, CA click here for more info		ABOUT THE PLAY ERC staged readings of a series of eight new works-in-progress by local playwrights. Two Bella Union company members had pieces accepted for the series. Gene Mocsy's Pandemic, the story of a cruise ship overtaken by zombies, was played to comic and chilling effect by cast members Martin Boswell, Reg Clay, Craig Dickerson, Amanda Krampf, Peter Matthews, Nick A. Olivero, and Elissa Stebbins. Christine U'Ren's Lady Susan, adapted from the novel by Jane Austen, was performed with true English aplomb by Wylie Herman, Amanda Krampf, Celia Maurice, Gene Mocsy, Craig Souza, Elissa Stebbins, and Andrew Westhoff.

	MEMBER PROJECT *Fear and Misery of the Third Reich* by Bertolt Brecht Eastenders Repertory Company Performed May 10 to May 14, 2007 Traveling Jewish Theatre 470 Florida Street San Francisco, CA and May 17, 19 and 20 Jewish Community Center of the East Bay 1414 Walnut Street Berkeley, CA click here for more info		ABOUT THE PLAY Bertolt Brecht's Fear and Misery of the Third Reich is a collection of scenes showing the creeping terror and demoralization ordinary Germans experienced while living under Hitler's regime. Brecht wrote the pieces over the course of several years, from 1935 to 1938; several are often performed as stand-alone one-acts. ERC is one of the very few companies to stage the collection as a complete work, which, as ERC wrote, builds in intensity until "it urges us to resistance and action". Bella Union company member Christine U'Ren made a rare foray into acting for this compelling project. CRITICAL RESPONSE “An eye-opening view of how the German people allowed themselves to be taken over and stampeded into war and horrendous atrocities by Hitler and his minions emerges from Bertolt Brecht's rarely seen 'Fear and Misery of the Third Reich'...besides being a revelation, it contains scenes of undeniable dramatic impact, staged and performed to striking effect...Christine U'Ren is particularly effective as the teacher's scared wife and a woman whose brother has died on a secret bombing raid in Spain." Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle

	*The Ambassador's Holiday* Short film made for the 48 Hour Film Project Screened on June 29, 2006 the Roxie Cinema 3117 16th Street San Francisco, CA		ABOUT THE FILM Participants in the 48 Hour Film Project have just 48 consecutive hours, Friday to Sunday, to write, cast, shoot, score, and edit a short film. Each film must include an assigned character, prop, and line of dialogue. The movie's genre is drawn out of a hat. Bella Union roamed the colorful streets of San Francisco to create The Ambassador's Holiday, a darkly humorous story of international intrigue. Under the direction of Gene Mocsy, company members created a basic storyline, then improvised all dialogue on-camera.

	MEMBER PROJECT *100 Years of Sex-Acts* Eastenders Repertory Company Performed February 28 to April 1, 2006 The Exit on Taylor 277 Taylor Street San Francisco, CA click here for more info		ABOUT THE PLAY ERC's sixth one-act festival included works by August Strindberg, Tennessee Williams, and Federico Garcia Lorca. Bella Union company member Gene Mocsy acted in two plays, Playing with Fire, by Strindberg, and And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, by Williams. Company member Christine U'Ren designed costumes for both of those shows, as well as The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in His Garden, by Lorca. CRITICAL RESPONSE “Astute renditions of obscure literary masterpieces by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Caryl Churchill, and Federico Garcia Lorca set the stage for three marvelous evenings marking the gradual evolution of the way we think about sexuality and gender .... But perhaps the foremost accomplishment of the Eastenders' collage of desire, conjugal relations, and the battle between the sexes is the sheer versatility of it all. The rotating ensemble flits from working-class British couples to Spanish nobility to Southern gentlemen in drag -- without batting an eyelash or misplacing an accent." Nirmala Nataraj, SF Station

	Improper Ambitions: Two Women in the Paris Art World by Christine U'Ren Directed by Gene Mocsy Performed from September 9 to October 2, 2005 The Studio at Theatre Rhinoceros 2926 16th St.. San Francisco, CA click here to see pictures visit the Improper Ambitions website		ABOUT THE PLAY From the doomed court of Marie-Antoinette to the radical Impressionist circle, two painters confront war, romance, and the French Academy in Paris. Improper Ambitions, an original Bella Union play, is based on the true lives of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, the queen's favorite portraitist, and Berthe Morisot, one of the original Impressionists. Featuring a delightful ensemble cast, this production brought to life such luminaries as Queen Marie-Antoinette, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, and Mary Cassatt. CRITICAL RESPONSE “The performances are all right-on, a true ensemble cast...Director and set designer Gene Mocsy used the small space of Rhino’s basement studio wonderfully...I encourage you to support this theatre company and their fine new play. They are clearly a group of very talented and creative people, and this is an engaging play. Whether or not you are an art lover, if you enjoy solid performances, fine writing, and a quiet, but still relevant plot, go see Improper Ambitions. It’s only proper!” Suzanne Corson, EastBay Voice PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	Women in the Louvre staged reading by Christine U'Ren Directed by Gene Mocsy Performed on January 19, 2005 The Ashby Stage 1901 Ashby Ave. Berkeley, CA click here to see pictures		ABOUT THE PLAY Women in the Louvre (now retitled Improper Ambitions) is a new, original play based on the lives of real-life French artists Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and Berthe Morisot. The action switches between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from the court of Marie Antoinette to the radical Impressionist movement. Bella Union plans to stage a full-scale production of the script in September 2005, at the Rhino Studio Theatre in San Francisco, CA. PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	Lysistrata staged reading by Aristophanes Directed by Daria Hepps Performed on March 3, 2003 The Lysistrata Project		ABOUT THE PLAY Bella Union's reading of the hilarious Lysistrata, held in a private home in Fremont, CA, raised $150.00 for Women for Women, a non-profit organization that helps women in war-torn countries rebuild their lives by creating sustainable small businesses. *From the Lysistrata Project* website:** "On Monday, 03/03/03, Fifty-nine countries hosted 1,029 readings of Lysistrata, Aristophanes' anti-war comedy, to protest the Bush Administration's unilateral war on Iraq…there was a reading in every single U.S. state. Readings were held in theatres large and small, schools, churches, libraries, in music halls, homes, cafes, community centers, clubs, subway cars, parks, and on street corners. More than 300,000 people attended readings organized by our 1,029 Lysistrata Project 'spearheads.' Readings raised an estimated $125,000 for non-profit organizations working for peace and humanitarian aid." PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	Demon_Industry by Gene Mocsy Directed by Gene Mocsy Performed from October 25 through November 17, 2002 The Shelton Theater 533 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA		ABOUT THE PLAY In this supernatural tale set in a Colma, CA computer game company, a dream job turns into a nightmare as a sensitive game designer attempts to uncover the truth behind an office shooting. Full-scale production of Demon_Industry began a year after its staged reading (see below). With the exception of Ms. Milan and Ms. Hepps, it featured a new cast, whose backgrounds enriched the script with personal detail. In front of an audience, the play revealed itself to have an edgy balance of comic observation and chilling violence. Readers in the audience recognized the story framework of Henry James' novella The Turn of the Screw. Additional material was gathered by the playwright during "crunch time" at Electronic Arts in Redwood Shores. PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	Devouring Time Selected sonnets by William Shakespeare Conceived and directed by Candice M. Milan Performed on September 5,7,9,13, 2002 Produced in association with The San Francisco Fringe Festival The Exit Theatre 156 Eddy St. San Francisco, CA		ABOUT THE PLAY Love. Lust. Betrayal. Obsession. Man’s search for immortality. In the interest of the experimental nature of the San Francisco Fringe Festival, with Devouring Time the Company explored the provocative imagery of a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, bringing a modern sensibility to his timeless words. Fascinated by the underlying story which emerges when reading the sonnets together as a whole, the cast used improvisational techniques during rehearsals and placed each sonnet in a modern context to explore the story of a middle aged man obsessed with both a young boy and a “dark lady”. The resulting “new Shakespearean play” featured the three main characters and (together with multiple character work using masks) was woven together using slides and music, breathing new life into Shakespeare's sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, always private and complex language. The resulting "script" further illuminated such larger themes as fear of loss and death. “Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws” Sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines, written in iambic pentameter, a meter with five accents in each line. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, first published in complete form in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe. While the sonnets were immensely popular in his lifetime, Shakespeare did not publish them himself. No one knows in exactly what order Shakespeare himself arranged the sonnets, so the original order of the first published edition remains. The sonnets are intensely private, and many scholars believe that Shakespeare never intended them to be read by the general public. CRITICAL RESPONSE The San Francisco Examiner lauded Devouring Time as "One of the festival's more theatrically satisfying offerings" praising its "sly humor and dramatic tension". PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	Demon_Industry staged reading by Gene Mocsy Directed by Gene Mocsy Performed on August 16, 2001 The Marsh's Mock Café 1074 Valencia St. San Francisco, CA		ABOUT THE PLAY In this supernatural tale set in a Colma, CA computer game company, a dream job turns into a nightmare as a sensitive game designer attempts to uncover the truth behind an office shooting. Bella Union improvised this play in the basement of a San Francisco office building, until security caught us. We were determined to develop a play that would actually scare people raised on horror films. The framework was Henry James' novella The Turn of the Screw. We layered in goth culture, high tech office stress, bloodthirsty videogames, and a SWAT team. Each actor was kept in the dark about each others' secrets and no one anticipated the terrifying final scene. Candice, playing the heroine Jessica, was ignorant of the horrifying backstory that doomed her character…until it was too late. It was thrilling to hear an audience gasp at a staged reading—and even more rewarding to hear they could follow the plot. PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.

	La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler Translated by Carl R. Mueller (Produced under our former company name, Goat Island) Directed by Daria Hepps Executive Producer, Erin Harms Performed from February 9 to March 4, 2001 Studio 210 3435 Cesar Chavez San Francisco, CA visit the La Ronde website		ABOUT THE PLAY In homage to the play's first (unauthorized) performance, Goat Island's production of La Ronde was set in 1912. It was performed in Studio 210, a 49-seat black-box theater in the old Sears building on Cesar Chavez. Studio 210 is used mostly for dance. In reaction to the closure of other theatre spaces in San Francisco at the time, Artistic Director Deborah Slater made the space available for theatre. La Ronde was the first full-scale theatre piece performed there. Written between 1897-98, La Ronde was considered by its author to be too scandalous for publication. It was a word-of-mouth sensation based on a limited edition of 200 copies Schnitzler printed for friends in 1900. The 1903 trade edition was attacked as subversive and obscene, and the press refused to review it. The police curtailed a public reading in Vienna. The publication was confiscated and banned for nearly 20 years in Germany; the ban was only lifted following a court trial. An unauthorized production in Budapest was banned in 1912. The play's official premiere in Vienna in 1921 was accompanied by further protests and proto-Nazi reviews claiming the play was "Jewish filth." CRITICAL RESPONSE "[an] amazing, innovative group of actors…this production…serves Schnitzler well as it moves from the lurid to the comical to the sorrowful. Developing a genuine pathos as they proceed, this wonderful cast gets at the heart of Schnizler's artistry…" San Francisco Examiner “La Ronde is marvelous historical material, interesting and funny, full of dirty anthropological details about Old World sexual manners…" SF Weekly PRODUCTION NOTES Click here for a cast list and more production details.