Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Almost an "in-the-round" experience for Death and the Maiden


It's difficult to classify the staging of our production of Death and the Maiden as "in-the-round" because the audience will not be on all four sides. But as you can see by the diagram it's pretty darn close.
Until now Curio has pretty much been strictly proscenium but we felt we were limiting our use of the chapel space in the Calvary Center.
Jared Reed (Artistic Director) originally broached the idea of this staging Death and the Maiden this way. He wanted to place small acting areas in the audience which he "pods."
Something like this was a real challenge for the director Gay Carducci. The stage was built early and was available to rehearse on from the beginning. This allowed Gay to sit on all sides of the stage throughout the rehearsal to ensure that all audience sight lines were taken care of.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Our Future Home is Just across the hallway.


Curio now operates in the beautiful Chapel space at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community. This space is still a working Church with several congregations including Jewish and Christian organizations as well as the thriving Crossroads music program.

As a result, every Saturday night we have to break down all of our scenery and staging. It's quite a monumental task and while we are very proud that we've got this entire process down to about an hour, some may not know that our future, permanent home is just across the hallway in the stunningly beautiful Sanctuary.


The board of trustees at the Calvary Center could not have been more welcoming and they opened their outstanding facility to us. They allow us to operate temporarily in the Chapel space as funds are gathered to renovate our permanent space in the Sanctuary.

It's always a delight to watch the expression on peoples faces when they open the door to the Sanctuary. Even though the building is immense and beautiful on the outside your always shocked to see the enormity of the Sanctuary as the doors open.



From the the two largest Tiffany window ensembles in Philadelphia, original woodwork, scagliola columns, H. Hanley Parker's enormous mural, "Sermon on the Mount" and the enormous Brother's O'Dell organ this space is truly amazing.



As you see some of our productions next year (Death and the Maiden, The Nutcracker, The Odyssey or What the Butler Saw) please take a walk across the hall to see our future home in the Sanctuary. If all goes according to plan we should be in there by fall 2008.



- Paul Kuhn - Co-Artistic Director