Colorado Mountain College (CMC) Sopris Theatre Company will virtually open its season on November 6. This first production is titled “Rogues’ Gallery”; a collection of monologues by Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley. It features nine characters who use dark, startling humor for storytelling.
The play will be put on live and filmed for online viewing. CMC graduate and director of the production Brendan Cochran said “At this point, we’re trying to preserve the theatricality of the safe, shared space. We’re playing into the idea of a bare interrogation room.”
Only one camera will capture the actors performing live and the minimal set will result in a shared, stark gray backdrop. The cast of “Rogues’ Gallery” has conducted rehearsals individually on a staggered schedule in order to follow social distancing and face-covering restrictions.
The monologues will be filmed over the course of two evenings at CMC’s New Space Theatre at Spring Valley. One actor at a time will take the stage to create a one-take filmed performance. The crew will wear face masks at all times and the actors will wear face coverings any time they are not performing.
Image courtesy of Colorado Mountain College.
“The key is to stay flexible,” Cochran said, noting that both cast and crew are ready to pivot and capture video from remote locations if necessary.
This unique opportunity will allow the public to view the performance from anywhere. CMC theater operations manager and adjunct instructor Brad Moore explained “The beauty of doing a monologue show like this is we can keep people safe while involving a fairly large group. It provides a way for us to create art together in a global pandemic.”
“I think it’s a perfectly human piece,” said Cochran. “The script is reflective of our current experience of feeling trapped in little boxes on a screen. A lot of self-reflection can come out of staring at ourselves all the time.”
The nine-person cast includes CMC graduates Gerald Delisser, Nick Garay, Cassidy Willey, James Steindler, Ciara Morrison, and Travis Wilson along with former student Emily Henley, local community member Mike Banks and newcomer to the CMC stage, Lauren Kenning.
Current theater production students will handle all of the technical duties. Midge Glidewell is the stage manager, Chris Merino will run lights, work-study student Jauneen Moore will round out the backstage production team. Colton Grove will be the videographer and Owen Hooten is the sound engineer. CMC faculty and students provided filming support and the photo club supplied headshots while the graphic design students created the show poster.
The monologues offer an opportunity for actors to strengthen the core tools of their craft. CMC theater program graduate Willey said that the structure of this piece invites intense, one-on-one collaboration with a director that’s unusual, especially in a larger cast production. Willey, who is currently at work on her own one-woman show said, “It’s such a valuable experience to go deep with a script and a director like this.”
Kenning, who studied theater at the University of Denver and with the Stanislavsky Summer School in Cambridge, Massachusetts explained “Because a monologue is all you have, you become a detective working with the director to uncover the missing information surrounding your character.”
She said the process gave her time upfront to “focus on the words and intentions of the character without having to think about movement right away.”
Moore noted another positive of the virtual theater experience. “We can safely reach audiences across all our campus locations, without anyone having to leave home.”
To purchase tickets, click here or email svticketsales@coloradomtn.edu. “Rogues’ Gallery” contains adult content for mature audiences. The streaming will begin promptly on schedule on November 6, 7, 13 and 15 at 7 p.m. and November 8 and 15 at 2 p.m.
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