Issue No.89 Single Copy $3.00 April, 2006 CAST & CREW “The Source For Theater Happenings” SHORT FUSE Interactive Theatre Tools to Ignite Change In The Workplace By Muriel Kenderdine The headline above is the introduction that greets you on the Oldies at 100.9. Within a couple of years, however, she and her website for actress Kym Dakin’s corporate training and morale husband divorced, he left the state, and Kym got involved with building business. So what was the path that led her to this part Mad Horse Theatre Company of her career? A native of Denver, Colorado, Kym is the only “theater person” in her family. After high school, she attended the University of Denver as a journalism major. “But after all my favorite professors quit, I went over to Loretto Heights College (also in Denver), where I had a double major in theater and journalism. After graduating I spent about two years with Denver Center Theater. Then I decided to see what I could do in New York.” During her 11 years based in New York, where her roles included playing Laura in THE GLASS MENAGERIE with Jessica Tandy, she was also in a national tour of NOISES OFF and spent some seasons in regional theaters such as the Actors Theatre of Louisville and theaters in Albany. Then one day, “I read in the New York Times Magazine an J. D. Merritt and Kym Dakin article about doctors who were trained to read charts but not how to be good with patients. Since I was also involved with a During her years with Mad Horse, Kym’s roles included Pearl in directing company in New York, I put in a proposal to use THE SCARLET LETTER, Jenny Stafford in THE WOMEN OF theater techniques to teach medical personnel ways to improve MY FATHER’S HOUSE, Kyra Hollis in SKYLIGHT, and both their bedside manners.” Cordelia and The Fool in KING LEAR. While she was still at Mad Horse, the company was approached by Northeastern Apprentice Union. “It was a time when more and more women were entering the construction work force, and the union wanted some interactive theater to address issues such as sexual harassment. Three other Mad Horse actors and I got together and created the piece.” This renewed Kym’s interest in this type of theater in the workplace. “It acts as a catalyst for people to talk about their own experiences. We have a facilitator, sometimes me, but not always, who is a guide for discussions between the presenters and the participants. “Coming up with the idea of the name Short Fuse was a group effort, and for about a year we did some more presentations under the umbrella of Mad Horse. But I thought this was an Michael Howard, Guy Durichek, Susan Garrett idea for a viable business by itself, rather than going for grants and becoming a non-profit, so that’s how it started. Before her program could get off the ground, however, Kym and her husband at the time, a stage manager, moved to Maine. “We do a lot of research on each company before going there Her first job here was in Scarborough at Radio Station WYNZ for the workshop. Then we act out certain situations applicable to the theme – we do a lot of storytelling. The participants learn Kym lives in Yarmouth with her husband, daughter, and two by doing it themselves as well, practicing in front of their stepsons. peers.” www.shortfusecentral.com [email protected] 207-846-4729 Cast & Crew is published bimonthly. Articles, photographs, and news are welcomed. Editor: Muriel Kenderdine Contributing Writers: Bob Demers, Megan Grumbling, Harlan Baker, Greg Titherington Susan, Guy, Michael Layout: Andre Kruppa Clients include law firms such as Pierce Atwood, the U. S. Postal Service, and health care organizations like York Hospital, Advertising Rates: Springbrook Center for Health Care, and Martin’s Point. Kym $15 – 1/8 Page, $25 – 1/4 Page, $35 1/2 Page, by herself does a one-hour stress workshop for health care $45 – 3/4 Page, $75 – Full Page professionals. Currently she has been approached by a small New Hampshire oil company that is trying to turn their Deadlines For June 2006 Issue: employees from being service technicians only to sales people in a three-day workshop. So again, the participants will learn by Articles, Photos, and Related Content: actually doing, with an opportunity to act out the situation. May 27, 2006 Auditions Only: May 31, 2006 In addition to stress management and sexual harassment, other workshops deal with reacting to change in the workplace (think mergers, for one thing!), interpersonal conflicts, violence in the workplace, and morale building among employees. Using live actors in skits that usually include humor make this training tool “a lot better and more effective than using a video,” says Kym! ACTORS’ SEMINAR The Cinema at Spring Point series at Southern Maine Community College will offer an evening seminar on Tuesday, April 4 at 6:30 pm for Mainers wanting to work as actors or extras in film and TV projects. The seminar will be led by well-known Maine actor and casting professional Debra Lord Cooke (Dee Cooke), who will talk about tools of the trade such as head shots, resumes, and demo reels/DVD’s, as well as information on the role of labor unions in films and other media. Ms. Cooke handled local casting for such projects as EMPIRE FALLS. The workshop will held in the Jewett Auditorium on the SMCC campus in South Portland. It is free for SMCC students/staff and members of the Maine Film and Video Association. Admission is $5 for all others. For directions visit www.smccme.edu. Michael, Guy, Susan Cinema at Spring Point is sponsored by the SMCC She is careful to find actors (hired on a contract basis) who can Communications Department, the Maine Film not only act, but also be sensitive to the teaching role they play. Office, the Maine Film Commission, and the Maine She is working toward a goal of having her own role in Short Film and Video Association. Fuse focused more on directing, marketing, and administration. TOURING: How One RT Ensemble Does It By Bob Demers The idea of touring our Readers Theatre Ensemble association. The list claims over 1,000 around the State of Maine came early on. We formed subscribers. Open Book Players in the spring of 1996 as a specialized community theater. A year later we booked 3) Press releases go out to Maine dailies and our first five Summer dates at small libraries in nearby weeklies whenever we can come up with a novel communities. This was in addition to a fall and winter or newsworthy slant. schedule of 2 – 4 full productions at our home venue in Gardiner, Maine. The process hasn’t changed much 4) And of course information is on our web site to since then. which we refer people on every possible occasion by every possible means. Here’s how we do the Tour part of our schedule: Around the first of each year our Artistic Director sits down with our board of directors, all of whom are personally active as cast and crew. No warm bodies here. Our AD proposes a program theme and content for the upcoming summer tour. This is discussed and tweaked to everyone’s satisfaction. The working title of the Summer 2006 tour is PETS OF ALL SORTS. The program will consist of 6 – 8 individual RT plays adding up to a program of 50 – 60 minutes. We will adapt stories from the published works of Maine authors of children’s books, with permission of course. The AD and sometimes one or two others spend the rest of the winter and early spring corresponding with authors, scripting the stories and preparing them for rehearsal and performance. A series of 6 – 8 rehearsals begins in late May or early June in preparation for the first tour performance later in the month. In the meantime, another of our number, the Tour Promoter, gets busy updating our database of libraries – there are over 400 in Maine – and writing the e-mail notices and other promotional materials specific to the theme. Bob Demers We advertise for bookings in four ways: 1) Our own opt-in e-mail list has grown steadily Some of our group are retired, but most are students, over the years to about 500. Two mailings go teachers, and others with full-time jobs. Because of this out to this list. First is an early notice with a few we limit our tour to 14 – 18 venues per summer, which tantalizing details and a mention that the tour sometimes creates an interesting competition for program will soon be published. This allows available dates. The actual available dates are libraries a little time to pursue whatever small determined by midwinter by the 5 – 7 people who will grants may be available to meet our modest fees be in the tour cast. These dates are posted on our web (more on that below). site along with details about our fee. A request-for- proposal form is also included. 2) We make one or two low-key posts to the official discussion list of the state library Our fee includes a basic sum plus allowances for travel, This article is reprinted from The Readers Theatre meals and lodgings as/if applicable. Details are posted Digest with permission. RTD is an international on-line on our web site. quarterly journal published and edited by Bob Demers and can be viewed at http://www.readerstheatredigest.com.