Projects

11 x 11

/ Jon Keevy / 1 Comment

There’s a pleasure in symmetry, a pleasure in pattern. Rituals and habits are reassuring. Looking at 11 x 11 with its palindrome promise, makes me think it doesn’t stand for anything out of the ordinary. It can’t represent anything challenging or impossible. Can it?

As a matter of fact it can. 11 x 11 is a project I’m embarking on, a gauntlet I’m throwing down against my common sense. It stands for something a bit ridiculous in its audacity: a promise to write eleven plays in eleven months. One play every month from January to November.

This year I’m not producing any shows. I’ve produced eight shows in the last five years (four of which I wrote) and it is time for a break – time to rethink my strategy. What better way to do that than to rewire how I think about writing? If you’re like me you’ve got a folder of ideas and bits of scenes lying around, maybe a couple of promises to write the script of an idea that your table of drunk friends came up with. If you’re like me you’ve got the material, you just sat on it.

11 x 11 is about quantity, not quality. None of these plays needs to ever be produced. The goal is not the stack of pages but the experience and the practice. What does it take to be prolific? How will my process change? What will I learn from this?

The rules are simple. I have to finish a play by the end of every month. It should be about an hour (or more) so if it’s a one hander then over 20 pages, and if it’s dialogue over 30 pages. So I’ll be writing between 220 and 350 pages.

Best of all? I’ve already started and have 8 pages to go to meet my target by the 31st. This is possible and I am going to do it.

Audition Notice

/ Jon Keevy / Leave a comment

Hello Cape Town,

In the wake of the vicious racially motivated attacks that have shaken and shamed Cape Town my mind has been in turmoil. How do I respond to this, as a white South African male, as a writer, as a Capetonian? How can I re-examine the city? I wrote, returning to reflections and a short story I wrote in 2007 as a springboard to articulate the inchoate feelings in me. The result is the seed for a new production and a collaboration with the brilliant Jason Potgieter.

We’re looking for two male performers between 20 and 40 years for And Other Events (working title). Written by Jon Keevy and adapted and directed for the stage by Jason Potgieter. This is a play about race and rage and the city, performed mainly though voice work so we are looking for strong vocal performers interested in tackling a tough subject.

Details:

  • Email your CV & headshot to productions@jonkeevy.com to schedule an audition. Only by confirmed appointment please. Regretfully we may not be able to see everyone because of time constraints. We also can not do skype or taped auditions.
  • Candidates must prepare a poem of their choice for presentation. Limericks and Haiku excluded. Unless you can make it work.
  • Audition duration is 15 – 20 minutes.
  • This session will be split into solo presentation and working in a pair with another auditioning performer.
  • We are looking for: Strong vocal quality (clarity, projection, energy), varied local accents; ability to evoke and sustain audio-imagery through voice; playfulness and willingness to devise vocal mis-en-scene collaboratively; realistic, goofy, OTT and irreverent sound effects / vocal graphics.
  • Being able to sing in varying styles is a plus.
  • Candidates must be vocally warmed up for the start of the audition. So do your tongue twisters in the car, on the bus or on the train, or on foot – the looks you’ll get are great research.
  • Candidates should bring a hard copy of their CV & headshot.
  • Auditions to be held at the Alexander Bar Upstairs Theatre 76 Strand street CBD
  • Saturday 13th December between 10am – 2pm
  • Successful candidates will be notified by Monday 15th December
  • Performance dates: 10 – 21 February (10 performances, may be extended)
  • Rehearsal period: 17 December – 12 February
  • Remuneration: Rehearsals will be R40per hour. Performance will be 25% of the gross (judging by other Alexander bar shows should be R3000 – R5000)
  • Possible further runs.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, please share with anyone you feel would be interested.

Audition Notice: Dirty Words

/ Jon Keevy / Leave a comment

Dirty Words Alex A3 sample

Hola peoples, we are looking to cast a female character actor with excellent comedic skills and the ability to sing in my play Dirty Words. Whoever we cast should also have an additional special skill or talent. Think dancing, acrobatics, juggling etc. No ping pong balls please. The original performance, as portrayed by Alicia McCormick, included a burlesque number so that’s something to think about though we can write around it. We are not looking for an actor to replace Alicia or to duplicate her performance but someone who can bring their own unique talent to this show.

For those of you who don’t know: Dirty Words is a sketch-comedy show born in the fast and loose crucible that is Alexander Upstairs’ own monthly experimental platform, Play Things. Immediately it became a cult sensation. Filthy, explicit and incredibly funny… Dirty Words pulls back the covers on erotica, chat sex, dirty talk and naughty sexy grammar.

So what are we looking for in a performer? Female over 22, race immaterial, at ease with dirty material and great comedy skills, able to do many different characters / vocal qualities / performance energies.

Details!

  • REHEARSAL PERIOD: September 2014 | PRODUCTION PERIOD: 6-18 October 2014 at Kalk Bay Theatre
  • Please forward your headshot and brief CV to dirtywords@jonkeevy.com
  • We would like to see everyone but space and time is limited therefore performers who are currently still studying will not be considered.
  • We will contact you to schedule an audition.
  • Auditions will be held during the day on Saturday 9 August at Alexander Upstairs Theatre.
  • Remuneration: details provided with confirmed audition

Colouring the Kraken!

/ Jon Keevy / 1 Comment

A comedian observed that handing out flyers is a bit like saying, “Here, throw this away for me.” He’s not wrong. Flyering can be the most disheartening activity in theatre. Marketing general gets that reputation.

But like any challenge it has the possibility of being really exciting. Every year performers try crazy stunts to get people to take their flyers – they cavort in costume, they sing, they beg… And the for the designers the challenge is just as intense: How to deliver information in a way that engages the imagination of the target audience. As much as the aesthetics matter, the result is what counts.

Yusrah Bardien passed on a great idea to me from Fiona Gordon (if you’re interested in the up & coming generation of people who make theatre happen, it’s them). Instead of making the standard flyer, make a colouring book page. Suddenly the flyer becomes entertaining in itself, an item families can engage with and even look forward to finding on their tables. For me it’s a joy to be able to doodle the characters and a challenge to figure out what makes a good image to colour in. Usually I don’t work with vector graphics but since I’m travelling it became the best way to work.

Colouring Page 01 vWebFirst I’d doodle the characters, trying to find a nice clean cartoon style that is still energetic, then I’d roughly sketch ideas for layout, finally I’d rework these with the vector tools on Photoshop (I know, I know I should use Freehand or Corel if I’m serious about vectors. But I didn’t have time to learn a programme from scratch). I’ll do a work through when I have more time.Doodles 01

The results are still evolving. In these sketches you can see I went back to rework Jay – the first pass felt too non specific, too generic kid (a danger of writing young characters too?) while the new sketches give him more energy and expression.

Doodle 3Doodle 2I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction of kids. Hopefully they’ll enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Get Kraken is on daily at 12pm at Oatlands Hall as part of the ASSITEJ Family Venue at the National Arts Festival 2013.