Auditions!

Why not? We just got the keys to our new, soon-to-be theater space so we figured we would hold our general auditions in the empty shell. It was a busy weekend, but we met a lot of wonderful people and got to see some of the tremendous talent that we will be able to work with in our new space.

Our plan from here is to cast the first few shows that will be running as soon as we open our doors, so we can begin the lengthy rehearsal processes. There is plenty of work to be done all around, but none of it will mean anything if our shows aren't worked out, rehearsed and as close to polished as they can get.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our auditions this weekend! We were honestly blown away by all the talent.

It's Official

We went in and signed the paperwork. The building is ours. We will start building the inside of it to look our our theater starting the first week of July (which is not far away... yikes).

We will also be holding our general auditions in the space this weekend. If you're interested in coming to our general auditions leave a comment or get in touch with us.
(the picture is of our celebration champagne and flowers. Thanks Kathryn & Jeffrey!)

Comedy Co Op Starting Up Again

stylish or jerky?

I prefer THEATER to THEATRE. Usually I like old timey ways of spelling things, but Theatre makes me think the place is run by old stuffy shirts who are full of themselves. We are going to be the Curious Theater, stuffy shirts and all.

Training Center Show Success!

Curious Productions just completed the first two classes, which culminated in shows (at the CSz theater) this past weekend.
The Teen class had three shows, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The six students were able to pack the house and knock it out of the park all three shows.
Here's a terrible camera phone picture:

Taping the space

We had a walk through at the space today (walk through with the Real Estate agent, explaining everything in the space to us - where the electricity comes in, the water, gas, etc.) and we spent a few hours taping out the space with what we have planned out on paper. After taping it we made a few small changes, but for the most part - our plan seems perfect.
First - here's the NorthEast Corner

Where the Bar will be located:

Along the North wall (behind where I was taking the picture) is our entrance, leading audience members to the ticketbooth:

Along the West wall, south of the ticketbooth will be the bathrooms:

The Kitchen will be along the South wall - and toward the West will be the stage:

Soon, these spots marked off with tape will be filled with the walls in the shapes of the locations marked. I can't wait to post those pictures.

Inside Curious Theater

We are planning on having a small kitchen and bar inside the theater as well as a stage. We've been told a bar brings in a lot of money and (hopefully) creates a warmer atmosphere. Not only do people like to laugh in both good times and bad times - its been said when people are happy they like to drink, when people are sad they like to drink more. That's not to say our theater/shows will make people sad... quite the opposite I hope.

We started to look at other places to see what sort of set ups they have as far as a bar and kitchen are concerned. We are a comedy theater first and foremost, so we don't want to have some beautifully constructed bar that will cost a million dollars and steal attention - however we don't want it to look stupid and dinky. A lot of thought must go in to these things.

Over the weekend we checked out a local Portland establishment that has a 10 foot by 8 foot (estimated measurements) bar that serves half priced fancy/girly drinks on Sundays. We like the size of the bar and it seems to get the job done... plus the half priced "snickertini" didn't hurt anything.
Since we've been in Portland, Stacey has consumed more alcohol than in the whole time we knew each other in Chicago. Girly drinks are a recent discovery of hers, so the Oatmeal Cookie, Snicker and Mint Chocolate Martini - along with fruity sangria are to blame.

Big Bright Colors!

This is the 3D Rendering of what our space will look like once all three phases or our build outs occur. We're planning on building in three phases because building all of it at once will cost too much moolah. This way, in our first phase we build a stage and seating area / bathrooms to bring people into the theater to see shows so we can be generating money. The second phase builds up our bar and ticket booth area to get them in proper working order. Phase three builds our mezzanine which will add a proper tech booth, two classrooms and a small office upstairs.

We've got our ducks in a row, now we need to raise money to feed and properly care for all these expensive ducks.

the Empty Shell

The Outside of our space:
The Inside of our space:

and looking up from the inside:

The space is somewhere around 3100 Square feet with somewhere between 17 - 25 foot ceilings (they arch so it's hard to say). It's a very nice space at a very nice price. We've got a month to wait to hear what the developers say, but we plan on spending this summer building a theater in there.
*Photos by Kathryn Durkin