Timing and publicity are two very important parts of a live performance, and yet, sometimes we feel as if we’re impoverished in both aspects. We’re a resident-supported endeavor and we put in just so much love into every production (too much!), but it’s always such a pity that the timing and publicity doesn’t reach. For those lucky enough to see a SL Shakespeare main canon production (so far, only Hamlet or Twelfth Night), you know exactly what I mean when I say that we endeavor to create the most memorable of experiences — and yet, the show itself is as ephemeral as any live theatrical performance is, and though many see it, so few see it! Once it’s over, it lives only in people’s memories. Alas…

So, endeavoring to solve the problems of timing and publicity… Timing - it seems like us setting dates just doesn’t work, so we’ll let you do it. Publicity - it seems there’s a certain limit to our grassroots network, so in exchange for you helping spread the love of SL Shakespeare, we’ll perform exactly when you want it!

Sounds good? Then…

Behold… the details of this experiment (and, do please participate!):

The On-Demand Run (ODR) Program lets audience members designate their own dates and times to see a live SL Shakespeare Company production — as long as a QUORUM of 100 is met, the show will be set (and will be free as in beer - though you may pay as you will) on said date, at least 3 weeks in advance of when quorum is met; if a party would like to see a show with fewer than quorum, they may pay (or split to pay) an IMPENSA of L$100,000 to set the show.

Please post a thread to this ODR forum with the time, date, and choice of your play - then get all your friends to reply to it to meet quorum! (If you choose to pay the impensa, please state so somewhere on the thread.)

AVAILABLE PLAYS for inaugural ODR Season:
Any scene from Hamlet
Any scene from Twelfth Night, or Twelfth Night Act 1
Any scene from King Lear

Back for ONE HOUR ONLY, encore performance of SL Shakespeare Company’s April Fools Multi-Parody SUPER SPOOF 2009 - that parodizes some of the memorable pop culture icons in 2008, while analogizing them to characters from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Act 1:

• Scene 1: Still Popular in 2008 - Star Wars in Duke Jar Jar’s Court … with Duke Orsino played by Jar Jar Binks (Duke Jar Jar); Curio played by Amidala; Valentine played by Darth Maul… and a small battalion of R2D2’s piping a spacy-techno-variation of Thom Dowd’s “Music is the Food of Love.”
• Scene 2: Popular CG 2008 - Wall*E in a not-so-barren wasteland (coast) of Illyria … with Wall*E played by the Captain, and Eva played by Viola
• Scene 3: Popular Politics 2008 - Outside a tavern in Illyria … with Hillary as Maria; GWB as Sir Toby Belch; Obama as Sir Andrew Aguecheek!
• Scene 4: Cult Film 2008 - Twilight in Duke Orsino’s Court … with Duke Orsino played by Edward Cullen and Viola (as Cesario) played by Bella Swan
• Scene 5: SL Popular 2008 - Rezzable Greenies in Olivia’s Household … Wherein… nearly the entire cast of Twelfth Night (Feste, Maria, Malvolio, Olivia, Sir Toby Belch, and Viola) is replaced by… a slew of Rezzable Greenies

Sunday, May 3 @ 1 PM at the SL Globe Theatre

LAST CHANCE to see our super satire, beyond Shakespeare, super spooooofed! SSSSSSSSSSS!

Free show; seating is first come first to squat.
Be there early! Sunday, May 3 @ 1 PM at the SL Globe Theatre

P.S. The Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, and R2D2 avatars shown in the poster above will be given away for free at the event! Come for the show, go home with memorable freebies!

The Twilight Bella Swan and Edward Cullen skins are also available at the Twilight SL Shoppe with 100% donation to support the SL Shakespeare Company — for Shakespeare and live theatre on Second Life!

This isn’t our usual — but just for fun — kind of our version of the Simpson’s tradition of parodies on Halloween — but earlier in the year for us! Join us for this free-for-all medley on SL!

The Super Spoof plays @ 5 PM on April 1. ONE DAY ONLY. We are going to multi-parody a whole bunch of things from 2008, and see if they flow with Twelfth Night–that is, this is our “Twelfth Night - Popular Culture Analogues” Edition.

Everything summarized by the playbill above. Please feel free to link. This is a strictly unofficial fan production; our SPOOF-esque version of Twelfth Night just for April Fools Day 2009 - join us at the SL Globe Theatre at 5 PM PST (GMT-8).

Please note that we do have a L$100,000 koinup photography contest going on in conjunction with our open-ended run of Twelfth Night. We also have a special contest category JUST FOR today’s show. In this mini-contest for this show, there’s over L$5000 worth of cash and prizes up for grabs for your winning photo. Drop by the show. Take pictures. AND WIN!

Draft 1 of MultiParody 2009 Playscript is here.

Although our main canon of Twelfth Night is set in the “generic past,” this particular production of “Actus Primus, Scoena Tertia (Act 1, Scene 3)” is set in the Elizabethan era… from costumes to theatre to skin. (Yup! Maria has stubble - she’s played by a guy!)

With this light offshoot from our main production, we introduce a new branch of the SL Shakespeare Company, the SL Shakespeare Repertory Players… in this first performance in the Blackfriars Theatre - bare stage, as the Elizabethans might have done it - and with a dog hidden behind a column on stage left o.O.

The SL Shakespeare Company has teamed with Koinup to offer you a photography contest based on our upcoming open-ended run of Twelfth Night, Act 1. Over L$100,000 in prizes will be awarded to winners in several categories–including an exclusive Unedited SL Photography category! Judged by a wide-ranging panel of well-known Second Life residents. Select winning entries will also be published in Best of SL, Inner World, Prim Perfect, RezLibris, SL Newspaper, and sLiterary Magazine.

See the press release here.

Rules and contest details available on the contest page @ Koinup or grab & print this pdf.

Naergilien Wunderlich has created a “One of a Kind” dress that is a meticulous Second Life reconstruction of Queen Elizabeth I’s Rainbow Portrait dress. (See blog entry.)

This dress can be obtained through a silent auction that ends at 4 PM SL Time on Winter Solstice December 21, 2008.

The bid is currently at L$10,600. IM and notecard Naergilien Wunderlich directly with your bid.

Proceeds benefit the SL Shakespeare Company in their SOS “Save Our Sims” Campaign.

Closeup Image:

The press release is here.

The programme - fresh and hot off the press!

Get your own - Open publication

CONTACT: ENNIV ZARF
For detailed information visit our SLSC-APA page.
We are pleased to offer the following courses:

>> Fall Session 2008-B
1) Second Life Voice Workshop
~ A 2 hour intensive workshop
~ Workshop Time: Saturday November 22, 2008 10amSLT to 12pmSLT
Teacher: Enniv Zarf - RL Paul Kwo

>> Spring Session 2009-A/B
1) Working on Voice in Second Life
~ 6 weeks intensive course - 2 hours per week/12 hours total
~ Class A1: Saturday January 10, 17, 24, 31, Feb 7, 14, 2009 9amSLT to 11amSLT
Teacher: Enniv Zarf - RL Paul Kwo

2) Voice-Over Acting for Theatrical Work with an emphasis in Second Life
~ 6 weeks intensive course - 2 hours per week/12 hours total
~ Class B1: Saturday March 7, 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11, 2009 9amSLT to 11amSLT
Teacher: Enniv Zarf - RL Paul Kwo

3) Scenic Design in Virtual Worlds: Second Life
~ 8 weeks intensive course with lab sessions - 2 lectures a week/16 hours total lecture time
~ Labs typically take 3 hours per week to complete
~ TBD
Teacher: Ina Centaur

4) Designing a Virtual Cast of Characters: Seminar
~ 1 Lecture
~ 1 “Shopping” Lab sessions
~ TBD
Teacher: Ina Centaur

For detailed information visit our SLSC-APA page.
For more information about our voice teacher Enniv Zarf, visit his RL hompage or his blogs - PK Blog & Enniv Zarf Me Blog
For more information about our visual teacher Ina Centaur, google her up.

Act 1 introduces the main characters (as well as their quirky personalities) and sets the conflict to be resolved in the play; it has 5 scenes. (Due to lack of an external budget,) We aren’t committed to a perfectly-accurate era production this time, and thus the clothing and sets are of the “generic past”; no one’s dressed in modern clothing, per se, but this makes the visuals easier, as fewer new items need to be made (better for budget), and most items already exist and can be purchased. Here are my notes — my thoughts and interpretations for each. My character interpretations are here.

1. Begin with music and a memorable feast that literally embodies the food of love, playing on in an Illyrian palace with sunlight streaming through its windows, and a multimedia-projector-esque device projects moving images in the upper level corridors, to make the palace appear more staffed. Musicians play a song, as Curio eats a hart. Music stops dramatically and in deference to the Duke Orsino as he enters from his balcony entrance; and, as he waves his hand, it continues (symbolically: the man’s word galvanizes the concept of love). Orsino’s speech sounds “ample fickle”, and indeed, he does tell the musicians to stop feeding him this food of love, that he grows so sick of (he did command them to give him too much of it that he gets sick of it). Curio (in this interpretation) is his cousin from the countryside, who is apparently more obsessed with the feast of hart than in Orsino’s heart. When Orsino doesn’t give him a positive on the hunting question, he leaves with a “hmmph” thinking Orsino a fool (for turning himself into a hart!). Valentine enters, and reports on his progress with Olivia–that Olivia would hide herself from view for seven years to mourn her brother. Orsino doesn’t take this as a setback; he’s so obsessed with this concept of love of his fantasized version of Olivia, that he believes this part of her character that would pay the “debt of love / but to a brother” would make her a better lover. In this interpretation, his “dying fall” really occurs (though he doesn’t die - that would break the plot!), and he starts climbing the balcony at the end of his ending speech, and jumps into the “sweet beds of flowers” on “canopied with bowers.”
2. This is actually my favorite scene in this SL production — in fact, I was galvanized to produce this just due to the prospect of converting the Globe Theatre’s characteristic double pillars on-stage into palm trees, and covering the garage-roof-like proscenium arch of the Globe with a mess of storm clouds. The added effect of the rainstorm and lightning and sounds came later. I had imagined Viola and the Captain, at first, separated by a huge distance, each sitting beneath their own palm tree. Adding the storm made the exchange make more sense–they’re trying to wait it out, each beneath a palm tree after the storm ends (although, in movies, you recall shipwrecked people who make it to shore to wake up after the storm’s over), and the storm sound effects is another reason why they’re shouting. At the start, Viola is alone beneath her own palm tree, as is the Captain, who perhaps is used to the every-man-is-his-own-island. They shout through the storm, and when the Captain mentions that there might be hope for her brother yet, she takes a fondness to him and offers him gold just for saying it - she braves through the storm and crosses the gap between them. But, of course, she’s offering her gold as a beacon of trust, and proceeds to asking him for guidance in this new land. You can get a grasp of Viola’s young age by her naïvity, her quick decision to be concealed as a boy.
3. Toby and Maria open the scene, but enter from very different doors. Maria enters from the back porch door of Olivia’s house, which on this side, at least, is next to The Taurus Tavern. Toby stumbles out of the Tavern, and Maria starts scolding him about his late hours. Toby attempts to justify himself, as well as Andrew. In this production, Toby and Andrew are of about the same height, though Toby attempts to make Andrew seem taller (thinking himself as tall). Also, Toby is in appearance and behavior little older than a teenager (in part due to casting). Andrew enters after Toby; even though they both emerge drunkenly from the same tavern, he’s actually delayed a bit for having to pay for Toby’s revels. He’s drunk, so that doesn’t matter, and the big bottle of Castiliano Vulgo helps make this clear. The conversation that follows may require a feat of SL navigational luck. As Andrew enters, he verbally greets Toby, but stumbles towards Maria (recall that he’s drunk!), who takes a huge step back from her previous confrontational distance next to Toby. Toby greets him mockingly, Andrew turns to face Toby, though he’s next to Maria (he’s drunk and the sense of direction and who’s who is a bit a miss!). When Toby tells him to “accost,” he walks over to him, confused, “What’s that?” Toby objectifies Maria, “My niece’s chambermaid.” Andrew then faces Maria (he’s currently standing near Toby), and greets her as “Mistress Accost.” Maria states curtly, “My name is Mary, sir.” Andrew, who is still a bit out of it, greets her again as “Mary Accost,” and Toby immediately attempts to clarify himself, elaborating on what he meant by “accost.” Andrew, who is actually more drunk than we realize, bring up the other (sexual) meaning of “accost,” and mentions the ludicrous meaning of accost in that sense, “By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company!” Maria, who has had enough of this, and who had already made up her mind on Andrew’s lacking intelligence, leaves. Andrew, after being told by Toby that if he lets her parts so easily can’t really slap people off with gauntlets anymore, rushes over to her and beseeches her to stay. He then tries doing a hand-exchange thing, which is a small feat in SL interface navigation by itself. He tries taking Maria’s hand, and then Maria pushes the bottle on him, to beseech him to drink and let go of her hand-but he keeps on trying to take her hand. “Dry” and “barren” as she lets go of his hand for the last time and leaves. Andrew then sinks down to an emo sit on the porch steps, while Toby tries cheering him up. At first, Toby sort of looms over him, as the sot of greater intelligence. Andrew then says something totally offbeat, mentioning that he’s a great eater of meat and that does do harm to his wit; in response, Toby should sound like he’s rolling his eyes, “(uh huh) no question.” When Andrew threatens to leave, Toby then sits down next to him, and seriously attempts to cheer him up . Curly hair is more in-style than straight hair, the kind that Andrew has, and, true, as they muse about his hair-like-flax-on-a-distaff, Andrew does pull a clump of his own hair out to wonder about it. Cup of canary can be obtained if they were to caper off into the Tavern again, but ironically, there’s a canary in a cage next to them (symbolizing this trapped tendency to imbide in canary). The subsequent capering in galliards and carrantos cheer them up, and they do head off back to the tavern, to being born under Taurus!
4. Valentine and Cesario are/will both (be) sent as messengers of the Duke’s love, but Valentine is Cesario’s predecessor, and so it is significant when he defers his status to Cesario — they exchange this on a sort of raised stairway halfway between main stage level and the balcony. The Duke then enters from his balcony, and goes onto beseeching Cesario, a less “graver nuncio”, to be adamant in showing his love. But, although the words are intimate, the Duke and Cesario are separated by a distance, in this case, represented by stage levels–Cesario is at a level below, and the Duke is still standing up on his balcony.
5. Maria and Feste enter through the door on the main stage level, and Maria goes about her slurry of complaints in Act 1, chastising Feste for being gone for so long. As Feste hangs himself, Maria ends up beating him in the joke, but leaves hurriedly when Olivia enters. Feste climbs the stairs and bows in a mock flourish to Olivia. Olivia, who starts with the command to take Feste away, ends up allowing him to stay after just a few words between the two (foreshadowing her fleeting change from deep-in-mourning to piqued by a love interest when she meets Cesario). It does seem that Cesario’s arriving causes quite a stir in Olivia’s house, as every single member seems to come to Olivia to mention his(her) arrival. Now, for this SL production, there is a chance that the actor who plays Toby might not make it (he’d been missing several rehearsals, and may tend on a similar schedule as an actual Toby), so in that case, Toby’s role in this scene will be played by a silent actor who lurches in and falls as a totally drunken sot of a Toby. Feste’s exit then finely shoves him away, off through the door on the main stage level. When Olivia calls for her veil, Maria bustles up the stairs and gives it to Olivia, who becomes veiled. Cesario enters from the main stage door and is looking up at Olivia, until the part where she tells everyone to leave and takes off her veil. They are then on equal levels. In the end, Olivia descends the stairs to give her brief soliloquy.

That is more or less the plan! Except, we don’t have a dedicated animation team, and mostly have actors making their own, some using animation creation software for the first time. Not all animations may work as expected. Not much of a budget for costume, anyway. The sets are possible with your dear director working for free for a couple hundred of hours designing and building/assembling them.

Incidentally, all of the above sets were built *for* the Globe Theatre, especially its characteristic two columns, and back wall doors. The set elements cover the parts when not needed, fitting like a tailored hat! This is the empty/bare SL Globe Theatre Stage: