The Residency Program 2010-2012 officially began in June with resident companies ALUNA THEATRE, KITCHENBAND PRODUCTIONS, PROJECT HUMANITY and SANTA GUERILLA. During June and early July, the companies spent some time in The Theatre Centre space, and at Hub 14, to begin exploring their projects in their infancy.

We caught up with Erin Brandenburg of KITCHENBAND productions to find out more…..

“With the residency at the Theatre Centre, Kitchenband Productions begins an exciting new project called BOBLO. It’s early days and hard to say what exactly this project will be, but we know it could involve music, and stories, images, ballroom dancing, a ship of some kind, somethingabout the downfall of civilization and maybe even a roller coaster or two. How will we do it? Who knows. But we’re excited. And when you are alone in an empty theatre reading books, listening to music and researching strange places and times that for some reason you have a strange obsession with it is important to be excited about the mountain of material in front of you.”

“Having the space to work in has been very important for us. We were sometimes at Hub 14, which felt like a cosy nook and was good when you needed an intimate space to gather your thoughts. Other times we worked in The Theatre Centre and the architecture of the building and the space inspired and suggested exciting possibilities. It was also a great place for a run if you needed to clear your head. Hearing the ideas of the other groups at our residency showing it was remarkable how different each project is, but also many similar interests there were, such as trying to engage an audience as an active participant, how to react to and reflect the world around us, and questioning our role as theatre artists and what that means. It is exciting to begin this journey and to be a part of such an interesting and talented group. I can’t wait to see where this road will take us over the next two years and I am eager to see and be inspired by the discoveries and creations of my fellow resident companies.”

Posted: July 14th, 2010 under July 2010 Newsletter, Residency Program 2010-2012.
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This month The Theatre Centre’s Residency Program 2010/11 officially began. We caught up with David Jansen who is currently managing the scheme, to find out a little bit more…

“The Residency Program offers four very different companies – Aluna Theatre, Kitchenband Productions, Project Humanity and Santa Gureilla - a space where ideas, images, sound, and character move from the stage of conception to the actual stage.

For the next three weeks (June 14-July 4), these artists will experiment. Without the pressure of having to assemble a final production, they are free to try out new staging ideas, build instruments, re-write their scripts, sharpen their ideas, test new methods of theatre-making. They are free to innovate.

It would be unfair to go into detail about the content of each of the projects as that may change over the next three weeks. But here at least are the territories being entered: hatred, identity and authorship; reclaiming old myths and music; unearthing local histories to forge new myths; terrorism and public space. Fertile ground for fantastic stories.”
David Jansen

This image accompanies Kitchenband Productions’ project Boblo – a live action radio play about an abandoned amusement park in the middle of the Detroit River – which they will be exploring as part of the Residency Program.

Posted: June 16th, 2010 under June Newsletter, Residency Program 2010-2012.
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