Five years. Eight company members. Twenty-one productions. A million thanks.
WOW.
It seems like only yesterday we were nervously applying our makeup in a long silver-bullet trailer parked outside The Filling Station, anticipating Opening Night for our Inaugural show, Trust by Steven Dietz. We hadn’t even started the season, and it felt as though we’d already encountered and overcome countless obstacles just to get to that point…
We were starting a professional theatre company! We wanted to serve the audiences of New Mexico! We wanted to provide transformative, thought-provoking, engaging theatre!
And five seasons later…HERE WE ARE. It’s been a challenging, wondrous, and rewarding journey, and we wouldn’t take back one second of it. The fifth season, in particular, was a testament to how far we’ve come as a company, and how we could not have made it this far without YOU—our audiences.
Here’s what you can look forward to reading about in this blog:
The Drowning Girls
Teaching Documentary Filmmaking in Roswell
All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
Donation Drives
Animal Farm
Animal Farm…On Tour!
The 39 Steps
The 6th Season Announcement Party
Theater on the Farm
Frank at Nebraska Shakespeare
Imagine Action Conservatory
Best of the City voting
So without further ado, here are the 5th season highlights!
The Drowning Girls
Written by Beth Graham, Daniela Vlasalic, and Charlie Tomlinson, directed by John Hardy
Water. Wedding gowns. More water. Tubs. More water!
When considering plays for our fifth season, we asked ourselves what challenges we would like to tackle as company members. Resident Stage Manager Alicia Webb made a request for shows that had more technical spectacle—and boy did she get what she asked for. Alicia handled the challenges of doing a show with LOTS of water like a champ—coming to the theatre early so that the water could warm to a higher temp for the actors, siphoning the water out of a bathtub with just a hose and gravity on her side, and wiping up a very wet stage at the end of every night.
As actors, the challenge of using water was exhilarating.It provided many obstacles – Slippery floors. Wet stockings. Water up the nose! – that made performing on that stage every night fun, and added a dimensionality to the performance that several of us had yet to experience.
Production Manager and Technical Director Ezra Colón was faced with building a stage that could be water tight—indeed, many of us feared that we’d find a moldy underbelly upon striking the set closing night—but to our joy (and relief), not a drop made it’s way past the surface. Huzzah!
Teaching Documentary Filmmaking in Roswell, NM
In October of 2014, Frank Taylor Green, Josh Heard, and Lauren Myers went down to the Sidney Gutierrez Middle School to teach documentary filmmaking to a class of 8th graders. The students were preparing projects to submit to C-SPAN’s StudentCam, an annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. Much to our delight, one of the groups from Sidney Gutierrez Middle School received an Honorable Mention in the competition!
Taylor Fitts, Vittoria Price & Hannah Bejarano created a film on immigration and were not only visited by a C-SPAN bus, but a personal visit from Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh, a letter of congratulations from NM State Senator Henrich, and a special video from Congressman Pearce.
We were proud of these students for their hard work and diligence and for presenting a project that is specifically tied to New Mexico and our culture.
All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
Written by Catherine Bush, directed by Frank Taylor Green
Adults. Playing children. And missing teeth?
If Christmas is all about celebrating kindness, selflessness, and pure joy, what better way to explore these virtues than playing 7-year-old kids?! After a show with lots of water, we decided to DIVE (pun intended!) into something new—and exploring the inner-workings of a child’s mind during the holiday season seemed like the perfect “deep end” in which to conduct our artistic experiments.
This show was a testament to joy — why it is so intertwined with the holidays and how it can give us hope and strength — 
particularly through generous acts. It was our first “musical” since The Last Five Years in our first season. It was also our first choreographed dance number—a five minute long Christmas Extravaganza—that reminded us how awesome it felt to be alive during the holidays.
We were incredibly grateful to our dentist friends who helped us with Lucy’s “missing two front teeth” gag. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a kid raise her hand after the show and ask, “How did you DO that?!”
Theatre magic, friends. Theatre magic.
Donation Drives
Director of Development Josh Heard set out this season to collaborate with several non-profit organizations in order to support the wonderful work they are doing for this community….and the results were astounding!!
During the run of All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth we partnered with Enlace Comunitario and S.A.F.E. House New Mexico for a diaper, toy, and clothing drive. We collected over 1,000 diapers and an SUV full of toys and clothing!!
For The 39 Steps, we filled an entire barrel (and then some) of non-perishable food for Road Runner Food Bank.
We are so grateful for all of our patrons who donated many items throughout the season and for supporting these incredible organizations. Stay tuned next season for more donation partnerships!
Animal Farm
Written by George Orwell, adapted by Nelson Bond, directed by Katie Becker Colón
Animals rebelling. But…what if the pigs are wrong?
Well, we tackled water on stage and 7-year-old children—so why not step it up a notch and play barnyard animals?! Pigs, dogs, horses, donkeys, pigeons, and goats—every species offered its own set of opportunities for physical exploration—but add on top of that a political farm-wide revolution—and you’ve got yourself one intense play.
Adapting and staging one of the most well known political satires from the twentieth century created a wonderful conversation spark for our post-show discussions. Which, if you’ve been to any DCRT show in the last two seasons, you’ll know the “DCRT Dialogue” is a special trademark of the work we do and why we do it. We love giving our audiences the opportunity to express and articulate their reactions to our productions and the stories we tell, both inside and outside the theatre. And the discussions that sprang from a high-profile story like Animal Farm included a defense of Putin, conversations about censorship and freedom of speech, and questions about modern governance.
Animal Farm…ON TOUR!
Before staging this show at The Cell, we had the pleasure to tour Animal Farm to schools and organizations across the state. From Roswell to Albuquerque to Pecos, we saw over 1,100 students during the month of February. Our performance at The KiMo Theater was made possible through the Albert I. Pierce Foundation, and we bussed in students from New Futures, North Valley Academy, and PAPA, among others.
The responses from students were thoughtful and articulate. Their reactions, questions, and participation in our talkbacks and workshops only fueled our inner fire to support curriculum with professional theatre. We are tickled with anticipation for next year’s touring show.
If you’re interested in booking your school or student’s school, please contact Director of Education Katie Becker Colón at katie@dukecityrep.com.
The 39 Steps
Written by John Buchan, adapted by Patrick Barlow, directed by Vincent Carlson-Brown
An homage to Hitchcock, but a gift to the stage.
Producing The 39 Steps was a BIG experiment in many ways. It was our first time working with Nebraska Shakespeare’s Artistic Director Vincent Carlson-Brown, our first show with only one company member (Ezra Colón), and by far the most prop-heavy production we’d witnessed in five seasons.
And come opening night, it was also one of the funniest shows we’d ever seen. Vincent’s precise, crisp, and witty direction and the actors’ dynamic performances brought the script to life, fulfilling any Hitchcock lover’s fantasy, but most importantly—
the show gave our audiences the opportunity to participate in a true theatrical experience, where the power of the story lies in the power of the stage, and we were giddy from all of your responses after each show.
With the last two weekends sold out, it was a wonderful way to end the season and gave us the energy and momentum to choose our sixth season, which then leads us to…
The 6th Season Announcement Party
We’re getting ready to announce our most exciting season yet and we want YOU to be the first to hear about it! It’s guaranteed to be one memorable night of fun. On top of our announcement, there’ll be snacks, beverages, games, awards, and your first chance to purchase 2015/2016 season subscriptions!
The party takes place on Thursday, July 9th, from 6pm to 8pm at The Cell Theatre (700 1st St. NW 87102). The admission is FREE, and our announcement will take place promptly at 7pm!
Visit www.dukecityrep.com to RSVP or call 505.797.7081 for more information.
Theater on the Farm
You have one more chance to see Theater on the Farm, a collaboration with Farm & Table and Tricklock Company and a unique synthesis of food, art, and community that’s been taking place for three consecutive Wednesdays in June. The evening begins with a mingle featuring Farm & Table appetizers and drinks with the production’s cast and crew before the show. Following the mingle, Tricklock and DCRT present two original one-act plays as the sun sets across the farm.
DCRT’s show, “Groundwork,” is directed by Amelia Ampuero and stars company member Ezra Colón. Written by Mike Ostroski and Derek Davidson, “Groundwork” begins with a simple idea: Grow a Garden. The idea hits Paul like a meteor hitting the planet and he’s off. He reads the books, sows the seeds and before his first tomatoes ripen, departs on a crusade to save the planet one precious seedling at a time. Saving himself, however, will prove a much harder battle.
Tricklock’s “Rain Follows the Plow” is directed by Erin Phillips and stars Diana Delgado and Drew Morrison. Set in the Dust Bowl of the 1920’s, this show explores the life of a young couple from the city who embark to the wide open land in the middle of the country to begin a life together. As massive clouds of dust swell up from the land and cover the floors, coat their lungs, and kill their crops, the two to wonder if their dreams may be impossible. “Rain Follows The Plow” is a story of what it takes to survive against the elements in the face of dwindling hope and altered expectations. It is a story of love, loss, and need, echoing with the question, “how much is enough?”
There’s still one performance left on June 24th, so we encourage you not to miss this beautiful event!
Mingle at 7:00 | $20
Performance at 7:30 | $30
For tickets and information, email reserve@farmandtablenm.com.
Frank Taylor Green at Nebraska Shakespeare
Duke City Rep’s very own Frank Taylor Green has the amazing opportunity to work at Nebraska Shakespeare this summer, which includes acting in As You Like It as well as playing the title character in Othello. He’ll be working along side DCRT Super Friends John Hardy (The Drowning Girls, These Shining Lives) and Vincent Carlson-Brown (The 39 Steps). We’re cheering them on from New Mexico, and wish them nothing but broken legs!
Imagine Action Conservatory
Space is limited for our inaugural Imagine Action Conservatory, a two-week summer program that teaches Life Skills Through Stage Skills to students grades 3rd-12th. The program is a collaboration between Duke City Rep, Sol Acting Academy, and Menaul School.
Register before July 1st for our $500 tuition rate!
Students will have an opportunity to learn from professional actors and theatre practitioners with 40+ years of experience in theatre and film. The program focuses on cultivating confidence, bravery, teamwork, and creativity–all through the powerful medium of theatre. Regardless of where life takes them, students of all backgrounds will benefit from Imagine Action Conservatory’s two weeks of adventure!
The camp runs July 13th-24th, 2015 at the Menaul School (301 Menaul Boulevard Northeast, Albuquerque, NM 87107). Lunch is provided!!
Sample Daily Schedule:
8:30-9:00 am — Student Drop-off
9:00-9:20 am — Beginnings
9:25-10:15 am — Improv
10:20-11:10 am — Acting
11:15-12:05 pm — Musical Theatre
12:10-12:50 pm — Lunch
12:55-1:45 pm — Voice & Movement
1:50-2:40 pm — Playwrighting
2:45-3:35 pm — Puppetry
3:40 – 4:00 pm — End of Day
Meet our Instructors!!
Ezra Colón
Frank Green
Alissa Hal
Josh Heard
Randi Klein
Lauren Myers
Catharine Pilafas
Jason Weiler
To sign up, visit www.dukecityrep.com, and contact Director of Education Katie Becker Colón katie@dukecityrep.com for questions or more information.
Best of the City Voting!
We’re honored to have been voted “Best Theatre” in the city by the readers and editors at Albuquerque the Magazine since our inception. Let’s make it 5 years in a row, shall we?
You can vote for Duke City Rep HERE, and here are some more recommendations from the company:
Best Local Actor:
Amelia Ampuero
Ezra Colón
Katie Becker Colón
Frank Taylor Green
Josh Heard
Lauren Myers
And…THANK YOU!
As always, Duke City Repertory Theatre would not be here today without the generous support of our season sponsors, our donors, and our patrons. Thank you for supporting live theatre in Albuquerque, and we’ll see you at the theatre!