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Welcome to the Curious Frog Theatre Company.
What can we say, beside the obvious: Hi! We are a theatre company. We put on shows. We just started recently, but have some experience. You can write us, see a show, or give us a hand. Take a look around. It's just the basics (except for that list in the side bar -- there's some good reading on theatre out there in the Internet), but we aren't a web company -- we're a theatre (see? it says it allover the place), and busy just now out making some theatre happen.
Make us an Offer!
Curious Frog Theatre Company is accepting proposals through July 31, 2009, for our 2010 season. Proposals can come from anyone in any role (e.g. director, designer, actor), and must follow these guidelines:
- Promote CFTC's mission statement, which is as follows: Curious Frog's mission is to present new, modern and classical works with the goal of showing a new, multicultural perspective through non-traditional casting that does not hinder a work but rather enhances the work in an innovative manner and fosters fresh perceptions.
- Script should be attached.
- Concept ideas around casting ethnicity and unusual venue/space should be elaborated on.
- Concept idea should fit within a budget of US$4,000 or less.
- Proposed dates/time frame for production's performance, and proposed performance schedule.
Submitters are encouraged to choose a traditional, recognized title. Casting concept can be general open ethnicity, or specific within characters in order to tell a different story with the established text. Please specify which role (e.g. director, producer, actor, etc.) you wish to play in the proposed production. Please submit materials electronically to Reneé Rodriguez, Executive Director (contact info), or by mail (must be postmarked by July 31, 2009) to:
Curious Frog Theatre Company
2370 Crescent St #2
Astoria NY 11105
True West! Spring 2009.
We have a particular mission: to imbue time-proven tales with fresh views, decidedly focused around casting. In the course of closing last season's Shakespeare production, and the year prior, the commitment of our cast, and their skill, proved inspiring.
We decided to eliminate the guesswork and build a production around known talent. That brings us to Sam Shepard, and True West. It's been a good while since there was a major staging of this production in the city -- perhaps because of the extraordinary quality of most recent production. But it seemed like a good time -- and our potential casting made it all the more interesting. True West carries themes of the struggle of authenticity -- the 'real' versus the appropriated, rising and falling fortunes, at the personal level and culturally at large. Two brothers struggling with their envy about the presumed rewards of their respective paths, and their own sense of failing resulting from striking the opposite tack.
We decided quite specifically on True West because of our experience with Alvin Chan, an Asian-American of Hawaiian descent, who was part of our production of Much Ado About Nothing. Quite literally thrilled by his talent and versatility, we ticked off some of our favorites in hopes of finding something we wanted to see that would mesh with the talent we saw. The themes of the 'authentic' American experience resonated with his personal path and very much with the issues we want to foreground as a result of our mission.
Read the Press Release Here
Read a feature on Alvin Chan, starring in True West
Here's a one-question interview with Isaac Bryne, our director, at Flavorwire (the Flavorpill blog)
Visit the show site here.
The Reviews are In!
Off Off Online:
At the same time, it's a scrupulously faithful production of a terrific script: a True West defined by conservatism and adventurousness.
Click here to read the full review.
Local Theatre NY:
While everyone else is doing Annie and the millionth production of Arsenic and Old Lace, this group is pushing the boundaries not only in terms of play selection, but also space and casting. It is fresh and it is wonderful..
Click here to read the full review.
Mission and News and the Usual.
Curious Frog's mission is to present new, modern and classical works with the goal of showing a new, multicultural perspective through non-traditional casting that does not hinder understanding or believing a work, but rather enhances the work in an innovative manner and fosters fresh perceptions.
Thing are just starting up, and we've got plans, of course we do. If any of this sounds interesting to you, and you want to participate, rush posthaste to your email program and drop us a line.
Thanks for stopping by, and hopefully we will see you at our next show. If not ours, then one of the literally dozens of great performances New York has to offer every night (well, Monday, not so much). Theatre is a great thing, really. We want to add a little to that, and your support helps realize our vision. But above all, we want to build and be part of a community: of artists, of audiences -- of people. That's a little idealistic, but that's how we tend to be. Join us.
