On Writing

“It’s just as hard to write a terrible play as it is to write a good one.” I’m paraphrasing, but that was a very wise comment from John Longenbaugh, a Seattle playwright who recently published Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol, as well as a collection of short plays, Arcana. It doesn't summarize everything we talked about, but it certainly offers a nice, shiny example of the level of discourse we enjoyed at our playwright's Q&A last night. Don't forget, we have an event with managing and artistic directors of Seattle...

Looking Back and Choosing Scripts

First thing's first, join us for a free event next Wednesday. We'll be doing a panel discussion and Q&A with some local playwrights: https://www.facebook.com/events/469168343168988/ As our Seattle stand of Two Rooms wound down, and as we prepped our Lakewood performance, I couldn’t help but reflect on the show, mulling things over, what worked, what could have worked better, what I wanted that we didn’t get, and so on.  There’s a truism that says a large percentage of the director’s work can be done with good casting. It seems...

Interview with Brett Love

Brett Love is easy to recognize. He has a badass beard and carries his motorcycle helmet with him when he attends performances. He also self identifies as "giant," in reference to his definitely above-average height, so he's hard to miss. He's also an astoundingly regular feature in Seattle audiences. I knew he saw a lot of shows, but I had no idea just how many. After we both attended the first Blood Ensemble theatre salon discussion group, I learned that he's also well-spoken and opinionated, so I thought it would be fun to pick the brain of...

Two Rooms Highlights

We’ve done a lot of review of Two Rooms since we finished our run in Seattle, especially building up to and after our final performance down in Lakewood. We’re particularly grateful to the Lakewood Playhouse folks for hosting us, and to Alex Smith, Dylan Twiner, John Munn, and Larry Hagerman for putting us up, helping us, and makings things run smoothly.  Now that we’re all done, I wanted to specifically preserve some of the things from this show that will stick with me.  I will remember lots of things fondly, like us doing karaoke...

Being in a Play

I know that some people are absolutely terrified of the stage. I was staggered to find out that there are some people who act IN SPITE of this crippling fear, to the degree that they may vomit before going on stage. I knew that fear existed. I had no idea there were actors who embraced it and triumphed over it. So that got me thinking, because I'm always a bit narrow in my perceptions. For some reason I always assume that everyone has the same experience as me, or that no one could possibly understand my experience, there's never a middle ground....

Two Rooms Wrapup

Well, it's not actually over, of course, we are fortunate enough to have added one more show down at the Lakewood Playhouse. We have a lot of friends in the South Sound area, and had quite a few folks make the trip up for Two Rooms over the weekend, so we're looking forward to getting to share the show with lots more folks. Visit tworoomslakewood.brownpapertickets.com for more details. Our audiences this weekend were very responsive, enthusiastic, and clearly made a great effort to show up on time. Ideally, starting shows at 8 p.m. helps with...

Two Rooms

The Lebanon Hostage Crisis lasted from 1982 to 1992. During that time almost 100 individuals, including many American citizens, were kidnapped and held as a human shield against Western retaliation for terrorist violence. Eight hostages died in captivity. Lee Blessing, already a recognized playwright for his Pulitzer-nominated A Walk in the Woods, went from tackling nuclear disarmament to tackling the hostage crisis. The play debuted in 1988, where it received universal acclaim, both for its importance and its artistry. It was noted as Play of...

Q&A

These are some of the questions you get asked as you build a theater company. And here are Beau's answers. Seattle is drowning in theater companies, why do we need another one?  The real answer is "we" as a collective city, art community, whatever, really didn't need another theater company, for sure. Confrontational grew out of a relationship I developed with my producer, Baron Von Oldenburg. We put up Proof together, and by the time it opened, Confrontational existed to reflect the fact that we were going to keep at...

Website Launch

Hey, thanks for not only checking out Confrontational's website, but following the link to our new blog! General overview on who we are and what we do is on the site, but here would be the place to get into a bit more detail on the nuts and bolts. So that's what this post will be. Look for another post soon about our upcoming show, the hostage drama by Lee Blessing, Two Rooms. It is our fervent hope that Confrontational will continue to be a strong contributor to Seattle's wonderful theater scene, and that as our presence expands this blog will...