New Year, New Season, New Attitude

Hello Friends!

As 2008 draws to a close I can't help, but think back over the last year of shows. Starting out with Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr. and ending with A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, it has been one wild ride this year. A ride filled with fun, love, new friends, financial worries, small arguments, but most of all, what I consider to be the best and most fun children's theatre in Albuquerque.

Picture Time!







This new year brings what I think is our most exciting season yet, with 3 original children's pieces and 4 popular children standbys. I'm excited to revisit our 80s send up of Puss in Boots and to rework it into a musical extravaganza. Jeff Katzman is back with an all new work, which doesn't have Albuquerque in the title... Miss Mary Mack. The most exciting original piece we've got this year is being written by one of our long time students Gigi, Scooby Doo the Roosical. Those fun shows mixed with Disney's Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast (the kid versions of course) and Seussical the Musical Jr AND Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka Jr round out Cardboard Playhouse Productions' season.

Our very exciting big announcement is that we will be bringing in Blackout Theatre Company as our company in residence. They are committing to 2 shows plus more on the horizon this year including David Mamet's Oleanna and Charles Ludlam's Le Bourgeois Avant Garde.

We will continue to offer exciting improv such as The Q: An Improvised Soap Opera, The One Night Stanleys, The Gryffindorks, and The Copyrights as well as having the 3rd Annual Duke City Improv Festival in September.

We've also given a whole new look to our webpage, so take a look at that at.

Love in the time of Melancholy

Please go support new, exciting work! Tricklock's lastest show, Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl, is a funny, quirky show. I really liked it! For me, it brought to light the duality of the things in our life that make us happy and sad. Typically they are the same things. Love, music, flower in the rain, you get the picture. The ensemble is well put together and features 2 of our Stanleys, Nando and Alex. Juli Hendren plays a fantastically stern, but caring lesbian nurse to Dodi Montgomery's head over heels in love hairdresser. Summer Olsson's Tilly is always passionate despite whether she's melancholy or superbly happy. Alex and Nando are fantastic as always playing Tilly's other beaus. The set is a character in itself with lots of bells and whistles which add even more charm to this show. Putting the icing on the cake is beautiful live cello music. Kevin Elder's direction is effortless and fun. I highly reccommend catching this show before it closes. They can't receive formal reviews because it hasn't opened in New York yet, so please spread the word about this fantastic show!

Also! Don't forget that Disney's Sleeping Beauty Kids closes this weekend at The Box. We still have seats available for this Friday and Saturday nights' performances at 7:00 pm. Tickets are only $10.00. We've heard lots of good reviews from our audiences! Plus it has really cute kids in it. Don't make the cute kids sad by not seeing them in the show. :)

Sleeping Beauty Kids!

Ohmygosh! Have I got the cutest show ever for you! We are opening Disney's Sleeping Beauty Kids on Friday October 24th and it is full of adorable children! Just look at them!


It's got all of your favorite Disney classics, like Once Upon a Dream, and I Wonder, but it's got some great new music too! Maleficient, one of the best Disney villans, has some songs written just for her, and the are FANTASTIC! So come check it out! Oh, and opening night is already SOLD OUT, so make reservations soon!

COMING SOON: Winnie the Pooh Christmas and the announcement of our 2009 Season!

Kids Classes Starting at The Box

All of these classes are going to be a blast! Now, we just need people to sign up for them...

Level One Comedy Improv for Kids
Ages 8-15
Mondays: 4:00pm to 5:00pm, Oct. 13th - Nov. 17th
6 weeks $60.00 - Instructor: Doug Montoya

Have fun, meet new people and learn to improvise in this fun, low-pressure classes. This six-week Beginning Workshop is designed for anyone and everyone who wants to loosen up, be more spontaneous and learn to take risks on stage and in life. No prior experience necessary.

Each week you'll play games and explore a challenging variety of improv exercises that unleash your natural creativity and humor. HAVE FUN! MEET NEW PEOPLE! The Beginning class is designed for both the newcomer who wants to discover the joy of improv and the novice looking to become a better improviser. This fun, low-pressure class introduces you to the basics of improv. You'll learn vocabulary, gain practical skills and create in a friendly and safe atmosphere.

Audition
Ages 12-18
Tuesdays: 4:00pm to 5:00pm, Oct. 14th - Nov. 18th
6 weeks $60.00 - Instructor: Kristin K. Berg and Doug Montoya


What's the point if you can't get the part? This class looks at what you can do in that audition room that gives you a better chance. We start from the moment you walk in and cover everything through to the ever important last impression. A practical course on auditioning for film, television and stage. This class is grounded in appling improv technics and Michael Shurtleff's audition.

Level Two Comedy Improv for Kids
Ages 8-15
Wednesdays: 4:00pm to 5:00pm,Oct. 15th - Nov. 19th
6 weeks $60.00 - Instructor: Alex Knight
This class explores and heightens the concepts and ideas introduced in Level 1. Emphasis is placed on developing a point of view on stage

Comedy Acting
Ages 12-18
Thursdays: 4:00pm to 5:00pm, Oct. 16th - Nov. 19th
6 weeks $60.00 - Instructor: Heather Yeo
This class will explore techniques for acting in comedies. Students will rehearse and present scenes from the best comedies of the past 500 years, learning the "hows" and "whys" of what makes plays funny and how to get the audience rolling in the aisles. A great chance to improve your acting skills, learn a little history, and most importantly, have a ton of fun!

SML - Comedy Sketch Workshop
Ages 12-18
Saturdays: 10:30am to 12:00pm, Oct. 18th - Nov. 21st
6 weeks $90.00 - Instructor: Heather Yeo
Students will write and star in their own sketch comedy show, in the style of Saturday Night Live or Mad TV. Students will work as a group to create characters and sketches, culminating in a performance of their work. From the braistorming to the performance, this class is a great chance for students to explore the worlds of improv, writing, and acting

Creative Movement
Ages 6-12
Saturdays: 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Oct. 18th - Nov. 21st
6 weeks $90.00 - Instructor: Carolyn Lee
Add another dimension to your acting, improve your dance skills, and have a lot of fun as we explore ways to learn about, create, and communicate with movement!

The Improv Festival Is HERE!

Photo by Tina Larkin of the Alibi

Links to awesome articles about the 2nd Annual Duke City Improv Festival at The Box, starting tomorrow!

From the Alibi (we are the feature story!)
Sacred Cows Beware

From the Daily Lobo
Improv festival offers multitude of acts - Culture

I hope to see friends out at The Box this weekend for what's sure to be a fantastic time!

Love ya,
Kristin

Breaking Out of The Box

Well, a lot has happened since my little tour of The Box. We opened Albuquerque vs. The Flying Saucers which had a terrific run. We actually were dark for a whole month. We got to see other shows and spend some weekend nights with our families. It was nice.

On the 4th of July we opened The Music Man Jr. which had a completely sold out run. We even had a benefit performance for The American Red Cross, to support the Disaster Relief Fund and we were able to raise over $500.00 for them. Music Man featured 20 of Albuquerque's most talented young actors ranging in ages from 6 to 16. We mostly had a lot of new kids in this production, and it was great exposing these new kids to our improv based training. Their costumes were absolutely amazing too! I was extremely pleased with how the whole show turned out, as well as how all of the kids became really great friends on the production. Some of them are inseperable now!

Also, we had another run of The One Night Stanleys. This time their last show had over 70 people in attendence and then as a special surprise the improv group Unitard performed. They hadn't done a show together in over a year, but it was like they had been performing together every day since. It was a fantastic way to end their 4 week run. I'm hoping they will all be performing at the Duke City Improv Festival in September. We are still looking for acts if anyone is interested!

The last bit of amazing exciting news I have is that our landlord (who is awesome and comes to all of our shows) came an saw The Music Man Jr. and was amazed at how many people we had in our building and also the quality of the production. He told Doug, "That's it, we're going to have to renovate." He's already called an architect who has come in and looked at the building and is figuring out what our best options are. It looks like, from what we've talked about, the architect's best idea is that we add a second story to the building. We would have offices, a classroom/rehearsal space and a patio, plus an elevator added to the building plus renovations downstairs to add more seating, and a little snack bar to sell hot dogs and frozen custard. We are also moving forward on getting our 501(c)3 non-profit status so we can apply for grants and quit our job jobs and run the theatre full time. It's all really exciting and kind of feels like a dream. I just hope it all turns out how we're hoping.

That's all for now!

Kristin

Take a Tour of the Box!

Enjoy your tour of The Box Performance Space!

Blind Dates and One Night Stans

We just started a four week run of our fabulous improv team, "The One Night Stanleys." These are 4 of the most talented improvisors I've ever seen. Joe, Steve, Alex and Nando are funny and talented and quick on their feet. They do their version of an Armando, which is where they pick some one from the audience and interview them about their day and take their suggestions from that. Tonight centered around a girls 21st birthday and her annoying loud family members, which always good for an improv show.

Usually the comedy team, Blackout, (who are fabulous!) opens for The Stanleys but tonight was a special treat for our audience. Mark Chavez of the Pajama Men and Kevin Elder of Tricklock Theatre opened for them. We had no idea what they were going to do, but when they pulled two girls out of the audience, I knew something crazy was about to happen. They took these two girls on an improvised Blind Date. They took a walk on the beach, had dinner, nice conversation and all the time, these poor girls had no idea what was going on, but went along for the ride.

What a great night. We had a fantastic audience and a great show. Sadly, this show will never be performed again, but they are performing for the next 3 weekends and you should come check them out!

Until next time!

Allow me to introduce myself...

Hi! My name is Kristin, I live in Albuquerque, and I own The Box Performance Space with my business partner and friend Doug. We just had our one year anniversary. We specialize in children's theatre (for us meaning theatre by kids for kids) and comedic improv, both long form and short form. And just to make it even more confusing, lets throw the occaisional adult scripted show in there as well. I am a director, producer, and an actor.

We just closed "Laughing Wild" by Christopher Durang and it did very well by me, creatively. Financially on the other hand, it made budget, which is nice. I had two really talented actors in this show, Heather and Blake. They worked really hard and deserved bigger audiences. That is a goal of ours to figure out why and how to not have that happen for future shows.

We just had auditions for an original piece (and it's also a karaoke musical) called "Albuquerque vs. The Flying Saucers," written by a local author based on his grandfather's script for "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers." This was by far one of the largest auditions for an original piece I had ever seen. 33 extremely talented children walked through our door. It was so hard to cast this show. Tonight is the first read through and I'm excited to see all the kids working together. We have a lot of our regulars back again, but some new faces and it's always fun to see the kids make new friends.

When I got involved in theatre in high school, I realized at some point that this was my calling and I wanted to own my own theatre someday. I never thought it would be a children's theatre, but I am very happy that it is. Bringing the joy of theatre to youth is really rewarding and reminds me every day why I love what I do.

Hopefully, the purpose of this blog is to give updates on shows and serve as kind of a history of the space that I can look back at on our 20th anniversary and say, "Wow, we've done so much."

Happy reading! and All the love.
Kristin