2008 Story Board Final Version

After many hours of brainstorming, visualizing, storytelling, and recapping various versions of the Myth of Jason and Argonauts (drum roll please.....) then final version is in.....

Pre Show - Deep History explaining the orgins of the Golden Fleece and the Hydra Teeth, told by the gods... in a political commentary.....( shadow show)

Trail - On the trail we find illuminimated maps, realestate agents selling islands, small shows of various islands and testers who are trying to see if you are fit to become an argonaut... for example can you throw a rock and hit a cyclops in the eye, sing a tune in a round, row a boat, answer a puzzle question etc.... the goddess Hecate godess of cross-roads, mentor of Medea with her pack of dogs.

Performance Space - on the hill nearest the pavillion is a set up resembling the pantheon - this is the musician pit, in the center of the space where our show has been played for the last few years is the audience seating in the shape of a boat... ( as audience enters the playing space, dogs on bikes are riding around, as the audience finds there seat in the boat.


Scene One Building of the Boat and Setting Sail

Chorus.... The Song of Setting Sail....

Scene Two Clashing Rocks and Sea Serpents

Chorus.... Song of Myths, Mystery, Epic Tales of Murder, Betrayal, and Denial

Scene Three Golden Fleece and Dragon
Golden Fleece tries to get Ram to go to sleep.

On the sides of the playing space their is also movement of the Harpies like shadows moving slowly in packs...

As the Dragon and Ram scene ends the tree where the scene is taking place slowly turns revealing Jason and Medea.... in the middle of the path of two fire breathing bulls which are headed toward them....

Scene Four
Fire Breathing Bulls -- Harnessing of Bulls -- Sowing of Seeds -- Plowing of Fields -- Growing of Warriors/Soldiers -- WARRIOR FIRE BATTLE -- all die


Chorus -- Song of Atrocities -- why these fields have yielded such pain and anguish.
the deeds of Jason and Medea... burning wedding dress,
stealing golden fleece and
murder of brother ... severed body part lanterns.

Scene Five WAKE

Jason and Medea try to flee the body parts to no avail, body parts come together to resemble arms and legs.... and other partially assembled people... (something happens to Jason and Medea? )

Chorus -- Song of You can not go home again.

Scene Six Heart/Sacraficial Ram(dialogue)

Closing Song

Kickoff Photos are IN!!!

From the kickoff meeting... I had some uploading issues, so, punctual as usual...

We have some of the sacrifice, a nice picture of Brent and Mark. I call it, "Brent and Mark. With Chair."

Then there is Douglas, goofin', and the great tooth incident. There was biting, there was the loss of tooth... and then, the finding of the tooth! Brent found it as he said, "There it is, there's the bloody tooth." (There really is a tooth by Mark's heard.) And, happy ending! Just like a good little story.

My name is Jayme Clifton Halbritter. You killed my father... so now I take pictures. I'm going to try and take some, and post them, on occasion.

Production Meeting 9/27

Meeting Notes:

We briefly went over each section, and talked about how many volunteers are needed for each section, so that when rehearsals begin we can start plugging people in.

Here's the breakdown:

Preshow: 8-10. (5 characters, 2-4 shadow screen, 1 tech.)
Trail: 10-25 ( 2-10 dogs, 0-1 for Hecetate, 5-10 for islands, and 3 shadow screen)
Boat: 11-19 (2 sails, 1 mast, 8-16 oar training.)
Rocks/Serpent: 18-29 (12-15 serpent, 6-14 rocks.)
Dragon/Ram: 10 (5 dragon, 5 ram)
Harpies: 7-15
Bulls: (uncertain)
Body Parts: 10-15
Water: 8-16
Heart: 4-8
Ushers: 6-12

So obviously this is a lot of people.... so send your feelers out into the community to find passionate volunteers!

Other production notes:

~There is some concern about good lighting/sound for the preshow. We should keep this in mind, but it will probably be fixed by the following ideas:
* Doing the preshow twice, in order to allow more people to see it clearly.
* Having at least a couple islands in the area before the preshow, so that the audience is entertained while they wait.
* Having the testing done before people are allowed to sit down, thus keeping the first group of preshower-ers from getting all the best seats.


Rides: It was decided that I will be at the Bedlam before every rehearsal at 11, in order to catch anybody who needs a ride to hidden falls. The number to call for rides is: 651-353-3774.

Thanks everybody!

Images Jason and the Argonauts

Some of the above Images have been part of our early inspiration for this years show...

Barebones Kick Off 2008

The Barebones Kickoff on Friday September 19th went off without a hitch... Lots of folks came and the meeting commenced with a go around of Welcomes and Names... many old faces have come back to work on project... and some new ones... wooo whooo now for the getting down to business and the making of the puppets!!! The night ended with the scrafice of the golden fleece.... Photos from the nights event will be added soon!! Off we go!! Come check out and help with the builds Tues, Thurs 7-9pm and Saturday from 1-5. The first rehearsal is this Sunday 1-5 at Hidden Falls Park... see ya there!!!

Soozin, Co Director 2008 Fleeced:You Reap What You Sow!

meeting notes, 17 Sept Wed

THEMES BANDIED:

1) consequences of bad decisions; returning sovereignty to the people

2) personal sovereignty
- being your own scapegoat
- what is the legitimate source of your own power?

3) impossibility of returning home

4) Hunger --> Sowing --> Starving --> Slaughter --> Atonement
- equates imagistically to Harpies --> Bulls --> Soldiers --> Body Parts --> Sacrifice
- Hunger/Desperation turning to violence

5) Seeking Redemption for harm we have done ourselves

6) Medea's Transformation from innocent to monster

We agree that all the above themes tie together, though some of us have preference for different emphases. Little talk about no.s 5 & 6.


SCENE SPECIFICS AS THEY CURRENTLY STAND:

PRE-SHOW - Deep History
Why the Golden Fleece is Important.
Why the Dragon and its teeth are important.

TRAIL
Illuminated maps of islands
Sideshows
Hecate, goddess of crossroads, with dogs and ghosts
End of Trail: tests to enter the seating area - audience identified as Argonauts

SCENE 1 - Boat Sets Sail
Boat erected around audience.
Audience taught how to row the boat.
Gods as Politicians.

SCENE 2 - Ram + Dragon
Tree/Dragon and Fleece

SCENE 3 - Fire Bulls Sow Soldiers
Chorus that is like water transitions the scene.
Harpies
Bulls
Sowing of the Seeds
Raising up of Soldiers
Fight of Soldiers

SCENE 4 - the Wake
Medea and Jason kill Absyrtus and throw bodies into the wake of their ship.
(In our wake, we create destruction -- the body parts float up in the wake of us.)
Then, a Wake, and the naming of the Dead.

SCENE 5 - the Ram Sacrifice
Ram sacrifices himself.
Jason and Medea walk into the Heart.


VIEWPOINT OF THE STORY:
Though dissension on this, seems to be honing down to:
- told from perspective of Golden Fleece
- Jason and Medea are characters to provide narrative through-line
- Audience = Argonauts.
- chorus exists

Idea on Islands for the Trail : Economic Collapse

That the puppeteers of the island scenes are real estate agents selling real estate. The islands are in economic collapse. The path could represent economic decline somehow, or reflect on our situation of debt / indebtedness / lack of fiscal confidence. something like this