LULLABY Opens in Louisville

On September 21st, 2007, The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard begins its second journey into full production-- this time with Louisville-based theater company, Specific Gravity Ensemble.

["The Man" (Christopher Shiner), "The Narrator" (Julia Leist), and "The Woman" (Jennifer Poliskie). Design by Todd Pickett (lights), Rand Harmon (set) and Paul T. Carney (set). Photo by Patrick Pfister.]

I have been in residence briefly during this process-- at the very beginning, and now, during final rehearsals and opening weekend.

I am VERY happy with what we have. The work that Specific Gravity is doing is focused, intense, big-hearted, thoughtful, and very very powerful. They are finding the thing inside of this play that shifts the room in a big way.

Through this process I have continued to learn about this play-- what makes it move, where the knives are, how much it hurts, and how beautiful a volcano can be.

The performances by Julia Leist, Jennifer Poliskie, and Christopher Shiner are brave, powerful, vulnerable, sincere, precise, and heart-breaking.

And the production looks incredible. Set inside of a gallery space in 21 c Museum, the design work by Rand Harmon, Todd Pickett, and Paul T. Carney is simply breath-taking.

Big thanks yous to Specific Gravity (Artistic Director, Rand Harmon) for their courage and their willingness to dig deep and bring the awesomeness to the surface.

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SPECIFIC GRAVITY ENSEMBLE OPENS 2007-08 SEASON

AT 21C MUSEUM HOTEL WITH INTRIGUING LULLABY

Louisville’s experimental/environmental theater company, Specific Gravity Ensemble, will present Greg Romero’s The Most Beautiful Lullaby You've Ever Heard September 21-October 1 at 21C MuseumHotel.

A Man and a Woman breathe in the possibility of a blank piece of paper. The paper becomes a sailboat, their breath becomes a journey that busts the world open, spilling out a truth so big that it could only fit inside of a human heart in love with another equally and beautifully broken person.

Building a reputation for producing challenging works in ‘found spaces,’ Specific Gravity sets Lullaby in a gallery space--the ultimate metaphorical setting for this highy-stylized and innovative new work. For the audience at this show, the mind becomes like the walls of a gallery, filled with the ‘art’ of one’s own imagination.

Currently based in Philadelphia, playwright Romero penned one of the 24 Elevator Plays in Specific Gravity Ensemble’s January 2007 debut. The Most Beautiful Lullaby You’ve Ever Heard was a semi-finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award.

Dates: Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 21/22, 28/29 at 8 pm , Thursday Sept. 27 at 8 pm, Saturday, Sept. 29 at 4 pm, Sundays Sept. 23 and 30 at 5 pm , Monday Oct. 1 at 8 pm.

Location: 21C MuseumHotel, 700 W. Main Street in Louisville

Tickets: $15 general / $12 students / $10 groups of 10 or more. For reservations call 502.384.2SGE (2743) or visit www.specificgravityensemble.com.

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ROMERO

The First Journey of THE MILKY WAY CABARET

The Cardboard Box's production of The Milky Way Cabaret has just closed, completing the first leg of a highly rewarding, highly instructive, highly incredible journey.

My first commissioned play, Milky Way taught me alot about collaboration, about writing for specific actors (which I love), about the pressures of creating a piece, from scratch, specifically for production.

The process taught me that I have a lot to learn and that there's a lot of work ahead of me to reach many of my goals. But I love learning, so that's fine with me.

I had the pleasure of working with some truly wonderful people who will have my respect forever. Lindsay Krieg, mindy beers, and Andrew Beal of the Cardboard Box continued to show their vision and undying passion for creating theatre from the ground-up that will stand forever.

[photo of: Amazing Arnie (Daniel Higbee), Little Alice (Brenna Schiman), and Travlin' Alice (Cherie A. Roberts). Design by Stephen Hungerford (set and lights), Andrew J. Merkel (lights) and Jamie Grace-Duff (costumes)].

I also continue to enjoy my on-going collaboration with director Andrew J. Merkel. I feel lucky to have found such a strong director who believes in my work, and who shares the same theatrical brain. It is just a matter of time before he and I take over the world.

The production itself was its own journey that started slowly, but had me feeling very proud by the end of it.

We opened to a very small opening-night house (seven people) and struggled through a performance dogged by some technical difficulties (blown dimmers, failed gunshots) and performative set-backs (opening night jitters, trouble with lines). However-- we closed to a sold-out audience and gave them one of my favorite performances EVER of one of my plays. The amount of distance we covered during these eight performances was immense-- almost as impressive a distance as the one in which Travlin' Alice traverses during the actual play (she travels 21 years, backwards, by portaling through four black holes).

Closing night made me believe in this play and its ability to move an audience in a very theatrical and strange way. Huge thank yous again to the creative team for making this happen. Awesome awesome work all around.

It is my hope that this play will continue its life beyond this experience. I think there is magic inside of this work that I hope to continue to share. And I know there is still a lot of work for me to do on this play to make it into the masterpiece that I want it to be.

[Photo of Buzz (Steven Wright) and Charlotte (Katy O'Leary)]

In the meantime, I feel highly satisfied with and incredibly grateful for this experience. This experience alternately flattened, encouraged, flattened, taught, encouraged, flattened, and encouraged me. And I feel very much like I'm a much better artist and person because of my journey through the Milky Way with these people and this process.

Thank you all.


ROMERO

THE MILKY WAY CABARET is Open for Business!

The full-length commission I've been working on, The Milky Way Cabaret, opens tonight, Thursday, September 6th, 2007.

This has been a highly instructive and rewarding process-- the play is inspired by my time in Philadelphia and my time with the people who live here and who are working on this show with me.

There is some really wonderful work inside of this production-- breath-taking, risk-taking, heartbreaking work.

And really-- when else can you see a show about an alcoholic magican, clown-costumed assassins, a daughter traveling through time, space and black holes, a hula-hooping Homecoming Queen, and a dildo-wielding Cabaret owner?

I would guess you've never seen a play like this one before.

Please come out and join us:





As part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, this production will be performing on the third floor of Plays and Players Theater (1714 Delancey Street) at the following days and times:

September 6th, 10:00 pm
September 7th, 10:00 pm
September 8th, 10:00 pm
September 11th, 9:00 pm
September 12th, 9:00 pm
September 13th, 9:00 pm
September 14th, 8:00 pm
September 15th, 8:00 pm

I will be in attendance for most of the performances (because I love this show). Please come to the show and say hi.

To get your tickets, click HERE.


rock on,

ROMERO