Thanks for CaseCon: "Yan'yōishi's Ordinary Life" & "Interactive Japanese Fables"
Wow!
Just... wow. And I guess "Yatta!"
The Confused Greenies at JapanCASE's CaseCon (Anime Marathon) were amazing this weekend - so thank you all! This event has always been good to us and we've had nothing but support from the officers over the years. We have some of the biggest audiences we see in the season and lots of people coming up to talk with us. This time was no exception.
We didn't end up doing what we had planned. We started off the fall expecting to do another round of Mad Words: the Art of Kyōgen and an anime parody called Not an Ordinary Magical Bunny from Heaven. Instead, we decided we needed to take it easier, have more fun ourselves. We also decided to not do a play and just do workshops but then Aaron jumped in with a great idea for another show - one that would be relatively easy to cast and stage, more a series of vignettes. And thus was born Yan'yōishi's Ordinary Life! We were able to successful salute the four anime JapanCASE is watching this semester while developing our own brand new anime parody stock characters to join our commedia, sci-fi, and steampunk collection of Masks. And while simple to stage, this production relied heavily on interactive video so all together we had many brand new and relatively new players joining us (even if they couldn't make it to the actual performance)! And see the photographic evidence! (Video coming soon)
Then just before CaseCon ended, we did Interactive Japanese Fables, a workshop we've successfully done in the past at Tekkoshocon and Ohayocon. A narrator tells a classic Japanese tale while members of the troupe and audience act it out on the spot. We had great turnout from this, especially considering it was early morning and everyone was tired. And Chuck got an eager co-host while we were at CaseCon - and Anna did wonderfully!
So with much further ado... Thanks to:
This CaseCon so a simple play and workshop but one of our smoothest productions to date. The audience loved it, laughed, complimented us for ages afterward. Live stage acting interacting with the audio / visual component was probably the most successful we've ever attempted (way to go Ethan!). People understood most of our anime references - and the non-anime ones too. We mostly filled the room. We had five new players join us in a performance for the first time (some for their first theatrical experience), and three others relatively new. Both players and audience came from far away (sometimes several states) to make this happen.
When Aaron first suggested this, I worried we should just take it easy and not do a show. I wasn't sure we could ever do this again because I thought it was too specific to the series we were watching. But I think it could work and still be funny. Now I want to try for http://filer.case.edu/org/commedia/plays/2012-04-01_Penguindrum-Quartet.htmlPenguindrum Quartet again even if it's no longer topical.
This is the beauty of stock theatre. We create new niches. We create new characters. We can make them funny to any audience, regardless of the source material.
Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats HOOOOOO!
Just... wow. And I guess "Yatta!"
The Confused Greenies at JapanCASE's CaseCon (Anime Marathon) were amazing this weekend - so thank you all! This event has always been good to us and we've had nothing but support from the officers over the years. We have some of the biggest audiences we see in the season and lots of people coming up to talk with us. This time was no exception.
We didn't end up doing what we had planned. We started off the fall expecting to do another round of Mad Words: the Art of Kyōgen and an anime parody called Not an Ordinary Magical Bunny from Heaven. Instead, we decided we needed to take it easier, have more fun ourselves. We also decided to not do a play and just do workshops but then Aaron jumped in with a great idea for another show - one that would be relatively easy to cast and stage, more a series of vignettes. And thus was born Yan'yōishi's Ordinary Life! We were able to successful salute the four anime JapanCASE is watching this semester while developing our own brand new anime parody stock characters to join our commedia, sci-fi, and steampunk collection of Masks. And while simple to stage, this production relied heavily on interactive video so all together we had many brand new and relatively new players joining us (even if they couldn't make it to the actual performance)! And see the photographic evidence! (Video coming soon)
Then just before CaseCon ended, we did Interactive Japanese Fables, a workshop we've successfully done in the past at Tekkoshocon and Ohayocon. A narrator tells a classic Japanese tale while members of the troupe and audience act it out on the spot. We had great turnout from this, especially considering it was early morning and everyone was tired. And Chuck got an eager co-host while we were at CaseCon - and Anna did wonderfully!
So with much further ado... Thanks to:
- Amy for volunteering to be our first magical schoolgirl (which we later decided was Shining Bishōjo Neon Fighter Midori-chan [aka Murasakiiro Midori]) even while having a tight schedule and just hours after our performance at the Youngstown Witches Ball.
- Matt G for printing our programs, a request which came at the very last minute due to computer problems.
- Parker & Selena for leading JapanCASE, permitting us to perform, encouraging us, supporting us, complimenting us, and more great things!
- Marshall for bring up dinner so our cast and crew could be fed before the performance and for reprising his wonderful Cold Gust of Wind!
- Lex for eagerly volunteering to play the mischievous catgirl Nekomimi-nyā [aka Fukamizu Nekomimi] in all her sexy feline glory!
- Chuck for being our "key grip" during most of the filming, properties transportation, assiting with organizing the play, leading the interactive storytelling, and more.
- Ava for having her debut with The Confused Greenies, starring as Pretty Sparkling Sailor Meganekko-chan [aka Imoto Meganekko], a bespectacled moe magical schoolgirl, coming out during Sandy - all less than two days after the intense circus that was RHPS - and for coming to see the final production!
- Angela for also having her debut with not only the troupe but also doing theatrical theatre (she's been on stage for music a lot but not acting) to star as Queen Delta of the BunnyMen fighting against the injustice of fanservice! We have to thank Angela and her boyfriend Tyler for volunteering to cut their vacation short and drive almost two and half hours to come to CaseCon just to be in our show!
- Martha for asking Marshall to bring us food, helping to organize programs, and playing in our Interactive Storytelling.
- Pamela for years of support (from before there was troupe) and coming up from Akron late to film a very naughty Magical Bishōjo Scout Shibari-chan [aka Kitawaki Shibari], a tsudere magical schoolgirl who keeps loosing her clothing!
- Jullian & Christian and Rachael & Peter and Beth and Denise and everyone else who came up to participate in the Interactive Japanese Fables (Martha, Marshal, Aaron, Anna, Chuck, Megan, and others too but they're mentioned elsewhere on this list!)!
- Matt W for driving from two states away to come back to Cleveland for CaseCon and to see our show! We hope next time you can also make a cameo appearance!
- Anna for jumping at the opportunity to help Chuck and the troupe do Interactive Japanese Fables. She only joined the project while we were at CaseCon but eagerly volunteered to be a wonderful co-host for the workshop! We really do look forward to working with you some more soon.
- Irina for volunteering to be one of our magical schoolgirls even though she fell ill - we'll film you soon!
- Liz for being very eager to help out the troupe as soon as she heard about us during Voyeuristic Intentions, for coming out in the mega-storm to help us film scenes for a brand new character concept - magical shrine priestess Hikari no Miko! We hope Liz can play with us again!
- Laura for showing her support, trying to loan us a costume, and for the kind words she said about the Niji tribute we included in the production. With that, thanks to the rest of Niji who was in those clips from last Fall's show (Violet, Rae, Isabelle, and Vivi) and also to Julie and Chuck and Megan.
- Megan for being supportive in every endeavor and helping to lead this troupe, helping to write the original drafts of the plays we haven't done, helping to flesh out the original idea for the play we did do, suggesting we do the Interactive Storytelling, assisting with photography for both events this weekend, playing two parts including NEET Child Detective Professor Arisu (on film) and "ordinary human girl" Nano Nano (please ignore the key in her back), and helping to organize communication and rehearsal (which was always over the phone) with members.
- Ethan for giving us the original idea for the character of Yan'yōishi last fall, now one of our stock types, for incredibly support of the troupe, for helping to workshop ideas for two and a half plays, for agreeing to take the starring and title role in this play which would require him to be on stage the entire time, for several chaotic phone rehearsals, for helping to record the Professor Arisu scene, for recording all the Yan'yōishi inner monolog voiceovers (multiple takes), and so much for the effort he had to do get here all the way from Wisconsin which included a bus that never showed up and an emergency plane flight in the middle of the night!
- Aaron for so much this time around! For being my best friend, for coming up with the idea and most of the plot of this play on a moment's whim because he was worried we had nothing else we could do, for volunteering to play QB (even though we were not desperate when it came to available male players), a part none of us would have known how best to parody, for playing QB (his theatrical debut) in an amazing fashion, for getting costume pieces, for taking photography and lugging properties, for playing a wonderful dog ("Won-Won") in our Interactive Japanese Fables, for coming all the way up from Columbus so early in the morning after working so many grueling hours all week, and so much more!
This CaseCon so a simple play and workshop but one of our smoothest productions to date. The audience loved it, laughed, complimented us for ages afterward. Live stage acting interacting with the audio / visual component was probably the most successful we've ever attempted (way to go Ethan!). People understood most of our anime references - and the non-anime ones too. We mostly filled the room. We had five new players join us in a performance for the first time (some for their first theatrical experience), and three others relatively new. Both players and audience came from far away (sometimes several states) to make this happen.
When Aaron first suggested this, I worried we should just take it easy and not do a show. I wasn't sure we could ever do this again because I thought it was too specific to the series we were watching. But I think it could work and still be funny. Now I want to try for http://filer.case.edu/org/commedia/plays/2012-04-01_Penguindrum-Quartet.htmlPenguindrum Quartet again even if it's no longer topical.
This is the beauty of stock theatre. We create new niches. We create new characters. We can make them funny to any audience, regardless of the source material.
Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats HOOOOOO!