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Christmas Fair 2007 September Missive #1
(sent September 14th, 2007)
Hello everyone and welcome to the 2007 Great Dickens Christmas Fair
Missives!
Join us for a Victorian Christmas Card Come to Life!
Grand Opening Friday November 23rd
Saturdays and Sundays November 24th through December 23rd
In the San Francisco Cow Palace Exhibition Halls
The holiday event for the perceptive, perspicacious reveler!
The favored festivities of the magnanimous multitudes!
The delightful destination of sagacious savants and frolicsome families!
Yes, it's *that* time again, it's September and we open the Dickens
Christmas Fair in 70 days! Now that I've scared the heck out of each
and every one of you (including myself) let's talk about what up for
this year.
This will be a "fantastic five" year, where the calendar gives us five
full weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This last
occurred when we brought Dickens back in 2000 and it won't happen again
until 2014! We plan to make the most of it with new promotions, new
additions to the layout, and as always, new magic in the streets and on
the stages. Thank you for playing a part in our annual tribute to
the works of Charles Dickens, all things Victorian, and our version of
holiday fun!
As with previous years, I will not only be sending you these
informative missives, but also directing entertainment. If you have
questions regarding performing at The Dickens Fair, please direct them
to me at cat@redbarnproductions.org. Robert Young will once again be
coordinating the theme characters, "special performance" groups and
generally overseeing the acting at the fair, as well as portraying the
illustrious Mr. Charles Dickens.
In This Missive
New Home for Workshops!
News from the Costume Department!
So, What Else is New?
How to Get Started
Auditions
Volunteers for the Front Gate
Missive List
Great Dickens Websites
An Excuse to Watch Movies!
New Home for Workshops!
Now for some really great news, we have a
new home for
the first two weekends of workshops! I've been waiting to write to you
all until this was confirmed, but thanks to our own Stephen Johnson,
our new location is Sunset Ridge Elementary School, also in Pacifica.
(Thanks Steve!) In some ways it's actually better than our previous
location, as we have lots of workshop and rehearsal areas and none of
them are actually in regular classrooms. We'll be using various
multi-purpose type rooms and a few hallways that are blocked by doors,
so the sound issues shouldn't be too bad, except perhaps on the first
day, which is always insane since we have so many folks there. There
are also lots of nice outdoor areas if the weather is nice. The address
is 340 Inverness Drive and it's right at the top of the hill before you
gone down the big hill into Pacifica, don't go down the hill or you've
missed it, just like I did the first time.
http://www.pacificasd.org/schools/sunsetRidge/home.html
Please don't contact them directly, that's just to give you an idea of
the facility, There are directions on the webpage (although their map
seems to be non-functional) and Peter Overstreet is putting together a
nice map of the school for our use. We will have to make sure to stay
on top of all maintenance issues and Mark has asked me to remind you
that he and his staff are always there to help. Please remember to pick
up all your trash, and help the workshop teachers move chairs and other
necessaries around.
Workshops will be held at the school on November 3rd, 4th, 10th and
11th from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. As always, there will be a mandatory
meeting at 10:00AM on the first day of workshops. This meeting is
always a lot of fun and a little crazy; announcements are made, staff,
directors and workshop leaders are introduced, and there is general
amusement had by all.
On the weekend of the 17th and 18th we move to the Cow Palace from
workshops and rehearsals on Saturday and dress rehearsal on Sunday.
There will also be a mandatory morning meeting on dress rehearsal
Sunday at 10:00AM.
I am currently working on Dickens part-time from my home office, so if
you don't hear back from me right away, don't be alarmed. Although I
preview emails, I often leave them unopened so I don't forget to answer
each and every one of them. I don't always have the complete
information with which to answer your questions, so may have to delay
my responses until I do, but I will get back to you.
News from the Costume Department!
Hello everyone! Kathy Kingman here, wishing everyone a
happy-back-to-school / early-fall greeting! Summer is losing its bloom
and cold months are ahead, so now is the time to start thinking about
Christmas! Or at least your costume for the Great Dickens Christmas
Fair right? Right.
This year brings more news and a few changes to the costume Dept. Kathy
Kingman and Alexandria Volk will be stepping down in their respective
duties as Mistress and Director and Miss Liz Martin will be stepping in
(with fabulous shoes no doubt) with a new crew and fresh perspective.
So should anyone have any questions please feel free to contact
costumes@redbarnproductionsorg and Liz will reply. I will certainly
miss you all but I will still get to see your beautiful costumes first
hand from the Paddy West stage. Though I will not be the person to
answer official costume questions any more, I will still be at the
fair! I leave you now with the promise that Liz will follow with her
announcements and first costume missive shortly.
For those of you who do not know Liz here is a bit about her~
- A native of California, Liz lives in Martinez with two cats and
three sewing machines - all of which demand care and feeding. She
is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a BA in
Theater Arts. Her experience varies between management, design,
and insanity, having served as a wardrobe mistress for Music Circus in
Sacramento, general manager for six years of St. Matthew's Guild
- an acting troupe specializing in Renaissance characters, and
currently produces a charity event - the Folsom Renaissance Fair -
which she has done since 2001.
- With twenty years of costuming experience, Liz has taken on
the additional challenge of directing the costume department for the
Dickens's Great Christmas Fair, a Red Barn Production, held on the
weekends of the Holiday Season in San Francisco.
Thank you for so many years of support and kindness, you have all
contributed to my overall growth as a costumer.
Kathy J. Kingman
So, What Else is New?
Indian Food!
Finally we will have the wonderful smells and tastes of Indian food
at our Victorian event. I don't about you all, but I'm thrilled!
Alice and Legion Fantastique join the Sugar Plum Playhouse Area!
You all know who Alice in Wonderland is. Now she and her friends
will have their own area in which to share tea and generally be mad as
hatters! (directed by Robyn Agpalo-Barnett - they're casting for a few
characters still and Robyn can be reached at lilmspixie@yahoo.com. )
A fantastic blend of gentlemen's club, inventor's lab, and cabinet of
curiosities, La Legion Fantastique is a wild exploration into the
worlds created by French science fiction author, Jules Verne. (directed
by Peter Overstreet - see http://mrphileasfogg.wordpress.com/ -
includes audition information)
Pirates?
Will there be Pirates on the V&A stage again? Stay tuned and
see...
How to Get Started
First of all, for those of you who are new to the Dickens
Christmas Fair, welcome! We have lots of information online at
http://dickensfair.com/performerinfo.htm
including what you need to do, costumes guidelines and all the basic
information on performing at the Dickens Fair. Then start researching,
thinking and contact any directors you think you might like to work
with. Various shows looking for performers will also start sending me
posts which will included in upcoming missives.
Auditions
Various auditions will be announced in forthcoming missives. We
are hoping to have character auditions in the second week of October
and other directors will be announcing their auditions shortly. Also
see the item on Alice and Legion Fantastique.
Volunteers for the Front Gate
Mark Solum is looking for are volunteers to man our front gate,
and work the survey groups. Contact mark@redbarnproductions.org for
more information.
Missive List
If you have friends who would like to be added to the list,
please have them email me at this address, with their first and last
names and email addresses. If you would like to be removed from the
list, please email me and asked politely to be removed. Please check
your in-boxes regularly, as I get a number of bounces and will
eventually remove you from the list if missives to your address
consistently bounces.
Missives will be occasional for now, but should be weekly starting in
October. If you have a Dickens related item you would like included in
a missive, please get it to me before Thursday each week. All potential
missive text will be subject to editing for length and content.
Previous missives will be available online at
http://dickensfair.com/missives.htm.
I have created a backup missives page at
http://www.cattaylor.com/missives.html
for times when Mark hasn't had the chance to get the missives up on the
official page.
Great Dickens Websites
David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page
http://www.fidnet.com/%7Edap1955/dickens/
(this has the truly wonderful character page, book synopsis and links
to complete novels)
The Dickens Project (University of California at Santa Cruz)
http://humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens/index.html
The Literature Network
http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/
(not as good as the others and has a lot of ads, but still useful
Current Netlore Website
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/internet/a/current_netlore.htm
(this actually has nothing to do with Dickens Fair, but will enlighten
all who receive and consider forwarding potentially spurious emails,
like the one I just received)
Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/ (helpful when I
use big words like spurious <wink>)
An Excuse to Watch Movies!
Time to watch Dickens movies! Get started thinking creatively
now. Check out the BBC boxed Dickens sets available through Amazon.com,
the fabulous nine hour Nicholas Nickleby, (watch it in chapters in the
evening) and enjoy these film version recommendations from your book
directors:
A Christmas Carol
Films: There are so many film adaptations of this story, but
Therese Porter's favorite (and this opinion seems to be widely shared)
is the Alastair Sim version from 1951. Fun, poignant and great
characterizations. Some folks adore "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney,
watch them all!
CD: Hands down, check out the Patrick Stewart reading. It's truly
wonderful. Put it in your car's CD player and enjoy over and over.
Oliver Twist
Again, there are so many film adaptations it's hard to chose.
Everyone has an opinion. Most versions leave out big chucks of the
story, including the musical version, although Gwen very much likes the
character portrayals and the costumes are good. Mike Bryant (our
Monks - who takes great umbrage with huge liberties taken in the recent
PBS version, although others liked the detail) says "I'd direct people
toward the classic "Oliver Twist" starring Alec Guiness as Fagin. It
has recently been re-released on DVD through the Critereon company,and
besides having that British air that only British productions capture
just so, it's probably the most faithful to the book rendition" The
newish version from Roman Polanski is quite lovely, although it also
leaves some large pieces of story out.
Robert Young mentions these other adaptations:
The 1982 version with George C Scott and Tim Curry has considerable
merit.
The 1948 version with Alec Guinnes as Fagin and Anthony Newley as Doger.
Full length story: 1985 TV mini-series (6 Hrs - 12 epsds) with Eric
Porter as Fagin, Michael Attwell as Sykes (and Miriam Margolys as Mrs.
Corney!)
1922 version with Lon Chaney as Fagin and Jackie Coogan as Oliver is
definitely worth a viewing.
Nicholas Nickleby
Again from Therese: The best for all round theatrical gold is the
Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby done by the Royal Shakespeare
Company (1982) A stunning adaptation with Roger Rees as Nicholas and
the rest of the company stunningly double (and sometimes triple) cast -
an award-winning stage production. (7 3/4 hrs. total on nine tapes or a
bunch of dvd's - have a viewing party with friends!)
Nicholas Nickleby (2000) This version has the BBC touch and James
D'Arcy as the title character, Charles Dance, Sophia Myles and Diana
Kent co-star. 200 min
Nicholas Nickleby (2002) a decent rendering of the story by Douglas
McGrath ("Emma") tells of the adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Charles
Hunnam). Christopher Plummer is Ralph Nickelby, Jamie Bell is a superb
Smike, Nathan Lane and Barry (Dame Edna) Humphries play Mr. & Mrs.
Crummles. Also stars Edward Fox, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson,
Romola Garai. 132 min.
David Copperfield
(1970) This lavish British production of the Charles Dickens
classic is told in flashback from the 28-year-old David Copperfield's
point of view. Richard Attenborough, Robin Phillips, Laurence Olivier
Especially recommended - "Masterpiece Theatre" (1999) version with Bob
Hoskins as Micawber, Maggie Smith as Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Ian McKellen
as Mr. Creakle, and Daniel Radcliffe (the future Harry Potter) is
David. 210 min. on two tapes.
The 1935 version with W.C. Field as Micawber also has some merits.
Great Expectations
There are numerous filmed versions including the recent one with
Ioan Gruffudd, Justine Waddell and Charlotte Rampling and the 1999
version with Jean Simmons as Miss Havisham
Pickwick Papers
James Myers mentions the 1985 BBC television miniseries which has
finally been released on DVD. It's an excellent adaptation,
extremely faithful to the book, telling the entire story of the
Pickwick Papers in twelve 30-minute episodes. (Note from Cat, this is
included in the BBC boxed set)
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