The Providence Journal praised Elemental’s “engaging,” “well-crafted” plays, and the Phoenix called it “as absorbing as a campfire tale.”
“Even the way they dovetail each other’s thoughts in a discussion confirms that “collaborative” is a key part of their company chemistry. All graduates of the Trinity MFA program, they’ve stumbled on one of those lucky synergies that makes artistic magic, and they’re running with it.”
This year’s production, the father, the son and the holy go.go, draws its title from the seven Catholic Sacraments, which were randomly assigned to the three playwrights. The playwrights used their chosen sacraments to inform the plays as they wrote them, and were given the additional challenge of setting the plays in a common location. The setting, chosen at random from a hat full of suggestions, was a cabin.
Elemental Theatre Collective is proud to present its fourth annual original short play festival at Perishable Theatre. This year’s collection is entitled “the father, the son and the holy go.go,” and features new plays by George Brant, Alexander Platt, and Dave Rabinow.
Channing Gray picked Elemental’s production of Amadeus as one of the Top Five of 2009.
He called the production “powerful” and “a giant leap forward.”
We are looking for actors of all genders and types to comprise the company for our annual original short play festival, father, son, and the holy go.go, an evening of three original plays by Dave Rabinow, Alexander Platt and George Brant.
father, son, and the holy go.go runs from January 21 through February 7, 2009 at [...]
As a play, Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus has more than its share of theatrical muscle: Strong and compelling characters, an absorbing storyline, clever structure, and a pretty classy soundtrack. The playwright’s film adaptation couldn’t much improve on the stage potential. It’s heartening to see that going in the opposite direction budget-wise, from big screen to church auditorium, doesn’t have to lose anything essential. Elemental Theatre is putting it on at Providence’s Beneficent Congregational Church, and the production is exquisite.
This is a shoe-string production, to be sure, with very little in the way of sets and embellishments. But it is also a powerful production, with excellent leads and the addition of live music, rather than the usual taped sound track.
It was five years ago when actors Alexander Platt and Max Vogler, two Trinity Conservatory grads, got together at New York’s St. John The Divine to read Amadeus, Peter Shaffer’s imagined rivalry between Mozart and the cunning but mediocre court composer Antonio Salieri. Just when Salieri rails against God for short-changing him in the talent department, a real-life lightning storm erupted outside the Gothic cathedral.
At the Trinity Rep Conservatory – now Brown/Trinity Rep – MFA candidates learn the technique of acting through voice, movement, dance and scene study. But the most important lesson students learn is that they are responsible for their own professional and artistic development.