Creating Fluidity

We're back!

Glad to be back after a hiatus to produce an online comedy special called The Quarantine Comedy Festival, which can be found on YouTube and Facebook at The South Hills Players or patreon.com/thesouthhillsplayers. 

This episode is a comedy performance with monologues and skits written by me, April May Ohms, performed by me with Patrick Conner, Valerie DeCesar, Frederick Coleman, Megan May Mitchell, Sydney Turnwald, Michaela Mitchell, and Liora Ohms. The first piece was recorded live at our February 29, 2020 comedy show Laugh At Love and is introduced by Michaela and Liora with a fake commercial thrown in for fun. The 2nd piece, called "Dating in the Modern Age" was also written for that show, but rerecorded at a later date. (You might need to turn up the sound a bit.) 

After a short message from our sponsor, the next 3 skits were written for the Quarantine Comedy Festival which went live on May 23, 2020. The 1st monologue called "Voicemail" laments the quarantine, hormones, getting older and grocery shopping. The 2nd piece called "Which Zoom Meeting is This?" features 3 office workers getting ready for a financial meeting over Zoom when their boss breaks in, mistakenly believing that it is the Friday Happy Hour Zoom party. Chaos ensues. The third piece called "Why do people want to bring their dogs to work?" is a tongue in cheek lament about work, working from home and that guy who insists you look at baby pictures. 

The videos from which this audio was taken will be available to view on our website www.fluiditytheatre.org within 24 hours. 

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @FluidityTheatre

Thank you to our sponsors, patrons and donors. You are the shining stars in my universe!

To help continue this podcast and other content, please consider becoming a sponsor on Anchor.fm/creatingfluidity or at www.patreon.com/fluiditytheatre  

Every dollar counts and supporting creative endeavors is especially important in this uncertain time. Even though some locations are opening up a bit, theatre and live performances are basically canceled until well into 2021. I am planning to continue writing and recording comedy skits and keeping up with this podcast with interviews, theatrical performances and more, so if you have any inclination to donate, I would appreciate it so I can continue to keep the lights on, the kids fed and the content rolling.

Welcome to the Creating Fluidity Podcast. 

Women, like water, slowly carve their own path. This is fluidity.

Today's guest is Sydney Turnwald. She is a delightful person who may be familiar to some of you in the Pittsburgh theatre community. 

We talk about Sydney's theatre experience in Switzerland. (Yes, I am jealous, too.) We talk, censorship, compromise, talk backs and Brecht. I place Brecht in the absurdist camp. (no letters, please) I comment on my affinity for realism and the audience being a part of the theatre experience and not just passive observers. 

We discuss Romeo and Juliet with Fluidity Theatre. Sydney was in both the March and August 2018 productions and we discuss both. April can't say enough about how much Sydney saved the day in August when Mercutio left the show and Sydney took up the role at the last minute and did an amazing job!!!

We talk about playing characters written for men and how does one create a female character from a male role? Sydney offers some advice on using the fight choreography to form a female centered fighting style to inform the character and build the alternate world.  We also remark on how little one sees women fighting on stage where the women is seen in a positive light and playing R&J gave us the opportunity to do that where really nothing like it exists.

Thanks to our sponsors on Anchor. fm/creatingfluidity Barbara B. was our 1st sponsor at the $4.99/month level, but you can join at the .99/month if that's a better fit for you. We can assure that every little bit helps us to keep going during these rough times and we appreciate it.

If you'd rather head over to Patreon.com and become a Patron there we have levels at $3, $5 and $10/month. Thanks to Val D., our 1st VIP Patron. On Patreon.com you can get exclusive content and early access to video and podcasts as well as live streaming events and discounts to in person events (once the world gets back to that!).

To make a one time donation and to check out video and links www.fluiditytheatre.org

Follow us on social media @FludityTheatre

Email FluidityMediaInfo@gmail.com

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Creating Fluidity Podcast where April speaks with  Ellie Pfeuffer and Samantha Carpin.

The Creating Fluidity Podcast aims to amplify women's voices in theatre and the arts in Pittsburgh and Western, PA.

Today we chat with 2 actors who were in The Heritage Players' 2018 production of Dracula, directed by me, April May Ohms.  Samantha played Renfield and Ellie played Dr. Van Helsing. Both parts were written as men. We talk about their process of creating a female character from a male role. We also talk about gender blind casting, April's experience as Renfield in college, being a woman in the world, type casting and being cast against type, the phenomenon of the "he-peat" or as Sheryl Sandberg called it in 2015 in Time.com "Talking while Female."

 We also delve into the history of using mental illness as a weapon against women and how Sam was able to use that history to inform her character. We consider why men can be just as stuck as women are but in a different way when Ellie brings up the film "The Mask We Live In" by Jennifer Siebel Newson which examines the narrow definition of masculinity and the harm it does to all of us.

We talk about stage combat with Kalee George who helped us throw Sam around the stage a lot while making it look cool and be safe. Thanks, Kalee! And we discuss what TV shows we'd like to be on and what characters we'd like to play in our wildest dreams.

Thanks to www.purple-planet.com for the music.

Please consider becoming a sponsor at anchor.fm/creatingfluidity There are many levels. .99/month is pretty cheap for great content and it helps us out a great deal. It also helps us out if you send this podcast to friends who you think will enjoy it. Thanks!

Shout out to our 1st Anchor.fm sponsor Barbara B. Thank you! You are a superstar and much appreciated!

You can also support us by going to www.fluiditytheatre.org and watching the video of our 2018 Romeo and Juliet production. Head over to the podcast page to find more episodes there. You can find us on Patreon.com if you want exclusive content and early content. I definitely send out early content to my Patreon patrons, so consider it. Thanks!

Shout out to our 1st Patreon Patron Val D. You are a shining star and I can't thank you enough!

Follow us on all socials @FluidityTheatre

Women, like water, slowly carve their own path. This is Fluidity. Welcome to the Creating Fluidity Podcast where we amplify women's voices in theatre and the arts in Pittsburgh and Western PA. 

Today's episode was recorded on April 3, 2020, with guest Kalee George. She is an actor, stage combat coordinator, director and all around amazing and talented person who was part of Fluidity Theatre's August 2018 all women production of Romeo and Juliet where she played the Nurse, the Prince and assorted other characters and did all the stage combat coordination for us.

We talk to Kalee about her training and experience including her time studying theatre in London. (Jealous? I am!)

In the 2nd segment we delve into the stage combat of Romeo and Juliet and much more. If you'd like to see the video clips that we are referencing while we are talking about them, go to www.fluiditytheatre.org to the podcast page and we will have them posted and labeled there. 

If you'd like access to theatre and video content in addition to this podcast, please go to the www.fluiditytheatre.org page or find us on patreon.com/fluiditytheatre and creating fluidity podcast. You can follow us on all socials @FluidityTheatre.

Contact is FluidityMediaInfo@gmail.com

A shout out to our 1st paid subscriber on the Anchor.fm site - Barbara B. Thanks! We appreciate your support both financially and as a listener.

Thanks to purple-planet.com for the theme music I use called Swaying Daisies.

"Women, like water, slowly carve their own path. This is Fluidity." 

• Welcome to Creating Fluidity, a podcast supporting women in theatre and the arts in Pittsburgh and Western PA (and the world!) 
• We will amplify women's perspectives in the creative world. We will highlight those that have made a place for themselves (created fluidity). 
• We will endeavor to include all forms of diversity within the theatre and arts community while hoping to expand its scope.

Please follow us on all social media @FluidityTheatre 

Our website is www.fluidiytheatre.org where you will find the transcripts to these podcasts and the opportunity to become a patron as well as find out about auditions and other content we are creating.

Thank you to Anchor.fm for the opportunity to create this podcast.

Thank you to purple-planet.com for the theme music called Chasing Daisies. 

Thanks to my guests today Valerie Decaesar, Melissa Lingsch and Megan May Mitchell.