PICTURES

WHOA: Loads of people, Compliments, Money Raised and Broken Wrists

It happened! And it happened well!

Thank you so much to everyone who attended this past weekends production(s) As I've said over and over, it means more to us than you could ever know. But listen to THIS:

Throughout this process, through all the PR, all the word-of-mouth, all the cheesy radio ads, radio and newspaper interviews and, uh, writing all over Natalia's car (yes there will be pictures) we still always expected maybe 20-25 people to show up each night, TOPS. Meaning, if we were lucky. In reality, we thought, 10-15 people would suffice.

Friday nights show housed 55 people
Saturday nights show housed over 90 people

!!!!!!!!!!

So shocking it made lumps rise and swell in my throat. The compliments, the fond wishes and touching emails we've receieved have made all the back-breaking hard work and stress feel worth it. More than worth it. Knowing that you, our community, would like to see us stick around is more than enough fuel to push us towards our next production.

And yes, there will be a next production. Expect it!

Other fun bits of news about the show:

- On Friday night I (Molly) fractured my wrist at the beginning of the show. No one can say I'm not dedicated.
- Rough Space has raised quite a bit for our cause! Actual number will be revealed as soon as Natalia and I do "the books" for our production budget and make sure we don't still owe money somewhere
- I'm going to be making a new Rough Space blog to follow this one (new domain name alert)so be sure to bookmark that address when it comes. It'll be announced on this site, don't worry.
- I think we're gonna apply for a grant and for non-profit status soon.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Antigone was a huge success, but it was a huge success because of all those who attended or contributed. We look forward to what comes next!

REMINDER ABOUT GETTING THERE

12th street trail, on 12th, just past Chestnut Street, is where you can park and meet Ushers STARTING AT 6PM. Ushers will leave every fifteen minutes with groups of people to go up to the space. The last "group" will leave at 6:45.

TONIGHT: AUGUST 1st

As of right now (12:46pm), the weather forecast looks clear, which means we are GO for the woods tonight (again, as of right now) IF THAT CHANGES, I will post an update with directions to the Mack Park rain location. If I don't post anything, that pretty much means we're still on for White's Woods.

We have 18 seats that have already been reserved for tonights performance! Very exciting. Again, to garuntee a "ticket" for yourself you can email us at roughspace@gmail.com and we'll be happy to set tickets aside for you.

Our open dress was well-recieved last night. We had five loyal patrons watching and they all seemed pleased. Not bad, for our first time running the full show with costumes and sound, without stopping.

Again, as ever, if you have any questions you can call me, Molly, at 724-422-5553

See you tonight (and/or tomorrow!)

AND THE COUNTDOWN...

SCROLL DOWN FOR PICTURES (pre-costume)

So here it is, folks. Less than one week to go. Progress is being made, rehearsals are long and tedious (its a good thing) and we're all getting anxious. And oh yeah, that means the "tying up of loose ends" happens now, too. Little things, like parking. Oh yeah. Parking.

Interest in the project is still being shown by the community, which is REALLY encouraging. For those who have been checking up on us regularly - and apparently there are many of you! Thanks! - if you'd like to reserve tickets just email us, and we'll add your name to the list (some of you have sent me emails already, and I'll be getting back to you ASAP)Otherwise, things are going very, very well. We have raised our full budget, with lots left over for the cause!!! The fundraisers were a huge success - thanks to all who attended or helped in some way.

Unforseeable obstacles: As mentioned, casting got a little flubbery because of sad things like sicknesses and schedule conflicts. At the last minute, we had to recruit three news cast members, just two weeks before opening: Matt Young, James Foskey and Robyn Bailey-Orchard. Thanks to them for being so great at memorizing lines, catching up on rehearsals and basically working their butts off to get themselves where they need to be. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

And now,

HERE IS THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW!


PERFORMANCES:
July 31st -Open Dress Rehearsal Preview - FREE - Show begins at 7pm
August 1 -Opening Night - Suggested Donation of $2 - Show begins at 7pm
August 2 -Closing Night - Suggested Donation of $2 - Show begins at 7pm


GETTING TO THE SPACE and THE SPACE, IN GENERAL:
Surprisingly, a large number of people have said to me over the past two months, "Whites Woods? Why do we need to save it? Isn't it already developed? Its just rich people's houses..." I'm blown away at this. Yes, there is a housing development at the base of White's Woods, but what so many people seem to not understand (or not know about)is that there are woods above and beyond those houses. Miles and acres of the stuff. Woods full of, well, trees, but also overlooks, benches, and a LOT of hiking trailways. Complete with signs for not getting lost. People use these woods to go walking, running, biking; to walk their dogs, play guitar, do yoga and whatever else.
- There are several entrances to these woods: The College Lodge, the Co-Op and the Fourth Ward Park (12th Street) Entrance.
For Antigone, this is the entrance you need to know about. It is located on 12th Street, just beyond Chestnut Street. You will see a fenced-in basketball court and a small playground, with a small parking lot at the top that has a sign that says "Fourth Ward Park." You may park here, if there is room, or also on the road, provided your vehicle does not block traffic (Do not double park!)

- You will see our ushers at the bottom of the hill. Beginning at 6:00PM an usher will take whoever has arrived at that time up the trail to the performance space. A different usher will take his/her place at that time and wait for the next "batch" of people. He/She will then take that group up at 6:15. Repeat every 15 minutes (6:00, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45) until the final group -departing at 6:45. Once that group has arrived and is settled, the show will begin at approx. 7:00pm
ANY LATECOMERS (after 6:45) WILL ALSO BE ESCORTED UP, BUT MAY HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE SHOW HAS BEGUN. TO ENSURE YOUR ENJOYMENT, PLEASE TRY TO ARRIVE BY 6:45. IT TAKES ABOUT 10 MINUTES TO WALK TO THE SPACE

- Because the show is beginning at 7:00, we will be finished before dark. This ensures the safe descent of our patrons. Please note, however, that our ushers will still be on hand to accompany you down the hill when the show is through. We will also have flashlights, should they be needed.

- Please remember to wear boots or solid sneakers. Any footwear good for outdoor activity works just fine. Flip flops and most kinds of sandals can get uncomfortable, and we really want you to be safe and comfortable!

- The walk up (and down) is quite pleasent and we hope you feel the same.



SEATING
We will be providing some chair seating. These chairs will be a variety of donated fold-out chairs. We will also have some blankets. May we suggest that you bring your own blanket/seat cushions if you care to? We are taking care of the space up there and have raked away the leaves in the seating area. This makes for comfy blanket seating.


BUG SPRAY
We recommend it. We will have some available on hand, but if you have some at home its a good idea.


WHAT IF IT RAINS?
Good question. Answer: We have a rain location!
Our rain location is at Mack Park, in Livestock Arena 3. You know, the place where they have all the animals at the fair? Enter Mack Park near Bi-Lo (and hospital) and park. You will see signs. Trust me, its very, very easy and obvious. How will you know if we've changed locations? Check our blog (this one, right here!) up 2 hours before showtime (5pm) to see what we've decided. There will be ushers at Fourth Ward Park (Whites Woods) telling anyone who didn't get the memo that we have changed location.

PROCEEDS
will be going to the Indiana County Recreation and Parks Commission, to be directly put towards the preservation of those very same woods and hiking trails. We also encourage you to take advantage of them. Unfortunately, there are people in the area and beyond who would like to timber those woods. This sadness can hopefully be prevented, but in the meantime we must take advantage of what is here, and spread the word about these trails! Rough Space hopes that this production will show everyone that those woods can be used for many, many things, and that they are beneficial to our community. Please, join us!

FOR QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, or to RESERVE TICKETS
Contact Molly at 724-422-5553
or email roughspace@gmail.com

We hope to see you there!

That, folks, should be it. Updates more often for this week, I promise. Also, check out our pictures

SORRY FOR THE DELAY

Time has lapsed since the last post. Sorry about that. We all knew that once the fundraising "kicked off" time would become less and less available to us. Lots of work to do! Here are some updates:

JULY 5TH: THE VARIETY SHOW went well. Attendence was solid, even if it was generously spread out throughout the day (thats a fancy way of saying that there were never more than, like, 20 people there at a time, which is just fine by us!) People also gave many generous donations to the cause, about half of our auction art goods were bid on and sold, and the raffle tickets went like cake. We realized that we had WAY more raffle prizes to announce than we had time to do it, so there were times when we were reading off ten gifts at a time. Always a great thing. We ended up making over $1300 total (including the door monies from The Brown,) which is much more than we expected to get. Throughout the day Erick Bonazza was outside with a "Variety Show Today" sign that he held while unicycling in traffic. He juggled, too. Balls, swords, fire. Yes, the rumors were true: the evening culminated with a fire show in the parking lot behind the players, and dear Eric survived to have a beer with us at The Brown, where our Encore show happened. The Brown was packed, we were very happy. Thank you SO MUCH to all of our performers on that day for volunteering your talents and your time, and thank you to our helpers and, of course, thank you to all of our donors and sponsors. An official THANK YOU LIST will be posted shortly.

JULY 12TH: THE REMAINING GREEN SHOW at Culpeppers went extremely well. Lots of people showed up, and we raised over $200. Soundrive opened the night and Dan Murphy and Dave Antolik of Remaining Green closed it. And I will say this: not only were all the original songs of the evening completely solid and worth hearing, the covers were really great. Not your typical bar covers. Everyone was verrrry happy about that. "The Passenger," Remaining Green? Really? Well done. Well done indeed.

REHEARSALS of Antigone are going. Natalia had to leave us to our own devices to attend a wedding in California, and as of this point a lot of us are very "off book." That is to say, we're almost completely memorized and don't need the scripts in our hands any more, which is EXTREMELY helpful when you're in the woods and trying to, well, act.

Adam Crego, our Messenger and Guard character, has been stricken with Mono and we're trying to figure out what that means for the show. What it means for Crego, personally, is a very crappy and painful end to the summer, and that's the biggest bummer for sure. We'll have updates on him.

That's it for right now. I'll be posting pictures of the Variety Show and the Culpeppers show very soon.

Thanks for tuning in.

JULY 5th IS ON!!!!! (and the latest rehearsal report)

OH MAN, July 5th is gonna be sweet.

First off - Mike from the players found our sound system. We all owe Mike (and Mike Feight) our lives.

Secondly - Painted the window at the Playhouse today. Looks fun.

Thirdly - Out itinerary for the day is SET!!! Filled!!! Yes!!!

Fourthly - We just about have a full "staff" for the event. We will be meeting at
the playhouse at 11am to brief ourselves, find some inner peace, then go!

Fifthly - Sue and Nick are awesome and secured some more "uptown donation" stuff. Or downtown. Whatever you prefer. Whatever.

Sixthly - Sue has donated some great stuff to the Indoor Garage Sale

Seventhly - Everyone welcome Pete Miltz to the Date Auction! Or, as he calls it, the Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction. Much classier that way.





---------------------------------------------------

Antigone

Rehearsal Report

Rehearsal 4

This Sunday's schedule is as follows:

1p-230p; Scene 1; Molly and Erica; White's Woods Space
230p-330p; Scene 12; Molly and Sue; White's Woods Space
6p-???;FULL COMPANY; White's Woods Space

***WHEN WE ARE IN THE WOODS, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, WEAR SHOES/SOCKS***

***NO FLIP FLOPS, SANDALS, ETC.***




Date: Wednesday July 2, 2008

Absent: NONE.

Accidents/Illness/Injury: NONE.


CALLS

Cast: 230p; Natalia’s House

Management: 230p; Natalia’s House


PLANS FOR REHEARSAL

Block Scene 18.

Character Table Work.


REHEARSAL MINUTES

234p Script Edits/Updates

248p Character Development Updates

250p Blocking Overview

254p Block Scene 18

319p End

Antigone: Rehearsal Report: Rehearsal 3

Date: Tuesday July 1, 2008

Absent: NONE.
Accidents/Illness/Injury: NONE.


CALLS

Cast: 700p; Weyandt Hall, 331
Management: 645p; Weyandt Hall, 331


PLANS FOR REHEARSAL

Block Scenes 1, 8, 7, and 13.
Character Table Work.


REHEARSAL MINUTES

720p Character Table Work
742p Blocking Overview
753p Block Scene 1
811p Break
818p Character Table Work
825p Block Scene 8
906p Block scene 7
929p Block Scene 13
943p End


NEXT CALL

Wednesday July 2, 2008

1p; Walt; Natalia’s House
2p; Crego; Natalia’s House

BACKSTREET RECORDS + JOHNSTOWN = GENEROSITY TO THE MAX

Yesterday I recieved a response to a post I made on the Vocal Youth forum from Dave Anderson of Indiana's Backstreet Records:

"I want to donate some gift certificates to the fund raising cause. Hit me up, please." Not only that, he wrote, but he'd also like to stick our fliers in with their purchases. Nick and I went out to the store this afternoon and he generously donated four (4) $10 Gift Certificates for Backstreet Records to be raffled off at Saturday's Variety Show.


I had no idea that when I posted on Vocal Youth, the discussion forum for Johnstown Area musicians and artists, I'd get so many helpful offers. Not only did Dave hear about our project through the post, but a few other bands who are planning to play at some of our benefits (Sussex Pledge, Discordia, Soundrive...) also contacted me in this way. It makes the whole "booking" experience slightly more enjoyable when you have bands responding to you with such good and light-hearted attitudes. Their emails say things like "We really believe in what you're doing," and "I think this is a really great cause, we'd love to play for you."

Vocal Youth aside, the 709 Railroad Street performance space in Johnstown, which is run by some very good friends, also has been a great help. I phone friend Ian Rummel a few weeks ago asking for his help and if he had any suggestions as to who might be interested in playing. We talked about Endless Mike, about my friend Kevin from Philly who can hopefully make it for the July 19th show, about other friends of ours who make music and would probably like to be involved. (He and Jacob Koestler have a band called Lung Rip and will also be playing for us later in July.)This past Monday I went to a show at 709 where I got to talk to Mike Miller of Endless Mike and the Beagle Club and explain our "position" and what we're doing and why. He was very, very into it.
We got Matt Miller's The Higher Five, and even though I knew this weeks ago, Dan Oatman, also from Johnstown, volunteered to play for us at both shows on the 5th, and donate his CD sales.

Thanks everyone.
So much.
-------------------------------

GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHY

Natalia and I met with the photographer this morning and hiked up the hill.

Every time I walk to the space, I am pleasently reminded of how nice the walk is. By the time you get to the site, you feel your blood moving and your mind buzzing. I'm hoping the audience members feel the same way and regard the trek up the hill as part of the grand experience and not as an inconvenience.

I suppose this will be helped the the "character" of our guides!

She took some lovely pictures while Natalia explained some of her "visions" to me (how we're going to be using the space.)

TODAY WE GAZETTE. TOMORROW IS OUR CLOSEUP. AND NOW WE HAVE PARKING.

This morning Natalia and I met a very nice reporter at the Indiana Gazette who interviewed us about the project. We had a lot to say, and I'm sure we gnawed her ears off, but she did a great job and seemed excited about it. (I'd say her name, but we forgot to secure her permission for that, (do we need permission for that?) so I'll just wait until the article comes out.) Anyway, the article should be out later this week and we'll hopefully get a link to it somehow.

We're meeting with the photographer in the late morning tomorrow to hike up the mountain to the site. A nice pre-noon walk will feel good.

Afterwards, we secured parking for the show in August! Thank you to Ageing Services, Inc. on Oak Street! We're gonna use their huge lot. Now its just a matter of securing Indigo or some other shuttle service.

OH! And the first readthrough went really well last night! (at least I think so) The translation Natalia decided on is wonderful. Very modern in a lot of ways, very Greek-structured in others. Everyone seems to be sort of perfect for their parts Again, my opinion, but I think Natalia would agree!

A LOOK AT OUR FLIERS and ACOUSTIC HOUR WITH ANTHONY FRAZIER

FLIERS - I know they're hard to see, but this is at least what some of our fliers look like. I'm working on getting them as electronic files, but don't know how to do that (not computer savvy.) Any help would be appreciated in that area.

Basically, they're all fliering the same thing: July 5th. The one flier that looks like a jumbled vaudeville mess is the "Main Flier" that has all the info crammed into one: The entertainment, the discounts, the date auction, the art auction, the garage sale, the encore show at the Brown, etc.

The other fliers are the "breakdown" fliers, to be dispersed next to or separate from the "main flier"...For instance, when we're posting fliers, I'm not going to want to advertise the "date auction" at the supermarket, but I will at the Brown or the coffee shops. Likewise, it might be smart to stick the "Indoor Garage Sale" Flier on a door at Goodwill, but not, again, in a supermarket.

I'm trying to make sense here. Not sure if its working.

Fliers still yet to be finished: The entertainment "Itinerary" flier, the "Face-Painting and Other To-Dos" flier, the "Live Bands" flier



Silent Auction of Art and Home-made Goods: Also still accepting donations. Donations already include a framed print from Jacob Koestler's project THE DAILY CAMERA (www.jacobkoestler.com) and many, many others. (AN EXAMPLE OF ONE OF JACOB'S PRINTS CAN BE SEEN ON THE ENDLESS MIKE POSTER BELOW

Indoor Garage Sale: Books, records, cds, clothes and more. Located INSIDE the Variety Show. (STILL ACCEPTING DONATIONS! Whatever is left over will be going to the new consignment shop that opened on 7th street, next to Valentis)


This next one is for the ENCORE SHOW at the Brown, which begins at 10pm, with Endless Mike from Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, and a couple of others.




ACOUSTIC HOUR - It is now 10:28 am. Natalia just dropped me off at home after being Live on the air with Anthony Frazier on The Acoustic Hour He did a great interview, we had a lot of fun and we got our name out there over and over and over. Hopefully we had some great listeners who are interested in attending and/or performing on the 5th! This is very exciting, and we feel very, very good about ourselves.

FIRST REHEARSAL IS TODAY - Natalia is at home working on the script. Rehearsal will be at 6pm tonight, a table read-through, followed by a quick little hike up to the space to look around.

Our radio show interview can be found at www.acoustichour.com - go inside the site, click on "downloads" then click on "rough space" (If you are there and can't find it, he said he'd be putting it up later...perhaps you're too early? Check back...)

THANK YOU ANTHONY FRAZIER!!!!!

EMAIL ADDRESS

roughspace@gmail.com

THANK YOU BUSINESSES

STEEL CITY SAMICHES
WOLFIES
CANYON PIZZA
MITCHELL BROS. BBQ
all agreed today to give discounts to those who have their hand stamped by us on July 5th

Both Mitchell Bros and Wolfies gave us gifts to raffle off at the door. Thank you guys so much!

FLIERS ARE DONE! OH MY GOODNESS!

Now its up to legwork and the word of mouth.

AND EVEN MORE TO REPORT

And in just a few hours even more has happened:

-We are holding an interview with the Indiana Gazette on Monday morning.

-We have a meeting with the Indiana Arts Council, also on Monday.

-Natalia and I will be on the radio SUNDAY with Anthony Frazier on his Acoustic Hour. He will also be performing on the 5th, which is exciting.

-We have several artists who are "sorting through their work" to find some extra pieces for the Silent Auction, so a big thank you to them for taking out that time.

-Natalia scored some great local hand-made Jewelry at a $45 value to be sold at the auction.

-She and I will be meeting tomorrow to finalize all phone calls and try to get this thing sorted out completely. After that, its all PR and preparation. You know, making signs and filling bins full of old clothes to sell.

RAIN SPACE ANNOUNCEMENT and WE HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT and FIRE MOUNTAIN FOOD DOESN'T AGREE WITH ME

Hello.

Today is what we call a "productive day." It begins with Natalia picking me up at 11:00 to meet a very helpful and nice man named Rich, who works for the J.S. Mack Foundation (Mack Park, to everyone who is familiar with the area, is what we're talking about here.)

You may remember that we were looking at Mack Park Stables/Livestock Arena as a possible rain location (for if and when it rains on either the 31st (our preview performance) the 1st, or the 2nd)

Well we have secured that space for those dates, and Rich (Thank you Rich and the Mack Foundation!!!) So:

IT IS OFFICIAL: OUR RAIN LOCATION IS GOING TO BE ARENA #3 IN MACK PARK, INDIANA, PA

Secondly:
We met with Fran Steinman about possible artists and performers for next weekend's (ahh!) Variety Show and Artists Carnivale at the Philadelphia Street Playhouse (formerly Indiana Player...WE LOVE THEM)

Thirdy: Had lunch at Fire Mountain with Rob Storkel about the technical aspects of planning and putting on this July 5th fundraiser. Thanks so much to him for all his help and support, and again, thank you to that whole committee. The meeting was great, Rob gave us gift certificates to pay for most of our lunch, and though the food made my stomach hurt (sorry Fire Mountain) it was a great success, I felt.

Fourthly: Natalia and I then went to Indiana First Bank to open Rough Space's bank account...the woman who helped was great, they play bad country music in there and now you can make donation checks payable to "Rough Space"

Isn't that great?

OH BOY!

So many exciting things!

FIRST REHEARSAL -
Sunday, June 29th (Hooray!)

BANDS ON BOARD FOR FUNDRAISERS -
Endless Mike and the Beagle Club
Dan Oatman
The Higher Five
Lung Rip
Soundrive
Remaining Green
The Sussex Pledge*
Leni* (from Philly!)

OTHER EXCITING NEWS
Jacob Koestler is donating a print from his Daily Camera project (I think he said it would be from the Beagle Club tour, which is grrrreat) and a copy of his book! (http://www.jacobkoestler.com)
James Duff is gonna make some bound-books of his writing

We are also probably going to have a Date Auction on the 5th.


*=not tttotally confirmed

ALSO, A QUICK WORD:

Just so you know, since it can't possibly be clear yet:

Once the actual production process gets rolling, there will be many more "Antigone" related updates and not so many of these technical, boring company and fundraising updates. So don't get, you know...jaded by the nature of this thing quite yet. It will get better. Keep checking back regularly if you're already doing so.

Thanks!

FUNDRAISER UPDATE MAXIMUM!

JULY 5th - Variety Show at the Indiana Players
WITH SPECIAL ENCORE SHOW AT THE BROWN HOTEL, beginning at 10pm (CONFIRMED)

JULY 12th - Show at H.B. Culpeppers, beginning at 10pm, with Remaining Green, opening band TBA (CONFIRMED)

JULY 18th - Rock show at the Brown (CONFIRMED, final band list TBA)


WHAT WE STILL NEED TO DO:
Confirm and book bands for the 12th and the 18th; Discuss the 5th with Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, assuming they are still available to do it. Confirm, confirm, confirm!

Natalia and I have decided not to secure a date at Wolfies for the 18th due to capacity issues and instead will pay a visit to Boomerangs in the next couple of days to see if we can work something out there for Saturday, July 19th (If you recall, we originally were trying to book a double show on this date, one at the Brown, the other (dance rock!) elsewhere. Because the Brown was booked on this day, and because its smarter to NOT have two conflicting shows with a similar target group, we're having the Brown show on the 18th, and the tentative other show on the following night)