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| Startup Renegade Theatre Group hopes to defy the odds |
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| By Jim Aquino |
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One of the newest theater groups in the South
Bay, the Renegade Theatre Experiment (RTE) is
attempting to bring to San Jose edgy material
that would be overlooked by other local stage
groups. Such material includes Hear Me
Roar!: Women's Images of Self, a trio of
feminist-themed playlets that RTE will
perform Aug. 21-31 at Santa Clara
University's Fess Parker Studio Theatre.
"We're a fledgling little group. I hate to
use the term, but it's like a startup," says
RTE co-founder and artistic director Sean C.
Murphy, who began RTE last year with several
fellow actor/director alumni from Santa Clara
University.
While helping each other practice monologues
and prepare for auditions, Murphy and his
actor friends decided to start their own
theater company.
"Now that we're getting involved with San
Jose's arts scene - and seeing how dire things
are for some of the companies - we're either
coming in at a very bad time or we're growing
stronger at a very good time," Murphy says.
RTE Managing Director Whitney Quinn Stebbins,
another of the company's many co-founders,
acknowledges that keeping their new company
afloat has been challenging at a time when
local community theater attendance has
decreased.
"It'll be interesting for us to see what our
attendance is going to be like on this next
show, Hear Me Roar!, because this is
our first production where we've had a
stronger publicity push," Stebbins says. "At
times, it's been discouraging because maybe
there's not as many people in the audience as
we want. But then there are days when we're
so excited because twice as many people
showed up than we expected."
The troupe is having difficulty finding a
suitable venue for The Woman in Black,
an RTE horror play that's been scheduled for
performances in October, in time for
Halloween.
"The October production is in jeopardy right
now. We need to find a space really soon. If
we can't find a space, we're going to have to
cancel that show," says Murphy, who wants a
theater that can accommodate the play's
elaborate technical effects. "I saw the play
in London years ago, and it's the only play
that I've ever been to where the audience
members screamed and were terrified."
Things haven't been as cursed for Hear Me
Roar!, which developed after Stebbins saw
a Santa Clara University theater student's
production of The Most Massive Woman
Wins, a one-act play about women's body
issues.
"While every single person in our group
really loved that show, our concern was that
it was a one-act play, so we proceeded to
look for other productions that would fit
with The Most Massive Woman Wins
theme, to augment it," Stebbins says.
The two other one-act pieces the group
decided to perform were Chocolate
Cake, another play about women's body
issues, and Inner Struggle, an
interpretative dance piece choreographed by
RTE member Evangeline "Vangie" Maynard.
Stebbins says RTE hopes to break in new
playwrights and their works. One play that
the group is interested in performing in the
future is Avery Crozier's interactive piece
Eat the Runt.
"It's a play where eight characters can be
played by different actors. The audience
casts the show at the beginning, so each
actor has to learn every single part because
every actor is playing something different.
"Hear Me Roar!" will be performed Aug.
21-24 and Aug. 28-31 at 8 p.m. at
the Fess Parker Studio Theatre, Santa Clara
University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara.
For more information, call 408.351.4440 or
visit www.renegadetheatre.com.
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