For Immediate Release - July 10th, 2010
A special note from founder and Artistic Director, B.Michael Peterson:
It is with great pleasure to announce that Brick Underground Theater Project is coming out of a one-year hiatus and we have some exciting news to share with all of you, our supporters.
First, I would like to thank you for being a long time supporter of the creation and growth of Brick Underground. We are now officially located in the warmth and heart of Seattle's Capitol Hill District and could not be more pleased with the local arts support from this community. In continuing with our artistic and financial efforts we are producing six staged readings and one full production in the 2012 season. Next summer we will look at our financial records and determine the work-load for our artistic goal and make a decision about the 2013 season's repertoire.
In the 2012 season you will find there are a handful of staged readings and one full fledged production of my play "Can't Tear Me Down: The Revenge of the Pink Posse". Make sure to view our new season under the shows tab. We are in the process in taking applications and developing our Seattle Board of Directors and I am personally meeting with local artists for our artistic associates program.
My goal is to keep the core spirits of Brick Underground Theater Project alive - but with a few tweaks and changes that will ensure the success of this theater company of artists, administrators and technicians. With your help once again, I'm looking forward to making this company a place for actors to safely perform their art, designers to enrich and express their artistic visions and directors to tell stories to the world that would not normally otherwise be suitable for the American Theater.
My "Open Door" policy still stands and you're more than encouraged to contact me and discuss the future of Brick Underground Theater Project.
Respectfully Yours,
B.Michael Peterson
Founder & Artistic Director
brian@bmichaelpeterson.com
brickunderground@gmail.com
brickunderground.blogspot.com
Posted in
Administrative,
Our Return,
Press Release
Tonight was the first monthly Queer Comedy Show at Cozmic Pizza! What an amazing crowd, which was about 50 people and everyone had such a great time - amazing laughter filled up the space with no avail.
Both Kim Bates and Brian Peterson brought such an hilarious repertoire to the stage that the audience wanted more. We shall be returning to the stage on the first friday of every month!
During our open-mic portion of the show we had Cress Bates, Bob Trimble, Seth Milstein and Chris Castles perform some stand-up which encouraged the crowd to fall out of their seats.
Please keep your eyes posted for the announcement of our next comedy night as we will be making this a monthly event here in Eugene, Oregon.
Posted in
Stand-up Comedy
On June 19th, 2010 from 11am to 6pm - the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community of Lane County and beyond will be taking over the Washington-Jefferson park. It would not be a truly queer experience without the words of Moises Kauffman, Terrance McNally and Tony Kushner.
Brick Underground Theater Project will present (at 1:30pm on the mainstage) excerts from well-known masterpiece by Moises Kauffman: THE LARAMIE PROJECT.
"Live and let live" is, at best, a load of crap. It basically boils down to: 'If I don't tell you I'm a fag, you won't beat the crap out of me'. What kind of solution is that? -Stephen Belber, THE LARAMIE PROJECT
This is a free event to everyone and we are encouraging you to stop by our booth at this fabulous event and sign-up for the mailing list, the volunteer list or talk with Producing Artistic Director, Brian Peterson about the plans he has to bring alive LGBTQ theater in Eugene!
Posted in
A GAY IN THE PARK
That's right ladies and gentlemen! We will be presenting (as our first full production) Moises Kaufman's THE LARAMIE PROJECT, directed by Brian Michael Peterson. The performance dates are set for October 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30th, 2010 all shows at 8:00pm sharp!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this story, here is a brief synopsis:
In October 1998 a twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His bloody, bruised and battered body was not discovered until the next day, and he died several days later in an area hospital. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay. Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half in the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of the two young men accused of killing Shepard. They conducted more than 200 interviews with the people of the town. Some people interviewed were directly connected to the case, and others were citizens of Laramie, and the breadth of their reactions to the crime is fascinating. Kaufman and Tectonic Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience from these interviews and their own experiences. THE LARAMIE PROJECT is a breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable
We will be holding an open casting call on July 15th, 2010 from 1pm to 6pm and if you would like to sign-up for an audition time slot, please email your headshot and resume to: brickunderground@gmail.com and we will confirm a time slot for you.
As excited and thrilled theater artists, we are looking forward to be playing around with moment technique and bringing alive the story of the aftermath of Matthew Sheppard.
Posted in
2010,
Fall Production,
Laramie Project
What was your first stand-up experience like?
My first experience was at an open mic called Performance Anxiety in New York. It was terrifying and awesome and I totally bombed, but when it was over I felt so powerful! As soon as I got a couple of laughs I was totally hooked -- I thought, "I HAVE to do this again...
When did you decide that comedy was your forte within the entertainment industry?
Even though comedy and humor has played a really important role in my entire life, it did not finally occur to me to make a vocation of it until a couple of years ago. I moved to New York and was exposed to some really talented comedians and artists, and my eyes were opened to the many, many different ways that comedy can be applied to all art forms. And truly, there is nothing I love better than to make people laugh.
What other skills are your strengths in theater?
Hmmmm.... good question :). I can sing and I can dance a little, so I somehow continue to find myself in musicals every so often. I'm a crafty sort of person so the technical aspects of theatre production really fascinate me as well. I think I'm fortunate that my passion for theatre runs deep and wide -- I wouldn't classify that as a skill neccessarily, but it does provide me with the motivation to learn all that I can about the industry and continue to get training in diverse areas of theater.
In high school, what was your most embarrassing moment or encounter?
A few days before the beginning of my senior year of high school, me and some fellow drama nerds went to my high school in the middle of the night and started "decorating" it with spray paint (I would say vandalize but that would really cheapen our intentions). Ten minutes into it the cops showed up. They had a couple squad cars and some dogs. We all had to sit on the front steps while the dogs gaurded us and they read us our rights. The humiliating part was having to show up on the first day of freshman orientation and explain to all the new students why we were scrubbing spray paint off the side of the building... And thus began my life of crime.
Kathy Griffin or Margaret Cho?
I hate this question because I love them both. If I leave the comedy out of it and just think of them in a cage fight, my money would be on Ms. Cho. Though Kathy Griffin is pretty f-in' scrappy....
Pink or Red?
Red, for sure. Preferably cherry red. I have a cherry red coffee maker and just looking at it turns me on every morning like clockwork. Nothing like a sexy cup of coffee to start your day.
Posted in
Interview,
Kim Bates
Brick Underground Theater Project presents...
SMACK IT, FLAUNT IT, AND STROKE IT:
The Casper Sparks Comedy Show
ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY!!!
Friday, May 7th, 2010
9:00pm to 11:00pm
Cosmic Pizza Event Stage
199 West 8th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
Box Office: (541) 606-2855
Tickets: $10 general admission, Purchase your tickets Here
There is a comedian in all of us and all we need is inspiration to smack it around, flaunt it to an audience and for the audience to stroke the ego. Join local comedians in THE CASPER SPARKS COMEDY SHOW and you will be given the opportunity to participate in the open-mic section of this show towards the end of the evening.
Featuring local stand-up comedians Brian Peterson and Kimberly Bates. After the main stage attraction, the microphone will be open-mic for anyone to give stand-up comedy a shot in the dark.
This show is for everyone and will include many topics ranging from RuPaul’s Drag Race to the inequalities of social justice and the frailties of the theater industry in Oregon which is trapped around hippies and weed. Come on down and join the laughter, goodies of Cosmic Pizza and Theo’s Coffee.
Posted in
Kimberly Bates,
Stand-up Comedy
When and Why did you decide to become an actor?I decided to become an actor my senior year of high school. A good friend of mine was the stage manager for some shows and had asked me to be a part of a One-Act-Week event; the goal of which is to allow students, who are wary of the commitment to a regular-length show, to participate in the theatre. The production period lasted, as it's name implies, only a single week; where work started on Monday and shows were on the weekend. After I experienced this, I found myself in love with the theatre.
What is your most embarrassing moment on stage? Backstage?
I can't say that I can recall a very embarassing moment on stage, or, if I do indeed have some past experience, perhaps I have repressed it. And perhaps that is all for the better :p. I can, however, bring to mind a moment from my high school's production of Singin' In The Rain wherein I was helping with backstage scene changes. I remember being outside of the actual theatre itself, though still within the school and listening to the stage monitor. I heard a line cue over some conversation I was having and it called to my attention that I needed to get backstage to get ready for a scene change. I was in a full jog, in a completely dark backstage, and began flying the moment my feet came in contact with a small wooden box. My fellow techies who had been backstage the entire time, and whose eyes were therefore much more well-adjusted than mine, had seen me the whole way. They'll still bring it up every once in a while.
What is your life motto?
"You only live once."
Rosie O'Donnell or Ellen D.?
Ellen D. :)
Posted in
Actor's Interview,
Company Member,
Jesse Ferreira
