Introducing Laura

Laura Lauzier

Hi Friends, let me introduce myself. I am Laura Lauzier and I am Mo`olelo’s Audience Development Manager for the production of Good Boys. I am so excited to be a part of the Mo`olelo family and look forward to this exciting show. I am busy spreading the word about Good Boys and hope that you’ll all plan to attend.  Feel free to call or email me about group tickets and special events, or just to say “Hi”. I look forward to seeing you all at Good Boys!

acting in san diego

Evan Henerson of Backstage wrote a terrific article in the March 23 issue about making a living as an actor in San Diego. Check it out here.

Here are some excerpts:

…The number of theatres offering Equity contracts has increased, and once-modest companies have expanded their capabilities and facilities. Centrally located companies Cygnet and Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company have beefed up their Equity contracts, as have outlying San Diego County companies such as Moxie, North Coast Repertory, and New Village Arts. Not to be outdone, the Globe and the Playhouse have undergone administrative changes and renovations or additions to their performance spaces. And that’s a boon to the San Diego community. When Christopher Ashley took over as artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse in 2007, for example, he made it a professional mandate to bring more San Diego–based actors to the Playhouse….

…According to Equity, approximately 337 active members list San Diego as their city of residence. That may seem like a goodly number for a city with a population just over 1 million, but the number of San Diego–based Equity actors who work regularly on stage — there or elsewhere—is far lower. Debra Wanger, Equity liaison for San Diego, estimates that 40 to 50 locally based stage actors are hustling and working regularly. ..

…

The La Jolla Playhouse has also begun a new Resident Theatre Program, giving a local company rehearsal and performance space at the Playhouse facilities. Mo’olelo, the 5-year-old company run by Seema Sueko, used the Playhouse’s 99-seat Studio space to produce the play Night Sky in summer 2008 and will stage Jane Martin’s Good Boys on the same stage in May. The rent-free year has given a boost to Mo’olelo, which produces one or two shows per year with the goal of paying its union and nonunion actors professional wages.

Sueko, a Chicago transplant, is an actor-director who came to San Diego in 2003 when her husband landed a job at one of the local TV stations. Discovering a friendly climate and an unsaturated market, Sueko and a friend who lived in Long Beach started Mo’olelo, which staged its first production in 2004.

Sueko encountered challenges in kicking her own acting career into gear during the first year and a half. She ultimately landed a leading role in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at the Old Globe and most recently directed the Globe’s production of Since Africa. “San Diego overall embraces the entrepreneurial spirit,” she says. “If you dream it and work hard, you can create in San Diego. I don’t think I would have had the same success I’ve had in the last five years in any other city.”

summer school

Mo`olelo is pleased to offer the following summer acting classes. Space is limited. To register, please call 619-342-7395 or e-mail classes@moolelo.net and provide your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and indicate for which class you’d like to register.

 

Audition Strategies for the Working Actor
Instructor: Seema Sueko, Artistic Director
Dates: Mondays, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., June 1 – July 13, 2009 (no class June 22)
Location: NTC Dance Place San Diego (Point Loma)
Fee: $200 / $175 for AASD or AEA Members

Audition Strategies will challenge the actor go deeper, mine the script, and prepare stronger auditions. Each class session will include monologue or scene work, simulating a LORT audition environment. Being in relationship, maneuvering the twists and turns of your script, staying on action, living in the world of the play, layering and nuances. We’ll work on all these things. This class is designed for the working actor. Space is limited.

 

 

Scene Study Class for the Working Actor
Instructor: Seema Sueko, Artistic Director
Dates: Mondays, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., July 27 – August 31, 2009
Location: NTC Dance Place San Diego (Point Loma)
Fee: $200 / $175 for AASD or AEA Members

Scene Study is an opportunity for working actors to exercise the muscles they need to bring into any rehearsal room. Students will go through table work, blocking, and in-class performance with an assigned partner. Admission into Scene Study is by approval of the instructor. Please email your headshot and resume to classes@moolelo.net to be considered. Space is limited.

 

Mo`olelo Bridges – photos by Nick Abadilla

Mo`olelo is piloting an education program at Hoover High called Mo`olelo Bridges. Photographer Nick Abadilla joined us last week. Here are some of the images he captured:

connect

invent

create

imagine

think

perform

Hijab Tube

Hijab Tube – March 14

 

Mo`olelo will present a reading of a new play for young audiences, Hijab Tube, at the San Diego State University’s Theatre of the World Festival, running from March 13 – 16, 2009. Commissioned by Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Hijab Tube explores American-Muslim identity as Rubiya, a 20 year-old second-generation, very assimilated American Muslim college student, tries to figure out what makes her Muslim. Directed by Carrie Klewin and featuring Olivia Espinosa, Michael Ahmad, and Seema Sueko.

 

Hijab Tube performance times:

Saturday March 14 at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

 

Tickets and information:

http://tyme.sdsu.edu/index.php?page=totw2009 or 619-594-6884

Year Zero

Mo`olelo’s Artistic Director is a 2009 Artist-in-Residence at UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College. As part of her residency, she will direct a reading of Michael Golamco’s award-winning play, Year Zero, followed by a talk-back with the playwright.

Year Zero by Michael Golamco
A reading and playwright talk-back
Featuring Brian Huynh, Jyl Kaneshiro, Thomas Kouo and Andy Lowe
Directed by Seema Sueko
Monday, March 9, 2009, 7 PM
VisArts Theatre, UCSD, see map for directions http://visarts.ucsd.edu/node/view/495/

Free, but you must reserve your seat! There are only 30 seats available for the public at this reading. Email jmorris@ucsd.edu to make your reservation.

Year Zero is a story about Vuthy Vichea, a sixteen year old Cambodian American. He loves hip hop and Dungeons and Dragons. He is a weird kid in a place where weirdness can be fatal: Long Beach, California. And since his best friend moved and his mother died, the only person he can talk to is a human skull he keeps hidden in a cookie jar. Year Zero is a comedic drama about young Cambodian Americans — about reincarnation, reinvention, and ultimately, redemption. You can read more about it here: http://www.michaelgolamco.com/yearzero

About the playwright: Michael Golamco is a critically-acclaimed young writer. Mo`olelo produced his romantic comedy Cowboy Versus Samurai in 2007. Year Zero was the grand prize winner of Chicago Dramatists’ 2008 Many Voices Project and has been selected for further development at Chicago’s Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre. Michael recently received a playwriting commission from South Coast Repertory Theatre. You can read more about him here http://www.michaelgolamco.com/aboutmichaelgolamco.

Update from Jazmarie

Today was the first day of my two week immersion here at Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company. I will be here for the next two weeks working on a few different tasks. Currently I’m working on gathering information for the Teacher Study Guide for Good Boys. Creating this study guide will be my biggest project as well as something tangible to share with my classmates. Hopefully I am able to create a guide that will help and encourage teachers to have the necessary discussions with their students.

So far so good I’ve already learned so much about bullying, school violence, and the effects of our decisions. But the most interesting thing so far has been that the playwright of Good Boys is a mystery people don’t know who she is, not many people have ever seen her she has never attended a press conference, nothing. There are many people who believe Jane Martin is really Jon Jory because he has produced and directed almost all of her plays, but I’m still not sure anything is possible. Well that’s the bulk of how I’m doing for now but there is definitely more to come.