Congrats Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet completed their two week run this past Sunday. The cast finished their performances to sold outcrowds and the school is very proud of their hard work. The show was also produced in tandem with the Shakespeare Festival sponsored by the English Department. Some of our performers ran worksshops for the festival and this was also met with great success. Bravo R and J!

Geoffrey Kershner
Director of Theatre

Swords are in!

Our rapiers and daggers arrived from Weapons of Choice and the actors are finally getting the opportunity to set down their wooden dowels. Here is Romeo (Rob) and Tybalt (Lloyd) rehearsing with blades, as well as Mercutio (Aaron) and Tybalt (Lloyd) throwing steel.

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

Have at thee coward!

Here is a rehearsal of the Romeo (Rob) and Tybalt (Lloyd) fight in the Daytona State College production of Romeo and Juliet. Once again, they are using wooden dowels until our blades arrive. The blades are coming in next week though! Look for updated video of the fights soon!




Geoffrey Kershner
Director of Theatre

Bravo Transitions

I have been so proud of the All in the Timing cast and production team's work on scene transitions. I decided to post footage of these super sharp transitions. No single one over 40 seconds!

Geoffrey Kershner
Director of Theatre

Remember thy swashing blow!!

Here is some of the fight rehearsal for the opening brawl in Daytona State College's production of Romeo and Juliet. It is early in the process, but the students are doing nice work. Because the production is in three quarter thrust we need to create a lot of "contact" punches and kicks because the site lines are broad. You can also see some rapier and dagger work from Benvolio and Tybalt.

*There is one phantom fighter (an actor wasn't present). See if you can spot it... a little like "Where's Waldo."

Geoffrey Kershner
Director of Theatre

Opening Night!

We are open! The cast of All in the Timing has finally gotten up in front of an audience and I am so very proud of them. The audience was really the final element needed for this production to be completed. The opening night audience was warm, responsive, and the actors did a wonderful job.

We were also visited by Be Boyd (UCF) and Jeff Green (Georgia Southwestern University) who were our KCACTF responders. They gave great feedback and they earnestly enjoyed the evening and were impressed by the work of our cast and crew. I am very proud of everyone.

Now we head into chapter two: the performances. I am excited to watch the individual performances' continued growth. I have no doubt that the shows will continue to mature, progress, and flourish with an audience.

Bravo All in the Timing!

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

Tech. It is SO on.

So, we have reached the tech rehearsal process and we are gearing up for our first audience on Friday. Lindsay our stage manager has done a wonderful job of organizing and preparing us for this process. The set, lights, and costumes are coming into place and everyday we get closer and closer to being "show ready."

Trevor, our lighting technician, has created a fantastic effect in the middle of the stage space. It is a working clock created with light. It is created with three separate gobos, two of which are motorized so that the hands actually operate.

Scott, our incredible TD, has designed a set of working clock cogs that move during scene shifts. Sam, our Technical Supervisor, has been hard at work brainstorming on their operation and function. During each transition there is music from a wide range of genres with the theme of "time." Jeff, our sound designer, has done a wonderful job of digging up songs ranging from Blind Melon to Michael Jackson.

Not all of the shows are fully costumed yet, but costumes are beginning to come into place. Above is Alec and Paige in Universal Language.

Kenny, Nicole and Aaron in The Philadelphia...

Below is Scott and Emily (not in costume yet) in Variations on the Death of Trotsky. Jeff Jordan did an awesome job with the mountain climbers axe "buried" in Trotsky's skull!


On Friday we will be visited by our KCACTF judges (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival). They will adjudicate the show, which will be an added bonus to the actors and the rest of their process as they move into performance. Stay tuned for performance photos and updates! Bring on the audience!

Geoffrey Kershner
Director of Theatre

Romeo and Juliet: Fight Sneak Peek!

Today I choreographed the Tybalt and Mercutio fight in Daytona State College's production of Romeo and Juliet. Here is some rehearsal footage of Lloyd (Tybalt) and Aaron (Mercutio) at work. They are using wooden dowels while we wait for our blades to arrive. This is a rapier and dagger fight, common to the Elizabethan period in which Director Bob Arcuri is setting the piece.

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

A week from tech!

We are fast approaching our tech weekend! All the shows are in "working rehearsals"now and we are tweaking, revising, and adjusting each piece. This is the most enjoyable part of the rehearsal process. The actors are off book and are moving through the plays, finding nuance and growing with every run.

Melissa, Spencer, and Anthony in Words, Words, Words

Words, Words, Words

We had a new cast member join The Philadelphia this week. Aaron Green has jumped into the role of Mark and has done a wonderful job in a pinch. Aaron is balancing the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet with The Philadelphia, but due to his hard work and dedication, he came in off book and we didn't miss a beat.

Kenny and Aaron in The Philadelphia

Variations on the Death of Trotsky was the first show I ever directed when I was 17 years old. It has been a blast to return to it. The cast has been hard working and impressive. It has been a joy to come back to this hilarious piece of work by David Ives.

Sloan and Emily in Variations on the Death of Trotsky

Scott and Emily in Variations on the Death of Trotsky

Sloan and Scott in Variations on the Death of Trotsky

More soon!

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

Rehearsals Continue

Here is some video from The Universal Language rehearsal. Here we can see Dawn (Paige) arriving at the School of Unamunda. Then Don (Alec) enters with an Unamunda greeting.

This has been a great week of rehearsals as we continue to stage the five shows. Each show brings with it a different set of challenges and a different set of thrills. The Universal Language is a blast to watch and has been a wonderful challenge for Alec and for Paige because of the invented language that has to be learned, memorized and activated. They have done a wonderful job of meeting the challenge. Tonight's rehearsal was a blast to watch.

Here is Alec (Don) and Paige (Dawn) moving through blocking rehearsal in the Gillespy Theater in the News Journal Center.

Here is Judson (Bill) and Emily (Betty) during their first read through of Sure Thing. We have also been in rehearsal for The Philadelphia and Variations on the Death of Trotsky. Footage and pictures to come...

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

Rehearsals Begin!

So, I arrived at rehearsal a little early today to walk around the space and prepare for rehearsal. I absolutely love the Gillespy Theater. What a fantastic space. Today we began staging for Words, Words, Words which is one of five shows in our Daytona State production of David Ives' All in the Timing. This hilarious one act depicts three monkeys who are attempting to write Hamlet.

Spencer (Milton) and Melissa (Kafka)

Lindsey our fearless stage manager

Melissa, Spencer, and Anthony (Swift) as Lindsey looks on.

Melissa: "What's a Kafka? Why am I a Kafka!?"

Love this bit...

Stay tuned for more photos and video!

Geoffrey Kershner

Director of Theatre

Auditions!

Auditions for All in the Timing and Romeo and Juliet!

Monday, August 31st @ 3pm

Tuesday, September 1st @ 3pm

Wednesday, September 2nd @6pm

Be prepared to read portions from both scripts. Looking for cast members of all all ages, gender, and race.

Daytona Beach Campus: Building 230

Join us!

Email Professor Kershner with questions: kershng@daytonastate.edu

Hello!

Welcome to the Daytona State College Theatre Arts Blog. My name is Geoffrey Kershner and I am the new Director of Theatre here at DSC. I am very excited to be joining the faculty here in Daytona Beach and I am excited to work with this exciting community, in some incredible facilities, and in an incredible place.

I am thrilled about this year's season which includes David Ives' hilarious series of short plays entitled All in the Timing, a fall classic which will be a part of the new classic play festival at DSC, the musical Godspell, and Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of The Arabian Nights.

I can't wait to get to know the students at DSC and here is a little bit about me:

Geoffrey Kershner

Geoffrey Kershner is the founder and Artistic Director of the Endstation Theatre Company and the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival based in Central Virginia. Geoffrey’s direction was recently seen in Endstation Theatre Company’s original productions of The Bluest Water: A Hurricane Camille Story and My Brother's Knife which were featured as part of the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival. His Endstation production of The Mind of Poe was recently performed through out Virginia and was featured at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington D.C.

Geoffrey served as the Artistic Director of the Crescendo Theatre Company based in Philadelphia for five years and co-created and directed their original productions of A Howl, A Tell-Tale Heart, and Hello! No Future?. As a theatre artist he has worked for the Arden Theatre Company, The Wilma Theater Company, The Willow Theatre, The Delaware Valley Opera Company, Theatre Jacksonville, University of the Arts, Sweet Briar College, Randolph College, Lynchburg College, Florida State University and the Yale-New Haven Summer High School.

He holds his MFA in Directing from Florida State University and his BFA in Acting from the University of the Arts. Other direction includes productions such as The Birds, Tough Choices for a New Century, Big Love, Quentin G, Amadeus, Macbeth, Endgame, Marisol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Beaux’ Stratagem, and Splendora: A Musical. He has also led the creation of the original works Balls3 and The Guernica Project. Geoffrey is a member of the Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab.

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As we move through the school year I will be maintaining this blog with DSC Theatre Arts news, updates, information, photos, and video. Visit often!

Geoffrey Kershner

Daytona State College

Director of Theatre