The Official Blog of PURE Theatre

We′ll be at 477 King Street for our entire ninth season!

Read about it in the Post & Courier and Charleston City Paper.

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On November 6th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States with less than 40% of the popular vote. Forty four days later South Carolina voted to leave the Union. Confusion and anxiety gripped the city of Charleston. Constitutional freedoms hung in the balance. Fierce loyalties and the changing landscape of national power made life for average citizens chaotic and fast changing. Forts Moultrie and Sumter entered the national spotlight. On Saturday, Dec. 4, the Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Historical Trust in cooperation with PURE Theatre brings to life these turbulent times in a dramatic evening inside historic Fort Moultrie. Actors and musicians, along with audience participation, will illuminate the struggles, the hardships and the galvanizing principles that led to this tumultuous time in our history. Step back 150 years and answer the question of what you would have done.
The one-show only performance will be Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $25 general admission or $55 VIP including a lavish cocktail party at Mugdock Castle (a few steps from the Fort) following the show. For tickets, see www.puretheatre.org or on sight the night of the show. The evening is presented in cooperation with the National Park Service at Fort Moultrie.
PURE Theatre is a professional theatre company, now in its eighth season of producing some of the finest contemporary theatre in SC. The company has been honored with numerous awards including the 2011 SC Artists Fellowships in both playwriting, acting, and critiques awards for best acting 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, best director 2007, best play 2006, best one person play 2005, 2007, and most diverse theatre company 2004.

For the opening of PURE’s World Premiere production of AWOL: A Soldier’s Journey, PURE Theatre is introducing a Pay What You Can, sliding ticket scale between $15 and $30 for all tickets.

“We are experimenting with a flexible pricing strategy to determine whether or not we see a significant increase in single ticket buyers, as well as to create a means of capturing data regarding mean ticket price,” says Sharon Graci, PURE Theatre’s Artistic Director.

Part of what makes the experiment possible is the company’s recent move to Charleston Ballet Theatre where they have almost tripled their seating capacity. “In a smaller venue, it just wasn’t possible to adjust the cost of our tickets, it wasn’t prudent,” continues Graci, “We were consistently at or close to capacity, so there was no room to determine just how broad our audience could be if we removed a potential barrier to participation, in the form of ticket prices that don’t fit in everyone’s budget.”

Graci is also quick to point out that PURE Theatre supports a strong base of loyal patrons who make the pricing experiment possible. “We’re incredibly grateful to our strong base of regular supporters, our PURE ORG members, contributors, and benefactors, who stay with us through our growing pains. They are our strongest champions, and our loudest advocates. PURE’s continued success and growth is important to them. They want to see us thrive.”

With the new ticket strategy, ticket buyers can go online, or show up at the door, and name any whole dollar price between $15 and $30 for their tickets. According to Graci, “It’s just the right thing to do in the name of advocacy, which is one of PURE Theatre’s core values. As a company of artists in service to our community, we are committed to diversifying our audience and reaching as may people as we can through our art from. Offering pricing structures that enable greater numbers of patrons to be served is a crucial step in ensuring that the professional performing arts remain relevant to the totality of the communities they serve. This is just one, small, beginning step, but we think it’s an important one. The message we’re working to promote is that all are welcome, and that PURE Theatre is for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic condition.”

PURE Theatre rehearsing Circle Mirror Transformation at Robert Lange Studios

Special Thanks to Robert Lange Studios for the rehearsal space to kick off Season 8: Nomads & Fools “at” PURE Theatre! That’s a webcam shot of our rehearsal. Join us September 3 at Charleston Ballet Theatre for the opening!

Dates

Sept 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18

NEW PERFORMANCE SPACE!

Charleston Ballet Theatre @ 477 King Street

Times

7:30 evenings; 2:00 PM Matinee, Sunday Sept 12th

Synopsis

Circle Mirror Transformation follows five small town Vermonters as they take a community acting class, each with their own expectations. They soon learn more about each other and themselves than they bargained for. Circle Mirror Transformationpremiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York in October 2009 for a scheduled month long run. Due to its enormous popularity and critical acclaim (The New York Times called it “absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny”), it was extended several times and ran through January 2010.

Cast

The cast includes PURE veterans Pam Galle (Sheep’s Clothing), Sullivan Graci Hamilton (Ginger, Speech and Debate), Randy Neale (Yankee Tavern, The Seafarer), Carri Schwab (Ginger), and Paul Whitty (Sheep’s Clothing, Hogs, Faith Hope & Charity)

Awards and Nominations for the Play

OBIE Awards: Best New American Play to Annie Baker, Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens

New York Drama Critics Circle: Emerging Talent Special Citation to Annie Baker for Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens

Drama Desk Award nomination: Outstanding Play to Annie Baker, Circle Mirror Transformation

RE: Low Country Boil, premiering at PURE March 5–27

R.W. Smith

As a member of PURE, I have had the opportunity to not only grow as an artist, but expand my skills along the way. All of us in the core take on different duties, whatever it takes to get the show done. Personally, I’ve worked as an actor, director, producer, front of house, company manager, writer and general morale booster. Every one of the core members and extended PURE family has done the same in some form or fashion. It’s how you produce theatre. Everyone takes on the roles that are necessary to get the job done. It reminds me of when Uta Hagen talked about the roles we play in life: teacher-student, spouse-spouse, parent-child, employer-employee, etc. We take on these roles in our daily lives; playing each role with its appropriate status, relationship, and history.

Working on Low Country Boil has reminded me of these roles and how embracing them is the only way art can be made. So many shows at PURE have been directed by one core member while other core members have worked on their vision. We each demand so much of each other artistically, but when it comes time to defer to the person in charge, that respect is given without question. We each wear our hat and play our role.

Right now I’m wearing three hats. Writer/director/actor. To be honest: too many hats. If I had my druthers, I would not be in the play, but (**Warning!!!! , Low Country Boil spoiler****) I stupidly brought my character back to life from the first one. I say stupidly more because I’m in the middle of juggling the hats and not because it is a plot point I’m uncomfortable with. But here I am looking at a piece through the eyes of a director, a writer and an actor, and each has an opinion, sometimes very different from the other; and the ensuing battle can be quite nasty. Mind you, the whole thing transpires in my head. A nightly fight club taking place in my cerebral cortex like a scene from Being John Malkovich. But in the end, I have to defer to the director. The responsibility rests with him/me.

My actor/me needs to focus on breaking down scenes, beat-to-beat, objective-obstacle-action, motivations, super-objectives, being in the moment, listening, character development, etc.

My writer needs to let the director tell his/my story the best way it can be done.

As I head down to rehearsal today, with all my hats in my bag, I know that I’ve got the talent around me to produce a great show. I’ve got a wonderful cast and an amazing theatre company supporting me. So all I have to do is make sure I’m wearing the right hat.