New Blog

The Telephone Bronco blog is moving.

You can head over to our new blog to read about our new show.

http://www.telephonebronco.tumblr.com/

One Last Chance to See Cartogoraphasia!

It's not over yet! The good news is, in light of Cartogoraphasia's success, the Swarthmore Theater Department has asked us to bring the show to Swarthmore and perform Cartogoraphasia in the Frear Ensemble Theater. The performance will take place on Friday, October 1st and begin at 8pm. The show runs about 80 minutes and afterwards we will host a talk-back in case any audience members have questions about the process of creating, writing, directing and performing this piece together.

Our performance at Swarthmore will be FREE to audience members, and we'd love to have support from the community. If you missed the show when it was in Philly, want to see it again, or simply want to tell your friends to go, we'd greatly appreciate it!

xox,

TB

A Great Big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support Telephone Bronco this Fringe Season!

To everyone who came out to see Cartogoraphasia, everyone who reads this blog, and everyone who helped us out along the way… THANK YOU.

We took a big risk this summer, a leap of faith that not only could we survive a summer of collaboration but that people like you would come out and support us at the end of it. We cannot express our gratitude to you enough; just seeing an audience actually show up to see the play we made from scratch was a thrill.

Cartogoraphasia played a successful 7-show run at the Philly Fringe Festival, delighting hundreds of Philadelphia theater-goers. We are extremely proud of the show we made, not just for its Fringe success but also because we were able to truly work as a collective to create it. Our work together this summer was exhausting, chaotic, and contentious but ultimately exhilarating. We’re proud of ourselves, proud of our show, and grateful to you.

We hope you loved the ride as much as we did.

All our love,

Telephone Bronco Theater Company

Nell, Jessie, Emma, Sam, Eric, Louis, & Isa

Sneak Peek at Cartogoraphasia!

FOUR PERFORMANCES LEFT! GET YOUR TICKETS NOW.

According to people on Twitter, Cartogoraphasia is "charming" and Telephone Bronco is a group of "up and coming, talented artists." Come see for yourself!

Directions to Circle of Hope!

JOIN US TOMORROW NIGHT AT 8PM!

Here are some directions to the Circle of Hope Church, 1125 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA. It's located on the east side of Broad St, just south of Washington. We will have sandwich boards that say "Cartogoraphasia" and "Philly Fringe" on them! Also, look for a large marquee that says something about check cashing. Our entrance happens to be right underneath it.

From Swarthmore on Public Transit: Take the R3 from Swarthmore to Suburban Station. In Suburban Station, look for a sign for the Broad St. Subway Line (this will take you to the 15th St subway stop; it's accessible from any Suburban Station entrance). Take the Broad Street Line Southbound, and get off at the Ellsworth-Federal stop. Walk north up Broad St, away from Elsworth and towards Washington. It should be on the right.

(If you live in Philly, you might want to take the subway too!)

Driving From Swarthmore: Head south on PA 320/ Chester Road towards Chester (away from the Baltimore Pike). Take a left onto Fairview Road (just before Swarthmore Pizza), and then a right onto MacDade Blvd. Merge onto I-95 N towards Philadelphia. Take Exit 17 to Merge onto Broad St. Continue up Broad for a long time--you'll pass Oregon Ave, Snyder Ave, and Tasker St. Circle of Hope will be on the right, just north of Federal St. All the street parking in the neighborhood is free!

Driving From North; New Jersey/ New York: Either Via I-78, or the New Jersey Turnpike, Make your way to I-95 S Toward Central Philadelphia. Take Exit 20 for Columbus Blvd towards Washington St. At the end of the ramp go right onto Columbus; then take a right on Washington Ave. Take Washington to Broad St (about 14 blocks) and go left on Broad. Circle of Hope will be on your left, almost immediately!

Cartogoraphasia From the Swarthmore Perspective

Below is an article written by Cami Ryder for The Phoenix (Swarthmore's campus newspaper): (http://www.swarthmorephoenix.com/2010/09/02/living/theater-fringe)

Creating and exploring new maps for theater

BY CAMILA RYDER

In print | Published September 2, 2010

From the Frear Ensemble Theater to the renowned Philly Fringe, the Telephone Bronco Theatre Company, comprised of Swarthmore alumni and current students, hits the ground running with their first show, “Cartogoraphasia,” debuting this Friday, September 3. A brainchild of Louis Jargow ’10 and Sam Goodman ’10, Telephone Bronco began with the goal of debuting a piece at the Philly Fringe. A director, a playwright, a set designer and four actors make up Telephone Bronco, which includes Jargow, Goodman, Emma Ferguson ’10, Jessica Bear ’09, Isa St. Clair ’11, Nell Bang-Jensen ’11 and Eric Holzhauer ’10, respectively.

Telephone Bronco received a Swarthmore Project in Theater grant, which allowed them to utilize the Frear Theater over the summer.

“I’ve only had Swarthmore to thank for [the] use of space and support and I think the [theater] department really encourages [the] small theatre company [and] collaborative model that is just the … absolute best way to do theater,” Bear said.

Though the company appears to follow the typical format of defined director, writer and actors, all seven artists work collaboratively in a devised theatre form, where all the members of a company write and create the work together.

“We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to have his or her voice heard,” actor St. Clair said. “That … has really affected the structure and the tenor of the piece that we have made — you can see it doesn’t follow one person; it follows six different people.” Telephone Bronco’s collaborative process allowed for every member to have hir or her own input and the character building, script, and staging fell easily into place. At the start of summer, the group got right to work.

“We all kind of just brainstormed themes and ideas that we … wanted to see on stage or our ideas we had about characters,” Jargow said. “We came across characters that we liked and … we tried to figure out how to tie them together in the most rich and dynamic way.”

Following the devised theater model, all the artists started the process by presenting and talking about their ideas, combined with hours of improvisations and creating characters. They would also have one-on-one interviews with each other as their characters, building backstories.
“We started by playing, and then we did a lot of improvisation, so once we knew which characters we wanted to highlight, we figured out what scenes we need[ed] to tell their stories,” Bang-Jensen said.

There was also a video camera recording their improv games and scenes, which playwright Goodman later watched and edited to pick out the strongest characters and stories.

“[It] was fun for me to have these scenes that the actors had done so much in developing and to just put them in order and streamline them,” Goodman said, translating the fast-paced movement of improv to dialogue or a scene.

While other theatre companies can’t dedicate as much time as Telephone Bronco did (20 hours a week through the entire summer), the process led to stronger characters and defined themes. Even before rehearsals, the group agreed on two themes: the brain and cartography, the study of map-making. They wanted to explore how the inner workings of the brain translate into the external world and the borders and lines in which we place and define ourselves. The title came from merging cartography with aphasia, an acquired language brain disorder.

“At first, we were really interested in the idea of exploring sort of how to physicalize brain science on stage and … ideas of perception and theatricality,” Bang-Jensen said. “We were also really interested in exploring [and] ‘Cartogoraphasia’ formed from that.”

“We started with these themes in mind,” Holzhauer said. “But what ended up coming out in the end of the improvisations were dozens and dozens of characters.” They eventually whittled down the list to six main characters, with a handful of supporting characters. “The script … follows the different story lines of the characters,” he added. Not all of the storylines intersect.
Focusing on their theme of exploration, “Cartogoraphasia” follows six characters who are all, in their own way, exploring, whether it’s a country, their body or their own mind. One character is the literal explorer, another is a little girl, played by Bear, who dreams up her own adventures; two teenagers explore their bodies and sex; one woman with memory loss tries to piece together her life, and another character searches for her keys to happiness.

Though the play may highlight the exploration of six characters, it really is an exploration of the members of Telephone Bronco and what it means to be an actor, a director, a playwright or a set designer.

“Cartogoraphasia” debuts this Friday, Sept. 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the Circle of Hope on 1125 South Broad Street, with show times on Sept. 4, Sept. 10 and Sept. 11. Tickets are $15. Get off at Ellsworth-Federal station on the Broad Street Line. For more information, check out www.livearts-fringe.org or Telephone Bronco’s Facebook page.

hey look, we're on the Fringe blog

http://www.livearts-fringe.org/blog/index.cfm/2010/8/19/Philly-Fringe-Vital-Stats-Telephone-Bronco

check it out.

-McF

Lost Characters

Sam has mentioned the sad loss of Hildegard, our favorite 13th century teenage nun. But she's not the only character who's fallen by the wayside. During the improvisations we did to create material for Cartogoraphasia, we created dozens of different characters. Some only lasted for half an hour, some were returned to and developed before ultimately being discarded. Here's a taste of who could have been in our play:

Captain Lorenzo: possibly the group favorite. We think he's Italian, but really, it's anybody's guess. He has magical powers, due to his tiny hands. He's good at keeping secrets, even though his best friend Bud is not so good at it.

Bud: a West Virginian who isn't ex-military but wishes he were. Yo-yo enthusiast. Captain Lorenzo likes to call him Captain Bud. He's not very good at keeping secrets, even though he tries hard. Did you know that Captain Lorenzo has never been with a lady? Awwwwww I'm sorry, Captain Lorenzo! You know I don't mean to!

Wavy: Very earth-mother type. She's either really enlightened or perpetually high.

Fun fact! Captain Lorenzo, Wavy, and Bud were all created in the same improv, along with...(drumroll)...Laurel Davis, who did make the final cut! I'm sure she misses her former compatriots.

Jerome: a 17th century German monk under a vow of silence. He spends his days in prayer and tending his herb garden, and he'll be going on pilgrimage to the Holy See next year.

Petey: a homeless Vietnam vet, who panhandles on the street. He's actually deep undercover for the FBI. Probably. He also does some temp work for the CIA. But the FBI comes first.

Not to mention the teenage daughter of an evil villain, a confused old beekeeper, an angry truck driver, a closeted churchgoer, a wealthy philanthropist, a Lady Monster, a narcoleptic police officer, Captain Vincenzo (Captain Lorenzo's arch-nemesis), a kid named Andy, the various parts of Andy's brain, some British colonialists, and a very questionable tourguide.

Where are they now?

Bud went on to crew a magical fishing boat with Captains Lorenzo and Wavy. He still blurts out Lorenzo's secrets at every turn.

Jerome remained in the monastery until his death, and puttered around the garden until the end. Also, he exchanged secret love poetry with his best friend, Brother John.

Petey was eventually promoted to Assistant Director of the FBI, and can be found loitering on the streets of New York to this day.

I know what you're thinking: can we go to the play that the broncos didn't make? Well, wait until you see the one we did. If you thought THOSE characters sound good, remember: they were just the rejects! We saved the best for you next weekend, and the one after that.

So come check out Cartogoraphasia, September 3, 4, 10, and 11th!

Buy your tix here: http://www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=13260

T-Shirts! T-Shirts! Get 'Em While They're Hawtt!

You know, Telephone Bronco's been around for a while now. More than six whole months since our first tentative conversations about what we might want to make a play about, about who we all dreamt of working with, about how we were ever, ever going to just sit down and make a play. We did it: we got together, we threw around ideas, we got our Fringe forms in on time. We picked a name. We picked a SHOW name. We made a Facebook page. We got a blog. We ordered posters and postcards for our show-- we even started putting them out around Philadelphia. Now, our tickets are even on sale! But still, something was missing. Something to make us official. Something to make us feel... whole.

But that something is COMING RIGHT UP. Because on AUGUST 20th, Telephone Bronco will have T-SHIRTS. That's right. T-SHIRTS.... with our LOGO on them.

THIS logo:

(... on a dark gray background).

I kid you not. That day is approaching.

And one of these T-shirts... could be yours.

We don't have a ton of them. So order soon, by emailing TelephoneBronco@gmail.com! Cuz they're first come, first serve. We'll keep a log of who orders when, and what size, and when they arrive at the doorstep, we'll turn 'em right around and send 'em back out. Going price is $12, or best offer. Send us cash, or make a check out to Jessie Bear and slap it in the mail. Who's first?

death of a character

Hey remember when we posted our list of characters? And we said that one of them is a nun?

Well, the creative process can be brutal. Alas, Hildegard the Nun is no more.

She met her demise at the hands of a furry adversary,


video courtesy of maisonfaux.

more from Eric soon on Hildegard and other beloved departed characters.

-Sam

Tickets on Sale NOW!!!

Hey there Big Wide World.

Guess what?! I know you've all been scratching your puzzlers puzzling over when you can buy tickets to the premiere of Cartogoraphasia, but fret no more! Tickets to all Live Arts and Philly Fringe show are now available, and you can buy them here!
Also, the good folks at the Live Arts/Philly Fringe offices have been keeping up a snazzy blog, full of bright colors and cool fonts and whatnot. On this blog you can browse the virtual Festival Guide and check out what shows you want to see in addition to Cartogoraphasia (we're on p. 97).

And as one last teaser ... with script in hand/head, fancy lights, and temporary costumes flying, rehearsals are becoming more and more photographable. Check out some teasers below and visit our photo album on Picasa.

Until then....

Lots of Love,
Isa

Hey There World!

A quick survey:
1) Do you like theater?
2) Do you like doing nice things for people?
3) Have you secretly always wanted to be someone's hero?
4) Will you only be able to sleep well tonight knowing that you had a DIRECT HAND in making Telephone Bronco Theater Company's 2010 production of Cartogoraphasia?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you're in luck! You can now CONTRIBUTE to Telephone Bronco using our secure Paypal site!

It's important to all of us at Telephone Bronco that you know that ALL contributions will go DIRECTLY towards the many essentials we need to stage this play in September. (And there are many!...)

Earlier this year, Telephone Bronco was very privileged to receive the Swarthmore Project in Theater Grant, which is allowing us access to incredible rehearsal space for the summer. The creative process is really cooking!! -- (we hope that you check out the photos and blog posts for some fabulous teases on what our show will look like!!) As we look forward towards September, however, costs are beginning to loom. Everything from space rental, to set pieces and materials, costumes, props, posters, programs, crazy stuff like insurance (you need that for everything these days)...the list goes on. And thank you in advance -- we are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support you have shown us so far in following our blog and "fanning" us on Facebook (we're quite flattered, really...), and we look forward to seeing you in September!

A quick but important note: your AMAZINGLY GENEROUS contributions are, for legal purposes, NOT tax-deductible. The (lengthy) process of becoming an official nonprofit is a long-term goal that Telephone Bronco hopes to one day achieve, but one thing at a time; for now we're working as hard as we can simply to dazzle you with Cartogoraphasia. However, if you choose to contribute to our show, we will more than make up for it with love, photos, thank you notes and magic. We're cool like that.

Convinced? Check out the link below!!






less than three,

jessie

A Brief Description of the Characters

Meet Our Explorers:

A lady explorer, exploring new lands and customs
The girl who idolizes her, exploring her imagination
Two teenagers, exploring the limits of their own bodies.
A housewife, exploring the cost of personal happiness
A perpetual student, constantly re-exploring her own life.
And a young nun, exploring the possibilities of her dreams

Let us know what you think!

-Louis

big decisions from telephone bronco

Now that you can officially buy tickets to our show (check it: http://www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=13260), I thought it might be good to update all of you faithful readers about how rehearsals are going and what the next steps in our process are. We are all a little giddy with excitement because we’re at a major turning point in the development of Cartogoraphasia.

Many long rehearsals, brainstorming sessions, interrogations of possible characters, and baked goods later, we have determined that Cartogoraphasia will be a celebration of explorers. The beloved characters we are featuring in our piece, however, are not typical explorers. Some of them explore the world, some of them explore their bodies, some of them explore their brains. Some use maps and some can’t read them. Some cross rivers and mountains and others exist solely in their living rooms. Some characters are exploring their sexuality, others are exploring their faith. Some characters are exploring the past, and others creating new realities for themselves every minute. They all have something they are trying to gain through exploring, and having to explore to find it is not always a voluntary act. We are looking forward to developing, discovering, and, eventually, sharing these explorers with you at their most intrepid moments.

I can’t wait for our next rehearsal.

Thanks for reading.

Nell

let the excitement begin

hold on to your hats: you can now OFFICIALLY buy tickets to Cartogoraphasia on the Live Arts/Philly Fringe website.

http://livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=13260

xo,

jessie

Video Interview and Rehearsal

Want to learn more about our rehearsal process and founding?!

Check out the Swarthmore homepage today!

http://www.swarthmore.edu/x30276.xml

a note on brontosauruses (a little poetry about process)

We are working to excavate the Potential Brontosaurus of our piece (Eric’s favorite dinosaur is the Pluto of dinosaurs. Once thought to be the tallest of dinosaurs it was later discovered to be an Apatosaurus with too many neck bones). As we work, we build our collection of dinosaur bones. Each bone has the potential of becoming a part of our imaginary dinosaur. Eventually we will assemble the bones into whatever creature suits our fancy (Theater artists, unlike paleontologists, are not burdened by scientific integrity).

-Sam

Telephone Bronco Takes a Trip

A large portion of Telephone Bronco will be headed up to Newtown, PA tomorrow for the Groundswell Players' Barn Stompin' fundraiser (information on Facebook and LiveArts). It's a fundraiser for their Fringe show, How to Solve a Bear, and it looks like it'll be an afternoon of partying and chilling and lawn games. All things that Telephone Bronco is good at. Plus, they'll be auctioning off items, INCLUDING two (2) tickets to Cartogoraphasia, our own Fringe show! So if you are in the area, dear blog readers, you should totally come and meet Groundswell and Telephone Bronco and have an awesome afternoon.

posted by Eric

Meet the Members-Day 7

And last but not least, presenting everyone's favorite redhead:


Name: Isa St. Clair

Hometown: Williamstown, MA

Current Town: Swarthmore, PA
Role in Company: Actor

Some Recent Productions She's Been Involved In: An Oresteia, Phaedra's Love, The Measure for Measure Experiment, Romeo and Juliet, Vinegar Tom

People in the Philly Theater Scene She Loves: Pig Iron, Riot Group, Green Chair Dance Group, Headlong Dance Theater, InterAct Theatre Company
Favorite Dinosaur: Pachycephalosaurus. Duh.
Favorite Internet Procrastination Tool: Updating this blog and revisiting past Radiolab podcasts

Favorite Libation: A little vino, a little of Eric's bucking brew, a lot of class.

Meet the Members - Day 6

Today, a hybrid Bronco-Bear!


Name: Jessie Bear
Hometown: Larchmont, NY
Current Town: Philadelphia, PA
Role in Company: Actor
Some Recent/Favorite Theatrical Productions You've Been Involved In: Preparations for Departure (Matchbox Theater Company), @ Swarthmore: Macbeth, The Tempest, Vinegar Tom, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Oleanna.
People in the Philly Theater Scene You Love!: Always a fan of: Pig Iron, Nice People Theater Co.
Favorite Dinosaur: T Rex. Obvi.
Favorite Internet Procrastination Tool: goodreads.com, watching old episodes of the office on netflix, and the always fabulous tastespotting.com