Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Fiction Contest

In the opening scene of Fiction, Michael and Linda argue about the best vocal performance EVER in a rock song. Michael is firmly Team John Lennon (for "Twist & Shout").



Linda is adamantly Team Janis Joplin (for her fierce performance of "Piece of My Heart.)



Both give a pretty eloquent defense of their song choice.

We want to know what YOU think is the best rock vocal performance EVER - and WHY you think so.

Email your vote to kim (at) dragonproductions.net to be entered into a raffle to win TWO tickets to the Dragon Productions Theatre Company show of your choice in 2017. MUST include an argument to back up your pick.

We'll post responses here on the blog (first name only) so you can see what other music fans have to say!

Deadline to enter is 11:59p Sunday, December 18th!

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Fact or Fiction.

Shows pick back up tomorrow at Dragon Productions for Steven Dietz Fiction. 
Nex up on fact or fiction. 

 Name: Michael Shipley
Role: Michael Waterman
1.  Michael was on the TV show "Dallas."
2.  Michael worked on a satellite that is orbiting Saturn.
3.  Failed presidential candidate and crappy governor Rick Perry is Michael's (distant) cousin (by marriage).

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Meet the Fiction Design Team

Erin Gilley (Director) Fiction is Erin's Dragon Productions debut. Previous directing credits include: The Speakeasy  and Equus  [Boxcar Theatre]; Turning Tricks and Counting in Sha'ab [Golden Thread's ReOrient festival]; digital theatre productions Longitude and Peek A Boo [London International Festival Theatre]; The Technology Cave in Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge [Magic Theatre]; The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Deal and Beautiful [elastic future]; Wreckage by Caridad Svich [Crowded Fire]; The Woods by David Mamet [Theatre in the Woods]; Criminal Genius by George Walker and Making Noise Quietly by Robert Holman [TheatreFirst]. Assistant directing credits include: 12 Angry Men [Bill Kenwright, West End]; The Life of Galileo [Birmingham Rep/Royal Shakespeare Company]; Khandan [Birmingham Rep/Royal Court Theatre]. Erin studied theatre as an undergraduate at Princeton University and received her MFA from Birkbeck, University of London.

David Koppel* (Stage Manager) returns to the Dragon Productions where he last appeared as Jerry in the 2012 production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal directed by Jenny Hollingworth. David has performed and stage managed with a number of Bay Area theatre companies and beyond.  In 2015, he staged managed The Elephant Man at Brava! Theatre in San Francisco and will stage manage the Jewish Circle Theatre's original production of Love Sick at Berkeley's Osher Theatre in January. David recently played Flanders Kittredge in Western Stage's production of Six Degrees of Separation. He has performed with the Yale Rep, Playwrights Horizons, Cutting Ball, Bellarmine Alumni Theatre, TheatreFirst, and Crowded Fire.  In 2008, David founded the San Jose "Shakespeare on the Square Festival" dedicated to multicultural classical and contemporary productions. He serves as an education coordinator with the Palo Alto Children's Theatre and as a consultant for San Jose's Hammer Theatre. David received his M.F.A. in acting from the Yale School of Drama. 

Linsey Almassey (Assistant Stage Manager) is a senior at Notre Dame de Namur University where she is getting her BA in theatre arts with a concentration on performance. She has performed in multiple university productions including Dracula, A Christmas Carol, Picasso at the Lapine Agile, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Linsey received an Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship nomination for her performance in Almost, Maine, and another for her recent performance in The Amateurs. She is currently a production assistant and technician at Palo Alto Children's Theatre and has worked with multiple professional theatre companies in the Bay Area including American Conservatory Theater, Marin Theater Company, and here at the Dragon! Linsey plans to attend graduate school and switch her future endeavors from acting to production management. 

Jesse Ploog (Scenic Designer) Fiction is Jesse’s final show in the Bay area. After graduating from the University of Arizona in 2015, she moved here and quickly became a regular part of Dragon’s team. Jesse has been a variety of rolls at Dragon such as Scenic Designer for Voice of the Prairie, Sunlight, and On The Verge, Stage Manager for Sunlight, Too Much Too Much Too Many ,and Wild Boy, and ASM for The Birthday Party, Take Me Out, Voice of the Prairie, and Or, as well as other shows throughout the South Bay. In January, Jesse will be moving back to Phoenix to begin her Master’s Degree in Secondary Education to become a High School Theatre Teacher. She would like to thank her wonderfully supportive fiancĂ©, the Dragon staff for an amazing two years of work, and all of the other people here who have helped shape her into the artist she is today.

Charles McKeithan (Master Carpenter) has been working in Bay Area theater for over tenyears now as an actor and a carpenter and is happy to be back with the Dragon for another round of fun. His past works include Voice of the Prarie at the Dragon, Walls of Jericho at the Pear, Collosus at SF Playhouse, and countless productions with Ron Gaspernetti under the guise of Thrust Scenic Design.

Dan Garrett (Lighting Designer) is excited to join the cast and crew bringing you Fiction. This is his fourth show with Dragon Productions and brings his twelve years of technical theater experience to Redwood City. A native of the Santa Cruz area, he has supported over eighty productions with twenty different companies in a dozen venues with all aspects of technical work from light to flight. Recent credits include master carpenter for Santa Cruz Shakespeare, lighting designer for Spotlight Youth Conservatory’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and lead flight operator for Cabrillo Stage’s Mary Poppins. linkedin.com/in/dangarrett

Marc Blinder (Sound Designer) Fiction is Marc’s first sound design project for Dragon Productions. Prior to Fiction, he was a co-founder of elastic future and spent fifteen years doing sound designs for directors Erin Gilley and Evren Odcikin, including The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim DealEquus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  To pay the bills, Marc spent the last 10 years in tech working at various startups in San Francisco and London.   

Patricia Austin (Costume Designer) Patricia Austin makes her Dragon Productions design debut with Fiction. Other production designs include Fancy Nancy, the Musical, Beauty and the Beast, Elf Jr., and A Midsummer Night’s Dream all with Bay Area Children’s Theatre. Trish also serves as the Costume Coordinator at Aurora Theatre. Much love and gratitude to Tripp, LJ, and Dragon Productions for this opportunity. Go #mixtape.


Monday, December 5, 2016

Fact or Fiction

The First weekend of Fiction was a sucess. From everyone here at Dragon Productions we would like to say thank you, and tell your friends!
 To countine on with our game Fact or Fiction we have....

Name: Emily M Keyishian
Role: Abby 
1. Emily has been to the set of Teletubbyland.
2. Emily has a second Instagram account dedicated to her cat.
3. Emily loves to jump out of airplanes.

Meet the Cast of Fiction



Laura Jane Bailey* (Linda) Dragon audiences have seen LJ in Les Laisions Dangereuses, Bad Dates, The Memory of Water, Smell of the Kill, Love of a Pig, and Chekhov in Yalta. She also directed Marvin’s Room for Dragon. Recently she was Jeanette in The Quality Of Life for Monday Afternoon Productions (which she co-produced) and Angie in Mud Blue Sky at the Aurora Theatre. She has performed at SF Playhouse, City Lights, Arabian Shakespeare Festival, Crowded Fire, Boxcar, Dragon Productions and Impact Theatre where she received a Bay Area Critics Circle Award for her role in Crevice. Look for Laura Jane this winter in TheatreWorks production of Crimes of the Heart.  www.laurajbailey.com

Emily Keyishian (Abby) is so honored to make her Dragon Theatre debut with the talented team of Fiction. She has worked most recently with 3Girls Theatre, Piano Fight, American Conservatory Theatre, Golden Thread Production Company, Marin Theatre Company and San Francisco Playhouse. She is also a painter and metalsmith.





Michael Shipley* (Michael) is excited to be working with Dragon Productions for the first time. He has performed, directed, and taught at many Bay Area and regional theatres, including the Missouri Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, Sacramento Theatre Company, Jewel Theatre, and the San Francisco, Idaho, and Utah Shakespeare Festivals. Favorite past productions include: Dave in The Typographer’s Dream (Encore Theatre Company), A Life in the Theatre (Aurora Theatre Company), and Great Expectations (PCPA Theatrefest). Michael was the founding Text and Voice Director for the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Minnesota and holds an M.F.A. in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and an MS in Engineering from Stanford. He is also a proud member of Actors’ Equity and Theatre Bay Area. Thanks LJ!

The * denotes membership in the Actors' Equity Association

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Fact or Fiction

Today is Preview night at 8pm!

Name: Laura Jane Bailey
Role: Producer/ Linda Waterman 

1.  Laura Jane has been mistaken for Country Music Superstar Trisha Yearwood several times, but only in Applebee’s Restaurants.

2.  LJ is a licensed esthetician.

3.  LJ’s personal motto is “the early bird gets the worm”, rising most mornings with the sun.