Aug 29, 2015

Pics and feedback from my solo show CYRANO A-GO-GO at the Fresno Mini-Rogue







Here's a link to the article (also below)... HERE

I performed my solo show CYRANO A-GO-GO at the Seattle to Fresno Mini-Fringe sponsored by the Rogue Fringe Festival and Minion Productions. Great feedback...

Dallas performer Brad McEntire has a love affair with ‘Cyrano’


Brad McEntire performs “Cyrano A-Go-Go” at Mia Cuppa Caffe Thursday, Aug. 27, through Saturday, Aug. 29. SPECIAL TO THE BEE

You never forget your first play.

OK, so perhaps not all of us can make that statement. But it certainly applies to Brad McEntire. He read “Cyrano de Bergerac” when he was 15, and the classic 1897 play by Edmond Rostand has stuck with him ever since.

McEntire’s one-man show “Cyrano A-Go-Go” is one of the highlights of this weekend’s “Seattle to Fresno: Best of Fringe” mini-festival, which brings five acts to Mia Cuppa Cafe in the Tower District. We caught up with McEntire by phone to get this rundown.

▪ The show: “Cyrano A-Go-Go” is a semi-autobiographical production that mixes McEntire’s quarter-century-long “Cyrano” infatuation with the play itself. The show mixes the personal, historical and literary. You get commentary on what the times were like when the play was written, and McEntire jumps into character and performs snippets of “Cyrano” itself.

▪ The big nose: If you’re unfamiliar with the story of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” you’ve still probably heard of the title character’s whopper of a nose. (In Steve Martin’s 1987 movie adaptation “Roxanne,” his nose was huge, which was one reason he was so shy about expressing his love for Roxanne, played by Daryl Hannah.) In McEntire’s show, he asks the audience to imagine the nose, but he doesn’t wear a prosthetic.

▪ The history: “It’s an example where theater legitimately changed the world,” McEntire says. France was a country torn apart during the time the original “Cyrano” was produced, with lots of political and social turbulence, and this play “celebrating Frenchness” helped unify the nation.

▪ The unrequited angle: Unrequited love is a major theme of “Cyrano,” and McEntire brings in his own romantic (or lack thereof) history regarding the matter.

▪ The back story: In 2011, the Dallas Shakespeare Festival scheduled “Cyrano de Bergerac” on its mainstage, and McEntire came up with an idea for the company: How about staging a complementary one-man show providing background and focusing on his fascination with the title? The company bit, and McEntire performed in the afternoons during the mainstage run. Afterward he trimmed and shaped the show and took it on the fringe-festival circuit.

▪ The performances: “Cyrano A-Go-Go” is 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27; 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28; and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29.

▪ The mini-festival: “Seattle to Fresno” is sponsored by the Rogue Festival. It is curated by former Rogue producer Jayne Day and Grant Knutson of Seattle’s Minion Productions.
The other four shows are the Fresno Dance Collective (NOCO)’s “The Life of a House Plant”; “Dirty Messy Love” by Los Angeles-based storyteller Les Kurkendaal; “Damn Fine Magic,” a vaudeville magic show by The Baggy Pants; and “Existentialism in B Minor,” a one-man show by Fresno playwright Joshua Ryan Taylor. Performances are Thursday, Aug. 27 through Sunday, Aug. 30, at Mia Cuppa Caffe, 620 E Olive Ave. Tickets are $10. Details: www.minionproductions.org/seattle-to-fresno.

Donald Munro: 559-441-6373@donaldbeearts


Aug 24, 2015

CYRANO A-GO-GO in Fresno, CA



In August, I performed at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival. While I am out on the West Coast, I'm also performing my solo show CYRANO A-GO-GO at an event sponsored by the Rogue Fringe Festival in Fresno, California. It is called "The Seattle-To-Fresno Mini-Fringe". There will be lots of other great performers in it as well.

Performances at the Mia Cuppa Caffe, 620 E Olive, Fresno, CA 93728

CYRANO A-GO-GO plays:

Thurs. Aug 27th @ 7:30pm 
Fri. Aug 28th @ 9pm 
Sat. Aug 29th @ 4:30pm

Tickets $10. For more information head over to... HERE


Aug 23, 2015

The Rumbleshanks Tapes Episode 004 is up!

Session 43 - Mongolian Space Elevator

In this episode Agent Hanson tries to uncover what's up with the immense "space elevator" Rumbleshanks has constructed in the middle of the Mongolian desert. 

Also, Jeremiah Hanson learns what it is like to play a guessing game with the Captain.

From the folks that bring you The Bike Soccer Jamboree Podcast, here is a turn towards the weird and frustrating...

You can listen to the delightful sci-fi mayhem... HERE




Aug 22, 2015

CYRANO A-GO-GO at Nanaimo Fringe




"The whole of the piece is well-organized, jumping from past to present, from fiction to fact, between [Brad's] life and Cyrano’s with great aplomb. There’s never a dull moment, and the experience will not only augment your appreciation for Rostand’s masterpiece, but the theater and arts in general." 

 ~ Kris Noteboom, TheaterJones.com


My solo show CYRANO A-GO-GO gets an engagement in Canada this August under the Minion Productions banner. At the 2015 Nanaimo Fringe Fest.

Playing at the Harbour City Theatre, 
Lower Stage, 
25 Victoria Road, 
Nanaimo, British Colombia V9R 4N9. 

From the official press release:

CYRANO A-GO-GO is semi-autobiographical exploration of one restless theatre artist's fascination with the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. A chance encounter with the script at a suburban public library as a teenager leads to a cruel and wonderful calling. Mixing the personal, historical and literary into a journey through Rostand's play and a meditation on the differences between art and life, McEntire puts a funny, warm, insightful spin on the usual coming-of-age one-man show.

Brad McEntire is the founding Artistic Director of the small Dallas,Texas-based theatre collective Audacity Theatre Lab. He is the creator of several solo pieces including ROBERT’S ETERNAL GOLDFISH (Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, Scranton Fringe Fest) as well as his extensively traveled piece CHOP (New York International Fringe, New Orleans Fringe, Seattle Fringe, Houston Fringe, etc.)

McEntire began development on CYRANO A-GO-GO in 2011. After an initial co-production with the Dallas Shakespeare Festival he took the piece to the Houston Fringe Fest in 2012 and then presented it at the 2015 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival in Addison, Texas where it garnered a “Best of Fest” Award.


CYRANO A-GO-GO plays August 13 thru 23 as part of the 2015 Nanaimo Fringe Festival. Produced under the banner of Minion Productions. All shows at the Harbour City Theatre, Lower Stage, 25 Victoria Road, Nanaimo, BC V9R 4N9.


Here's the full schedule at a glance:

Date
Time
Aug 13 Thu6:00 PM
Aug 15 Sat6:00 PM
Aug 16 Sun2:00 PM
Aug 21 Fri7:40 PM
Aug 22 Sat3:15 PM
Aug 23 Sun4:50 PM

Tickets and more information available at http://nanaimofringe.com




Wanna learn more about the actual play Cyrano de Bergerac? Here's a link to a Study Guide... HERE