Return of the Faces: The Credits

As we get ready to stroll into opening tonight, there's just a couple more folks I need to shout out. The biggest of thanks to all the following:

Erica Barnes
Ryan Martin, Jen Bukovsky, and The Den Theatre
Ronan Marra, Joseph Stearns, and Signal Ensemble Theatre
Stephanie Ingram
Lloyd Mulvey
Jesus Contreras

and every last one of you reading this. Sincerely. Thanks for your interest and support and funtimes.

Now let's rock this thing!

Return of the Faces, The Final Chapter: Scanlon

Well, I'll be god damned. Part Three opens tomorrow. To. Mor. Row. But, before we do, I've got one more face to introduce and it ain't a face to be taken lightly. Sarah Scanlon is responsible for all of the makeup design you're about to see in Ping-Pong. You'll know this beyond a shadow of a doubt when you see her applying it. During the show. On stage. As the action is happening. You see, Part Three is taking a look at how we witness characters develop, how they change throughout the course of a life or the course of a show (six of one, half dozen of the other...). And in Ping-Pong, at least as it plays with The Nine, we watch them develop very directly and very visibly at the hands of one Sarah Scanlon. Young people gettin' old. Passionate people gettin' tired. Everything winding down. Eventually.

But TOO MUCH serious talk -- we'll save that for later. Here, meet Sarah, she's on the funtimes crew!

Sarah Scanlon is an artistic associate with the Strange Tree Group and has been acting, hanging from ceilings as an aerialist, and playing music in Chicago (with her band "Left Turn at Albuquerque") for the past few years. While she has experience in theatrical make-up (beauty, blood & gore, zombie/monster, and old age) this is the first time she's been asked to create make-up on stage while an actor is acting, and she thanks Bries for the fun and awesome challenge and chance to collaborate on something totally new! Past collaborations in Chicago include shows with the Strange Tree Group, The Factory Theater, The Building Stage, The Chicago Mammals, Babes with Blades, Redmoon, Metropolis Performing Arts Center; and readings with Chicago Dramatists and Dream Theatre. She has trained at the Moscow Art Theatre School, the American Repertory Theatre, LAMDA, The Dell'arte School of Physical Theatre, and Western Michigan University.

Return of the Faces, The New Breed: Mr. Boler

Well, lookit here! Another shining star added to the our little crew of alumni! Folks, if you don't know THE Brandon Boler, you've got some introducing to do. But don't worry, I know just the place for it: Brandon just so happens to be taking on the role of good ol' Sutter in Ping-Pong, so all you really have to do is make sure you get a ticket while you still can. A little bit of 'Hey, Brandon!', a couple batted eyelashes, maybe some flowers or a stuffed animal, and bam! you know Brandon Boler and are on the fast track to CoolKidsville, Population Awesome.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of background on him. Study up, kiddos!

Brandon is a Chicago native and is excited to be working with Bries and the entire cast and crew on this installment of The Nine. Brandon was last seen on stage this summer during Collaboraction's Sketchbook Festival in "The Last Meal Man" and along with working on The Nine, Brandon is also understudying the role of Chap in Profiles production of "After." Brandon graduated from Bradley University where he studied Theatre Performance and Business Management. Special thanks to Mom, Dad and Brandy for helping me on this journey. Follow Brandon and his happenings at Brandonboler.com.

Return of the Faces, Behind the Scenes: Drew.

We're pulling back the curtain for the second of our four new faces to introduce our illustrious Stage Manager Drew Durfee! The Nine was starting to develop a bit of a rep for putting stage managers on stage and at times making them part of the action, but Drew (very narrowly) escaped that fate. Instead, he's been placed in charge of tracking a show's worth of aging spots totaling something like a few centuries as well as calling cues via a dimmer switch located inches behind an audience member's head. Look, nobody said this gig was easy. There's a reason we only pull in the most rock and roll of folks. And today's rock and roll? Drew Durfee.

This is Drew's first production with The Nine. He enjoys working on new and absurd ways of doing theatre. He also enjoys nice, quiet and dark booths with long light or sound queues.

Bride of Return of the Faces: Stacie H.

Here's a little Monday morning storytime, boys and girls: on Friday and Saturday we previewed Part Three of The Nine. Immediately after the show on Saturday, Stacie Hauenstein, who plays Mrs. Duranty, booked it up to Wisconsin. Now, I hear you loud and clear -- why on Earth would anyone be in such a hurry to get to Wisconsin? Well, it just so happens that Miss Hauenstein had a date with a marathon the next morning. That's right: Ping-Pong was Stacie's pregame the night before running a marathon. Those are the kind of badass folks we are dealing with here. Introducing for the first time at The Nine, Stacie "Rockstar" Hauenstein:

Stacie is crazy excited to be doing her first show with The Nine. Since coming to Chicago, she has worked with companies such as the Right Brain Project, The State, Redmoon, Strangeloop, Point of Contention, Dream Theatre, and Theatre-Hikes. In May of 2008, Stacie graduated from the 2-year conservatory program at Act One Studios, where she could be seen in productions such as American Devine, Laramie Project, and Cherrywood. She also has a BA in theatre from UW-Madison.

Return of the Faces vs. Mothra: oh yeah, this guy.

Time to round 'em up, misters and misses. Friday afternoon rings in the last of the familiar faces, and it's the other dude who's been around since the start: me. That's right, yet another obligatory post about Bries Vannon, blahdy blahdy blahdy blah. You've all heard this spiel before -- I'm the guy directing this madness and do a generally somewhat decent job of keeping my ideas from going fully off the rails into Bullshitville. Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination and all that jazz. Alright, let's get on with the photo/bio show already! (Swing by next week, when we start introducing all the new peeps! EXCITMENT!)

Bries Vannon is the creator and director of The Nine, because no one ever taught him the wonders of setting reasonable goals. He is also Literary Manager and an ensemble member at Signal Ensemble Theatre, where he recently directed the Chicago premiere of Robert Askins' "Princes of Waco". An actor and director about town, Bries has also worked with companies such as Mary-Arrchie, The Right Brain Project, the side project, WNEP, and The Building Stage. Next up (aside from Part Four of The Nine), he will be appearing in Jon Steinhagen's "Successors" in early 2013 at Signal Ensemble. In theory, Bries is a very nice person and you should introduce yourself and talk to him and such. He'd like that.

Son of Return of the Faces: Anthony DeMarco

Yesterday, I introduced you to Arthur, Adamov's everyman who gets swept into a corporate spin cycle throughout Ping-Pong. Today, it's Victor, his (much more level-headed) partner in crime. And when you need someone to play the inseparable better half to Austin Oie, you can't do much better than than one Mr. Anthony DeMarco. Returning to us after his stint as The Manager in The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party and Friend 1 in Peculiar Way, Anthony was one of the first people I approached about this project and, after a couple of beers, I was able to convince him that I wasn't talking completely out of my ass and that this whole makeup concept thingy (we'll get there) might actually have some legs after all. And voila! This, ladies and gents, is how magic is born. You just find you a DeMarco is all.

Anthony M. DeMarco dabbles in many a creative medium: the written word, film, animation, photography, and the stage. He also has concerns in law, politics, religion, history, education, conservation, and social planning. In between all that, he has found time to fit in stage work in Chicago with companies such as: Seanachai, Mary Arrchie, Lights Out, and New Beast Theatre Works. The glory of the Nine, and why Anthony is so pleased to be back here, is that it allows for the space and dialogue to combine all of those ideas he holds so dear and to make them manifest in real time. Truth is born. Trust is love. Shout outs to my Moms and my Pops, my coworkers, my comrades, my union brothers and sisters, my siblings, my cousins, my castmates, and anyone who has suffered through one of my drunken rambles on surrealism as a meditative necessity in an industrial social context.

Return of the Faces: The Return: Oie!

Speaking of familiar faces, there's none quite so familiar as this one right here. There are exactly two people who have been directly involved in all three parts of The Nine to date, and one of them is Mr. Austin Oie. Some of you saw Austin as Tim in subUrbia and some of you saw him as the other half of our phonograph pairing in The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party and some of you saw both and maybe even some of you didn't see either, but no matter the case, you're all (providin' you got your tickets) about to see him as Arthur, Adamov's idea man, pinball fan and general obsessive at the center of Ping-Pong. Side note: Austin ages about 50 years over the course of this show. We're talking range like a prairie on this guy! (Did that make sense? That didn't make sense, did it. Ah, we all know I'm just riffing here. Anyway.... heeere's AUSTIN!)

Austin is working with The Nine for the 3rd time and is finally starting to feel at home. You may have seen him in other productions: Church/Pullman and Elephants Graveyard (Red Tape Theatre), The Man Who Was Thursday (New Leaf Theatre), A Winters Tale (State Theatre), or The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Project 891). When he's not acting, he's playing banjo/mandolin in his band The New Switcheroo. He's also a headshot photographer... what more do you people want?!

Return of the Faces 3-D: Danelle!

Here's a face you certainly haven't forgotten -- after making her initial Nine appearance as one half of our foundation of phonographs in The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party, we're crazy happy to have Danelle Wildermuth back on board for Part Three in the role of Annette. So then, the question, of course, on everybody's mind is how exactly do you follow up a starring role as an inanimate object come to voiceover life? The answer, my friends, is with pinball, pinball, and more pinball! (For the record, you're going to quickly find out that pinball is the answer to most Part Three questions. Makeup is the answer to the rest. Because complimentary.) As an upwardly mobile careerlady, Annette's got her sights set on taking the pinball world by storm, and it turns out this isn't far from the truth: during a recent cast trip to the local barcade (more on this later), Danelle kicked Tranformers pinball's ass so convincingly that by the time she had to leave, she still had six credits left. Oh, don't worry. I made sure they didn't go to waste, and I shit you not, my wrists are still sore. But Danelle? Pish... all in a night's work. What's the feminine version of wizard? Because we've got one of pinball variety in the house, friends.

Danelle Wildermuth is very excited to be joining The Nine again for Part Three. Previously seen in Radio Silence. Other Chicago productions include Hangar 9 Theatre, Hobo Junction, Black Ensemble, and Village Players. Regional: The Lost Colony, Waterside Theatre, Great Plains Theatre, and Prairie Repertory. National Tours: Troupe America, Inc and Hampstead Stage. Much gratitude to Bries and the fun and fantastic cast of The Nine. Enjoy!

Return of the Faces, Part II: Mikula, Nick.

HAPPY MONDAY!

There, a little pick me up. We had a very busy, very productive weekend in Nineland (trademark pending), and are back again for another (re)introduction! You know this fella here from his Radio Silence turn as The Usher in The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party and Friend 3 in Peculiar Way. He was also one of the last people I introduced you to last time (seriously, just scroll down a little bit and it'll be deja vu all over again), so I'm doing both you and him a solid and giving all y'all plenty of time to admire this chiseled visage.

Ladies and gents and then the ladies again, put your hands together and give a warm welcome back. In the role of Roger: the one and very possibly the only, the man, the wit, the legend, the Rogerest of Rogers, Nick "Nick" Mikula!!!!! *crowd noise!* *ticker tape!* *confetti cannon!* *disgruntled janitors a couple of hours later!*

Nick Mikula is proud to be working with The Nine again! A graduate of Illinois State University's Acting Program, he was last seen in The Improv Play with Infusion Theatre and has worked with Chicago Shakespeare, Mary-Arrchie, Signal Ensemble, Ka-Tet, Right Brain Project, the Abbie Hoffman Festivals, Gift, Greasy Joan, Bailiwick Directors Festival, NPDW (Infusion Theatre), 20%, Chicago Dramatist's Saturday Series, The Inconvenience, Playing Space Theatre and New Leaf Theatre. Also, he can be seen performing with the improv groups Octavarius (playing Sunday nights at Comedy Sportz at 7PM) and Sam Hill. Nick would like thank his parents, Caroline, and John for all their support.

Part Three: Return of the Faces!

Earlier this week I learned that the Walter Cronkite-starring 1993 animated film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story was written by renowned playwright John Patrick Shanley. Hunh.

I mention this odd bit of trivium for no damn reason at all except for a chance to very loosely tie some 90's nostalgia into my official "we're (like the dinosaurs in that Shanley film) back" blog post. That's right -- The Nine, Part Three: Arthur Adamov's Ping-Pong is exactly two weeks from opening night and, if you recall from Part Two, that means there's faces to be introduced!

So here's the scoop: I have ten people to introduce you to this go around (down a bit from Part Two's OMG-inducing 24). Six of those ten you've met before in Nines past. Four are brand new to our little shindig. Which do you want to meet first? *short Jeopardy music interlude* What's that? Did you say "familiar faces"? Okay! And if you didn't, tough crap, who do you think is running this show anyways?

So, lads, ladies, and the rest of you, welcome to returning face the first: Chris Perez! You might remember Chris as The Groom from Radio Silence. This go around, he's back as The Old Man in Ping-Pong. Oh, but Chris doesn't *look* like an Old Man, you say? You obviously haven't met The Nine. Things are about to get all age-y up in here -- young men playing old men! young women playing old women! even some people aging in front of your eyes! and maybe death! Sweet jeebus, we're turning the world upside-down! But I've already said too much...

Chris is a Chicago native and has managed to do theatre all over. His favorite is outdoor theatre. His favorite role was Touchstone with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. He has enjoyed working with this group of people very much, and hopes you enjoy the show half as much as Chris does.