Meet Ryan!

Meet Ryan, he's better known as Cowboy Ryan or Duse around these parts.

His work in RSP's production of Fool for Love just recieved two New York Innovative Theatre Award Nominations! 

Slide up on partner, and get to know our boy from the Lone Star State a little bit better!

 

 

Meet:  Ryan Carter Dusek

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Around a year and a half.

Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: Actor and mischief maker.

Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: The team-work and family like atmosphere keep me with RSP. They are my home away from home.

Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: My favorite would have to be playing Eddie in "Fool for Love". I've always wanted to play him and have great love for the writings of Sam Shepard. The NYITA nominations that came later were certainly a bonus.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: More of the same, and helping our new faces find their artistic voice.

Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: HellCab! Hell yeah!

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: We have become a cohesive group where no one person stands out, but we as a group of artists stand as one.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I am an actor and bartender.

Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: I loved meeting for speakeasy rehearsals where we just sat and played poker. Now that's a great rehearsal!

Meet Elizabeth!

Meet Elizabeth Burke, if you don't know her already, you really should!
She's our longest standing ensemble member, best known for her work in Rising Sun's productions of Hellcab & The Crucible, she's been with the company since 2004.

 



 Meet:  Elizabeth Burke

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Since 2004 I believe. When I was but a child.

Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: I'm an actor, an ACTOR.

Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: Because there is a level of community and support that is very difficult to find in NYC theater.  Here, theater companies come and go, so to be involved with the same group for 8 years is pretty great. I even left for a few years to work on a political campaign and was welcomed back with open arms.  Like family! I think that there is a safety that is created during rehearsals which allows an actor to feel free to explore their boundaries. That safety lends itself to creative thinking and risk taking I might not find as just an actor in a random play with a random theater company. It's the sense that we are all here for the same end, to stretch our abilities, to take risks, to freely speak up in the creative process and be able to have an actual impact on our art.

Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: Oh wow, playing Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible was so challenging.  I loved being able to tell this love story of 2 real people caught up in a nightmare of lies and fear of that very specific time in our history instead of simply playing out the witchcraft story.(I really think this play is a love story and I'm sticking with that.)  I loved finding out more about John and Elizabeth and understanding why they loved each other so much. This tough love is what makes John's betrayal and ultimate imprisonment and death so terrible and pointless.  I also loved playing a psychopath in the one-act "Tell Me You Love Me", part of Hotel Suite. Being able to play such a deranged person who, on the surface, has no redeeming value. I liked the challenge of getting the audience on my side even as I tried to kill my husband with an axe. By the end of the play I have the audience’s sympathy while the man I am trying to kill has none, and that was remarkable. It was finding the subtle choices, believing in her humanity and finding out what drove her to make such extreme choices that made me want this play to continue as a full length.  There is so much more to her story and I want to know it!

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: More great concepts like Hotel Suite, a site specific show.  I have not seen this very often in NYC theater and doing it in a non-theater space was amazing.  I do want to do more heavy duty pieces like a few we have currently under consideration and this is the company with the balls to do it.  I also can't wait to re-start the creative process in writing a new play Henry's Wives.

Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: Everything!  I can't wait to continue working on Henry's Wives, re-mounting Hell Cab for Christmas (because this is SUCH a Christmas story) and I am really excited for our Fall Mainstage show even though I don't know what it is yet!

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: Yes, I have seen RSP grow into a mature company and as one of the older companies in Indy theater , we have been intimately involved with the growth of NYC's Indie theater community.  We have more staff now, including a Literary Manager and our student internships have been a benefit to us as well as the students.  I have evolved as an actor I think!  I also like the idea of producing more interesting and disturbing original works.  But then, I'm not one for pretty plays with pretty people.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I write a regular political blog "Burke's Law" on the www.ClydeFitcheport.com website. Go, click, read, comment.   I have been politically active for years working on many campaigns as well as producing large scale events. But now I work full time as Sr. Coordinator, Global Strategies for Cardiovascular Research Foundation. It's time to settle down to a real job so I can act more.

Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: Well, it may go back to the first play I did with them, the Ghost of Greenbriar County. The whole premise of the piece is ridiculous especially since the writer has become some sort of dominatrix.  She also claims the story is about her family and true.  But then she is a dominatrix so I won't argue.  But the best  part is when our space got flooded and we had only a few days to locate a new theater that could do the show and was affordable and was in Manhattan and was available. That Akia and David Anthony were able to do all those things, finding a theater and saving the show made me realize I found the right company with which to work.

Meet Kervin

Welcome to our Meet the Company Series.
Over the next few weeks we will be posting interviews with Ensemble, Staff, Guest Artists & Interns to give you a chance to get to know us as a company a little better. 

Meet: Kervin Peralta

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Almost a Year

Q: What is your primary function within the ensemble?
A: I’m an Actor

Q: Why is RSP your Artistic Home?
A: Everyone is passionate about theatre. You see the love in our work. What keeps me here is the fact that it’s a true ensemble. Everyone has your back.

Q: What was your favorite RSP show or Role? Why?
A: The one and only Mickey the shoes Profliano in this summer’s Shhh.. It’s a speakeasy.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: I look forward to doing work that can help me flex my acting muscles, and continue to grow as an artist.

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: Yes, I see a more cohesive unit. As for myself, I’ve continued what I learned in study to free myself.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I’m a puppeteer at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater

Q: Please share a favorite experience with RSP
A: Had a blast doing Mikey the Shoes, Hotel Suite was an awesome experience as well.

Learn more about our ensemble here

Hello blogging world! It's been a while since we last posted. Here's what's going on for Rising Sun Currently:

-We are participating in the Blaze of Glory festival click here for more details.
Horse Trade Theatre Group, one of our long time partners, is sadly losing one of it's spaces, The Red Room. This festival runs throughout March and schedules as many shows as possible into the space's last days as a theatre!
Our shows are:
Stripper Lesbians- March 28 and 29 at 10:30 pm
Goodnight Lovin Trail and On Top (a double feature!) 10:30 pm

-We are in the process of vetting works for the rest of our upcoming season!

-We are growing! Check out our growing ensemble and Rising Sun Staff at http://risingsunnyc.com/who-we-are.html.

-Company member Michael Aguirre is this year's resident playwright!

-We will be attending the ARTNY Internship fair this weekend to look for new interns!

-AND we will be attending the TRU auditions to look for potential guest artists!

SO as you see we have been a busy, busy company. Continue checking the website and facebook pages for regular updates about upcoming events and the new season!

INVITE FRIENDS:
https://www.facebook.com/events/514748951908573/
https://www.facebook.com/events/561456750539748/

In the past few weeks New York has witness a lot: a hurricane, a snowstorm, and a little something called Hotel Suite.

As of this past Sunday, Rising Sun Performance Company completed our most ambitious project yet. Hotel Suite was a site specific theatre piece performed at Hostelling International at 103rd and Amsterdam in the Upper West Side. With most of experimental theatre and Rising Sun's pieces occurring in lower Manhattan, we ventured uptown to find the perfect venue for our project: three full length productions sharing a single hotel room. Our endeavor was no easy task, and it took support from an amazing network of people to make this happen. Here's a few of the factors that went into this project and the folks who made the pieces fall in place.

1. Dramatists Play Service- This company owns the rights to Bug, a show that Akia has wanted to direct for several years. Finally, this past year Dramatists issued Rising Sun the rights to be the first off-off-Broadway company in NYC to produce BUG.

2. Our Company- We have an amazing company this year. Everyone from the Rising Sun staff, the actors, the interns, and our other key support members are what made Hotel Suite deliver a set of awesome shows to the NY theatre community.

3. Our Donors- This project was ambitious in several ways, one of which was finances. We are a small grassroots theatre company with little in the way for budget. Our indie gogo campaign raised over $5000 to be our most successful fundraising campaign ever!

4. Hostelling International- Location, location, location. This was one of our biggest hurdles in producing Hotel Suite: finding a location that fit our needs willing to host us for over a month. Hostelling International gladly took us in, promoted and supported the show, and let us completely rent out a performance space and dressing area for a month. Believe me in NYC that is extremely rare!

5. Our Playwrights- Yes, yes, Tracy Letts and Sam Shepard are amazing, but what about the six playwrights who wrote the one acts featured in Room 128? These guys were chosen from tons of entries for one act plays set in hotel rooms. The entire company was involved in the selection process, and our final product was a diverse set of plays ranging from seductive donuts and raging Elizabethans to a not so happy ex-wife and a kooky clown and bellhop. 

6. The New York Theatre Community- Rising Sun is supported by a huge network of theatre groups including but not limited to: Horse Trade Theatre Group, NY Innovative Theatre Awards, The Field, Fractured Atlas, NYFA, and Materials For The Arts. 

SO...thanks to all of these people we did it! We did cancel a few shows, but we were able to add a couple additional performances for those patrons who missed the show due to Sandy. 

Finally...here is the list of donors!!! Thanks to everyone for making this dream a reality!

Anonymous X 10,  Aaron Balaster, Alison Berry, Andrea  Alton, Andrea Wachter, Anna Gorman, Ashleigh Herndon, Becky Rygg,  Bill Sharp, Billy Stephens, Blake Matzen, Charissa Jones, Colin Lewellyn, Dana Martin, Darsell Brittingham, Deborah Wolfson, Denie Roche, Dennis & Donna DeSimone, Dennis M Moore, Diana Byrne, Donna, Donnetta Grays, EJ Assi, Elena Naskova, Elizabeth Burke,  Emily Elam, Giovanna Fasolino, Henri Socha, Holli Handlogten, Hubley, Jacquelyn Rocha, Jamie Cummings Jason Le Master, Jason Tyne-Zimmerman, Jchoos, Jeffrey Keenan, Jena McRae, Jessica Bhargava, Jim and Barb Aguirre, John K. Hart, Jorel VanOs, Josh Hyman, Josh M Roche, Karen Libman ,  Karron Karr, Kate Foster,  Kathryn Grant, Katy Grimes, Kelley Evans,  Kristen Gonzalez, Kristin Konopka, Larry Gevirtz, Laurel Ryan, Lauren Stockner, Leal Vona,  Lory A Henning, Marian Welch-Evans, Mark Cornell, Mary Hawkins,  MaryAnn DeSimone, Maryellen Burns, Matthew Cornell, Matthew DeCoster, Meg Carstens, Megan R Becker, Meri Minatel, Mia Anderson,  Michael J Richards, Michael Jaros, Michael Walker, Michele Mossay, Mimi  Jefferson, Miriam Goldberg, Nina Psihoules, Paul Fengler, Rachel Klein,  Rich Weksberg, Robin Dennis, Ruth Williams Hennessy, Sahadev  Poudel, Salli Squitieri, Sarah Norris,  Sarah Whicker , Scott Eddlemon, Selina Troesch, Sharone Halevy,  Shay Gines, Shoshana Freisinger, Stacy Alley,Stephanie Plaitin ,Stephanie Pruett, Steve & Cynthia Collier, Susan Bell, Susan Russell, Susan Tarran, Tahra Millan, Tim Butterfield, Toni Rafferty, Tzipora Kaplan, Amanda Berry, Una Osato, Veronica,  Vincent DiGeronimo, Zhubin Parang

Hello Blogging World!

This a new thing for me, although I once did have a live journal back in high school (circa the pre-facebook, pre-twitter, my space was coolest thing ever era). Now there are people who have made "social media" into a career. Yes. I kid you not. Celebrities and musicians are hiring people to manage their online appearance and networking (who knows- that twitter feed you follow for your favorite celebrity may be carefully managed by a technology savvy 20 something). All this aside- let's talk about Rising Sun and what is going on in our little (big) world.


We are currently in production for our massive undertaking of a theatrical adventure we like to call "Hotel Suite." Hotel Suite is a compilation of Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, Tracy Lett's Bug, a series of brand new one act plays, and our new adventure into the darker synapses of the mind Living Statues. All of these pieces will be performed in a rotating repertory in a non-traditional hotel space (location to be announce VERY soon please check our social media pages for more updates). Our audiences will be very small (around 30 people per show) and will be in a very intimate space with the actors. Now this might not be the Sleep No More style show where your husband may get pulled into a closet by a very sexy woman while you are lost in a ballroom forest- but we hope to create a new experience for the audience and actor  by putting drugs, sex, murder and government conspiracies only a few feet away with no magical proscenium picture window.

We are all very excited for this project. Last night at a bar someone asked me my favorite type of theatre. My answer was "meaningful." Because truthfully that is what all theatre actors strive for (we aren't in it for the fame or money- trust me)- making art that affects the audience. We want to make you think, make you sweat, shift uncomfortably in your seat, laugh so hard you forget about everything back in the real world, and leave the theatre with a new idea. So in the search for meaningful theatre- I see a lot of promise in this project. So audience- fill those seats and let us change your perspective- maybe for just a minute- and help us do what we love!

Now on to the social media fun stuff:
1. Hotel Suite is a costly endeavor so we are currently running an indie go-go campaign to help support our efforts! Please take a few minutes to watch or awesome video featuring our company members and the talents of song writer Michael Burns (also a company member). While visiting the video feel free to drop us $5 towards or project!
http://www.indiegogo.com/RSPHotelSuite?c=home&a=366665

2. Visit our show's facebook page for photos, updates, and ticket links! Tell your friends!
http://www.facebook.com/RSPHotelSuite

3. And visit the Rising Sun Website to learn more about the company, the company members, past, present and future projects!


http://www.risingsunnyc.com/

ASHLEIGH

Alfresco Theatre

Hi guys!  Sam C. here.  (Crazy that we have TWO Sams in RSP now.  The more, the merrier, I say!)

I wanted to bring up a summer treat that I have been taking advantage of lately - alfresco theatre.  We are halfway through summer and the humidity has settled into our pores.  Sometimes it takes a swift kick in the bootie shorts to even exit an air conditioned building.  (You know I'm right.)  But I urge you, theatre-lovers to push yourself to see some outdoor theatre before summer is over.  Single tear.

Outdoor shows flood NYC public parks (and parking lots) during the warmer months.  As we know, the Public Theater hosts Shakespeare in the Park and people line up at the crack of dawn for tickets.  But you don't have to sleep in Central Park in order to score some outdoor theatre deliciousness.  No, friends.  In the past two weeks, I ventured out of doors to see not one, but two Shakespeare plays, and neither of them were at the Delacorte. 

Smith Street Stage recently closed Twelfth Night in Carroll Park, conveniently close to the F train and Shakespeare In The Parking Lot just opened Merry Wives of Windsor down on the Lower East Side.  Both productions had shining moments and less stellar ones, but due to the nature of alfresco theatre, the pitfalls didn't bother me much because of some glorious aspects of most outdoor theatre...

Alfresco theatre:

*is often FREE!!!!  How's that for a recession special, folks?  Due to the open nature of parks and outdoor spaces, companies can't/don't want to charge their patrons.  Yes, they often ask for donations, but it's your choice to donate (and you SHOULD, as we actors are poor and so we can keep providing said free theatre to you)

*allows you to bring a PICNIC!  Who doesn't love picnics?  I was prepared with guacamole, chips, sandwiches, fruit salad, sparkling water....but I was definitely eyeing the provisions of other audience members

*is completely UNSTUFFY.  Sprawl out on a mat, sit cross-legged on the grass, even perch on a free folding chair or bench.  Seating options abound.  Also, sometimes, we're running late due to trains, etc. and we can't get into a theatre because we aren't allowed and/or we don't want to be rude.  But with outdoor theatre, audience members can come and go as they please.  Kids will run around in the background; a jogger ran through the performance of Twelfth Night I saw.  Much of the fun of outdoor theatre is the environment and the randomness that can occur during each show. 

*it's about COMMUNITY outreach.  What better way to advertise a company than to provide free theatre that is available to all ages and classes because it pops up in a public park?  Most companies have a mailing list sign-up on hand, which is a smart way to go.  And if you attend a show one summer and enjoy it, chances are you'll show up the next summer and bring friends!  Bonus - outdoor theatre inspires a new generation of artists and audience members (toddlers LOVE theatre).

So go forth, dears!  Grab a blanket or a beach chair, pack a picnic basket (I might steal yours - I don't have one and I WANT one), gather some loved ones or head out solo and find some outdoor theatre near you! 

Off to find a red-checkered tablecloth....

Sam C.