December 24, 2011
Hello again!
So I just finished going through this amazing footage and couldn’t wait to share it with you.
As you already know, “Out of the Box” chronicles the story of five
museum artifacts–a Ben Franklin dummy, a statue of Princess Anastasia, a
T-Rex skeleton, a painting of a famous baseball player, and a country
music concert poster–as they work together to create an amazing exhibit
and save the job of Emily, the museum curator. Naturally, as we created
the play, we turned to the unique talents of each of our amazing actors:
For example, Teddy already knew so much about inventions and was so
interested in improv-ing about Time Travel, it was an obvious choice to
cast him as Ben Franklin and allow the character to explore each of the
other characters’ time periods and lives. For Jake, who has an extensive
knowledge of (and unparalleled passion for!) country music, we would
have been remiss not to allow him a chance to perform a musical number.
Early in the show, Jake’s character shows the group his “favorite
song to play when [he] was alive” and performs country legend Hank
Williams’ standard “So Lonesome I Could Cry.” But the truly amazing part
comes later in the play, when the whole group talks about how museums
house stories and memories of such a wide array of people and events,
not just any one thing. Jake’s character reminds us about how country
music is similar; often country songs tell stories of past events and
remind us never to forget. And then, you guessed it, he sings an
original song with the group.
So how to create that moment?! We couldn’t have been luckier. And it couldn’t have been more fun:
Harold Allen, country singer and the centerpiece of Harold Allen and
the Bonfire Choir (a country band that has toured the country, opened
for Leann Rimes, and just released their first live album!) came into
Daytime Moon a week before the show to work with Jake to write the
song!! It was an amazing experience for Jake to be able to work with
someone as excited as he is about legends like Johnny Cash, Hank
Williams and Kris Kristofferson, and it was great that Jake was able to
be in the driver’s seat with some of the writing, really working with
Harold to create the final song (In Harold’s words, “Copyright Harold
Allen and Jake.”)
The song they wrote was absolutely perfect for the show: sweet,
melodic, touching, and country to the core. Check out part of the video
from their work session:
And here are some amazing shots taken by photographer Benjamin Sidoti:
Harold's
guitar--this guitar has played in Nashville, strummed the chords of
Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, and toured the country with Harold Allen
and the Bonfire Choir. Jake was beside himself with excitement!
Harold and Jake singing "So Lonesome I Could Cry"
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| So happy!! |
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| Celebrating all of their hard work |
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| Jake trying on Harold's cowboy hat |
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| Showing off their original song, "Museums and Memories" |
Hope you enjoyed!
Jenna
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