Upright Egg Street Team’s Blog

This is the season in which we take the time to reflect on the things for which we are thankful.

2009 has been a great year for Upright Egg, and we’d like to thank all the wonderful people that have come to share the experience of live theatre with us.

We are thankful for In The Basement Productions, for inviting us to participate in Love Bites at Station 4 – it was a great evening of theatre that they curated.

We then turned our attention back to our home in the Tilsner, and began work on “ReCollect” for the spring art crawl- we are very thankful this year to the Tilsner and the entire Co-operative. The building has been our home now for three years, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the artists and staff of the building, for making the space a true community.

In June, we welcomed for a second year Jeremy Pickard to town to work on a new show. Our workshop of Venus debuted at the end of that month to a small group of friends. We are thankful to Superhero Clubhouse for coming over to the Twin Cities and to the new friends we made along the way.

Following the workshop, one company member joined two more Eggs in New York City to give Venus its world premiere at the New York City Fringe Festival in August. Many thanks to folks in Astoria for hosting!

We took a group of Eggs to Geneva, MN to participate in the Harvest Festival thanks to the invitation from Wookiefoot to spread make-believe and for one of our favorite new sayings “Be Fearless and Play!”

The play we did in Geneva inspired our next project, “The Weight of the World” which debuted at the Fall Art Crawl in our new space on the first floor of the Tilsner! We are thankful for all the folks that helped us move downstairs, and of course everyone who joined us in Turtle Cave and left a little something behind.

We just finished our run of “The Magnitude of a Freckle” during the 2009 Quickies show at the Bryant Lake Bowl. We are very thankful to The Flower Shop Project for the invitation to join them and others to perform this November.

And NOW, we’re very thankful for the opportunity to share with everyone our third annual Present Project! We hope you’ll join us for another round of delicious food, great prizes and a warm holiday feeling in your special place! We hope to see you there!!

Give to the MAX today with that mad box office revenue!

Tuesday, November 17, from 8 am to 8 pm, is GIVE TO THE MAX day. Just log on to GiveMN.org and type _____ in the “Find a nonprofit” box and your donation to ____ will be matched. The Saint Paul Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Bush Foundation have committed $500,000 in matching funds to support nonprofit organizations in our community for this one day only.

Here’s the website http://givemn.razoo.com/

$1 becomes $2 ! 25 becomes 50 ! You get the idea!

But here’s the best part Upright Egg fans! Upright Egg’s Present Project is raising money this year for District 202, a non-profit dedicated to providing social, cultural and educational opportunities by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and their friends, ages 21 and under.

We want to get a head start on supporting this year’s Present Project Charity! Anything you donate via the link below will be DOUBLED by the efforts of The Saint Paul Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Bush Foundation.

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/District-202

If you’ve got a favorite local non-profit company, give them some love too! Happy Give to the MAX day everyone!

Good morning Egg-thusiasts! Too far? Yeah, probably.

We’re happy to announce that in addition to our website and our presence on Facebook and Myspace, you will be able to find videos of us on our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/UprightEggTheatreCo

If you missed us at the Art Crawl this year, you can catch a recording of our performance of “The Weight of the World,” A Cave Tour/Myth/Theatrical Ritual in three small parts.

The page also has some clips from our production in the Summer of 2007 of “Uranus,” one of playwright (and Egg Company Member) Jeremy Pickard’s Planet Plays. (for more info on that and Jeremy’s work in NYC, check out his Theatre Co, Superhero Clubhouse)

Expect a few clips from the time machine to resurface from “The Love Project” in the coming months as well.

In the mean time, are you excited yet for Quickies?!!?! You should start now so you’ll be ready when it arrives this November at the Bryant-Lake-Bowl.

And then, before you know it, The PRESENT PROJECT will be back for scenes not unlike this one from 2008:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Friday morning, everyone!

Upright Egg is a big supporter of Saint Paul, and we’re very excited for next weekend and the Saint Paul Art Crawl! The mission of the crawl is to create an artist-run venue which facilitates a mutually beneficial and meaningful interaction between the arts community and the public. Upright Egg thinks that is pretty Cool!

We’ll be at our home in Lowertown Saint Paul, The Tilsner’s Artists’ Cooperative. In addition to all the beautiful and striking visual art, there will be lots of other forms of entertainment at the Tilsner and throughout the Crawl’s over 30 locations!

Upright Egg will be presenting a brand-new, company created EVENT!

Part Theatre Part Ritual

“The Weight of the World,” features UE company members Tim Daly, Matthew Hodge, Brian O’Neal, Matt Riggs and Larissa Shea (with sound from Jason Bucklin). The event is part theatre and part ritual. “The Weight of the World” includes a Tour of the world’s Oldest/Newest and Biggest/Smallest Cave, and stories from around the world.

Upright Egg Theatre Company seeks to understand and encourage participation in our collective human experience by creating works driven by a spirit of play, risk and community that embrace the magic of the theatrical event.

happy Sunday, everyone!

It’s the first day of Veg Week, a week-long pledge individuals can take to eat less meat and animal products. Upright Egg is proud to have offered vegan fare for all of our Present Project Meals and for our food offerings at all of our performances. Veg Week is in its sixth-year, an idea put forth by Compassion Action For Animals.

Check out their website, maybe you’d like to pledge?

Or just take a moment to learn about CAA and the work they are doing.

Upright Egg will be presenting a new work during the Saint Paul Art Crawl in October, another new piece with Quickies in November, and our Third Annual Present Project (Again with a fully vegan meal!) this Decemeber. Hope to see you there!

Thinking about Veg Week? Us too!

Upright Egg traveled south this summer to Geneva, MN to take in a weekend of music and merrymaking.

This was the Egg’s second trip to the Harvest Festival, an annual concert at the end of each summer, put on by local band Wookiefoot.

This year’s event saw the return of several popular characters from the Egg’s last visit, the safari crew and the British Bobbies toured the grounds enforcing the fun!

Here are some photos from the weekend, you can find more at Upright Egg’s official Flickr page:

The Safari Crew

Our Gift for the Giving Tree

Our Campsite, also our Pirate Ship

We made lots of new friends and re-connected with some familiar faces. We’ve taken Wookiefoot’s new mantra to heart in our work this fall – we’re committed to “Be Fearless and Play” ! We’re excited for our return to Harvest Fest in 2010.

Ladies and Gents,
Upright Egg is returning this weekend to Harvest Festival! Two years ago, the company provided a weekend full of happenings and street theatre and this year expects to be even better! We’ll be setting up shop Thursday night and you’ll see us around in various forms all weekend long.

We’re bringing the magic of make-believe with the blessing of Wookiefoot, the festival’s hosts. Hope to see you there!

The festival takes place at Harmony Park in Geneva, MN September 10th through the 13th.

Hey P.S. ! – Also coming soon for the Egg: Quickies! St.Paul Fall Art Crawl! October is going to be BIG for Tiny Bites of Egg!

Hey Street Team fans,

As mentioned previously, the Eggs have been chillin out for the Summer, but things are beginning to heat up! Upright Egg will have members attending this year’s Harvest Festival in Geneva, MN to provide the fest with some choice make-believe!

We’ve got a project ready for the St.Paul Fall Art Crawl (October 11, 12 and 13) and later that same month the company will be performing a short play for Quickies, an annual showcase of shorts curated by the Flower Shop Project.

Planning has already begun for our third annual Present Project and we’ve got some really wonderful surprises in the works.

Stay tuned here for all that and more hijinks from the Street Team!

And the Upright Egg Street Team is super excited!

The Minnesota Fringe is a wonderful two weeks of theatre, and the Company has ties to several shows, all work checking out.

1. Company member and Street Teamer Brian Watson-Jones is co-author producer and performer in Bard Fiction, playing at the Rarig thrust.

2. Company member and Street Teamer Bryan Grosso is performing in Love me or DIE! at the Rarig Xperimental

3. Company member and Street Teamer Mark Benzel is performing in and co-producing Foolproof at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage

4. Street Teamer and Egg Friend Ariel Pinkerton is performing in The Dumb Waiter at the Playwright’s Center

5. Street Teamer and Egg friend Josh Humphrey is performing in Strange Weather at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage.

Go see some Fringe!

Here are Five more can’t miss shows for your opening Weekend!
1. Comedy Of Errors – Bedlam Theatre, performs in Bedlam’s parking lot. Can’t beat Bedlam’s take on the Bard!

2. The Traveling Musicians – 3 Sticks, performs at the Nomad World Pub. Brilliant performers and great songwriting combined for a real treat!

3. The Morning After the Summer of Love – Scream Blue Murmur, performs at Intermedia Arts. Spoken word that will thrill and entertain. From Ireland, the company that brought 2007’s Fringe Smash “Pack up yer Troubles.”

4. Squawk – Walking Shadow, performs at Gremlin Theatre. Walking Shadow Theatre Co. always serves up Fringe Magic and this time there’s a penguin!

5. Strong and Little Green Man – The New Theatre Group, performs at Theatre Garage. Fringe Essentials! Written by Dominic Orlando and directed by Brian Balcom, the company that brought the Fringe “How to Cheat” and last year’s “American Sexy,” returns with more dangerous games.

That’s right, Upright Egg’s home in Lowertown Saint Paul is moving – two floors down! We’re still going to be in the Tilsner, and the new space will have a larger stage and more room to stretch out than the current one. We’re super excited, so look for upcoming events in the new loft in the coming months!