Friday, July 20, 2007

"Shot House"

Shot House is a one-act play set in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama in 1964. Dark, funny and finally heartbreaking, it's about Billy, a man trapped by a desire to be free of all things and a richly colorful talker who sells liquor illegally from his shot house. Billy's house is inhabited by characters Billy sees, but the audience does not: Scooter, a fellow WWII vet whom Billy throws out when he starts to moan about what he used to have — namely, legs and a wife; Creola, whose job is to roll Scooter’s "crippled ass" on out of the place; the Boy, Billy’s son; and most importantly and dramatically, Annie Laurie, the woman of Billy’s life, who even has beautiful feet.

It made its debut in July 2007 at the Ogresse theater in Paris. The playwright, Quinton Cockrell, acted the play, directed by Bethe Ensey.

Thanks are due to the musicians who offered their time and talents to play after the show: Stéphane Beaussart, Zinc-Breaks (Ahmed and Tristan), Chris Kenna, John Simms and Miguel, Lari Lucien of 21st Century Folks and Miles Turney.
And to friends who offered us their help and advice: Mutata of the Ogresse theater, Dietlind Lerner & Chris Thomas, Jack Cannon & Cheryl Hall, Chelethia Williams, Jeanne Bernard and Romilly Masters.

Perry and Quinton
Perry and Quinton

Here is a version of the script of Shot House.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Two more

The first two performances went swimmingly, and the folks in the audience were all impressed by and appreciative of Quinton's play and his performance.

Thanks to John Simms, Ahmed and Tristan of Zinc-Breaks, Stéphane Beaussart and Chris Kenna, who played and sang after the show.

Next week, Lari of 21st Century Folks will join us on Thursday and Ahmed, Tristan and Chris on Friday. Hope to see y'all then.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

A bite to eat?

If you would like to have a bite to eat at the show, please let the theater know, by telephone at 01 4036 9515 or by mail at logresse@free.fr.
For those who would like to eat before the show, we'll be opening the doors at 7 p.m. You can also eat after the show.

Une information de plus - Si vous voulez manger, merci de prévenir le théâtre, par téléphone à 01 4036 9515 - ou par mail à logresse@free.fr.
Nous allons ouvrir à 19h pour ceux qui veulent manger avant le spectacle. On peut aussi manger après.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Bethe's story, and other updates

Thanks to a house move and subsequent nomadic use of Internet in cafés with WiFi, I've not been updating this much. I've got lots to put on soon (and my ISP tells me my service should be working tonight), but for the moment, I'll stick to telling about a few things:

The director

Bethe Ensey has recently directed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and God's Man in Texas for the Little Theater players in Birmingham, The 1940's Radio Hour at the Hoover Library Theater, assistant directed Love's Labours Lost at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and directed numerous children's plays at the Birmingham Children's Theater.

Here's her bio.

What's the play about, you ask?

Shot House is a one-act play set in semi-rural Alabama in 1964. Dark, funny and finally heartbreaking, it's about Billy, a man trapped by a desire to be free of all things and a richly colorful talker who sells liquor illegally from his shot house. Billy's house is inhabited by characters Billy sees, but the audience does not: Scooter, a WWII vet whom Billy throws out when he starts to moan about what he used to have — namely, legs and a wife; Creola, whose job is to roll Scooter’s "crippled ass" on out of the place; the Boy, Billy’s son; and most importantly and dramatically, Annie Laurie, the woman of Billy’s life, who even has beautiful feet.

Q in Paris

Quinton singing at the Biz'Art, photo by Caro YgorraAs well as being a talented actor and playwright, the bird can chirp. Q's been singing along with los Caballeros Simpáticos at some of our gigs. The proof is in the pictures.

The Ogresse

Here is an article about the theater and the artist who runs it.