Down the Moonlit Path
Presented by Nothing Without a Company
Spring 2015
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Director's Note
I have always found it inspiring that all of us, everywhere, have a shared desire to relate our histories and share our experiences through story. In the earliest folk and fairy tales, we find the base for every artistic endeavor humanity has taken since we first became storytellers. Every society, large or small, ancient or modern, has some set of tales that define how they see the world and how they move within it. Through these tales we find our deepest human truths, explore our greatest fears and joys and celebrate the themes important to us all.
Down the Moonlit Path is a celebration of the most basic human desires to share our stories with one another and to explain our world through imagination and play. The nine tales represented in this work are interwoven, flowing in and out of each other, with the hope that a non-traditional theatrical interaction will bring to light shared themes that would be missed upon seeing each story straight through. Through an ambitious design, we hope to achieve the magic and other-worldly qualities found in these tales and to invite a new interaction by breaking out of the confines of a seated audience. In first envisioning and then further developing this work, it was supremely important to me that we highlight the diversity of human oral traditions. I initially chose to showcase stories from around the globe, instead of more familiar tales of a European variety, and was lucky enough to find an adapter and researcher that fully supported this effort from the very beginning of our work together. It has been a joy to work with such a diverse group of actors to represent the tales of these peoples with respect and honesty and it is with that desire that we have put our eyes to this work.
It has been my greatest pleasure as a director and collaborator to explore these global tales and to bring to life these characters with such an amazing team of artists. I am especially thankful to have found such a worthy adapter in Tate A. Geborkoff, such an open and unbiased eye in Kevin Sparrow and such a supportive producing body in Nothing Without a Company and its leader, Anna Rose Ii-Epstein. I have been waiting to breathe life into this project for six years and am so excited to see it bursting with that life on stage. I invite you, our audience and final collaborator in this work, to explore this great big world of ours by celebrating one of the earliest modes of our human interaction.
- Rachel Staelens
Down the Moonlit Path is a celebration of the most basic human desires to share our stories with one another and to explain our world through imagination and play. The nine tales represented in this work are interwoven, flowing in and out of each other, with the hope that a non-traditional theatrical interaction will bring to light shared themes that would be missed upon seeing each story straight through. Through an ambitious design, we hope to achieve the magic and other-worldly qualities found in these tales and to invite a new interaction by breaking out of the confines of a seated audience. In first envisioning and then further developing this work, it was supremely important to me that we highlight the diversity of human oral traditions. I initially chose to showcase stories from around the globe, instead of more familiar tales of a European variety, and was lucky enough to find an adapter and researcher that fully supported this effort from the very beginning of our work together. It has been a joy to work with such a diverse group of actors to represent the tales of these peoples with respect and honesty and it is with that desire that we have put our eyes to this work.
It has been my greatest pleasure as a director and collaborator to explore these global tales and to bring to life these characters with such an amazing team of artists. I am especially thankful to have found such a worthy adapter in Tate A. Geborkoff, such an open and unbiased eye in Kevin Sparrow and such a supportive producing body in Nothing Without a Company and its leader, Anna Rose Ii-Epstein. I have been waiting to breathe life into this project for six years and am so excited to see it bursting with that life on stage. I invite you, our audience and final collaborator in this work, to explore this great big world of ours by celebrating one of the earliest modes of our human interaction.
- Rachel Staelens
Adapter's Note
I've always been fascinated by fairy tales and mythology. When I was young, my two favorite books to read with my mother were Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Favorite Greek Myths by Mary Pope Osborne. Alongside my love for these volumes of stories, I also become an avid gamer at a very young age. The video games I've enjoyed most over the past 28 years have been deeply tied to the stories and histories of the past and, in many ways, they are the mythologies, fables and fairy tales of the modern age.
Looking back, it’s obvious these stories were key building blocks for me as an artist. They've stayed with me and found their way into many of the stories I’ve told throughout my career.
What's so important about both classic and modern fairy tales is their purpose: They stand as an alternative to moralistic fables so that children can better learn to deal with the hardships of life. Even today, these stories are vital and empowering. The ambiguity of choice that waits at the heart of fairy tales still vividly prepares us for the darkness of modern life. They are still told and retold because they speak to our secret desires, our own agency in this world, and all of our human complexities and their consequences.
At our initial meeting, director Rachel Staelens spoke about the importance of focusing on what makes us the same in a world that emphasizes our differences. Every day it seems our leaders and the click-hungry media drive a wedge anywhere they can. But after carefully researching these stories and cultures from around the world, one thing became crystal clear to everyone involved in this production: No matter who we are, no matter what our backgrounds, we are very much the same.
Most of the stories we chose for this production will be unfamiliar to you; most were new to me, too. But I deeply believe that you’ll find yourself, someone you know or something that speaks to your experience in each of these nine tales. And I hope, after you travel down the moonlit path with us, you'll leave feeling a little closer to our big world.
- Tate A. Geborkoff
Looking back, it’s obvious these stories were key building blocks for me as an artist. They've stayed with me and found their way into many of the stories I’ve told throughout my career.
What's so important about both classic and modern fairy tales is their purpose: They stand as an alternative to moralistic fables so that children can better learn to deal with the hardships of life. Even today, these stories are vital and empowering. The ambiguity of choice that waits at the heart of fairy tales still vividly prepares us for the darkness of modern life. They are still told and retold because they speak to our secret desires, our own agency in this world, and all of our human complexities and their consequences.
At our initial meeting, director Rachel Staelens spoke about the importance of focusing on what makes us the same in a world that emphasizes our differences. Every day it seems our leaders and the click-hungry media drive a wedge anywhere they can. But after carefully researching these stories and cultures from around the world, one thing became crystal clear to everyone involved in this production: No matter who we are, no matter what our backgrounds, we are very much the same.
Most of the stories we chose for this production will be unfamiliar to you; most were new to me, too. But I deeply believe that you’ll find yourself, someone you know or something that speaks to your experience in each of these nine tales. And I hope, after you travel down the moonlit path with us, you'll leave feeling a little closer to our big world.
- Tate A. Geborkoff
Down the Moonlit Path is presented by Nothing Without a Company (NWaC). For more information about Nothing Without a Company, click on the logo.
Special Thanks
Will & Lana Staelens
David Stookey
DePaul Theatre School
The Chicago Park District
And all of the other caped crusaders who donated to or supported our cause!
IndieGoGo Donors-
Homies ($10-$29):
Marlon Servellon
Rebecca Kling
Romeo Green
Jill Sandmire
Eric Lindberg
Bea Westrate
Healing Concepts
Tony
Kaxtia Mariagomez
Emilia Zuckerman
Kathleen Conklin
Two Anonymous Donors
Total Enablers ($30-59):
Tobi Mat tingly
Jamie Madison
Michelle Krallman
Lailah Farah
Rwinder93
Max Bever
Adan Gutierrez
Jonathan Covin-Blackburn
Shae Boyd
Joshua Sumner
Colin Smith
Carol Macmillan
Kelly C Buell
Dean Corrin
Julia Wiatr
Lissettealv
Anonymous
Lifesavers ($60-$99):
Josh & Tobi Mattingly
Suki Cho
Bryan Leroy Koontz
Andrea Rose Sumner
I Was a Human Boy
Isaac Martis
Stephanie Dixon
Anonymous
Hottest of the Hot ($100-$499):
Stephanie Shum
Sean Graney
No Room For Thomas
Vered Story
Ikensl
Jb Planey
Bruce and Cecelia Baty
Jordan Bouvier
M Jason Stipp
Anonymous
OMG's ($500-$999):
Stephanie Berliant
Rene Brown
Anonymous
Executive Producers ($1000!):
Lisa & Danilo Kovilic
Others:
Stranglewood
Tyler Ullrich
Sharon and Gary Moellers
David Stookey
DePaul Theatre School
The Chicago Park District
And all of the other caped crusaders who donated to or supported our cause!
IndieGoGo Donors-
Homies ($10-$29):
Marlon Servellon
Rebecca Kling
Romeo Green
Jill Sandmire
Eric Lindberg
Bea Westrate
Healing Concepts
Tony
Kaxtia Mariagomez
Emilia Zuckerman
Kathleen Conklin
Two Anonymous Donors
Total Enablers ($30-59):
Tobi Mat tingly
Jamie Madison
Michelle Krallman
Lailah Farah
Rwinder93
Max Bever
Adan Gutierrez
Jonathan Covin-Blackburn
Shae Boyd
Joshua Sumner
Colin Smith
Carol Macmillan
Kelly C Buell
Dean Corrin
Julia Wiatr
Lissettealv
Anonymous
Lifesavers ($60-$99):
Josh & Tobi Mattingly
Suki Cho
Bryan Leroy Koontz
Andrea Rose Sumner
I Was a Human Boy
Isaac Martis
Stephanie Dixon
Anonymous
Hottest of the Hot ($100-$499):
Stephanie Shum
Sean Graney
No Room For Thomas
Vered Story
Ikensl
Jb Planey
Bruce and Cecelia Baty
Jordan Bouvier
M Jason Stipp
Anonymous
OMG's ($500-$999):
Stephanie Berliant
Rene Brown
Anonymous
Executive Producers ($1000!):
Lisa & Danilo Kovilic
Others:
Stranglewood
Tyler Ullrich
Sharon and Gary Moellers