BANNED Vintage performance preview trailer

We finally put together a video trailer for our preview performances at Vintage Theatre the last week in July. These days we send a group eMail to the cast, set up cloud directory and ask everyone to upload a video, then we take some of the April's music and ask our fearless leader to do an intro and background for the show, mash it all together and see what it looks like. Nothing over the top, it's really an organic process. Let us know what you think and please come by Vintage and enjoy the show!

BANNED preview tickets now available at Vintage Theatre website

BANNED the Musical - Edinburgh Preview
Thursday July 25 - Sunday July 28th
Vintage Theatre: TICKETS AVAILABLE

$15 General Admission Tickets

BANNED is a modern-day musical that follows a group of gender misfits through the events leading up to their debut at a local performing arts festival. The polarizing discourse around gender today goes beyond opinions and has real consequences in society. The characters in BANNED go online to live out their dreams and escape the harsh realities of the world. We witness the juxtaposition of their psyche online and offline, we experience their inner struggles with intimacy, authenticity and acceptance. If the root cause of inequality is marginalization, the remedy is inclusion.

Working draft for BANNED program flipbook

Converting a Microsoft Word document into a PDF and then an interactive flipbook is an eco-friendly way to provide your show's programs to your audience. The process is fairly straight forward and it's a "win-win" for audience goers, producers and most of all our environment. The only downside is it requires the user to have some sort of electronic device connected to the Internet.

Here's our working version of our Edinburgh program this year. When it's complete we'll create a sign with a QR-Code for the audience to access the program and we typically have a small number of the shortened program for individuals who may not have an electronic devices.

Early blocking and choreography rehearsal

We're in the preliminary stages of mounting the BANNED show now. Fortunately, we're at the same venue in Edinburgh as last year and we have all the basic dimensions of the stage and understand the subtle nuances of our theater's footprint. It feels like we're more comfortable locking our moves in this year, but early rehearsals always seem to go through scheduling conflicts.

Here's a short video of the first chorus.

It's important to take videos of your rehearsals so everyone in the troupe can review the progress. Typically, directors start with scene 1 and go from there so it's easy to setup a secure video directory with straight forward filenames. The song "The World Wide Web" is near the beginning of the show and it's all hands on deck. Everyone in the cast has a "mobile phone" and can be seen texting online throughout the song.

BANNED! mobile phone props for Edinburgh Fringe

Making theatre props is always fun and the BANNED show has several interesting challenges. First, all the characters use their cell phones to txt one another and we needed a prop to highlight the activity. The timing on these sorts of things is critical so it was important to give each actor the ability to turn on their phone as well as a theater tech the ability to flip all phones on and all phones off.

Here's a video of the final prototypes working in unison.

Making a realistic phone was pretty easy, we found some relatively thin puck lights that fit nicely between two electrical wall plates at Home Depot. It was like making a puck light sandwich! Using wall mounting machine screws and a nut to fasten them together, we added some foam padding to reduce vibration and stress. Then, it was off to the local arts and craft store (Michaels) for some personal design paper with an adhesive backing to differentiate each phone.

Please see our BANNED! website to purchase tickets and learn more. See you in Edinburgh!

BANNED tickets now available!

Tickets for our Musical BANNED are now available on the Fringe's website, use the "Find Shows" menu option or use this link: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/banned-the-musical to go directly to our page for more information.

BANNED tickets now available!

The Fringe's online ticketing system has lots of options and the Fringe organization has been super helpful with explaining all the ins and outs. Our venue is Riddle's Court and the theater is Willow Studio. It has a three quarter thrust stage and roughly 60 seats. We've tried to set the ticket prices at a reasonable price to accommodate everyone who wants to see our show. During the preview week we have all sorts of specials, the weekdays have some special offers too and of course the weekends are crazy. Hope we see you there...so excited!

Quad Rail Boards for the Edinburgh Fringe

With over one million people visiting Edinburgh’s festivals during August, outdoor posters are part of many participant’s marketing campaign toolbox. Working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, Out of Hand, a major outdoor advertiser, have built a wide range of highly visible, centrally located advertising sites throughout the city for Fringe performers to promote their shows.

BANNED Quad Rail Board Mockup

Their sites are positioned for maximum visibility around the Fringe performance areas, with sites outside the main venues, busy pedestrian walkways, main traffic routes and transport hubs. With over twenty different formats, there is something for all budgets and sizes of show to make a real impact on the streets of Edinburgh during.

BANNED Rail Board Concept

Their properties go real fast though, so you have to be ready for the kickoff in March. They launched there availability at noon in Scotland (6AM in Colorado) on March 26th. We had already gone through their media package beforehand and selected the best options for us. Their site opened right on time and after getting acclimated with there latest software we were able to secure several Quad Rail Boards right in the thick of things around Edinburgh.