NASTY 2017 IN THE SHADOWS

Following our NB IN ON IT tour way back in January of 2017 (12 months ago? Really?), which saw us play this wonderful MacIvor piece to folks in Moncton, Saint John, and Fredericton, the rest of this past year (those 12 months!) have been spent quietly creating, in the shadows. The spring saw the beginning of some preliminary work on creating a one-man show, and this past fall has found A STORY JONES coming to the point of some completion where it is now ready to stage, when we the necessary Shadows are ready sometime in the future.

2018 is Nasty Shadows’ 19th year of making theatre — proud of the production history as I glance back on it. The focus of late has been on writing and playing, which will continue to be the focus but I also want to offer performances for public consumption. This coming year will hopefully find a mix of both as work continues on developing FIRST LAST NOISE! for solo performance, but I will also be working with a yet-to-be-named collaborator to create a solo performance piece based on the writings of one of Nasty Shadows’ favourite playwrights … stay tuned for more on that as the year unfolds …

For now, happy new year and may the spin around 2018’s sun shine brightly on you while we remain in the Shadows …

scott

Scott Shannon
Actor / Director / Writer

“Acting is not a genteel profession. Actors used to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart. Those people’s performances so troubled the onlookers that they feared their ghosts. An awesome compliment.

Those players moved the audience not such that they were admitted to a graduate school, or received a complimentary review, but such that the audience feared for their soul. Now that seems to me something to aim for.”

— David Mamet

NASTY WRITING IN DEVELOPMENT

A STORY JONES
Notes – Dec 9/2017

A Story Jones cast: Michael + Matthew + Scott

First COMPLETE draft FINISHED! That said, there is still much to refine and work through, but these past couple of weeks found me discovering moments and confidently making decisions about where the text was headed when options presented themselves – this has been my biggest obstacle, I think. I find it hard to make a firm choice at times because I hate to close off avenues a character/idea/action might explore which can be fun in its own way, but this results in quite a messy text that isn’t much use beyond the games I can play with it home seated at my desk. I now feel we have a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end. Up until now it’s been a haphazard grouping of moments, shifting and ever changing. A STORY JONES now exists as a complete play, and it feels good to … READ MORE JONES NOTES >>>

FIRST LAST NOISE! Notes – Dec 19/2017(PM)

First Last NOISE! page2

As I read through the notes, it’s interesting this piece has gone full cycle from a one-man show > an ensemble piece > one-man show. I was struggling with the initial incarnation beyond my opening idea, but the ensemble version of the play led me in a more solid direction and coupled nicely with some other stuff that all takes place in the same world, while not being pre/sequels, just related stories. I had, in some sense, a full story developed for the ensemble version but unfortunately it just became to hard to get that many folks together for the time I needed – we almost did it in late/early 2014/15 but it never cam together. Nonetheless, that story became the backdrop for a few different pieces I’m developing, and A STORY JONES which we’ve just wrapped up in first complete draft.

NEW TITLE = FIRST LAST NOISE!
2nd TITLE = THE FIRST/LAST PLAY
ORIGINAL TITLE = WELCOME TO THIS (or Make That Noise!)

The nugget of this play began back in 2006, and before I discovered … READ MORE FIRST LAST NOISE NOTES >>>

— LINKS TO NASTY STUFF —

• Past Productions — find details about all past Nasty shows from 1999-Present
• Shadow Shows — Scott’s attempt to track development of Nasty new work
• Rehearsal Notes — ramblings by Scott about current and past rehearsals
• Reviews & Articles — media coverage from 1999-Present
• Theatrically Nasty Thoughts — random ponderings by Scott about this thing called “theatre”
• Shadows — here you can find information about members of the Company
  • Seen (Active Shadows in Current Productions)
  • Unseen (Hidden Shadows from Past Productions)

We are always looking for anyone interested in any aspects of backstage work, from publicity to stage managing, to technical work involving lights and sound — you folks are the true Shadows.

For those interested in working off-stage in any capacity, please send an email to nastyshadows@gmail.com at anytime with the subject line: NASTY CREW. Please include what your area of interest might be and any relevant experience you wish to note.

THE TABLE EXPERIMENTS (2011) by Scott Shannon
w/ Matthew Spinney, Michael Holmes-Lauder & Becky Forbes