Interacting with Sean and Bill, Veronica and Manny, Jason and Jessica (a theatre’s dream team) off stage, behind the scenes, sharing a common vision of providing this little theatre with the means to produce big, relevant and important works is so satisfying.

It’s my raison d’etre. In addition, it’s provided me a grand occasion to meet people in my broader San Diego community with whom I normally would not cross paths.

Wow! What I am experiencing through this fundraising process has far exceeded any expectation.

Like everyone these days, I’m a busy person with way too much on her plate. Besides being haunted by a daunting calendar, auction canvassing is time spent on activities that don’t directly increase my bottom line. Never mind that! More importantly, it compromises family time, which is primo to me. But being on this auction committee and having the opportunity to support something for which I passionately believe is just plain irresistible! I’m a sucker for a good time. That’s why I do it.

If I were tell you that this year’s Cygnet Gala to be held at The Prado in Balboa Park on Saturday April 24, 2010 will be its best yet, I would be telling the truth and nothing but.

The auction items that have been donated so far are unique, inventive, useful, and only acquired by bidding on them during the event’s silent or live auctions.

Need a new driver, putter, and bag stand? Callaway has donated them for this event. Interested in sharing an afternoon of wine tasting with Island Prime’s Chef Deborah Scott and Wine Director Maurice DiMarino and 8 of your friends? Or how about dinner for 6 guests with Sean and Bill, prepared by Sean, as Executive Chef? Ever dream about meeting The Phantom back stage in Vegas at this long running Andrew Lloyd Weber production? It could happen to you. And, of course, there are travel packages, spa services, jewelry, restaurant certificates, and in your home dinners provided by local chefs.

Now is a great time to join me, our incredible players, and other volunteers who are making this year’s event one that will be irresistible to everyone!

If you’d like to donate your time or an auction item, please email me at Lab4Us@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you See you at the Cabaret!

To start the season, we will revisit the works of Alan Ayckbourn, author of our immensely popular production of Communicating Doors. This time instead of traveling through time, we will visit the same time as seen in three different rooms, all of which get their own play! The Norman Conquests – which includes Table Manners, Round and Round the Garden and Living Together – revolve around Norman a charming library assistant, and the women in his life. Each play stands on its own, however, the fun is in seeing the entire trilogy as each play reveals unique secrets, surprising answers and loads of laughs. Directed by Artistic Director Sean Murray and Francis Gercke, The Norman Conquests will run in rep with the same six actors from July 28th through November 2nd, 2010.

For the holiday season, we are very happy to announce our fifth annual production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, adapted by Joe Landry. Each year, Cygnet audiences delight in this wintertime tradition. Tom Andrew will return with his San Diego Critics Circle Award winning performance as George Bailey, and the brilliant Scott Paulson will once again infuse the evening with his live, old-fashioned Foley sound effects ‘orchestra’. For Cygnet, the holidays wouldn’t be the holidays without the fictitious “WCYG Theatre of the Air” and the classic Frank Capra story in a “live” 1940’s radio broadcast filled with music and the beloved characters of Bedford Falls. It’s a Wonderful Life runs November 26th through December 31st, 2010.

We are incredibly honored and excited to begin 2011 with the World Premiere of The Commons by Stephen Metcalfe (author of the screenplay Jacknife, based on his off-Broadway play Strange Snow). Our staged reading of this powerful work, which focuses on a retired school teacher, his wife and the threatening of their beloved home, received overwhelming response and will now receive its premiere production with the same cast. Jim Winker and Associate Artistic Director Francis Gercke headline this moving, electrifying production. The Commons will play January 20th through February 20th, 2011.

In the Spring, we invite you into the Kit Kat Club as we explore the world of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret! Set in the tumultuous city of Berlin, just before Hitler’s rise to power, and based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories”, Cabaret introduces the interlocking stories of cabaret singer, Sally Bowles; the American writer, Cliff who takes her in and the other local denizens of a quickly changing society. Sean Murray directs the dark, daring and provocative musical that won 8 Tony Awards and includes the musical numbers Willkommen, Mein Herr and Maybe This Time?. Production dates for Cabaret are March 17th through May 15th, 2011.

We will close our season at Cygnet with the Pulitzer Prize winning Our Town by Thornton Wilder. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town stunned its audience when it was first presented for its audacious, almost avant garde simplicity. Director Sean Murray, picks up from there and brings a contemporary sensibility to the staging of one of the most beautiful and moving plays ever written. Playwright Thornton Wilder (The Matchmaker) explores the essence of life and living by focusing both on the minutia of daily life’s routines and necessities as well as the larger place mankind holds on the cosmic plane of our universe. The always surprising Our Town, with its sparse, lofty stage and 23-member cast promises to take us on an exploration of our humanity. Performances for Our Town will run June 9 through July 10, 2011.

We certainly hope you will join us for our eighth go-around and look forward to seeing you at the Old Town Theatre.

When I was a young bride and not very kitchen adept (I put butter in the pan to fry bacon!!! and my first jello salad was more like jello soup), this is the first cake I ever made. It turns out I could bake!! This cake immediately became our family ‘Birthday Cake’ tradition, affectionately known as ‘Aunt Vicki’s Chocolate Cake.’ WARNING – When I made it for my youngest son’s 15th birthday, I mistakenly left out the baking soda. Not recommended!! It was tasty but very chewy, more like a giant Oreo cookie than a cake.

• • 2/3 cup soft butter (the flavor’s in the fat, as my chef friend tells me)
• • 1 3/4 cups sugar (apologies to my many diabetic friends)
• • 2 eggs (sans shells, of course)
• • 1tsp. vanilla extract (not the fake stuff)
• • 2 1/2 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (in double boiler, never melt chocolate over direct heat)
• • 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (my grandmother never made cakes with any other flour)
• • 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda (Don’t forget this one)
• • 1/2 tsp. salt
• • 1 1/4 cups ice water (not sure why it has to be so cold but I’ve never tried it otherwise)

Cream together first 4 ingredients until fluffy. (Beat 5 minutes at high speed)
Blend in cooled chocolate.
Separately sift together cake flour, soda and salt;
Add to creamed mixture, alternating with ice water, beginning and ending with flour mixture – beat after each addition.
Bake in 2 greased and floured 9″ round pans at 350 degrees F (Don’t forget to preheat) for 35 minutes. It also works for cupcakes and loaf cake but the round layer is prettiest.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. When cake is cool to touch – FROST!

This is the frosting my mother taught me to make and at the end it’s a little by look and feel (you know how mothers cook).

• • 3 1/2 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
• • 3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• • 4 1/2 tbsp. hot water
• • 1 egg
• • 1/2 cup soft butter
• • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Melt Chocolate. Blend in sugar and water. Beat in egg, then butter and vanilla until of spreading consistency. If it’s too thin, place bowl in ice water and continue to beat. Or add a tiny bit more sugar.

Don’t forget to let the little ones (or the big ones) lick the bowl and spoons before washing.

Sean Murray’s Holiday Turkey Cranberry Chipotle Chili

This is my red and green Holiday Chili. The green comes from the tomatillos in the sauce (although it isn’t really all that green!) and the red from the fresh cranberries floating on the top of the chili. Make it as spicy as you desire. It’s great with cornbread.

• • 2 canned whole chipotle chilies in adobo (I do this to taste, I only use a half  the chilis in the can and the sauce for the chili. 2 cans can be pretty spicy, be cautious at the start, you can always add more to taste later.)
• • 2 lbs. fresh tomatillos or three 18-oz. cans whole tomatillos-drained (I found the canned tomatillos in a Mexican market, and they are so easy!!)
• • 2 large onions, chopped
• • 8 garlic cloves
• • 3 tbls. vegetable oil
• • 2 tbls. ground cumin
• • 4 lbs. ground turkey
• • 2 cups chicken broth
• • 1 bay leaf ( I use three because I like the flavor.)
• • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
• • 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• • 2 4-oz. cans mild green chilies, drained and chopped
• • 1 tbls. corn meal (This thickens the chili and I add about 2 more tablespoons if I want it thicker, personal taste)
• • 1 19-oz. can (about 2 cups) white beans, rinsed and drained
• • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• • 1-2 packaged fresh cranberries
• • sour cream and fresh chopped cilantro and onions as an accompaniment if desired

Puree the canned chipotle chilies in a blender. Reserve. Blanch the tomatillos in boiling water for 1-3 minutes or open the cans. Place the tomatillos in the blender and puree. Reserve the tomatillo puree.

In a large heavy kettle cook the onions and 5 of the garlic cloves, minced, in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the onions are softened, add the cumin, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add the turkey and cook the mixture, stirring and breaking up the lumps, until the turkey is no longer pink.

Add the reserved chipotle puree, the reserved tomatillo puree, the broth, the bay leaf, the oregano, and the salt and simmer the mixture, uncovered, adding more water if  necessary to keep the turkey barely covered, for 1 hour.

Stir in the bell pepper, the canned green chilies, and the cornmeal and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Stir in the white beans, the cilantro, the remaining 2 garlic cloves, minced, and salt to taste. Simmer the chili for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the beans are heated through, and discard the bay leaf.

Add the cranberries and after they begin to wilt or pop serve with a dab of sour cream and a pinch of fresh cilantro and sprinkle of chopped onion.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

1.

As most theatre buffs will tell you, the Globe Theatre in London has long-been considered one of the “most magnificent” theatres the city has every seen.  Shakespeare’s legendary theatre was built in the 16^th century by carpenter Peter Smith and his workers, and most arts-lovers of the day felt that no other theatre would ever match its accomplishments or stature.  Nor did many dare try.  The Swan Theatre became the Globe’s one major rival, continually striving to reach new heights in theatrical achievements, despite its later eminence.  Artistic Director Sean Murray was inspired by this driven-and-able historical theatre, and has held in the highest regard Craig Noel, the founding director of San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre.   As cygnet is the name for a baby swan, Sean liked the tongue-and-cheek title for his theatre.   Cygnet Theatre may have begun as a fledgling playhouse in a strip-mall, but we’ve got some big ambitions and some real cheek.

2. There’s a swan in every Cygnet set.

We at Cygnet love our namesake.  For this reason, every Cygnet set pays tribute with a swan hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) within the scenery.  The very first Cygnet show – Hedwig and the Angry Inch – included a giant paper mache swan head made entirely of paper plates which guarded the band’s drummer.  Copenhagen’s swan was displayed on the multiple chalk-boards. Set designer, Sean Fanning hand-drew a swan, along with notes, phone numbers and doodles on the Mauritius set’s bulletin board.  Escanaba in da’ Moonlight featured crates with a company logo swan stamped on their sides and A Little Night Music continued the tradition with a swan carved into Frederick’s elaborate bed.   Although they’re sometimes challenging to spot, the Cygnet swan will make its appearance in each and every season’s show.  Just another reason to enjoy a look around your next Cygnet set.

3. There’s a Ghost in the House.

Sure we’re theatre people and drawn to the dramatic, but we can’t deny the feeling that we’re not alone in here.  Our move to Old Town not only provided us some new digs, it seems that it came with a complimentary company member.  Nothing to worry about, of course.  The Old Town ghost – or Charlie, as he’s been named – seems to appreciate the entertainment.  We assume it’s why he’s stuck around and made his presence known to other theatre companies who made their home at the Old Town Theatre before us.  But he also seems to love a practical joke or two.  While we’ve become accustomed to his slamming doors and bumps in the night, we do wish he’d return the various props and costume pieces that have gone missing from our latest Cygnet productions.

The artist formerly known as Thom with Marci Anne Wuebben in A Little Night Music

4. Sean Murray isn’t His Real Name.

Artistic Director Sean Murray isn’t who he says he is.  His real name is Thomas Murray, but you tell that to Equity.   In order to get his Equity card, he had to choose a name that wasn’t already in their system, and his middle name seemed to be the next best choice.  Plus, Mama Murray was all for it.  When he asked her what she thought his Equity name ought to be, she told him that although he was a fifth generation “Thomas Murray”, if she’d had her druthers, his name would have been Sean anyway.  Of course, we love him as “Sean” as much as we’d love him as “Thom” but we DO wonder what else he’s not telling us.

5. Cygnet Theatre’s Wonderful Life Includes Some Real Radio Royalty.

Lovers of Cygnet Theatre’s It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, have come to recognize actor Jonathan Dunn-Rankin as cantankerous, old “Mr. Potter.”   But listen closely and you’ll hear the golden pipes of real radio royalty in his between-scene radio announcements.

Jonathan Dunn-Rankin in It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

At only 17 years old, Jonathan began working in radio in 1940s Florida.  He grew up to become one of the recognized, big-voiced 40s radio announcers of the era.  That broadcast history eventually brought Jonathan to San Diego where he spent many years as KFMB’s principle television newscaster. Artistic Director Sean Murray remembers watching him on Channel 8 regularly, never realizing they would one day work together.  Now Jonathan has become part of Cygnet’s annual holiday tradition.  This will be his third year of bringing his life experience to the stage.  As the station chimes play and he opens the show into the radio mike, don’t be surprised if you feel as though you’ve slipped back in time.

Sean’s Pancake Recipe
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed (optional)
1/2 cup Oat Bran (optional)
Sprinkle of Wheat Germ (optional)
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbs. Sugar (or Splenda)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
Dash of Cinnamon

1 Large Egg
1 Tbs. Melted Butter
Vanilla to taste
1 Cup Milk (more or less to create the batter consistency you prefer)
Chopped Walnuts
Fresh Blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the Flax and Oat Bran to taste. I eye it.

Add the egg, vanilla, and milk. For thinner pancakes go with a thinner batter (more milk), for thicker pancakes, a thicker batter (slightly less milk) Stir the liquids into the drys until the batter looks like you like it. Add the melted butter. Mix well.

Add the walnuts and blueberries.

Let it sit for a few minutes while the griddle gets hot.

Spray the griddle with Pam or something like that. You don’t want too much butter on the griddle.
Spoon the batter onto the griddle. When the edges begin to look cooked and small bubbles begin to form in the middle of the pancake, flip it over and let it finish cooking. Don’t let it burn!!

Add butter, of course and real maple syrup.
and above all, enjoy.

5) Hacienda Hotel. The Hacienda Hotel offers paid parking in their garage (just up Juan Street) for a minimal charge.

4) Theatre Parking Only. There is a small parking lot adjacent to the Old Town Theatre that is held for theatre patrons only starting two hours before the show. You can park there, but be aware that it does fill up fast.

3) Go To Dinner/Lunch Before The Show. If you arrive two hours before a show with dinner plans, feel free to use our small theatre lot; pick up your tickets, go to dinner and return for the show. This has proven successful for many patrons so far in my experience.

2) Trolley Station/Cal-Trans Lot. If the parking lot is full near the theatre, give up! Don’t keep circling and circling, you need to make alternative parking plans. There are two HUGE parking lots in the area which are each less than a 5 minute walk to the theatre. The Trolley Station lot is located at the north east corner of the park on Taylor Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Unless there is a baseball game downtown, there is usually plenty of space. This also offers a nice, short walk through the State Park to get to the theatre. The new Cal-Trans administration building is hiding an enormous 600 stall parking lot behind it. At the intersection of Juan Street and Taylor Street, this lot is available in the evenings and on weekends.

1) Why not skip the car all together? Public transportation is the best way to avoid the challenge of parking your car in Old Town. We have the advantage of having on of San Diego’s major Transit Center’s in our backyard! You can catch the Blue, Green and Orange Trolley lines from Old Town as well as the Coaster or the numerous bus-lines that stop there. Check www.sdcommute.com for more information about routes and schedules.

The event is a fundraiser so there were many terrific auction items, both silent and live, but the best part was the people.  Sean and Bill had a chance to speak with almost everyone, I think.  And other Cygnet Artists were there to sing and perform and engage with our guests. When I wasn’t running around like an ‘event coordinator’ I got to spend time speaking with our donors and patrons, both new and old.  For me, that’s the best part.  I met new people and had a chance to ‘catch up’ with long time friends of Cygnet.

We’ve had rave reviews about the food, the music, the entertainment, the animals, the dancing, the auction and what a great time the whole evening turned out to be.  A very special thanks to our event chair, Tim Mulligan and the many volunteers who made the whole thing happen.  Oh….did I say we raised over $50,000?

You won’t want to miss it next year!

We’ll announce the date as soon as it’s scheduled.

We have announced that Cygnet Theatre will be producing a revival of our very first production, Hedwig and the Angry Inch in the Rolando Theatre this spring. When we first put hammer to drywall and carved out the Rolando Theatre from the Actor’s Asylum in 2003, Hedwig was our leading lady. Well, lady of sorts. There we were in our brand new space with the paint fumes still in the lobby having just put the finishing touches on the walls and trim as the doors opened for our premiere show, a glam rock and roll musical about the heart break and joy of the lead singer of the Angry Inch, Fraulein Hedwig.

Basically, no one had heard of us, how could they have? We had not done ANYTHING yet! We were tucked in a corner of the Aztec Village Mall in Rolando, near SDSU. Who would FIND us? But the power of Hedwig brought people to us and set us off on our Cygnet-y journey. The show ran for twelve weeks! Hed-Heads flocked to the theatre and we loved them for it.

We’ve expanded a little since that summer of 2003! And we find ourselves wanting to grow into the kind of theatre that can support two spaces filled with challenging, entertaining and memorable productions. We have moved into our new home at the Old Town Theatre and have begun producing theater in that space and loving the larger range of opportunities for us and for our patron’s enjoyment there. We are finishing up this current season with overlapping productions of The History Boys, Mauritius, Bed and Sofa and, now we are adding Miss Hedwig and her Angry Inch. Performances for Hedwig and the Angry Inch are June 4 through August 9, 2009.

What we couldn’t have prepared for in all of our dreaming and planning was this dark looming cloud over the economy. It is just not a wise time to be thinking about growing.  We have made the difficult decision to make Hedwig will be the final Cygnet production in the Rolando Theatre. We won’t be renewing our lease on the Rolando Theatre when it expires.

The Rolando Theatre has proven to be a wonderful venue for intimate and exciting theatre and we are so proud of what was created there. And so happy to have brought theatre to the Rolando community and its neighbors, so it makes us sad to end our tenancy in the space.

To continue to produce seasons at both the Old Town Theatre and the Rolando Theatre, we had anticipated increasing the staff to facilitate the new direction we wanted to go in. But, this is a challenging economic environment that we, and arts organizations across the city and nation, are currently facing and we want to survive it by making choices that simplify and reduce our costs before it is a problem, not when it becomes a problem. So, we have decided that, for the time being, the most prudent and financially responsible option would be to concentrate our resources at our new larger venue in Old Town and put off our goal to grow until things settle down a bit.

We have spent so much time creating an exciting theatre space in Rolando, that it’s very important to us that the theatre be passed onto another company that will fulfill the theatre’s potential. The Rolando theatre and neighborhood has been very good to us, and we want to be sure that good theatre is continues to be created there. We have been talking with an arts organization about that opportunity. We’ll post you on the progress!

Over the years, our Friday Night Forums have been so successful because of the interaction between our artists and our audience. These evenings have been fun and vigorous discussions about the productions, their themes, the performances etc. We are just expanding that conversation. Perhaps a thought or observation occurs to you days later or on the drive home after you have seen a production and you want to share it with the artists or your fellow audience members. Perhaps you’ll find the insight of another audience member on this blog that adds to or revises your interpretation of what you saw. It is our hope that you will find the discussion interesting and that it enhances your enjoyment of the productions you see on our stage.

You will have the opportunity to respond with your own comments, as well as read and respond to the comments of other Cygnet audience members. We encourage all kinds of feedback to our posts, but please refrain from the use of excessive profanity and inappropriate subject matter or personal attacks. We may remove comments with unsuitable content. Our wish is to initiate a conversation, one in which you have access to both the artistic decision-making process of the theater, and, to one another in your responses to the work.

So here is your first opportunity to make your creativity heard. We are still trying to decide on an official name for this blog. Give us your suggestions by posting them below and we’ll decide on one giving the person with the selected name two free tickets to an upcoming show!

This is new for us and are are excited about seeing where this virtual conversation leads us. We’ll, no doubt, develop it as we go. We hope you join us frequently and stay in touch. Whether you’re a lurker, just reading what others say, or a full-on participant, we welcome you to Cygnet’s new adventure!