#19 Think Tank Gallery Lied to You: Deception as Art Medium with Firefly Prod.

The last big show that was thrown with the Think Tank was a confusing one, for many reasons. Firefly Productions tricked the Think Tank into producing it, the Think Tank tricked its audience into attending it (#District798), and the actors tricked guests in every way shape and form. By the end, people even thought the weed was fake while they hit it. This show was described as a "mindfuck" by the media, and it encapsulated that word in every way. Whether you caught or missed the show, or caught the show but missed huge chunks of it (we don't blame you), this interview with Steph and Steven of Firefly is a crash course on how to give a viciously original take on priorly used content. Producers will love this episode. Artists will too.

 

Steven Klein and Stephanie Barnes from Firefly

 

https://www.facebook.com/FireflyTheaterFilms?ref=ts

https://twitter.com/fireflyinc

http://steven-klein.blogspot.com/

 

 

7:31- District 798

http://www.fireflyinc.com/caught/

 

8:00- Jacob tells Steven and Steph to give an intro about the last show Firefly and Think Tank have done

 

More about ‘Caught’ at District 798

http://www.fireflyinc.com/press/caught/

 

9:10- Steven goes into detail about what Caught is

 

12:33- http://lamama.org/

http://lamama.org/caught/

 

Read about what people thought about Caught at La Mama

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/theater/review-its-the-audience-thats-captured-by-caught.html

 

14:53- Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

http://www.ediskandar.com/bio/

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BWW-Interview-Ed-Sylvanus-Iskandar-Gets-CAUGHT-At-The-Think-Tank-Gallery-20171101

 

16:20- Who did the rehearsal process?

 

16:48- Caught being an immersive show and not in a theater

 

19:43- Did you guys hire an immersive company? Was it Ed’s company?

 

20:10- More of Tommy Honton

http://tommyhonton.com/

https://twitter.com/angelalansburyd

 

Listen to the Artist Real Talk Episode 17 with Tommy Honton

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-r-t-artists-real-talk/id1159607075?mt=2#episodeGuid=4a7dc10479207f5f9e9389bb5dd6e68a

 

20:33- A lot of immersive theater is associated with horror in LA

 

21:43- Building a world around theater that is Immersive

 

24:08-  Stephen Gifford the set designer of Caught/District 798

http://www.stephengifforddesign.com/

 

28:28- Staff and actors hiding to watch how the audience reacted to the show

 

29:08- Stephanie and Steve go over the order of the show

 

30:27- Reactions from theater crowd vs art crowd

 

30:50- At what point did you approach me in the ideation process; early or right at the end?

 

31:23- Who was involved in the early stages?

 

32:39- Had you already discussed whether the gallery would be in on the joke or not before meeting us?

 

36:00- Jacob talks about the challenges

 

36:20- Liquor sponsors backing out because they didn't want to compromise relationships from China even though the show wasn't real.

 

36:42- https://meowwolf.com/

 

40:57- Stephanie talks about the post show lounge

 

46:37- “Is this a gallery or a theater?”

 

47:39- Full Length Play

http://www.samuelfrench.com/catalog/search?author=Christopher%20Chen

 

58:38- Stephanie talks about how the ticketing process was the most challenging part of the entire show

 

59:20- Jacob tells Stephanie and Steven to share the difficulties within making the show

 

1:01:23- Generating group sales

 

1:02:28- How do you market Caught/District 798

 

1:02:48- Creating an element of exclusivity and an element of getting approved

 

1:05:08- Five words to describe yourself and five words people would use to describe you

 

1:07:21- Jacob, Stephanie and Steven talk about how there needs to be an Immersive ticketing service that is customizable.

 

1:09:51- The ability to text characters from the show

 

1:11:33- Making sure the whole audience feels like one unit

 

1:12:45- Then She Fell

http://www.thenshefell.com/about/

 

1:15:20- Steven goes into detail about how instead of feeling betrayed the audience felt safe

 

1:17:22- Jacob asks Steven and Stephanie, “how many productions have you done in front of a live audience?

 

1:18:07- The audience had a different energy every night. How wide was the shift from one night to the next, from one week to the next in our show; compared to other live productions you guys have done?

 

1:22:50- Steven talks about how the people with an Asian background seemed more relaxed vs the white audience who wasn't sure if they could laugh or if it was offensive.

 

1:25:40- Jacob asks, “was there a difference between the Fridays and Saturdays since some nights were alcohol and some were weed?”

 

1:26:28- Noah Nelson:

https://noproscenium.com/

https://twitter.com/NoProscenium

 

Check out Artist Real Talk episode 11 with Noah Nelson:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-r-t-artists-real-talk/id1159607075?mt=2&i=1000379844107

 

1:27:23- The talk back

 

1:31:15- Jacob asks, “what did you learn about the audiences who were coming to the talk back based on them thinking the show was over?

 

1:36:53- Moving the audience in different environments to dictate how they are supposed to behave

 

1:38:34- Rafael Hayashi:

https://www.instagram.com/rahayashi

http://www.rahayashi.com/

 

Teddy kelly:

https://www.instagram.com/teddykelly/

https://teddykelly.com/

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-caught-christopher-chen-theater-review-20171107-story.html

 

1:40:53- Jacob describes Steven in one word

 

1:43:03- What’s next?

 

1:45:23- Stephen Gifford the set designer of Caught at District 798

http://www.stephengifforddesign.com/

 

‘Caught’ starred:

Louis Ozawa

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1559194/

Jackie Chung:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2086965/

Jessica Kaye:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2991901/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Steven Klein:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1635832/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Eston Fung:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3029513/

Chrstine Lin:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2374936/

Stephanie Barnes:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4043581/

Peter Wylie:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1174557/

 

The immersive company included Alexis Colianni, Carlo Figlio, Gray Gall, Stacia Marcum, Katie May Porter, Rebecca Rufer, and Alice Victoria Winslow.

 

Lighting Designer Derrick McDaniel

https://thisstage.la/artist-profile-derrick-mcdaniel/

 

Project Designer Jeffrey Teeter

https://theater.calarts.edu/programs/design-and-production/program-faculty/jeffrey-teeter

 

Sound Designer Crickets Myers

http://www.cricketsmyers.com/

 

Costume Designer Halei Parker

http://www.haleiparker.com/

 

Assistant Director Garrett Baer

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5142370/

 

Stage managed by Amanda Bierbauer, and the Assistant Sound Designer was Kelly Aburto

 

In association with:

Vs Theatre

http://www.vstheatre.org/

 

Steven Klein

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1635832/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

 

Stephanie Barnes

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4043581/

 

Natalia Duncan Macker

http://www.mackerforwyo.com/

 

Think Tank Gallery

https://www.instagram.com/thinktankdtla/

http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-jacob-patterson-think-tank-gallery-transient/

https://thinktank.gallery/

 

1:46:36- Jacob asks Steven and Stephanie to close out by talking about the opening of the show