Deadline Tonight: Be a Normal Producing Partner

Rehearsals for Nor'mal are now underway and the powerhouse cast we've assembled is more excited than ever.

We're thrilled about bringing this unique and artistically satisfying new musical to Richmond. Your help is what we need now.

Join us by making a donation of $25 or more by midnight
tonight to be a Nor'mal Producing Partner.

When Nor'mal begins performances on April 3, with an Official Opening on Saturday, April 4, we will proudly display a list of our Nor'mal Producing Partners in our theatre lobby.
I ask you to be a part of that special group.

Thanks for your support.







Chase Kniffen
Artistic Director

All done...

Ah well. Nothing lasts forever. I don’t know who said that, but it sounds pretty good, so hey! Yeah, the show’s over. It really stinks, but we had a good run, and we have to make way for Stage 1’s next show, Normal, and I’m really excited to go see it when it comes out.

So, I hope you all enjoyed the show, and I don’t know if any of you remember, but I promised a blog about the Secrets of the Back Stage Life, so here is a pretty short story of my favorite rehearsal ever!

One day during rehearsal, back when we didn’t have a complete deck behind the stage, Chase was demonstrating to us how to “correctly” go through the panels at the back at the stage. Well, he took Mackenzie and told her to go through the middle panel. It so happened that the middle panel was the one with no deck behind it, so naturally, Mackenzie fell with a smack! I have to tell you, it was really funny.

But...I’m not done. Later that day, Chase went through one of the panels, and smacked Cooper, and naturally he went flying, then Chase went through the middle panel, and naturally fell with a smack!

Pretty cool story huh?

Ok, so I bid you all good day.

Until next time...Well, I'm not sure there will be a next time...The shows is over, I guess.

Eric Pastore

Hello Everybody

NOTE: This was posted late. Eric was very upset this wasn't posted when he sent it to us, but its been a busy week. Be sure to check out Children's Letters to God, which opens this weekend. On Friday night, we have a "Pay-what-you-will" performance. Just show up on Friday, and pay whatever you want and see a great show!

FROM ERIC:

Well, it’s been a pretty eventful week (as always) at Stage 1, and the cast is cranking out new tricks left and right. So, to start it off, we got a new part of the set, which are these panels that serve as the background. Plus, us kids get to go through them to enter onto the stage. Pretty cool huh?
So yeah, all of us are really excited for Tech Week (which starts this Thursday by the way), and everybody is psyched about getting the lights and stuff. Speaking of stuff, here’s something pretty cool. Instead of going for a really complicated set, we just have the panels in the back, and then there are going to be a couple of projectors that will project the background onto the panels. This is where I go “Oh YEAH!”
Now, on Tuesday, a tragic thing happened to the cast of CLTG. I, the beloved Eric Pastore (that’s me), lost his voice! Isn’t it sad? Good thing though is that I didn’t lose it the night before Opening. That would have been bad.
So, in the end, we got a lot accomplished this week (as usual), and we are ready to kick those Techie’s butts through the ceiling (just kidding)!

As Usual,

Eric Pastore

We Have a Set?!

Let the record show that Chase Kniffen, our awesome director, took one day off of rehearsal and they FINISHED THE SET! Now of course it isn’t completely done There’s a lot painting to be done and walls and rotating panels to install, but we have all of the platforming!! Although the set isn’t technically finished yet, this event was way ABOVE our expectations. HA HA! Sorry, inside joke.

This set is so amazing. I can’t wait to actually perform on it, although it will take some getting used to. That angle is actually really steep when you are trying to dance on it, or run to the very edge of the stage without falling off and without looking at the ground. Oh, I’m sorry, did some of you feel left out of our inside joke?

Well I’ll tell you, although it probably won’t seem all that funny to you. Well, at the beginning of rehearsal chase told us that we would be working with a set that had a very subtle incline but over distance would become about 18 inches high. Well, to get 18 inches in a steady incline of about 7 feet, it can’t be all that subtle, so when we got the set, the incline was surprisingly extreme, and made most of us brake down in fits of mass hysteria and terror. WE WOULD HAVE TO DANCE ON THAT?!!! Anyway, as rehearsal went on, it was actually not all that hard, so case closed.

Now, I know you have loved listening to me babble, but all that talk never really explained the “inside joke”, and you know what? I like it that way, so you will just have to wait until I release my article on “The Wonderful Secrets of the Back Stage Life” after the show has already started. So HA!

Until next time,

Eric Pastore

An eventful week...

What an eventful week. Along with making great progress in the show, Chase just happened to decide to take us to a playground for a photo shoot on the COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR! Jimmy, I envy you. You didn’t have to come with us. LUCKY!

So, at this cooooooooooooolllllllllllllllldddddddddd playground, we had to take off all of our coats except one long-sleeved shirt and then stand in one place leaning against these really cold metal poles and try to look happy while we get pictures taken of us. Luckily, we ended up with some good shots, but take a look at the picture of me to the left. I am FREEEEEEEEEEZING. Thanks guys...HAHA - Just kidding!

We spent this weekend not rehearsing on stage. The set is in full swing, so we got kicked out of the theatre into a studio for rehearsal – That was cool thought. Sunday was a long day and we made it through the entire first act, which was fun. After we ran the act, Chase referred to the first act as a healthy baby that would need to be nurtured…We all thought that was kind of strange reference, but OK…

To wrap this segment of CLTG weekly, we made a lot of progress, even though we got really cold, and I will see you next week (or maybe earlier) with my next update.


--Eric

Ahhhhhhhh...

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, the sweet smell of a brand new show, being rehearsed in a brand new theatre. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Pastore, I play Theo in the new show Children’s Letters to God, and for the next couple of weeks I will take you on a journey through our rehearsals from a KID’s perspective.

This first week of rehearsals has turned out surprisingly eventful. Let’s see, we sang some songs, blocked some steps, and oh... Cooper Timberline (Kicker) went through the solemn ritual of the Milkshake Dance! It was a sight to see. Also one of the many Wonders of the World of Children’s Letters to God was Mackenzie’s (Joanne) playground she drew for the show.

Now, I’m going to tell you a secret. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Almost all of the harmonies in this show are Sean’s (Brett). But don’t tell anybody, it’s a secret.

Now, please join me in a moment of silence, as we commend Lily (Iris), who got through an entire week of rehearsals with a sinus infection that nearly made her go INSANE!!!!!!! Ha ha, just kidding, she didn’t go insane, but she did get through the week with headaches and stomach aches left and right. BRAVO!

So, as my first blog for Children’s Letters to God, I would like to say that I am really excited about the show, and I will keep you up to date on what’s what.

--Eric

CHILDREN'S LETTER'S TO GOD guest blogger

Over the next few weeks, we thought it would be fun to actually have one of the stars of CHILDREN'S LETTERS TO GOD guest blog here on our site. Eric Pastore, who has appeared locally in MAME at Barksdale, A CHRISTMAS STORY at Theatre IV, and countless other productions will be keeping us in the loop throughout the rehearsal process of the show. We hope you will check in regularly to find out how things are going from this talented youngster's point of view!