ThisIllusionment is the story of a magician who has lost his passion, a girl overwhelmed by her senses, a boy struggling to find his power, a creature on the verge of disintegration, and a universe falling out of love with itself.
THE PROCESS
Collaboration and community are the life’s blood of this show. From inception Viscosity has brought in artists from the community to aid in creating and nurturing our vision. Even the final script was developed collaboratively through improvisation sessions. We’ve got more rehearsal photos going up every day.
Every ticket sold represents a contribution to help fund the grand production in 2014! ThisIllusionment has been in development since January, 2013. The show aims to be complex in staging, storytelling, and spectacle, which is why we are taking things slowly. Following the 2013 “skeleton” production we have been reworking the script, gathering new resources, and preparing for a spectacular event in the Fall, 2014.
CAST AND CREW
The original concept for ThisIllusionment was originally devised by Scott Morris, Rebecca Schaffer, and Josh Wagner. We brought Kate Morris on to help develop the early framework and story outline. Then our artists, designers, and cast members joined the conversation to help solve problems and flesh out structure, characters, and scenes. Early rehearsals included improvisations to develop beats, flow, and a mountain of potential dialogue. As Schaffer directed, Jeffrey Hubbard meticulously documented everything that happened in improvs. Wagner assembled the final script from these notes then brought it to the entire cast for changes, new ideas, and final approval. Structured rehearsals began in earnest at this time.
Original Cast:
Ryan Nicodemus as Ivan the Magician
Tristan Redearth as Victor
Lucy Heutmaker as Constantine
Lily Gladstone as Prospecta the Elemental
Oliver Poole as Nefesh the Elemental
Ann Peacock as The Familiar
Musical Underscoring: Nate Biehl and John Sporman
Set Design: Scott Morris
Costumes: Kara Chandler and Scott Morris
Lighting Design: Diego Burgos
Stage Manager: Jeffrey Hubbard
Directed and Produced by: Rebecca Schaffer and Josh Wagner
Special thanks to other artists for contributing their time and efforts in devising this production:
Alexsa Prince (character development, concepts, and writing)
Aurora Darling (stuffed animal creation)
Courtney Blazon (poster art)
Kate Morris (script development and consulting)
Brad Wilson (3D modeling and animation)
Adelaide Gale Every (early concepts and love)
Hillary Winkworth (early concepts and love)
ThisIllusionment is about disenchantment, loss, and the hidden magic of insignificant things. We invite you to be a part of this intricate and fantastically human story!
This Illusionment (teaser) from Fiction Clemens on Vimeo.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Here’s the latest on Thisillusionment:
- Transforming the story into a novel
- Seriously examining audience feedback and reworking the script
- Taking stock of spaces where the prototype production showed a need for improvement
- Building a larger team (some new, some old) to help create the grown-up production
- Planting the seeds for an expansive fundraising campaign
We will be posting more news here as things develop. For now, feel free to browse through the media response to the skeleton performance (below).
Media and Reviews
- “Collective Dreaming” by Erika Fredrickson
- Missoulian feature article by Cory Wash
- Mention in “Great Expectations” by Dan Brooks
See the ThisIllusionment web page for more details!