Under the Poppy

Jury of my peers

Kathe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:23:42 +0000

There’s something particularly warming about praise from a colleague, so finding this mention of Under the Poppy on Boing Boing was a delight. Thanks, Cory.

SXSW and coming to a screen near you: onstage

Kathe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:35:41 +0000

As I post this, Director Diane is winging her way to SXSW; if you see her, say hi (she’s the elegant blonde in the witty t-shirt. Yes, that elegant blonde). Or perhaps you’ll be sitting next to her at the Like A Pascha screening …. Not all brothels are the same, of course, and surely such tacky dollar store masks will never be glimpsed at the Poppy.

And while we’re on the subject of film, interesting to see, in last Sunday’s New York Times, this overview of the use of onstage projections in the theatre. Michael Mayer, director of the Green Day musical “American Idiot” about to open on Broadway, is quoted as noting that the growing popularity of projections reflects “a whole generation’s response to the media” and that generation’s comfort with that media’s ubiquity. Which is not, as such, a reason to include projections, film, anything, to a story onstage, unless it suits that story’s story, which ours emphatically do.

Work(s) in progress

Kathe — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:25:20 +0000

Very soon, the book’s gorgeous cover image will be ready to share (thanks, Gavin!), and for those who have asked, yes, pre-orders are a very good way to go. The book will launch with an event here in Detroit and doubtless elsewhere; more details when I know them.

On the theatre side of the Poppy, we’re added the very excellent Sarah Warren to our team, hurray! and will have more news to share on the show’s venue sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I rise to previously unseen heights, thanks to Monika and Diane. [Photo: DC.]

A tip of the hat, a flash of the knickers, and oh, that intoxicating tune …

Kathe — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:31:05 +0000

There’s been so much activity lately re the book and the show, I’m breathless. Let’s see, first the cover for Under the Poppy has been seen, tweaked, and approved – and it is gorgeous: subtle and inviting, with a naughty little puppet-y pop. Say what one will about judging a book by its cover, it’s a fact that we all do, and why shouldn’t we? The cover is the public face of the story, the thing that lures the eye and then the selecting hand (via shelf or mouse), so it had better be stunning, not just a pretty picture but an image that tells the story’s story in the time it takes to blink your eye. And this one does, and I am thrilled. As soon as I can share it here, up it goes.

Next, or really concurrently, maestro Joe Stacey has sent several more compositions, underpinning themes for the films, that exist so organically that they’re less complement to the action than its true voice.

And Monika has been sketching up a storm, and we’ve just been treated to the first pass of the costumes: they are masterful, a gritty, sexy, glorious mash-up of periods and textures, an encapsulation of the artfully ragged world of the brothel. Watching things come to life in this fashion (pun not intended, but let’s keep it anyway) is like observing an exotic flower unfurling in slow motion: transfixing, exhilarating.

The voice, the dress, the face … the Poppy is in bloom.

Under the Poppy from Small Beer

Kathe — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:01:37 +0000

…and it’s official: the catalog’s out, Under the Poppy is on its way into the world. And it’s traveling in some truly excellent company, with Kelley Eskridge, Karen Joy Fowler, Holly Black, Alisdair Gray … Gavin Grant will be very pleased with your preorders, and me too, naturally.

One belle époque!

Kathe — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:28:37 +0000

Diane Cheklich and I are tremendously pleased and excited to announce that award-winning designer Monika Essen has joined our collaboration to bring Under the Poppy to you, a bit of fun in the dark, oh my yes. What we love so much – besides, of course, Monika’s witty and devastating eye, the emotional resonance of her designs, and her continuing refusal to do the easy thing, the comfortable, expected thing – is her aesthetic philosophy of theatrical design: “[T]hese creations are not just a backdrop to the action, but living, breathing, interactive characters in themselves.” Which, if you were trying to describe the perfect atmosphere in which the show will, must, take place, would be it.

In the real world, our environments shape us, moment by moment, whether or not we consciously acknowledge it: enter a hospital lobby, a high school hallway, an empty bedroom, how do you feel? Are you just the same in all of those places, or are the construction and placement of the furnishings, the light or its lack, the smells and the sounds, components of your experience? Do some places make you feel bad? Weary? Excited, aroused? Does a half-dark room evoke your curiosity or your fear, or both? How do you feel about the smell of pine?

Monika understands all of this on a molecular level. Welcome, Monika!

Here’s just one example of her work. [Photo from Epoque Design Studio.]

Love, love, love

Kathe — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:59:00 +0000



Apropos for the day, and for the daily valentine experience
of writing Under the Poppy: the great John Darnielle
and the Mountain Goats' "Love Love Love." 

king saul fell on his sword when it all went wrong,
and joseph's brothers sold him down the river for a song,
and sonny liston rubbed some tiger balm into his glove.
some things you do for money and some you do for love love love.

A.R.T. and the view from the back

Kathe — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:13:52 +0000

Good to see Diane Paulus in the paper, she who did everybody a lasting favor by bringing the one and only Punchdrunk to Boston. The question of what is art and what is entertainment and whence those Venn diagrams intersect is a vexing and eternal one; irresistible, too, maybe. But one man’s Champagne is another man’s three buck Chuck (or Mountain Dew, ewww). is another man’s No thanks, I’m not drinking tonight. Trying to decide what other people will like enough to pay for is not a task for the wishy-washy …. And Randy Weiner is part of The Box, too, the idea of which resonates/rhymes with immersive theatre in a different way. [Thanks to DN for the young ladies.]

Anton C.

Kathe — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:18:15 +0000

What a hipster, eh? And what a writer. Saw a production of The Seagull the other night, and was struck anew by the apparent simplicity of the language, just like the simplicity of the Atlantic, until you put your toe in.

Factory girls

Kathe — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:46:46 +0000

Down these stairs shall pass the finest floozies in the world ….

Venue-casting for the show. [All photos DC.]