The world of \u201cJoy in Uncertainty: A Glory Chicken Adventure\u201d returned to Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana as a full production shaped by last fall\u2019s workshop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That first stage offered students a chance to read through the script with the playwright and gave the director space to start shaping how the story worked in the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of the original cast returned this semester and new faces joined them, bringing fresh timing, coordinated comedic movement and a playful spirit that moved the production into a fully staged performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was supported by childlike set designs, immersive sound and lighting effects and dramatic costumes that all work to tell a story of coping and growth to younger audiences.<\/p>\n
Sara Guerrero, director of the production, part\u2011time faculty in the Department of Theatre and Dance and artistic director of Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, has been involved with the play since its beginning at Cal State Fullerton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first semester is taking the play, and having a two-week workshop process, which culminates in a heightened reading with our actors,\u201d Guerrero said. \u201cWe are sitting at the table with our playwright. We\u2019re having conversations about what is working, what is not working or questions about the choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the five-to-six week rehearsal process began again on campus this spring, the work shifted toward building the world that would hold the story. For Guerrero, the most striking part of the process was watching the students claim the story as their own.<\/p>\n
Playwright Sigrid Gilmer has been in the room with the production since the fall workshop and returned this semester to see how the students built the full staging around her script.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe set is genius,\u201d Gilmer said. \u201cThis person read my play and made this \u2013 crazy, beautiful, intelligent\u2026 The costumes are also \u2013 they go off and out of this world, just really beautiful and really thoughtful and really detailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the staged reading, Gilmer has watched the performers settle into the physical rhythm of the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among the returning performers is Aarin Allen, a third-year musical theater major who plays Joy. Coming back to the role after several months away changed her understanding of the character.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, I was kind of playing her very generic, nine-year-old, overly-confident, overly-peppy,\u201d Allen said. \u201cI realized she has a lot more attitude than I gave her credit for. And she has a lot more spunk than I gave her credit for and she also has a lot more fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
By spring, Allen found herself reacting faster in the room, especially in moments that demanded timing and unrestrained physical choices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Malyssa Castillo, a second-year theater major who plays both T\u00eda Tamika and Principal Peace, is new to the cast this semester. Stepping into a production with returning performers gave her a model for the show\u2019s style, including the wacky, over\u2011the\u2011top moments that define the play\u2019s magic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve already read the play, so they kind of already had an idea of what it was about and so they definitely helped me through this process,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cIt\u2019s really been a learning experience because even when we have these really intimate moments, you\u2019re still being big and being comedic with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The message of \u201cJoy in Uncertainty: A Glory Chicken Adventure\u201d lives in its contrasts, holding seriousness and playfulness side by side, in a way that allows the cast to bring life through their performance.<\/p>\n
The production runs until May 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world of \u201cJoy in Uncertainty: A Glory Chicken Adventure\u201d returned to Grand Central Art Center in downtown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,16547,3238,3239,1058],"class_list":["post-301612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-live","tag-play","tag-stage","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}