Renegade Theatre Experiment™

THE WEEK OF AUGUST 14, 2002

Startup Renegade Theatre Group hopes to defy the odds

By Jim Aquino

One of the newest theater groups in the South Bay, the Renegade Theatre Experiment (RTE) is attempting to bring to San Jose edgy material that would be overlooked by other local stage groups. Such material includes Hear Me Roar!: Women's Images of Self, a trio of feminist-themed playlets that RTE will perform Aug. 21-31 at Santa Clara University's Fess Parker Studio Theatre.

"We're a fledgling little group. I hate to use the term, but it's like a startup," says RTE co-founder and artistic director Sean C. Murphy, who began RTE last year with several fellow actor/director alumni from Santa Clara University.

While helping each other practice monologues and prepare for auditions, Murphy and his actor friends decided to start their own theater company.

"Now that we're getting involved with San Jose's arts scene - and seeing how dire things are for some of the companies - we're either coming in at a very bad time or we're growing stronger at a very good time," Murphy says.

RTE Managing Director Whitney Quinn Stebbins, another of the company's many co-founders, acknowledges that keeping their new company afloat has been challenging at a time when local community theater attendance has decreased.

"It'll be interesting for us to see what our attendance is going to be like on this next show, Hear Me Roar!, because this is our first production where we've had a stronger publicity push," Stebbins says. "At times, it's been discouraging because maybe there's not as many people in the audience as we want. But then there are days when we're so excited because twice as many people showed up than we expected."

The troupe is having difficulty finding a suitable venue for The Woman in Black, an RTE horror play that's been scheduled for performances in October, in time for Halloween.

"The October production is in jeopardy right now. We need to find a space really soon. If we can't find a space, we're going to have to cancel that show," says Murphy, who wants a theater that can accommodate the play's elaborate technical effects. "I saw the play in London years ago, and it's the only play that I've ever been to where the audience members screamed and were terrified."

Things haven't been as cursed for Hear Me Roar!, which developed after Stebbins saw a Santa Clara University theater student's production of The Most Massive Woman Wins, a one-act play about women's body issues.

"While every single person in our group really loved that show, our concern was that it was a one-act play, so we proceeded to look for other productions that would fit with The Most Massive Woman Wins theme, to augment it," Stebbins says.

The two other one-act pieces the group decided to perform were Chocolate Cake, another play about women's body issues, and Inner Struggle, an interpretative dance piece choreographed by RTE member Evangeline "Vangie" Maynard.

Stebbins says RTE hopes to break in new playwrights and their works. One play that the group is interested in performing in the future is Avery Crozier's interactive piece Eat the Runt.

"It's a play where eight characters can be played by different actors. The audience casts the show at the beginning, so each actor has to learn every single part because every actor is playing something different.

"Hear Me Roar!" will be performed Aug. 21-24 and Aug. 28-31 at 8 p.m. at the Fess Parker Studio Theatre, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. For more information, call 408.351.4440 or visit http://www.renegadetheatre.com/.