Behind the Scenes: Makeup and Masks

Facing Angela opens this weekend! 

How stoked are we? Way stoked. 

With the premiere of Facing Angela approaching in matter of hours, our artists are busy perfecting their designs. You've probably heard us making a big hullabaloo about the makeup and masks in this show and for good cause, 'cause they are pretty righteous. 

Here's a sneak peak at the backstage goings-on before tonight's preview performance: 

Casey Cunningham applies makeup to start Angela transformation. Photos by Gerard Van Halsema.

Makeup Designer Aly Renee Amidei does some makeup detailing on Susan Myburgh.

Masks, are you ready for your close-up?

Angela's masks designed by Sarah Scanlon and Joshua Davis

Christine Vrem-Ydstie applies makeup to create Angela' distinctive bruise pattern.

Susan Myburgh paints on some icky bruising. 

                             

Angela bonding time with Susan Myburgh and Julie Cowden.

                           

Oh, Angela. That's doesn't look so good, sweetie. 

We're super proud of our actors and designers, but we still need some help making all of this happen. So, how can you help? Two ways.

1) Come see the show! Tickets for Facing Angela are on sale on the Athenaeum's website. 

2) Donate to our Kickstarter. We have 4 days left to raise a little over $1000, and we know we can reach out goal with a little help from our friends. 

Sage advice from Cecil. 

GAME ON.

Behind the Scenes: Publicity Photo Shoot

By now, you've probably seen the awesome photos that we've been using for the promotional materials for Facing Angela.

They really are something else, huh?

On the day of the photo shoot, three of our five Angelas (Casey, Christine, and Susan) were ready to transform from pretty ladies to pretty ladies with slight to severe facial abrasions. Mask and Makeup Designer, Sarah Scanlon was there to facilitate their transformations. 

Sarah started with Susan, whose Angela had the most severe injury. 

Susan Myburgh (Torn Angela) and Sarah Scanlon (Mask and Makeup Designer)

After starting with some general bruising, Sarah had a brilliant idea. What if it looked like part of Susan's jaw was made out of exposed metal? How gruesome would that be?! Using a combination of tin foil, tissues, and liquid latex, Sarah was able to achieve the awesomely scary effect. 

Sarah Scanlon (Mask and Makeup Designer), Susan Myburgh (Torn Angela), and our photographer Gerard Van Halsema in the background

After finishing Susan's makeup, Sarah moved on to a lessening degree of bruising and injury with Christine and Casey.

Christine Vrem-Ydstie (Repaired Angela) and Sarah Scanlon (Mask and Makeup Design)

All the while, our photographer extraordinaire Gerard Van Halsema took some amazing solo shots of our Angelas in their varying stages of beauty and decay. 

Casey Cunningham (Angela X) and photographer Gerard Van Halsema

Susan Myburgh (Torn Angela) and photographer Gerard Van Halsema

Once our girls were all ready, Gerard took some amazing shots of them as a group.

L-R: Susan Myburgh (Torn Angela), Christine Vrem-Ydstie (Repaired Angela), Casey Cunningham (Angela X) and photographer Gerard Van Halsema

If we did all this just for the photo shoot, then you should see what we're cooking up for the production! But we need your help to make it happen...

We have TEN DAYS left to reach our Kickstarter goal to make some truly amazing masks and makeup effects for this show. We hope that you'll consider donating to our company and helping us make this show the best that it can be. 

Facing Angela, written by Scott T. Barsotti and directed by Kyra Lewandowski, opens on Saturday, June 29th. The production will run Thurs.-Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 2pm from June 29- July 28 at the Atheneaum Theatre (2936 N. Southport). For more information, please visit ruckustheater.org. 

Love and Illness: a blog by Facing Angela understudy Natalie Hurdle

"When I first read Facing Angela, it was like a sock in the gut. It felt so personal to me. Like Angela, I have an immune disorder (though, unlike Angela, I’m fortunate that you can’t tell by looking at me), and too many moments in Facing Angela hit uncomfortably close to home. It’s enough of a mindfuck to come to terms with the fact that your body is attacking itself without then having to confront what that will mean to and for the people you love, the people who love you. Chronic illness is profoundly unglamorous, sometimes frightening, inconvenient, not to mention outrageously expensive to treat. Will he be up for all that? Will he always think of me as fragile? Will he know how to support me through flare-ups? Can he still find me beautiful when he sees me sick? It’s a lot of work to love someone with so much baggage to unpack.

The more time I spent with the script and in rehearsal with the brainy and brilliant creative team, however, I started to feel that this was a story about all of our secret fears in marriage and commitment—that immune disorder or no, we all bring some kind of sickness into our relationships: dysfunction, addiction, self-absorption, insecurity, jealousy... all the ugly shit we carry around is corrosive.Facing Angela started to feel more like the story of what happens when that sickness is taken to an extreme and the toll it can have on what matters most to us. At least in part. 

There is a lot going on in this sucker. I can’t wait until an audience falls down the rabbit hole with us."

- Natalie Hurdle, Understudy

Sounds like a pretty cool show, huh? 

We think so too, but we need your help to make it happen.

Please consider donating to our Kickstarter campaign. Every dollar counts!

Facing Angela, written by Scott T. Barsotti and directed by Kyra Lewandowski, runs June 29-July 28 at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport). 

For more information please visit ruckustheater.org or athenaeumtheatre.org. 

Angela is coming. Piece by piece.

The Ruckus has a new show coming to a theater near you...

Angela has lost her face. Acquiring a new face alters more than skin and tissue, cutting into Angela's relationship with her husband, Wes, and mutating her sense of self. As Angela re-constructs, re-invents, and re-defines her identity, Wes ceases to recognize the woman he loves, and doubts whether he really knows himself either. This re-imagining of Scott T. Barsotti's 2003 play, explored over the course of the season with the cast and company and directed by Kyra Lewandowski, will delve deep into how we recognize ourselves and those we go to bed with, and the collateral damage of transformative change.

Intrigued?

Excellent.

You can help us make this show even better by donating to our Kickstarter campaign. We've got 21 days to make our goal a reality and every dollar counts. Plus, there are some pretty sweet perks for donating, like a makeover by personality Florida Devereaux. 

Stay tuned for more news about Facing Angela...

Facing Angela, written by Scott T. Barsotti and directed by Kyra Lewandowski, runs June 29-July 28(Thurs.-Sun.) at the Athenaeum Theatre (2936 N. Southport).

 For more information, please visit athenaeumtheatre.org or ruckustheater.org.