Claire Allegra Taylor
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NEWS

Carnivores...? At Gorilla Tango

9/30/2016

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#InnerNerd
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My dear friend D. Matthew Beyer wrote a wonderful play. I was very honored to have participated in the initial staged reading, featured at the Trellis new play reading series at the Greenhouse Theatre. We had a wonderful time playing.

That same day, he was able to tell us that he signed a contract with Gorilla Tango to produce his show. Shortly after, I was excited to say that had the chance to play in the full show as well!

I was joined by Nicole Velasco Lockard, Dan Sonenberg, Scott Jackoway, Jared Hecht, and Ben Claus. Along with stage management by Sarah E. Whitcomb and continued direction by Andrew Huber.

This play was so charming: six young adults at their regularly scheduled time to play Dungeons and Dragons. "Running from the pressure to be a productive member of society, Merrill stumbles into the wonderfully weird world of Dungeons and Dragons. Surrounded by friends and shenanigans, dice are rolled, roles are played, and what starts off as just a game somehow becomes an adventure."

Seemingly out-of-reach for some crowds, everyone I spoke to regardless of their knowledge of DnD found meaning in watching the onstage role play. I knew nothing about the world of DnD when I signed up, but loved learning about the game and the community.

We performed
September 22nd at 7:30 pm
September 24th at 6:30 pm
September 25th at 7:30 pm

I love working on new work, especially with dear friends. I'm so proud of this group to put on this fun little play despite hectic schedules, other rehearsals, and university. This labor of love truly paid off!

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Fight Night: Valkyries

9/18/2016

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About a month and a half ago, I asked Vahishta Vafadari, "Hey, wanna do a thing?" and I had no idea we'd have so much fun. We met in coffee shops, apartments, and snuck into TTS (shh), and at all hours of the day when we could fit time between our schedules. (And thanks to Tyler Esselman and Gaby Labotka for being extra eyes!)

I'm very proud of our work and to be part of a bigger story that included many amazing women/men/folx working to champion thrilling, and most importantly safe work.

We were asked to come up with a mission statement:
"As women are often on the receiving end of staged violence, we wish to create a greater presence of female choreographers and fight captains in the theatrical community, in an effort to diversify those positions and approach the conception of violence with confidence and ownership. We are both artists who have graduated from The Theatre School at DePaul University and are both interested in learning more about choreographing violence. We hope to amplify this project’s ideals by tracking our experiences of the feminine perspective in the fight community."

To that promise, I have begun to track. My initial thoughts are:
Recently the Chicago Theatre scene felt a loss as on- and off-stage abuse was brought to light about a certain company. This was so egregious because what should have been a moment of safety and control for those actors and actresses became something acutely dangerous. This flagrant abuse of power turned these performers from portraying victims in a show to victims in real life.

As a woman, I live with the threat of violence every day. I worry about my safety when I am alone almost all the time, and that’s magnified exponentially between the hours of 8pm and 5am. If I am at the mercy of the threat of violence at all times in my personal and (as we have seen as of late) my professional life, why would I want to spend more time surrounding myself with the study of violence?

1. I can set up others with the right information from the beginning, so they never have to be victim to a situation by naiveté.
2. I can encourage others to take part in a dialogue about voicing discomfort and consent. By checking in every step of the way, actors learn to communicate about their bodies and their needs.
3. I can tell stories that require the full physical capacity of the human body. Violence (or strong action) occurs when people are passionate about their desires... and isn't that exciting.

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Post-Grad Musings

8/19/2016

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Instead of "What work can I get?" ...now, it's "what work can I make?"
Some mildly coherent thoughts on graduating school, and gaining confidence to be an artist.
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Stage Combat

6/1/2016

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Happy to announce that I have now received the following certifications from the SAFD in these categories:

Unarmed: Recommended Pass
Rapier and Dagger: Recommended Pass
Small Sword: Recommended Pass
Quarterstaff: Recommended Pass
Broadsword: Recommended Pass

In March, I tested to receive Basic Passes in Rapier and Dagger and Small Sword. I wasn't satisfied, so in addition to the two new weapons for the quarter, I chose to spend another eight weeks re-training and working to up my level. Glad it paid off!

I have also chosen to join as a member of the SAFD as an Actor Combatant. Only one more weapon and I'll jump to an Advanced Actor Combatant. What a great way to end the school year!
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The Theatre School's Graduate Showcase 2016

5/27/2016

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I will be performing at the Graduate Showcase in just a few days. Click the link below to find out more information about how to attend and to RSVP.

http://theatre.depaul.edu/news-and-events/Documents/Graduate_Showcase_2016/Gallery/gs_28.html

NEW YORK CITY
May 31st @ 3:00pm and 6:30pm
JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater

 425 Lafayette St., NYC 

CHICAGO
June 4th @ 4:00pm
The Theatre School

2350 N Racine Ave. 

(@ Fullerton) CHICAGO

LOS ANGELES
June 6th @ 3:00pm and 7:00pm
ACME Hollywood Theater 
135 N. La Brea Ave, HOLLYWOOD​
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Stage Combat

3/10/2016

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Very excited to announce that I am now certified by the Society of American Fight Directors as of March, 2016 in the following weapons:

Basic Pass in Small Sword by the SAFD, 2016
Basic Pass in Rapier and Dagger by the SAFD, 2016
Recommended Pass in Unarmed by the SAFD, 2016

A big thank you to Nick Sandys for providing instruction and choreography, as well as my partners Briget Diehl, Julia Atkin, and Jalen Gilbert. I'm already excited for the next tests in May!

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Suzuki at Greenshirt

11/12/2015

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Photos by Jose Antonio Garcia
I had a great time attending the free Friday lesson at Green Shirt Studio. This class was a masterclass in the Suzuki Method taught by Jose Antonio Garcia. All of us attending came from different backgrounds with the material and left to be extremely sore for the next few days. I am hoping to continue training with this work, especially since experienced teachers are hard to come by. Jose led an excellent, challenging, and informative class.

Check out Green Shirt Studios here.
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Esperanza Rising

10/25/2015

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Photo by Michael Brosilow

See me currently as Modesta in DePaul's production of Esperanza Rising.

written by Lynne Alvarez
based on the book by  Pam Muñoz Ryan
music by  Brian Victor Zupanc
directed by Lisa Portes​​​​                 
​​​​​​​​musical direction by​ Mark Elliott

Running at the Merle Reskin Theatre through November 14th.


More information here.



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Paragon Theatre Festival

9/4/2015

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On August 23th, I participated in the Paragon Theatre Festival presented by the Otherworld Theatre Company and hosted by the Public House Theatre.

Director Lauren Fields asked me to jump in last minute to perform in Universal Language and we gathered a few days before to run through the script and block the show. Then we came on Sunday to tech and perform! The other cast members, Maureen Mizener, Chloe Baldwin, Drew Beyer, and William Delforge worked together to throw this play together against hard circumstances.

The event was thrilling. Before the show, the three casts crowded in the back of the theatre in the small dressing room to prepare. The other cast members and I spent time joking about our characters and who's onstage death was the most gruesome. They even cheered me on when I ran backstage to fully transform from earth-hailing assistant to space-dwelling alien.
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Left to Right: William Delforge, Claire Allegra Taylor, Lauren Fields, Chloe Baldwin, Drew Beyer, Maureen Mizener.
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The DePaulia Magazine wrote up the event in this article,  giving Universal Language a shout out among over 40 plays:
The creative geniuses within this company provide opportunities for masterworks like playwright Marilyn Anne Campbell’s “Universal Language” (directed by Lauren Fields) and Jonathan Cook’s “Transferring Kyle” (directed by Grace Gimpel) to be enjoyed by Chicagoans of all dispositions. Campell’s humorous romp refreshes audiences with the optimistic truth that people (and aliens) will respond well to kindness.
Check out Otherworld Theatre here.
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Up Next: Performing at the Neo-Futurists

7/30/2015

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For the last two months I have been taking the Intro to Too Much Light class with the Neo-Futurists. TMLMTBGB was my first taste of Chicago theatre when I came to the city for the first time in 2012. Since then it has remained one of my favorite weekend events and a model of truthful, exciting performance. I have wanted to take the class for many months but balancing a rehearsal process and extra-curricular work is always hard. I am so glad the dates worked out in my favor this time.
The class, led by Aristic Director Bilal Dardai and Ensemble Member Malic White, has been everything I expected and more. Each week we are instructed about a specific form of play, and come in the next week having tried our hand at creating one. We then show and critique our work to get a handful of polished plays we can pitch at the end of the process for our showing that is open to the community.
Which brings me to... our showing! My classmates and I will be doing our own TML-style show! We will be attempting to perform 20 plays in 40 minutes. Come join us at 3:00pm at the Neo-Futurarium to celebrate our work. The show is completely free so you won't want to miss it.


Follow the facebook event for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/870347153034603/
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Claire Allegra Taylor is a cultivator, investigator, and questioner of human relationships. She firmly believes that humans can always do better, be it in our treatment of the ones we love, our desire to fix epidemic social problems, or our care for our environment. Claire wants to use theatre as a means to show how this is possible. She would like to create work that is vibrant in its language and physical capacity that challenges a modern audience’s expectations.