Pink Ladies are go!



Back stage at the Pink Ladies 27 September 2010.
Cloockwise from left: Linette Voller,
Lucie Booker, Karina Francis, Sophie Long, Linda Calgaro, Erin Foy,
Cindy Tonkin, Karena Thomas



So Pink Ladies first season has come to an end.

Behind every successful woman there is sometimes a huge number of people to thank.

When all was said and done, we sent $1189 to the Breast Cancer Network and had an enormous amount of fun doing it.

And we need to thank these people who donated money directly to the BCNA because of our show:

Mario Seifreid

Lisa Every

Anne Grunseit

Rod Matthews

John Bastianon
and the 105 people who paid to see the show (we don't know all of your names, but we love you!).

And the behind the scenes people who made the production work.

John Barnier and Jon Williams and the IA Committee at Impro Australia, who donated the cost of our show's insurance, and their cut of the Roxbury Late Show door.

Jason Dunn, Jim Fishwick and Glen Bell who did our lights.

Matt Pilkington who did the door for us during the Late Show.

Our mothers and mothers everywhere, who gave us so much material for our show. We're hatching a plan for a mothers' day show in 2011, so watch this space.

What's the show about?

What are Pink Ladies' shows about? It's always hard to say, because we treat the themes that emerge from our brains as we play.

Michael Chabon's afterword from Gentlemen of the Road, defines the themes of other stories he had written prior:

"disappointment, misfortune, loss, hard enlightenment, moments of bleak grace. Divorce; death; illness; violence, random and domestic; divorce; bad faith; deception and self-deception; love and hate between fathers and sons, men and women, friends and lovers; the transience of beauty and desire; divorce - I guess that just about covers it. Story, more or less, of my life".

And a lot of what Pink Ladies cover in our shows are like that:

In the preview at Full Body Contact No Love Tennis and our four Sydney Fringe shows we have treated themes like:

• aging, senility, body image, delusion
• loyalty, celebrity, stalking and fading fame
• ambition, dreams and entrepreneurialism
• turkey basters
• schadenfruede (pleasure at the misfortunes of others)
• how our mothers make us (or not)
• who is God? How do you become a god? Do the gods play poker
• what lengths will you go to in order to please a mother
• organ harvesting
• when sleeping with your friends' future husband is OK (or not)
• the importance of mothering
• divorce and getting on with it

So what are our shows about? We don't know now, but we will know when it happens, and you'll be there to see it happen.

Here's what one audience member said:

"I really enjoyed the sensation of a new story unfolding right in front of me".

Photo: Linette Voller, Erin Foy, Jess Mallett, Sophie Long, Louise McManus - who's sleeping with Rick? Photographer Michelle Ho

So you want to see someone specific? When they're playing

So perhaps you want to see someone special, someone specific, play in Pink Ladies.

Here is a list of who is playing when, so you can cross-reference it with your diary and do good while having a great time seeing your favourite improvisers:

Lucie Booker: 18/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10, 22/10, 29/10
Linda Calgaro: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10
Erin Foy: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Karina Francis: 16/09, 15/10, 29/10, 25/09, 26/09, 22/10
Sophie Long: 16/09, 18/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 22/10, 29/10
Louise McManus: 16/09, 18/09, 1/10, 8/10, 15/10, 29/10
Jess Mallett: 16/09, 25/09, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Chloe Paul: 25/9, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Jane Simmons: 1/10, 8/10, 15/10
Karena Thomas: 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Cindy Tonkin: 18/09, 1/10, 29/10
Linette Voller: 16/09, 18/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10

Click on the Cast page to get info about each of these daring women!

photo: Erin Foy gets tough!

Our First show: the cast

Our first show is at the Sydney Fringe on Thursday 16th September at 8pm at St Luke's Church Hall, 11 Stanmore Road, Enmore.

The cast for the night are:

• Erin Foy
• Jess Mallett
• Karina Francis
• Linda Calgaro
• Linette Voller
• Louise McManus
• Sophie Long.

We are pumped and full of energy and ideas for this debut night!


photo: another promo image: from left to right Chloe Paul, Louise McManus, Karina Francis, Erin Foy, Karena Thomas

Yes, you can buy tickets now!!

The Pink Ladies are pleased to announce that you can now buy tickets to ALL of our shows online.

If you're the kind of person who likes to buy your tickets in advance, then go forth and ticket yourself!

Our fringe shows are on sale here.

Sydney Fringe dates are at nice accessible times like:

• Thursday 16th September at 8pm
• Saturday 18th September at 8pm
• Saturday 25th September at 5pm
• Sunday 26th September at 6:30 pm 

Buy tix for Roxbury shows (every Friday night in October) here. Roxbury shows begin at 10pm every Friday night in October.

Photo: This one of our promo photos - from left to right we have Karena Thomas (in the kerchief), Louise McManus, Erin Foy (in rollers), Karina Francis and Chloe Paul. These are just some of the 13 cast who will entertain you!!

Erin Foy - "How are you Erin?" - "I'm Erin"...

Erin Foy is relatively new on the improvisation scene (she's been formally improvising with a "licence" for about a year)*, but she has a strong acting background. Her porn name is Cuddles Cameron. Says it all really...

What’s your all time favourite improvised scene that you were in? Why?

Every scene in my grad night from my Theatresports courses, because my whole family were there and they had a blast. They were so proud, and I loved being able to give them such a happy experience! 

What’s your all time favourite you witnessed but weren’t in, and why?

Any scene with Amanda Buckley! That girl is the funniest thing ever made - her comic timing is phenomenal! I am a fan! When I first met her she said "how are you" and I said "Erin"! 

Why do you love improvising?

I love LOVE making people laugh, and I love being able to go on these crazy amazing journeys on stage with crazy amazing people! 

What’s your favourite colour (after pink)?

Blue

What’s your favourite fruit and why?

Strawberries... because they taste the least like fruit! 

What’s your porn name? (first pet + first street you ever lived in)

Cuddles Cameron

What’s your ambition for pink ladies?

To perform a series of top quality improvised shows, that have the audience begging for more. Thus resulting in LOTS and LOTS of money for the breast cancer network to help women live through the horror that is Breast Cancer. And world peace. 

Favourite word?

Microsoft 08 

*isn't life pretty much improvised really??

We have cast!

Today the Pink Ladies Rehearsal was dedicated to getting some photos for our posters!
We got our name from the fact that the Breast Cancer Network Australia uses pink ladies as their logo, and that's where all profits from our show will go.
And it just so happens that the Pink Ladies was the name of the bad girls' gang in Grease. So we themed it up a little. We are very fortunate that Karina Francis, one of cast, drives a golden Charger. We got in it, lounged on it, played with the doors and even burst out of it. The outputs were many, and we hope to have our poster complete and therefore begin our online promotions by the end of this week.

Next blog post I'll talk about the challenges and rewards of "rehearsing" and improvised show!


Photos on this page: At top, 3 "mean" girls: Karina Francis, Louise McManus, Chloe Paul.
At left: Chloe Paul, Louise McManus, Karina Francis, Erin Foy, Karena Thomas