Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company scares and oddly entertains Columbus

The audience sits in the auditorium, on edge as sounds sputter, lights flicker, and they see a faint glimpse of The Woman in Black. Then, darkness. The experience was enough to give some people nightmares.

However, the same theater company’s Sunday read throughs offer a more quirky side of entertainment. The actors meet in an art gallery to fight with swords, shoot each other with a Nerf gun, and imitate the sound effects of explosions, gunfire, and blood spatter.

Dwayne Blackaller, Kal Poole, and Scott Wilson are the founders of Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company, the group responsible for such behavior.

Corbin Jones, 21, a member of the group, described the peculiar fun Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company consistently performs.

“We’re kind of trying to make theater that’s fun and exciting as it would be to do when you were 12 years old,” said Jones. “When you were playing in your backyard and dressing up and pretending. We want to remember what that’s like and invite the audience along for the ride.”

Blackaller, Poole and Wilson were OSU theater students who graduated in spring 2009 with a master’s degree in fine arts.

The company was almost simultaneously created with their first staged production in autumn 2007, a drama titled, “The Woman in Black.” The play was a ghost story about a specter haunting a small English town, and it ran through Halloween weekend at Upper Arlington High School.

The production was simplistic. The backdrop was multiple layers of curtains directed in every direction with only one door in the background. The only other device was a large trunk used as many props such as a horse carriage and a desk. The rest of the show depended on light, sounds, and talent.

"When we had opening night...you know, stupid little scary play in this little theater in a high school, and that first night, kids were screaming their bloody heads off,” said Blackaller. “Then intermission came, and Scott (Wilson) and I went offstage and he was just beaming. He was like, 'Is this the most fun you've even had in your life?' And I was like 'Yeah.'”

Blackaller appreciates works with simple designs. Being an enthusiast for works like radio dramas, Blackaller says modern audiences rely too much on special effects.

“The spectacle is really awesome, but it’s only as good as the audience’s imagination,” said Blackaller.

Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company is still relatively new and after focusing on OSU, and Wilson leaving for Florida after graduation, the company has only performed “The Woman in Black.” The show was once performed around Halloween 2007 and again around Halloween 2009.

So, instead of staged plays, Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company has occupied its time with staged readings. Sundays@7 takes place on Sundays at 7 p.m. at the Shoebox, an art gallery in the South Campus Gateway, and cost $3. Here, audiences can watch staged readings of classical plays, new works, move scripts, and more.

One example was the reading of a rough draft of the movie “Predator,” then titled “The Hunter.” The performance was complete with OSU student Ben Fox impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blackaller creating sound effects with a mic and amp, and many of the actors alternatively taking turns as The Predator, shooting fellow actors with a Nerf gun when it was their turn to die.

Mahmoud Osman, 20, is an OSU theater undergrad who has participated in two of Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company’s staged readings.

“Sometimes the script you get is not 100 percent accurate with the movie,” said Osman. “It’s just really cool to hear different people and new ways of interpreting the characters of the script. Everyone brings their own thing to it.”

Audrey Rush, 21, an OSU theatre undergrad who participated in three readings said, “Everyone there really loves theater and this is what they would do in their spare time. And it’s Sunday, so let’s just screw around and read some new plays regardless of whether or not we’d actually be cast in that role."

The staged readings began after an incident where an event fell through and the company needed to cover with something. The result was a staged reading of the movie “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.”

Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company has performed more classical works in their staged readings such as Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” John Ford’s “Tis Pity She’s a Whore,” and a rendition of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” But a string of reading 80s movie scripts is perhaps the most quirky.

The Shoebox provides an intimate atmosphere for the staged readings. There are multiple pieces of artwork along the walls including paintings, sketches, photographs, odd crafts, and more. For the event, about 30 folding chairs are set up on a half of the space, while the other half is open for the performers. Some performances have the actors seated while reading their lines, while other performances have the actors more active, such as sword fighting in “Tis Pity She’s a Whore.”

Sundays@7 also serves as a conduit for people to get involved with Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company.

"With this Sundays@7 series, we’re trying to provide an opportunity for our friends who might be interested in directing something, or friends who would be interested in reading something, or our friends who might be interested in having a piece of theirs read, to have a format or a venue for that kind of work,” said Poole.

One person benefiting from Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company is Liam Cronin, 21, the founder of a local sketch comedy group called Sketch by Number. The group has been able to perform in the Shoebox with its connections with Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company when the sketch group is not performing in other spaces such as the Black Box in the South Campus Gateway Film Center. Cronin believes their partnership can help both companies.

"Hopefully, eventually they can branch out and maybe that's what they're trying to do with their partnership with us, and that's what we're trying to do with our partnership with them,” said Cronin. “I hope it's mutually beneficial."

On March 17, Sketch by Number and Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company will be performing a combo show titled, “Sketching in the Dark.”

In the spring, Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company will be performing their next play, written heavily by Wilson and Blackaller, “The Science of Fiction.” It’s a three character play about a young H.G. Wells, an acclaimed science fiction author who wrote works such as “The Time Machine,” and “The Invisible Man.” The show will go on tour to theaters and schools.

Many performers helping Whistling in the Dark Theatre Company, including Jones and many of the actors in the Sundays@7 are or have been affiliated with The Ohio State University Theatre Department. Many of these people are undergrads.

Blackaller and Poole are still helping students even after their master’s program where they taught many OSU theater classes. Their mission statement on their Web site goes as far as saying “…foster the next generation of theatre professionals.” Poole described the effort to help with young actor’s transition from college or community theater to more distinguished theaters.

“One of the goals for the company is to be sort of a stepping stone into the professional world for recent graduates, to develop some credibility and some skills,” said Poole.

Columbus has a good amount of theatres whether professional or not, but Blackaller is not worried about competing for an audience.

“As long as people are doing art that they love, there will always be an audience for it,” said Blackaller.


Blackaller talking about modern audiences
Cronin talking about Whistling in the Dark partnership

Ethics and Social Networking

The early days of the internet alone greatly expanded the grasp of news. Now, stories are coming faster, more abundant, and more accessible. However, with the rise of social networking, such as Facebook and Twitter, people have gained easy access to let their name be found and voice be heard. And with this accessibility being taken advantage of, journalism has undergone more changes. Changes in how to research and tell stories.

Whether people see social media as a venue for news, professional journalists must treat them so. Journalists must balance mutiple aspects: their image, safety, revealing news, being accurate. And if the balance is in order, social media can be a great assett. It's hard to be professional when you want to relax and be yourself in these social networks, but there is a rational explanation. Journalists throw themselves out there all the time as themselves. They're not actors, or writers, or anyone else pretending to be a fictional person or create peculiar circumstances. Journalists appear before people, stating their name and what they have been finding, and behind every story is their efforts and ideas. It gets to the point when we don't even see the journalist, we see the person. So when a journalist creates a personal account that is public for everyone to see, the public will still see the same journalist/person they think they know from watching. And it is the journalist's responsibility to never to break journalism rules or the public will distrust their news.

So, the news orginizations are right for creating exceptional rules to keep the balance. There are steadfast laws that will ensure no one sees a flaw in an employee and startn a negative reaction. Lose faith in a person, then the journalist, then the journalism company. I admit the rules are a bind for the employees, but because of their exposure and dedications the job brings to the audience, they cannot betray people by being bias and dishonest.

Also, social media is useful for finding news or finding a good angle. So, social media is not just a beautified trap that news workers must constantly be aware of, but also a pathway to useful information. With people constantly updating their status, there is bound to be news, and because the information is public, it proves to be a great tool for news companies. And because of the high demand and constant consumption of news these days, these tool cannot be compromised. Journalists will need to utilize social networks to search for news and approach subjects to learn more about certain news.

And when approaching other people through social media, it reinforces the law of appearing professional. Your information is just as accessible as theirs, and if you do not carry yourself as a respectable journalist, approaching subjects becomes much harder.

The TV, the newspapers, the internet, and magazines are so easily accessed. Social media is just as easily accessible and possibly even more frequently used. The news displayed on these sites are trusted just as much on any other source and must hold the same factors all news holds.

Ideas from Multimedia

Mediastorm.com has a story titled "The Ninth Floor" and it uses a slideshow with audio. The audio includes interviews from the subjects. This is really interesting and I would love to do this format, but not for this story. I would like to focus on words and draw attention to the theatre's impact instead of just their performances.

Another article includes a video to go with the story. For my feature it may not be a bad idea to include one of my interviews to go with the article.

I could also use this idea. A broadcast style with clips from subjects. It's possible, but I'll have to think about it.

Multimedia Reports

CNN published a story on the shooting at Deer Creek Middle School and it uses two photos and 3 videos. The videos in particular add some great visualization of the people in the story and setting. Seeing children run in the snow was good for me. USA Today published a story entitled "Allied force launch offensive in Marjah" and the story is fully portrayed with pictures and small captions. The pictures are so diverse and informative they prove to be really interesting. I like this story a lot because the multimedia does a lot of the explaining, but leaves a lot of room for you to find your own conclusions along with the ones the captions provide.

Feature Story

Feature Outline
Whistling in the Dark is a relatively new theatre, and the feature story will focus on the company’s impact in the Columbus theatre scene. Two of the three creators are available for interviews (Dwayne Blackaller and Kal Poole; Scott Wilson has moved to Florida) Interesting topics are the following:

What was the main incentive for creating the company?
-so far, I have learned when the 3 creators were graduating as grad students last year, they thought there were few to no companies in Columbus (something they were dead wrong with) The company was also created to be what Blackaller calls a “Boy’s club.” Whistling would give the opportunity to perform weird contemporary works they liked and also new works they created.

Partnerships along with other Columbus artists
-Blackaller gave some insight on how companies have contacted each other to make sure no one was stepping on anyone’s toes. Also, the space Whistling rents is located in the South Campus Gateway and is shared by other art companies and these companies are not restricted to theatre. I got a hint of an alliance around OSU campus that promotes all kinds of art in the area of South Campus and Short North. Of course, I’ll have to investigate.

Sunday Staged Readings
-Every Sunday at 7:00 p.m. is a staged reading of some kind. I have seen two performances so far: “The Hunter,” which was the original script for “Predator,” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the short story. They are events held at The Shoebox in South Campus Gateway for $3 a person. Whistling takes anything on request, and is also willing to perform anything new, written by Columbus residents.

Performances
-“The Lady in Black” is the biggest show so far for Whistling and they have been hyping a long going project “The Science of Fiction” for a long time. Yet, “The Lady in Black” has been performed twice with major alterations. The first time being before the company was even created, but still containing the main three men.

Collaboration with OSU
- Many theatre students from OSU have performed for Whistling, whether it was a staged performance or a staged reading. OSU theatre professors have also lent a hand to offering short ideas and performances for the company. There also a mildly successful comedy group performing alongside the name of Whistling in the Dark where all of it’s members come fro OSU theatre.

Social Media
A website, titled capitalcityradio.org is a blogging news site that actually has an interview one of the creators, Dwayne Blackaller about his work in the Columbus Arts. There is also a facebook post from Blackaller's account promoting another interview with Joy Reilly, the OSU theatre critic.
Judging from social medias, Kal Poole is a lot less talkative compared to Blackaller.

Dan Wilburn attempts stand-up and Web-based series in Columbus comedy scene

It's open mic night, and the MC is bathed in white light as he steps on the stage to introduce a new comic. The next performer is a 28-year-old OSU student who has been doing stand-up for five months and recently started a Web-based series.

"Please put your hands together for a very funny man, Dan Wilburn," the MC said.

In Wilburn's time of contributing to the Columbus comedy scene, he has appeared in many open mic nights, been a finalist in Columbus' Funniest Person Competition at the Funny Bone Comedy Club, and has three completed episodes of a series he hopes to upload weekly online called, "Columbus News InsideHer."

Wilburn recalls the stage being a place of intimidation.

"I remember just going up and thinking how bright the light was," said Wilburn. "It was so distracting that I didn't even see anything else. It was just this one bright light."

Now, Wilburn handles the stage fine when he makes weekly visits to open mic nights at bars such as Surly Girl Saloon and Byrne's Pub.

Wilburn greets the audience members who are ready to laugh, and he warns the others to get with the program. He stands over 6 ft. with confidence. His jeans and button shirt fit well onto his slim figure. He carries the mic with his right hand and motions with his left as he stands in place.

Across his left forearm, just past the elbow, is a tattoo. "Today this is my life."

Wilburn explained the risk of doing comedy.

"Taking a memo and making it into a story or a joke or a premise that’s funny, and then going to tell it on the stage and having it work is really rewarding that it offsets the absolute horror of having jokes that don’t work," Wilburn said.

Before the show begins, Wilburn talks to other Columbus comics who are working on their set lists. They encourage each other, and try to find the best way to attempt new material.

There are far more Columbus comics than comedy venues. The Funny Bone being the biggest, if not only venue, that many Columbus residents know.

"I didn't even realize Columbus had a comedy scene going on and I didn't realize there was so many comics participating in it," said Wilburn's roommate, Diana Banas, 21. "Especially the first time I went out to see Dan perform at Surly Girl there were several other acts, at least…25, somewhere in there."

In January, Wilburn posted the first two episodes of his Web-based series, "Columbus News InsideHer." The series is formatted in the style of "The Daily Show," a Comedy Central satirical program drawing inspiration from, and mocking, recent news. Another influence is "The Onion," which bears a similar sarcastic tone towards news and also creates exaggerated stories for comedic purposes.

The viral videos do not have as many viewers Wilburn would like, but he enjoys making them and is looking for partnerships to help boost the audience.

Dave Siegel, 34, a professional comic for 6 years, said uploading videos is “an easy way to spread the word about yourself these days.”

Siegel has made short films himself and has his own interactive Web-based series called "Dave & Jay Tell You Things."

"I really love doing short film, because I kind of think that's the way of the future with the YouTube age and Funny or Die," said Siegel. "It's just such an (inviting) medium where someone will take five minutes out of their day and watch a funny video."

Wilburn records and edits the videos himself. His bedroom is his studio. In the room, his bed takes half the space while a green screen takes up the other half.

The entrance of Wilburn's house is surrounded by CDs, vinyl records, CD players, and record players. At the far end of the entrance way is a large table surrounded by sound equipment often used during Wilburn's band days.

Before Wilburn pursued comedy, he was a guitarist playing with other musicians and helping with the recording aspects. His talent with sound equipment would also help him freelance for events to earn money.

In 2007 and 2008, Wilburn redirected himself towards animation and script writing. The plan was to create a stop motion series using photographs with friends. However, the project, "Life Sandwich," never surpassed test footage.

But Wilburn never stopped writing. He eventually wrote material fit for stand-up and became determined to give it a try.

Months later, Wilburn is happy with how things are going. He keeps a journal full of details about his performances, jokes used, and audience response. He always wants to improve himself and move forward.

Broadcast Assignment

Good morning, I'm Jacob Browning and here is the news for Feb. 9, 2010.

We have big news involving the Jackson family.

Michael Jackson's doctor has been taken into custody on Monday after pleading not guilty to causing the singer's death.

Dr. Conrad Murray, who administered general anesthetic drugs to help Jackson sleep, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and is now being held on $75,000 bail.

If convicted, Murray faces up to four years in prison.

In government news, the Democrats have lost a dear member.

Congressman, John Murtha passed away Monday after complications from gall bladder surgery. The 77-year-old Democrat was on the panel that oversees Pentagon spending and he was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress.

He was serving his 19th term and was the 8th most senior member in Congress.

Extra news for sports involving the championship game.

Super Bowl 44 now holds the record for most viewers in television history. The spot previously belonged to the series finale of "M*A*S*H," which aired in 1983.

According to Nielsen, viewers for the football game peaked at 106.5 million, raising 8 percent from last year's Super Bowl.

Latest news in technology could involve change to your e-mail.

Google plays catch up in the social networking world by tweaking their popular e-mail service, Gmail. New add-ons to be revealed this week, will allow users to post and view messages about their daily activities similar to the status updates in Facebook and Twitter.

On a side note, I would like to bring up a campaign ad. It's popular on the internet right now and is nicknamed, "Demon Sheep." Maybe you've seen this. The ad calls Tom Campbell a "wolf in sheep's clothing," saying he is not who he claims: a fiscal conservative. The ad is way overdone, but I love it. Love it in the "I love a good laugh" kind of way, definitely not the "I will vote accordingly" kind of way. Check it out.

This is Jacob Browning.

150 OSU students hold snowball fight to battle winter boredom

Ohio State students challenged winter boredom by attempting an epic snowball fight on the Oval.

A Facebook event titled, “Big Ass Snowball Fight,” appeared to be a spontaneous idea to welcome people back for the first winter week. It was scheduled for Friday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m.

By Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 students accepted an invitation, up from 800 the night before.

However, the snowball fight peaked at 6:30 p.m. with about 150 people participating.

Despite only about 7.5 percent of invitees attending, many students had fun.

"I did hit a guy in the face,” said OSU senior, Abbie Miller, 21. “It was pretty sweet. He looked really in pain. And I hope Monday morning when he goes back to school he has like a nice shiner and he can say, 'Yeah, there was this girl on the Oval and she got me.’”

Some said they had nothing better to do in the winter and were worried the event would not take place.

"First week back, something to do, it was fun,” said OSU sophomore, Stephanie Hynes, 19. “I'm glad they did this. You have to do more things like this, something in the winter because it gets so boring. Because you're forced to sit in your dorm, and forced to study or do nothing.”

The snowball fight began just after 6 p.m. It was 21 F, according to weather.com. Students began hesitantly at first, comfortably throwing snowballs at their friends. It may have been too cruel to throw at strangers. Eventually, almost everyone joined except for those who were still not comfortable and decided to build snow figures and make snow angels.

OSU sophomore, Sam Gastel, 20, was one of the first to arrive. However, he was unimpressed of the 27 participants starting the fight. Gastel said he came because he was bored, and he was disappointed by the attendance.

However, students like Hynes and Miller decided to be optimistic and stick around. Both students said they were glad they stayed and were enjoying themselves.

Groups were spontaneously formed and dropped. Some fighters waited with their weapons until ready to unleash their icy ammunition onto their peers while others steadily supplied a barrage of attacks.

"It's like chaos,” said Miller. “They tried to organize a little bit with the colors, but it ended up just being a free for all.”

The fight was hectic and things got personal. Friends made sure to have a healthy yet competitive feud, while others took pride in challenging complete strangers.

Every student seemed happy to celebrate their first week back at OSU and blow off the idea of no fun during winter quarter.

Interview Clip from Snowball Fight

This is Abbie Miller, a high spirited senior at OSU attending the snowball fight.

Live Nation Entertainment opens office in Dallas, run by Senior Vice President Caterinicchia

Major entertainment booking service, Live Nation Entertainment will open an office in Dallas.

The area will be led by newly appointed Senior Vice President, Danny Cat-er-in-eek-e-uh. Key venues for the new office are Cowboys Stadium and American Airlines Center.

Cat-er-in-eek-e-uh has produced more than 3,000 concerts since 1978, including big names such as Paul McCartney, the Eagles and more.

Live Nation Entertainment is the product of both Live Nation and fellow live entertainment booking company, Ticketmaster, successfully merging in January.

Snowball Fight Videos

Before I publish my profile project onto the blog, I'll be sharing a recent article on a 150 person snowball fight at OSU. Here are some videos I created when I was reporting.

Allow me to Introduce Dan Wilburn

I am writing a profile about Dan Wilburn, a new Columbus comedian. He participates in open mic nights at bars like Surly Girl Saloon for example, and he has started to make comedic news videos. His first video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdNHzKJoR3g