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8/14/2019 Sponsor Packet(2)
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Dead Art Form Theater, Inc.A California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation
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The Situation
Los Angeles is a community that boasts more theaters,
theater companies, and professional actors, writers, and
directors than any other city in the country, including New
York. But, LA Theater has a pretty bad reputation, and,
unfortunately, that reputation is well deserved.
Why?
A Lack of Innovation
LA is the center of the film and television
industries, and theater has suffered as a result. Most
plays in this sphere are simply exercises for screenwriters
and screen actors to showcase their talents for film and TV
professionals in the hopes of securing representation or
real jobs in movies or TV series. Therefore, most
theatrical productions attempt to imitate the constantly
rehashed formulas that are still the basis of the vast
majority of film and TV projects. This climate of
conventionality results in creative stagnation and makes
for uninteresting, redundant theatrical productions.
Even when an innovative new work is composed, the
chances of that play ever reaching an audience with its
intended vision intact are slim to none. Every major
theater has an in-residence Dramaturge (AKA: Literary
Manager) whose job it is to help the play by reshaping
its structure, plot, and/or intent so that it might appeal
to the largest number of audience members on that theaters
subscriber list. Playwrights are often coerced into making
these changes with a simple sentence: Do it or we cancel.
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This endemic reverence of conformity is not surprising
given the realities of the current marketplace for
established entertainment entities. The goal of these
organizations is simple: Make money. How do they make
money? By increasing sales. How do they increase sales? By
focusing on projects that appeal to the lowest common
denominator.
Hence, Spiderman: The Musical.
Dead Art Form Theater (DAFT), Inc. is a reaction tothe pervasive fear of risk that impedes theatrical
innovation. It is a corporation whose agenda is to
resurrect a dying art form; to search for truth in
storytelling; to present a challenging, innovative paradigm
that entertains and warrants debate; to engage in a mutual
conversation between audience and artist about truth and
perception, reality and faith, and what makes us human; to
share its rich experience with students from underserved
communities; to nurture the next generation of theater
artists; and to take these productions around the world.
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The Mission
To resurrect a dying art form by producing important
works with a special emphasis on staging quality
productions of insightful, provocative world-premiere
plays that maintain the original intentions of the
author; and to foster and mentor new talent in
underserved communities.
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The Company
The Background
In August of 2008, Dead Art Form Theater (DAFT), Inc.
was incorporated as a California Nonprofit Public Benefit
Corporation by theater professionals in an attempt to
combat the dearth of innovation in LAs languishing theater
scene. Composed of four MFA graduates of UCLAs prestigious
School of Theater, Film and Television, DAFT, Inc. has
already begun development on several new works, begun
production on their first world-premiere play (Money Shot
opens October 3rd, 2008), and fostered a close relationship
with the faculty and students of East Los Angeles College
(ELAC) by presenting a series of readings of important new
works there.
The Future
Starting in October of 2008, DAFT, Inc. plans to
extend its role in fostering young talent in underserved
communities by increasing the frequency of the play
readings, increasing the size of the student audiences, and
implementing a number of mentoring programs at ELAC, all
free-of-charge.
DAFT, Inc. also plans to complete an entire rehearsal
process of an important new work with an unprecedented
Open Door policy in an on-campus rehearsal space, which
will give ELAC students unique, free access to the
professional rehearsal/new play development process.
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Commencing on or around January 1st, 2009, DAFT, Inc.
is planning on securing a permanent space by either
purchasing or leasing a local theater so that it may extend
its season to include four-to-six productions of important
new works per year, with at least two of those productions
working the pioneering Open Door policy, and with the
express intention of taking these productions on tours
around the world.
The Sources of Financial Support
Initially, a reasonable admission fee to attend
performances (around $15.00 USD) will be charged so that
our productions remain accessible to the largest possible
number of community members with substantial discounts for
students and senior citizens.
Given the prohibitive cost of attendance to the
majority of theatrical productions ($25.00 - $95.00 USD),
DAFT, Inc.s eventual goal is to bring the price of
admission down even further, so that all members of any
community may attend.
Given the nature of its endeavor, DAFT, Inc. fully
expects the majority of its funding to come from personal
contributions.
This is not to say the corporation intends to fail
commercially. Quite the contrary. As DAFT, Inc. continues
to mount superior productions of new, landmark works,
recognition of its fearless pursuit of ground-breaking
expression will certainly grow. It is because DAFT, Inc.
intends to charge audience members as little as possible to
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attend its performances, and to keep its services in
underserved communities free-of-charge that it will not be
able to function without significant private financial
support.
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The People
Officers
Mr. Daniel Keleher, MFA, [email protected]
Mr. Gregory Myhre, MFA, Vice President
Mr. James Jordan, MFA, Treasurer
Mr. Shawn Colten, MFA, Secretary
Board Members
Mrs. Rebecca Davis, MFA
Mr. Kyle Lawson
Miss Sherrie Lofton
Mr. Chad Myhre, CFA
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The Officers
Daniel Keleher, MFA, President
Daniel is a professional playwright, copywriter, and
college-level theater educator in East Los Angeles.
His theater career began in northern Michigan as a
full-scholarship student under the tutelage of Dr. Rick
Plummer at West Shore College. While there, he focused on
Performance Technique and acted leading roles in a dozen
plays. He was also involved behind the scenes as a set
builder, light runner, and stage manager and served as the
schools Student Technical Director for three semesters.
Additionally, he appeared in a traveling acting troupe that
toured area high schools in underserved communities to
present plays which addressed socially relevant issues
faced by at-risk teens, and was an acting and writing
instructor for children of all ages at West Shore Theater
Summer Camps.
Daniel continued studying performance technique on a
full-scholarship to Northern Arizona University with Dr.
Robert Yowell, Dr. Mac Groves, and Joseph Turner-Cantu.
While attending NAU, he appeared in leading roles in more
than fifteen plays, and won numerous acting awards. While
competing in two American College Theater Festivals (ACTF),
he won two Irene Ryan Acting Award nominations, competed in
the Irene Ryan regional semi-finals, and won the Best
Actor, Arizona Award. Two of his early plays, Mastiphicus
Meglodon and Some Other Metal than Earth were staged at
ACTF to critical and audience acclaim. He graduated with a
BS in Theater Performance.
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During the summers in Arizona, Daniel worked with the
Equal Opportunity Housing Coalition where he taught at-risk
teens basic carpentry skills, then supervised them on
beautification projects throughout the impoverished and
underrepresented Sunnyside neighborhood in Flagstaff. The
project was a huge success, and was reported in newspapers
throughout Arizona, resulting in two of the teens receiving
early scholarships to universities.
Daniel then attended UCLAs prestigious School of
Theater, Film and Television on full scholarship and
obtained an MFA under Edit Villareal, Hanay Geigomah, andGary Gardner. While there, he won the Skirball/Kennis
Playwrights Award, The George Burns and Gracie Allen
Fellowship for Outstanding Comedy Writing, and became the
first UCLA TFT graduate playwriting student to act in a
mainstage production.
His original play Kindred, currently optioned by
Senovva Entertainment, has received critical and audience
acclaim up and down the West Coast with five productions in
Los Angeles, alone. His collaboration with Tony Award-
winning writer/director Mel Shapiro on a musical
interpretation of Homers Odysseywas successfully staged
last spring, and the two plan to collaborate again this
year on Daniels new original play Hot. His original plays
Robosaurus and Mastiphicus Meglodon premiered at the
NativeAliens Theater Collective in Manhattan this year, and
Robosaurus has won numerous 10 minute play competitions on
the East Coast, since.
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Daniel is currently teaching Theater courses at East
Los Angeles College, and writing and developing original
plays while maintaining a successful movie-trailer
copywriting business.
Keleher writes with a startling unique voice. His dialogue explodes likefirecrackers onto the stage and the pyrotechnics dont stop
-Metro LA
energy, smarts and a surprising tenderness both rough andsupple.
-LA Weekly
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Gregory Myhre, MFA, Vice President
Greg is a professional actor/writer living and working
in the Los Angeles area.
He began performing forensics in high school where he
was awarded multiple state championships for each year he
competed.
He then accepted a scholarship to The University of
Mary in Bismarck, ND, where he met a mentor in Dr. Nita
Ritzke. Under her direction, Greg acted in numerous leading
roles and was voted Best Male Actor every year for the four
years he attended the school. The one year the school
entered the national ACTF competition Greg was invited to
compete in the Irene Ryan competition and bring a one man
show to be showcased in competition against a handful of
other full-length plays. His one man show won Best Play and
crowd favorite that year.
The following summer, he toured a children's show to
grade schools on impoverished Native American reservations
and performed for the students, some of whom had never
before seen live theater. He counts this experience among
the most treasured moments of his life.
After graduation, Greg auditioned for the national
University/Resident Theater Association (URTA) in a search
for a graduate school specializing in acting performance.
To his delight, he was accepted to every school for which
he auditioned, including CalArts, NYU, Harvard, and UCLA.
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Each of these programs is highly competitive, and accepts
between five and fifteen actors per year.
Before leaving his home state of North Dakota, Greg
formed Average Joe's Independent Theater Company, a non-
profit organization dedicated to staging live theater for
people in small-town North Dakota, many of whom had never
been exposed to it. The troupe sold out three touring
productions before Greg left for California. He counts it
one of the biggest successes of his life.
A second was earning an MFA from UCLA's School ofTheater, Film and Television where he was the only North
Dakotan to ever attend. He was also the only actor to play
the leading role in a mainstage production all three years
of the program, and to head the cast of the class film. He
was awarded the Jack Nicholson Award for Acting and the
George Burns and Gracia Allen Award for Comedy. During his
time at UCLA, Greg taught acting to undergraduate theater
majors as well as summer acting classes to non-theater
majors. He also made several trips back to his alma mater,
The University of Mary, to perform workshops and
participate in talk-backs with theater majors.
Greg currently performs on television, in film,
theater, and in voice-over, and motion capture for video
games. He has appeared on such shows as Days of Our Lives
for which he was nominated for a Best Guest Star Daytime
Emmy Award, the short-livedseries Drive, Serenity,
Smallville, and acted in numerous independent films, one of
which won a film festival judged by Spike Lee.
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However, performing theater, the only personal story-
telling medium left, in front of those who have not been
exposed to it is still his most cherished occupation.
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James Jordan, MFA, Treasurer
James is a professional actor of screen and stage,
holds an MFA from the UCLA, and is a frequent contributor
to local educators on the topics of aesthetics and theory.
His training began as a student at Webb City High
School in the quant, quiet hamlet of Webb City Missouri. It
was there that he collaborated with educators to
reestablish a theater program for the community. A slew of
successfully welcomed productions, resulted in approval by
the school board to construct a 2.5 million dollar
performing arts center. The Webb City High School Drama
Department is now a thriving center for the performing arts
in Southwest Missouri. Graduates regularly attend the most
prestigious theater training programs, or work in
professional houses around the country in a multitude of
capacities. This accomplishment garnered James a theater
scholarship to Missouri Southern University under the
guidance of Dr. Jay Fields.
James delved into the intense training, and soon found
himself a designated "Repertory Player" for the
University's theater season. James performed in nearly 40
mainstage productions at Southern, sometimes performing
twice a day in rep. James' intensive training as an actor
also required his complete focus on theory and
aestheticism, as pertaining to the performing arts. It was
in this line of study that he challenged the conventional
wisdom pertaining to semiotics, the language of symbols.
James presented a 15 minute play "acted" entirely by
lights; applied the Aristotlean tragedy of Hamlet to the
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American Civil War; designed the medieval play Everymanas a metaphor for the death penalty; directed a 70-
paged analysis he wrote; wrote a ten-minute play called The
Yes Yes Boat; and presented a paper to the faculty on the
nature of "Theatricality."
Beyond academics, James became a company member of The
Show-Me Celebration Theater Company, a Missouri-based
children's theater company that annually records attendance
of 40,000-50,000 patrons. James also founded The SPEAKLOUD
Theater Labratory, a workshop for artists of other
disciplines to explore their works in the medium ofTheater. James wrote and staged his original one-acts; The
Eyeball Call and Movement. James was a contributor to the
BACKSTAGE CLUB, a University Think Tank that challenged
conventional theories and practices of Theater. It was
during this time that James became a member of Alpha Psi
Omega Theater Fraternity, Vice-President of the Young
Democrats, member of the National Organization of Women,
and worked for Vice President Al Gore as a Field
Representative during his bid for the presidency in 2000.
James left Southern as Distinguished Arts Graduate of 2002.
After being welcomed by graduate acting programs
across the county, James accepted a position as a candidate
for the Master of Fine Arts in Acting at UCLA. He began
the innovative, poetic study of Acting under the tutelage
of Tony-Award winner Mel Shaprio.
In his second year of study, James was awarded the Sir
Ian McKellen Award in Acting. He performed in the West
Coast premieres of several shows at UCLA, and continues to
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collaborate with Brian Kite, an award-winning director.
James also taught acting for non-majors, and was awarded a
scholarship to perform original short comedic sketches for
terminally ill children at UCLA's Medical Center. James
wrote, produced, directed, and acted in Buzz or The
Wounded, a ten-minute play that tells the story of author,
activist, and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic whose story was
brought to the screen in Oliver Stone's biopic Born on the
Fourth of July. James worked closely with Mr. Kovic, and
the play was the closing show in a run of originally
conceived pieces about political activism in America.
As graduation approached, James starred in the world
premiere of Daniel Keleher's inaugural LA play; Kindred,
and helped found the now-thriving Los Angeles Theater
Ensemble with Kindredas its flagship production.
James made his debut in the world of television by Co-
starring in an episode of Steven Bochco's short-lived Iraq
drama for the FX network, Overthere. James has also guest-
starred on CSI, CSI Miami, Cold Case, Close to Home,
Without a Trace, and Just Legal, and played two different
recurring characters for CW Network's critically acclaimed
teen noir drama Veronica Mars. On the big screen, he played
a pivotal role in the western period thriller Seraphim
Falls starring Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, and Angelica
Huston, and in the award-winning short film Dust by Adam
Cozad. Most recently, James has collaborated with the
likes of Rob Thomas, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch, and Adam Scott
on an original television comedy entitled Party Down.
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Shawn Colten, MFA, Secretary
Shawn is an accomplished college-level athlete,
acrobat, gymnast, skateboarder, an MFA graduate in Acting
from UCLAs School of Theater, Film, and Television, and a
professional actor living in Los Angeles.
A prelude to his pursuit of acting, Shawns extremely
physical background started at a very early age with a love
of skateboarding. While living on the island of Okinawa,
Japan (his father was a Major in the Marine Corps and was
stationed there for three years), Shawn, a military brat of
just thirteen years of age, was involved with the planning
and building of four skate parks, one on each of the four
major military bases on the island.
Upon his return to southern California, he continued
skateboarding while learning to juggle and ride unicycles.
At the age of eighteen, he started training as a gymnast.
Before long, he was coaching gymnastics at three differentgyms and four different elementary schools while continuing
his own training in the evenings.
Shawn decided to attend college at the ripe old age of
twenty-two, and since he had been homeschooled up to this
point, college was his first classroom experience. While
taking a class in springboard diving, he realized he would
make a better diver than a gymnast, and so began training
in earnest.
In his first year of competing for MESA Community
College, in San Diego, California, he went undefeated in
the season and was named an All-American Diver by the NCAA.
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Shawn was awarded Most Valuable Player four times in his
two years at MESA.
Finishing his two year degree, Shawn moved to Houston,
Texas, in order to perform in a water-stunt show at Six
Flags, AstroWorld. Some of the stunts involved high diving
from 80 feet into a pool that was only 8 feet deep, and
doing a synchronized bungee cord routine with a trapeze
swing. After two years in Houston, he moved to Clarion,
Pennsylvania, in order to finish his undergraduate degree
at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
At Clarion, Shawn studied theater with Rob Bullington
while training on the diving team with his coach Dave
Hrovat. His day started with 5:30am practices, then classes
at 9:00am, and practice again at 2:00pm. Then Shawn would
begin his job working as a bartender from 6:00pm until
1:00am, then up again at 5:30am for practice the next day.
However, this superhuman effort paid off in great
dividends: Shawn was a four-time NCAA National Champion;two-time Clarion University Athlete of the Year; two-time
Clarion University Scholar Athlete of the Year; Disneys
Wide World of Sports Regional Scholar Athlete of the Year;
and was honored by the Senate of Pennsylvania and senator
Mary Jo White for his outstanding achievements. Along with
these accomplishments, Shawn still somehow managed to win
his schools 2002 Breakthrough Award for Acting, Best
Comedic Performance Award, and the Best Actor in a Play
Award, and compete in the Semi-Finals of the Irene Ryan
Acting Competition at the American College Theater Festival.
Finished with his undergraduate degree, Shawn was
accepted into the MFA program for acting at UCLA where he
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studied under Mel Shapiro and Gil Cates. The intense
program gave him the chance to perform in nine mainstage
plays while taking countless classes, teaching
undergraduate acting, and having the chance to work with
Tim Robbins, Annette Benning, Frances Ford Coppola, and
Larry Moss.
Since completing his masters at UCLA, Shawn has
appeared in over 20 television shows including
Californication, CSI New York, Close To Home, Scrubs,
Crossing Jordan, Jericho, and many others.
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The Projects
Kindred
Kindredis a play of extraordinary sensitivity.
Written with compassion and insight, it tracks, in real-
time, the emotions of two prison inmates, one of whom is
scheduled for execution the following morning. In the
course of their ninety minute colloquy, both undergo
significant reversals of outlook and understanding, and
both find deep reconciliation with their fates and their
lives. Kindredis a play of beautiful recognitions.
vibrant script erupts with lyrical poetic imagery. In
less than a heartbeat, his writing swerves from being
easily pithy to dynamically explosive.
-Backstage West
real talent a fresh voice and wicked smart dialogue.
-LA City Beat
Those fortunate enough to see it here may be able to tell
their grandchildren someday that they saw this play before
anyone else ever heard of it or its author.
-The Davis Enterprise
This production should not be overlooked! Highly
recommended.
-Accessibly Live Off-Line
spellbinding and surprisingly funny distinctly
American
-The Los Angeles Times
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Money Shot
In the San Fernando Valley, a group of twentysomething
Internet entrepreneurs play video games while waiting for
their hero- a well established adult film director- to show
up for the biggest video shoot of their lives. By the time
the shoot is done, it's progressed from sexual display to
carnality of the utmost extreme.
The play confronts one of the deadliest conditions of
human sensibility, i.e. its casual accommodation to the
absolute of inhumanity. It is written in a language that is
complex, visionary, and surreal, and with both its language
and its action, it exploits the terror and the poetry and
the banality of this casual accommodation. Developed with
Tony Award-winning writer/director Mel Shapiro, the play,
step by step, with the force and the logic of set rituals
reaches, at its conclusion, an explosive impact.
The raunchiest, most brilliant, most beautiful American
play in many years. A major work.
-Dr. Leon Katz, Emeritus Professor,
Yale School of Drama; Roger Fry
Distinguished Professor of Dramatic
Arts
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Hot
A riotous story of love, sacrifice, and slavery, Hot
is a romantic farce set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.
With ninety-five percent of the earths population either
dead or in deep comas, one man tries to find love among the
wreckage. Confronting deep themes of lust, civil
responsibility, and morality, Hot provides a unique,
hilarious perspective on loss, loneliness, and what it
means to be human.
Hot is slated for production in 2009, with Tony Award-
winning director Mel Shapiro taking the helm.
Hot is one of those plays that seems to have a destiny all
its own it sets a new, joyfully politically incorrect bar
for which other dark comedies should strive
-Sid Higgins, Artistic Director,
The National Youth Theater of
Britain
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The Renaissance
As its name implies, Dead Art Form Theater, Inc. is
about resurrection, and believes some of the old models for
developing successful art deserve attention.
It is widely known that generous patronage kicked off
the Renaissance, and the family name Medici will forever be
chronicled alongside such illustrious names as Leonardo da
Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose
works continue to enthrall millions of people around the
world.
The patronage model continued to flourish throughout
the Renaissance, and generated some of the greatest
theatrical works by luminaries like Moliere, William
Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson.
DAFT, Inc. hopes to renew this legacy by operating
from a budget that consists primarily of generous personal
donations, corporate sponsorships, and partnerships on
productions, promotional materials, tours, and student
workshops. This structure will allow the organization
unprecedented freedom of expression so that it may continue
to cultivate new voices, present important, innovative
works to the largest number of community members at the
lowest possible price, and continue its free-of-charge
workshops and play readings in underserved communities.
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The Benefits
Along with credit in most promotional materials for
the organization and its productions, as well as
recognition on tasteful displays upon the purchase of a
permanent home by the corporation, the contributors,
patrons, and partners of DAFT, Inc. will be rewarded with
the knowledge that their generous contributions are:
Allowing important, innovative works to be seen by the
largest possible audience.
Encouraging public discourse.
Restoring vivacity to our decaying theatrical heritage.
Directly impacting the lives of young people in
underserved communities.
Touching the lives of audiences around the world.
Having a real, measurable effect on the corporation,
the community, and art in general.
Beyond recognition in promotional materials and
permanent displays, DAFT, Inc. will also work closely with
contributors, patrons, and partners to make sure that
contributions of a certain level are acknowledged in a
manner which pleases them; up to and including the naming
of DAFT, Inc.s future permanent home. Some examples
include:
The naming of seats in the permanent future home of
DAFT, Inc. after the patron
Credit as Producer or Producing Partner on
promotional materials for sponsored productions
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Credit as a Promotion Partner on promotional
materials for sponsored promotions of productions
Any other way, within reason, in which the patron,
contributor, or partner wishes his/her name to be
acknowledged
-or-
Of course, if the patron wishes to remain anonymous,
his/her wishes shall be granted.
For more information, or to make a contribution,
please contact: [email protected].