THE PLAY.
"The Legion" is a new play written by Kristina Birk, contributing member of The Orphans Theater Company, and directed by David Kinniburgh.
Inspired by both milestone emotional events from the writer's life as well as her artistic influences, the story is designed as a vehicle not only for self-exploration but as a call for catharsis to anyone who has ever been in a life altering relationship, for the good or the bad. It deals explicitly with some of the most hidden, unspoken and disturbing moments that we experience in romantic and personal relationships. The emotional and psychological aspects of the narrative are meant as an eye-opening, reawakening juxtaposition to Real Life as we all experience it.
The Legion is a story about a dysfunctional couple that traps itself in a downward spiral of self-doubt, ego and fury. While fighting each other’s demons, fears and phantoms the characters create a twisted labyrinth of
games and struggles uncontrollably projected onto the other's psyche as
their relationship progresses toward it's ultimate outcome, living and breathing in the world of the romantic psycho thriller.
THE ORPHANS: WHO WE ARE
http://www.orphanstheatrecompany.com/
"The Orphans" is a production and theatre company consisting of eight members: Victoria Cheri Bennett, Justin Morck, Tim Rerucha, Ashley Hearon, Philip Louis Calabro, Julian Mosley, Nahuel Gorosito and Kristina Birk. The group was born in 2012 in New York City thanks to Victoria Cheri Bennett. The first developmental steps of the group were primarily focused on practicing various aspects of acting, workshopping scenes, and plays, along with brining in new materials for creating original work. The group has been shaped and reshaped several times before it finally reached its highest artistic development - we started making our ideas happen and be heard. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 The Orphans produced several original projects including:
"Headless Horseman" Music Video (http://youtu.be/g91gWo8GncM)
"Starving" Mockumentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdFAT9wzxbE)
"The Inert Choice" Theatrical work which premiered at "The COW Theatre" in Manhattan, late winter 2013 (https://www.facebook.com/events/269827653182619/?ref=22)
"In Thunder, Lightning, In Rain!" - Theatrical work which premiered at The Players Theater in The Village in October, 2014. (https://www.facebook.com/events/538945542902468/)
"Adultish" - Web Series - http://www.adultishwebseries.com/
THE DIRECTOR
David Kinniburgh is a long time friend of the play's author with a background in narrative short film, music video, animation and cinema vérité. Graduating with a Bachelor of the Arts from NYU in 2007, his studies included theater, production, musical composition and cinema. "The Legion" is Mr. Kinniburgh's first foray out from behind the film camera and into the world of theater. His goal is to create a minimalist, out-of-time world in which the complexity of the plot is opened into an evocative and grandly emotional experience for the audience.
WHAT WE NEED
The Legion is going to be shown as a 6-character-play at Gene Frankel Theatre in SoHo at the end of August 2015. We would like to do three nights of the show. So far, we've managed to raise a very small budget and a skeleton crew of creatives to help us with the potential production of the play. However, we need to raise more money not only to be able to produce an offering that closely mirrors both the writer's and director's imaginations, but ultimately to make the project happen at all.
Our aim to raise:
Total: 4000$ which includes renting the theatre space with the sound, lights, technical rehearsal, printing flyers, programs, posters and buying/customizing the costumes for the characters of the play.
If we don't reach the goal, and we can't find any extra resources in our own pockets to cover the rest of the money we need, the funds will go to our group's budget, and we'll try to find other ways of raising the money necessary to bring this project to life... For example, singing Bob Dylan on the Shuttle train or running around Time Sq in wigs and eccentric costumes. You know. We have experience doing that.
WHAT YOU GET
Anyone who contributes any amount to the project, will be put in the "THANK YOU" section of the program of the play. Those who donate 50$ -$100 will receive a free ticket to the show for any night they request. Those who donate $100+ will receive a free ticket, a signed playbill from the cast and crew (which might even be worth something someday), and a wildly imaginative donor superlative in the program.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
We understand that some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help! We would absolutely appreciate you spread the information about our campaign through the Indiegogo share tools or however else you can! You can always:
THE IMPACT
In order to keep growing as a production company, as well as writers, actors, directors etc, we need to constantly update our work and create more projects available to the public. The play "The Legion" is a contemporary story that captures a lot of emotionally important moments, questions and dilemmas that store themselves deep in people's hearts. The play might change a lot of people's minds on the relationships they are in, and help them open their eyes and maybe discover many new things about themselves. Anyone who'd want to contribute to the project will help us spread a very toxic, life-changing image of getting out of a psychological trap or perhaps preventing oneself from getting into one.
RISKS & CHALLENGES
One of the major risks we have as a group in this particular project is lack of funds, as we learned from our previous productions - there's always extra expenses and unpredictable financial scenarios to take care of. Nevertheless, we've acquired an enormous amount of experience the past couple of years dealing with those situations, and it seems like we are a lot wiser and prepared to deal with the struggle!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-legion-a-play-by-kristina-birk/x/7850817#/story
VIDEO CREDITS
"The Legion: A New Play By Kristina Birk"
Directed, Shot and Edited by David Kinniburgh
Written by David Kinniburgh & Kristina Birk