Six Elements Theatre
The Count of Monte Cristo Web Series Premiere

While in quarantine for COVID, Six Elements Theatre Company created a project to support actors and artists while live performance spaces were closed. That project was a web series adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. In the fall of 2021, armed with an amazing cast and crew, greenscreen, studio space, lights, and a camera, we began filming.

The Count of Monte Cristo Web Series Premiere

Artist Profile - Johanna Gorman Baer

Human Combat Chess 2015 opens on June 12th.  In the run up to opening our new show in a new venue, we here at Six Elements thought we'd take minute to tell you more about the talented folks that make this show happen.

Johanna Gorman-Baer

Artistic Director

What is your favorite weapon? Why?

Favorite Weapon call: Rapier and Offhand. It allows for plenty of options, interesting combinations, you get to see bucklers, cloaks, daggers, plus- swords. 

Rapier and Dagger, though, is fascinating- and my personal favorite.  Gets to be deadly AND showy. And strangely intuitive. 

If you could have a fight with anyone living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be against, and with what weapon? Why?

Definitely someone dead. Safer for me that way. 

What has chess taught you? What has Human Combat Chess taught you?

Chess taught me how to lose gracefuIly. Human Combat Chess taught me how complex strategies can be. 

But really, HCC taught me how an entire community of theater people and stage combat folks can work together to make this 40-person show actually happen year after year. And how amazingly supportive a community like this can be, not just during the show, but year-round. 

And how much a performance structure like this can grow and improve when we do have years of experience to build on. 

Introduce us to your character:

First of all, I've been involved in Chess since it first started, as an independant student project and then as a Six Elements production. I'm one of two people who haven't taken a year off yet, the other being Mike Lubke. 

As a performer in HCC, my character went from imposing and threatening, to bloodthirsty and brutal, to fast, strategic, disciplined.... it only makes sense that as my character learned more and more about the game, the sport, and got more and more experienced.... it took me off the board and into the role of director? 

Any parting words of wisdom?

Buy tickets online, and show up early to get a snack and a good seat!

Thank you, Lavender!

We are extremely honored and flattered to learn that John Townsend of Lavender Magazine has named our January production of Orpheus Descending one of the 10 Best Shows of 2014.  (You can see John's review from last winter right here).  From all of us here at Six Elements, we want to say thank you to our outstanding cast, crew, and designers, and to the audience that turned out in last winter's extreme cold for a sweltering tale of passion and imprisonment.  We knew we were creating some of our best work yet, and thanks to you all we are in some pretty august company (look at the rest of that list, there are some incredible groups and people in there!).

And if that isn't exciting enough, Townsend also recognizes Company Member Mike Lubke, the man behind the craziness that is Human Combat Chess, for his work on Theatre in the Round's Beaux Strategem, calling it the Best Stage Combat Direction of 2014.   

Don't worry, though, we aren't just resting on our laurels.  We are already hard at work planning Human Combat Chess 2015, and we're in preproduction for Tom Stoppard's Hapgood, a Cold War spy drama of political, emotional and quantum entanglement, directed by Justin Alexander.

Sign up for our mailing list to see what's in store for Six Elements Theatre.

 

Brave the Elements, 

-Philip D Henry, Company Member

Meredith Larson and Philip Matthews in Orpheus Descending

Shindig 2014

Thank you to everyone who came out to our 2014 Shindig, for helping us celebrate an incredible year and to announce our 5th season.

In our 2014 season we staged a critically acclaimed production of Orpheus Descending, presented the original and evocative Tales From Camelot, sponsored Minnesota's first SAFD Regional Workshop, and assembled our largest and most successful Human Combat Chess yet, all thanks to our loyal audience and the incredible Twin Cities community.

And we have even more coming up for 2015:

In April, at the Nimbus Theatre, we present Tom Stoppard's 1988 spy thriller Hapgood, directed by Justin Alexander, a Six Elements collaborator since 2012.  With his characteristic intelligence and sharp characterization, Stoppard "spins an end-of-the-cold-war tale of intrigue and betrayal, interspersed with explanations of the quixotic behavior of the electron and the puzzling properties of light” (David Richards, The New York Times).  It falls to Hapgood, an extraordinary officer in the the British intelligence agency, to unravel a mystery of mistaken identity and deep betrayals.

In May we'll once again sponsor Brawl of America, turning a remarkable event into an epic tradition.  Last year we had an incredible faculty, with 2 Fight Masters, 1 Fight Director, 2 Certified Teachers and 6 Advanced Actor/Combatants, and a fantastic turn-out with 34 registered students.  We plan to build on that terrific groundwork to provide an even better experience for our faculty and students.

Next summer we'll present the Midwest Combat Chess League's Finals Match for the 6th time.  Well, 7th if you count 2010 - but we DON'T TALK ABOUT 2010.  That aside, next year we'll build the biggest and best season yet, with new fighters, new weapons, and new  audience experiences both on and off the board.

Finally, next October will see the area premiere of Qui Nguyen's She Kills Monsters, directed by Callie Meiners, another long-time friend of Six Elements. This comic and touching story features Agnes, a woman who finally gets to know her dead sister, Tilly, by delving into Tilly's greatest passion: Dungeons & Dragons.  With thrilling combat, terrifying monsters, and skads of geek-culture references, She Kills Monsters is right in our wheelhouse, and we'll pack the People's Center Theater with our usual high-intensity, finely tuned action.

We want everyone who made 2014 a huge success, and together we'll make 2015 another fantastic year for Six Elements Theatre.

Brave the Elements

-Philip D Henry, Company Member