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 - Brian Watson Jones

The next artist in the spotlight from Human Combat Chess is Brian Watson-Jones, League Announcer and one of two color commentators, tasked with the huge job of letting the audience in on the tactics, game-play, and story happening on the board.  Brian is an active member of the Twin Cities theatre community, and has previously worked with Six Elements in Much Ado About Nothing and Valhalla, Tales from the Hall of Heroes.

Brian Watson-Jones

League Announcer

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


Friendly fight?  Abe Lincoln, during his time as company commander during the Black Hawk War.  He'd choose unarmed, since he liked to wrestle.  Then he'd destroy me, because he LOVED to wrestle.  Then we'd get wasted on whiskey and sing songs.  It would be fantastic.

Unfriendly fight?  Joseph Mengele.  And I wouldn't stop when the Marshal called it.


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



Chess taught me how important it is to be able to plan ahead, and how bad I am at that.

Human Combat Chess has taught me that even if you make all the right moves, something can still turn against you.  And vice versa. 
 


Introduce us to your character:
 


I was King of the Celts for several years, and left abruptly just before this season started.  I won't go into exactly what happened; suffice it to say that I was given a choice, and picked the less distasteful one.  Instead of joining another team, I joined the Midwest HCC organization, and began providing commentary on matches.
I don't harbor any bitterness towards Jason, the Celts' current King, but I'd be making different choices if I were still in charge.
 


Any parting words of wisdom?
 


Never trust a former King who says he isn't bitter

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