Announcing an exciting new ticket policy for Six Elements Theatre
Welcome to Elfland
We are less than two weeks out from our 18th production. I am positively thrilled to direct an original adaptation of two classic English Folktales, penned by Steve Schroer of Hardcover Theatre: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came (with a heavy influence from Robert Browning's eponymous poem from 1855) and a lesser known tale called "The Red Ettin".
“Childe Roland single-handedly brings our death-per-show average up to an impressive 4.1. ”
It's no secret that Six Elements productions are characterized with no small amount of theatrical violence. We're very proud to be the only company in the Twin Cities area with a resident fight director who is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, our very own Mike Lubke. We crunched the numbers and determined that we have averaged 3.3 character deaths per show. Childe Roland single-handedly brings our death-per-show average up to an impressive 4.1. (Discounting Human Combat Chess, our annual fight show, that average jumps to a formidable 6.1 deaths per show).
We hope to see you in the audience for one of our bloodiest shows yet, as we delve into the nature of morality, duty, heroes, and villains.
HCC - Meet the Kings for the 2016 All-Star Game
Happy Opening Night! As we get ready for the Midwest Combat Chess All-Star Series, meet the Kings lined up for tonight’s match.
Human Combat Chess 2016: The All-Star Series runs April 29th through May 7th. Buy tickets now at hcc2016.brownpapertickets.com
Name: Nathaniel Nesheim-Case
Home Team: Roses
Board Side: Black
What is your favorite weapon/weapon choice?
NNC: Sword and Shield, because I always like to see what the other person is doing first- Defense is my first name. Which is why I pick Black side whenever I can, and let the other team take the first move.
What is your favorite part of Human Combat Chess?
NNC: The strategy, and the changes from conventional chess- the randomness that real people fighting brings.
What do you like best about your team?
NNC: The Roses? It’s a bunch of really intelligent people. They know what they’re doing and they know what they’re getting into.
Looking ahead to the All-Star Series, will your approach be any different? What are you looking forward to, or going to watch out for?
NNC: It’ll be interesting to play with people on my board side that I don’t know very well. I know that these are the best players we have in the Midwest Combat Chess League, and playing the strengths of those under me against the weaknesses of the opponents’ team is nothing new. I look forward to seeing the fights.
Name: Noah Stein
Home Team: Dragons
Board Side: White
What is your favorite weapon/weapon choice?
Stein: I am always a fan of the unarmed fight. I mean, me personally, I’d choose the quarterstaff. Something about that weapon- there’s no easy yield, like there is with a sword, but with quarterstaff you know that someone’s yielding because they’re hurt. You know when the fight is over. But one of the things that I would do if I had a team for the whole season would be concentrating on Unarmed, because no matter your weapon choice, you always can use those skills.
What is your favorite part of Human Combat Chess?
Stein: The competitive nature of the fights, honestly. It’s not about which team is better, it’s about an individual’s ability. Seeing people work together as teams is still a foreign concept to me since coming from the Shogi league. It’s all about the glory when everyone else gets off the board and it’s just you and the other person.
What do you like best about your team?
Stein: They’re efficient. The fact that they have been described by some as a rag-tag group of fighters, they’ve been clumped together by various backgrounds, they remind me of my old companions from Shogi, where the kings play chess, and the fighters fight. And that’s a philosophy very much shared by the Dragons.
Looking ahead to the All-Star Series, will your approach be any different? What are you looking forward to, or going to watch out for?
Stein: This will be my first actual competitive MCCL game as a King. I’ve studied some chess in preparation in order to find an opening that I feel is reliable, but more than anything I’m trusting in the fact that I know what my fighters are capable of, and they’ll get the job done.
Human Combat Chess at Home
Company Update
As we prepare for our 2016 season, we are also experiencing a shift in company structure. Tess Kean, who is currently working as the stage manager for our fall production She Kills Monsters, has made the decision to stay with us as a stage manager, but not as a producing company member. She writes,
“I have decided, with the help of my fellow company members, that to make better use of my skills, I would make a better associate Stage Manager and long term volunteer rather than a company member of Six Elements Theatre.
I greatly love this company, and for that reason I would rather my skills be used to their best as a Stage Manager rather than a producing member. I am resigning my position as a full company member.
I hope to continue to work with Six Elements Theatre as needed as a contractor, or as the company requests on a show by show basis, and as a long term volunteer/ boots on the ground assistant.
It has been wonderful being a company member, and I am looking forward to my new role with Six Elements.”
We would like to thank Tess for all of her energy and hard work as a company member, and look forward to working with her in a newly defined role in the future!