And we’re back with Blood [By The Mummers]! Here’s part two of my interview - featuring actors Jack Ottosen (Jacques), Laura Riley (Duff) & Nora Munde Gustuson (Maura).

How did you get involved with [By The Mummers]?

Jake: Same story as most of us. We all worked within the acting ensemble of the Sterling Renaissance Festival, where we first experienced the magic of using our combined imagination to create amazing characters and experiences. Realizing we were more creatively powerful as a group than separate, we wanted to bring that spirit to work in NYC. Hence [By The Mummers] were born!

Laura: Some of us were kicking around an idea for a web series called “Commitment To Craft.”  Then Frank invited some friends from Sterling to a meeting in the Fall of 2009 where he said something along the lines of: “Hey guys we all work well together making theater over the summer, and we all live in NYC. Want to make shows here?” That was the first time I heard the proposed name  [By The Mummers] and it was that meeting where “Commitment To Craft” got abandoned/ incorporated as we decide to do plays-within-plays.

Nora: I worked with Frank Cardillo as an Elf at Macy’s Santaland! From there I went on to work with him at the The Sterling Renaissance Festival the summer of 2009. When we returned from our summer Frank started By The Mummers, and I was asked to be one of the original 10 core members. Blood was then conceived by a small group of us in the basement of Macy’s. I have always been “Maura” the Lady M meets Bella character. She has come a long way through improv, workshops, and many many rewrites of the show! 

In addition to acting in the show, what other “backstage” roles do you take on?

Jake: Everyone in [By The Mummers] had a hand in its initial creation.  The “book” is credited to all of us, as we developed a script based largely on in-character improvs. I also helped write one of the songs and did website design/development. Since this is our baby, we all also do everything we can on the marketing and fundraising fronts.

Laura: For Blood, I was part of the script re-writing team to spruce it up to be submitted to NYMF. I have been making promo videos to put online for marketing, I helped run the bake sale during a summer fundraiser,  handed out postcards at promos, and I’m having a laundry party at my place tomorrow where we are going to freshen up the costumes. On past productions I’ve done a lot of prop wrangling and placing, as well as dragging half of my wardrobe in for costuming, cleaning up after shows etc etc etc. The only thing I don’t do for a [By The Mummers] show is proof read. 

Nora: I am also the production manager, costumer and props gal! I also helped paint the set and house the band rehearsals in my garage!

What is it like being being involved with the show in all these different ways?

Jake: At times stressful, at times incredibly rewarding. To be backstage and hear the audience roaring with laughter and feeling that they’re right there with us makes everything that’s led to that point absolutely worth it. It is a relief though, during rehearsals and performance, to just have one job:  play my character. In many ways, that’s the easy part.

Laura: It was the kind of theatre I was taught. At school, James Madison University, we had a great program where the students were in charge of putting on our own shows, so I figured out then what needed to be done and which jobs I was better suited for. Then as an apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville, there was just as much tech work involved as acting. I got this mind set of “there is this giant list of things that need to get done before anyone can set foot on stage, so divvy it up and get started.”  It makes me really appreciate the shows I do where I just get to focus on the acting, I get to check my make up a lot, though I some times have the nagging suspicion that I’ve forgotten something…like set up a prop table.

Nora: As someone who has two degrees in both Acting and Design/Tech, I love that I get to be involved on all levels of the production. It sometimes can feel like I live and breath nothing but Blood but I love that I get to be so involved with a project. I have seen it through every step from it’s birth, and the show really does start to feel like a baby that is being raised by a village. I love the collaboration that comes with ensemble work like this piece and am so blessed to be a part of such a dedicated group of people.

What has been your favorite part of NYMF thus far?

Jake: The lights. We’ve never been able to perform with actual lighting before. It’s awesome.

Laura: While I was in the dressing room, I could hear the show over the speakers, and the audience sounded like they were a laugh track on one of those old TV shows. A huge grin broke out over my face while I listened and realized: not only was the audience enjoying the show we wrote, but they thought it was hilarious.

Nora: Getting to see Blood develop even farther than we ever thought it would go. I love that our story now has reached a larger audience.

If you could be any supernatural being, what would you be?

Jake: A wood sprite. They’re magical, they fly, and they hang out in the forest. Sounds sweet. None of those cursed immortal things, they always run into problems. Not wood sprites, I feel like they just hang out on toadstools and play tricks on people. Sign me up.

Laura: A Fairy Princess, not only would I have magical powers, but I’d have the right to wear tiaras every day. (Tiaras that maybe have a little more gold and less sequins that the one I wear for Blood.)

Nora: Despite my characters obsession with becoming a vampire, I would love to be a wood nymph. I would love the ability to fly and to play with magic in a cheerful, playful, harmless manner.

That’s all with my time with Blood [By The Mummers]. They have three more performances and you don’t want to miss it - Saturday, 10/15 at 4:30 PM & 8PM; and Sunday, 10/16 at 1PM. I hope you check it out! There are also only a few more days of NYMF left so go go go!!

Hey all, Sammie here! There are so many incredible shows happening right now, and one that I’m excited for is Blood [By The Mummers], which is described as Buffy meets Macbeth meets 90210 – all of my favorite things! Igot the chance to ask Frank Cardillo, producer of Blood [By The Mummers], some questions about Blood [By The Mummers] and his experience at NYMF so far.

1. What is Blood [By The Mummers] about?

BLOOD is a supernatural high school musical  -  where instead of teenagers struggling through their day to day heightened drama, we have monsters expressing themselves through pop rock.

 2. Who came up with the idea for Blood?

 It was conceived by Matt (Rennie), Nora (Maura), Laura (Duff), and myself in the basement of Macy’s on 34th St. Since then, another dozen actors have been a part of its growth. 

 3. Who are [By the Mummers]?

 [By The Mummers] have their roots as Bless the Mark Players every summer at the Sterling Renaissance Festival, an hour north of Syracuse. Improvisation and Interactive Theatre is the foundation for how we build our shows. 

 4. How did you get involved with the show?

 BLOOD was the first project [By The Mummers]. It was a means to keep our creative juices flowing throughout the year. I pitched the idea of [By The Mummers] - essentially productions centered around a group of misfit actors trying to put on a show - in September 2009 and we started immediately. We’re 7 shows in now.

 5. Where has the show been seen before NYMF?

 At the National Comedy Theatre in Manhattan. In 2009, it was just a parody on Macbeth, Dracula, and Buffy with two songs back then. In 2010, it became a full-blown musical with it’s own world. 

 6. Why NYMF?

 We thought we had something unique to offer and NYMF is a unique festival. I hear many participants say that their NYMF is experience was/is similar to [title of show]. Ours has been no different… including the [brackets]. 

 7.What’s been the best part of NYMF so far?

 We have always said we want to do shows that can be done out of a trunk. In the past, our music has been canned and our lights have been minimal. What NYMF provides (especially as a selection of the Next Link Project) has made us a giddy as school kids - which helps the cast get into character!

 8. How has the show changed since being at NYMF?

 Ha! The show is always changing. Our flexibility is the group’s strong suit. We have added and removed songs, we have re-improvised and rewritten scenes, we have altered the structure of the show, but the audience provides an energy where there is always a little something different in each performance.

 9. Who is your favorite fictional vampire?

 Is The Count from Sesame Street an acceptable answer? 

 10. Why should people come see Blood?

 It has something for everyone, characters and plot points everyone will recognizes and, yet, manages to maintain a uniqueness and originality that defines who we are. As it goes at the end of the opening number ‘Everyone has fire in their blood.’

You have four more chances to see Blood [By The Mummers]: Wednesday, 10/12 at 1PM; Saturday, 10/15 at 4:30 PM & 8PM; and Sunday, 10/16 at 1PM. Check it out! Stay tuned tomorrow to hear from the cast of Blood [By The Mummers]! 

Musical Improv Mixer!

We’re getting ready to start our NYMF @ Nite weekly events — and you’re all invited! The Musical Improv Mixer, hosted by the New York Musical Improv Festival, will be taking place Tomorrow (Friday)! 

Best of all admission is only $5!



Friday, September 30th @ 11pm
TBG Theater (312 W. 36th St.)

Hope to see you there!

Student Exclusive! Free tickets to ENNIO: The Living Paper Cartoon

ENNIO: The Living Paper Cartoon

at 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47th Street)

See a remarkable Italian performance artist  transform himself in an instant into popular icons using spectacular paper costumes all to the beat of the music from  Lady Gaga, Eminem , Beyonce, Madonna, to Tina Turner, Cher…and More!

What shows are you looking forward to at NYMF this year?