Hidden Treasure Productions

This is how it all started for me… anyway, kind of. When I was asked to perform in a theatrical play opposite of my wife, who by the way is a brilliant actor, my response was; “but I’m not an actor.” This two-act play would be a comedy in front of an audience of 300 plus for two showings… GULP!!! Having no experience on stage, it went surprisingly well. Actually, it was enjoyable! Little did I know that this one taste of theater would start me on this journey in the theatrical arts. Fast forward to 2018 and four plays later. I was involved, whether it was on the stage performing or behind the scenes. We decided to take one of these original two-act plays to Ukraine, to do a to three-city tour, with four different venues. This trip would be an adventure that resonates with me and many others, to this day! The challenges of being in a foreign country, the language barrier, customs, the different theaters and just the unknown were the norm.   This experience has taught me wha

I was asked to assist in the two-act play of Prodigal in Ukraine, not really understanding what I would be doing, except to support the production. What a great opportunity for a native-born Californian! As was to be the case, background pictures for scene changes and a translation in Ukrainian and English would be displayed during the performance. T hat was my job! It sounds simple, yet little did I realize how inspiring, nerve-racking and rewarding it would be all at the same time. This was in a foreign country, with different customs and norms, with two weeks to prepare. The goal was to learn the script, understand the scene changes, and positively interact with the cast and crew. It was an exciting challenge when the venue continually changed in both size and location. Keeping the flow and allowing for changes at every site was a learning experience. Inspired, I changed the translation lettering to be larger, huge in comparison to the English. Some sleepless nights we

What an adventure of traveling and performing in a foreign land! While we were stateside, I was amazed at how many rehearsals were required for the play Prodigal ! We performed this 2-Act play here in Oceanside, California, before taking it to Ukraine in October of 2018. At first, I was “all nerves” and a bit apprehensive, as this was my first time acting on stage in my life! Besides that, we were going to take it to Ukraine, too! Wow! When we left the USA, I had all of the normal worries. Was I any good? Would the play be accepted? Would anyone even show up? A lot of European countries have many more performances and are much more sophisticated, or so I had heard. You could say that I had my doubts about my undertaking! When we got there, we performed in 4 different locations and 3 different cities. One of the theatres was very old. All of the other actors, the Director and the support crew (make-up and running crew) were fantastic! I don’t think that even professional

My experience in other countries (23 so far) has taught me that there are many more ways to communicate than just using words. Sometimes communication is in mime, sometimes in hand gestures or another body language, and often just in facial expressions. Pictures can help and of course, there is Google Translate or some other language translator app. However, when performing a play, there is a myriad of other considerations, such as culture (trying not to offend others), humor (other countries have different senses of humor), dress (some places have rather sensitive ideas of what is appropriate), and even whether or not women should wear a headdress or veil. Some even want women to wear dresses that reach to the ground. Often, learning as much as possible about a culture before going helps avoid many misunderstandings. Performing in Ukraine was amazing! There were different stages in different cities and different cultures between different cities. Adapting to various stages was

For those of you who may be wondering by now, starting a production company is quite an undertaking.   But for those that have the fortune to have a playwright on staff, who is dedicated to producing fresh original plays for the company, there is an additional concern.   How does the company ensure that the script is as polished as humanly possible before it is performed before a paying audience?   One answer is to conduct a workshop.   A theatrical workshop basically consists of taking the rehearsal and performance process, which normally takes several months and boiling it down into a few days.   Auditions are held and talented actors are cast into roles, then a very the intense rehearsal process is held culminating in a bare-bones performance in front of a limited audience. In the case of HTP’s original play Shadows of the Mind , the workshop lasted 10 hours over the course of 3 days.   During this time, the playwright was present to watch and listen to the manner-in-

    “The way we got our name and Logo” When our Board of Directors was formed, we needed to decide on the name for our new organization. Every member began to think about what the best name would be for what we wanted to accomplish. Some of the names suggested were: Into the World Productions                      True Theatre Foolish Things Productions                     Expose Theatre Open Field Productions                           Proverbs Productions Shine Your Light Productions                  Whole Earth Productions Jest Drama Productions                          Urgency Theatre Company Darkness and Light Theatre Company    Sower Productions Hidden Treasure Productions                  New Light Productions Fertile Soil Productions                           Fertile Ground Productions All of the above suggested names were placed in an online site where we could all vote anonymously, called strawpoll.me Six more suggestions were sent in by Chris

T his is the third blog in a series about the creation of Hidden Treasure Productions (HTP).   This blog will be covering the people who became the Board of Directors (BOD). This process started with John and Valerie Herrera, who were the first to meet with us. They became the first two on the BOD. Valerie is now the Director of Productions of HTP. She proved herself in Ukraine, as the Stage Manager, that she has the skills to be the leader in all HTP productions. John is now the Artistic Director for our company. He has an eye for how things look on stage, aesthetically. He is also the company Photographer. He demonstrated his skills in Ukraine, as he transformed the stage with the best sets and lighting available. This was not easy to do, as we had limited and ever-changing venues and sets! Next on the Board of Directors, Chris and Kitty Inouye joined up. Chris is the Director of Technology. That is a big job, as he must handle aspects of the play which include sound