THE BLIND DATE PROJECT - Performing Lines

THE BLIND DATE PROJECT
Ride On Theatre
Photo Credit: Video still
The Blind Date Project is an improvised meeting between two complete strangers searching for connection.
Set in a real life karaoke bar, a woman (AFI Award winner Bojana Novakovic) sits alone waiting for her date
to arrive. That date is a different performer each night whose identity is unknown to her until the moment
of performance. What follows is a completely improvised – often hilarious – interaction, guided live by SMS
and phone calls and interspersed with random songs. Each performance is as unpredictable as it is
dangerous and no two shows are ever the same.
One of the Hottest tickets of the Sydney Festival. A sitcom without a script. Wincingly funny.
Sydney Morning Herald
PRODUCED BY PERFORMING LINES and JOANNA FISHMAN for Ride On Theatre
5/245 Chalmers St Redfern NSW 2016 Australia P + 612 9319 0066 www.performinglines.org.au
Contact: Fiona de Garis mapsnsw@performinglines.org.au
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Performing Lines THE BLIND DATE PROJECT Ride On Theatre
Joanna Fishman joanna.fishman@rideontheatre.com +61 412 220 206

ABOUT THE SHOW
5 STARS. It's like witnessing magic. A unique theatrical experience not to be missed.
Time Out Sydney
The Blind Date Project is unpredictable, dark and funny. It is a real event everyone can relate to: a blind date
between two people who have never met and who are desperately in need of connection.
The premise is simple – or so it seems. A woman sits alone in a half empty Karaoke Bar – waiting for someone
she was matched up with online. That someone is a different performer each night. The catch Neither the
woman, nor the actress playing her, has any idea who she is about to meet. What follows is an entirely
improvised, intensely personal interaction – including Karaoke numbers - in front of a crowd of willing
participants.
The atmosphere is organic. The show is performed in a functioning Karaoke bar (or a bar with a Karaoke
Machine). The venue is intimate and alive. Audience can order drinks before, during and after The Date. They
can stay to mingle or even sing a song.
Direction is interactive, sent to the performers live via SMS and phone calls by the director. No two shows are
ever the same. They range from hilarious to overflowing with love, to dangerous, awkward or filled with
palpable despair. The date might work or it may fail tremendously. It might lead to love or lust or devastation.
However it ends up, it is always thrilling, entertaining and cuts close to the bone. The audience can relate –
after all - we’ve all been in love, or sought it out.
The Blind Date Project explores what it means to search for intimacy in an age where loneliness is an epidemic
and internet-dating a billion dollar industry.
This is not theatre sports, or a comedy act. There are no gimmicks or forced gags. Ride on Theatre is creating
an experience where the danger of performing without scripts lends itself to the reality of what is being
explored: fear of facing the unknown and revealing far more than we would care to admit. The carefully
devised structure supports the unexpected, but not a single piece of dialogue is pre-scripted.
Photo Credit: Video Still
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CREATIVE TEAM
Created by
Directed by
Performed by
With
Bojana Novakovic and Mark Winter with Thomas Henning
Tanya Goldberg (Sydney / Brisbane) and Mark Winter (Melbourne)
Bojana Novakovic and a different performer each night.
Lucy Moir as the Karaoke Queen
Photo Credit: Video Still
REVIEW EXCERPTS
It's like witnessing magic. Raw, genuine emotional. Two performers creating something beautiful together
on-the-spot and in-the-moment. A glimpse of something honest and real and beautiful. A unique theatrical
experience not to be missed
Time Out Sydney
Funny, sweet, sad and unpredictable, this is one of the gems of the Sydney Festival
Sun Herald
A bold experiment worth the risk.
Sunday Age
The Blind Date Project is more than just an improv experiment – witnessing this scenario play out
emphasises our deep seated craving for human connection. Novakovic’s lolling lascivious body language is
as authentic as it is hilarious.
The Courier Mail
One of the hot tickets of the Sydney Festival. Wincingly funny. A sitcom without a script. It surfed the edges
of personal and professional security.
Sydney Morning Herald.
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BACKGROUND
RIDE ON THEATRE www.rideontheatre.com is a collective of theatre practitioners - performers, directors,
musicians, designers and technicians. Ride On’s vision is the creation of challenging, innovative theatre that
draws upon and expands the vitality of our medium. The premise of their work is to bring a potentially
erroneous idea to manifestation and see what comes of it – good or bad.
Ride On was founded in 2003 by NIDA graduates Bojana Novakovic and Tanya Goldberg. Their theatrical
collaboration has led to productions all over Australia and numerous Green Room and Sydney Theatre
Award nominations.
The company have achieved sell out seasons of all of their works since their first show – the record
breaking B-Sharp season of LOVEPLAY in 2004. In 2006 DEBRIS, hosted by The Black Lung Theatre had a
sell-out second season at the Melbourne Fringe Festival – and earned multiple Green Room Award
nominations. The Sydney production of BONE was produced as part of the Best of Independent Theatre
season and received a Sydney Theatre Award nomination. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at B Sharp
surpassed all previous box office records. The compelling production of Juan Mayorga’s WAY TO HEAVEN,
also played to sell out houses.
In 2008 Ride On produced three shows, two adaptations of contemporary Serbian texts, FAKE PORNO,
which saw seasons in Melbourne and at the Brisbane Powerhouse, with three Green Room Award
nominations, FAMILY STORIES: BELGRADE at Griffin Independent and the Australian Premiere of Tim
Crouch’s AN OAK TREE.
THE BLIND DATE PROJECT built on the success of self-devised THE STORY OF MARY MACLANE - BY
HERSELF written by Bojana Novakovic in collaboration with singer/musician Tim Rogers and directed by
Tanya Goldberg. The show was presented by Malthouse Theatre (2011), Griffin Theatre (2012) and
Merrigong Theatre (2012).
THE BLIND DATE PROJECT had its first season in Melbourne in 2011 after which it became a cult hit. What
followed were a sell-out season at the Brisbane Powerhouse in 2012 and a sell-out 17 show season as part
of the Sydney Festival in 2013.
TOURING HISTORY
Seymour Centre
Sydney Festival
8 - 20 January 2013
Brisbane Powerhouse
World Theatre
Festival
22 - 26 May 2012
ABC Gallery
Collingwood
Melbourne
20 Oct – 5Nov 2011
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
BOJANA NOVAKOVIC – Creator and Performer is a NIDA
trained actor and writer working in Australia and the USA.
Most recently noted for her performance in the Australian
Academy Award nominated film Burning Man - for which
she also received a Critics Circle of Australia nomination,
she is the recipient of an Australian Film Institute award for
Best Actress for the ABC mini series Marking Time. She
just completed the pilot RAKE with Greg Kinnear and
Miranda Otto directed by Sam Raimi.
As actor Film Credits include Not Suitable for Children, The
King Is Dead and the about to be released Generation UM
(opposite Keanu Reeves), Burning Man, Devil, Edge of
Darkness (opposite Mel Gibson, AFI nominated
performance), Drag Me To Hell, Shishanie (winner of Best Actress at the Novi Sad Film Festival Serbia),
Optimisti, Solo, Thunderstruck, The Monkeys Mask, Strange Fits of Passion and Blackrock (opposite
Heath Ledger). Television includes Satisfaction (ASTRA award nomination for Most Outstanding
Performance by an Actor), Marking Time, and Wildside.
Theatre includes Malthouse Theatre: The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself (which she also wrote),
Woyzeck (Helpman award nomination), Criminology, El Dorado (Helpman Award Nomination) and
Necessary Targets. For Sydney Theatre Company: Strange Fruit, Away, These People and Carnival of
the Animals. For Melbourne Theatre Company: Female of the Species and Romeo And Juliet for Bell
Shakespeare.
Bojana is a founding member and co-director of Ride On Theatre and has co-created, adapted, written,
produced, directed and performed in most of the company’s work. Most recent was the collaboration
with Tim Rogers for The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself (Griffin and Malthouse Theatres) and the
creation of The Blind Date Project with Mark Winter.
Her critically acclaimed adaptation, translation and direction of FAKE PORNO garnered many Green
Room Award nominations. Co-writer of Sugar with Thomas Henning, for The Black Lung Theatre she
also translated and directed Family Stories for Griffin. For television she co-wrote As Australian As, a
half-hour mock- documentary for which she was the subject.
LUCY MOIR – Performer is a trained actor, singer and classical
violinist. She graduated from the National Theatre Drama
School in 2010. Since then she has performed on stage as
‘Angel’ The Golden Age (National Theatre), ‘Mrs Saunders’
Cloud Nine (National Theatre), ‘Gila’ One For the Road (Kip
Williams, Nida), ‘Electra’ Electra (National Theatre), ‘Phebe’ As
You Like It (National Theatre), ‘Urchin’ Raspberry Factory (Put
Your Bike In My Car), and ‘Frieda’ Here, In the Sugarcane (Forty
Forty Home) and The Blind Date Project (Ride On Theatre). She
has also appeared in the web series Cop Hard. Lucy directed
States of Shock for Family of Strangers in 2012 and is currently
developing her solo show Frank. Lucy is also completing her B.A
in comparative literature and philosophy.
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TANYA GOLDBERG - Director is the co-founder and coartistic
director of independent theatre company Ride On
Theatre. For Ride On, Tanya’s directing includes: The Blind
Date Project (Sydney Festival and Brisbane
Powerhouse), The Story of Mary MacLane - By
Herself (Griffin Theatre, Malthouse Theatre & Merrigong
Theatre Company), Way To Heaven (Griffin), An Oak
Tree, Merchant of Venice & Loveplay (all BSharp),
and Debris (Tamarama Rock Surfers). Other
directing: Dreams In White (Griffin Theatre
Company), Der Gelbe Stern (Adelaide & Melbourne
Cabaret Festivals, Seymour Centre), The Crucible (Sydney
Theatre Company), Macbeth (WAAPA). Assistant directing
includes: Stockholm (Frantic Assembly and STC), to Anne
Bogart on American Document (SITI Company & Martha
Graham Dance Co, NYC), War of the Roses with Cate Blanchett (STC), and Gate Theatre Dublin’s Sydney
Festival Beckett season of First Love, Eh Joe and I’ll Go On with Ralph Fiennes and Michael Gambon.
Tanya was a Resident Artist with the Griffin Theatre Studio for 2012, and has received several international
fellowships to work with some of the world’s leading theatre-makers in New York, Germany, and Chicago.
She is an alum of the 2010 Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab. Tanya has been awarded support for her
directing from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Australia Council for the Arts, Play Writing Australia, the
Goethe Institute, Mike Walsh Fellowship and the Gloria Dawn and Gloria Payten Foundation.
Tanya directed the award-winning short films Great Western (funded by Screen NSW’s Emerging
Filmmaker Fund), and Heck and is the producer on the short film Pig, which screened in Official Selection at
both the Berlin and Cannes film festivals.
MARK LEONARD WINTER - Creator and Director works as an actor/writer and director with two of
Australia’s most exciting and innovative theatre companies: the infamous Black Lung Theatre and the
critically acclaimed Hayloft Project. He co-wrote and starred in the Malthouse/Hayloft production Thyestes
which ran a sellout extended season and was award Best Production, Best Ensemble and Best Adaptation at
the 2011 Greenroom awards. Mark was also nominated for Best Actor.
Mark completed VCA in 2005 under Lindy Davies. Feature film credits include Robert Connolly’s Balibo, (14
AFI Award nominations), Van Diemen's Land, Blame, Playing for Charlie, Triple Happiness, a new film with
Hugo Weaving and HBO's The Pacific produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
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REVIEWS IN FULL
Time Out Sydney review
Reviewer: Darryn King, Jan 21st 2013
5 STARS Critics' choice
http://www.au.timeout.com/sydney/theatre/events/32741/the-blind-date-project
This is happening: a beautiful woman is sitting alone at a bar in a tacky karaoke club, checking her phone
and nervously anticipating the arrival of her mystery blind date for the evening. This, also, is happening: a
beautiful actress is sitting alone at a bar in a theatre made out to look like a tacky karaoke club, checking
her phone and nervously anticipating the arrival of her mystery co-star for the evening. If the title The Blind
Date Project puts you in mind of a social or scientific experiment, that's pretty accurate. For the next couple
of weeks this Sydney Festival, Ana (the character) and Bojana Novakovic (the actress) will subject
themselves to a series of blind dates. Sometimes twice a night, which may speak to their optimism about
their prospects.
Like the audience, they have no idea what actor (or actress) will rock up to perform alongside them. Like
the audience, they have no idea where the conversation will lead. And, like the audience, they have no idea
if the evening will end in silence and heartbreak (as it did on Tuesday) or with a joyous karaoke duet and
ample smooching (as it did, I'm reliably informed, on Wednesday).
Apart from the presence of the audience, watching voyeuristically from their tacky tables, it's rather like –
of course you realise this – a real date. Novakovic and her co-star's improvised dialogue is carefully steered
towards some semblance of story, via text message and phone call, by attentive director/offstagepuppetmaster
Tanya Goldberg. Obtrusive at first, these directions are quickly absorbed into the flow of the
show and may, as they did on opening night, evolve into essential plot points.
That night, with guest co-star Damon Herriman as Ana's date, sweetly awkward conversation and bad
karaoke coalesced miraculously into a narrative that wasn't just remarkable for its cohesion – we probably
would have settled for that – but for its raw, genuine emotional power. These moments, too, were
operating on two levels: the fiction, the make-believe, was itself touching; but the reality – two performers
creating something beautiful together on-the-spot and in-the-moment – was like watching a spontaneous
act of artistic creation. It's like witnessing magic. There's already an undercurrent of the romantic, the
sexual, in the chemistry generated by two performers in tune with one another, playing off one another,
eyeball to eyeball.
The Blind Date Project harnesses that inherent tension to amazing results. It is, in short, a gift of a Sydney
Festival show. It can't promise its audience a happy ending. But it does present the tantalising possibility of
a glimpse of something honest and real and beautiful. A unique theatrical experience not to be missed.
Sun Herald (Sydney) review
Reviewer: Elissa Blake, Jan 13 th , 2013
8/10
Audiences are welcome to get up and sing in the Karaoke club at the Seymour Centre. The night I went,
nobody did. But the mood was relaxed and fun, with punters sitting around tables having drinks, waiting for
something to happen on stage.
The action turns out to be at the bar, where a woman, Anna (Bojana Novakovic) sits alone, checking
messages on her phone. She is waiting for an online date to show up. But here’s the rub: Novakovic has no
idea who it will be. On this night, it was Damon Herriman (Love My Way). They improvise an awkward first
date, with karaoke songs and a remarkable range of emotions. Funny, sweet, sad and unpredictable, this is
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one of the gems of the Sydney Festival.
Sunday Age review
Reviewer: John Bailey, Oct 30th, 2011
Actor Bojana Novakovic is a presence on the big screen and main stage right now, but makes time for small
curiosities such as this. Here she plays a lonely woman meeting a stranger at a karaoke bar; the catch is that
each night, the identity of Novakovic’s date is unknown to the performer herself until the show begins. A
strong line- up of guests was found for the season and while a vague structure for the piece existed, there
was always the chance things would veer off the rails. I caught the formidable Chris Ryan in the hot seat
and the night took an unsettling turn, into brooding violence and palpable despair. A bold experiment
worth the risk.
Courier Mail review
Reviewer: Baz McAlister, 23rd May 2013
The bunker-like Turbin Rehearsal Room is transformed into a sleazy bar that could be right out of Ride ON
Theatre’s 2009 Fake Porno, except this time a karaoke stage replaces the stripper pole. With a longhorn
skull on the wall and a glittering yet stony-faced Karaoke Queen (Lucy Moir) strangling all the feeling out of
class love songs, it seems an insalubrious and kitsch pace for a first date to unfold.
But Ana (Bojana Novakovic) sits at the bar, fidgeting, awaiting her RSVP.com hook-up, not knowing how the
next hour will play out. In fact, neither the character nor the actress herself knows - the male role of
Patrick is played by a different actor each night of the run, and Novakovic has no ideas who she’s expecting.
And there’s no script – the show is completely improvised.
Director Tanya Goldberg keeps things moving with text messages and phone calls to both lovebirds,
slipping them cues as to what to do or say. All the actors know is that there will be karaoke, and they both
want the date to spark. Everything else is in the lap of the gods (and Goldberg).
On this night, Sydney actor Eden Falk turns up in the role of Patrick, freshly out of a long-term relationship
and preoccupied with a family crisis. He’s closed-in, conservative and standoffish. She’s open to anything,
pours liquor down her throat likes it’s the last day on earth, and is clearly a bit of a desperado. The date
looks like a disaster. But that means comedy gold for the audience packed at the karaoke’ bar’s cosy tables.
Over 70 minutes, this burgeoning relationship ebbs and flows. Anna makes a fist of singing Wonderwall and
quizzes her date about his porn kinks; Patrick butchers Cryin’ and does his best to politely bat away her
advances. The improvisation makes this a bold production, and a risky one – one imagines nights where the
whole thing could fizzle – but Falk is a great foil for Novakovic, injecting just the right amount of conflict.
Goldberg, too, does a fine job pushing buttons and pulling strings – making Patrick’s phone ring incessantly
through an already intense moment, for example. And Novakovic’s lolling, lascivious body language as she
moves in for the kill is as authentic as it is hilarious.
The Blind Date Project is more than just an improv experiment – witnessing this scenario play out
emphasises our deep-seated craving for human connection. The show batters down the fourth wall, too.
As Ana briefly steps out of the theatre to use the loo, an audience member yells “Run while you can!” and
Falk does well to stifle a giggle.
Just like a blind date, this show can be a mystery until you’re in the room with it – all you can do is hurl
yourself into it and pray it turns out fun, rather than a train wreck.
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Sydney Morning Herald.
Reviewer: Jason Blake, January 9, 2013
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/impromptu-date-explores-trust-in-an-uncertain-world-
20130109-2cfup.html
A sitcom without a script, The Blind Date Project brings together two actors in a karaoke bar.One of them is
the relationship-seeking Anna (the project's co-creator Bojana Novakovic). The other Well, each night
neither Anna nor Novakovic knows who it will be until he (or maybe she) steps up to the bar and the house
lights go down. From there, everything is in the lap of the god of inspiration (with input from director Tanya
Goldberg, who creatively interferes or adjusts parameters via SMS and the occasional phone call). On this
night, Anna's date is actor Damon Herriman, who as “Tom” arrives slightly late, smelling of ciggies (despite
an online dating profile claiming to be a non-smoker) but bearing a conciliatory bunch of flowers. From a
florist, he says. Later he fesses up to buying them at a petrol station. When he takes a phone call apparently
from his sister, he claims to be at a work function.
Little white lies, maybe. But as this blind date unfolds, Tom's honesty becomes an issue.
So far, so Theatresports, you might think. But here, the point of the exercise is not to score points for
laughs, though this date is wincingly funny at times. Rather, The Blind Date Project uses the vulnerability of
two actors to explore loneliness and courtship; the weird spaces between online and real world
relationships; the ways in which people strategically trade in self-disclosure. Anna's love of game-playing
and vodka shots keeps the atmosphere erotically charged (she freely talks about her porn preferences, for
example) and tonight at least, the potential for some kind of connection is kept alive until late in the piece,
when the real reason for Tom being here – and for his karaoke rendition of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta
Know – is revealed.
That reveal felt like a dramatic contrivance (it will differ from night to night, obviously), but even so, the
exercise maintained its rawness and truthfulness as Novakovic and Herriman surfed the edges of
personal and professional security in a piece of theatre in which issues of trust and honesty are built into
its basic architecture.
Photo Credit: Video Still
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MARKETING INFORMATION & ACKNOWLEDGMENT REQUIREMENTS
Ride on Theatre- The Blind Date Project
Any variation to the requirements below must be agreed with Performing Lines.
Billing
Artist Credits
Copy
30 word version
120 word version
For season
brochures/
flyers, program guide
listings
[The Presenter]
presents
Ride on Theatre’s
The Blind Date Project
Produced/Toured by Performing Lines [placement is negotiable] and Joanna
Fishman
Conceived by Bojana Novakovic and Mark Winter with Thomas Henning
Directed by Tanya Goldberg
Performed by Bojana Novakovic and a different actor every night
With Lucy Moir as the Karaoke Queen
Two strangers meet in a bar in desperate search for connection. The actors playing
them have no scripts or rehearsals. Entirely improvised and featuring a different
guest date each night, The Blind Date Project promises to be as dangerous as it is
funny, and no two shows are ever the same.
The apprehension of a blind date is compounded when a group of people – you the
audience – gather to witness an improvised meeting between two complete
strangers searching for connection.
Set in a real life Karaoke bar - the premise is simple – or so it seems. A woman sits
alone waiting for her date to arrive, and that date is a different performer each
night. The catch The actress, AFI award winner Bojana Novakovic, has no idea who
she is about to meet.
Directed live via text messages and phone calls, the daringly devised encounters are
devoid of scripts or rehearsals and no two shows are ever the same. This brave
experiment may turn out to be humiliating, tender or totally hot.
250 word version Conceived by Bojana Novakovic and Mark Winter with Thomas Henning
Directed by Tanya Goldberg
Performed by Bojana Novakovic and a different guest performer every night
With Lucy Moir as the Karaoke Queen
We all want to find love. But how badly
Unpredictable, dark and funny, The Blind Date Project reveals a first encounter
between two people who have never met but are desperately searching for
connection.
Set in a Karaoke bar - Anna (Bojana Novakovic) sits alone waiting for her blind date -
a different performer each night whose identity is unknown to Bojana until the
moment of performance. What follows is an entirely improvised, intensely
personal interaction between them, including random Karaoke numbers and
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unexpected moments of joy or torment.
There are no scripts or rehearsals. Direction is interactive, sent to the performers
live via SMS and phone calls. No two shows are ever the same. The date might
work or it may fail tremendously. It might be humiliating, tender or totally hot. It
will be revealing.
The Blind Date Project explores the most humiliating impulses in us all: seeking
approval, seeking love, saying too much and struggling to impress.
While the guest actor will be a surprise each night, we can reveal that some of the
blind dates throughout the season will include ………..
Logos
Ride On Theatre is a family of artists – performers, directors, musicians, writers,
producers, designers, and technicians. The premise of their work is always to bring
a potentially erroneous idea to manifestation and see what comes of it.
Performing Lines
Australian Council for the Arts
Ride On Theatre
Download Performing Lines logo - bit.ly/AcxrOc
Download Australia Council logo - bit.ly/zNARJs
Logos must be included on all advertising and promotional material associated with
the tour and performances of The Blind Date Project unless explicitly agreed
otherwise, including, but not limited to, season brochures, flyers, posters,
advertisements, media releases, television commercials, web pages and programs.
Acknowledgements
Images
Image credits
Video links
Duration
Originally Conceived by Bojana Novakovic and Mark Winter
Available to download at: http://performinglines.org.au/productions/the-blinddate-project/
From video stills
Available to download at:
Three minute montage: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=9vrfwdXH_m8
Twenty minute montage: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=z_K-6wto5Qc
60 minutes
Warnings
Language and adult themes
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Written & performed:
Produced & toured:
Producer:
Ride on Theatre
Performing Lines/Ride on Theatre
Joanna Fishman
Contact: Fiona de Garis
mapsnsw@performinglines.org.au
tel: +612 9319 0066
fax: +612 9318 2186
5/245 Chalmers St Redfern NSW 2016 Australia
Contact: Joanna Fishman
joanna.fishman@rideontheatre.com
tel +61 412 220 206
Contact: Liz Young
production@performinglines.org.au
tel: +612 9319 0066
fax: +612 9318 2186
5/245 Chalmers St Redfern NSW 2016 Australia
Information in this package is correct at the time of publication (April 2013). Details are subject to change
without prior notice. Interested parties should confirm relevant details with Performing Lines before relying
on information herein as the basis of entering into an agreement regarding this production.
PRESENTATION
The Blind Date Project is an intimate theatre piece. The audience should be able to order drinks, observe
and stay afterwards. In many Australian seasons, the venue became a kind of Hub where people would
meet for drinks before they went out for the night. It was a space people wanted to come to.
A real bar would be ideal if sound issues and ticketing/access issue can be properly managed. The bar needs
to feel a bit tacky/try-hard in style, and it can feel a bit depraved/lonely. It should have a dingy feel, but
made to feel charming and fun.
Raised platform/rostra at the bar to raise the actors seated at the bar on 2 swivelling bar stools. The actors
sit side-on to the bar, with the audience behind them. There needs to be a space available for the director
in the back near an exit where she can sit an observe proceedings, but also exit the venue subtlety as
required.
NB. Since Bojana does not know the identity of her dates, please DO NOT allow media to ask her about
any of the guests in any interviews.
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VENUE
A functioning bar with Karaoke set up. It can also be a space converted into a Karaoke bar.
Lively and intimate
Ideal capacity: 100 people.
It is essential that the venue have mobile phone coverage
Cabaret style seating – for the audience
Karaoke Stage (located in a space opposite or different to the bar)
PERSONNEL
TOURING COMPANY: 4 persons
2 x performer
1 x Director
VENUE TO SUPPLY
Sound/Lighting Operator
Production Manager
Bump in/bump out crew (as per schedule)
STAGING
1. Bar plus four bar stools. Two of these must be swivel stools as they will be used by the actors to
project out to the audience.
2. Rostra at bar to lift actors into sight level – should be about 9 inches tall.
3. Disco ball rigged above karaoke stage
4. Café style current gig posters to decorate walls of space
5. Candle holders and candles/individual dim lights on each table
6. Menu holders and bar menus with “The Karaoke Klub” logos
5. Other Set/Bar/Stage decorations – this is highly dependent on the nature of the venue (and can be
found objects) but includes such elements as fairy lights, lava lamps, posters, neon signs, nick naks.
TOURING COMPANY TO SUPPLY
Printed karaoke song menus for display on patron tables – with Karaoke Klub Logo
Printed Production Notes for display on patron tables – with Karaoke Klub Logo
Printed Drinks Menus (venue to supply information) for display on patron tables – with Karaoke Klub
Logo
Karaoke Klub Neon Sign to be rigged across front door or in another appropriate position
VENUE TO SUPPLY
Space including (but not limited to)
2 x 2.4m x 1.2m Rostra
2 x swivel chairs
2 x matching bar stools
Table lighting
Mirror Ball
Menu stands for patron tables (for printed drinks menu etc)- negotiable
Café posters which add to the set as a realistic venue – eg marketing local and current gigs and shows –
in bulk to cover venue walls
LIGHTING
Lighting plan supplied 2 weeks prior to bump in
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Lights rigged above audience to light the actors’ faces from front-above and side, as well as lights to
cover the Karaoke stage.
Various ambient lighting tools could be used to add atmosphere – e.g. a 70s style light machine,
lava lamps, fairy lights, neon signs etc.
VENUE TO SUPPLY
12 x LED par 64s RGB
4 x 650w Profiles (wide angle preferred)
1 x scanner controller (for LEDs)
1 x 8ch desk for conventional lighting control
1 x lsc 12 way teko dimmer (note: 6 channels assigned to house LX)
2 x 20m of rope or fairy lights
Eg 1 x lava Lamp or other lighting material which might be used to dress the space
AUDIO
VENUE TO SUPPLY
Professional quality, full range sound system
1 x 12 channel desk
1 x DVD playback (not CD)
1 x Boss RU – 70 digital reverb
3 x Monitor fold back (12” minimum)
2 x 24 way mulitcore to the stage
4 x AT AE3000 cardiods condenser mics
1 x AT ATM 250 hypercardiois dynamic instrument mic
3 x Shure SM 57A Beta mics
4 x Shure SM 58A Beta mics
VISION
TOURING COMPANY TO SUPPLY
DVD incorporating karaoke files
VENUE TO SUPPLY
Projector, Lap Top, plus screen (to simulate a karaoke machine)
1 x Projector with rigging
1 x DVD player/ LAP TOP
1 X large SCREEN
1 X MONITOR FOR ACTORS TO READ WORDS FROM
Connection plugs (converters) to connect computer screen to projection screen and monitor.
FREIGHT
The Blind Date Project has minimal touring freight and can be covered via excess baggage charges. A
karaoke neon sign about 800x800x400 (fragile) and box of printed materials.
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Performing Lines THE BLIND DATE PROJECT Ride On Theatre

SCHEDULE & CREWING Two day setup – dress rehearsal on day one, open on day two
Note - this is a generic bump-in schedule designed for Australian touring and included for indicative
purposes. Subject to change to suit circumstances.
Time Activity Crew Crew Hrs
Bump-in Day 1
0900 – 1300 Rig screens and blacks
1 x mechanist
8
Set up and focus projectors
1 x AV
0900 – 1100 Set up audio 2 x audio 4
1100 – 1300 Tune audio system 2 x audio 4
1300 – 1400 LUNCH All
1400 – 1600 Rig and focus lights 1 x LX 2
1400 – 1500 Prepare for sound check 1 x audio 1
1600 – 1630 Sound check 1 x audio 0.5
1630 – 1800 Dress rehearsal 1 x audio 1.5
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Bump-in Day 2
1000 – 1700 Technical fix ups as required 1 x audio 6
1800 – 2000 Show call 1 x audio 2
2000 – 2100 Performance 1 x audio 1.5
2100 – 2130 Pack down 1 x audio 0.5
10
Standard Show Day
1800 – 2000 Show call 1 x audio 2
2000 – 2100 Performance 1 x audio 1.5
2100 – 2130 Pack down 1 x audio 0.5
5
Bump Out
2130 – 2330 Bump out Blind Date equipment 1 x audio
1 x mechanist
4
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Performing Lines THE BLIND DATE PROJECT Ride On Theatre