“Divided by Zero” is a brand new interview series, both traditional interview and video interview getting you into the head and heart of the ZU family.  “Divided…” will feature five sporadically posted interviews featuring veteran members and members new to the ZU family.  Our second interview in the series features Joshua “Beta” McCaulley, a newbie to ZU.  McCaulley is a comic, musician, and actor who has performed in roughly 5 productions with the company.

Divided by Zero – Joshua “Beta” McCaulley

 (McCaulley performing “Inviting a Friend to Supper” as part of the Textual Overture Series at Cafe 5)

How long have you been involved with Zero Untitled and what was your first production?

I have been involved with Zero for around 6 months now and I hope I don’t have to stop. My first production was the mortician Dr. John Eura in “Nightmare of Oz”.

What is your best memory of any ZU production?

When I recited “Inviting a friend to supper” by Ben Jonson

What kind of future project would you like to dabble in?

Shakespearean radio plays, or radio theater in general. And maybe even some film projects.

If you can play any role in any show for ZU, what would it be?

The villain, the “nice guy” persona comes to me naturally, and I would like to be dealt something that is, in a nut shell, different, maybe even opposite.

 (Performing in the short play “House Party Mix Up” as part of  the “Fish and Giggles” show: A. Medina, McCaulley, L. Zaragosa, R. Watkins, C. Bonitz)

Any characters from film or theatre that you’d like to play?

Leopold Bloom for Mel Brooks’ The Producers (He reminds me of a younger me), Benvolio from William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, and Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

What do you expect from the audiences of ZU shows?

Integration, I like it when there is feedback between actors and audiences. In “Play-giarism”, I would walk up to a random audience member and make them laugh. Good times.

So, you like the audiences’ reactions to graphic stuff that Zero does in productions?

In general, yes I do. The only way the actors can really get a kick out of what they do, is if the audience gets a kick out of watching the actors do their thing.

How would you coerce someone that is not a theatre fan to come see a ZU show?

I would pull the friend card (laughs) I would say “Come support me with what I do” and then hope they show up.

ZU often does nontraditional theatre, so how do you suppose that can bring an audience into the world of theatre?

I would say that is entirely up to the show.

 (Performing in a Premature Punchline skit at GATOcon)

How so?

I can’t just say “we got fresh cookies, come to the show.” Hopefully, coming to the show will ignite something in them that will get them to do “research”, so to speak.

There are a lot of new people in the productions. What would you tell people that are new to ZU?

I would welcome them in with open arms. I would also tell them that working with ZU is their choice, if they don’t want to do it, that’s fine, but if they want to commit, I will assure them they will not regret their decision.

So, say I’m brand new to ZU and I wanted to be in Premature Punchline, how would you train me?

Like Mick would train Rocky but seriously, we would probably get together sometime and come up with a scenario and go from there, and also watch a lot of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”. A “monkey see, monkey do” approach if you will.

 (Improv game at GATOcon, alongside D. Gerd, R. Lopez, and J. Luna)

Since you are starting to develop stand up material, what topics are you looking into? And how will that differ from what other comedians are doing?

Some topics I’ve been looking into are my personal likes and dislikes, myself, and (with permission) borrowing some of my friends’ mishaps and misadventures. Most comedians have been travelling, or had dysfunctional family, or even they were just griping about the world around them. I have just used what was in my personal arsenal to the best of my ability. I have also started to delve into my own pool of general knowledge (i.e. MMPR trivia, history of donuts, etc.)

Any final statements?

Would you like fries with that?

 (A dramatic role in “Game of Fortune”, as part of last year’s “From Passion to Page” show).  

First sound test rehearsal: Olivia Del Bosque filling in with Luis Zaragosa playing Launcelot.   

Zaragosa, C.J. Lillie as Shylock, and Julio Martinez as Solanio.

Rehearsing with the threat of cupcakes: Melissa Saenz and Zaragosa discuss a scene while Rick Saenz (Gratiano) and Lillie work on a scene.

Here is Premature Punchline’s 2013 tentative tour schedule.  Some dates and times are subject to change. Please note that there have been some very recent changes to the tour schedule!

May 31 – Tango Tea Room, Corpus Christi, 8:00

June 20 – Blue Room, Kingsville, 7:00

June 22 – Pokemon Festival, McAllen, Time TBA Canceled

July 5 – Tango Tea Room, Corpus Christi, 8:00

July 27 – OMNIcon, McAllen, Time TBA

August 2 – Tango Tea Room, Corpus Christi, 8:00

Now that “A Glass Veil” has closed, what becomes of ZU’s project line up?  Well, plenty actually!  ZU plans to take a week-long break from rehearsals, pre-pro, and any other related work to give the cast and crew a chance to prioritize with other endeavors.

Upon our return, we have a huge summer ahead of us.  Two huge projects are being juggled at once: Shakespeare on Air and Annabelle’s Day Out.  SoA will be the radio-play recordings of William Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice.  The project is under the direction of C.J. Lillie (The Rorshach Test, Only Slightly Mad, etc) with assistance from Michael Verderber.  The project’s intention is to create downloadable recordings of the plays for educational purposes.  It should take roughly 1 1/2 months to rehearse and record each play.

Annabelle’s Day Out is a filmed spin off of the very successful Cooookie! play performed at the end of 2012.  An episodic web series, the series will follow the misadventures of Annabelle, the rambunctiously idiotic child fixated on cookies and giving trouble to the baby sitter(s).  At press, four brand new episodes have been ordered, two have already been written, and the play Cooookie! will be broken up into three episodes for a total of seven, released monthly starting in late summer.

Inevitably, Premature Punchline will be having sporadically scheduled shows in Kingsville and Corpus Christi as well.

Until then, we rest!

 Just a handful of teaser pics from the forthcoming “A GLASS VEIL”, written by Katherine Orozco and directed by Michael Verderber.

Pictured in the black shirt is Luis Zaragosa, blue shirt is Josh Cavazos, white shirt is Daron Briscoe, plaid shirt is David Sabrio, black tank top is Katherine Orozco, and brown sweater is Elizabeth Lysinger.

ZU’s next production, the full-length “A Glass Veil” will premiere in early May in the Blue Room.  Due to time constraints and a multitude of other productions beginning, there will only be a limted two performances of this mainstage show.  Usually, ZU does 3 productions of the spring closer.  Performance begins at 8:00 pm.

“A Glass Veil”  by Katherine Orozco, is a tale of irony based on a young girl’s alleged madness paralleling the detectives investigating her case.  After a series of mysterious murders occur, the show plays out almost in reverse of the traditional structure of a building climax.  Unfortunately, we can’t give me out without giving away the play itself, so come out and see.

Cast members include:

Katherine Orozco (Nightmare of Oz, Cooookie!) wrote and assisted directed the play and will star as the lead characters Irina and Simone.  Under the direction of Michael Verderber (manikin, The Mattress), the cast also includes ZU mainstage actors Daron Briscoe (the Wonderland series, Acoustical) and Luis Zaragosa (Twas the Flop, Fish & Giggles) playing Detectives Lawrence and Joyce, respectively.

Josh Cavazos (directing The Rorshach Test, acting in Only Slightly Mad) dabbles in the concernced yet calculated psychologist Dr. Hugo Faris.  Irina’s parents will be played by Elizabeth Lysinger (Chapters, Nightmare) as Lorraine and David Sabrio (The Rape of Lucrece, All The World’s a Stage) as the father, William.

Minor roles include Verderber as Captain Shaw, EMTs Aaron Salinas (Relapse in Wonderland, Pinko’s Pirouette) and Joshua McCaulley (Inviting a Friend to Supper, PrePunch).  Tech include Anissa Medina (Pot & Kettle, Cooookie!), Rebekah Ramos (Lolita & the Fox, The Rorshach Test), Salinas, and C.J. Lillie (Premature Punchline and Not That Wise writer).

The play opens in the Blue Room at 8:00 on May 2 and 3.  Admission is $2.

Premature Punchline will have a little mini-show as part of “First Fridays”, a monthly art event held at the Tango Tea Roomin Corpus Christi.  PP should be performing at around 8 pm on Friday (5th) either inside or at the courtyard area.  See ya there!

 Pictured is a teaser of Christina and Julio from “The Rated R Christmas Show”, performed at Tango Tea Room in Corpus back in late December.

PrePunch, our resident comedy improv troupe, has a performance TOMORROW (Tues) night in the Blue Room at 7:00!

Admission is only $1!

Check out our terrible flyer! It is funny because the flyer sucks.

Line up should be roughly as follows:

– Questions

– What’s My Pitch?

– Panel of Experts

– Dance Off! (a brand new game)

– By the #s

– Quoteline

ZU’s next “Textual Overture” show will happen at our usual venue, Cafe 5, on Friday the 29th at 7:00 with free admission as usual. 

Some of the performances will be live acoustic music from Caleb Bonitz, an original play called “Seeing Is Misbelieving: The Rorschach Test”, and several poetic works by Amber Johnson, Julio Martinez, Michael Verderber, and others!  Come out!

 Pictured above is from the play “Consequences”, performed last year at the third “T.O.” performance.  Pictured are Rebecca Ferguson and Steven Benedit.