Waving goodbye to 2019 with Chasing Pegasus

Some of the 2019 Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) cast: (L-R) Mark Salvestro as “Marc”, Sarah Hallam as “Katherine”, Sally McLean as “Franklin Storey”, Emma Choy as “Yasmine”, Falon Ryan as “Liberty”, Philip Hayden as “Andrew” and Catherine Smith as “Sophie”. Photo by Craig Fuller.

If you’ve been following our socials, you will have seen that we revisited the first play (written in 2003) by Creative Director, Sally McLean, Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) as a moved reading at the Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia last Wednesday, December 11th, featuring HFAS Faculty members, staff and Full Time Acting Program alumni including Philip Hayden, Emma Choy, Jessica Martin, Sarah Hallam, Sass Pinci, Sally McLean, Mark Salvestro, Falon Ryan, Gemma Carfi and Catherine Smith.

Sally McLean as “Franklin Storey” in Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) rehearsed reading. Photo by Craig Fuller

The night was a huge success, with a full house in attendance for the reading, followed by the HFAS Christmas Party until the wee hours afterwards.

We would like to thank everyone who attended and all our cast and crew, especially Jennifer Piper for her fabulous lighting design and rigging skills and wit incorporated for the loan of their lights, Sarah Clarke for running the lights on the night (who is also a fab photographer – find out more here), Aaron Coyle from Classic Press for printing up the various set elements, Claire Frost for filming the evening and Balloon Tree Productions for loaning her the camera equipment to do so and Craig Fuller for coming along and taking such wonderful photos of the evening.

Emma Choy as “Yasmine” with Falon Ryan as “Liberty” in Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) rehearsed reading. Photo by Craig Fuller

Special shout out to Sally’s three Director’s Assistants – 2019 HFAS Full Time Program graduates: Luke Toniolo, Claudia Piggott and Ronan Mummery. All three are beautiful actors, but also did graphic design elements for the show, built props and set elements, sourced the Christmas tree, decorations and additional furniture, read in for the cast when required at rehearsals, assisted with the lighting rigging and tech run, bought coffee and more! They were an amazing addition to the Incognita team and we can’t wait to work with all of them again!

Above: Our production crew hard at work during bump in and tech run, led by Jennifer Piper from wit incorporated, assisted by Claudia Piggott, Luke Toniolo and Ronan Mummery, with cast member Gemma Carfi. Photos by Sally McLean

Appropriately, this play is also set at Christmas, so it was a fantastic December production to stage and fitted in perfectly with the Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia Christmas Party – which doubled as an after party for the show as well 🙂

Jessica Martin as “Imelda” with Sass Pinci as “Abby” in Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) rehearsed reading. Photo by Craig Fuller

As part of our partnership with HFAS, the night was also a fundraiser for the Studio, with all proceeds going towards the upkeep of the studio spaces.

Mark Salvestro as “Marc” with Sarah Hallam as “Katherine” in Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) rehearsed reading. Photo by Craig Fuller

The play was so well-received that we are thinking about staging a full version again in 2020 (14 years after the last full staging!), and also producing a film based on the work. Stay tuned for further news on that, as it comes to hand.

You can find out more about the play, including previous productions, plus this latest reading at the official website: http://www.chasingpegasus.net

Jessica Martin as “Imelda” with Gemma Carfi as “Amelia” in Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) rehearsed reading. Photo by Craig Fuller

And you can check out all the fabulous photos of the night by Craig Fuller in the gallery below:

And so, another year comes to an end. We have some exciting projects coming up next year and will be sending out updates, including audition information via our newsletter in the coming days, weeks and months (so make sure you’ve subscribed so you don’t miss out!)

Wishing everyone a very Happy Holidays and a fabulous New Year – and see you all next decade!

Sally, Billy & Chris
Producers, Incognita Enterprises