Outcry Theatre
  • Outcry Theatre
    • Outcry Reads >
      • Play Submission
    • Past Productions >
      • House of Stairs
      • Lipstick Traces
      • Dreams of Icarus
      • Spring's Awakening
      • Bat Boy
      • My Name is Asher Lev
      • Hearts Like Fists
      • Isaac's Eye
      • Circus Tracks
      • The Four of Us
      • dark play or stories for boys
    • Past Readings >
      • Space, Time, Love Trilogy
      • History
    • Press
  • Outcry Youth Theatre
    • Now Playing >
      • Anne of Green Gables
    • Upcoming Auditions >
      • Matilda JR.
      • Finding Nemo JR.
    • Upcoming Productions >
      • Hamlet
      • Spring Awakening
      • Matilda JR.
      • Finding Nemo JR.
    • Summer Camps
    • What to Expect/FAQs
    • Past Productions >
      • 2023 >
        • Sunday in the Park with George
      • 2022 >
        • The Picture of Dorian Gray
        • Fantastic Mr. Fox
        • The SpongeBob Musical
        • Annie JR.
        • Anna Karenina
        • Charlotte's Web
        • Pippin
      • 2021 >
        • The Diviners
        • The Witches
        • The Glass Menagerie
        • Cabaret
        • Frozen JR.
        • Big Fish
        • The Great Gatsby
        • The Night Fairy
        • Assassins
      • 2020 >
        • Antigone
        • Moana JR.
        • The Little Prince
        • Tuck Everlasting
        • Macbeth
        • A Little Princess
        • The Secret Garden
      • 2019 >
        • The Cripple of Inishmaan
        • The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
        • The Legend of Arthur
        • The Little Mermaid JR.
        • The Old Man and The Old Moon
        • The Time Machine
        • Newsies
        • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
      • 2018 >
        • Frankenstein
        • The Giver
        • Peter Pan
        • Time Again in Oz
        • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
        • Romeo + Juliet
        • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
        • Treasure Island
      • 2017 >
        • Sideways Stories from Wayside School
        • The Seagull
        • Lord of the Flies
        • Seussical
        • Radium Girls
        • Alice in Wonderland
        • Peter and the Starcatcher
      • 2016 >
        • A Year with Frog and Toad
        • Eurydice
        • A Wrinkle in Time
        • Love/Sick
    • Graduates
    • Merch Store
  • Box Office
  • Donate
  • Podcast
    • Listen
    • iTunes Podcasts
    • Amazon Music
    • Stitcher
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement and Staff
    • Sponsors
    • Awards
    • Contact/Address
  • Outcry Theatre
    • Outcry Reads >
      • Play Submission
    • Past Productions >
      • House of Stairs
      • Lipstick Traces
      • Dreams of Icarus
      • Spring's Awakening
      • Bat Boy
      • My Name is Asher Lev
      • Hearts Like Fists
      • Isaac's Eye
      • Circus Tracks
      • The Four of Us
      • dark play or stories for boys
    • Past Readings >
      • Space, Time, Love Trilogy
      • History
    • Press
  • Outcry Youth Theatre
    • Now Playing >
      • Anne of Green Gables
    • Upcoming Auditions >
      • Matilda JR.
      • Finding Nemo JR.
    • Upcoming Productions >
      • Hamlet
      • Spring Awakening
      • Matilda JR.
      • Finding Nemo JR.
    • Summer Camps
    • What to Expect/FAQs
    • Past Productions >
      • 2023 >
        • Sunday in the Park with George
      • 2022 >
        • The Picture of Dorian Gray
        • Fantastic Mr. Fox
        • The SpongeBob Musical
        • Annie JR.
        • Anna Karenina
        • Charlotte's Web
        • Pippin
      • 2021 >
        • The Diviners
        • The Witches
        • The Glass Menagerie
        • Cabaret
        • Frozen JR.
        • Big Fish
        • The Great Gatsby
        • The Night Fairy
        • Assassins
      • 2020 >
        • Antigone
        • Moana JR.
        • The Little Prince
        • Tuck Everlasting
        • Macbeth
        • A Little Princess
        • The Secret Garden
      • 2019 >
        • The Cripple of Inishmaan
        • The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe
        • The Legend of Arthur
        • The Little Mermaid JR.
        • The Old Man and The Old Moon
        • The Time Machine
        • Newsies
        • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
      • 2018 >
        • Frankenstein
        • The Giver
        • Peter Pan
        • Time Again in Oz
        • The Hunchback of Notre Dame
        • Romeo + Juliet
        • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
        • Treasure Island
      • 2017 >
        • Sideways Stories from Wayside School
        • The Seagull
        • Lord of the Flies
        • Seussical
        • Radium Girls
        • Alice in Wonderland
        • Peter and the Starcatcher
      • 2016 >
        • A Year with Frog and Toad
        • Eurydice
        • A Wrinkle in Time
        • Love/Sick
    • Graduates
    • Merch Store
  • Box Office
  • Donate
  • Podcast
    • Listen
    • iTunes Podcasts
    • Amazon Music
    • Stitcher
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement and Staff
    • Sponsors
    • Awards
    • Contact/Address
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

3/4/2015 2 Comments

3 QUESTIONS WITH "HEARTS LIKE FISTS” FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER RHONDA DURANT

In Outcry Theatre's Hearts Like Fists, a group of female-vigilante Crimefighters take on the evil Doctor X, who injects poison into the hearts of sleeping lovers. Leading the Crimefighters into battle both literally and figuratively is Rhonda Durant, who doubles as Fight Choreographer and head Crimefighter Sally.

In a new series of blog posts, we'll be asking 3 questions of the artists involved in producing Adam Szymkowicz's Hearts Like Fists, which plays March 19 - 29 at the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park. Rhonda Durant, never afraid, agreed to go first.

1. How did you get into fight choreography?

Rhonda Durant
I was a gymnast for about ten years when I was younger, so I have always been athletic and very aware of my body. Because of this, if a role emerged that required a female who could pick up on fight choreography quickly, I was often cast in them. As an actor I got a lot of 'on the job' training, as it were this way. One of these roles was an Opera by the name of Kashche the Immortal, with Millennium Opera Company. They needed someone who who could handle a sword while singing high notes. The director and I became good friends after that, and she invited me to go with her to a Stage Combat Training weekend in Louisiana, and I decided to try to try it out. I have been training in various disciplines since then. A couple of years ago a friend was directing a play and the guy he usually looked to for choreography was unavailable, so he asked me to step in. Since then I have worked on several film sets, and stages all over DFW.

2. What excites you about the stage combat in Hearts Like Fists?

It is very rare to come across a script where a woman gets to do any fight choreography at all, let alone 4 who get to look like bad asses at that! Being able to play with such an interesting style of combat on top of that really lets you get very creative in a way that I often don't get to. These are strong, powerful women who work together as a team and really back each other up. It's excited to help create that dynamic on stage for the audience to experience it.

3. Have you ever been in a real life fight?

I have never gotten into a 'real fight', persay, but I did almost break my husband's nose when we were first married. You see, most people have what you call a 'fight or flight reflex.' If in danger and your adrenaline kicks in quickly, your 'lizard brain' turns on, and your 'rational brain' shuts down. I do not have fight or flight. I have what I call 'punch and run.' One good hit and I am out the door. I will survive the horror movie. During the first week living together in his apartment after we had gotten married, I had accidentally scared him multiple times. I was not intentionally sneaking up on him, but I am very light on my feet. He decided to get revenge one day by hiding in the hallway on top of the dryer and waiting until I walked by so he could pop out and scare me. His plan worked in one way: I was scared. 'Lizard brain' turned on and 'rational brain' turned off and I popped him in the face. I had some Muay Thai [a combat sport] under my belt at this point so I knew how to land a punch. I was out the door and halfway through the parking lot before my 'rational brain' alerted me that I had just hit my husband. He still knows better than to sneak up on me. 

For tickets to see Rhonda and the rest of the Crimefighters kicking butt at the Margo Jones Theatre, click here.
Picture
2 Comments
Bentley Hale link
12/4/2020 03:03:59 am

Hi thhanks for sharing this

Reply
Cody Peterson link
10/6/2022 05:54:19 pm

Sound get much but data computer type. Agency involve total call single success employee.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Outcry Theatre

    Visceral. Energetic. Youthful. Outcry.

    Archives

    July 2017
    April 2016
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Funded in part by the City of Plano, ​the Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Town of Addison
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Copyright © 2023 Outcry Theatre