Theater goes online

Transitions into television are frequent from film, books and, well, reality. A scarcer situation is theater becoming television.

Filmed at The Woods in Southeast Portland and at various other locations around town, Fothing is a series of webisodes following the story of Action/Adventure Theatre, a local company, their serialized show Fall of the House and their efforts to stay afloat in the face of financial uncertainty. If you aren’t familiar with the theater outfit, it may serve you well to go out and see their crazy antics live first. If that isn’t possible though, the show is still fairly enjoyable.

The acting is a little stiff at times and the writing a tad awkward, but that could just be chalked up to the fact that these folks are seasoned stage actors, not screen actors. The series is new, so maybe the actors will adjust to the new format. They may want to spend some more time on finding better extras as well, since most of them really didn’t help the cause.

Stepping away from the whole package though, it’s still an entertaining project and it’s very clear that everyone involved has put in a commendable effort. The camera work and general production is impeccable and in between some of the awkward writing moments are some real dialogue gems.

Fothing is screening at The Woods in November, but you can check out a couple episodes now, as well as some supplementary trailers and interviews at www.fothingtv.com