Ned Donovan - Ithaca ‘12

Hey everyone,

This here is a plug for myself.  A shameless one, which makes it even worse, yet I’m doing it anyways.  Last summer I took a master class through the Maine Academy of Staged Combat, which gave me a certificate of Highest Proficiency in the Teaching of Basic Staged Combat.  It’s been amazing to me not only how much I’ve learned through choreographing both for theatre and film, but how much my training differs from the training many people I’ve worked with have received.  Therefore I am looking to set up a weekly group at IC to work on some basics of staged combat.  It would be a mostly hand to hand (unarmed) class, with basic stunts added in.

We would meet once a week all semester, working on the basics of jabs, crosses, haymakers, hooks, crescent kicks, stomach kicks, stomach punches, slaps, falls, rolls (possibly including table rolls), knapps, takes, acting the fight, and all sorts of other things.  At the end of the semester we would have a little exhibition where we’d show fight scenes from plays, movies, and probably some we just come up with.

The group is either going to meet on saturdays or sundays.  Once How I Learned to Drive starts I won’t be available sundays from 2-6, as well as tech days.

Hey everyone!

Time to break radio silence after a full summer of stuff, I just turned my mind off of things that I usually work on so this website took a hit for the last couple months, but I am back, and ready to get going again!  Summer for me was great, I was here in Ithaca living in my new house!  If ever you’re in Ithaca, shoot me a line and hopefully we can meet up, I probably have a couch you can crash on.  First I started working for the new Panera Bread here in Ithaca, I was the opener for the Drive-Thru here, and will still be doing that job on tuesdays and thursdays, so come by and say hi sometime!  I went home for a couple days to choreograph the fights for Encore at Point Sebago on Lake Sebago for their Pirate Show.  That was a blast, I customized some pirate cutlass’ for them and took them over and work with Jack and Tim to get their final fight together.

Back in Ithaca, I played Macduff in a production of “Macbeth” with the Ithaca Shakespeare Co. which was very well received.  It was a “pay what you can” outdoor production, and we consistently had about 200 people in the audience.

Hey everyone,

So on May 2nd, some of the members of the class of 2012 here at Ithaca College Department of Theatre Arts put on a cabaret to raise money for The Dysautonomia Foundation. We filmed the cabaret and I have put up the videos that people involved wanted posted. So there are some gaps as some people preferred to keep themselves YouTube free, however you can see all the posted videos at Ned’s YouTube Page or in the player posted below!

Here is some information on the Dysautonomia Foundation: FamilialDysautonomia (FD) is a rare genetic neurological condition that affects the sensory and autonomic nervous systems, causing severe gastrointestinal,cardiac, pulmonary, orthopedic, renal and ophthalmologic problems. The Dysautonomia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that supports medical treatment, research, public awareness and social services for the benefit of people afflicted with FD. The Foundation has established the world’s only two FD treatment centers and is the largest single source of funding for research and treatment specifically for the benefit of people with FD. For more information, visit http://www.familialdysautonomia.org/

Performing members of the Class of 2012 were:

Will Boyajian
Sarah Brenner
Danny Bristoll
Ned Donovan
Beth Ellson
John Gardner
Megan Green
Hannah Guillory
Elizabeth Hake
Priya Iyer
Andrew Karl
Bruce Landry
Danny Lindgren
Mary Malaney
Mallory Newbrough
Emily Putnam
Josh Sedelmeyer
Tony Vo

Accompanists were:
Drew Benware (School of Music Faculty)
Katie Peters (Class of 2012)

Here’s the player! Enjoy!

Hey everyone,

This past weekend I played Billy/Dr. Horrible in an IC Underground production of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long blog. We got pictures back from the tech rehearsal and I thought I’d post them. The cast was as follows:

Billy/Dr. Horrible - Ned Donovan
Penny - Shaylyn Gibson
Captain Hammer - Vincent Whitney
Moist - Charlie Forray
Bad Horse Trio - Cy Bodnar, Tom Aroune, Sam Hughes
Groupies - Arianna Davis, Ben Shipley, Rebekah Weagraff
Newsman - Cy Bodnar
Newswoman - Alyssa Rivera
Moving Guys - Tom Aroune, Sam Hughes
Mayor - Charlie Forray

Enjoy the pictures!

~Ned

Hey everyone,

Since my encounter with the vampires (see The Hunted: Expulsion) I have been unbelievably busy.  We’ve begun mask work in movement class with Norm Johnson and we’re building our own masks this week.  This is an incredible experience, but very time consuming and frustrating.  My mask is almost done, I’m on to the painting stage, and hopefully it turns out well.  Other classes are going well, this is the first time in my college career where all my classes seem to be working in synergy, and things are moving a little easier than they have in the past.

We’ve begun rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing, and while we’re still in the table read stage, the cast just seems amazing.  I can’t wait to get going.  Everyone seems to work well together (the cast is full of the people I spend my time with anyways) and the reading is hilarious.  It’s very easy to see everyone in their roles, and working with Greg is great.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am cast as the Messenger (and I’m understudying the Friar), but I was given the extra role of Lord in Act 5, and I will be Fight Choreographing for the show.