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| Cirque du Soleil |
If
you have been in Second Life© for some time, you may have visited many places
with theme parties, but Drama Libre stands out from all of them. Drama Libre is
like no other, with the kind of effort they put in their theme parties. Every week they host a big party with a new
theme that attracting big crowds. They have been doing this nonstop since 2006. The most amazing fact is, that they have not
repeated any theme yet. Drama Libre has a dedicated team of builders, who are
not only very imaginative but are also very professional. This venue is
completely rebuilt from scratch every week to match their new theme, each time
with great detail.
By
looking at their work you can certainly tell they don't compromise on quality
and put great effort into what they do.
Drama libre's innovative theme ideas always seem to give new challenge to
builder team, but they always do justice with it. At each party, Djs play music
matching the theme as well. They specially lineup songs and even classic
commercials audio clips to enhance the feel and its fun factor.
Djs also cater requests from guests and play
dedications. At each party, Drama Libre attracts a big
crowd, which includes many new and regular visitors who dress according to
themes. Some of them are so dedicated that they design their own costumes for
each theme.
There are also contests for best in theme, through
which one can win a generous amount of lindens. Drama Libre's name describes
their philosophy. Libre is a Spanish word which means "free", so
"Drama Free". Drama Libre is an oasis for people who want to have fun
and enjoy a variety of music in a drama free environment.
I
talked to founder/Co-owner Peachy Sassoon and also other Drama Libre team
members to learn more about this fascinating club.
Vapor: First of all great
job on this venue. Can you tell SLE what were your initial thoughts were when
you first started this place ?
Peachy:
Xerxes and I enjoyed going to clubs when we first met. We loved listening to
music, and getting into different costumes. But we always felt that typical
club themes didn't push the envelope hard enough. I mean, SL is about creating
anything that you can imagine, and Best in Jeans, Best in Red, etc just didn't
cut it for us. I know for many clubs perhaps it's a matter of financial
necessity, but Xer and I really wanted to explore the creativity that SL
provides. For instance, why do Best in Spacesuits, when you can actually
portray being in space looking down on planet Earth! And imagine, we didn't
even know how to build back then or work with scripts! We learned slowly, and
in many times, the hard way! Lastly, We found a lot of drama going on in many
of the clubs we frequented, which made us sad. We both came online to enjoy
ourselves, not to get mired in drama. And we felt there were many SLers who
felt the same way. Hence when we named our "club" (for lack of a
better word,!), we decided to call it "DRAMA LIBRE", after the Cuban
revolution slogan.
Vapor: Who comes up with all
these theme ideas ?
Peachy: It
is a joint idea on themes. The crew gets together and starts bouncing ideas off
one another and we explore different options as to how to pull it together. We
also ask our guests for ideas, and pay them L$500 for each theme we use.
Vapor: You say you haven't
repeated any theme since you started in 2006. How have you managed to have a
new theme every week ?
Peachy: It
is not easy coming up with a theme each and every week. In the beginning it was
real easy cause it was never done before. Now every idea that is tossed our way
we look and more then not we have already done it. There are time that we
really want to do a "Best In Plywood" theme but due to our nature
that is not us.
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| Drama Libre Niagra |
Vapor: Which themes are your
most favorite so far?
Peachy: I
have to be honest here, there are so many that became my favorite but a few
have stuck out. We tend to build sets larger than life in which is one of my
favorites was our very first larger than life build Haute Cuisine. A large kitchen
with a sink that peeps tped into and ended up in sudsy water, we all danced on
a cutting board. Another one is Children's Bedtime Stories, people rode a
sleepy cart over to the set that was done a la Dr Suess. Magical Critters was
another favorite of mine, I could go on and on with so many of my favorites
that I would bore you to death ( Laughed). But in all honesty let me direct
your attention to one of our themes that a member captured on youtube. Watching
that will show that anything is possible in SL. Just let your imagination go
and create.
Vapor: How many themes has
Drama Libre done till today ?
Peachy:
Counting this last one (Marooned On Treasure Island) we have done 341 different
themes -- we've been doing this for over 6 and a half years, and with a
different theme every week, it adds up!
Vapor: It's a immense job to
create a new theme every week. What are the challenges you face?
Peachy:
Coming up with a theme that we have not done before is our biggest challenge,
Also, we have visions a lot of times that are hard to make happen. Now we are
skilled enough to develop different effects, like dancing on a whale that dives
and surfaces in the sea in our Save The Whales set, or showing motion as we
dance on a truck barreling down a highway as we did in our Mad Max set, or even
showing the passage of decades as we did in our Back To The Future set.
Sometimes they require script work, or sometimes we take a page from making
special effects from movies! It's more now about the presentation, and not so
much just a straightforward build anymore.
Vapor: Do you save your
Theme builds or crush them? Also do you lend them to be used by other people?
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| 'Art for Escher's sake |
Peachy: We
package up our builds always. We use what is called a rezzer once the completed
set is done we pack it up and each of the builders gets a copy of it. We have
sold a few sets that people fell in love with. Lending a set out, we never
tried that. That would be an idea to lend but on the other hand these are our
creations that we put together and being able to just give a package out to
lend means working with permissions. We take a lot of pride in our build. We
didn't know how to package up our sets in the first two years, so sadly, those
sets were literally torn down and lost.
Vapor: What are your future
plans for Drama Libre and your message for SLE readers ?
Peachy : Is
to have fun, we enjoy what we are doing and it gives us a creative release.
People enjoy what we are doing. But also we loved to see other clubs get
creative with their themes as well. It would be great to go and visit and party
at their venues. Anything is possible in SL just a matter of taking advantage
of what is set before you.
I
also talked with Drama Libre's Djs and Builder team members to know about their
experiences and contribution.
Vapor: How has your
experience with Drama Libre been and what theme build was most challenging to
create?
Xerxes:
Well as one of the founders, it's been a real journey... with lots of laughter,
long-term friendships made, and lots of moments with light bulbs clicking on or
the first time! But there's also been creative butting heads and late night
work -- sometimes it feels like a second job! But it helps us blow off steam
from our busy real lives, so it works for me! As for the most challenging so
far, usually those are the ones that start with one of us saying,
"Wouldn't it be cool if..." Really for me, though, the most
challenging was our London set, where we literally replicated the London
Bridge. The details were excruciating, and we sort of bit off more than we
could chew to be honest. There were only 3 of us builders back then, and we
were working up to an hour before the party! Even now, having to replicate
famous buildings makes me twitch anxiously!
Rinaldo:
Working on the Drama Libre build team has been one of the most enriching things
I've done in my life, not just SL but my
entire life! Every set has it's
challenges, but I would rank the
"Art for Escher's Sake!" set as the most difficult one recently. I worked on the aqueduct and water wheel part of the build (with water running uphill,
inspired by his famous "Waterfall" etching) and that was a lot more
difficult to do than I expected.
Dagmar:
I've been with Drama Libre for almost 5 years now that in and of itself speaks volumes due to
the transitory nature of SL. I love it here and until they figure out how to
get rid of me I am staying put. The themes that are most challenging to me are
the ones that are purely technical builds with at lot of fiddly vehicles and
machines. I am more an organic build by the seat of my pants ferret . Wild hair
idea + grandiose imagination = fun for all :)
Cathy:
It's a great experience. So much
fun. It's a lot of work but so worth
it. It's a lot of fun on Saturday nights
watching so many people enjoy what we built.
Seeing what costumes people come up with is interesting. Every build we do has certain challenges. I think
the most challenging build for me was, Lusitania (4/28/2012). Reproducing an early 1900's damaged luxury
ocean liner under Second Life's water was a challenge. Being underwater distorts the colors and
textures. I think it turned out great
and we all had a great time.
Vapor: Was there ever any
theme idea where you said "we can't build that" ?
Xerxes:
Week after week I keep saying, "We can't do that, this won't work",
but then it all comes together and the results even amaze us. For instance, for
the Back to the Future set, we wanted to dance in the town square, which would
evolve from 1854 to 1954 to 2054 just like in the movie.... yikes! But we did
it! And we blew folks away (ourselves included). Another example is when we
built our first black & white set of the first Oscar Night. Someone said,
"wouldn't it be cool if" we did everything in black and white like
what folks would see on TV? Talk about a mind meld... it's tough to think in
black and white! We ended up having to create a lot of textures then, because
most of our textures were in color! I even built a Duesenberg for that set. It's funny, folks came in black
or white to the party, but they didn't change their skin, and the skin colors
popped on that set dramatically! Goes to show you that you can work through
anything if you got enough imagination and craziness!
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| Drama Libre New Jersey |
Rinaldo:
Sometimes Peachy and Xerxes decide on a theme idea and I think ... what are
they crazy? we can't build all that in 3
or 4 days! But then somehow it always
comes together in time, There have been
plenty of theme ideas though that have been suggested, but never built, because of our time constraints. Drama Libre is like show biz, we put on a completely new show every
week, it is all dreamed up, discussed,
planned out, and then built
between Monday and Thursday every week.
Think of a weekly show like Saturday Night Live and how that is
developed every week, our environment is
similar to that. So I would say there is no theme we couldn't build ... if we
were given enough time to do it! But
the unique thing about Drama Libre that makes it successful is that it is done
on such a short time scale, the
challenge of a weekly deadline is part of the character of Drama Libre.. No matter what, the show must go on!
Dagmar: Not
me personally, sometimes it just takes a while to get the right angle on an
idea and seeing as we build a new set every week sooner or later you got to
stretch your comfort zone and just build it.
Cathy:
Musicals (12/6/2008)...The set had rotating sets of different musicals. They would periodically change while the
party was going on. We have done other
sets like that since then but that was the first one and I didn't think we
could pull it off. It worked as planned.
Vapor: Which theme
structures are you most proud of?
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| Battle of Britain |
Xerxes:
Well, there was Nemo's Underwater City, where we danced underwater, and guests
had to take a sub down to the city... that came out awesome. Then there was our
first Cirque du Soleil, inspired when I saw One in Vegas. I remember Dagmar and
Peachy (we were only three builders then) were trying to get their heads around
the idea. We made glowing colorful items inside a pitch black box, and
everything popped! We even bought aerial dances to use, and that party was a
big hit! Oh, also our Airship Pirates steampunk set, where we partied onboard a
giant dirigible flying over London. We built the town of London, including the
dome of St Paul's cathedral below the dirigible, and even put clouds in the
sky. At night too, so the glow lighting was spectacular! Then there was the
Battle of Britain set, where we made Spitfires and Mescherscmitts strafe the
airfield we were on.... I could go on forever hehe but we work on DRAMA LIBRE
for ourselves too, not just for our guests!
Rinaldo: I
think my best work is with background scenery,
most Drama Libre builds are in a large skybox (40 to 60m per side) and
need to have walls around the four sides,
The right textures on those walls can really add depth and atmosphere to
a set! I'm also very proud of the
waterfall I made for our Niagara set,
giant pickup truck I made for "Tailgatin", and since I am from New Jersey... the
turnpike/parkway highway interchange cloverleaf I build for the New Jersey
event.
 |
| 'Art for Escher's sake |
Dagmar: All
of them :) but if I had to single one out I'd have to say the 'Art for Escher's
sake' is one of my favorites it was a
long time coming and it was born at just
the right moment and time to get the best angle on it.
Cathy:
Battle of Britain (4/24/2010)...I love the historical sets. This set was a British airfield during WW2
under attack by German planes. The planes actually buzzed the airfield.
Vapor: How has been your
experience with Drama Libre and is it always easy to lineup songs matching a
different theme every week?
Zak:
It’s been a wonderful experience! It’s
been amazing to watch how the club has developed and grown over the years. The sets keep getting better and better and
I’ve enjoyed seeing how the builders often ‘think outside the box’ with some
very interesting builds using the latest SL capabilities. It’s been a blast to add the audio tracks
and help ‘bring the set to life’ with music.
On
choosing theme-based music, some themes are easy to choose tunes for and others
I can get full brain-lock after one or two songs. It really depends on the theme. Themes like ‘Woodstock’, or ‘Moulin Rouge’ or the holiday-based themes you can pick from
a large style/genre of music. Or pick
tunes with titles relating to the theme – tunes about driving for ‘Mad Max’ or
songs with ‘blood’ in the title for ‘Vampire Night’. But with some themes, I can get really
stumped. For example, what would you
play for ‘Siberian Gulag’, or volcano-pummeled ‘Pompeii’, or ‘Survivor’ – a
plane crash in the snowy mountains?
LOL. Yeah, I don’t know
either! A couple songs might come to
mind but after that, it’s all Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. But usually it’s not that difficult, and
also we’ll play lots of non-theme music just because it’s good music. The different themes do make for some fun
playlist creations, and definitely keeps things stirred up which helps the
music stay fresh and not get stale.
 |
| Battle of Britain |
Rinaldo:
Drama Libre has been more fun than a barrel of monkeys! I fill the DJ position here about once a
month, and also work on the build
team. Finding music for a Drama Libre
party theme is always interesting, and
has broadened the scope of my musical appreciation. It can take hours to put together a play list for a Drama Libre event but that is
almost as much fun as the actual party,
because I enjoy browsing music from different genres, eras, and
styles. And then at the actual event
our guests always have great requests,
it's like being in a musical think-tank sometimes, as the party-goers provide their own
suggestions for songs that match the theme.
Some themes are easier to find music for than others. For example, the "Party Like a Rock
Star" event we did last year was a piece of cake because all I needed to
do was make a playlist of all time favorite rock songs. Themes like "Stormin Normans"
(premise: the Norman conquest of England!)
can be much harder to prepare for,
"Gates of Mordor" was another difficult one, although there is plenty of Lord of the Rings
music available, a lot of it is movie
soundtrack instrumental and other types of songs that would be party
killers. But then I found that Led
Zepellin and other very popular bands were inspired by Tolkien, and so those bands provided a backbone for
the show. Then there are always some rarely played gems like
Leonard Nimoy singing "Legend of Bilbo Baggins" that are like icing
on the musical cake!
Magda:
Drama Libre is a joy to play for. The builds are inspiring, the staff is
supportive, the fellow DJs share tips and hints, and the crowd is just
wonderful. It is truly a drama-free environment.
As
for the theme - some are a cakewalk, in terms of finding related songs. Others
are a challenge. But not only is our audience very flexible in terms of their
musical preferences, they come with great musical requests that others respond
to. Foreign locales can be among the most challenging of sets to provide music
to go along with the theme - but they are a LOT of fun and extra-rewarding.
John: I
have a lot of fun working as a DJ in Second Life. Drama Libre just cranks up the experience by
leaps and bounds. It is not always easy
to match the music to the themes, because I can't control the subject. My passion and usual genre is classic Rock,
so sometimes it's as easy as rolling out of bed, but it can be a challenge
too. It always gets done though. I'm pretty sure everyone has a lot of fun
when I take my turn at the Drama Libre crowd!
Venue Details
Event Timing: Every
Saturday ( 7 to 11 pm SLT )
Venue Owner: Peachy
Sassoon and Xerxes Sismondi
Builder Team: Rinaldo
Debevec, Dagmar Klaar, Cathy Ryder and Xerxes Sismondi
Venue Djs: John
Seattle, magdalena kamenev, Rinaldo Debevec and Zak Volare
Teleport to Drama Libre
Drama Libre Group Link: secondlife:///app/group/792d6dfe-4a03-df74-80d4-8e090f5ead3b/about
Drama Libre Website: www.dramalibre.com
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