Today we’d like to introduce you to Revelry Theatre Group Jesse Baxter And Cassidy Cagney
Revelry Theatre Group, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
(JESSE) I knew I wanted to pursue theatre since high school, although I was practically raised in the theatre growing up. My dad is the Artistic Director of a regional theatre company in my hometown, so I have had the opportunity of seeing a multitude of theatrical productions since the age of five. I also had a strong affinity for Shakespeare and classical literature throughout high school and my training at the PCPA Acting Conservatory, so acting in and directing Shakespeare plays had been a focus of mine from a young age.
After moving to Los Angeles in 2021 and learning about the theatre community here, it was clear that people who were as passionate about Shakespeare as I was were experimenting with ways to innovate how it was presented. Seeing theatre practitioners stage plays in backyards and in bars inspired my wife Cassidy Cagney to completely restructure the experience of a play with her concept for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The idea was to create a theatrical experience that was entirely unique to the audience, giving them the liberty to roam around the set, to engage with the characters, or to leave where part of the performance was happening to get a glass of wine. This nonlinear type of structure would involve reorganizing the text so scenes could happen simultaneously at different areas on the set, while also accommodating for gaps where actors were encouraged to improvise and interact with audience members between their scenes. After several months of wrestling with the logistics of making the production happen on our own, I reached out to North Cork Vineyard and Winery in Yucaipa, who expressed interest in hosting the production. We then officially formed our first theatre company as an LLC in March 2023, and we called it Wine and Revelry Theatre.
We spent that summer rehearsing Midsummer in parks around Los Angeles County and we ended up discovering a lot about the value of collaboration with our cast. Because everyone we were working with was so amazingly talented, we had a cast that was chock full of performers that worked off of each other brilliantly. When we performed Midsummer at the winery that July, we had strangers in the audience that walked up to me and Cassidy after the performance and hugged us because of the fun and unique experience that they had. After Midsummer, we were eager to plan a production for the next year, but we knew as a brand new company based in the arts that a non-profit would be more successful at fundraising than an LLC. With that in mind, by November 2023 we reorganized our company as the non-profit Revelry Theatre Group, set to produce Romeo and Juliet in April of 2024.
Our production of Romeo and Juliet at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center brought us in contact with more incredible talent while also helping us establish our company much closer to home, since we performed it where Cassidy and I are located in the North Hollywood Arts District. On top of that, we were fortunate enough to sell out our performance run, which we are still so grateful for. We also received tons of support, not only from our director, cast, and crew, but from dozens of individuals in the Los Angeles theatre scene. Ultimately, we got to experience the joy that not only came out of producing art for its own sake, but for the sake of our immediate community, which is what gives it so much of its value.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
(JESSE) Our ideas of what theatre can accomplish are often so vast that they go beyond the scope of what a small-budget theatre organization can realistically hope to manage. With us being rather young as a company, a major frustration has simply been finding the financial means to make our productions happen.
It’s also definitely been a learning curve to figure out the business of theatre, especially since I came from a background where the creative aspect was the main focus. Learning all of the administrative duties for a non-profit organization such as applying for tax-exempt status, managing a business bank account, and then also handling communications and production needs all simultaneously has been a lot to learn over the past couple of years.
Lastly, a lot of the difficulty has come out of deciding what we really are as a company. We originally wanted our focus to remain on creating immersive experiences, and while we still want to create those types of productions, experimenting with other ways of making theatre fun and accessible has definitely broadened our horizons regarding our work moving forward.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a theatre company that specializes in retelling the works of Shakespeare and classical literature for a new audience. Our objective is to make audiences feel like they are IN the world of the play and not just observing it passively. With our work on A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2023, we took pride in our ability to examine how text and characters can function to create a more engaging and versatile experience. With Romeo and Juliet in 2024, our interpretation of the text in juxtaposition with the production’s themes made the play feel emotionally alive, relating to the audience in a different way. We believe that our commitment to innovating how theatre is produced and how audiences experience these classic tales contributes something truly unique to the theatre scene in Los Angeles.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
On February 3rd of 2024, Cassidy’s mother Michelle Cagney passed away due to an accident at home. Michelle was an Art Teacher who created a copious amount of artwork herself, much of it being displayed for the benefit of her local community. Because of this, we wanted to dedicate our company’s efforts this year to creating an arts scholarship in her name. The Michelle Cagney Memorial Arts in Community Scholarship will be a fund for an artist who is facing the costs of higher education. The student receiving this scholarship will be someone who uses their art to contribute to their community. We look forward to the opportunity of helping other artists make an impact. For anyone who may want to contribute to our scholarship fund, our donation page can be found on our website.
Furthermore, our next theatrical project will be an admission-free barroom theatre production that we are still solidifying the details of. Our best bet is that it will most likely be in either March or April in North Hollywood, so look to our Instagram for the most up-to-date information regarding both auditions for actors and the performance itself. This production will be serving as a fundraiser for the Michelle Cagney Memorial scholarship fund, so while the performance itself will be free, donations from our audience will be very much appreciated.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.revelrytheatregroup.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revelrytheatregroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revelrytheatregroup/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnhaAQ1MnJLFFOmnueIkN5w
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Cassidy Cagney – Artistic Director; Jesse Baxter – Associate Artistic Director
First Additional Photo: Romeo and Juliet 2024 – (left to right) Adrian Viecco, Balthasar; Jesse Baxter, Mercutio; Paul Lyons, Lord Montague; Victoria Sanders, Nurse; Erin Galloway, Tybalt; William Chhit, Paris; Dakota West, Benvolio; Anton Nassif, Lord Capulet
Second Additional Photo: A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2023 – Arjon Bashiri as Nick Bottom
Third Additional Photo: A Midsummer Night’s Dream 2023 – (left to right) Diego Iruegas, Moth; Aspen Haw, Cobweb; Evelyn-Claire Smith, Peaseblossom
Fourth Additional Photo: Romeo and Juliet 2024 – Alessandra Mañon* as Juliet & Chloe Baldwin* as Romeo
*Members of Actor’s Equity Association
