Kali's Hourglass Performance Info

Kali’s Hourglass

Covenant of the Kraken Players







We are a north Texas Steam Nautical sailing ship that focuses on Steampunk and Clockpunk performance art, fashion and prop design, education and public awareness, and positive community conscious journalism.  In our fictional tales of bold adventures, Kali's Hourglass is a time traveling, and somewhat modernized version of the USS Constitution War Frigate and the flagship of our fleet of privateers.  In the real world of the 21st centruy, it is also a professional "Performance Art and Education Troupe" that entertains and enlightens about the use of Steampunk Culture, community, and performance art to make our selves and our world a more interesting and friendlier place in which to live and a lot more fun in the process!  We have written an original five act dramatic Steampunk Murder Mystery play that will weave itself under, over and all through the upcoming Difference Engine Summit on June 4th, 2011 at the Radisson Hotel North in Fort Worth, Texas.  Attendees will be able to become as much a part of the mystery as they wish or simply stay outside observers, as real characters will interact and play out the drama as it unfolds both on the stage and during the 2 hours periods in between each act of the play.  Come and find out what an "interactive mystery play" can truly mean!

 
"Cannonball Joe" with 2 friends that occasionally appears with us-Autumn & Nathaniel Moran
 

  (The photo above was from our appearance as the selected token Steampunk Models for the Crow Collection Asian Art Museum's Asian Pop Culture Fashion Show-We returned the next year to claim the prize for best costumes with a more Japanese version of Pirate Clockpunk)

 Contact Person:   Ramon Fagan  aka Admiral Ramon Leon del Mar  
(or Radha Fagan aka V. Adm. Narasimhan)

Email    covenantofthekraken@yahoo.com 
or yololtanextli@gmail.com


Address & Phone given out on an as needed basis, but we live and work in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.
Shows within about 250 miles of there are attended generally without travel expenses required, but if requested to perform at a location further away, we generally require plane tickets in order to be able to attend.

Fax:  call ahead  and we will arrange one    

Panels Available for Conventions or events:  

Kali's Hourglass Photo Gallery: 


Recent or Scheduled Performances 

In the comedy realm Kali's Hourglass recently performed at Yulecon 2010, at the Steampunk Illumination Society Meeting Dec. 16th, 2010,  and at Marquis of Vaudville’s Steampunk "Clockwork Wonderland" on Jan 22nd, 2011.

Costuming, acting, steampunk film screenings, and/or dance performances were presented by Kali's Hourglass at The Oklahoma Steampunk Expo, Allcon 2011, Ikkicon 2010,  Clockwork Wonderland, Carnevale of Creatures, Allcon 2011, Akon 2011, Fencon 2011, The SIS Nightmare Machine 2012, both Difference Engine events, Clockworkcon 2011, and Con DFW 2013.  They also taught, modeled, and presented Steampunk Attire in a variety of other venues such as The Crow Collection Asian Art Museum and The Dallas Museum of Art.   

Kali's Hourglass (Ramon and Radha) were also commissioned for scripting, casting, training, acting, and directing in the murder mystery story line sequences at The Difference Engine Summit June 2011.  Ramon and Radha were then promoted to program directors for both of the "Difference Engine" steampunk conventions, and have assisted with other conventions in the Steampunk and other communities.  

 Radha and Ramon have won awards for their Steampunk Ensembles at The Crow Museum, Con DFW, and The Kraken Rum contest.  They also have modeled steamunk ensembles and educated about them at a variety of conventions, museums, and public events.

They promote a variety of independent Steampunk related bands as well as a few signed ones both locally and internationally.  Recently Radha and Ramon succeeded in getting Psyche Corporation booked in the headliner slot for Ikkicon 2012 and provided promotion and band support at the event.

Both Radha and Ramon played significant roles in the Marquis of Vaudville Clockwork Wonderland promotional video.  Radha is the Center female dancer, and Ramon is the lead Guard giving the orders although you can't see his face due to the full metal helmet. 

Admiral Ramon also had a running role with a TV series called Night Class which is produced by a group from the University of North Texas Drama Department where he acts as host of a show presenting a series of short comedic science fiction horror stories.  He plays the character "Aliester Graves", professor of Mortuary Sciences who often regales his class with spooky true tales about things that have happened to their peers at their university.  Professor Graves has been described as a cross between the character "Professor Snape" (from Harry Potter) and a very eccentric, maniacal, and somewhat insane Dr. Frankenstein. 



For full Curriculum Vitae and a list of significant recent acting roles, see the information at the end of this page.

Description of a Typical  Performance

We routinely portray time traveling privateers that are charming, but eccentric, and perform a variety of short plays (mostly comedies) as well as dance performances in addition to teaching classes, leading panel discussions, providing film screenings & promotions.  Between such performances or classes, we mingle with guests while wearing colorful Steampunk or Clockpunk ensembles and often spontaneously start up improvisational comedic discussions of everything ranging from taking enemy ships to communicating with “Air Krakens” or perhaps chasing “English Navy Types” with a “Drunk Ray”.  We also model our Clockpunk, Asian Steampunk, Steam Nautical, or other Steampunk designs at fashion shows and steampunk events.  We also routinely add to the overall atmosphere and enjoyment of events by regaling the guest with tall tales about the early adventures of the Covenant of the Kraken (which has a very involved and detailed fictional history of adventures spanning across many centuries) interspersed with singing a few original songs about time traveling privateers (family friendly ones), and we have been known to do some interpretive dance, ... well..., pretty much any time good music starts playing, but we can be still if we really must!  Our dancing styles are a blend of ballroom and belly dance with some traditional African and/or traditional Aztec Elements thrown in depending on the music at the time.     

 Did I mention yet that we also do short comedic plays?  The ones that involve dance are best on an actual stage, but we can be flexible about most things.  One is about a very arrogant time traveling Victorian Naturalist from Queen Victoria's court that is observing and documenting the traditional music and dance of Aztec Primitives before "the peoples of Europe bring the light of civilization to them and, unfortunately extinguish their culture, and most of their people in the process.  Much to his surprise, even with his ability to speed up and slow down time to the point that the dancers go into a dramatic freeze, these primitives have far better technology than he suspects and the tables are turned, in a very funny way.  We are experienced traditional Aztec dancers, so we not only give a brief performance in the skit of that tradition, but we also are careful not to be offensive to the ancestral traditions in the course of presenting a funny play.  

Another skit we do involves a steampunk naturalist that explores and does commentary on fantastic creatures from different times and realms.   We also routinely present a mellodrammer theater style (much more "campy" exagerated parody style with some slapstick) comedy skit (about 20 – 30 minutes depending on audience participation level) of a time traveling group of privateers with an Admiral who is just a little too obsessed with fine tuning his new raygun to pay attention when his wife asks him to stop working so hard and take her to the fair.  This eventually erupts into an argument and then a non-lethal duel for supremacy, first with swords, in which she repeatedly outsmarts him when his skill gets the better of her, and then with flintlocks loaded with rock salt; however, she manages to steal the admiral’s glasses making accuracy a problem for him.  In the end, as with all villains, or in this case just a good hearted man whose obsession with his big boy toys makes him temporarily act villainous, the Admiral gets it in the end…literally.  He then acts a fool with some typical slapstick and complains about being too sore from the blast of rock salt to walk much less dance at a fair.  We of course have to call the ship's surgeon, who uses sarcasm and satire to reprove for them for their violent means of settling administrative disputes, but pulls out a temporal distortion spray to heal the Admiral in time for the dance.  Oh and there is a bit about the hyper-intelligent telepathic air kraken in there somewhere, but not to worry…It all works out in the end.  



      
For pictures of a recent performance, use these links:


http://pongophotos.zenfolio.com/yulecon_2010_performers/slideshow 


http://pongophotos.zenfolio.com/yulecon_2010_performers 

                                                     





Administrative Details

We are often asked how many times can you perform on stage each day?  For paid performances, we can perform every 4 hours if you like, unless we are also running panels or teaching classes which we also count as a performance.  As straight class or lecture requires little preparation, but we often work a brief performance into such classes as a practical demonstration, causing even panels/classes, to sometimes require costume changes or preparation time etc.  For unpaid pro-bono performances, we are normally only asked to perform once per day in exchange for free passes to the event and a small space to set up a portable table to share information about ourselves, our designs, our wares, etc.  If we have more than 3 members coming; however, we are fine with providing more as we are better able to do more and still see enough of the event to write a decent review.  

We expect to at least receive complimentary admission and would like to receive green room access even though, as 3 of us are vegetarians, we do not use the green room as much as others do.  As Admiral Ramon is the only staff writer for Convention Fans Blog Magazine for the South-Central US, he also writes a review of most events we attend where such activities occur.  As such, the green room access gives him a safe quiet, and more comfortable place for celebrity interviewees if any of your other performers indicate that they wish to be included in the event review.


Writing reviews of any event is good promotion for the event and pretty much risk free, as Ramon does not like to publish really negative reviews.  Readers actually can gauge his reaction to an event more by the length of the review, than any criticisms in it, as we are here to promote good efforts at performance art rather than tear down anyone's efforts.  While Ramon does comment on what is great, good, or could stand improvement (otherwise the reviews would lose all credibility), if he cannot write a mostly positive review of an event, he simply never submits the review for publication at all.

Length of performance (from set up to striking of the stage): Usually 30 to 60 min as desired.  We can put a lot of small elements together in different combinations as desired.

Size of stage: 10 by 20 feet or larger preferred, but can be smaller       
At outdoor events even performing in the street (blocked off of course)  will be fine, but having a few chairs/and or a small table  to set props on would help.

Number of performers in the group:  3 or more depending on what type of performance is planned.  We need a larger group if we are doing a more dramatic presentation complete with choreographed sea battles or ship boarding, but we bring our own people and props for such things and arrange this in advance if it is desired for the event.   We have discussed, however, doing a class on safe choreographed stage combat and asking for volunteers at the end of the class for extras to be the crew of a slave ship we are boarding and capturing.  They would be fighting, but with padded swords, as foils are permitted only to more trained people.  This is due to the fact that full fencing protective equipment is sometimes problematic for stage performances and we generally use specially modified foils to reduce impact or risk for that purpose, but we have a limited supply of such items.


Costuming

(Please note: as Steampunk is a meaningful subculture to us, we don't often use the term costume, but we realize it is a useful descriptive term for the various types of ensembels we create for the different centuries our fictional characters work in as well as for special characters or alter egos that we sometimes present.)

Below are a few of our different looks.  We actually have managed to put together several dozen different outfits, but these are the most common.  We tend to go even older than Victorian era, but have Victorian fashions as well, but for Steampunk, the basic attire is layered with intentional anachronisms and a few impossible items quite intentionally.  


Curriculum Vitae





 
Vice Admiral Radha Narasimhan


 Radha Fagan, aka vice Admiral Radha Narasimhan, is Kali's Hourglass' Artistic Director, Dance Director, dancer, actress, and one of our costumers.  She studied Traditional Hatha Yoga and Meditation from the age of 5 and began ballet even before that.  She studied dance at a more professional level of intensively in Shreveport , La and was selected to perform professionally for a ballet company in New York city that performed both locally and internationally for many years.  After a foot  injury she shifted focus to other forms of dance and worked as a professional Yoga Instructor.  

Her education background is in other areas with a degree in mental health nursing (RN level) and a bachelors in Anthropology with specialization in Asian Studies.

 She co-led the Sufi Dances of Universal Peace group in Shreveport for some years and also studied and performed traditional spiritual dances and performance arts from various historical cultures for several years in the same city.  After she married and moved to Texas, she studied, trained and performed  Aztec Dances for 5 years with the traditional Grupo Estandarte Ollin Tonatzin out of Dallas, Texas.  Since then she has studied some belly dance and incorporated that and other ethnic dance styles into her own unique blend and repertoire of interpretive dance.  Also during her time in Texas she co-starred in a great number of passion plays that presented a poetic retelling of Celtic Myths which were similar to performances she had done related to cultures from around the world back in Shreveport. 
More recently Radha Fagan has begun performing dance, drama, and comedy at Texas Steampunk, Anime, Pirate, and Renaissance events.  As a mental health nurse with an degree in anthropology, she is unusually well qualified to teach classes on multicultural issues regarding the performance arts. She dances and acts with “Kali’s Hourglass” the Irving chapter of the “Covenant of the Kraken Steampunk Performance Art Collective” which has about a dozen members in various fields of dance, drama, film, music etc. and continues to grow.  Radha also designs, fabricates, and models Steampunk Attire for fashion shows and events.  Radha also helps lead panel discussions on acting, dance, and steampunk wardrobe at anime and steampunk events in the Texas-Oklahoma area.   


Recent or Scheduled Acting Roles:  


In the acting realm, Radha was selected to portray one of the dancers at the Queen's party in the upcoming Marquis of Vaudville Alice in Wonderland based silent film "A Clockwork Wonderland Promotional Video Shoot".  http://artofsteampunk.blogspot.com/2011/01/clockwork-wonderland-marquis-of.html 
She will also have major dual roles as both "Lady Carnevale", the delegate from the powerful (but very Machiavellian) Venician Republic and as her typical Steampunk Character, Vice Admiral Radha Narasimhan of the Covenant of the Kraken in the upcoming "murder mystery theatre" styled 1 day Steampunk convention called The Difference Engine Summit, and again as her standard character at the 3 day similar event The Difference Engine World Conference in December 30th, 2011.
In the comedy realm Radha recently performed at Yulecon 2010, at the Steampunk Illumination Society Meeting Dec. 16th, 2010, and at Marquis of Vaudville’s Steampunk Winter Wonderland on Jan 22nd, 2011.


Admiral Ramon Leon del Mar


Ramon Fagan is the business manager for Kali’s Hourglass Steampunk Acting and Education Troupe, as well as their playwright, fight director, stage director, actor, dancer, and one of our costume designers and prop creators.  Ramon has led panels at most of the Steampunk or Steampunk related conventions in Texas and Oklahoma.
As a teenager he began acting in Christian passion plays and sang while performing on tour several times with their choir.  He also performed character roles for a spoof of “The Music Man” while in college and did various smaller comedy performances.  He later wrote, directed, and starred in a great number of plays that presented a poetic retelling of Celtic Myths in both public and private shows mostly in Texas for about 8 years.  In recent years he has served as the “host” for a TV short series produced by the UNT Theatre department in which he played a sadistic college professor described as a cross between Professor Snape and Hannibla Lector.  He also wrote and performed leading roles in a variety of short Steampunk Comedic plays as well as a full length Steampunk Murder Mystery Play.
He also studied dance both as a child and as an adult.  He even trained and performed Aztec Dances for 5 years with the traditional Grupo Estandarte Ollin Tonatzin out of Dallas, Texas.  Ramon also learned to practice and teach traditional Hatha Yoga from his wife Radha Fagan, and he now teaches this and Yogic philosophy at a Local Traditional Hindu Temple.  Both of them did a great deal of interpretive and trance dancing to African and Middle Eastern Drumming as well during their time together, and Ramon even learned enough traditional belly dance moves to incorporate more masculine versions of them into his own unique blend of dance styles.  
His education background includes a Bachelors Degree in Education, a Masters Degree in Social Work, Advanced Practice License in Mental Health Counseling,  and a long list of coursework through the military in training others, leadership, personnel management, organizational skills, and military strategy, tactics, and weaponry.  He served for many years in two branches both int eh medical field and later as an Airborne Trained Infantry Officer.  As he trained extensively in teaching, organization, and leadership skills at a very young age (in Boy Scouts), he has actually been teaching and serving in formal leadership positions with peers for over 35 years.
Ramon has more recently been performing dance, drama, and comedy at Texas Steampunk, Anime, Pirate, and Renaissance events.  He dances and acts with “Kali’s Hourglass” the Irving chapter of the “Covenant of the Kraken Steampunk Performance Art Collective” which has about a dozen members in various fields of dance, drama, film, music etc. and continues to grow.  Ramon is a trained fencer and choreographs sword duels as needed for their performances.   Ramon also designs, fabricates, and models Steampunk Attire for fashion shows and events.  Ramon also helps lead panel discussions on acting, dance, and steampunk wardrobe at anime and steampunk events in the Texas-Oklahoma area.  Ramon also provides Bardic Storytelling performances for Celtic events.  
Ramon writes reviews, and articles for Convention Fans Blog, Steamed, Gatehouse Gazette, Steampunk Chronicle, Cogs n Gears, and Examiner.com.  He also writes fiction, song lyrics, poetry, short plays, philosophy, educational material, and a variety of other types of work.  As a clinical social worker with an undergraduate degree in education, he is unusually well qualified to teach classes on multicultural issues regarding the performance arts. 

Recent Acting Roles: 


Ramon was selected to perform as the host of a series of sci-fi/horror spoofs called “Night Class” being produced by a film group at the University of North Texas, and the original pilot for the TV series is finalizing in production.  In this he portrays an eccentric professor who teaches the night class and sets up and ends each episode.  The character was described as a cross between “Professor Snape” of Harry Potter fame and “Dr. Frankenstein”.  http://vimeo.com/20183496
Ramon is acting as the Red Queen's lead personal guard chasing Alice all through Wonderland, and Radha was selected to portray one of the dancers at the Queen's party in the upcoming Marquis of Vaudville Alice in Wonderland based silent film "A Clockwork Wonderland Promotional Video Shoot".
 http://artofsteampunk.blogspot.com/2011/01/clockwork-wonderland-marquis-of.html
He played a starring role as Admiral Ramon Leon del Mar of the Covenant of the Kraken in the upcoming "murder mystery theater" styled 1 day Steampunk convention called The Difference Engine Summit, and again as Adm. Leon del Mar at the 3 day similar event The Difference Engine World Conference in December 30th, 2011.  He has presented this character as a mobil or improv performer at a variety of conventions including the Goblin Market at the 2012 Steampunk World's Fair.
In the comedy realm Ramon and Radha recently performed at Yulecon 2010, at the Steampunk Illumination Society Meeting Dec. 16th, 2010, and at Marquis of Vaudville’s Steampunk "Clockwork Wonderland" on Jan 22nd, 2011.  








Quartermaster's Mate and Ship's Cook, Pennie Nevin

Pennie has classical training in Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Ballroom, and many other styles of dance in addition to developing her own unique style of dance for the stage.  She is also a highly trained fencer, which we use in some plays, and assists our "fight director' with training actors for sword scenes.  Pennie also assists in educational content creation as the group's official research professional making good use of her Master's Degree in library sciences.  Pennie also has extensive experience assisting with conventions of all types which has been very valuable in terms of advising us about the best ways to interface with that type of venue and community.  She assists in prop creation and teaching about prop creation through panel discussions at conventions.  While she is one of our primary dancers, she also plays a modest, unassuming, ship's cook that is secretly a great swords-woman and very dangerous with a frying pan!  She will play this major character role at both 1 day Steampunk convention called The Difference Engine Summit, and again at the 3 day similar event The Difference Engine World Conference in December 30th, 2011.





 Charity Rose Notchwood, Queen of the Notchwood Fairies and Master Tinker

 This actress has many years of formal acting courses as well as training in most classical forms of dance, as well as Ballroom, Ballet Folklorico, Hula, and Tahitian Hula Dancing.  She also has training as a singer and should be helping with some of our new songs being prepared for stage.  Charity also has shown real talent as an artist.  Due to her stage experience, and her ability to confront actors in rehearsals about stage errors in a forthright, yet respectful and jovial manner, she was recruited primarily as our troupe's stage director, but also plays a number of roles as the "Ship's Tinker" (Tinker, in this context, means mechanical genius, repairman, and/or inventor as needed- (Think of the role of chief engineer from Star Trek) and/or "Ship's Sorceress".  These roles usually stem from her typical character and stage personae, which derives from her many years of improvisational character acting at Renaissance Fairs, and her work running a large network of "Fairy" and "Magical Creatures" oriented group of said performers that can be found on the Face Book Group Site listed simply as "Fantasy and Magical creatures of Notchwood".   Her title on board the Kali's Hourglass varies from day to day, as she has multiple talents, an unusual fund of Esoteric knowledge, and her character is rumored to actually be an actual Fairy Queen, on sabbatical (looking for a cure) due to a curse that causes her to be quite mad on alternate Thursdays, most of the time anyway.  Most of the time, we simply use the title "Tinker" (meaning machine expert in Fairy, not to be confused with the colloquial term for Irish Gypsies), but occasionally, she is referred to as our invention consultant, and in a real pinch or in time of battle, the "Ship's Sorceress", but as our fictional back story has us often operating in the era of historical witch hunters and the "Inquisition" that title is kept kind of "hush hush" most of the time.  She will play this major character role at both 1 day Steampunk convention called The Difference Engine Summit, and again at the 3 day similar event The Difference Engine World Conference in December 30th, 2011.  She will also play an Aztec Shaman in one of our comedic plays at Allcon 2011.


 
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