Royal Chessmen - The Early Years 4
Channel: Robert Chapin
Date: 2011-11-11

The early days of Royal Chessmen, circa 1982.  The days when men were men and sheep were scared.  I had just finished high school and this amazing group set me on the path to coming to Los Angeles as a professional fight choreographer and starring in my own feature film "Ring of Steel".  Here's to the old crew - Fight hard, die well!

The video was shot and edited by my brother Stuart who had a whole lotta time on his hands after college.  It follows rehearsal and performance of an Arthurian Chessgame which my brother and I wrote after being with the Chessmen for only a couple months.  Stuart directed the show and played King Arthur, Michael Curtin played the other king, and I played a bishop with a multiple personality disorder.  

The show featured everything we wanted to see in a chessgame - cheating pawns, "castling", a pawn making it to the other side to be knighted (Lancelot), magic (Merlin), and a revolt that would pit one side against their own king.  This is also where I came up with a crossbow gag where I was shot in the neck.

The Chessmen had about 60 members at the time, which allowed us to cast for every role.  We even made sure that everyone on the board filled out a character sheet (which I still have) and we had regular rehearsals for video.  We were supposed to have six months of rehearsal at Alice Wainwright Park (every Sunday) before the performance at the Crandon Faire, but a gig at Coral Springs presented itself after only a couple months.  It was a bit of a slow-mo train wreck, but it made for a great dry-run of the show.

So here it is in all its crappy worn VHS glory, The Royal Chessmen - The Early Years.  Enjoy and huzzah!

Early Years 1 - Rehearsal for camera
Early Years 2 - Coral Springs Faire
Early Years 3 - Crandon Faire part 1
Early Years 4 - Crandon Faire part 2
Early Years 5 - Chessmen Music Videos