Arts-Louisville.com

"Great, Timeless" Lieber & Stoler Music Make "Smokey Joe's" Worth a Trip Across the River

2012-02-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

Smokey Joe’s Café

Words and Music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Directed by Lee Buckholz

A review by Kate Barry

Brooke Aston, Matthew Chappell, and Julie Evins in Smokey Joe's Cafe.
Photo courtesy of Derby Dinner Playhouse.

Last night I realized that I need to re-evaluate my definition of musical theater. Obviously, this genre must have singing, entertainment value and dancing is always a plus. But what about a plot? Is a storyline that important to a musical? What if there was a common theme between songs but dialogue, conflict-resolution and even characters were taken out of the picture? I’m not talking about some cutting edge post-modern off-off-Broadway production, of course. I’m talking about Smokey Joe’s Café at Derby Dinner Playhouse.

Using the great, timeless rock and roll music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Lee Buckholz has staged a musical that kept his audience’s toes tapping from start to finish. Producing Artistic Director Bekki Jo Schneider said in her curtain speech that this is a production about “the neighborhoods of the past.” This is clearly illustrated through this series of musical vignettes illustrating a simpler time - before social media and cell phones. The music and the staging produce a world that is all about finding love, living in the “Neighborhood”, and big dreams about success.

The first act highlights the neighborhood motif while the second act melts into a café setting. With each song, the performers portray the characters within the songs in a concert-meets-musical theater style. Highlighted performances that come to mind are Julie Evins’ adorable rendition of “Falling”, as well as her sultry performance of “Trouble” with Brooke Aston. Willie Illeana Kirven belted with dynamic force at the end of Act One with “Saved”. Stellar performances were given by the men (Matthew Chappell, Lamont O’Neal, Alonzo Richmond, Christian Bradford, and Lem Jackson) in “Dance with Me”; “Keep on Rolling” and especially “On Broadway”. Their dancing, harmonies and chemistry was on the level of the music groups of the 50’s and 60’s that Leiber and Stoller wrote for.

The second act delivered some great numbers as well with "Teach Me How to Shimmy", "You’re the Boss" and "Loving You". The stand out performance after intermission belonged to Sarah Oster’s "Pearl’s a Singer", distinguished by her confidence and diva presence. Towards the end of the show, I began to question some directorial choices. I wondered why “Charlie Brown” didn’t incorporate the dance of the same name as it was originality written. In songs like "Yakkity Yak", the underwhelming choreography took away from an otherwise great sounding number. I felt a bit snubbed during “I (Who Have Nothing)”, an amazing song sung by Matthew Chappell. Derby Dinner’s stage is in the round, a venue that sometimes works in its favor and other times…not so much. For first part of this song, Chappell’s back was to my side of the audience. When singing a song with such emotional force and power, there is something lost when all your audience can see is the back of the singer’s head.

One more thing: a live band is incorporated into this production. I was glad to see that there is proof of talented musicians across the river in an age when so many local theatres use canned music for musicals. Derby Dinner Playhouse has a really entertaining show happening across the river filled with great dancing, incredible talent and good old fashion rock and roll played loud by a live band.

Smokey Joe’s Café

February 21-April 1

Derby Dinner Playhouse

525 Marriott Drive

Clarksville, IN 47129

www.derbydinner.com

Creative Adaptation of KY Author a "Triumph" for Looking for Lilith

2012-02-25T08:09:00.000-05:00

Beyond the Blue Mountains

Adapted from the book by Jane Wilson Joyce

Directed by Kathi E.B. Ellis

A Review by Carlos Manuel

A scene from Beyond the Blue Mountains. Photo courtesy of Looking for Lilith.

Beyond the Blue Mountains—adapted by Looking for Lilith Theatre Company from the poetry of Jane Wilson Joyce, and under Kathi E.B. Ellis’ direction—is a powerful, moving, and creative theatrical piece which presents the “the spirit and endurance of the women who went west with their families—whether they wished to or not.”

This play is an experience no one should miss, mainly because the creativity of the troupe in taking poetry and turning it into “theatre” is a phenomenal achievement. And then there is the incredible acting approach, using movement and experimentation through well known theatre techniques such as viewpoints, devising, composition and Theatre of the Oppressed to name a few.

It is clear, at least to me, that the Looking for Lilith members know what they’re doing and take their work seriously. It is also clear that they have spent time shaping, reshaping, and refining their craft to the point that it seems easy and flawless. Yet the trained eye can easily see that endless hours of rehearsal and thought process has gone into creating this moving humanistic theatre piece.

As an ensemble work, it would be unfair to single out any member of the company, yet because the script, although non-conventional, still follows a linear plot, the audience can easily keep up with the story and note the magnificent acting from each actor. Such is the case with Dawn Schulz who plays Nancy Clay, an energetic and filled-with-wonder 13 year old girl, or Shannon Woolley Allison’s portrayal of the ever suffering mother, Gabe Clay, or even the clean and matured work of the youngest member of the ensemble, Noah Bunch, who was exceptionally on cue for every movement, every line, and every choral recitation. Each and every member of this cast deserves praise and respect because, except for the young male actor, everyone is a female actor portraying husbands, wives, men, women, and children in the Boyle County, KY wagon train, showing an understanding of the body to represent the human being, young and old, and the human condition, good or bad.

The triumph of this production also comes from a director who understands theatricality and has a clear grasp on Jane Wilson Joyce’s poetry, and for the first time in the four years I have seen shows at The Rudyard Kipling, I am excited to say that the set design by Christé Lunsford has meaning, serving a definite purpose other than being a set of platforms to define the acting space. The lights, which have always been used just to define the beginning and the end of a play, are now employed in a manner that helps the piece have dimension, color (without actual color gels), and a certain feeling of isolation and despair. And because the program doesn’t mention a lighting designer, I can only guess the director had a lot to do with the look and mood of such artistry. The costume design by Lindsay Chamberlin, the fight choreography by Lee Look and the sound and original music by Laura Ellis also deserved to be mentioned because they all achieved their goals.

Yet, like everything in life, not everything is perfect. There were moments when the stories carry themselves almost to the melodramatic side, either because the actresses wanted to bring the pain and agony of those who suffered or because the director decided to add background music to certain recitations. I do understand music as a leitmotif but because the words were so sincere and real, the music almost turned such moments from the sentimental to the melodramatic. And as good as the movement was, the directing did not allow such synchronicity to flow from one part to the next, but rather, stopped it to indicate the beginning or the end of a situation. Yet, with these minor flaws, Beyond the Blue Mountains is a theatrical experience I highly recommend to any theatre artist, theatre enthusiast, and to any person who wants to see something artistic, poetic, and moving.

Beyond the Blue Mountains

Feb 23, 24, 25, March 1, 2, 3 at 7:30pm

March 3 at 2:00pm.

For show only reservations,
call 502-638-2559.
For dinner and show reservations,
call 502-636-1311

Looking for Lilith

At The Rudyard Kipling

422 West Oak Street

Louisville, KY 40203

http://www.lookingforlilith.org/

Sweeping and Romantic "Widow" Proves Opera Is Not Just for Buffs!

2012-02-20T08:29:00.007-05:00

The Merry Widow

By Franz Lehár

Libretto by Victor Léon and Leo Stein based on Henri Meilhac’s L’attaché d’ambassade

Directed by Michael Cavanaugh

A review by Keith Waits

Emily Pulley and Christopher Feigum
in The Merry Widow.
Photo by Erica Cody Rucker.

In the explorations afforded me in my role as a reviewer, it has been fascinating to discover in the history of performance arts the antecedents of more contemporary forms contained in works created generations ago. This thought seems to have been very much on the mind of director Michael Cavanaugh, who in The Merry Widow has updated the dialogue in this light opera to make overt reference to current events. These efforts are sometimes anachronistic but just as often underscore just how modern this particular material can be made to seem to a new audience.

The music itself has several instances where the structure and tone of certain songs bear a distinct relationship to Broadway musical theatre forms that would emerge some 40 years later. “Marsch-Septett,” in which the male cast members sing hilariously of the virtues of the fairer sex, would not be out of place in a Rodgers & Hammerstein or Lerner & Lowe show, while the romantic complications of the story prefigure plot archetypes that are still being employed today, and not just in musical theatre.

All of which serves to frame this particular reviewer’s take on this production, for I am by no means an expert on opera. In fact, as a form, it has always been elusive to me. I can respect the precision and craft behind the composition, and recognize the measure of talent and commitment required to bring a full production to fruition, but I have yet to be caught up in the passion that true opera afficianados feel when the overture begins.

This production, which engages the audience so easily with the sweep of the waltz rythyms and the broad comedy of the dialogue scenes, seems designed to reach out to new, uninitiated audience members like me and seduce them to the form. In that purpose it largely succeeds, for I know that I will be back next season. For the more discerning ear, it might still be engaging, but perhaps there would be small reservations. Do the references to the collapse of the Greek economy devastating the European system as a whole or the shameless plugs for ubiquitous local arts funder Brown-Forman seem like a needless updating of a classic, late 19th century masterpiece?

Good questions, but for others to decide. For me, a populist approach to the material makes practical sense in challenging economic times, and as a neophyte opera fan, I found the whole thing far more entertaining than I had anticipated. The principal cast was long on charm and strong of voice, led by a delightful turn from Emily Pulley as Hanna Glawari, the wealthy widow from Pontevedria whose sizeable fortune is the focus of the plot machinations. She was well-matched by Christopher Felgium as Danilo, her former lover who seems determined not to fall for Hanna a second time. Each of their duets displayed good chemistry and soaring vocals, most notably late in the third act when they perform the famous selection commonly known as the “Merry Widow Waltz.”

The grizzettes of chez Maxim in The Merry Widow.
Erica Cody Rucker.

Stephanos Tsirakoglou was imperious and full of comical bluster as Baron Zeta, the Pontevedrian Ambassador in Paris; while Abigail Paschke was a very good Valencienne, his wife with a roving eye for Camille de Rosillon, played nimbly by Victor Ryan Robertson. The chorus filled out the action forcefully, thanks to good choreography from Herald Uwe Kern that kept the energy flowing and built to a bawdy and rambunctious climactic third act number, “Reminiazenz,” in which the girls of chez Maxim’s stylishly execute a classic can-can.

The orchestra, under the baton of Jason Raff, was comprised of an ad hoc group of local musicians pulled together in recent weeks after attempts by Kentucky Opera to negotiate a separate contract with the musician’s union. Under the circumstances, with less rehearsal time than is customary, their playing was, for the most part, highly accomplished. Yet, even to this untrained ear, there were moments when their performance strained at the effort, with recognizably discordant results among the strings in particular.

The set design by Erhard Rom was sumptuous and grand enough to provide a visual match for the magnificent score by Franz Lehár, with a standout set piece being the colorful glass pavilion featured in the second act. Combined with equally grand costumes, the visual look of the production sealed the deal on this highly engaging romantic comedy set to 3/4 time.

Editor’s Note: This last production of Kentucky Opera’s 2011-12 season was protested by musicians from the Louisville Orchestra, who were present in front of The Brown Theatre carrying signs and handing out leaflets to passers-by. The ongoing dispute between the union musicians and Louisville Orchestra management still has no end in sight, with the musicians recently rejecting an offer to resolve the impasse through binding arbitration, citing inaccuracies in the statement from management.

The Merry Widow

February 17, 2012 @ 8:00pm

February 19, 2012 @ 2:00pm

Kentucky Opera

at The Brown Theater

233 West Broadway

Louisville, KY 40205

http://www.kyopera.org/

Classic Neil Simon Play at Hayswood Offers Good Chemistry and Timing

2012-02-19T23:58:00.003-05:00

Jeff Ketterman & Carrie Cooke in Barefoot in the Park.

Barefoot in the Park

By Neil Simon

Directed by John Hardaway

Reviewed by Kate Barry.

Paul and Corrie are a couple of kids starting their life together in the middle of New York City in the early 1960s. Fresh from their honeymoon and two weeks after saying “I do,” these kids are experiencing what it’s like to be married and what it’s like to pave your own path with someone by your side through all of the bumps that might be encountered. In Barefoot in the Park, Neil Simon crafted this classic American romantic comedy in the peak of his career, having woven his wonderful humor into a contemporary statement on what it means to be in love in the modern era. In Hayswood Theatre’s new production, I noticed many strong and interesting choices made by director John Hardaway, as well as some setbacks that were sometimes out of this company’s control.

What makes romantic comedies such a treat to watch is the chemistry between the lovebirds on stage. If you can make your audience believe that you’re head over heels for your lead, you have won the battle of suspending disbelief. Carrie Cooke and Jeff Ketterman prove victorious over and over throughout the production as Corrie and Paul. Resembling Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo at times, this pair of actors fully embraced each joke and gag, which made for an entertaining execution. Whether it’s the constant endless new discoveries of domestic life that lie in the way of Corrie’s newlywed passion or Paul’s “stuffed shirt” worrying, Cooke and Ketterman’s chemistry created a bright energy bolstered by an already delightful script.

While this production was funny and entertaining with all of the physical humor of people walking on window ledges and arriving to the newlywed’s apartment completely out of breath after too many flights of stairs, certain drawbacks kept this performance from being flawless. Haywood Theatre is a tiny space, which means actors will be able to hear audience members and vice versa. On the evening that I attended, a fellow audience member experienced an awfully loud coughing spell throughout the duration of the play. This spell was annoying and distracting to both actors and audience members. Even though the theater is small, it would have been appropriate, not to mention considerate, for the coughing person to excuse himself/herself.

In addition to this distraction, there were other weaknesses among director John Hardaway’s choices. Two moments come to mind in the second and third act. To signify a change in time in between scenes, a simple black out occurred in the middle of act two. Even though it allowed for actors to change costumes and to prepare for their next cue, the usage of a black out felt awkward and could have been better planned and executed. The other was a verbal fight between Corrie and Paul. This comedic scene falls short when both characters exit and we are left to watch a blank stage for several moments. I realize that space and resources are limited in such a venue, but the choice of taking both actors off stage put the scene at a disadvantage.

Hayswood Theater did a great job with handling the comedy of Neil Simon’s classic script. The jokes were well timed and the set was adorable with vintage looking furniture and decorations. The theater utilized its resources to the best of their ability, producing an end product that was a lot of fun to watch.

Barefoot in the Park

February 17, 18, 24, 25, & March 2, 3 @ 8pm

February 19, 26 & March 4 @ 2pm

Hayswood Theater

115 S. Capitol Ave

Corydon, IN 47112

812-738-2138

http://www.hayswoodtheatre.com/

Bunbury’s “Gin Game” Is a Heartfelt Production of a Funny and Touching Play

2012-02-16T08:12:00.005-05:00

The Gin Game

Written by D.L. Coburn

Directed by Juergen K. Tossman

Reviewed by Keith Waits

For those of a certain age (at least as old as me) or erstwhile historians of local theatre history, we know Louisville has an important claim on this play. As Juergen Tossman’s program notes remind us, The Gin Game was given an early production at Actors Theatre – one of the first entries in the Humana Festival of New American Plays in 1977. (Was it even called that back then?) It was a hit in New York and has been a popular choice in theatres around the country ever since.

Matt Orme & Liz Vissing in The Gin Game.
Photo courtesy of Bunbury Theatre.

Certainly it is an economical play to produce: an aging couple playing gin for 90 minutes will not strain anyone’s budget, but more importantly, it is also economical in its storytelling. A lean and focused script heavy on dialogue that delineates the developing friendship between two contrasting characters: the irascible and quick-tempered Weller Martin, played by Bunbury mainstay Matt Orme; and the sweet-natured Fonsia Dorsey, played by Liz Vissing. Four sharply written scenes full of humor, rage, and tenderness chart a modestly scaled but nonetheless affecting relationship that assiduously avoids clichés enough to remain fresh and meaningful to audiences more than 35 years after it was written.

The script is fertile ground for two good actors to work in, and this production features fine work from a couple of veteran players. Liz Vissing never gets too prim and proper, and balances the character’s lack of guile with a nice starchy quality. Matt Orme builds his frustration with such care and intelligent observation that Weller’s explosive anger seems entirely natural. Together they discover the humor organically, from within the story, anchoring their work in the humanity of the characters. The discipline of the performances perfectly matches the restraint of the script.

The production is beautifully designed by Steve Woodring, who gives the spare but nicely detailed setting an understated, rueful flavor, with equally no-nonsense but still evocative costumes by Thomas Leigh.

Bunbury has delivered a swift yet heartfelt reading of a funny and touching play that has never worn out its welcome. The Gin Game hasn’t been around Louisville for some time, and it would be a shame to let this one pass by. You have one more weekend to catch it.

The Gin Game

February 9-26, 2012

Bunbury Theatre

at the Henry Clay

604 S. Third St.

Louisville, KY

(502) 585-5306

www.bunburytheatre.org

Dinner and a Mystery? Whodunnit Welcomes New, Recurring Character in "Reflections..."

2012-02-16T08:08:00.003-05:00

Reflections: Murder in a Hall of Mirrors

Written & directed by A. S. Waterman

Reviewed by Keith Waits.

Pictured left to right: Erica Goldsmith, Niles Welch,
Brian Kennedy, Teresa Wentzel, Jane Mattingly,
Graham Bell & Craig Nolan Highley in
Reflections: Murder in a Hall of Mirrors.
Photo courtesy of WhoDunnit Murder Mystery Theatre.

If you cross Perry Mason with Nancy Drew, the result might be Morgan Farewell, the new heroine of the latest WhoDunnit Murder Mystery Theatre production, Reflections: Murder in a Hall of Mirrors. Recently relocated to Rhode Island from San Francisco, the new Assistant District Attorney has inherited a doozy of a case, one that would appear to be a slam-dunk: the prosecution of the clearly insane Otto Bales for the murder of his son-in-law.

As played by Jane Mattingly, the spunky gamine public servant is deceptive: seemingly disorganized and inexperienced, she is actually equipped with a keen mind and gift for observation that allows her to discover the truth behind what everyone else sees as an open-and-shut case. It is a promising debut for a character intended to return each season in a new mystery, and this inaugural entry suggests mysteries about the character that we must assume will be explored in future chapters.

The rest of the cast is mostly satisfactory, and in a few instances more than that. Niles Welch exhibits mischief and delight as Otto Bales, and once again displays a knack for playing mentally damaged characters. Graham Bell is relentlessly annoying as Cal Carlson, an unscrupulous con game who can never put down his cell phone; while Teresa Wentzel was imperious as the Judge in the case who has more to tell us than this script will reveal. Brian Kennedy was an energetic defense attorney, although his attempt at an appropriate New England accent never could settle down. I liked John Collins’ work very much, essaying a shifty personality for the brother of the victim; and Erica Goldsmith was a sexy, slutty delight as the opportunist who appears to be sleeping her way through the male characters wrapped in this intrigue. Special commendation for Ms. Goldsmith’s continuing facility with accents, which in this production she is allowed to add a consistently rendered Russian dialect.

The courtroom setting is, of course, inherently dramatic but also works as an effective framework for the action in the long, horizontal space that WhoDunnit usually occupies in the Hyatt Regency. The “stage” contains the set, but the action is effectively carried out into the dining tables, with characters occupying seats among the guests throughout the evening.

Witty and engaging, this is another winner from a company with a sure understanding of what it does well and, apparently, a successful approach to finding an audience, as its opening night performance was sold out.

Editor’s Note: WhoDunnit roles are double-cast to accommodate their particular schedule, and some actors mentioned here may not be appearing when you attend.

Reflections: Murder in a Hall of Mirrors

February 11 – March 31, 2012

Seating at 6:30 / Show starts at 7:00

WhoDunnit Murder Mystery Theatre

Performing at the Hyatt Downtown

320 West Jefferson Street

Louisville, KY 40202

http://www.whodunnitky.com/

New Exhibit at KMAC Challenges Traditional Concepts of Craft

2012-02-15T11:17:00.003-05:00

Into the Mix

at The Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft

By Mary Margaret Carlton Sparks

My early morning visit to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (KMAC) afforded me the opportunity not only to view the new exhibition, Into the Mix, but also to meet the new director, Aldy Milliken. Into the Mix opened on February 3 and features ten Caribbean artists, including regional names Carlos Gamez de Francisco (Louisville) and Ebony Patterson (Lexington).

Aldy Milliken took over as director for KMAC in January 2012 after running the Milliken Gallery and spending 15 years in Sweden. His experience as a curator of contemporary art was immediately included into the process of creating Into the Mix. Although the exhibition had been planned well in advance of Milliken’s hire, he changed many of the artists and steered the exhibition more towards craft and slightly away from a focus on the Caribbean. His goal was to avoid generalizing cultures while simultaneously challenging the idea of craft in a way that would inspire the local community. With every exhibition, Milliken hopes to address the issue of how the public will interact with the space. He wants the museum to show quality work while fostering education and inspiration.

Upon entering the gallery, I was pleased to walk in on a large school group viewing and actively engaged with the work. One of Milliken’s new initiatives is to include more educational opportunities within their shows. Two interactive art projects easily occupied the young minds, while a computer station (funded by an NEA grant) allowed the students to research the artists and learn more about Caribbean culture.

Touch, video by Janine Antoni.
Photo by Mary Margaret Carlton Sparks.

Into the Mix is a diverse exhibition displaying everything from video to paper masks. Milliken arranged the show in a variety of vignettes, showcasing the relationships between artists and materials. Talking with Milliken, I learned that many of the works represent a theme of balance: realtiy vs. concept; craft vs. technology. Janine Antoni, one of the better-known artists in the exhibition, vividly demonstrates these themes in her video. The moving image gives the appearance that Antoni is walking on the horizon and demonstrates the idea of reality vs. concept. At first, it may be hard to see how this work fits in the craft category. However, the precise framing and careful execution of even this simple concept reminds the viewer that films must be crafted, just as a ceramic vessel or painting must be made. The artist develops a concept and gathers the materials needed to create the film. In this case, Antoni developed the composition for her film, then made the rope, then taught herself how to walk on the tightrope.

Heino Schmid’s video piece also challenges the viewer in a similar fashion. In the film, a man’s hands tries to balance two empty glass bottles on one another. For a brief moment he succeeds, but the bottles quickly topple over onto the table. The process repeats itself. Here Schmid speaks to the relationship between craft and technology. The artist is taking a common cultural reference from the Bahamas (the balancing bottle act is a con often targeting tourists) and placing it in a minimal and non-traditional setting (using a white background with clear glass bottles). It still has a strong connection to the traditional idea of craft (making the film, developing the concept, gathering materials) but introduces the viewer to a new method and further challenges them.

Detail of Untitled (Tyres) by Blue Curry.
Photo by Mary Margaret Carlton Sparks.

Not all of the work in Into the Mix is non-traditional. Many of the artists have pieces that are more familiar to the viewers but still slightly provocative. Blue Curry’s work uses shells and beads in interesting compositions. One of his installations is a set of tires covered in beads forming a unique snake skin design on each tire. Curry has taken a more common craft item (beads) and used it in an unusual setting, allowing the viewer a fresh take on the familiar material.

Marlon Griffith installation. Photo by
Mary Margaret Carlton Sparks.

Two other pieces work with a different sense of scale than the rest of the show. Marlon Griffith’s work reaches back to our childhood memories of craft in the sense that he has cut paper to create masks. In this case, Marlon Griffith created the series of paper masks onsite the week before the exhibition opened. Approaching the sculpture, viewers can see the paper scraps covering the floor beneath the masks, which are joined together and suspended from the ceiling. This time-sensitive piece was created just for this exhibition and will cease to exist after the show ends. Viewers can walk underneath the piece and even try a mask on. Griffith has taken a traditional material but used it in a very nontraditional way and, like Curry, uses familiar materials to elevate the idea of craft as something that can be contemporary and unsure.

Little Gestures, Installation by Christopher Cozier.
Photo by Mary Margaret Carlton Sparks.

Christopher Cozier’s installation covers a large section of floor with images of identical benches on little paper stands. Cozier’s parents worked as civil servants for the government and their jobs consisted of stamping, cutting and clipping paper. The artist uses the same process in this piece by stamping the bench image, cutting the paper and clipping it to make a three-dimensional piece that can stand on the floor. He also includes an activity where viewers can make their own bench to take home, thereby making conceptual art more accessible and further exploding the concept of craft.

Into the Mix helps to challenge the norm and elevate craft into the contemporary art scene. This exhibit is a must-see, providing an eye-opening and visually pleasing experience for viewers.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

715 West Main Street

Louisville, KY 40202

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, Saturday 11AM-5PM.

British Thriller at Little Colonel's Features a Good Twist but Little Excitement

2012-02-14T22:31:00.004-05:00

Inspector Davies, left, played by Cook Farmer, questions Howard Holt,
played by Allen Schuler (center), and his wife, Karen Holt (right),
played by Candy Thomas, in a "Something to Hide,"
a thriller playing at The Little Colonel Playhouse.

Something to Hide

By Leslie Sands

Directed by Bob Zielinski

Reviewed by Keith Waits

There is a particular type of British thriller or mystery story-telling format that thrives in community theatre circles: one simple room for a set, a handful of characters struggling to overcome stereotypical expectations, and a few modest twists and turns in the plot just sneaky enough to avoid seeming too predictable to the average theatre-goer. Something to Hide is a good representative sample of this type of material; better than some perhaps, but mostly a less-than-sterling example.

The plot concerns a successful novelist married to a woman who is also his publisher, but who has a mistress on the side. As the play opens, the mistress is about to depart the country house of the novelist, unaware that her fate will be the beginning of a tragic series of events, the unraveling of which will form the remainder of the story.

The mediocrity of the script seems to dull the good senses of the director and cast a bit, although they work hard to summon up some emotional energy and dramatic conflict within the limited confines of the material. There also are attempts at appropriate accents, all arrived at with varying degrees of success. As the married couple, Allen Schuler and Candy Thomas used fairly non-distinct English dialects that lacked specificity, although I suppose one could argue that these were at least never distracting. Tiffany Smith, as the mistress, and Kirsten McDowell, as the maid in the country house, both went in the opposite direction, overdoing more pronounced, if obviously studied, working class accents that could not quite contain each performer’s natural Southern drawl. All four struggled to bring life to their characters, with Mr. Schuler and Ms. Smith managing to build some good momentum and engaging interaction in the second act. To be fair to Ms. Smith and Ms. McDowell, the mistress and the maid are both small roles that offer little to work with, and the latter is saddled with curious comic asides directed to the audience that, while funny, seemed out-of-place in relationship to the play as a whole.

Happily, Cook Farmer enters as the slightly eccentric and underwhelming Inspector Davies. Mr. Farmer absolutely nails the archetypal character of an ordinary policeman so unimpressive in his detecting that one finds it hard to believe that he could solve anything. But of course, he does, owing as much to luck as skill. Equally effective was Elaine Hackett as the nosy neighbor Miss Cunningham, again essaying with aplomb an all-too-familiar character in the English mystery genre, the prying old maid/widower. Although not of equal importance to the resolution of the story, these two actors, veterans of many local stages, were key to anchoring this production against the tides of indifference.

The whole thing is harmless enough, I suppose. But the lackadaisical pace never allows for genuine tension, and the last, pretty good, plot twist fails to truly surprise in the manner in which it was clearly intended, making for a reasonably engaging comic thriller that never fulfills its promise, despite the solid work of Mr. Farmer.

Something to Hide

February 9-19, 2012

Little Colonel Playhouse

302 Mount Mercy Drive

Crestwood, KY 40014

(502) 241-9906

littlecolonel.org‎

Youthful Writers Effectively Explore Different Worlds at Walden Theatre

2012-02-13T19:01:00.003-05:00

2012 Young Playwrights Festival

Walden Theatre

Reviewed by Kathi E.B. Ellis

Walden Theatre’s annual Young Playwrights Festival was held this past weekend on the Nancy Niles Sexton stage. The Festival featured eight plays written by current Walden Theatre students, with actors drawn from the Walden student body and directors from ATL interns, a Stage One staff member and a Walden alumna.

The scripts reflected a broad range of realism and parody, with subjects ranging from teen love to post-Depression survival to cults based on franchises of toys and movies. In general the scripts were most successful when the young playwrights focused on themes and characters which are discernibly part of their life experiences. It was somewhat concerning that the teacher figures in all of the plays in which they appeared were characterized as shouting, unfeeling, and unobservant. While there are, no doubt, teachers that fit these descriptions, it’s unfortunate that these are the only versions of teachers we saw on stage; I’d like to think that, at least at Walden, the students experience teaching artists who transcend this stereotype.

The two scripts that resonated most with me were One Last Dance (Ian Jackson, 12th grade) and Scars (Jack Keyes, 9th grade). The writing in both these plays felt authentic to the experiences of the teen characters, and directors honored the intimacy of the conversations between the two characters in each script. In One Last Dance, Mr. Jackson brings a young man and a young woman to the outside steps of a party where they talk about who they love. It’s clear these two care about each other, trusting each other with their emotions, and there’s a sense that each of them, at different times, could be describing the other as the one they love. The twist at the end – as to who actually loves whom – was crafted effectively. Scars is a poignant exploration of how young teens respond to family crises and the way their community treats them as a result of those events; the quiet resilience of children in such circumstances was etched with a resigned acceptance of the vagaries of adults.

The first three plays of the program dealt, variously, with school themes: #2 Pencil Only (Lilia Conklin, 9th grade), Time Play (Lucy Fitzgerald, 8th grade), and Table 3 (Travis Ryan, 9th grade). Ms. Conklin takes the opportunity of a test and an absent (though somewhat implausibly) teacher to riff on the idea of popularity and power in the classroom. The types of students about whom she writes are highly recognizable and the secondary characters’ dialogue rings true. I suspect some editing would strengthen the main character’s trajectory. It’s possible that staging choices (or setting description from the playwright) may have impacted the role of the teacher – the storage cupboard being more visible, the potential reappearance of the teacher, and the possibility of him overhearing would give more urgency to the actions in the classroom. Ms. Fitzgerald’s exploration of time is delightfully quirky, with an irrationally-assigned detention providing the opportunity for a student to step into a parallel time zone. Would this student have overcome her embarrassment about writing a boy’s name on her binder without this out-of-time detour? We can’t be sure, but the sweet outcome was refreshing. Mr. Ryan’s lunchtime extravaganza – and nightmare for running crew – is a tongue-in-cheek re-structuring of the clique-ishness of school cafeterias. The characters in this piece are clearly ‘types’ but are written with a robustness that allows them to be more than merely stereotypes.

Wandering (Olivia Millar, 8th grade) is a dark examination of the sometimes desperate choices we make when we care for someone. Ms. Millar sets her story in a non-specific post-Depression period; it’s not clearly the Great Depression of the 1930s, so it’s possible to interpret it as potentially contemporary, which is disquieting. The one structural weakness is the underwritten arrival of the fourth child – Who is she? Where does she come from? What’s her story? Is she just there to observe and report on the fatal action? With undertones of themes from Lord of the Flies, The Road, and similar post-disaster writings, it would be interesting to see this developed more.

Ze Pizza Delivery Guy (Jack Schaver, 8th grade) was the piece I found most problematic.

All the characters in this piece are adults and their dialogue and interactions don’t ring true. The intervention of the police at the end provides a too-convenient resolution to what has become an almost-farcical script.

Chris Lockhart’s (11th grade) More Than Meets the Eye was placed last on the program, presumably because it is almost twice as long as the other plays. This served the play and was a needed lift after the two preceding more serious pieces; but the convention of a complete blackout between the two scenes – after blackouts following the preceding one-scene plays – allowed the energy of the piece to dissipate. Mr. Lockhart’s transposition of Transformers’ characters and conflicts into the lives of college students demonstrates a sure comedic hand, together with a sly side-swipe at the hypocrisy of those who claim to have found a New Way. The denouement was delightful, and could be even more tightly written – audiences will get it.

The Walden actors entered into the worlds of each of these scripts with energy and commitment. It was particularly rewarding to see that these young actors are comfortable with stillness and silence on stage; obviously they moved and spoke, but they and their directors also found the moments when characters needed to be quiet and unmoving. They did so effectively and without looking uncomfortable or rushing through those moments – an important attribute to gain this early in their careers.

Kathi E.B. Ellis is a member of the Lincoln Center and Chicago Directors' Labs and an associate member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. She has attended the LaMama Directing Symposium in Umbria, Italy, and is featured in Southern Artisty, an online registry of outstanding Southern Artists. Her directing work has been recognized with nominations for the South Florida Theatre Carbonell Award. Locally, Kathi is a member of Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, a founding principal of StageLab theatre training studio, and is part of ShoeString Productions an informal producing collective. She has written book reviews and articles for Southern Theatre, the quarterly publication of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and was a contributing writer for JCPS' textbook for the 11th grade Arts and Humanities survey course and for YouthArts Tapestry, a Kentucky Arts Council publication.

2012 Young Playwrights Festival

February 9-11 @ 7:30
February 11 @ 2:00pm

Walden Theatre

1123 Payne Street

Louisville, KY

(502) 589-0084

http://www.waldentheatre.org/

New Production from Le Petomane is "A Gleeful Ode" to Song & Fairy Tales

2012-02-13T18:45:00.003-05:00


Kristie Rolape and Heather Burns in Once in A Blue Noon. Photo courtesy of Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble.

Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble presents

Once in A Blue Moon

Review by Todd Zeigler

They’re musicians too!?!

Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble has become a favorite in Louisville by mining the long history of performing arts and tossing elements they like into the blender of its collective imagination. And wouldn’t you know it, they’ve gone and created a musical – of sorts. Le Petomane’s Once in a Blue Moon is a gleeful ode to the expressive power of song replete with original music accompanied by the familiar Le Petomane magic: masks, movement, dance, actual magic and some knowing winks to the audience.

The story is a basic myth, playing dress-up as a fairy tale, with a little Dr. Seuss laced throughout. Long ago, a mysterious blue coyote from far away hung the moon for all to appreciate. Of course they didn’t appreciate it, so the coyote stole the music of the world. Years later, Princess Ruby was born with the gift – no, compulsion is more accurate – to sing. She is of course forbidden, so she sneaks away to the dark forest one night (see where this is going?) to sing her heart out. The coyote’s compatriots show up, and Ruby’s song is stolen. She must risk great danger to get it back.

Sounds basic enough. Even Ruby’s Fairy Thoughtfather, a country crooner who dispenses evermore nonsensical pearls of wisdom, lays out all the elements directly to the audience of exactly how this will end up. But as anyone who has seen Le Petomane interpret history’s most read playwright knows, the magic is in what they do with the material. This Maupin-less Le Pet quartet is as capable and inventive with instruments as with…well, just about anything else they put their hands on. Musical styles from country ballads to African rhythms to punk rock create and underscore the story. Kyle Ware plays a sweet acoustic guitar and provides some unsettling minimalist distortion for the coyote’s theme. Tony Dingman creates an entire percussion palate with an empty propane tank. (Yes, you read that right.) Dingman, Heather Burns and Kristy Rolape perform an extended polyrhythmic stomp routine that got my head bobbing without me even realizing it.

The company’s acting performances are everything we’ve come to expect: superb in all aspects. As the blue coyote, Burns is a seductive blend of playfulness and danger, the sort of nature god you’d best respect should you encounter it in the moonlit woods. She also shines in comedic turns as Airhead Rocker and Drawly Truck Stop Waitress. I may be relatively new to town, but to my eyes and ears, Kyle Ware is the funniest actor in Louisville. His Fairy Thoughtfather is ridiculously silly while being gently supportive and sweet to Ruby, and his dashing Blue Rogue is Errol Flynn spouting arch couplets. His business with an unwieldy bow staff would’ve been much admired in the silent film era. Dingman is great with broad types, and he capably plays his fair share here: wizened-yet-doddering king, science nerd, and his feature role, a shady fedora-adorned tango expert who works for the coyote. He’s more “Kind of Blue” than “Guys and Dolls,” and his tractor beam gaze does plenty to pull Ruby along her journey to maturity, if you know what I mean. Finally, Kristy Rolape is a delight as Ruby. She finds the perfect balance of wide-eyed innocence and mischief to pull off a child’s role, and her singing voice is lovely.

Something that also deserves mentioning: the costuming. Each character is imaginatively conceived, vivid and distinct. The coyote’s mask is immediate, alluring and intimidating, though a lot of the latter quality has to do with all that Heather Burns does behind it. Ruby’s gown is an eye-catching combination of colors and properly aesthetically contrasts her to everyone else in this world. Great attention to detail on the designer’s part.

As much as Le Petomane does with Blue Moon, it needs just a bit more work to stand up in their acclaimed repertoire. There are always sight line problems at The Rud, and for the most part they are managed. But more than once I really wanted to see something (particularly Dingman’s propane hand drum – Why have him sit? Build the man a stand!) and couldn’t. Some story elements seem extraneous. As impressive and exciting as it was, the truck stop rhythm fest didn’t seem to advance the story.

There’s also the danger of being too self-aware with your story. Self-awareness is inversely proportional to dramatic tension. Yes, this is a story anyone who has seen The Little Mermaid or even Star Wars knows. But laying it all out at the top hurts your hero’s cause. And announcing that we’re about to start act three kicks the audience’s brains onto the topic of intermissions and bathrooms and away from your tale. (There is no intermission, but no worries – the show clocks in around 75 minutes).

Nonetheless, the show is quite a performance showcase for all this talented group can do, and I certainly hope it’s something they’ll continue developing and bring back. I’m a sucker for a classic story done well, which is very much what Once in a Blue Moon is.

Todd Zeigler came to the Kentuckiana area in 2005 with a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. He has been putting it to use covering the local theatrical scene since 2007 while putting that drama minor to use as Associate Director of the Alley Theater, a board member of Louisville Repertory Company, and appearing in various stage and screen projects around town, some of which he writes and directs. Outside the theater, he spends time with his doggie Bradley, his drums, and lovely wife Amy, whom he is grateful is also a theater person and understands (for the most part) why he's always out so late.

Once in A Blue Moon

February 10-11, 13, 17-18 @7:30pm

Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble

At The Rudyard Kipling

422 West Oak Street

Louisville, KY 40203

http://www.lepetomane.org/

Tickets: $8-$20 on the usual Le Petomane sliding scale
Contact Us@LePetomane.org or (502)609-2520 for tickets.
For pre-show dinner reservations, call The Rudyard Kipling at (502) 636-1311

Iconic "Angel Street" Given a Praiseworthy Execution by As Yet Unnamed Theatre Company

2012-02-12T18:20:00.003-05:00

Michael Jester as Jack Manningham & Larry Chaney
as Inspector Rough in Angel Street.
Photo courtesy of As Yet Unnamed Theatre Company.

Angel Street

By Patrick Hamilton

Directed by Gary Tipton

Reviewed by Craig Nolan Highley

Angel Street, or as it's better known by its original British title Gaslight, is one of the few classic shows that can truly be considered iconic. In the nearly three quarters of a century since it was first produced, it has been adapted and imitated so many times that for the uninitiated, the plot can seem predictable and dated. In fact, it is so familiar that its original title has become the clinical term for a criminal act of psychological manipulation!

With so much baggage clinging to it, any theater company attempting a production today deserves credit for just being brave enough to attempt it. I’m glad to say that the As Yet Unnamed Theater Company deserves praise for both the attempt and the ultimate execution in their latest production.

By today’s standards it is an odd script; it isn’t really suspenseful enough to call it a thriller, there is almost no comic relief so it definitely isn’t a comedy, and it contains enough criminal and macabre elements that it can’t really be classified as a drama. It could easily have been played up for camp value, but thankfully director Gary Tipton has enough respect for the material to have his actors play it straight. The resulting performance manages to hold attention, if not suspense, until the truly unsettling moment at the very end where well-deserved comeuppance is meted out.

The story is fairly straightforward: a young wife (Jennifer Poliskie) fears she is losing her mind when she repeatedly hears unexplained noises in the night and minor items keep going missing. Her overbearing husband (Michael Jester) is no comfort, and his constant verbal abuse only makes matters worse. With the arrival of a retired detective (Larry Chaney), the mystery receives an early resolution and the rest of the play is all about avoiding and then apprehending the guilty party.

In an ironic twist of fate, this already risky project faced what could have been a death-dealing blow: it lost its original leading lady with just six rehearsals to go. Luckily for the company, Poliskie was ready, willing, and available. Her performance is outstanding even without considering her short rehearsal time, but factoring that in just makes hers an absolutely incredible turn. She has your sympathy from the get go, and will have you rooting for her even in the show’s final moments when she may or may not be about to do something horrible.

Any crime drama is only as good as its villain, and this show is no exception. The role of the abusive husband was created on Broadway by no less a luminary than the incomparable Vincent Price. While Jester looks absolutely nothing like him, Price’s spirit is indelibly stamped all over his performance, both in his slow, deliberate speaking style and his regal bearing. I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but it works to sell this unctuous character (with a smattering of James Mason thrown in just for flavor).

As the heroic detective, Larry Chaney turns in a fine, understated performance. He adds a bit of a fatherly, protective vibe, giving a much-needed softening to the proceedings. As the two serving women who both help and hamper the proceedings, Morgan Schussler-Williams and Carolyn Holbrook each get some amusing moments.

On the technical side, Tipton’s set and the work of an uncredited costume designer are flawless, evoking the Victorian Period and enhanced by Tipton’s moody lighting design.

Overall this is a solid production. It does drag at times thanks to the dated script, but the cast and crew give it their all and I can’t imagine a better modern performance of this slightly creaky classic!

Angel Street

Starring Larry Chaney, Carolyn Holbrook, Michael Jester, Jennifer Poliskie, Steve Rockhold, Howard Whitman, and Morgan Schussler-Williams.

February 10, 11, 17 & 18 @ 8 p.m.
February 12 & 19 @ 2 p.m.

The As Yet Unnamed Theatre Company

The MeX Theatre, Kentucky Center

501 West Main Street

Louisville, KY 40202

502-584-7777

New Effort from The Alley Theatre is Funny and Unexpected

2012-02-11T17:46:00.004-05:00

Hughesical, The Improvised Reunion Musical

Presented by The Bad Actors Club

Directed by J.P. Lebangood

Reviewed by Keith Waits

I think it is always a good thing to be surprised when you go to the theatre. I entered The Alley Theater expecting a pop-culture savvy parody chock full of references to the oeuvre of filmmaker John Hughes: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink. This freewheeling company’s history of shows like Evil Dead: the Musical, Point Break Live! and most recently The Matrix Live! The Parody would certainly lead you to expect such an enterprise.

Instead, the familiar archetypes and tropes of the Hughes 1980s-era high school melodrama become the building blocks for a loosely structured, lithe and nimble evening of improvisational comedy ably guided by director J.P. Lebangood, who is himself a key presence onstage, framing the action as an MC of sorts. The cast of six randomly (?) select their identities as The Punk, The Prom Queen, The Freak, The Geek, The Jock, and The Rich Kid and then proceed to spin a story that follows the six from high school through more or less dismal adult lives until their class reunion 25 years later. As is customary with improv comedy, input from the audience cues the developing scenario.

It is fair to say that, at least on the evening I was in attendance, while the focus often drifted away from Hughes parody in the strictest sense, it never strayed far from being very funny. The ensemble seemed to be having a good time and was bright and quick in their responses, displaying sure understanding of the source material but also easily abandoning the core idea in pursuit of more subversive tangents. Especially fascinating was how Mr. Lebangood actively and spontaneously directed the activity, interjecting himself directly when things started to go flat, or accompanying certain moments with extemporaneous lyrics from an offstage microphone. It was an effective balance of order and chaos, energized by risk and uncertainty. He also makes good use of musician Aaron Crater, whose accompaniment on electric piano was expert, but who also found sure laughs warming up the audience.

According to the program notes, the show underwent significant change from the original concept of a scripted musical intended for the more generous space that The Alley occupied before moving into this smaller downstairs venue. Ever since moving into The Pointe, Alley chief Scott Davis has had to work in an ever-changing environment, lending each production an underlying uncertainty. It makes it hard to imagine their work ever becoming complacent, and the edge and energy that results is perfectly embodied in the work onstage in this production. The program also makes it clear that Hughesical, The Improvised Reunion Musical is an evolving work destined to return in a presumably more “developed” form in the future, and that this version is but a “first run.” It will be interesting to see if it is as much fun once it begins to be codified, but the experimental rendition now on display works very well on its own terms: it is damn funny!

Featuring Kimberly Taylor-Peterson, April Singer, Madeline Dee, Scott Goodman, Scott R. Davis, and Tony Smith.

Hughesical, The Improvised Reunion Musical

February 9, 10, 11, 17 & 18, 2012. All shows at 7:30.
Tickets, Advance: $18 General Admission; Student, Senior, Military $16
Day of Show: $20 General Admission; Senior, Military: $18
Student: $10 with valid current student ID at the box office
Season ticket eligible * Group Rates available

The Alley Theater

1205 East Washington Street

Louisville, KY 40202

502-589-3866

http://thealleytheater.org/site/

“The Play Is the Thing”: Local Theatre Companies Discover the Fun of Play Readings

2012-02-10T10:29:00.003-05:00

By Keith Waits

Gil Reyes and Julane Havens participate in a play
reading for Savage Rose Classical Theatre
Company. Photo by Sylvia Bruton.

Do the words “play reading” conjure up the classroom? Somnambulant individuals with cups of coffee dryly reciting words from a page without the benefit of rehearsals, not to mention costumes, sets, music, etc. Do you imagine it would be fun? Or does your mind immediately go to an event to be endured, the promise of academic credit the only viable carrot to lure you in?

Perhaps I overstate the dour expectation and am not giving enough credit to the general public, but the truth is that I have attended a few play readings in recent months and they mostly draw an audience of theatre insiders, if they draw any audience at all; and each was offered free of charge!

The dirty little secret of such occasions is that they may very well be the best theatre value in town. Three examples illustrate the rewards of taking a chance on material less-practiced but still engaging on so many levels.

Tom Schulz and Tony Prince read for
Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company.
Photo by Sylvia Bruton.

One example was a true “event”: an October 2011 reading of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here, produced to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the original production. Performed by a large cast representing a variety of local theatre groups, but formally organized by Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble and Theatre [502}, it took place on the stage of the Iroquois Amphitheater, a neat bit of synergy since both the amphitheater and the original production 1936, which opened simultaneously in 22 American cities, were both Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) projects. The Iroquois stage has been slightly revamped to serve very effectively as a black box performance space called Parkside Studio, and the staging used the broad length of the room to line up principal players at rostrums facing the audience. It was a fascinating and highly entertaining presentation of a script that spoke to the current political climate, although, in truth, it also sounded at times a bit dated and obvious. Still the all-star cast brought force and conviction to the effort, despite the paucity of formal rehearsal, being inventive and lithe enough to find vitality in the playing. J.R. Stuart, executing the genial but iron-fisted political candidate, was arguably the closest to delivering a fully developed performance, so vivid was his duplicitous rhetoric.

Pandora Productions uses the format to solicit reaction to original material it is considering for full production in the coming season. Staged with some limited rehearsal time at The Bard’s Town, a half-dozen segments, each cut from a full-length script, are prepared by individual directors and presented with some blocking and minimal props, making these the most “produced” of the three examples cited herein, but still well short of finished. On three dates throughout their current season, audiences have been afforded the opportunity to vote on their favorites and influence which play will be given a complete production in the future. The writing overall was pretty good, revealing a disciplined process that nonetheless is spontaneous enough in the playing to satisfy and delight audiences.

More rough and tumble is the ongoing “Words, Words, Words” series from Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company. Like Pandora, Artistic Director J. Barrett Cooper is also exploring potential material for productions, having mounted a full production of The Knight of the Burning Pestle one year after a public reading, but, as with It Can’t Happen Here, the material is from another time period. This company’s mission focuses on staging classical theatre ranging from Elizabethan drama and Jacobean tragedies to Edwardian comedies such as Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, now in rehearsal for a full rendering opening March 9. Since it began in October 2009, most of the series has taken place at Walden Theatre, where the approach has been loose and improvisatory. The idea that the actors have not spent any time studying the script beforehand has fostered an inventiveness that has often resulted in comic gold, with some ingenious impromptu blocking by keen-eyed thespians discovering the text for the first time. Coffee and other refreshments are usually offered, and all for no charge, although donations are encouraged.

So when the opportunity next arises, I would encourage anyone to give these modest but rewarding enterprises a try. They cost nothing and may just surprise you. Savage Rose is next up, with a reading of Cupid’s Revenge this Sunday night. And Pandora has one more entry in the New Play Project series on April 15. Both offer audiences entertaining insight into the creative process as well as a voice in deciding future productions.

Savage Rose Classical Theatre: "Words, Words, Words"

Nancy Niles Sexton Stage at Walden Theatre

1123 Payne Street, Louisville, KY 40204

ADMISSION IS FREE

($3-$5 donation encouraged)

Cupid's Revenge

by Beaumont & Fletcher

February 12, 2012 – 7 p.m.

Law Against Lovers

by William Davenant

February 19, 2012 – 7 p.m.

Edward II

by Christopher Marlowe

April 29, 2012 – 7 p.m.

http://new.savagerosetheatre.com/

Pandora Prodouctions' New Play Project

The Bard's Town Theatre

1801 Bardstown Road

April 15, 2012 – 7:30 p.m.

ADMISSION IS FREE

http://www.pandoraprods.org/OurProductions/20112012SeasonProductions/tabid/956/Default.aspx

Fans of Louisville History Welcome Two Volumns on Crescent Hill History by Local Authors

2012-02-10T08:14:00.003-05:00

Meet Crescent Hill Author

The latest Louisville volume of the Images of the America series is Louisville's Crescent Hill, and author John E. Findling will be at Carmichael's Frankfort Avenue store on Sunday, February 12, at 4 p.m. to sign copies of his book. It contains a short history of the area and 126 pages of images and long captions of the Crescent Hill that was and still is.

Are 126 pages not enough? Also out is Samuel W. Thomas's recently reissued local history classic Crescent Hill: Its History and Resurgence (revised with Deborah M. Thomas), a coffee-table book with lots of oral history about the neighborhood and more photographs of its landmarks.

For more information about the Findling event, go here.

The Thomases will discuss their book at the Crescent Hill Library on February 21 at 6 p.m. For reservations, call the Filson Historical Society at 635-5083.

– Katherine Dalton

Unique Collaboration Produces "Charming" Story for Young Readers

2012-02-10T00:07:00.005-05:00

Same Sun Here

by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

Candlewick Press

$15.99

Review by Katherine Dalton

Bookstores are full of junky teen books. This is not one of them.

Same Sun Here is a novel in letters written by two authors: bestselling Kentucky writer Silas House (Eli the Good, Clay's Quilt); and New York-based Neela Vaswani, author of the memoir You Have Given Me a Country. (She also has a Kentucky connection, teaching at Spaulding's MFA in Writing program.)

Mr. House has written his half in the voice of a 12-year-old Eastern Kentucky boy named River Dean Justice, while Ms. Vaswani's character is Meena Joshi, a recent immigrant from India living in New York's Chinatown. These fictional children are not just 800 miles, but worlds and cultures, apart and the book's main storyline is how they plausibly find and seal their unlikely friendship.

Both River and Meena have housing troubles and mostly-absent fathers. River's family lost their home when his father lost his mining job, and the boy and his mother are now living with his beloved grandmother in the shadow of a mining site, while his father is gone months at a time working in Mississippi. Meena stays with her family in a rent-controlled apartment in downtown New York where they are perched precariously and illegally, living under someone else's lease. Her father, too, is gone most of the month to be nearer his work in New Jersey.

The book has great charm and it is all in the voices of these children-on-the-cusp-of-adult-understanding, as 12-year-olds are. Ms. Vaswani writes with observant delicacy about what Meena sees and feels, and the stories Meena tells are funny or moving or piquant by turn: about her brother's tactlessness and kindness; her love for her Chinese-American neighbor, Mrs. Lau, or her teacher at school; and all the other details of a young girl's day amidst the stress of learning a new culture and growing up. The upheaval her family goes through near the end of the book emerges naturally from the storyline and makes for good reading, particularly for those fortunate enough always to have had a roof over their heads.

River's story is more publicly dramatic as he lives through an accident caused by mountaintop removal and the ensuing publicity that becomes his lot as he joins his grandmother to march in Frankfort. (The description of this protest—right down the jars of dirty water—is reminiscent of what happened in Frankfort almost exactly one year ago, when a group of Kentuckians protested mountaintop removal by having a sit-in outside Governor Beshear's office. Silas House was one of the sitters.)

Same Sun Here ends as it began, in the appealing voice of Meena—a gentlemanly choice on the part of Mr. House, for Ms. Vaswani has just the right touch with this character. She has created a resilient girl who has left behind so much, and taken on so much, but whose friendship with a boy far away has helped her see how much she has to hope for.

Katherine Dalton is a contributing editor to Chronicles Magazine and to frontporchrepublic.com. Her essay “Fidelity” was included in Wendell Berry: Life and Art (University Press of Kentucky). She lives in Louisville.

HEAR SILAS HOUSE IN PERSON

Monday, February 20 at 7 p.m.

Silas House will read from Same Sun Here and sign books at the Clifton Center's Eifler Theatre, 2117 Payne Street. For more information, call 502-896-6950.

“Another Opening – Another Show” - The Only Elementary Performing Arts School in Louisville Opens New Wing

2012-02-06T16:35:00.002-05:00

By Kathi E.B. Ellis.

Lincoln Elementary School sits between Main and Market Streets in an area of Louisville identified as NuLu, a recently-burgeoning corridor of arts and cultural businesses. For the past two years Lincoln Elementary has been re-branded as a Performing Arts Magnet, and this week the school’s brand new performing arts wing was officially opened with a ceremony and performances to recognize this day.

In comments during the ceremony officials, educators and advocates emphasized the unique nature of a performing arts magnet at the elementary level. The Dance Theatre of Harlem, which conducted a residency at Lincoln during a recent performance at The Kentucky Center, was quoted as saying that they had not experienced a school like Lincoln in all the touring and teaching they undertake throughout the country.

The brand new foyer bridging the original school and the performing arts wing was a vibrant, crowded space on Wednesday, January 18. The Steve Crews Trio played music as people gathered, filling the lobby to Standing Room Only capacity. Lincoln students filled the stairways, the walkways and the ground level. Invited guests found a handful of reserved seats close to the podium, and others crowded in around the cameras recording the event.

It was a time of thank you's: to the board of education; to district personnel; to contractors; to the arts organizations partnering with the school; to the neighborhood; and, most importantly, to the students, teachers and parents who make up the Lincoln community. Principal Susan French got the proceedings rolling as close to the 1 p.m. start time as was possible, recognizing board members in attendance and the all-important arts partners. Two particular recognitions generated spontaneous applause and cheers from the students: long-time Lincoln Principal Sonja Unseld, and retired Director of Performing Arts Magnets Tim King – a reminder of the power of positive adults in the life of children.

District 1 Board Member Diane Porter was one of many speakersa to acknowledge the students, garnering the first of several rounds of applause for the young people in the room. She spoke passionately about the renaissance at Lincoln before introducing JCPS Superintendent Donna Hargens. Ms. Hargens made a strong case for the centrality of arts integration within a school day, citing her belief that creativity would be the currency of the 21st Century. Representing the arts partners, Jeffrey Jamner, Director of School Programs for The Kentucky Center, made a personal statement of the power of the arts to change our lives. As the room became quiet, he related his experience in kindergarten of being "that" student for whom traditional modes of teaching didn’t reach – until the day his teacher played piano, registered his response, and encouraged his parents to begin piano lessons.

Chris Poynter, Mayor Fischer’s spokesperson, represented the city and energized the room by asking the students who would be the next great ballerina, actor, singer – and there was no shortage of hands shooting up to take on that mantle – and topped the excitement by delivering the Proclamation from the Mayor’s Office to a group of students sitting close to the podium. The ribbon cutting was a group effort, including two student representatives.

Immediately following the cutting, guests were invited in to the spacious black box theatre to view student performances. All four of the performing arts genres taught at the school were represented: dancers performed a tap routine to the Jackson 5’s “ABC,” an energetic and precise ensemble; the Orff ensemble played Carl Orff’s “Ding Dong” and Brent Holl’s “Tick Tock,” demonstrating multiple rhythms in counterpoint; drama was represented with an excerpt from Macbeth, the three weird sisters; and the choir performed “Shake the Papaya Down” by R. Dwyer. The performances were greeted enthusiastically by the audience. Throughout, the students demonstrated professionalism, including the ten-minute hiatus before the performance while Dr. Hargens was interviewed. Principal French recognized the four full-time arts teachers: Harlina Churn-Diallo (dance); Lynn Gregory (drama); Tammy Gibson (choir); and Penelope Quesada (instrumental).

The event was completed with a reception in the equally-spacious drama room and tours of the facility which includes piano labs, music room, two dance studios and private classrooms, in addition to the drama facilities already mentioned. Playing in the reception area was a promotional video about Lincoln’s programming. Impressive as are the facilities and the full-time arts staff, the testimonials of the parents and students truly represent the strength of this unique initiative of arts-integration at an elementary school.

Kathi E.B. Ellis is a member of the Lincoln Center and Chicago Directors' Labs and an associate member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society. She has attended the LaMama Directing Symposium in Umbria, Italy, and is featured in Southern Artisty, an online registry of outstanding Southern Artists. Her directing work has been recognized with nominations for the South Florida Theatre Carbonell Award. Locally, Kathi is a member of Looking for Lilith Theatre Company, a founding principal of StageLab theatre training studio, and is part of ShoeString Productions an informal producing collective. She has written book reviews and articles for Southern Theatre, the quarterly publication of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and was a contributing writer for the JCPS textbook for the 11th grade Arts and Humanities survey course, and for YouthArts Tapestry, a Kentucky Arts Council publication.

New Work from the Louisville Ballet Showcases Breadth of Talent in Company Choreographrs

2012-02-03T08:42:00.003-05:00

Studio Connections

A new, in studio program of contemporary and classical choreography

By Kathi E.B. Ellis.

In brief comments before the performance, Artistic Director Bruce Simpson placed the evening’s works in perspective: a selection of classical ballet excerpts juxtaposed with pieces choreographed by current company members. The program is designed to encourage high school students to see the connections across the choreographic generations as well as the differences – with daytime performances for area students and evening performances for the public February 1-4. The evening is bookended by Petipa’s Raymonda Act III and Ben Needham-Wood’s commissioned Setting a Tone – programming that invites the compare and contrast outlined by Mr. Simpson.

Natalia Ashikhmina.
Photo by Wade Bell.

The Louisville Ballet last performed Raymonda in the fall of 2010, and it was good to see this version in the more intimate quarters of the Ballet’s Main Street studio. The twenty-eight dancers easily fill the stage area both physically and energetically in a way that is just not possible in the expanse of the Whitney stage. The Hungarian variation that opens this act was much more precise and assured than in its earlier incarnation. Moving in to the Grand Pas Classique invites some challenges with the audience in such close proximity to the dancers, sharing the same lights – which is much less forgiving than a traditional stage setting – and being able to closely observe the demanding footwork and partnering. The eight ladies and men were up to this challenge. The solo variation, performed by Erica De La O, was clean and precise; the pas de trois (Rachel Cahayla-Wynne, Kateryna Sellers and Ashley Thursby) was delightfully light and flirty; the men’s pas de quatre (Robert Dunbar, Kazuki Ichihashi, Ben Needham-Wood and Douglas Ruiz) was uneven – each of these dancers has individual strengths yet, on Wednesday evening, they were not always a cohesive ensemble in this variation. Natalia Ashikhmina and Phillip Velinov danced the principal lady and man variations, she with more assurance than he.

Setting a Tone was commissioned with specific criteria, including using classical music and being for eight pairs of dancers. These criteria invite a parallel with the more formal opening ballet; in form there are echoes of the sequence of ensemble, followed by pas de deux, trois, solos, etc., brought to a close with everyone returning to the stage for a finale. Mr. Needham-Wood plays with this form, adding and subtracting dancers with great fluidity so that a seething stage transforms almost invisibly into more intimate variations for smaller numbers of dancers. The three primary couples – Kateryna Sellers/Robert Dunbar, Leigh Anne Albrechta/Brandon Ragland and Amanda Diehl/Kristopher Wojtera – dance a series of pas de deux in the middle of the piece, and also come together in brief combinations of four and six before being rejoined by the rest of the sixteen-member company. The pas de deux are intricately conceived sequences exploring relationships, at first seeming separate but through echoed hand-play suggesting connections between these couples. A Bach concerto is the aural environment for much of the piece, interspersed with a more tonal, contemporary soundbed – begging the question as to whether the modern sets the tone for the classical or vice versa. This play on classical and contemporary connections is echoed in the choreography. Mr. Needham-Wood blends recognizably classical motifs with an exploration of non-traditional lifts, dynamic floor work and non-classical groupings; he also plays with silence, including the unexpectedly somber ending moments with the ensemble slowly walking upstage, facing away from the audience, moving into silence and a slow fade of the lights.

Erica De La O. Photo by Wade Bell.

The central ‘act’ of the evening consists of five short pieces: two more Petipa variations opened and closed this section, with two short pieces by company members and one solo, the Gopak that Mr. Simpson identified as being inspired by traditional dance, performed with passion by Ian Poulis. It was interesting to see three Petipa pieces in one program, thereby inviting the audience to recognize the similarities between them. The clearest parallel was the pas de deux from Le Corsaire (Amanda Diehl and Robert Dunbar) and the Diane and Acteon pas de deux (Erica De La O and Douglas Ruiz), in contrast to the Raymonda pas de deux between then principal lady and man. Each is a set piece with the form of duet, male solo, female solo and duet. The Corsaire pas de deux is the most flamboyant; the Diane and Acteon more lyrical than either of the other two. During each of these excerpts the audience was also treated to the classical tradition of curtain calls – including after individual variations within the pas de deux – in which the choreography of the bows is treated as formally as the performance. The curtain calls for the other pieces were much less structured, though just as intentional.

Ms. De La O and Mr. Ruiz seem to be creating a tradition of Greek mythological pairings, having previously danced Apollo and Daphne (also choreographed by Ben Needham-Wood) as part of the fall Choreographers Showcase. The piece in Studio Connections, credited to Vaganova after Marius Petipa, is much different from their previous piece, demonstrating these dancers’ interpretive versatility. This is an idyllic, pastoral encounter (a far cry from the story of the actual myth) with Mr. Ruiz embracing the rolling jetés with great zest and Ms. De La O performing the Petipa fouettés with aplomb. The playful choreographic nods to the hunting motifs in the music are charming. Fouettés appear again in the Corsaire pas de deux, part of the finale to this piece. Ms. Diehl has a gentle grace in her performance. Mr. Dunbar is energetic, performing his final solo sequence admirably; yet, for me, he does not embody the bravura called for in this particular classical role.

Balancing out the center of the evening are Saudade Amore by Amanda Diehl and a reprise (from the fall showcase) of T’es La Seule by Carrie Patterson. It was good to see Caroline Betancourt and Evgeni Dokoukine in this latter piece again. This short piece lives up to repeated viewings (it was also the Ballet’s offering for the Fund for the Arts Campaign launch earlier this week), with enough engaging shifts of energy, connection and mood to sustain multiple experiences. I look forward to seeing other work by Ms. Patterson. Saudade Amore featured company trainee Annie Honebrink and Ben Needham-Wood. Mr. Needham-Wood seemed much more at home in this contemporary piece than in the first classical variation; his energy and kinetic connection to Ms. Honebrink served the piece well. Ms. Honebrink brought an acute sense of stillness and calmness to this piece, even (maybe especially) during the more daring lifts and partnering combinations in the choreography. This is a bittersweet exploration of connection and separation set to evocative music of Blue October.

Studio Connections is an excellent occasion on which to experience artists of the Louisville Ballet in an informal setting with ‘mainstage’ performance standards. By pairing classical ballet excerpts with current creations of company members, audiences have the opportunity to appreciate the 200-plus year tradition that is the foundation from which today’s choreographers can launch ever-evolving concepts of what ballet can be.

February 1, 2, 3, & 4, 2012

Louisville Ballet Studios

315 East Main Street

Louisville, KY 40202

(502) 583-2623

http://www.louisvilleballet.org/

Playing with Fire — Flameworker Amy Lemaire makes wearable glass sculpture

2012-02-03T08:09:00.002-05:00

Profile by Carmen Marti

Amy Lemaire

Just more than a year ago, artist and educator Amy Lemaire was living in Brooklyn, making her name in the New York art scene and traveling the country to show her work and teach.

Today, Lemaire continues to gain acclaim in the art world and travels the country to show her work and teach, except now she’s based in Louisville and makes her name in the local art scene. For instance, Lemaire is the featured artist in the February 2012 Museum Store Spotlight at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. She has been showing and selling her work at KMAC since she got to town in late 2010.

A museum setting is ideal for Lemaire’s work. Through a process called flameworking (torching glass tubes into a malleable material), she fabricates exquisitely detailed glass beads, then fashions them into iconographic jewelry reminiscent of ancient Egypt or African tribal elders. It’s an age-old practice, dating from as far back as 1 B.C. Syria.

Trail of Tears, by Amy Lemaire, Flameworked
soda-lime glass. 13.5" x 8" x .5X”, 2012.

A painter by formal training (B.F.A., Art Institute of Chicago; M.F.A., Pratt Institute in New York), Lemaire began fusing her painting background with flameworking at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago in the early 2000s. After taking a workshop, she kick-started a dormant program at Lillstreet and eventually established a glass art department there, complete with a customized flameworking classroom and a full formation of equipment. She set up her own studio on site, creating a presence for glass within the community.

“[People were] really responding to the classes,” Lemaire says of that time in Chicago. “It was good to have a working artist in the community collective. You have to show people the way, not just teach classes.”

That’s the paradigm Lemaire has established in Louisville as well. She is part of the collective at Louisville Glassworks, a large-scale space on Market Street dedicated to making glass art. Lemaire does all her “hot glass work” in an open studio, welcoming interaction with the public. “That’s part of the reason I love the studio at Glassworks,” she says. “It’s a format where people can come up and approach me; unlike a gallery, where you don’t meet the artist.”

Meeting the public is an integral part of Lemaire’s creative process at this point. After establishing a legacy in Chicago that endures today, she left in 2008 for graduate school at Pratt. “I went to Pratt for personal development,” Lemaire recalls. “I wanted to take my work to another level.”

When she started her M.F.A. program, Lemaire had her eye on the international scene. But as she went to school and made a life in Brooklyn, she was inspired by the progressive local scene she found. “I began to look at the art scene in a different way,” says Lemaire. “Now the local scene is where it’s at for me.”

In Louisville, she has found a welcoming local environment and an active art base. Last summer, for example, Lemaire organized “Distill,” a pop-up art event at Salvo Collective. The event featured Chris Chappell creating a painting during the event, an interactive painting by Marcine Franckowiak, a wire installation by Curtis Anthony, drawings by Derrick Snodgrass and a video installation by Lora Gettelfinger. Lemaire showed large-scale paintings enhanced by viewing with 3-D glasses.

“Louisville is a great town,” she says. “The community is supportive of artists trying to get things going. If you want to have a show, you can have a show. The community is more than willing to help.”

This orientation plays right into Lemaire’s vision. “Art is a function of people getting together,” she believes. “It’s communication, and connecting the past to the future. I work in a lot of different mediums and the theme that connects them is communication.”

Open Grail, by Amy Lemaire. Flameworked
soda-lime glass. 12" x 10" x 1.25", 2012.

Lemaire’s glass work is a prime example of expressing the continuum of past and future through art. Not only has flameworking historically been used to make jewelry that clearly expresses a visual message, but the artform provides Lemaire a contemporary vehicle for communicating her personal connection to communities around the world. Many of the pieces in Lemaire’s collection at KMAC were born as “a form of political art lite,” she muses. “A peaceful approach to political work. I was inspired by protests in the United States and around the world, and I wanted to make work connected to this energy. Glass enables me to voice political views in a personal way.”

Glass has also helped Lemaire settle into life in Louisville. “I was surprised the first time I came to Louisville and saw what an oasis for glass it is,” she recalls. Not only is there a burgeoning local scene, but the major international glass societies — Glass Art Society, International Society of Glass Beadmakers — each held an annual conference in Louisville in the past two consecutive years. “Louisville is well situated,” Lemaire says.

And she doesn’t just mean the “vibrant local and international scenes.” Lemaire travels for work constantly. “I’m based in Louisville,” she says, “but I operate nationwide.” She remains active in the art scenes of Chicago and New York City/Brooklyn by exhibiting regularly, represented by galleries in each city, and teaching at local institutions in both places. “These days the world is a really small place. The way we communicate helps make it easy to keep track of people and to live out of the city. …Large cities can be distracting. If you can find a place in the world where you’re happy and can make art, then…Louisville is doing that for me now.”

Lemaire’s jewelry will be featured in the Museum Store through February. For more information about the artist, go to amylemaire.com.

Carmen Martí has been a professional writer and editor for more than 20 years and an independent contractor since 1995. She has filled a variety of writing and editing roles in print media, health care, education, business and the arts. Carmen worked fulltime as a publicist for the University of Chicago News Office from 1991-1995, as an editorial assistant for Inside Chicago magazine from 1989-1991, and as a high school English and humanities teacher at the Harvard School from 1986-1990.

Latest Artist's Conversation at The Kentucky Center Explores the Art of Adaptation

2012-02-02T14:06:00.001-05:00

Adaptation: Developing Dracula

A Conversation with Bill McNulty

A review by Keith Waits

William McNulty of Actors Theatre

Some audience members are content to be entertained and walk away with cherished memories of the theatrical experience. Others leave not fully satisfied, desiring some greater understanding of the process behind the magical, final result.

For those who count themselves in the latter group, The Kentucky Center has initiated a series of “conversations” with artists: interviews with prominent individuals working in the local theatrical community that give unique insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

The third entry in the series took place January 30 and featured Actors Theatre veteran Bill McNulty, writer-director-star of that company’s annual production of Dracula, being interviewed by Savage Rose Classical Theatre Company Artistic Director J. Barrett Cooper. The topic was Mr. McNulty’s process of shaping his own script for Dracula which, on paper, might sound like a fairly dull, academic affair best reserved for a classroom, but which, as was in ample evidence Monday evening, was a fascinating tale in and of itself.

J. Barrett Cooper of Savage Rose Classical Theatre

Certainly we can count storytelling among Mr. McNulty’s talents, as he related the experience of adapting Bram Stoker’s novel in response to a challenge from former ATL Artistic Director Marc Masterson with myriad anecdotes of color and substance, delivered with crowd-pleasing warmth and humor. Having worked several years with the classic but dated Balderston and Dean text that originally starred Bela Lugosi, McNulty grew tired of what he considered a “’turgid” script filled with “fraudulent Victorian” dialogue and imagery. Intent on making a Dracula that was genuinely frightening and more consistent with the modern taste for ripe thrills and gory effects, he set out to reinvent the story and restore monstrousness to the legendary Transylvanian Count, pulling the character away from the “melancholic, lost soul” and “image of male power in which women enjoy the experience…” of the vampire’s seduction. It was a refreshing equation that attempts to rediscover the fundamental horror of the story while simultaneously subverting the text with some feminist sensibility.

Mr. Cooper, having understudied the role of Van Helsing (normally played by McNulty himself) brought first-hand knowledge of the production to his queries. For the most, however, he gave his subject room to regale the audience with what seemed an endless resource of detailed and pungent observations about a somewhat unorthodox creative process — a process that nonetheless outlined a highly pragmatic approach that bore rich fruit. Dracula is an iconic show whose impact may easily be taken for granted. But to hear Mr. McNulty speak of the character as an “inversion of Christ” and reveal influences as diverse as Tales from the Crypt and the work of Arthur Koestler belies the common, parochial view of the story as just another regurgitated horror show.

The modest crowd in attendance was clearly enthralled by the evening, the third of four such programs scheduled for the MeX Theater at The Kentucky Center. Next up is Set Designer Paul Owen on April 2, whose storied career, most of it spent executing consistently brilliant work for Actors Theatre, should prove to be every bit as engrossing as this worthwhile event.

January 30, 2012

MeX Theater at The Kentucky Center for the Arts

501 W. Main St.
Louisville, KY 40202

http://www.kentuckycenter.org/

Conversation, Community, and the Arts: Post-show Discussions at Actors Theatre

2012-01-30T13:25:00.002-05:00

By Kathi E.B. Ellis.

On January 12 and 19, Actors Theatre of Louisville hosted community conversations, following the performances of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, with an invited panel of community activists engaging in a dialogue with audience members.

On both evenings, panelists and audience members at Actors Theatre of Louisville grappled with a perennial area of discomfort: how Louisville handles issues of race relations, filtered through the issues addressed in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. Diaz’ script is a brilliant deconstruction of race in early 21^st century America, with Hispanic, African-American and Asian characters working within the white-monopolized media system. Panel moderator the Reverend Doctor Rhashell D. Hunter moved deftly between production-inspired comments from audience and panelists alike and audience testimonies that spoke to the deep-seated challenges faced in the increasingly multi-cultural community that Louisville is becoming.

Panelists included Lara Miramontes, Americana Community Center; Ben Ruiz, volunteer with and board member of community non-profit organizations supporting Hispanic/Latino populations (both evenings); Sundar Sridharagopal, founder of Techneek.Biz and active in business leadership circles (January 12); and Sonja Grey, president of the Louisville Urban League Young Professionals (January 19). The panelists spoke both to the vibrancy of communities of refugees and immigrants, and to the overt and more subtle forms of discrimination each of them face on a regular basis. Panelists were careful to acknowledge the strides that Louisville has made in working with and supporting communities of refugees and immigrants, the ‘internationals’ as Ms. Miramontes identified them. Mr. Ruiz averred that Louisville is ahead of the curve compared with other cities in the way that dialogue has been established with these new communities. Nonetheless, both panelists and audience members returned to the challenges faced by the browning of the country and Louisville, and how patterns of communication are shifting from the black-white paradigm of much of the twentieth century to the more complex interactions between all ethnic communities as well as the interactions between them and the white community.

Many of the audience members who spoke addressed the issue of white privilege – an attitude that many whites carry with them, albeit unconsciously – that permeates communications and relationships across the cultures. It was also stated that there are few safe spaces in our community in which we can have this kind of conversation – maybe ATL has found a niche with this initiative – and there were times when it was an uncomfortable conversation. These are difficult ideas to hear; framing conversations of ‘other-ness’ generates strong passions, and we don’t often get practice articulating these ideas, which can lead to hostility and defensiveness – and, yes, those moments occurred during these dialogues. Nonetheless, audience and panelists kept coming back to wanting to respect all cultures and each of us as individuals – a good starting point to continue this conversation with a broader cross-section of the community.

An unanticipated testimonial happened towards the end of the first evening. The fight director for the production, Al Snow, was introduced and he took to the stage, microphone in hand, to deliver a passionate and articulate analysis of the veracity of the script’s illustration of racism, based on simple stereotypes, within the world of pro-wrestling. He attributed the success of this formula to the geographic isolation of the U.S., relative to other parts of the world where multiple cultures have lived cheek by jowl for centuries. Do those countries always get multi-culturalism right? No. But fear and anger (the emotions he identified that promoters manipulate) are generated by lack of knowledge and familiarity of the other, which is a frequent condition in our country. The following week audience members spoke to the way the play articulates the roles we play within our families, cultures and communities, and how we shift those roles when we interact with different cultures, power structures and communities, frequently playing the role that the dominant culture ‘expects’ us to play. Speakers found strong parallels between their own experiences and the dynamics portrayed in the world of “Chad Deity” with the experiences of the Hispanic and Asian characters as they interact with African-American and white characters.

These post-show conversation demonstrated how an energetic, comic and poignant production can generate a discussion that we can take back into our community at large, and not just leave in a theatre, that audiences can go back into the world changed by their theatrical experience as Dr. Hunter said, wrapping up the final conversation. It’s an indicator of the vitality and relevance of the arts in this community that around a hundred people chose to stay after a production to talk about how the arts can impact issues in our community.

Theatre Review: In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)

2012-01-28T21:45:00.003-05:00

“BRILLIANT” IN THE NEXT ROOM ASKS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES.


Cora Vander Broeck and Grant Goodman in Sarah Ruhl's, In the Next Room (or, the Vibrator Play). Photo by Alan Simons.

In the Next Room (or, the Vibrator Play)

Written by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Laura Gordon

A review by Scott Dowd.

Though the title and main gag of Sarah Ruhl’s costume comedy, In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play), is generated by the work of Thomas Edison and Victorian-era electrical experimentation in general, the heart of Ruhl’s play is more closely aligned with the spirit of Henry David Thoreau and his pursuit of an authentic life.

The Victorian’s suppression of sexuality — especially female sexuality — is well-chronicled in the novels of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters who were, in Ruhl’s own words, some of her early inspirations. In the Next Room anticipates Freud’s work (at the time of the play Freud was still studying the genitalia of eels at the Laboratory for Marine Zoology in Trieste) but accurately draws on the work of some early practitioners of women’s health inspired, perhaps, by Mesmer’s ideas of magnétism animal published a century before. That is not to imply these practitioners worked primarily for the good of their patients; they were most likely employed by the husbands or fathers of these women to correct perceived imperfections that made them less suitable helpmates — the situation Ruhl establishes as we meet Mrs. Daldry (Cassandra Bissell), brought by her husband to receive treatments for hysteria from the self-obsessed Dr. Givings (Grant Goodman). Dr. Givings uses the latest in electrical stimulation to entice the body’s tides to move and clear the blockages, keeping these sufferers from vigorously fulfilling their duties. Meanwhile Dr. Giving’s own wife, Catherine (Cora Vander Broek), is consigned to the next room and disallowed access to his most interior space. She is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her own role as wife and new mother.

It is Catherine’s dissatisfaction that gives the play its animus. Simulated masturbation (tastefully hidden beneath clinical drapes) and double entendres are sophomoric in the word’s most literal sense. Ruhl uses this device in abundance to the obvious delight of the opening night audience; but it would have made thin broth without the deeper layers of flavor provided by Catherine and the wet-nurse she is forced to employ (Tyla Abercrumbie). While on the surface the characters deal with the idea of relationship and the oppressive realities of women’s role in the Victorian Era, the essential questions that emerge are more personal, “How do we live authentically? What does that look like? What do we lose in achieving it? Are we willing to make that exchange?” Perhaps most often ignored when considering these questions Ruhl asks, “What responsibilities does authenticity require of us?” A brilliant motif develops in the subtleties of the relationship between Sabrina Daldry (Bissell) and Dr. Giving’s assistant Annie (Jenny McKnight). Many men will, I suspect, experience vindication in its dénouement unintended by the playwright. To say more would be a spoiler, but I encourage men especially to look beyond the obvious elements of this scene.

Ruhl also lifts up the interesting phenomenon no less in evidence today than in 1880 whereby men and women often share space but on separate, parallel planes. While the male characters of In the Next Room carry on their insular lives, making plans and decisions for their wives and dependants, the female characters make connections with themselves and each other that pass unnoticed. Even the painter Leo Irving (Matthew Brumlow), a less impetuous Kirillovich to Catherine’s Karenina, is able to catch only a glimpse of the interior lives of the figures he captures. This idea is restated in scenic designer Philip Witcomb’s beautiful design that incorporates two circles that meet, but fail to intersect. The set is also indicative of Ruhl’s Victorian story-telling style, filled with bagatelles and embellishments often streamlined out of modern theatre. Costume designer Lorraine Venberg’s beautiful, well-made couture has the authentic look of the period without the cumbersomeness that would have made the action of the play impossible. Her solutions were elegant and noteworthy.

In the Next Room succeeds because Ruhl embraces both the absurdity and underlying tragedy of life and offers in the end some hope, yet to be realized, that we may learn to embrace our freedom with a sense of restraint and maturity that might allow each of us to live a more full and balanced life in community.

In the Next Room (or, the Vibrator Play)

January 24 – February 18, 2012

Actors Theater of Louisville
Pamela Brown Auditorium
Third & Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
502-584-1205
ActorsTheatre.org

Theatre Review: dirty, sexy, derby play

2012-01-27T17:51:00.013-05:00

ADULT THEATRE THAT WILL OFFEND SOME AND ENTERTAIN MANY MORE, DIRTY, SEXY, DERBY PLAY HAS BEEN REMOUNTED!

The cast of dirty, sexy, derby play. Photo courtesy of Finnigan Productions.

dirty, sexy, derby play

Written and directed by Brian Walker

Reviewed by Keith Waits

First, and I cannot imagine this is a fresh observation, that is a very, very good title. For anyone, but especially for native Louisvillians, those four words might hold a lot of promise, so the play itself has a great deal to live up to.

For the most part, it delivers on that promise. Filled with raunchy dialogue and fierce confrontations, almost all of it turning on the sex lives of four married heterosexual couples, it is funny as hell and most certainly not for the faint of heart or easily offended. It is advertised with a disclaimer announcing, “Adult content; intended for mature audiences only,” and it is a warning that should be taken seriously (there were walkouts on opening night). While there is no onstage nudity, save one briefly shirtless male torso, there is an abundance of profane and graphic talk about sex and body parts. Some of it may be sophomoric, but the intention seems to liberate taboos and secrets that push the characters into life-changing moments of epiphany and acceptance; and in that, it largely succeeds.

The plot places the eight characters at a 1974 Derby Day party in Louisville, approximately one month after the famous series of tornadoes swept through the city, leaving the most devastation of any natural disaster since the 1937 flood. The time and place are meant to offer an excuse for the occasion to be more than a Derby party: the hostess means to stir up the pot by framing the soiree as a “key” party; the infamous social phenomenon in which women go home, and ostensibly to bed with whoever’s keys they draw out of a bowl. Various other provocative party games precede this climactic event which, to nobody’s, least of all the audience’s, surprise, fails to produce the desired result.

Mr. Walker does a nice job fitting his characters to established stereotypes before he begins to explode things, so we can feel a little bit of comfort before the fireworks commence. The device of having all eight deliver introductory monologues while the other actors freeze starts to grow tiresome after the first six or so, and threatens to rob the first act of momentum, but once achieved, he accelerates the action at a pace commensurate with the rapid consumption of vodka grasshoppers (synergistically available to patrons at the bar downstairs). The action builds to wilder and crazier levels of outrageousness that would seem over-the-top if you could stop laughing long enough to notice. After the intermission, the second act opens with a bit of surrealistic business that is so tightly structured in the staging that dirty, sexy, derby play achieves a moment of pure theatrical invention that elevates it to something more than raunchy period comedy.

It is material that demands high energy and certain commitment in the playing, and here is the cast that can make it happen. Briana Clemerson is sassy as the hostess with a wicked plan, Vanessa, and Corey Long is just right as her angsty husband who imagines he can have his cake and eat it too. Todd Zeigler is as good as I have seen him as Tim, a masturbation-obsessed teacher who is as uptight as his polyester leisure ensemble suggests, while Elizabeth Cox, so adroit at more serious fare, delightfully has the time of her life as his wife, Lana. Andy Epstein’s character, Victor, as written comes off as a little too obvious in his repression at first, but the actor carefully renders dignity with subtle effect that builds to a wonderful climax. As his wife Francine, Leah Roberts fearlessly embodies the least sympathetic character with requisite acid and sure comedic timing. Finally, Eric Welch and Sarah East make a forceful entrance as Dennis and Theresa, a raucous white-trash couple who push the limits of the piece but play their larger-than-life roles with such ferocious skill that they manage to keep things grounded while shooting the moon. Michael Roberts does yeoman work as a utility player, solid support playing primarily a wide variety of telephone prank victims.

The stage at The Bard’s Town, with centrally placed double doors, is well-suited to the period accurate set and costumes that, thankfully, are understated enough to support but not draw attention away from the action.

This is a daringly conceived play, solid in its ideas and so tantalizingly close to a polished finish, but also containing moments that seem a little rocky and redundant but are here overwhelmed by the confident players and smart direction. Still, I can easily imagine this script being produced outside of this region, despite its Derby City locale; a vastly appealing social comedy drawing other small companies like flies to honey. I missed the original production of the play and count myself grateful that Finnigan Productions saw fit to “remount” (pun as intended as they come) the play so I could partake of the experience cherished by so many others.

Editors note: dirty, sexy, derby play will soon be published and available at Carmichael’s and other local bookstores, as well as Amazon.com.

dirty, sexy, derby play

January 26, 27, 28, February 2, 3 & 4 @ 7:30 p.m.

Finnigan Productions

at The Bard’s Town

1801 Bardstown Road

Louisville KY 40204

(502) 749-5275

http://www.finniganbeginagain.com

Literary Review: Pulphead

2012-01-26T18:10:00.003-05:00

PULPHEAD AUTHOR PROVIDES “REASON ENOUGH TO READ HIM.”

John Jeremiah Sullivan.
Photo © Harry Taylor Photography

PULPHEAD: Essays

by John Jeremiah Sullivan

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Paperback, $16

Review by Katherine Dalton

There are characters out there we love to hate, and in hating them we feel all the painful satisfaction of scratching a chigger bite. That kind of armchair-invective is an easy emotion. More psychologically disruptive are the people we hate to love, and for me, John Jeremiah Sullivan is one of those.

Mr. Sullivan can both report and write, and he can sometimes breach the printed divide lying between him and us in a way that will make the essay, all over again, the literary form I love best. But what a son of a gun he is.

There are no bad pieces here, and some of them are terrific, including the opening essay “Upon This Rock,” about Mr. Sullivan's adventure driving a 29-foot RV to a Christian music festival in the Ozarks. There he makes the friendly acquaintance of some hardscrabble Christians who take his number even as he takes theirs.

He makes fun of these men, a bit, and takes several swipes at Christianity in general and Evangelical Christianity in particular. But he is honest enough to do three things you won't normally find a regular contributor to Gentleman's Quarterly doing: he writes about his own teenage Evangelical phase, admits that he has doubts about his doubts, and pays his debt to the men whose lives he has publicized by quoting the one statement born-again Darius asked him to include: “You can say we're crazy, but say that we love God.”

The piece ends with one of the most beautiful lines I can remember reading on glossy paper—a line that is, characteristically, both reverent and irreverent. Mr. Sullivan has embraced the postmodern zeitgeist. But he has made it his own. And that is why, though I prefer pieces like the one on cave art in Tennessee, I will read him even when he writes about Axl Rose.

Writers, if they really have something to say, must be willing as well as able to say exactly what they mean. And that is both technically and emotionally difficult. Honesty is always rare enough to be valuable, and I value it in Mr. Sullivan – despite the smart-aleck asides here and there, or the purposefully casual use of the f-word. There is also a certain cultural blindness in him – a generational thing, perhaps — evident in, for example, “Mr. Lytle: An Essay.” This is a long, beautiful, evocative appreciation of the Southern Agrarian writer Andrew Lytle which deservedly won several awards but which will also be, for many years, the last damning nail in the coffin of Mr. Lytle's personal reputation.

Perhaps Mr. Lytle deserved to be exposed in this way. But it is strange to read a piece so mixed with affection and destruction, and so painfully self-revealing of the author, too. The intimate charitableness the then-young Mr. Sullivan showed Mr. Lytle is not, perhaps, unusual; people have done stranger things out of affection, or obligation, or a desire to connect with a mythic past. But to a reader just old enough to remember what privacy was like, it is disconcerting to see a writer throw his away, even when such revelations help make his essay artistically remarkable.

Though born in Louisville, Mr. Sullivan had a Northerner for a father (former Courier-Journal sportswriter Mike Sullivan), grew up in Indiana, now lives in North Carolina and has never lived here. Still, you can call him a Kentucky writer – he's wrestling with Kentucky all the time. His first book, Blood Horses, is in part a long love letter to the Bluegrass (punctuated by an occasional raspberry), and in Pulphead Kentucky shows up again and again, in asides about his mother's relatives in Lexington, in the long article about 19th-century polymath Constantine Rafinesque. Some of Sullivan's work is maddening. All of it is good. Reason enough to read him.

Katherine Dalton is a contributing editor to Chronicles Magazine and to frontporchrepublic.com. Her essay “Fidelity” was included in Wendell Berry: Life and Work (University Press of Kentucky). She lives in Louisville.

Theatre Review: Almost, Maine

2012-01-26T01:53:00.003-05:00

NEWEST FROM WAYWARD ACTORS COMPANY, “ WARMS THE HEART.”

Neil Brewer & Jayme Thomas in Almost, Maine

Almost, Maine

By John Cariani

Directed by Neil Brewer

A review by Kate Barry

Love is in the air in a fictional town in Maine. Its inhabitants are literally falling for each other, giving each other heaping mounds of love and mending broken hearts. I had the chance to catch the opening night of Wayward Actors’ Almost Maine, a delightfully simple series of scenes all about love. It’s the type of show that warms the heart in the middle of a dreary winter.

Neil Brewer took the reigns as director and actor for this production. When I see this type of situation in productions, I am skeptical of the end product. Has the director fairly balanced his time between creating a performance that is entertaining and engaging while wearing the hat as actor? Has he done a good job with directing himself? Well, Mr. Brewer can rest assured that he has done a fine job. He provides a strong comedic performance in the first act, during a scene with Jayme Thomas, as he portrays a man who is learning what can hurt him and what he needs to be afraid of. His appearance in the second act, as Rebecca Chaney’s long lost love, was comparatively muted and less memorable as, in comparison, it lacked a certain chemistry and longing.

Brewer’s choices as director were smart for this type of show. Using a minimal set design consisting of sparse props and an exterior of a house, Brewer keeps the audience’s attention on the acting. What I liked most about this production was the dreamy conclusion of each scene. As lovers unite or find inner strength in some cases, a pool of blue and green lights spill on the stage proving a powerful visual and lasting impression.

Highlights from the cast include Mason Stewart and Rebecca Chaney’s prologue and epilogue as a couple who expresses their love for one another for the first time. They were just tender and adorable as can be. Michael McCollum and Julie Mayfield were a couple of sweethearts in a scene titled “Her Heart,” where a woman carries around the pieces of her broken heart and McCollum tries his best to fix it. Sara E. Renauer and Mason Stewart conclude the first act as a squabbling couple determined to literally and figuratively give their love to each other. Second act kicks off with Sean Childress and Craig Nolan Highley as two men comparing notes of sad and bad dates. Little do they know that they have fallen for each other, by all definitions of the phrase. Katie Graviss and Frank Whitaker bring the evening to a close as a couple of best friends who are initially in love with each other. Graviss is a rough tomboy and Whitaker is her smitten pal who humorously and desperately attempts to woo her in this scene reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally.

Wayward Actors Company has put together an adorable romantic comedy up in the MeX Theater. The entire performance runs around two hours and each scene flies by, leaving me wanting more.

Almost, Maine

Wayward Actors Company

January 20, 21, 23, 27, and 28, 2012, at 8 pm.
January 29, 2012, at 2 pm.

The MeX Theatre at the Kentucky Center for the Arts

501 W. Main St.
Louisville, KY 40202

Theatre Review: Godspell

2012-01-23T03:30:00.001-05:00

DESPITE OBSTACLES, GODSPELL IS A “WINNING” PRODUCTION

The cast of the YMCA of Southern Indiana production of Godspell.

Godspell

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by John Michael Tebelak

Directed by Bryce Blair
Choreography by Kathy Todd Chaney
Musical Direction by Daniel Main

Review by Keith Waits

Godspell is an exuberant production nearly swallowed up by a difficult, unforgiving venue. The cast performs with great energy, singing and dancing with reasonable skill and measurable commitment, but the cavernous proscenium within a gymnasium space dissipates that energy and allows an echo that would challenge any staging of any play, much less a musical. Limited lighting and sound capabilities further hamper the earnest good efforts of director Bryce Blair and his crew.

Yet, the good effort and estimable skills manage to make evidence of themselves despite the technical obstacles, and the staging attempts to make virtue out of vice by, for example, having the cast frequently come off the stage and use the aisles, since the lights in the auditorium had to be on during the play.

It also avoids the dated quality of the clown/hippie asthetic typical of many productions by keeping the costumes contemporary. But the music is what matters, and a four-piece band does a fine job with the score, while Musical Director Daniel Mann keeps the vocal arrangements tight while providing some intricate guitar lead as a member of the band. He is joined by Kim Hartz on piano, Ben Mattius on drums/recorder/violin, and Bart Jones on bass guitar.

The key roles of Jesus and John the Baptist/Judas are intriguingly played by brothers Josh and Jeremy O’ Brien, respectively, underscoring the bond between betrayer and betrayed. They are joined by an ensemble of Jason Potts, Jennifer Poliskie, Kathy Chaney, Brian Morris, Tony Singleton, Kira Tash, Jacque Singleton and Sydney Jones-O’Brien. Some of this group display better skills for musical theatre than others, and the staging places them carefully to achieve maximum effect. Kathy Chaney’s choreography keeps the whole group moving ( Godspell is a show that should be always moving) with steps that engage the audience without ever proving too difficult for the mixed skills of the performers.

Mr. Blair does pull a few rudimentary tricks out of his pocket for the finale, and manages to make this production an affecting one, even if one wishes he could have found a more welcoming venue, if only so that the talent onstage could have its full impact on the audience. Yet, one has to recognize a certain level of courage required to soldier through such challenges as bravely as this troupe of players. Finally, this is a winning Godspell, worth visiting in its second weekend.

Godspell

January 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at 7:30pm
January 22 at 2:00pm

YMCA of Southern Indiana
Performances will be held at the Griffin Street Center
(1140 Griffin Street, New Albany, Indiana)

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors/students

For more information (812) 283-9622 Ext. 118 or bblair@ymcasi.org

Theatre Review: Julius Caesar

2012-01-23T03:17:00.000-05:00

MODERN SETTING FOR “CAESAR” IS PROVOCATIVE AT WALDEN THEATRE

Julius Caesar

Written by William Shakespeare.

Directed by Alec Volz

Reviewed by Keith Waits.

One reason Shakespeare lives on is that the best of his plays say things about the human experience that are still relevant today. In this production of Julius Caesar at Walden Theatre, the action is placed in a modern-day political context that casts Kyra Riley, an African-American actress, as the title character. If this conjures thoughts of both Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, it is no accident, and the parallel is made explicit by the Shepard Fairey-like image of her that appears at the top of the play.

Meanwhile, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and others, are dressed in the sleek, stylish business suits of modern day political operatives. It frames the story as a commentary on contemporary politics that illustrate the elasticity and universality of the play’s themes. Additionally, clever use is made of digital technology, as Caesar receives the famous warning, “Beware the Ides of March” as a Twitter message to her PDA that we see projected on a screen that is positioned as part of the backdrop, and key events including Caesar’s assassination are captured on smartphones operated by characters onstage.

In order to reinforce this focus on the political dimensions of the play, director Alec Volz has dramatically cut the latter parts of the play, so that the armed conflict that result in the aftermath of Caesar’s death are condensed down to a few swift scenes. Although drastic, the protracted machinations of warfare are not really missed. In fact, the very remoteness of the military action could even be taken as a further parallel to the modern day relationship of U.S citizens to the conflicts their own armed forces have most recently been engaged in.

The cast executes the material with authority, and Hank Paradis as Mark Antony, DJ Nash as Brutus, Katie Scott as Cassius, and Kyra Riley as Julius Caesar were standouts. Chris Lockhart brought nice “Dixie” flavor to his Decius, and Courtney Doyle was measured and grave as Calphurnia, Caesar’s wife. Interestingly, the idea of the title character being in a same-sex relationship is handled in such matter-of-fact fashion that it hardly registers among all the political intrigue portrayed onstage.

When Marc Antony steps up to microphone to deliver the famous funeral oration for the slain leader, the connection to the image of modern day politicians is complete. I half expected to see a teleprompter, forgetting for the moment that the speech is notable for being extemporaneous, but the concept of populist rhetoric leading the public like a carrot on a stick is deeply resonant with current events, as Walden Theatre does once again something it has done so very often: find relevance to contemporary experience in the classics.

Julius Caesar

January 19-21 and 26-28 @ 7:30
January 21, 28 @ 2:00pm

Walden Theatre

1123 Payne Street

Louisville, KY

(502) 589-0084

Theatre Review: Frog’s Milk / Pump Works

2012-01-21T20:09:00.001-05:00

EXPERIMENTAL FROG’S MILK/PUMP WORKS OPENS TO WARM RECEPTION

Rebecca Henderson, Jeremy Sapp, Pattie Crawford & Tom Dunbar in Frog's Milk Pump Works. Photo by Kevin Robinson.

Frog’s Milk / Pump Works

Written by Rebecca Henderson and Heidi Saunders

Directed by Keith McGill

Reviewed by Keith Waits

Frog’s Milk / Pump Works is unlike any other show currently onstage in Louisville. The result of two separate short scripts being joined together to emphasize shared themes of human connections overcoming loneliness and solitude, it joins oral storytelling tradition and character driven dramatic structures in uneasy alliance.

The evening began with a brief warm-up from noted Kentucky Storyteller Cynthia Changaris that included a tale-old and brief acapella song performance. Rebecca Henderson then took the stage in the guise of “The Bluegrass Gypsy” to further engage the audience with some participatory chants before she settled into her “Frog’s Milk” story. There is a good deal of fey charm and physical grace in Ms. Henderson’s work, but there is also a self-conscious aspect that works against the story’s having its full impact on the audience.

Heidi Saunder’s short play, “Pump Works”, involves a woman whose septic tank is in need of attention, and the two plumbers who have come to do the job. It was more successful because the writing is focused and succinct, and it was well played by the three actors. Pattie Crawford was a striking and charismatic feminine presence, while Tom Dunbar and Jeremy Sapp brought good presence to the masculine plumbers. The underscoring of the feminine and masculine seemed important to the action but was not overstated.

Director Keith McGill stitches the two together with some care, interjecting the three actors into Ms. Henderson’s monologue and then having her carry some of her poetic language across the action of the play in similar fashion, but to me there was a fundamental contrast between these pieces of material that prevented them from being fully integrated, or, conversely exploited to a fuller purpose, so that the relationship between them was never satisfyingly reconciled.

Yet, credit is due to any effort that experiments with cross pollinating forms and sparking unorthodox collaborations, and the enterprise seems to hold potential. The most effective bridge between the two was the excellent piano accompaniment of Frank Richmond. His original music was reminiscent of the piano scores heard alongside silent films; never overshadowing the action, but providing flavor and establishing tone throughout. The music emphasized the shared qualities that likely inspired this collaboration in the first place.

Whatever my reservations, the production enjoyed a warm reception from a sell-out crowd on opening night, and was accompanied by a buffet of salad, burgoo and cornbread that cut down on conflicts with food service and made for a tasty repast.

Frog’s Milk / Pump Works

January 20. 21, 26, 27, and 28 @ 7:30pm

January 22 @ 2:30pm

The Rudyard Kipling

422 West Oak Street

Louisville, KY 40203

Call 502-267-6915 or email frogpumpproductions@gmail.com for ticket reservations. For dinner beforehand, please call the Rud 502-636-1311

Theatre Review: The 7-Shot Symphony

2012-01-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

COWBOY SYMPHONY AT THE BARD”S TOWN IS “A VERY SPECIAL…DON”T MISS SHOW”!

Metromix Emily in air during The 7-Shot Symphony. Photo courtesy of Live Action Set.

The 7-Shot Symphony

By Matt Spring and Ryan Underbakke

Directed by Ryan Underbakke

Reviewed by Todd Zeigler

I have never felt so inferior in all my life.

I’ve thought through at least three different leads for this review, and that’s the only reaction that I as a theatergoer, writer, and performer could possibly have that does Minneapolis-based Live Action Set’s The 7-Shot Symphony justice. And I mean it in an awed, utterly inspired way. If our own much-lauded Le Petomane Ensemble chose one show, rehearsed it for seven months and then toured it for two years? Imagine what would result. That kind of experience is upstairs at The Bard’s Town this weekend only.

The 7-Shot Symphony is a cyclonic web of classical forms lassoed with skilled hands by a talented group of dance- and commedia-based performers, cinematically underscored by a country-western three-piece. Classical myths are imported (along with a handy-dandy primer in the program explaining the varied source material) into Deus County, an appropriated dot on the map of America’s own mythic past, The Old West.

Deus County is populated with faces and types that are familiar on many fronts. There’s county sheriff, Odin Graybeard, and his deputy sons, Tyr and Thor; saloon minstrel John Orpheus and his mute bride from the old country, Eurydice; Masamune, the silent gunslinger who will only draw on those who deserve it; and a host of other pistol-packing saddle riders. Live Action Set achieves an amazing multi-layered effect of making these timeworn tales viscerally vivid while intertwining them in such a way that the Symphony becomes an epic tale all its own.

As with Le Petomane, the impressiveness of the tale’s construction is compounded by its performance. Watching the ensemble work is like seeing fireworks for the first time: jaw-dropping. Costume pieces are the only foreign elements employed to establish place and time. Every setting, prop and character is created using only the contortions of the performers. Within a span of seconds they transform from an arm-linked mountain range for a four-finger horse to a pair of saloon doors which become a zooming camera eye to pinpoint a sniper’s deadeye aim. It’s a never-ending dance through eight “movements” that is a wonder to behold.

Watching this show, I was reminded of my favorite high school teacher. He would look sympathetically on those of us struggling to figure our way out of our teenage bewilderment and provided us with these stories – these lessons. We could see that for millennia there have been tales of good and evil, honor, acting nobly in the face of insurmountable odds, unintended consequences, and justice. He introduced us to the idea that the world does have an order, a sense to it that would guide us as adults. Now, in an adult world, when things makes less sense than it did to a teenager, it’s comforting to know these tales still have merit to artists who are willing to look at them with fresh eyes and remind us about that order. Important, vital theater says things we need to hear, and 7-Shot Symphony is rewarding listening.

When it comes to a review, I prefer to wait a day or two before appraising a performance, intending to let the intended effect settle before I evaluate. This review is a rush for me, and I’m reluctant to provide unadulterated praise. Constructive criticism should always be a goal. I try and try, but simply can’t dilute my initial reaction. The 7-Shot Symphony is something really special. Do not miss this because it is quite literally going away. Hopefully The Bard’s Town will bring them back soon.

The 7-Shot Symphony

By Live Action Set

Featuring Mark Benzel, Travis Bolton, Andy Carroll, Joey Ford, Damian Johnson, Emily King, Matt Riggs, Dustin Suggs, Derek Trost, and Jenna Wyse

January 21 at 2 p.m.

Sunday 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.

The Bard’s Town

1801 Bardstown Road

Louisville KY 40204

(502) 749-5275

http://www.thebardstowntheatre.org/

Theatre Review: A Little Night Music

2012-01-21T00:46:00.001-05:00

CENTERSTAGE OFFERS EXQUISITE “NIGHT MUSIC”

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler

Directed by John R. Leffert

Review by Keith Waits

A Little Night Music has been enjoying resurgence in popularity. Undoubtedly prompted by the hugely successful 2010 Broadway revival that featured Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, who were then replaced by the even more formidable team of Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, this is the second local production of the season.

Having missed the other local effort, I am free from easy and obvious comparison, so this new entry from CenterStage, must stand or fall on its own merits. I am happy to report that this production stands up very well; a sumptuous and enchanting affair that is only held back by the limitations of the book. Adapted from the classic 1955 Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, the story, however witty the dialogue, maintains a certain chilly, Scandinavian reserve that makes the show less accessible than other great Sondheim shows. There is little to engage the audience the way the lurid violence and melodrama of Sweeney Todd or the delightfully deconstructed Fairy-tale charm of Into the Woods helped make those shows so memorable.

Yet, this IS Stephen Sondheim, and the beautifully structured score is magnificent and executed here by one of the strongest vocal ensembles yet assembled by director John R. Leffert. It begins with a chorus of five who sing as much as the principals and establish tone and atmosphere with stately presence and intricate harmony. They are: Jeff Sammons, Margot Woolridge, Christy Shircliff, Cory Vaughn, and Tymika Prince.

The main characters form around a famous stage actress and two of her lovers, their wives, a son, a daughter, and a couple of randy servants. There is also her mother, a wealthy older woman confined to a wheelchair who is given to wry and funny observations, and she is played with sly, vinegary charm by Barbara Meyerson Katz.

Colette Delaney is quite wonderful as the actress, Desiree Armfeldt. Vain and pretentious but the object of affection for two competing lovers, she effectively captures the mix of qualities that keep her always the center of attention but largely superficial until the second act number, “Send in the Clowns”. It is one of the most famous songs from any Sondheim score, the emotional highpoint of the show, and it is here given an exquisite reading by Ms. Delaney.

Russ Dunlap is very fine as Fredrik Egerman, the former lover with whom she is reunited, giving a rich and nicely colored delineation of the aging lothario who struggles in his marriage to a teenage girl. As the young bride, Emily Fields sings beautifully and nicely renders the appropriate superciliousness. As his son, Henrik, Kyle Braun fearlessly plumbs the dark comedy of a clerical student tormented by lustful desire. Lauren McCombs is a highlight as their servant, Petra, whose sexual appetite also runs comically high. It falls to her to follow “Send in the Clowns” with her own solo, “The Miller’s Son”, and, while not quite as impactful a piece of music, Ms. McCombs acquits herself admirably. Desiree’s current “dragoon” lover, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, is played by Rusty Henle with earnest good effort and good feel for the comedy, but he did not seem quite at home in his role in comparison to the rest of the cast. As his long-suffering wife, Jamie Tobelmann nearly steals her scenes with adroit comic timing and wry delivery of some of the best lines in the script. Peyton Evans does a good job as Desiree’s young daughter, Fredrika.

The design team has outdone themselves here, with a spare but striking set comprised of tree trunks captured within several large frames that, despite their wintery look, seemed somehow exactly appropriate. These were contrasted to vivid effect by lavish costumes from Shana Lincoln that were near perfect. This truly was one of the best looking shows I have seen at CenterStage, and, given their history of well-mounted productions, that is saying something.

Not every company can do justice to Sondheim’s complex and witty harmonies, but CenterStage does as splendid a job as one might wish for, proving once again that, at the top of their game, they are hard to beat for first-class musical theatre in Louisville.

A Little Night Music

January 19 – February 5, 2012

JCC CenterStage

Linker Auditorium

3600 Dutchman’s Lane

Louisville, KY 40205

502-238-2739

http://www.jccoflouisville.org/Centerstage.cfm

Theatre Review: Fiddler on the Roof

2012-01-19T07:52:00.004-05:00

FIDDLER ONCE AGAIN PROVES ITS STAYING POWER IN BROADWAY SERIES

Fiddler on the Roof

Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Book by Joseph Stein

Directed by Sammy Dallas Bayes

A review by Kathi E.B. Ellis

John Preece leads the cast of Fiddler on the Roof.

Tuesday, January 17, saw the opening of the PNC Broadway in Louisville's 2011-2012 season – an odd calendaring eventuality in itself as long-time impresario Brad Broecker acknowledged in his enthusiastically-received curtain speech. More than that, the season – filled with must-see titles (Mary Poppins, Billy Elliott) and the ever-intriguing Blue Man Group – is opening with that “Timeless Classic of American Musical Theatre” (per the program cover) Fiddler on the Roof. And therein are both the hook and the challenge. Since its 1964 stage debut and 1971 award-winning movie version, Fiddler has been produced at all levels of theatre.

This production is directed by Sammy Dallas Bayes, who has been associated with Fiddler on the Roof as performer (1964), choreographer (1990) and now director since the earliest days of the production. He also was designated by Jerome Robbins to maintain the original choreography for future productions of the show; and it’s this contribution to the show’s history that may be a key to the longevity of its success and consistency over time.

Audiences come because they love the music, the characters and the universal story of survival against all odds. Indeed, if audience members sitting within earshot on Tuesday night are typical, many of us know the lyrics word for word – if not always note for note. But, because audiences know and love Fiddler, we also bring strong preconceptions about what our experience should be.

For me, my experience on opening night was mixed.

I came to the theatre having seen the movie many times: the 1983 London revival with Topol, several stage versions at community and high school theatres, as well as the lackluster 2001 tour at the Louisville Palace. And I have a hand-carved “Anatevka” sign that still hangs in my home from a long-ago production in which I was involved.

My initial mixed reaction came with the show curtain, a perfectly innocuous forest vista. This conjured up a vague suggestion of Russian woods, in a color palette that spoke to early 20th century painting. A scenic convention of the period, this was then contradicted by the movable scenic pieces, with no traditional backdrop, once the show curtain flew up at the top of each act. An additional issue resulted from a far house left seat that enabled me to see not only the onstage action but also actors waiting for entrances and technicians upstage of Tevye’s house. An unfortunate bonus was also not being able to see the upstage right area of the stage – missing, for example, Fyedka (Michael Shultz) and Chava (Chelsey LeBel) in the ballet sequence.

As the familiar music and lyrics and iconic dance steps of tradition filled the Whitney stage and auditorium, I was faced with another conundrum. Here were men and women dancing together, holding hands, as they circled the stage. Yet later in the production Perchik (Joshua Phan-Gruber) breaks a serious social taboo when he teaches Hodel (Sarah Sesler) to dance, and then invites her to dance with him at the wedding; even when the Rabbi (Billy Holly) concedes that the "good book" doesn’t explicitly forbid dancing, he places a handkerchief in his hands, between his female partner and him, when he dances. The issue of how the genders interact in this traditional society is so significant to the turning points of the story that this opening image disturbed me…undermining as it does a central motif of the rest of the story.

Mr. Preece’s Tevye arguably carries the show. And he is at his best when he allows the music and text to carry his characterization. The scene between him and Hodel when she leaves home was one of the most poignant and powerful of the evening – two humans quietly grappling with an untenable situation for both of them. According to Mr. Preece’s program bio, he has performed this role close to 2,000 times over the spread of several decades. It’s clear he knows how to move the audience to tears and to laughs; he knows how to elicit the reliable laughter. But there are times when that choice interrupts the rhythm of the scene, when trusting that the laugh would happen, without a helping hand, would have been the stronger choice; for example, the final goodbye between Tevye and Lazar Wolf (David B.Springstead, Sr.).

The show is also arguably Tevye’s, but even a poor milkman needs appropriate support. Perchik’s passion for the potential new order was effectively drawn, as was the growing relationship between Hodel and him. Motel (Andrew Boza) was a delightful foil to Perchik, demonstrating how the quiet and persistent can find the strength of their convictions, albeit differently from those who are more outspoken. Hodel and Chava found a touching dignity in their life choices. The bottle dancers were energetically precise in this signature sequence of the show. Their long, black, formal coats flicked outwards, revealing surprisingly rich-colored linings, a contrast to the drabber daily costuming, signifying the importance of ritual in community traditions. Less successful was the sequence in the tavern with the Russian soldiers; their interruption of the celebration between Tevye and Lazar Wolf was vocally unremarkable, and the dance sequence did not rise to the level of precision of the previously noted sequence. I found the primary females to be a trifle strident. Golde (Gerri Weagraff) is a strong presence within her family, but I wasn’t moved by “Do You Love Me,” the one time when the text permits Golde a moment to let down her guard. Yente (Kristin Moore) was played primarily for laughs – and successfully so – but again, a choice that makes it more challenging to hear her desire to travel to Jerusalem. On opening night, Brooke Hill’s Tzeitel struggled with her higher register during “Matchmaker” and repeatedly demonstrated that, vocally, she was her mother’s daughter.

Even with tempos that at times felt a little pushed, for example “Sabbath Prayer” and “Far From the Home I Love,” Act One clocked in at around an hour and forty minutes, with the end of Act Two bringing the total production in as a three-hour experience – long by today’s audience attention spans. I was bemused by people leaving minutes before the end of the show. If you made it through two hours and fifty minutes, why not stay for the final number and the promise of new lands? The vast majority who stayed were enthusiastic in their response to the performance, giving Mr. Preece a standing ovation and the whole company sustained applause.

Once more, Fiddler on the Roof is proving its staying power. With themes of tradition and change, exclusion and solidarity, faith and love, almost everyone in any audience will find some moment with which they have a fundamental connection; and from that moment, the story grabs hold of us. After almost fifty years, that’s…nice to know…

Fiddler on the Roof

January 17-22, 2012

PNC Broadway in Louisville
The Kentucky Center
501 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
502-584-7777
http://louisville.broadway.com/

Theatre Review: On Golden Pond

2012-01-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

On Golden Pond

By Ernest Thompson

Directed by Russell Scott Spencer

A review by Keith Waits.

Michael Gaither, Jonathan Culwell, Gary Crockett, Heidi Platt,

Louise Schroader Epperson & David Colvin in On Golden Pond.

On Golden Pond is perfect material for a community theatre: the story is sufficiently sentimental but not maudlin, and the characters and situation are essentially bland but easily relatable. The extremely popular film adaptation arguably elevated its reputation beyond the actual merit of the original text, although there are certainly worthwhile aspects contained therein.

Which is not to say that it cannot be entertaining, and this production, directed by Russell Scott Spencer, manages to deliver enough laughs and pathos to keep audiences satisfied. Yet the script takes the time to nicely establish some interesting character conflict, only to resolve everything in such a pat and too easy fashion that it undermines its own integrity. Drama is supposed to condense life into manageable slices of storytelling, but a difficult relationship between father and daughter that has lasted for decades being washed away after a few minutes of clichéd dialogue is too far-fetched to be believed.

Much more successful in its impact and the real heart of the story is the interaction between Norman Thayer, Jr., and his wife, Ethel, in which the playwright explores themes of love and mortality with a much subtler hand. There is poignancy in the barbed interplay between them that represents a lifetime of acceptance and compassion.

This production moves at too slow a pace, but the mostly unfussy performances work well enough to tell the story. Key among them, of course, is the work of the two leads. David Colvin is well cast as Norman, as crusty a curmudgeon as you will ever find, finding the character’s irascible quality and the resulting laughs in good balance with an understanding of the more serious underpinnings of the man. Louise Schroader Epperson is a solid if uninspired Ethel, his wife, and her portrayal benefits most from her utter lack of self-consciousness onstage. It is a quality that unfortunately does hamper two of her costars – Heidi Platt as their daughter Chelsea and Gary Crockett as her dentist boyfriend, Bill Ray – although I suppose it can be said that their work serves to make Mr. Colvin's and Ms. Epperson’s performances seem all the more natural. Jonathan Culwell does fine as Billy Ray, the young son of Bill Ray who spends the summer with the Thayers; and Michael Gaither displays distinct professionalism and rascally charm as Charlie Martin, the local mailman and youthful friend/old flame of Chelsea.

Theatregoers who bring memories of the film into the theatre with them are possibly more charitable to the experience, and it also may speak more powerfully to audience members of Norman's and Ethel’s age, who may find themselves occasionally preoccupied with these same themes in their own life. For them, and perhaps many others, On Golden Pond addresses these concerns with a tender and compassionate quality that is welcoming.

On Golden Pond

January 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21 at 8:00pm

January 15 at 2:00pm

Clarksville Little Theatre

301 E. Montgomery Ave. Clarksville, IN 47129

812-283-6522

http://clarksvillelittletheatre.org/

Exhibit Review: Ming Ying Hong

2012-01-17T01:41:00.004-05:00

Untitled, Charcoal on Paper, 2011, by Ming Ying Hong.

Ming Ying Hong

The Green Building Gallery

In the range of visual art that presents itself in Louisville galleries, I find I often respond most strongly to simple ideas boldly executed. Ming Ying Hong, a young artist from Lexington, Kentucky, provides a fine example of this principal in a new exhibit at The Green Building Gallery.

The two best examples face each other on opposite ends of the space. The north wall is filled by a large charcoal drawing that appears to be a self-portrait. (All of the work is essentially untitled, although some include a simple one-word descriptive.) The quality of the image is rich, with a tactile visual texture that is strikingly complex, while the unfussy composition, framing the head and upper torso of the human subject, is slightly epic in its impact because of the scale of the piece. The effect is heightened by the fact that the paper itself has been heavily manipulated to create a crumpled effect, exploding the perceptual boundaries of two-dimensionality and transforming the “flat” drawing into a three-dimensional sculptural object. Drawing becomes sculpture.

A fascinating companion is the video projection on the south wall, “Untitled (Alex).” Another graphite drawing with the same head and shoulders framing is overlaid by a video image of the artist herself submerged in water, with only her face breaking the surface. The position of each element is carefully synchronized so that they blend together visually. At first the drawing dominates the viewer’s perception before the video exerts dominance, and the two elements coexist simultaneously in conflict and harmony with one another, creating a palpable tension: tension between the two mediums, the static drawing and the moving image, and tension in the confusion between genders. The video can be viewed on YouTube, but the impact is much greater in its large-scale projection in the gallery. Drawing becomes video, video becomes drawing.

Ming Ying Hong with her piece, Untitiled (Crumpled).

Photo by Steve Goldberg.

Both simple ideas lead the viewer to discover powerfully suggestive emotional and psychological elements in the work, the specifics of which may be highly subjective, but the presence of which is unmistakable. The expressions on the human faces reflect tension and strife resulting from struggle. The manipulation of the media and materials may be part of the reason, as if the subjects’ pain results from the manipulation itself. At least, this was my subjective response.

One other large piece, “Untitled (Crumpling),” again blurs the line between 2-D and 3-D, an assemblage of small paper fragments that combine to create an abstract, almost purely graphic piece of sculpture. Several much smaller works comprise the remainder of the exhibit, each one a jewel of densely rendered graphite drawing.

The work is focused and detailed yet influenced by organic process to an unexpected degree. It is an engrossing investigation into the ripening potential of a young artist with a fertile mind for the byplay between the physical and metaphysical.

Click to view the video "Untitled," by Ming Ying Hong

Ming Ying Hong

January 13 – February 25, 2012

The Green Building Gallery

732 East Market Street

502-561-1162

thegreenbuilding.com

Theatre Review: Boeing Boeing

2012-01-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

BOEING BOEING AT DERBY DINNER “…DOESN”T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS…”

Boeing Boeing

By Marc Camoletti (Translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans)

Directed by Lee Buckholz

Reviewed by Craig Nolan Highley

Pictured from left to right are Sara King as Gretchen,
Melissa Carlile-Price as Gloria, Megan Bliss as Gabriella
and Tyler Bliss as Bernard in Boeing Boeing.

With their latest production, the classic sixties sex farce Boeing Boeing, Derby Dinner Playhouse has provided me with the most fun I’ve had watching a play in years. Well-acted by a strong cast, and directed with precision by Lee Buckholz, I was belly-laughing fifteen minutes in and didn’t get relief until after the final bows. It just doesn’t get better than this, folks!

Right when you first enter the theater you can tell you are in for something special just by taking in the sight of John Witzke’s absolutely gorgeous set. Designed to represent a thoroughly “mod” swinger’s apartment circa 1969, it truly appears you have walked in to a bachelor’s dream pad.

The story plays out like any given episode of Three’s Company. Young, handsome Bernard (Tyler Bliss) is living the life in his swanky Paris apartment, courting three different fiancées with the reluctant help of his put-upon housekeeper Berthe (Tina Jo Wallace). And by way of some ingenious planning, all three love interests are international flight attendants who never land in Paris at the same time. He reveals his scheming to his envious friend Robert (R. Joseph Price), who quickly wants in on the action. As the rules of farce dictate, over the course of one fateful day, all hell breaks loose when all three fiancées (Melissa Carlile-Price as American Gloria, Megan Bliss as Italian Gabriella and Sara King as German Gretchen) come home the same evening. Chaos, hilarity and a lot of door-slamming ensue.

The play is such a classic that it has been revived countless times since its 1960 Paris, 1962 London and 1965 Broadway debuts, and spawned no less than four film versions (one French, one American, one Malayalam and one Hindi).

I have never seen the 1965 film, arguably the most popular version, which starred Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis as Bernard and Robert, respectively. But I can’t imagine that Curtis and Lewis were any better in the roles than Bliss and Price are here. Bliss takes Bernard from a rather unlikable, buttoned-up, conceited pretty boy at the top of the show to a completely lovable basket case by show’s end, showing a strong predilection for physical comedy that recalls Steve Martin at his best. Price gives what is probably the show’s best performance as Robert, creating a lovable schlub who almost takes the complete opposite course to Bernard, becoming a stronger and obviously more devious character as the play progresses.

The show’s ladies are all well cast by strong actresses as well. Wallace’s Berthe brings to mind The Incredibles’ Edna Mode character with her mix of style and sass. Carlile-Price’s Gloria is a strange mixture of blissful innocence and raw sex appeal; while Megan Bliss’s Gabriella is a creation Sonia Braga and Sophia Loren would envy. But the show’s complete standout performance goes to King’s Gretchen. A stereotype if there ever was one, King gives the character her all, literally throwing her whole body into the larger-than-life character with nothing short of complete brilliance.

Just an incredible cast all around!

A special mention has to be made for Heather Paige Folsom’s staging of the curtain call, an energetic number almost as entertaining as the show that preceded it. Unexpected, to say the least, but welcome all the same; very well done.

This is very likely the most fun I’ve had at Derby Dinner in years Kudos to all involved. Don’t miss it!

Boeing Boeing

Starring Megan Bliss, Tyler Bliss, Melissa Carlile-Price, Sara King, R. Joseph Price and Tina Jo Wallace

January 10 - February 19, 2012

Derby Dinner Playhouse
525 Marriott Drive
Clarksville, IN 47129
Tickets (812) 288-8281

http://www.derbydinner.com/

Fund for the Arts Leadership Attempts to Address Louisville Arts Community Concerns in Public Forum

2012-01-16T01:20:00.002-05:00

Portrait of Barbara Sexton-Smith,
painted by local artist Shayne Hull.

Almost a year after controversy that resulted in the departure of long-time Fund for the Arts president and CEO Allan Cowen, Interim President and CEO Barbara Sexton-Smith participated in a public forum at the Louisville Visual Art Association at the Louisville Water Tower on January 12. This fairly unprecedented event was a unique opportunity for those who have been most critical of the Fund’s operations to put their questions and concerns directly to the leadership. It was attended by a cross-section of artists representing visual and performing arts in Louisville and Southern Indiana. We have observations from two of our contributors who also attended:

Kathi E.B. Ellis

Visual artists have been among the most vocal calling for changes to The Fund’s way of operating following the abrupt resignation of former president and CEO Allan Cowen last year. This forum was framed around an open letter signed by more than thirty visual artists, gallery owners and other arts activists. Ms. Sexton-Smith, as she has at the many public gatherings which she’s addressed in recent months, embraced the opportunity to tell the Fund’s story and identify specific strategies she’s implemented to shift the community’s perception about how the Fund operates. Ms. Sexton-Smith is an energetic and compelling speaker who relishes telling stories that make her points for her. A signature moment of her leadership style occurred when she was asked by WFPL’s Gabe Bullard how the Fund handled last year’s controversy. What was critical, she said, was to “protect the legacy” of the Fund; she and the team stayed out in the community, ready to talk to anyone who had questions.

Issues that were addressed during the forum included transparency (all the financial information is on the website; partner organization board presidents are ex-officio Fund board members); term limits for board members (these have been introduced); diversity on the board (the NeXt! Leadership program is a vehicle to address this long term); size of the board (when raising the dollar amounts of Fund campaigns, a broad representation of the community is necessary to keep the organization viable: $5 million of the $7 million raised in 2011 came through connections from board member’s organizations); simplifying the application for funding process (a review is in process with changes already being implemented); opening up the funding process to more organizations; and the contrast in funding levels for performing and visual arts (visual arts account for 2.56% of the allocation budget).

Mary Margaret Sparks:

The first big discussion point focused on the FFTA allocations to organizations, long a subject of frustration for local artists working both in and outside of Fund member groups. In the spring of 2011, Sexton-Smith began the process of reviewing the budget process and researching how other united arts funds allocate their money. An allocations team was created of members outside of the FFTA but from their cultural partners: i.e., arts organization employees and arts organization board members. A process of budget review and changes could take anywhere from 2 to 5 years, so Sexton-Smith created three new programs to bring about immediate change and help provide additional funding to organizations.

· Power2give – Any non-profit can submit projects ranging from new photography equipment for photographing artwork to costumes and sets for theatre productions. The FFTA matches every dollar raised. http://www.power2give.org

· Innovation Fund – $200,000 to help fund innovative projects from non-profit organizations in the region.

· Employee Campaign Strategy – If a cultural partner brings a campaign to the FFTA, that cultural partner will receive 75% of the money that comes in as a result of that campaign.

The FFTA board of directors served as a platform for some surprisingly candid and forthright analysis from Sexton-Smith, who acknowledged the lack of racial, gender, economic and geographic diversity among its members. Since she assumed the Interim position, five members whose three-year terms were about to expire have rotated off and been replaced by new members of both race and gender. Sexton-Smith also hopes to create a term limit for board members and to reduce the size of the board. She also plans to add more creative representation including artists, curators and art collectors.

Other issues brought up for discussion included:

How can the FFTA play a bigger role in arts advocacy for Louisville and the state? The FFTA will be attending Arts Day in Frankfort on February 2. They will partner with LexArts from Central Kentucky on art advocacy issues.

How can smaller non-profits become a cultural partner? Non-profits interested in becoming cultural partners should just contact the FFTA directly.

Will money raised in certain regions go back to support programs in those regions; i.e., southern Indiana? The FFTA is incorporating donor advised funding in place of general “direct mail” donations. Investors who give money to the FFTA can designate where that money goes. Currently, the FFTA ensures that products and programs from their cultural partners are fairly distributed in all areas where they receive donations.

Will heritage, history and humanity organizations be able to receive funding from the FFTA? Programs such as the innovation fund and power2give allow those organizations to apply for funding through the FFTA.

Theatre Review: Eurydice

2012-01-16T01:08:00.002-05:00

Playwright Sarah Ruhl

By Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Kathi E.B. Ellis

Reviewed by Keith Waits

The primary focus in most interpretations of the myth of Eurydice is on the love story between Eurydice and the poet Orpheus. But the most fascinating relationship in Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice is between the young woman and her dead father. Writing in the aftermath of her own father’s death, the acclaimed author (runner up for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for In the Next Room [Or the Vibrator Play]) beautifully explores her grief through the use of carefully constructed language that pitches the classic story in a vivid modern vernacular that makes the story easily accessible to a more mainstream audience that might normally find such material distancing.

This production at The Alley Theater makes an appropriate vehicle with which to introduce their new performance venue in the basement of The Pointe. To descend down the stairs and make your way through the rough, still-developing space to the stage echoes the journey into the Underworld that forms an important recurring action for these characters. Director Kathi E.B. Ellis has staged the play in the round, emphasizing the intimacy and modest scale of the setting. The cast moves with care and purpose, communicating as much through the physicality of the blocking as they do with Ms. Ruhl’s precise and lyrical text.

She also guides a solid cast through their paces, eliciting unified ensemble work from Hallie Kirk Dizdarevic as a vivid and complex Eurydice; Scott Davis, stepping out of his role as Alley’s Producing Artistic Director to deliver a grave but endearing turn as Her Father; Joel Mingo as a robust yet soulful Orpheus; and Michael Mayes as the commanding and charismatic Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld who tempts Eurydice to her tragic result. There is also a memorable Chorus of Stones – Big (Ben Unwin), Little (Scott Goodwin) and Loud (Clayton Marshall) – that are functional and resonant support throughout.

If the text is often cerebral, the staging leans toward the visceral, using an uneasy mixture of deliberate movement and occasional bursts of slapstick energy that gives the production good tension. The playwright’s contemporary gloss on the story here plays initially as a romantic comedy that seems too serious and then transforms into a tragedy played for laughs, throwing the audience off-balance and allowing us to share in Eurydice’s disorientation and confusion. It is a thoughtful exploration of the concept that comedy and tragedy are separated by the thinnest of margins and, therefore, worthwhile theatre.

Eurydice

January 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20, 2012. Shows at 7:30 PM.

The Alley Theater

1205 East Washington Street

Louisville, KY 40202

502-589-3866

http://thealleytheater.org/site/

Theatre Review: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

2012-01-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

“HUGELY ENJOYABLE” CHAD DEITY IS A TOTAL TRIUMPH FOR ACTORS THEATRE

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

Written by Kristoffer Diaz

Directed by K.J. Sanchez

A review by Keith Waits.

Kamal Angelo Bolden, Lou Sumrall and Alex Hernandez

in The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity.

Photo by Alan Simons.

I see a lot of plays, many of them good, some great, but only a rare few are as much of a triumph as the production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity that just opened at Actors Theatre.

The fast-paced, hilarious, yet thoughtful satire by Kristoffer Diaz received an Obie for Best New American Play (2011) and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The first act was so swift and outrageous in its depiction of the world of professional wrestling, eliciting a riotous response from the audience, that it was easy to question such lofty recognition, however wildly entertaining this production proved to be. Yet the deeper exploration of themes concerning our appetite for racial stereotypes in popular culture and the struggle to maintain personal identity are so carefully woven into the story that their impact can only be fully measured in the play’s poignant final moments.

Kamal Angelo Bolden in The Elaborate

Entrance of Chad Deity. Photo by Alan Simons.

The evening begins with a curtain speech delivered, with appropriate bombast, by Apprentice Company member Nick Vannoy in the overemphatic manner of a WWF announcer. It perfectly set the tone, priming the audience to the role they play in the proceedings and neatly kicking off director KJ Sanchez’s elaborate staging. This is Ms. Sanchez’s second straight production in the Bingham Theatre and she is very at ease with the space, utilizing every square inch of the room: littering it with confetti and fake money, placing hand-painted signage in the amongst the audience members, shooting the action with video cameras projecting onto four large screens; she unashamedly uses every trick to bring to vivid life the razzle-dazzle of this particularly vulgar corner of show business.

Yet the script, through the central character of Macedonio “The Mace” Guerra (it is not really Chad Deity’s story, although he is the champion), finds a unique perspective on what has always seemed to be a wholly fake and ridiculous environment, finding unexpected dignity in the mission of these performers. Mace takes pride in his skills and the fact that he has fulfilled his dream to work as a wrestler, even one whose job it is to make the champion look like he knows what he is doing when he actually doesn’t. But his ambition leads him to compromise himself in surprising ways, as he embraces the most objectionable ethnic stereotypes, framing the moral question that gives the play just enough gravitas and almost no pretention.

The sharp and brilliantly constructed dialogue is dense and challenging, and Alex Hernandez as Macedonio tackles it with such expert skill and focused energy, it is hard to believe that this young, former ATL Acting Apprentice entered the production as a last-minute substitute. His commanding work forcefully holds the center of attention even among the larger-than-life characters that surround him. And to not be overshadowed by Kamal Angelo Bolden’s colorful and hugely enjoyable Chad Deity is no small task. Mr. Bolden has played the role before, and brings so much bravura and showy, cock-of-the-walk arrogance to the role, combined with precise comic timing, that he simply must be seen to be believed. Ramiz Monsef plays Vigneshwar Paduar, an equally confident but entirely inexperienced newcomer to the ring, as a hip-hop cartoon that finds his integrity under assault in the process of becoming a wrestling star almost against his will. It is fine work that establishes an equally broad but still contrasting presence to the champion. ATL veteran Lou Sumerall renders the wrestling scion Everett K. Olson in almost perfect terms, wheeling onto the stage in an over-size office chair. (Chad Deity is not the only one who knows how to make an entrance.) Local Ohio Valley Wrestling star Jamin Olivencia rounds out the cast, dutifully playing The Bad Guy in the ring with style, while other Apprentice Company members effectively deliver in small roles.

The design team delivers spectacular work, turning the Bingham Theatre into a full-on wrestling venue so convincingly that one could easily imagine the ATL management generating additional revenue renting it for that purpose at season’s end.

The lobby was buzzing with positive chatter after the show, and it seems clear to me that Chad Deity is one of those shows everyone will be talking about, making it the first “must-see” production of 2012. Of course, it is only January, but I believe the memory of this production will linger long after it has vacated the stage to make way for the Humana Festival.

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

January 3 – February 4, 2012

Actors Theater of Louisville
Bingham Theater
Third & Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
502-584-1205
ActorsTheatre.org

Interview with Peter Holloway – Stage One Family Theatre

2012-01-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

Being the Executive Director of a not-for-profit arts organization is a tenuous position in the best of times. Being the Executive Director of two not-for-profit arts organizations – one of which relies heavily on support from the schools – in the decade of naughts is a position few would relish. Peter Holloway is the exception. Over the past four years, Holloway and the staffs and boards of directors of Stage One Children’s Theatre and Music Theatre Louisville have worked behind the scenes to merge these two historic entities into one taut organization: Stage One Family Theatre. When I spoke with Holloway about his vision for the future of Stage One Family Theatre, he assured me that vision has moved steadily away from the brink to being on the road to financial stability with the potential for substantial growth.

PH: Internally, we’ve finished the merger. Public perception might be a little behind that. I don’t know if many people are so aware of the transition yet.
SD: Let’s bring everyone up to speed. What was the impetus for the merger?
PH: The biggest reason for working to combine Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville as Stage One Family Theatre is business practicality. We were running two separate organizations with two sets of books, separate audits, different ticketing systems, etc., that unnecessarily complicated things when we do operate as one company. There’s only one staff that does everything, and the year just keeps turning from one production to another.
SD: Have you made any adjustments to the missions of the two organizations?
PH: Philosophically, we still want to deliver community-based programming for adults as well as year-round, age-appropriate children’s programming. You’ll see a little difference in the way we bring these shows to the public. While we will continue to present the musicals for which Music Theatre Louisville has been known all these years, we’ll be presenting some straight plays. For instance, next summer one of our shows will be Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. I’m excited about that because it will be a lot of fun.
SD: What kind of feedback do you expect from your long-term patrons?
PH: I think folks who have been familiar with our MTL Broadway classics will still appreciate that. It is, of course, a non-musical piece; but that’s going to open the door for us to do some other things under the Stage One Family Theatre brand that folks would like to see. So you may see other things from us in coming seasons, such as To Kill a Mockingbird or Inherit the Wind – some of the classic American plays that, in our opinion, aren’t being done enough. These are plays that you would probably want to see yourself as an adult. They are also plays you might want to experience with the young and soon-to-be young adults in your life because it’s a piece of American drama they should see.
SD: Traditionally, MTL productions have been staged between June and August. Are you planning to expand that schedule?
PH: We are considering a short run of Frankenstein, Sleepy Hollow or some other show appropriate to the Halloween season. One of the guidelines we will use for these productions involves the high school summer reading lists. It would be great to put a high-quality production of The Glass Menagerie or A Streetcar Named Desire on stage. I think audiences would enjoy seeing those as well.
SD: I agree. What else have you planned for the summer?
PH: It’s still a work in progress, but we plan to open the summer season with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We hope to bring musicians from the Louisville Youth Orchestra to play alongside professional musicians for an expanded, on-stage orchestra.
SD: How does that decision connect to the mission of your organization?
PH: As a community-based theatre, this alliance allows us to facilitate a mentoring opportunity for these young musicians. We’re also reaching out to churches in the community to build children’s choirs for the show. We expect to have a lot of kids from all parts of town participating.
SD: What’s coming up in the next couple of months?
PH: Number the Stars will open next. The book is widely read in grades 4 to 6. Many people will connect this in their mind with another book popular with this age group, The Diary of Anne Frank, that also deals with Nazi genocide. But this story is a little different in that it takes place in occupied Denmark and centers around Danish families helping their Jewish neighbors escape to Sweden. As the play begins, it isn’t yet clear that they are in danger, but things are beginning to add up.
SD: Of all the scripts out there, what brings this story to the surface?
PH: We regularly choose scripts in which the student actors are driving the action of the story. In this case, there are young girls between the ages of 12 and 14 who are working to save their friends. We have found it very successful when students are watching their peers on stage. They are much more engaged and interested when they see someone like themselves facing dilemmas, making difficult choices and facing danger. That’s exactly what you have in this story.
SD: What makes Number the Stars relevant to students today? The events in the play took place over seven decades ago.
PH: I don’t think we should ever forget things as awful as the Holocaust. It’s also important that we understand how easy it is for the public to be manipulated – out of fear, ignorance or self-preservation – into doing things they couldn’t imagine. We still see those kinds of issues today.
SD: Number the Stars is primarily for fourth- to sixth-graders. For the younger folks, you have Lyle the Crocodile coming up.
PH: Lyle is appealing to all ages, but grades K to 3 in particular love it. I promise adults will find it every bit as humorous. Lyle is a fascinating character – he’s a crocodile who lives in a house in New York City. He’s very sophisticated and gets along well with others. He manages to be a really strong character without ever speaking. It’s a lot of fun; people will enjoy it a lot.
SD: You direct a few plays for Stage One. Will you be helming either of these?
PH: I am not. Andrew Harris will direct Number the Stars, and I’m excited to see what he does. We have a fantastic set design and a really good team to work on that with him. Stephen Rahe, the education director at Actors Theatre of Louisville [formerly a member of the Stage One staff], will direct Lyle the Crocodile.
SD: What happens in the classroom before students see a play like Lyle the Crocodile?
PH: A lot of the titles we present are literary titles read at the schools, so we get a lot of input from teachers and administrators about what the students find most appealing. Based on that information, we create lesson plans that we share with the schools. There are a lot of ways teachers can connect the show with the classroom either before or after attending. We also offer pre- and post-show discussions for teachers to take advantage of.
SD: How many public [non-school] performances would Stage One typically give of a show like Lyle the Crocodile?
PH: Well, that’s an interesting question. We have a little different model than works for most of the very successful children’s theatres. Most are based on public performances. Ours, on the other hand, is comprised mostly of school matinees. Until a few years ago, we had more public performances than we do today, but attendance was light. I decided I would rather do fewer performances and fill them up. Over the past few years, we’ve dramatically raised the attendance so we may be able to add a couple in.
SD: You have also increased attendance at the school matinees.
PH: We introduced a program last year called “Play It Forward,” part of our reworked business model. We decided we would take some of the dollars we’ve received as gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations and convert them into what we would call underwriting.
SD: What prompted you to revise your business model?
PH: There wasn’t much choice. Not only were we struggling financially, but we were seeing a decrease in the number of kids who were able to see the shows. Stage One is a gateway into the arts in this community, and I feel it is really important for the kids to be able to come to our productions. Last year we decided to make kindergarten, first grade, fifth grade and sixth grade “no cost” to the students. We made it so that all they have to do is get to the theatre and we saw a dramatic jump in attendance – from 45,000 to 80,000 kids. The counterpoint to that is it becomes a disincentive for families to attend since the kids have probably seen it. So when I mentioned before that we may do a Halloween show, or some of these other classic American plays, they will be on a limited run with fewer student matinees to give people the opportunity to come as a family.
SD: How have your donors responded to this program?
PH: They’ve been great. In a tough economy like we have right now, most people are very sensitive to the fact that both the arts and schools are suffering. Sadly, it’s the arts that are cut first at the schools when resources are being triaged. Attending one of our performances is an opportunity for the schools to meet some of the curriculum-based requirements – and it doesn’t cost them anything beyond transportation. Additional funding will allow us to open the program up to grades 2, 3 and 4 this spring. It’s a great statement for our community to be able to make: Every student in the area, grades K to 6, will have the opportunity to attend a show at no cost.
SD: What will that mean in terms of attendance?
PH: We have about 15,000 kids in each grade level in the Metro if you include public, private, home and parochial schools on both sides of the river. About two-thirds of those students have been coming under this program. I’m assuming those numbers will hold for grades 2 to 4 and bring our total attendance to about 110,000 students annually.
SD: That makes Stage One Family Theatre one of the biggest arts groups in the Metro.
PH: Without question. Last year we were the single largest user of The Kentucky Center – by a substantial margin – without ever going into Whitney Hall! That’s exciting!
SD: I know you have other ideas percolating. Are any of them ready to be shared?
PH: Well, I am looking for more partnership opportunities like the one I described with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I could see us doing Oklahoma! in partnership with the Louisville Ballet so that we could add the Agnes de Mille classic ballet dream sequence into the production. Perhaps we could find a way to work with the Thoroughbred Chorus; imagine having them as the Seabees in a production of South Pacific. I would love to figure out ways to pull a few of the arts groups together for one weekend a summer and do a big musical in the right venue.
SD: What else have you planned for this summer’s season?
PH: Right now we’re looking at presenting a dinner theatre production in the Horseshoe Casino showroom.
SD: And, of course, auditions for all of this are just around the corner.
PH: Yes, we will be casting our productions in March. So we encourage anyone who wants to be part of what’s happening to prepare your one-minute monologue and 16-bars of music. If you don’t want to be on stage or work with us backstage, there is plenty of room in the audience. We are very proud of the place we’ve achieved in this community. Over the past 65 years, Stage One has seen a lot of changes. But we’ve hit a real growth spurt over the past two years, and I am excited about what we are poised to accomplish.

For more information about the new Stage One Family Theatre and upcoming performances, you can go to their website: www.StageOne.org. Tickets are available through The Kentucky Center box office at 502.584.7777 or 800.775.7777.