In recent years, especially, Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago has increased its recognition value and rep for quality -- the production of "August: Osage County" that moved to New York, then London, now elsewhere, being a good example.
I traveled for a couple of days to Chicago earlier this week and, though there was not a great deal of theatre being offered in mid-August, I was lucky enough that "Up" was being presented on the main stage at Steppenwolf, and a good friend from college who works there during the week could accompany me.
Interesting story, good set/effects, fine lighting, very nice acting indeed (including in the lead male role the actor who originated the role of "Little Charles" in "August: Osage County," under the same director who handled "August") -- quite a nice night in the theater indeed. But for me, a fan back to his days in the movie "Manhunter," followed by those nine years as Gil Grissom in "CSI," it was a great pleasure to sit a few rows up the aisle from William Petersen, now an ensemble member at Steppenwolf. A very nice added spice to being at the theatre in the first place.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Packin' 'em in
It's safe to say that, though now there is something of a lull, we've been continuing a rapid pace of live performances here into August.
After two shows on one weekend in mid-July, we then caught "Dead Man's Cell Phone," Paper Lantern Theatre's first production in Winston-Salem, on a Thursday night. It was a chiefly pleasing script and well-done by the performers -- certainly a production that suggests we should keep our eyes on Paper Lantern!
On the weekend following that performance, we also caught our first live rock concert in a while -- Kenny Loggins and his band, performing at App State in Boone. It was a warmish wait to get into the space, but quite a fun night of good songs and memories. It also wasn't a long trip home, since we were staying in Fleetwood.
We followed Kenny with a play called "Dead City," performed by Rorschach Theatre on the Georgetown University campus in D.C. As is often the case with shows we see in D.C., the lighting designer was our son, Andy. It was a show full of ideas, and most of them paid off pretty well.
The very next evening, we had a fun experience in seeing the live Paul McCartney concert at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. Again, a pretty hot/damp experience getting to and from the stadium by way of the Metro, but the concert itself was again a wonderful sing-along night of nostalgia. For us old folks. And to be polite, they had just about every current theatrical/stage lighting toy you could think of, and they sure used 'em. "Flash and trash," as Andy and his lighting friends and gurus call it. But kind of fun, too!
Most recently, on a Friday evening during the 2009 version of the National Black Theatre Festival, which is held nearby in Winston-Salem, we saw the thought-provoking "Halley's Comet," a one-man show powerfully and pleasingly performed by John Amos. Wow. A fine theatrical experience. I will never understand why, in the so-called City of the Arts, so many white folks who attend other theater tend to skip nearly all NBTF events. It's been that way as long as we've been attending shows during this every-two-years event. Sad. But true.
But now, two actual full weeks off without a show that I know of anyway, while I continue the wait on three different play submissions that are SUPPOSED to be decided by the end of this month. We'll see if that actually happens.
After two shows on one weekend in mid-July, we then caught "Dead Man's Cell Phone," Paper Lantern Theatre's first production in Winston-Salem, on a Thursday night. It was a chiefly pleasing script and well-done by the performers -- certainly a production that suggests we should keep our eyes on Paper Lantern!
On the weekend following that performance, we also caught our first live rock concert in a while -- Kenny Loggins and his band, performing at App State in Boone. It was a warmish wait to get into the space, but quite a fun night of good songs and memories. It also wasn't a long trip home, since we were staying in Fleetwood.
We followed Kenny with a play called "Dead City," performed by Rorschach Theatre on the Georgetown University campus in D.C. As is often the case with shows we see in D.C., the lighting designer was our son, Andy. It was a show full of ideas, and most of them paid off pretty well.
The very next evening, we had a fun experience in seeing the live Paul McCartney concert at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. Again, a pretty hot/damp experience getting to and from the stadium by way of the Metro, but the concert itself was again a wonderful sing-along night of nostalgia. For us old folks. And to be polite, they had just about every current theatrical/stage lighting toy you could think of, and they sure used 'em. "Flash and trash," as Andy and his lighting friends and gurus call it. But kind of fun, too!
Most recently, on a Friday evening during the 2009 version of the National Black Theatre Festival, which is held nearby in Winston-Salem, we saw the thought-provoking "Halley's Comet," a one-man show powerfully and pleasingly performed by John Amos. Wow. A fine theatrical experience. I will never understand why, in the so-called City of the Arts, so many white folks who attend other theater tend to skip nearly all NBTF events. It's been that way as long as we've been attending shows during this every-two-years event. Sad. But true.
But now, two actual full weeks off without a show that I know of anyway, while I continue the wait on three different play submissions that are SUPPOSED to be decided by the end of this month. We'll see if that actually happens.
Monday, July 20, 2009
On the local/regional scene
Close on the heels of returning from CATF, Kathy and I took off for a jaunt to Greenville, SC, to catch The Distracted Globe's production of "Beyond Therapy" by Christopher Durang. We'd never seen the show, or enough Durang period, and former Kernersvillian Kelly Wallace was one of the stars in a fine cast all the way around. It was a nice space and a good production, we felt, and given that all of the characters are chiefly nuts, it was a lot of fun to watch, too. Though I don't highly recommend trying to escape from downtown Greenville on a Saturday night if you only know how to leave using Main Street. Their great success in revitalizing downtown has turned into a traffic mess -- so a qualified success, I would say as an outsider.
From Greenville, we hustled back to Kernersville, and then over to Greensboro and Open Space to take in Richard Dresser's "Rounding Third." I had heard of this show some BEFORE we knew Open Space was doing it, and then -- serendipity -- I saw a poster for it (and for a couple of other Richard Dresser plays) as having been done in 2004 at CATF.
In any case, our friend Ken Ashford was one of the two actors in this show, which was painfully funny for anyone who had ever encountered Little League in any form. Ken and fellow actor Scott Stevens did a great job, and the story line turned out to be a little deeper than I had anticipated at first. An enjoyable afternoon at the theater!
And now, four days without a play to attend. How will I survive?
From Greenville, we hustled back to Kernersville, and then over to Greensboro and Open Space to take in Richard Dresser's "Rounding Third." I had heard of this show some BEFORE we knew Open Space was doing it, and then -- serendipity -- I saw a poster for it (and for a couple of other Richard Dresser plays) as having been done in 2004 at CATF.
In any case, our friend Ken Ashford was one of the two actors in this show, which was painfully funny for anyone who had ever encountered Little League in any form. Ken and fellow actor Scott Stevens did a great job, and the story line turned out to be a little deeper than I had anticipated at first. An enjoyable afternoon at the theater!
And now, four days without a play to attend. How will I survive?
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Contemporary is chiefly all right with me
Midweek, I began my current play-going marathon by heading 5.5 hours northwards to the small town of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. It's way on the eastern edge of the state, one of the collection of old towns in that area such as Harpers Ferry, Martinsburg and only four miles from Shepherdstown but in Maryland, Sharpsburg, near which the tragic Antietam battle was fought during the Civil War.
At Shepherd University, each summer since 1991, the Contemporary American Theater Festival has brought new plays to production on the stages here -- this year, there were five, performed in three different venues. A close friend of ours is the business manager at CATF, which is how I learned of it. In addition to some excellent genealogical research in that area, I was lucky enough to see three of those five shows.
The first show was called "Farrugut North" and, apparently, has already been optioned for a potential movie with George Clooney. The stage version was quite well done, with a chiefly representational set to tell the story of a young campaigner working the presidential campaign in Iowa, dirty tricks, dirty mouths and ultimate disillusionment (and more dirty tricks). Anyone who was paying attention was unlikely to walk away without a deeper cynicism towards the American political process.
The second show was "Fifty Words," referring to the idea that there are probably fifty different words that can be used to reflect "love." The show, which was a bit on the long side for a no-intermission production, was quite well acted by two people, and dissected, almost literally, a marriage in trouble. Thought this is apparently OK or even desirable for this particular contemporary theater festival, this play and the next ended with a fairly ambiguous closing. It's not my favorite thing, but still, I can't take too many points off given the other strengths of this show.
Finally, I saw "Yankee Tavern," the latest completed script by prolific playwright Steven Dietz, whose "Trust" I saw produced in 2006 at Spoleto. This one had a great realistic set of an old-fashioned (and fading) bar and delved into conspiracy theories in the aftermath of 9-11, and some interesting characters. Once again, the ending left some questions which I suspect we were meant to fill in for ourselves. If you really wanted to.
All in all, it was an interesting and entertaining few hours in the theaters up in West Virginia. I'm definitely glad I went.
At Shepherd University, each summer since 1991, the Contemporary American Theater Festival has brought new plays to production on the stages here -- this year, there were five, performed in three different venues. A close friend of ours is the business manager at CATF, which is how I learned of it. In addition to some excellent genealogical research in that area, I was lucky enough to see three of those five shows.
The first show was called "Farrugut North" and, apparently, has already been optioned for a potential movie with George Clooney. The stage version was quite well done, with a chiefly representational set to tell the story of a young campaigner working the presidential campaign in Iowa, dirty tricks, dirty mouths and ultimate disillusionment (and more dirty tricks). Anyone who was paying attention was unlikely to walk away without a deeper cynicism towards the American political process.
The second show was "Fifty Words," referring to the idea that there are probably fifty different words that can be used to reflect "love." The show, which was a bit on the long side for a no-intermission production, was quite well acted by two people, and dissected, almost literally, a marriage in trouble. Thought this is apparently OK or even desirable for this particular contemporary theater festival, this play and the next ended with a fairly ambiguous closing. It's not my favorite thing, but still, I can't take too many points off given the other strengths of this show.
Finally, I saw "Yankee Tavern," the latest completed script by prolific playwright Steven Dietz, whose "Trust" I saw produced in 2006 at Spoleto. This one had a great realistic set of an old-fashioned (and fading) bar and delved into conspiracy theories in the aftermath of 9-11, and some interesting characters. Once again, the ending left some questions which I suspect we were meant to fill in for ourselves. If you really wanted to.
All in all, it was an interesting and entertaining few hours in the theaters up in West Virginia. I'm definitely glad I went.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Short plays can be fun
We've just returned from a long road trip which, while not overwhelmed with playgoing, did include two of the three ten-minute play flights at the Source Festival in Washington, D.C. We caught all three flights (25 plays) last year, but only scheduled two flights (12 of 18 plays offered this year) for this visit due to other obligations. In addition to catching up with family present and future and some good eating, we once again enjoyed most if not all of the offerings. Source solicits scripts from around the world. They got 700 in the first year and 500 for this year's presentation, so you can imagine that they get to pick the best of the best.
They also mine from a great crop of actors each year, and each show gets its own DC-area freelance director. Some are very funny; some are quirky or weird; and several are quite intense, too -- such as one about a young female recruit in the Airborne whose parachute fouls and we learn about her as she falls towards her likely death. As it was last year, a good and inspirational experience.
We have more theater coming up, but I will report on that as it happens.
I also managed to wrap up a ten-minute script called "Progress," and have moved that along to a possible outlet. Meanwhile, on virtually all of the other scripts, I wait.
They also mine from a great crop of actors each year, and each show gets its own DC-area freelance director. Some are very funny; some are quirky or weird; and several are quite intense, too -- such as one about a young female recruit in the Airborne whose parachute fouls and we learn about her as she falls towards her likely death. As it was last year, a good and inspirational experience.
We have more theater coming up, but I will report on that as it happens.
I also managed to wrap up a ten-minute script called "Progress," and have moved that along to a possible outlet. Meanwhile, on virtually all of the other scripts, I wait.
Friday, June 26, 2009
On the play trail, again
We've been keeping up our theater-going escapades lately, with three very different shows in three very different venues but each of them chiefly light-hearted and good for a chuckle.
We started by taking in the opening night of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," the musical, performed quite ably by six young actors on the Kernersville Elementary School stage. Kernersville Little Theatre normally does a musical in June each year, and this was one of the best I have seen (and we've seen most of them since 1990 or so). The show used only one keyboard (on-stage) and the six performers in great costumes to represent their respective "Peanuts" comic strip characters. It was a lot of fun to watch, and pretty much glitch-less on the technical side as well.
The very next night we were off to sit in "our seats" at Triad Stage in Greensboro, for their updated and shortened version of Moliere's "Tartuffe." It was not a show or story I was familiar with, but the tale of hypocrisy and fraud in the name of religion certainly had its moments. I found it to be just a slight bit over-the-top in some of the posturing, with the understanding that it was, after all, period comedy updated. All in all, still an entertaining stop in the theater.
Finally, we caught Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance's very fun second run of Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," which included fave area actors Cheryl Roberts and Ken Ashford along with others in the long-and-narrow theater space the Alliance now uses. We also caught up with Mikey Wiseman, who was helping backstage, in town from his extended run in Fort Myers with "Church Basement Ladies." He's about to go back out, on tour this time, as the understudy to William Christopher (who played the Chaplain in the TV version of "M*A*S*H"). Busy man!
Meanwhile, I came back from Spoleto with an idea for a 10-minute script, and I'm getting closer to finalizing that one. Another script is on its way to yet another competition, so at least the playwriting is not entirely moribund.
Soon, we're off to see 12 different ten minute plays being done, so more about that soon.
We started by taking in the opening night of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," the musical, performed quite ably by six young actors on the Kernersville Elementary School stage. Kernersville Little Theatre normally does a musical in June each year, and this was one of the best I have seen (and we've seen most of them since 1990 or so). The show used only one keyboard (on-stage) and the six performers in great costumes to represent their respective "Peanuts" comic strip characters. It was a lot of fun to watch, and pretty much glitch-less on the technical side as well.
The very next night we were off to sit in "our seats" at Triad Stage in Greensboro, for their updated and shortened version of Moliere's "Tartuffe." It was not a show or story I was familiar with, but the tale of hypocrisy and fraud in the name of religion certainly had its moments. I found it to be just a slight bit over-the-top in some of the posturing, with the understanding that it was, after all, period comedy updated. All in all, still an entertaining stop in the theater.
Finally, we caught Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance's very fun second run of Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," which included fave area actors Cheryl Roberts and Ken Ashford along with others in the long-and-narrow theater space the Alliance now uses. We also caught up with Mikey Wiseman, who was helping backstage, in town from his extended run in Fort Myers with "Church Basement Ladies." He's about to go back out, on tour this time, as the understudy to William Christopher (who played the Chaplain in the TV version of "M*A*S*H"). Busy man!
Meanwhile, I came back from Spoleto with an idea for a 10-minute script, and I'm getting closer to finalizing that one. Another script is on its way to yet another competition, so at least the playwriting is not entirely moribund.
Soon, we're off to see 12 different ten minute plays being done, so more about that soon.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wrapping up this year's Spoleto
The rest of our slightly shorter visit to Spoleto this year had the stronger offerings, in our opinion. We enjoyed The Reckoning, a Chicago-based long-form improv group, in their show at Theatre 99, one of our usual stops for Piccolo Spoleto events.
We also took in "Don John," at the Memminger (a recently renovated space where Andy worked the last several years, this year as Master Electrician). This was presented by the Kneehigh Theatre group from Cornwall (England). They were at Spoleto three years ago, doing an astonishingly entertaining telling of the "Tristan and Iseult" tale (which is set in Cornwall and Ireland). This play was an updated interpretation of the Don Juan/Don Giovanni story, set (sort of) in a carnival. The set ideas, lighting and sound were all fascinating, and so was most of the play -- though I have to compare, and "Tristan" wins for overall achievement. Nevertheless, these people are chock-full of ideas, even if some of them don't always hit home.
Our final show before taking off for home was a one-man (well, there was also a musician who pitched in now and then) presentation by a gent from Wales, which chiefly reflected on his experience when his father passed away, and connected (in the theme of death) to a time when he "babysat" a rabbit for neighbors -- and the rabbit promptly passed away. Though a reviewer for the main newspaper in Charleston ripped it apart, I felt it certainly had its moments and some effective times. Maybe not the greatest thing ever, but good. If only the family with the three year old hadn't crazily decided this was something they should do together ....
Anyway, as always, some interesting times and experiences at a great Festival.
We also took in "Don John," at the Memminger (a recently renovated space where Andy worked the last several years, this year as Master Electrician). This was presented by the Kneehigh Theatre group from Cornwall (England). They were at Spoleto three years ago, doing an astonishingly entertaining telling of the "Tristan and Iseult" tale (which is set in Cornwall and Ireland). This play was an updated interpretation of the Don Juan/Don Giovanni story, set (sort of) in a carnival. The set ideas, lighting and sound were all fascinating, and so was most of the play -- though I have to compare, and "Tristan" wins for overall achievement. Nevertheless, these people are chock-full of ideas, even if some of them don't always hit home.
Our final show before taking off for home was a one-man (well, there was also a musician who pitched in now and then) presentation by a gent from Wales, which chiefly reflected on his experience when his father passed away, and connected (in the theme of death) to a time when he "babysat" a rabbit for neighbors -- and the rabbit promptly passed away. Though a reviewer for the main newspaper in Charleston ripped it apart, I felt it certainly had its moments and some effective times. Maybe not the greatest thing ever, but good. If only the family with the three year old hadn't crazily decided this was something they should do together ....
Anyway, as always, some interesting times and experiences at a great Festival.
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