Category Archives: Theatre

in all its forms

Movies, Theatre

Stylish Filmgoing in Toronto

tiff

In Toronto two nights ago I found myself spoiled for choice on things to do – a natural conundrum for a Saturday night in a big city. If I had planned the night more effectively ahead of time, I would have ended up at a hockey game or theatre performance, but the spontaneity card took me to a movie theatre instead… and the venue itself (seen above) was a highly memorable one.

The TIFF Bell Lightbox functions as the year – round home of the Toronto Film Festival, and even at this time of year, the opposite end of the film festival, it remained busy and active. An impressive four or five floors of cinemas rise up from the main lobby, which reminded me more of a European museum than a cinema with a bright, white interior and very high ceiling.

This entry is taking way too long to write (oh, distractions and the internet), so I’ll try to do just a quick summary…

Of a plethora of diverse and unusual films to choose (best seen here) I went for the unknown and chose a screening of Possible Worlds, directed by noted Quebec-based theatre & film maker Robert Lepage. whom I’d actually seen perform in Berkeley several years ago. Turned out he was there for the screening and gave some brief introductory remarks about the film along with the producer and writer. Lepage was also being feted in Toronto for a prize of some sort… I don’t recall the specifics.

The film at hand, Possible Worlds, was highly impressive. Originally released in 2000, I’m not sure if it enjoyed a US release, and I don’t recall hearing about it at the time. It offered a typically strong lead performance from Tilda Swinton, just before she transitioned to more “mainstream” roles (or perhaps just more well known roles) and beautiful location photography in Montreal and the Magdalen Islands region of Quebec. I don’t want to say too much more about it, except that it was provocative and thought provoking, and you should Google it.

possible worlds

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Movies, Theatre

Familiarity breeds appreciation

Yesterday brought two currently rare examples of seeing people I know perform onstage – and in film. Initially thought it was the first time that had happened in over two years, but I now recall there have been a handful of occurrences since leaving the Bay Area (where that situation was much more frequent.)

In the afternoon I cheered on friends from The Penny Seats for their annual “Five Bowls of Oatmeal” performance given in collaboration with local non-profit 826michigan, which is itself, coincidentally, an offshoot of a San Francisco-based organization. This event was the culmination of several weeks of writing workshops with 826 volunteers and local middle school aged students, collaborating with the students to write short plays that (VERY IMPORTANT) had to have oatmeal incorporated into them. And the students succeeded! Many writers were in the audience yesterday to see their work and be (humorously and thoughtfully) interviewed in between some of the plays.

Of course for me there was an extra appeal in the performance: seeing my friends take on new and often outlandish roles, like a loaf of bread, a winter storm, a few babies, children who are budding actors, police officers and various types of food (just to name a few…) with everyone clearly having a great time loosening up and honoring the student’s written word. I can’t forget to mention the creative cartoon-style props and thoughtful attention to sound design that were an integral part of the complete performance.

In the evening I again ventured to the State Theater (quickly becoming my most frequently visited local cinema) to see the acclaimed film 12 Years A Slave, featuring college friend Lupita Nyong’o in a key supporting role. I’m not exaggerating when I mention that Lupita has received considerable press attention for her work in this film, with corresponding Oscar buzz. A quick Google search yielded many recent examples including 3 from the past 10 days (!) which I will link to here:

The New York Times highlights Lupita’s fashion sense
The LA Times checks in with Lupita as the Oscar season begins
and most honorably…
The Springfield Republican interviews several of our Hampshire professors about their experiences working with Lupita.

The Republican’s opening comment that “But for those who knew her when she was a student at Hampshire College, the applause is nothing but expected” resonated with me for obvious reasons, as I was always impressed with Lupita’s dedication to her/our college pursuits that I observed, and am happy to observe support for her continuing to come from our alumni community.

Where both of the observations in this post stem from college theatre connections, it makes me feel very grateful for my time at Hampshire College. Relatedly, there’s a good chance I would not be here in Ann Arbor right now if I hadn’t gone to Hampshire… but that’s for an alternate reality science fiction-style post.

The film – 12 Years A Slave? Easily one of the most intense, visceral and harrowing films I’ve ever seen in the movie theatre. I’m sure those feelings were connected to knowing that the story is based on a real event, combined with a sad knowledge of slavery’s reality and heavy footprint in history. It’s a film that generates quiet contemplation (there are no words, really) although I am sure it will be a recurring presence in the film awards season ahead.

An esteemed cast gave power to the characters, with Chiwitel Ejofor in the devastating lead role (and seeming to make a comeback of sorts after being less visible on screen for the past several years), easily rising to the front of Best Actor conversations, while several well-known actors offered supporting portrayals of varying importance to the story.

I had some quibbles with a few technical aspects of the film, but can’t deny that director Steve McQueen brought a powerful tone, emotional resonance and consistency to the story.

“12 Years” is definitely not an easy film to absorb, but one that is clearly a must-see, if you are up for it.

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Theatre

Fallen Stars that Still Shine

Behanding group
Opening night of A Behanding in Spokane, Philadelphia, April, 2012.
(l-r) Matt, Reuben, Pearce, Jamel, me, Joe; Amanda, who played the lone female role, is not pictured here.

All this week I have been thinking about how Tuesday 11/12 was the one year anniversary of former theatre colleague Reuben Mitchell dying from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. While I don’t feel I can offer as heartfelt a tribute as his friend wrote here, or as immediate a memory as someone else he knew wrote here, I did want to mention him here on my own blog.

What to say about Reuben, or rather, what not to say?

He was a kind and generous Greenville, North Carolina native who maintained a sense of good humor and congeniality in everything he did. When I mentioned that my mom and my cat and I had visited Greenville in late 2007 and were surprised by some late-night violence happening across the street from our hotel, he laughed it off, saying “oh, that happens every week!” – but he was proud of his Southern heritage.

Reuben lit up the stage for the Martin McDonaugh play we worked on, taking what could have been just a stereotypical part and turning it in to a full individual. He was dedicated to his craft as seen in his extensive professional training, studying in locations such as New Orleans and Toronto among others, followed by moving to Philadelphia to pursue a career. This training was also evident in his daily preparation for our performances, as he was almost always first at the venue (and I was genuinely concerned when he wasn’t), undertaking a rigorous 10-20 minute vocal warmup and brief physical warmup as well – even though he spent 2/3 of the show tied to a wall. He showed a sense of civility and fun in his interactions with everyone on the production team, while clearly understanding that the “play was the thing” and that was our focus. He was an incredible storyteller with a vividness to his tales I’ve rarely heard other people make use of.

Inevitably I look back at that production bittersweetly, with Reuben gone. At the time I was excited to work on a script by a favorite writer, Martin McDonagh, and am grateful to have had the opportunity. But I had to juggle the theatre work and a more 9-5 oriented job alongside commuting from Delaware to Philadelphia, thus limiting my social opportunities with the actors. Eventually I felt a natural ease when I was able to join in on the social time (as seen in the photo above from opening night), but it was not as much as I would have liked. And we can never re-create that same dynamic.

I only saw Reuben once more a month after the production closed; he’d been invited to return to the same theatre company we’d worked with for a fundraiser/festive evening , employing his subtle and uncanny Barack Obama impersonation skills to use in several skits. (Incidentally, the event got some official political humor by featuring Arlen Spector, who died a few months later in 2012, as the opening act.) Reuben jumped me with his characteristic enthusiasm as we waited for the show to begin, and we chatted briefly before he went onstage…

It was very clear (painfully now of course) that Reuben loved his motorcycle. He often appeared at our rehearsals and performances with it. While I’m not a motorcyclist myself, I think he and I shared a love of driving towards the unknown and engaging in some derring-do along the way; I recall energetically describing my favorite road in Marin County (Ridgecrest Boulevard) to him, while he replied with tales of curvaceous roads in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania that he’d gone out to explore one Sunday morning.

I hope Reuben knew how much he impacted others, and they cared about him. I’m sure I will always remember him.

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One day this week when I thought of Reuben, I also recalled another theatre-impacted tragedy out in the Bay Area. Summer Serafin, whom I never met nor saw onstage, but she did work with several people I knew in the Bay Area theatre scene, died in 2011 after an accidental fall from a fire escape in San Francisco. It is clear from a quick Google search of her name that she also made an impact on many individuals.

I don’t want to read too much into this – and it’s probably just a coincidence – but I noticed that Summer died on Reuben’s 30th birthday, while Reuben died one day before what would have been Summer’s 33rd birthday.

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Theatre

Finally learned the Reasons to Be Pretty, but LaBute has lost his allure

Two weeks ago I traveled to Ferndale’s Ringwald Theatre to catch a production of Neil LaBute’s reasons to be pretty, with a triple goal of finally seeing LaBute’s 2009 play, examining my current impressions of Mr. LaBute’s work — which once fascinated me so much that I directed one of his plays – and met him briefly in person here, and seeing how I currently feel about driving ____ distance in the name of the theatre, which was a frequent activity in my Bay Area life – and well chronicled in the earlier days of this blog. Since my impression of the play was ultimately mixed, and I had various life activities come up in the intervening two weeks, I delayed a post on the experience. UNTIL NOW. (last two words said in hyper-dramatic movie trailer voice.)

The play serves as the conclusion to LaBute’s trilogy about obsession with physical appearance, and I think that was where I found my primary problem. The characters in this play could be easily exchanged with those in the other two, and this one follows an identical template of: primary, sensitive guy plus secondary more abrasive guy paired with primary, mostly abrasive woman plus secondary more sensitive woman. (actually, the women’s roles are reversed in the middle play, Fat Pig, which I found to be the most compelling of the three.)

I didn’t feel like LaBute was saying anything new in this script, and frankly was surprised that initial reviews (one example is seen here) called the play kindler and gentler than his earlier work. I’m not sure if the energetic but low-tech production (little emphasis on set and lighting effects, primary focus on characterization) contributed to this impression. The featured actors were clearly committed and had an easygoing charm, with two of the actors an offstage real-life couple. But the final impression was a bit too “eh…” for my taste, and I don’t know if I’ll be drawn to additional LaBute works.

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Theatre

Lots of local theatre viewing options

I’m disappointed to note the scarcity of my recent theatre viewing; the days of chronicling shows regularly on this blog seem to be a distant memory.

HOWEVER, The Ann Arbor News reminds me that there are, in fact, multiple options for show viewing in this area right now. Several are titles I’ve seen before (Company, Thom Pain…) though they admittedly might be fun to re-visit. There’s also newer material (An Illiad) that could be just as enjoyable.

And there’s what appears to be a college-based theatre company in Detroit that is offering adventurous programming I’d like to check out. I guess there are options after all.

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Theatre

Sigh/The Art of the Job Posting

While I am happy to have chosen to stay here in the Ann Arbor region at the present moment, I felt a pang of nostalgia for my more freelance/footloose oriented days after reading these two immediate vacancy job postings. (Direct references to companies have been removed.)

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A company not in Michigan is looking for a full-time, emerging arts administration professional to fill the role of Managing Director. The company is part of an extensive creative community nationwide, and has a strong presence in the (local) theater scene. Our year-round programs support both playwrights and the development of new plays, and we’re looking for someone who is interested in helping us to fulfill our mission.

The Managing Director will manage the production and administrative side of the organization, which includes:

– Producing company events.

– Managing office systems including database management, computer systems, communication systems, equipment contracts and insurance renewals.

– Managing the financial systems such as overseeing the bookkeeping, budget and cash flow

– Working to develop a marketing strategy and implementation.

– Hiring systems and data management involved with contracts, job descriptions and advertising.

The perfect candidate has experience in marketing and communications, finance and bookkeeping, grant writing and submissions and producing events, and is energetic, creative and extremely well organized. Personnel management would be a plus.

The company is looking to fill this position immediately. This is a full-time, salaried position.

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Another company not in Michigan seeks a full-time experienced production manager starting as soon as possible. The company produces six mainstage and three children’s theater shows a season. The company also manages a black box theater that is located in the same building.

Responsibilities:

General production management duties include, but are not limited to:

Manage and co-create the production budget.

Create all production calendars.

Hire all design and management teams.

Facilitate production meetings and coordinate communication between all design staff. Oversee and supervise all company technical staff as well as recruit volunteers.

Qualifications:

Strong leadership abilities to team build, listen, and manage people.

Must have an artistic eye. Design experience a plus.

Experience creating and managing budgets.

Ability to read and interpret technical theater drawings.

Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Strong work ethic. This position has a flexible schedule that will require nights and weekends.

Computer skills with knowledge of Google Docs.

A passion for theater and how it can enrich a community.

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter by email to the artistic director at the e-mail listed in this posting.

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Theatre

A Truly Theatrical Experience

I was very pleased to be in the audience last night to catch one performance of the short run – just 4 performances – of the British theatre company Complicite’s visit to Ann Arbor. This was a return engagement to this company for me, as I saw a previous (and also Japanese themed work) of theirs in 2004 in London, plus another more classically themed piece that year, and had the good fortune of working with an early troupe member in a physical theatre class that fall.

I’m also interested to note that this performance is a long running hit of sorts for Complicite, having first been seen in 2009 and (presumably, based on the photos) featuring most of the same actors in the current run. Ann Arbor is one of only three US stops for this tour.

The show itself was classic Complicite, using light, sound, bold imagery and subtle movement (and many other things) to tell the story of Shun-kin, a privleged Japanese woman who becomes entangled with her student, Sasuke, in multiple ways. I don’t want to spell the basic plot out further, except to note that it was inspired by a Japanese folktale and bookended, in a way, by contemporary scenes featuring a female narrator recounting the story for a radio broadcast. The modern angle could have been used just as a framing device, but instead it recurred throughout the story, most intriguingly taking center stage at what would be an intermission point – but there was no intermission and the story went right on.

Complicite is known for their technical virtuosity and this production was no slouch in that department. However, at times I questioned the decision to have subtitles displayed right alongside the staging of the performance. It’s true that there was no other way to handle it, where the actors spoke in Japanese, but the decision forced me to divide my attention between the acting onstage and the subtitles of the story displayed on both sides and above the stage area. A bolder (but unlikely) choice would have been to have no subtitles displayed at all and force the audience member to engage with the production through other senses.

I’m losing my train of thought, so should probably stop here, but in concluson, this was one of the most memorable theatre productions I’ve seen in the last couple of years, simply by engaging with style and energy into an unusual story that held me riveted with attention and impressed with the level of detailed storytelling it was happy to unspool for a deserving audience.

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Theatre

Reminded of encounters with other Dames

Writing about Helen Mirren reminds me of my chance meeting with Dame Eileen Atkins, originally summarized in a LiveJournal entry on February 16. 2007:

Yesterday I was dropping my theatre resume off at a North London theatre (the Almeida, where The Shape Of Things originally premiered). As I was leaving the building, I noticed the actress Eileen Atkins, who has the lead role in their current production, casually standing outside the theatre. 

I thought for about a millisecond, and then looked right at her and said “I love your work!”. She then said “Are you American?” — funny how she could tell instantly, though I had read that she likes Americans and working in the USA. We proceeded to chat for a 10 mins or so genuine conversation first about theatre work at the Almeida; she seemed genuinely interested in my theatrical aspirations and suggested that I approach the artistic director in person and thought he might need some assistants…?! 
I then asked her a little bit about her career, which she was happy to share including a new film she’d just shot in Rhode Island. She quipped “you seem a bit young to know about my work” but then I explained that Cold Comfort Farm is one of my favorite films, and she smiled and agreed, also adding that she had originally been up for the grandmother role, not the cousin part, but John Schlesinger made a last minute casting switch and had let her know while she was performing a Virginia Woolf one woman show. It was coincidental and inspiring to be able to just chat with someone like her, and definitely keeps me in the “right location, right time, right liveliehood” frame of mind heading into the weekend.

And meeting Diana Rigg on November 26, 2004, also originally posted on LiveJournal (I later had the pleasure of seeing her act onstage at the Old Vic three years later)…

Am still on a high from meeting Diana Rigg this evening. She is by far my favorite British actress and getting to meet her in person, even though it was just a brief conversation, is the icing on the cake for the whole experience here. Her daughter Rachel Stirling had a starring role in the second show I saw today called Anna and the Tropics and she clearly inherited her mother’s strong stage presence, easily rising above the material that was already dramatically rich. Earlier today I’d had a feeling that Diana might attend the performance…was surprised that turned out to be correct! She was sitting just two rows ahead of me in the theatre and I recognized her instantly, although the rest of the people sitting nearby were either being blissfully ignorant or courteous of her, so I followed their example even though I really wanted to say something of admiration as I walked out for the intermission right behind her. Once the show ended it became a “now or never” moment. I went out again only a few feet behind her but then she sat down in the foyer, probably to wait to congratulate her daughter. So I went ahead but was thinking “should I or shouldn’t I?”, having heard via the Avengers.TV forum that she sometimes prefers privacy over recognition. But once I saw an older woman go up to cordially greet her and Diana receiving her very warmly, that sealed it. I went back over to her table and kept it simple, saying “your daughter was excellent. I love your work.” (That’s all there is to say, really.) She seemed genuinely appreciative, giving me a warm smile and saying “thank you” in a friendly theatrical tone to me that gave a sense of her stage experience even through voice. It was enough to send me running to the bus stop (and I could have gone on down the street home) with a huge smile.

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Theatre

Theatrical Imports in Ann Arbor

I’m excited that Ann Arbor will soon be hosting two notable theatrical imports with British origins.

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The first, a cinema screening of the new play The Audience, plays tonight and Tuesday evening at the Michigan Theatre. I’m unsure exactly when the presentation was recorded – at some point in the last few months – but it’s another installment in the “NT Live” theatre in movie theaters series, which I’ve written about before and have been a loyal semi-regular patron of since 2009. And, of course, it takes me back to my many visits to the National Theatre itself between 2004 and 2007.

This installment features Helen Mirren reprising the Queen Elizabeth II role she previously played to acclaim in The Queen 2006 film. In fact, Mirren is currently the only actress to portray both Queen Elizabeths on film. And writing about this reminds me of my close encounter with her at the BAFTA Awards in 2007 in London, as seen in the picture I took, displayed below.

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The second event will see a noted London ensemble company, Complicite, visit the University of Michigan for a short residency. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have to offer, especially where (coincidentally) I saw a previous Japanese themed piece of theirs almost exactly nine years ago (?!) at London’s Barbican Centre.

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marin county, Theatre

Two Ann(e)s stay onstage

I keep tabs on news and events in my former homeland of Marin County, California (never far from my heart though that’s for another post) and was pleased to see two theatre friends with the same name (sort of) spotlighted in the local news during August.

On August 7th, Anne Darragh was interviewed about her theatre work, which most notably includes originating a role in Angels in America, in the Marin Independent Journal as advance publicity for Marin Theatre Company’s current production of Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire.

Later on August 17th, Ann Brebner’s 90th birthday celebration received coverage also in the Marin Independent Journal. The party sounded like a had to be there event held in the storied surroundings of Skywalker Ranch – I certainly would have liked to be there. But no transporter beams yet.

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