In my absence from theatre-going, I have caught up on my film-going. It has been strange to not be in cinematically rich California anymore, but I am getting used to it. Over the past few months I’ve seen a handful of films in different locations.

MARTHA’S VINEYARD
Friends with Benefits
Cowboys and Aliens

WILMINGTON
The Debt
Drive
50/50 – Coming soon, probably tomorrow

PHILADELPHIA
Contagion

Of these multiple films, I would say that Contagion brought the most satisfying venue experience, Drive the most satisfying viewing experience, Friends with Benefits the most surprising venue experience and Cowboys and Aliens the most nostalgic venue experience and most disappointing cinematic experience. That leaves out The Debt… which was good, memorable, but I wish I had seen it at the Mill Valley Film Festival last October, where it was featured as the closing night film, and I first heard about it.

So, why the extra superlatives? I’ll go through them all here.

I caught Contagion at the Roxy Theater in Philadelphia, a retro-fabulous twin cinema ironically right across the street from the local branch of my global Buddhist community. I was pleased with their simplicity and film-geek decor, most notably seen in the restroom wall to wall posters of 1990’s European and art films. This past February, I served as an extra in Contagion, and was therefore curious to see what became of my scene and how the movie came together as a whole. As other reviewers have undoubtedly noted, it’s a film that makes you think, and I appreciated the hyper-realism. On the other hand, the grim, serious subject matter of viruses and public health is not something that stands out as a transcendental film, so I would have to give it a B range grade. And my big extra scene, for which the company hired far more individuals than they needed, came out to a 20 second montage at the end of the film.

My Martha’s Vineyard film going oozed of nostalgia. I made a point to visit the Island Theater in Oak Bluffs, where the showtimes change daily and calling the film info line (508-627-6689) will almost always give some memorable malapropism. Friends with Benefits was the perfect film to see as my first one “back East”, as Justin Timberlake’s character relocates from Los Angeles to New York City. However, I was surprised by my reaction to returning to the Island venue. In my youth, I idolized that place with its (seemingly) large single screen and location right in downtown Oak Bluffs. I have good memories of seeing various 1990’s blockbusters and would-be hits there, such as The Shadow, Apollo 13, Clueless, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Wild Wild West and undoubtedly several other films. But in my adult 2011 point of view, the cinema seemed uncomfortably old and small. A good example of different perspectives.

A few days later, I visited the Capawock in Vineyard Haven. This cinema has been a stalwart year-round venue on MV for decades… but seems to be feeling the heat of the current Netflix-based entertainment trends and is only open on weekends in the off-season. (Meanwhile, the twin Entertainment Cinemas in Edgartown continue on a full schedule.) It’s clear that some care has been taken to maintain the cinema itself. I also recall seeing several Disney films, Babe, Deja Vu by Henry Jaglom, and other movies here when I was growing up. However, I had not visited the Capawock for a film since 1999! Thankfully, as opposed to the Island experience earlier, I felt charmed and refreshed to see it in good health.

I will save my impressions of Delaware film going for another post.

But you can always trust the Muppets! I sometimes will think of this video when engaged in theatrical gig searching…

Here are my notes from today’s Theatre Bay Area annual conference, selected events:

Supply and Demand

Non profit not “mandated to serve the law’
Board chair or MD running theatre – problematic
Theatre and arts partcipation: problematic
Role of media – catching stage performances “on demand” – catching all kinds of audiences that might not be reflected in initial box office audiences.

Doing a disservice by looking at arts participation in the same way; maybe arts work is not down, but actually up.

Example of plays used with large amount of advancement money. Mission of organization is to do provocative work.

What is the product, where is It available, and who participates?

Example of costal and inland organizations working together; but how do they work together, like with Carmel and Salinas?

What are the NEEDS – the excellence product, and quality of work.

Changing show lineup/downsizing as “doing it better”, working with a show line-up to improve their work and not frame it as good work.

NEA only doing under 250k work.

Making room for MFAs and younger artists…

Session 2: Supply and Demand – From Argument to Action

Participation may be declining slightly, but there are still huge audiences available to be cultivated.

Looking for an experience… Not “just going to the theatre”. Movie theatre example of Sundance Kabuki, about the full process.

Theatre navigating edgy balance between what people want and what they are presenting. Believing in the mission and the quality of the work.

“Do less and do it better”

Muguwumpin and Z Space women are very knowledgeable about workshopping, big space, lights and sound and tech work.

Collaboration to create a safe place for new work coming to the community, where the theatre itself “curates” the audience. Cultivating an audience that will be there to support the work, especially as part of preview performances.

Division between artistic work and how it is advertised to the people.

Can a small play be workshopped in a large space?

Poll the community. Engage the role of the community process.

Cross pollination of audience – only presented as positive. May affect audience members in different levels and circumstances.

Audiences want a sense of ownership of the arts institutions.

Questions and Answers
“Theatre voice, please”

Not about “I don’t want to go”, it is about “I don’t know what is out there”

Question from British woman – “no food or drinks” in American theatre – why? Producer complaining about drinks – some people think it is a special night out, or something that you do ***

Berkeley Rep: invitational, people can come as they are. Inviting and engaging and welcoming. With increased number of choices, need to ensure that the audience members will appreciate the theatre itself.

Question of theatre workers or recent grads going into theatre-deprived areas. Answer may come from starting people younger, building arts appreciation.

Just graduated? Why not partner with someone who can incubate you with the entrance to your professional career. Someone will give you the space on a Monday night, or have your back.. And that is priceless.

Irvine Foundation is supporting ACT to produce work. Will announce a new arts strategy on June 27th.

Question of movie with a high budget vs. Theatre with a low budget.

Theatre as a live event, where the perspective can shift and become something else. A miracle quality of influencing audiences.

When you wake up to go to the theatre, what are you trying to say about the world?

Directing Panel

“the moment came when I decided to call myself a director”

Working as a career but taking anything that comes your way, doesn’t always or necessarily lead to satisfaction. Moment of realizing that you can’t say yes to everything because it does not represent your artistic vision.

Mark – high school theatre program.

Pushed into directing path. Asked to direct and found to be enriching.

Role as the director of a company: pros and cons. Jon Tracy mentions the role of location, having run a company in Vallejo. Meredith Hagedorn with Dragon Productions credits the college learning experience.

Question of MFA. What was the choice, and has it helped the artist or not.

“going to grad school changed my life as a director” and gave easy access to professionals. Three years of intense training that might have been professionally accumulated in a 10 year period.

“it was a huge turning point in my life” and fed the director into Shakespeare Santa Cruz, where he was able to rise through the ranks over a couple of years.

Gained confidence through the graduate program, and gave useful entryway into the performance world through community venues.

Considering graduate school – whether it is a worthwhile choice or they considered it.

“I knew what I wanted to do very early on and then to get out there and do it.”

Looking for communicators, openness to working with a team,

Directing for companies other than your own – balance of how to look at quality or process of work (two person shows?) and what they do for the artistic process.

Freelancing, how does it work and what are they doing.

Role of genres within their work.

Might get “trapped” in a certain world. Looking at how the title might advance your work in the longer run of things.

Getting work from pitching, versus a phone call.
50/50?

Bay Area versus national companies… Courtship process with a company. First meeting, get to know each other, and then come back with some potential titles to work with.

Question of Mentorship. Did they have mentors or are they working with specific mentors in their lives and artistic work.

May depend on the kinds of relationships that they develop through their work.

One key mentor who has followed the director’s work since giving them their first “in” and showing them how to get started.

I’m spending the day at Theatre Bay Area’s annual conference, “The Next Act: Focusing the Conversation on Excellence”, with a synopsis posted . Twitter posts are appearing at #nextactSF. I’ll post my notes here later today.

This blog is now on hiatus until early June.

I am far offline and focusing on other parts of life until then.

is today. Hope it is a happy and productive one for all.

I’m not sure if I’ll use this space to comment on every FILM that I see this year, but I did want to write some thoughts about last night’s 4th film of the year, The Music Never Stopped. I caught a sneak preview of this movie before it enters general release on March 18th. Apparently, it was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival just one month ago.

In many ways, this film is an American The King’s Speech, with Geoffrey Rush’s speech therapist character split into two roles, one as a New York City music therapist, played by Julia Ormond, and the other as the main character’s father, played by the excellent actor JK Simmons in a rare (and well deserved) leading performance. They both care for the main character, Gabriel, a brain tumor victim. Interestingly, the story is based on a real life case. The treatment was compiled by noted academic Oliver Sacks.

I’ll quote the distributor (Roadside Attractions) press release to describe the thoughtful plot:
________________
“The Music Never Stopped,” based on the case study “The Last Hippie” by Dr. Oliver Sacks, M.D. (“Awakenings”), chronicles the journey of a father and son adjusting to cerebral trauma and a lifetime of missed opportunities.  Through the music that embodied the generation gap of the 1960s, the film weaves the heartwarming progress of Henry and Gabriel.  
 
With father and son on the opposite side of musical tastes as well as politics and the war in Vietnam, Gabriel disappears into the counterculture following a devastating confrontation with his father.  The film opens nearly two decades later, when Henry and wife Helen (Cara Seymour) are told their son has been found wandering the streets of New York City.  Gabriel has a brain tumor that has caused extensive brain damage, and needs immediate surgery.  When he recovers, he is in a near-catatonic state, his brain damaged to the point that it cannot recall or create any long-term memories.  Effectively, Gabriel still thinks he is in 1968.
 
After his operation, the extent of Gabriel’s condition is made clear:  the tumor damaged the part of the brain that creates new memories.  For Gabriel, past, present, and future are indistinguishable, and he still lives in the era of Vietnam, acid tests, and psychedelic music.  Determined not to let their son slip away from them again, Henry and Helen vow to connect with Gabriel, who is barely able to communicate effectively.  Unhappy with Gabriel’s progress, Henry researches brain injuries, which leads him to Dr. Diane Daly (Julia Ormond).  She is a music therapist who has made progress with victims of brain tumors using music.
  
As Diane works more with Gabriel, she realizes that he seems to respond actively to the music of the psychedelic era – the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and particularly the Grateful Dead – which has a remarkable effect on Gabriel.  He is able to have conversations and express himself, even though he is unaware the era of his music has long passed. 
 
Henry can’t stand rock and roll – but he is determined to forge some memories and a new relationship with his son. While his own health fails, Henry begins his own pilgrimage through the bands of the sixties. As he learns the songs that animate his son’s soul, he indeed begins to form a most unusual but emotionally vibrant bond with the child he thought he had lost.
_________
The synopsis makes the film sound more saccharine than it actually is. Some of the storytelling felt a bit rushed, as if elements of the plot were condensed to make room for other parts of the story. The director described a limited budget and 25 day shooting schedule, which may have affected the process, too.

I was particularly interested in the storytelling methods used in this film, especially around the music therapy segments. Amazingly, the producers secured usage rights to ALL major 1960’s band songs, most notably the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. The director shared that most artists had no hesitation to offer their songs for the project. The emotional arc of the story was equally honest in an unpretentious way, showing how the son character came alive through the music in the past and in the present.

The San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle, sort of a local Tonys, has just announced their nominees for excellence in 2010 theatrical productions:

http://sfbatcc.org/3.html

Center REPertory Company in Walnut Creek (yes, they spell it like that) has a proven track record of choosing slightly offbeat, popular shows to stage. I’ve wanted to travel there in the past to see shows like WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION and DRACULA. However, primarily for geographic reasons, yesterday was the first time I had actually seen one of their productions. Walnut Creek is a good 40 miles from Marin, and the East Bay transportation network means that humans can not travel there as the crow flies, which would undoubtedly be more direct. Nonetheless, BOEING BOEING became Show #10 for this year. I felt pleased to successfully navigate my way there on public transportation, rather than the expected driving, with associated gas money and bridge toll. I had found out last summer that Center Rep would be staging this comedy, and knew that I had to find a way to see it, where I had highly enjoyed the 2007 London revival of the play.

I will briefly reflect on that original show experience. I saw it on a Monday night (Sunday is the equivalent of a USA Monday in British theatre, when most theatres are dark) and had spontaneously chosen to see the play. I think it was one of the earliest performances; the play was either still previewing or had just recently opened. I noticed that two highly esteemed British actors, Mark Rylance and Frances de la Tour, had leading roles. The show was on at the Comedy Theatre, a venue just off Leicester Square where I had previously seen THE OLD MASTERS with Peter Bowles and Edward Fox in 2004, and possibly one other play before this. I had read some publicity about the show and knew it was a revival, but was coming in primarily cold.

Needless to say, I was happily surprised! The show essayed a buoyant tone of comedy and tongue in cheek humor, not taking itself out of the 1960’s setting and yet winking to the audience at the absurdity of the plot. Rylance in particular captured the deadpan nature of his character with an ideal blend of subtlety and directness, when called for. I know he won either an Oliver or Tony award for the performance. The set was very tight, as the Comedy is a modest stage. The color scheme was appropriately buoyant, served by a curved wall with multiple doors leading to different backstage areas. The curtain call found all the actors coming back onstage dancing to a Brazilian samba, with de la Tour getting the loudest applause for her thoughtful portrayal of the long-suffering housekeeper. The production quickly picked up momentum, and I recall that American actresses Rhea Perlman and Christine Barinski were imported into roles for a while.

Meanwhile in Walnut Creek, I had to wonder if Center Rep’s AD, Michael Butler, had seen the London or subsequent NYC production(s) and knew that he wanted to bring it to the Bay Area. The set was similar, but not identical, to what I remember from London in Center Rep’s smaller than I expected main theatre. There was plenty of playing space in an oval-shaped central area, reflecting the “way out” or “space age” 60’s designs. Offstage was never shown, but well suggested through multiple colored doors. It was clear that the actors had carefully rehearsed entrances and exits, which had to be immediate, or the physically comedic jokes would not work. I noticed that some more farcical elements of the show were more broadly played than I remembered from London. A character might be caught in a compromising position for a second or two longer, or slightly different posture, than England. This could be the focus of a longer analysis between British and North American interpretations…

I realized on seeing the show a second time that the two main male characters are actually BOTH leading roles. We are introduced to the protagonist, Bernard, thinking that he will be the focus of the story. However, Bernard’s role and importance decreases as the play goes on, becoming almost an afterthought. He is eclipsed by his friend Robert, whose arrival really sets the play in motion, and tends to get more to most of the memorable lines. Of course, they are also surrounded by three lovely ladies and a Bernard’s long suffering maid. (What would she be called in 2010 terms? A major-domo?) In the case of the maid, I enjoyed the portrayal, but missed Frances de la Tour’s asides to the audience and more layered portrayal – this version stuck with one character affect and stayed with it. I’d seen two of the actresses playing the stewardesses in vastly different recent roles, and appreciated the visible examples of their versatility. The cast bios revealed that the third stewardess, whom I had not seen before, and the lead actor portraying Bernard had recently acted together in another Bay Area production. I wonder what that must be like, where a modest amount of local AEA actors often encounter each other on multiple shows. Do they treat it only as a quirk of a profession? With a wink of an eye? Laugh about it backstage? Some day I will find that out for myself.

The audience experience at Center Rep was memorable for me. They have instituted a British-style routine of selling small ice creams at the interval. When I commented on this coincidence to the seller, she acknowledged that they had gotten the idea from England. I had an ideal front row seat, purchased as a half price rush ticket. My seat neighbor had an extremely loud laugh, so much so that he often choked. That was somewhat annoying to me in the moment, but I feel now that it added to the communal experience of the play, and made a show I was familiar with feel fresh again.