marin county, Theatre

Detective Story at the College of Marin, March 5 performance

For my 12th show of this year, I stayed in my backyard to attend the College of Marin’s production of DETECTIVE STORY. I highly enjoy supporting COM’s drama department, and feel like a member of their extended community, where I know several faculty members and current students. This production was unusual in that a higher number of local actors (older) were in the cast than student actors. Not to mention the fact that it’s a HUGE cast of at least 30 people. The director, local legend Jim Dunn, is known for his attention to detail, and likely chose to keep it authentic with the individual portrayals.

On a personal level, I was amused to notice that the play is set on August 9, 1949, exactly one year before my maternal grandparents got married on that same date, and the day that my paternal grandfather turned 30. Part of the fun of attending productions at COM, and its neighbor, the Ross Valley Players, is the “local” nature of the audience members. It’s true that they are mostly on the elder side. This also means that conversations are easily overheard, while being highly articulate and specific.

This play took a socially realistic look at police politics in the New York City of its time. The suitably sprawling plot told several story lines at once. One of the things I most appreciated about the experience was the ability to look in on those different scenes at the same time. The set spread out over COM’s wide mainstage theatre, looking at three different rooms in the police station plus the main doorway into the station. Careful blocking choices ensured that at least one actor always had the center of the audience attention and was ably supported by other performers.

I’m not sure I could explain the whole plot here in this entry. It was apparent how the focus gradually narrowed down to the main character, Detective MacLeod, and the challenges in his life at the moment of the story. The stakes gradually rose, over three acts, to a not entirely surprising but nonetheless well played conclusion.

The story was evocatively told, with minimal music cues that were appropriately noirish when they were there, a light black and white style color palette of costumes, and subtle lighting cues moving around the different segments of the set.

COM truly shows the value of theatre relating to the larger community in their aesthetics. I am impressed by their consistent attention to quality, detail and artistic integrity. At one point, the school claimed that they have the highest transfer rate to Julliard in the nation. I’m not sure if they still do, but their care and excitement still shines in their work.

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March 3: Harper Regan, SF Playhouse

How does a theatre (or any) company know it is a HOT company? How can it navigate the balance between an esteemed reputation and quality or quantity of product? Does the reputation of the company precede or enhance their business model? Their artistic choices? The audience experience?

I am sure that many organizations face those challenges at different points in their artistic careers. Within the Bay Area, the two organizations that most come to mind are the Shotgun Players in Berkeley and the SF Playhouse in San Francisco. Both have seen a meteoric rise in their local status over the past few years. Shotgun has navigated the transition well, with a particularly strong emphasis on visual and artistic identity through their work. SF Playhouse may have hung back slightly, as they have a smaller space, but they show no hesitation in the diversity of their artistic product. For example, the summer production they offer is often a familiar title – in 2009 it was ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, while 2010 brought THE FANTASTICKS. They compliment those performances with more offbeat fare, such as the recent West Coast premiere of CORALINE and the first play I ever saw there, ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BIG GAY DANCE PARTY, a local hit that went on to be a darling of the NYC Fringe Festival, even making it to a re-cast Off Broadway run last summer.

When I visit the SF Playhouse, which is relatively infrequently, I consistently find that their local identity casts a very long shadow over their productions. With this most recent excursion to see HARPER REGAN, an import from the National Theatre in London, I felt underwhelmed and I wanted to be dazzled. The last time I was at the Playhouse, for SLASHER in 2010, I felt amused but I wanted to be surprised and ecstatic. It seems that the mental bar for their productions is set very high for me, for some reason. On the flip side, when the scale of the production was more clearly stated, as in the smaller 2010 production of the new play SAFE HOUSE, I highly enjoyed and appreciated that show. It helped in that case that there were unusual similarities to my then-current class in psychopathology at graduate school.

I wanted to like Harper Regan, the character and the play, more than I actually did. As I explained, her (I’ll refer to the play as Harper) pedigree is exemplary. There seemed to be a quiet forcefulness around the play’s early scenes, particularly as Harper, played by company co-founder Susi Damilliano, attempts to break from her London job to visit her ill father in the north of England. Having spent significant time in the UK, I noticed the company’s strong voice work. It was telling, however, that everyone pronounced “what” the same way, like they were saying “wutt” to each other.

Harper continues on her odyssey, trusting more of her impulses as she returns to her Uxbridge home and deals with challenging immediate family situations. The action shifts to Manchester for the second third of the play, as she confronts her past in that northern city and a testy relationship with her mother. Meanwhile, her husband and daughter wonder about her well being, and her mother’s husband casually greets her as one of his own. Harper is left to determine her own course of action, and to me it felt like the play took the complicated exit line, which was particularly evident in an out of place closing scene set after Harper has returned home.
Harper’s story is thoroughly British in that the audience is not lectured to and is left to draw their own conclusions and thoughts about her actions. However, the jagged nature of the scenes, where only Harper’s immediate family members appear more than once, limited my identification with the story. I wanted to see the narrative go into more depth and storytelling, both about Harper’s predicament and her thought process. In this incarnation, she was present on stage, but given little opportunity to share her own cognitive process in the face of her challenges.

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Dabbling in film where The Music Never Stopped

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:
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“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.
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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.

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Boeing Boeing then and now

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.

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PlayGround February 2011: Kingdom of Number

I love the creativity that is clearly evident, dare I say infectious, within each and every one of PlayGround’s shows. Last night’s offering, while dense and mathematical, was certainly no exception to that rule. The evening was a co-production of sorts between PlayGround and the nearby Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. Six short plays, and one excerpt, were presented over the course of 90 minutes. I’ll consider this my 9th show for the year.

Some pieces seemed longer than others, as might be natural when I don’t have a timer and am watching something. I especially enjoyed the farcical Rapunzel’s Etymology of Zero, written by Katie May, and the biting finale of Margins for Error, by Sang Kim. The last play took on an especially biting twist when one character whom I expected to be silent turned out to be the exact opposite.

The evening was more heady than I generally associate PlayGround being (they focus on wordplay and characters) but I don’t see that as a deterrent. Frankly I am impressed that they continue to maintain their high standard of production, using mostly AEA actors, at a high quality theatre space, etc, at a time when others are cutting back. They seem to be moving forward with their momentum, as there are several co productions coming up in the near future all around this area.

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On the PlayGround, then and now

I’m reposting a blog entry I wrote about PlayGround last year (January 2010) in anticipation of returning there for another installment tonight.

Another Evening on the PlayGround
I went over to Berkeley tonight for the monthly installment of PlayGround, “San Francisco’s source for New Play Development”. I had bought a subscription at the first show of the season in mid-October. However, due to unforeseen reasons, I had to miss the November and December shows and this evening was my return to the format. However, it’s still a good deal, with the five shows I will see coming out to a total of $50. And I feel good about choosing to support a small, ambitious local arts organization (aside from my home company) on moderate financial terms.

Tonight’s theme for the five-six 10-15 minute plays was “Fish Out of Water”, short musical theatre pieces performed with the accompaniment of Joshua Raoul Brody, a noted local improvisational musician. The climax came in the final piece, “The Origin of the Species/Showtune”, a “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread” style musical parody of musicals.

All of tonight’s pieces were magnetizing and appealing in one form or another. However, I felt the most successful ones came at the middle of the show, as they focused on 2-3 characters and generally followed more intimate storylines. The two that stood out most for me were “Back” and “A Lovely Day”.

“Back” told a story of family strife in the 1960’s in a humorous manner. A father, mother and daughter broke the fourth wall to express their disdain for their lives. Suddenly, they switched into song and told their stories through a rhyming round, eventually coming back together as one large happy family.

“A Lovely Day” straddled lines of comedy and drama as it sketched a tale of an apparent amnesiac and her husband. What could have been an overly serious (or overly silly) subject was treated with restraint through the dialogue. The husband expressed sympathy for his wife and her plight (which she had no idea of), but then pivoted and said he enjoyed watching “Memento” and laughing at some scenes, as she apparently did too. The theme worked and led to an honest-feeling conclusion.

PlayGround assembles a pool of writers to write these scripts in a period of five days or less. This time, the music was also composed (complete with lyrics) in that same time frame. It has a zestful yet presentational energy of guerrilla theatre at its best, which is exactly why I enjoy being a part of the audience at each performance.

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SEAGULL at Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley, CA

Friday, February 18th, Show #8.

After my nearly month long gap in theatre going, I was happy to go right back to another stage tonight to see Seagull (sic; no “The”) at the Marin Theatre Company. MTC seems to be on a roll this year, having hit a home run, economically and artistically, with their season premiere In The Red and Brown Water and just getting better from there.

This show continues the trend of high standards and high quality. But I want to spend some time thinking about it more. I don’t consider myself a super scholar/follower of Chekhov, even though the company I work with has often been praised for its explorations with Anton. If anything, I’m starting to see the themes and parallels in his work. The Seagull shares much in common with Three Sisters, a play I produced with Porchlight two years ago. Thematically, they are somewhat identical, which may have been an intentional and art from life choice by the playwright.

This new adaptation by Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Libby Appel (and featuring several OSF company members) placed an emphasis on warm storytelling. I was captivated by the use of music and staging in the first two acts to draw the audience into the story. At the same time, I was drawing parallels to the homage A Seagull in the Hamptons, which was my last encounter with the story at Shotgun Players last year.

I lost my focus with the story in Act 3, and I’m not sure if it was because of the older man snoring in the seat next to me or my own moderate level of tiredness at the end of this week. Thankfully, my mind allowed me to listen back to the stage as time passed in the story and it worked its way to a sudden, but appropriate, conclusion.

I’ll reflect briefly on that odd, trance-like state that sometimes envelops me, and possibly other audience members, if a play doesn’t hold my focus. Where does it come from? Is it something about the low lighting? The time of day? The things I’ve done that day? It never seems to happen to me anywhere else.

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CYRANO at the Sonoma County Repertory Theater, Sebastopol CA

The Sonoma County Repertory Theater will go out on a high note with their production of Cyrano. The company’s artistic director, Scott Phillips, introduced the show to a very visible mixed blessing. The sold out audience was pleased to see him there, and cheered, but quickly sighed when he reminded us it was the final production. Fortunately, the theater assembled a talented team to construct Cyrano’s world. I was grateful to be there on “pay what you can” night and make the effort to attend for my 7th show of this year.

Director Jennifer King helmed many of the early shows in Sebastopol, according to history (I wasn’t there to see them) and clearly is familiar with the space. She cast husband and wife team Keith and Allison Baker in the leading roles, supported by Chad Yarish playing multiple male roles. I’d seen the Bakers perform together last year at Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma. That show, “I ❤ You Nosferatu”, was easily the biggest surprise of my theatrical year. I had expected it to be just a comedy, and found it to be witty, clever, and current, much more immediate than I expected. The two of them cannily acted opposite each other over a live Skype conversation. He was visible to the audience, and she was hidden backstage. The play had been chosen at short notice when the original script was not ready in time for production. But all this could be covered in another blog entry.

The Bakers got to show their more serious sides in this production, which condensed the tale of Cyrano into a manageable two hour running time. It did seem like it picked and chose what elements of the story to emphasize. I was thrown off by a tonal shift about 2/3 of the way through the show, partially necessitated by the story, but it may have been possible to lead up to it another way. The three actors were clearly having fun with their roles, getting to stretch and play different parts while incorporating live music and choreography.

Speaking of tone and theatre, an “only in the theatre” moment happened towards the end of the play. One character reached a death scene, and as if on cue, loud ambulance sirens suddenly leaked into the theater space from Main Street outside. The actors stayed in the moment.

Revisiting the story of Cyrano made me suddenly remember the first time I had encountered the tale as a 12 year old. This was in its then-modern film incarnation, with the genders reversed, in the 1996 film The Truth About Cats and Dogs. I was more interested in following the exploits of my then-favorite actress Janeane Garofalo than exploring the source material of the story. I do remember comparisons to Cyrano being explicitly mentioned in most reviews of the film. I hadn’t had occasion to draw further comparisons between the film and play, but now I see that the comparisons are/were extremely clear, and well thought out by the screenwriter, Audrey Wells.

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Reflecting on Theatre and Community

This entry was composed last night in Sebastopol, CA, where I traveled to catch the final production at the soon to be defunct Sonoma County Repertory Theater. The company has existed since 1993 and carved out an active presence in the Sonoma area arts community.

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I’ve traveled up to Sebastopol (Sonoma County) this evening to visit the Sonoma County Repertory Theater for the 4th production I have seen here. Unfortunately, it will also be the last, as they will be closing following the run of the current show Cyrano (a three person version) on Sunday, February 20th. About two years ago, it was an unfortunate trend to have several theatres declare that they “needed to raise _____ amount of dollars or they will close for good.” Now, we seem to have reached the second round, with the Rep shutting its doors (after a similar campaign last fall) and a few other places in the Bay Area either downsizing or not continuing to produce.

The Rep’s relationship between arts and community is exactly the type of theatrical life that I would like to lead someday. They have a small storefront space nestled right into the downtown Main Street of Sebastopol. They seem to have been well established in the community, and formerly produced in nearby Santa Rosa. They had an extensive outreach program to local schools with education flourishing. The theatre seems to have contributed greatly to downtown nightlife, boosting the income of a few eateries around the town and general foot traffic. They will continue to maintain the “Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival”, presenting one show in a nearby outdoor park during the summer season. It seems unfortunate, but realistic, that they have to close.

What will the theatres become if they all narrow down to a select few houses presenting fewer and fewer plays each season? I wonder if the budgets will survive, either, with headlines today about how the NEA budget is almost completely eliminated and sources of philanthropic funding have dwindled considerably. I suppose there is something to be said for a “back to the land” style of thinking, where the theatres get more involved with their communities – and that is something I would support. On the other side, there are many arts workers, myself included, who have chosen (and need!) to make a living through their artistic pursuits. They need the work and they want to be artistically stimulated and challenged.

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