Monday, March 13, 2006

What a weekend! A few reviews and such

I've been putting off writing this for a while because it was a big, fat weekend of theater for me. I saw shows on Thursday and Friday night, watched 300+ auditions at the Twin Cities Unifieds, and had a tech rehearsal on Sunday night at Theatre in the Round.

So... in the interest of being brief (I hear that is the soul of wit, after all), I present my weekend in a nutshell:

THURSDAY NIGHT... I attended the opening performance of Do You Want to Know a Secret by Daniel Pinkerton, whichis being presented by Fortune's Fool at Intermedia Arts. The production features the talents of Stephen D'Ambrose, Barbara Kingsley, and their daughter Maggie D'Ambrose. Rouding out the cast were Greta Grosch and Harry Baxter. Leah Cooper, yes THAT Leah Cooper!, directed.

Okay...before I say more about this show, it is honest disclosure time: I am on the board of advisors to this production. Although, while this is true, I did not directly have anything to do with the artistic choices that went into it. I'm not sure if that makes this review one that suffers from conflict-of-interest or not. Anyway... There's that.

I enjoyed this work. It is a thinker of a play, and that's not bad at all. The performances were solid and the direction good as well. The play takes place in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or what we used to call East Germany in the good old days of the cold war.

When the wall fell, there was a lot of finger pointing and discovery about the way things were prior to that. This play personalizes that fact by telling the story of a family torn apart by a prison sentence during the cold war, and by personal betrayal afterward. It is a really good character study, and while through the lines it tells us that the theme is about cowardice in the face of adversity, I think there is a bigger message there about the perception of any situation through the eyes of differing people. No matter how close two people are, they can still misunderstand what would be considered a betrayal by their partner. That's the case in this play. It is deep, thoughtful, and well worth seeing. I won't give any more of the plot away, though... go see it!

FRIDAY NIGHT... My Alma Mater held an alumni function for its Twin Cities alums at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. We saw Midlife: The Crisis Musical. It was fun. it is fluffy fun that doesn't pretend to be anything else. I felt a little out of place as one of the only 30 year-olds amongst a bunch of 40s+ alums. I didn't exactly identify with the material of the show, as they did... but... it was still an enjoyable evening.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY...Congrats to everyone who auditioned at the Unifieds. That was a long couple of days. some good folks on stage, though. Thanks everyone for your efforts.

SUNDAY NIGHT... This was the most pleasant surprise of the weekend! I normally dread tech reheasals when I'm not the director or one of the designers. Basically as a light board operator, all I do is push a single button when someone else says "go," so I'm not terribly vested in the process, and therefore get easily bored during technical rehearsals.

Last night, however, I saw a show that was many days prior to opening that is already at the point of being better than anything else I've seen on the TRP stage. Kudos to GJ Clayburn (and big kudos to me if I spelled that right, not to mention apologies to GJ if I got it wrong). GJ's direction of this play has it sharp and exciting. I was riveted through the entire show. And it isn't only because of the acting of Andy Babinski in the role of Henry David Thoreau. Babinski is great, but so is every other person in the cast, down to the folks that only have one or two lines. I've not seen such a solid group across the board in a long time.

If you get a chance, go see The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. It is really good. It's showing at TRP through April 9th.

NOTHING RANDOM TODAY...
I have to get to my tech rehearsal. Later...

Friday, March 03, 2006

Madly Special

This past Thursday night I went to the Theatre Garage to see the newest production by nimbus. This is a group that I've enjoyed since they were doing shows at the Rogue Bhudda Gallery. They have tended to do off-beat original works that combine an intellectual asthetic with an experimental presentation. Throw in off-beat humor and a sense of playfulness, and you get a nimbus show.

They have tackled non-original works before, most notably End Game by Samuel Beckett. And that was treated very well, so this venture into the work of Nobel winner Wole Soyinka was something I was looking forward to. After all, this was a company with the guts and the gall to do this play justice.

Let it be said that since viewing the play I read the review by Mr. Preston in the Strib. And I think he was unduly harsh. I do think that the play got off to a bad start, and if you are inclined to be turned off in the first five minutes of a production and are unwilling to let it redeem itself, then this is not a show you're going to enjoy or get anything out of. The ragtag group that starts the play off lacks chemistry and commitment to what they are doing. It makes the beginning, which is not nicely filled with exposition, as we are used to in more simple American theatrical experiences, hard to comprehen and hard to watch. However, as additional characters are added to the stage and story, the play hits stride and even those characters that were painfully rough at the beginning shape up into interesting viewing.

So, there are two players that I'd cite as catalysts for bringing the story into line and whipping the play into shape. First, is Clarence Wethern. From the time of his first entrance the play changes rhythm, and those who seemingly couldn't act before, suddenly got it together...even when he wasn't on stage. hence his catalytic effect.

Second was Heidi Berg, who initially isn't as strong in this show as I have seen her before, but once she has someone to play off, she shines. her determined character is one of the only ones who seems sane and moral. And it is carried off with conviction.

So, what is this play about? There's a good question! It is about far more than I can sum up in a tidy paragraph, but I'll get to the heart of the story, at any rate. The play is about a man who went to war as a doctor, but came back as a torturing, controlling part of the government. And he attained this rise to power by eating his fellow men, literally.

The plot revolves around his attempts to pull information from his unwilling father about how the senior member is able to manipulate the masses through religion. The older doctor is played by Ben Kreilkamp and once he finds his own rhythm, he is quite good, but not unlike his compatriots (made up of those folks from the beginning of the play), it takes him some time to hit stride.

This is a challenging work and teeters on the edge of realism and fantasy. And that realism that it does employ is based on a world that we in this country never really have to face. And so, it is a foreign experience to begin with.

If you are going to this show, and I suggest you do, you will have to first become accustomed to teh rhythm of what is happening on stage before you can really start to soak things in. After that, you'll want to take the time to think about what you saw and what it means. I'm pretty sure that it will mean different things to different people. I'm pretty sure that you will note know right away what to think of what you just saw. And yet, you will think about it a lot and will be affected by it a long time afterward. That's a rewarding theatre experience, and that's what this show gives.

A couple of other thigns of note...once on their roll, I did enjoy the performances of Ryan Grimes and Tera Kilbride. Derek Dirlam also had his really strong moments. I do really have to wonder what magic Mr. Wethern posesses that his presence so changed the chemistry of the play. These three turned it on and got going from Wethern's entrance onward.

Some random stuff:

It was apparently warm enough for the wasps to be out and about yesterday, but not warm enough for them to have energy to fly. There were about 5 of them crawling about on the cement landing outside my building when I went out for lunch. I decided to not step on them in a moment of buddhist influence on my view of wildlife. Although I did take a bit of perverse glee in the fact that at least one of them had been crushed by someone else by the time I'd returned later in the afternoon.

7,653

I'm thinking about signing up to help out as a server in Fringeville for a couple of shifts this year. The Fringe is currently looking for volunteers... you, too, can sign up...Click here

I don't normally post random links for no good reason, but why not? After all, that would be random, right? Except, not really because it is planned out in advance and thoroughly debated in this exact post, right? Ah hell... here it is: A blog I enjoy

Are you as Hooked On Facts as I am?: "In ancient England a person could not have sex unless you had consent of the King." -- I guess it paid to be on the good side of teh King. Could you imagine being King in that situation? I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that there are certain people who I would not want to know if they were having sex. I can think of at least 10 of my friends who I would never want to imagine as sexual animals. Yikes! Just go do it and don't tell me about it! I mean, asking my permission would force me to think about it. Yuck!

It would make me very happy of the Bull Moose Party were still part of American Politics.

Llama, llama, duck!