Archive for March, 2010
Chicago Dramatists to present play at Millennium Park
| Aiming for Sainthood |
| a new solo play for hearing and deaf audiences | |
| Written/Performed by resident playwright Arlene Malinowski Directed by Associate Artistic Director Richard Perez |
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| ASL Interpretation by Michael Albert, scenic design by Robert Groth & Jenniffer Thusing, light design by Diane Fairchild, sound design by Christiopher Kriz, stage managed by Wendye Clarendon |
Performance Dates: March 25, 26 & 27, all at 7:30pm
Location: Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park
Tickets: all tickets are $10 (more info | buy tickets)
When her Deaf mother gets cancer, a middle-aged daughter moves back into her childhood room with two questions:
“Where is God?” and “Who took my Springsteen poster?”
The hearing daughter of devout Deaf parents must navigate through the cross-cultural maze of the medical world, the Deaf world, and the world beyond. This story is about parents and children, Deaf and hearing, love and forgiveness, faith and tolerance, and finding yourself amid the clash of cultures we call America.
Through this autobiographical, one-woman play, playwright Arlene Malinowski shares her heritage. It is told through both sign language and voice, using both Deaf and hearing storytelling techniques. It challenges audiences to share a world beyond their experiences: the culture of Deafness – a community of people defined not by their disability but by their shared language, perspective and values – a community which believes, “We aren’t broke – so don’t try to fix us.”
Produced in partnership with Millennium Park’s IN THE WORKS program, sponsored by The Boeing Company Charitable Trust.
REVIEW: Side Man (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre)
Haunting "Side Man" plays ‘Taps’ over jazz heyday
Metropolis Performing Arts Centre presents
| Side Man |
| By Warren Leight Directed by Lauren Rawitz Metropolis Arts Centre, Arlington Heights (map) Through April 18 (more info) |
| Reviewed by Leah A. Zeldes |
Poignant and darkly comic, Warren Leight’s Side Man, deftly bridges the parallels between the downward spiraling personal life of a jazz musician and the diminishing popularity of his genre. Lauren Rawitz’s enthralling production for Metropolis Performing Arts Centre brings the colorful characters of the big band era to vivid life.
The autobiographical story, inspired by the life of the playwright’s father, jazz trumpeter Donald Leight, covers 1953 to 1985. Clifford, the narrator, recounts the incidents in his parents’ lives, sliding backwards and forward in time through their tumultuous relationship and declining fortunes.
In jazz parlance, a side man is a freelance musician. Able to solo, play backup parts and blend in with a band as needed, side men play with various groups, taking gigs with whomever needs an extra player. Although often talented and hailed by other musicians, they rarely achieve the public acclaim or income given to the star bandleaders and their regular players.
Even during the heyday of the big bands, it was an unstable life. With the rise of rock ’n’ roll, jazz side men moved from busy professionals to peripatetic performers who struggled to work 20 weeks a year so they could collect unemployment the rest of the time — "jazzonomics" as Clifford calls it. In a moment of foresight, one player, Jonesy, reacts to the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show: "That kid will do to horn players what talkies did to Buster Keaton."
Side man "Clean" Gene, a trumpeter, lives for his horn. He played with Frank Sinatra and many of the big names of the 1940s and ’50s. When he plays, he’s totally aware of his environment, timed to an instant; offstage, he has to write down everything or he forgets it. He steers clear of the habits that sideline other musicians, the drugs that derail his trombonist pal Jonesy and the womanizing that absorbs his friend Al, another trumpeter. But when "Crazy Terry" throws herself at him, he allows himself to be drawn first into housekeeping with her, and then, when she becomes pregnant, a marriage for which he is ill-equipped.
At first, Gene and Terry seem a good match: "The rocks in her head fit the holes in his," as another trumpeter, Ziggy, puts it. Foul-mouthed but essentially naive, Terry starts out unaware of the realities of Gene’s syncopated life. The talented but unworldly side man remains unambitious, lost in his music, his wife and son rarely foremost in his mind. As the play goes on, she comes to deeply resent this, dropping into a raging depression and alcoholism that he scarcely notices. Young Clifford is forced to parent his parents.
Beautifully executed, the Metropolis production shines with a neon-lit set by Dustin Efrid and outstanding performances. Ryan Hallahan is a wry Clifford, recounting his haphazard upbringing without self-pity. Michelle Weissgerber plays his mother, ably seguing between the dizzy young Terry and the bitter old woman she becomes. Steve O’Connell’s Gene drifts amiably and bewilderedly through the show, rarely alive except in his music.
Their performances are matched by a talented supporting cast, with the vivacious Debbie DiVerde as Patsy, a round-heeled, jazz groupie waitress; Matt McNabbin a solid performance as the lisping Ziggy; David Vogel as Al, the Romeo of trumpeters; and Michael B. Woods, last seen in Metropolis’ Out of Order (our review ★★★★), in another stellar performance as Jonesy, the junkie trombone player who wavers from urbane sensitivity to crude humor. Jonesy, despite — or perhaps because of — his addiction, seems the one character really in tune with his world. When Terry wonders if Gene will ever "make it" at as a jazz musician, Jonesy, gesturing at the gritty jazz club around them, replies, "Honey, he’s made it. This is it."
Winner of the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play, Side Man ran more than 500 performances on Broadway. Despite its fraught dysfunctional-family scenes and paeans to a vanished world, this is an essentially good-hearted play, never maudlin or sentimental, but full of offhand humor. You need not be a jazz fan to relate to it.
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Little actual music features in this bittersweet play about musicians, though one moving scene, in Act II, sums up the jazzmen’s lives. Gene, Ziggy and Al have — to their disgust — been reduced to playing with Lester Lanin’s orchestra, a society band whose audiences "couldn’t’ swing if you hung them." As they’re packing up after their performance, Al brings out a rare recording, the final trumpet solo of the great Clifford Brown, for whom Clifford was named, and the three stop everything to listen, rapt, to the soulful notes.
| Rating: ★★★★ |
Side Man contains adult language and themes. Metropolis Performing Arts Centre is two blocks from the Arlington Heights Metra station and free parking is available in the municipal garage behind the theater. Google map of location here.
Check out Billy Elliot video Webisode 2
Meet the 4 Billy’s starring in Chicago’s newest hit play – Billy Elliot the Musical, music by Elton John. In this video we find out where the Billy’s are from, how old they were when they first started dancing, how excited they are to be in Chicago, and just what an amazingly talented set of young actors/singers/dancers these boys are. And did you know that they also are in school while rehearsing and performing? It’s all here in the video. (video courtesy of Broadway-in-Chicago)
Theatre Building Chicago changes hands
LUKABA PRODUCTIONS FINDS A HOME
Lukaba Productions announced today that it will be the primary tenant of the Theatre Building Chicago, at 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Lukaba has committed to a long-term lease with 1225 West Belmont Avenue LLC, who this week signed a contract to purchase the building from Theatre Building Chicago.
Under the contract announced this week, Theatre Building Chicago will sell its property in Lakeview, containing three 148-seat theaters, to 1225 West Belmont Avenue LLC, according to Charles H. Jesser, manager of record for the entity. Jesser also stated that the purchaser intends to make substantial upgrades to the building. (Yeah!) The transaction is expected to close in May.
Lukaba executive producer Brian Posen stated, “We are excited about the opportunity to have our own space where we can collaborate with other artists and offer audiences accessible, affordable and exceptional entertainment.”
Lukaba Productions, under Posen’s leadership, has a long history of theatrical production in Chicago. Lukaba’s flagship product is the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, the world’s largest such festival that has taken place at TBC each January since 2002. In addition, Lukaba is the parent company of the Cupid Players, the musical sketch comedy troupe that lays claim to the title of longest-running sketch revue in iO Theater’s history. Posen has also produced a number of theatrical productions. Those presented at TBC include the Chicago premiere of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, Noises Off! and How the Other Half Loves.
“We have spent the last several years searching for a permanent home that can serve as a base for our own productions, as well as helping us fulfill our mission of serving and nurturing Chicago’s theatrical artists. We will continue TBC’s tradition of offering Chicago’s off-Loop companies affordable performance space so that the building will continue to serve as an incubator for Chicago theatre,” said Lukaba board chair Laura Michaud.
See more updates on this story at Chris Jones’ blog.
Adventure Stage Chicago forms new artistic ensemble
Adventure Stage Chicago announces new Artistic Ensemble
As Adventure Stage Chicago (ASC) prepares to end their sixth season with the Midwest premiere of the pirate musical The Ghosts of Treasure Island, ASC announces the formation of a new artistic ensemble.
The eleven-member ensemble is comprised of actors, designers, directors, stage managers, teaching artists and writers committed to achieving artistic excellence through long-term collaboration and the creation of original work. The ensemble will be directly involved in the proposal of new projects, script development, season selection and the production process. A number of ensemble members also work in classrooms as teaching artists, implementing the company’s Neighborhood Bridges program in Chicago Public Schools. Additionally, ensemble members will serve as ambassadors for the company within the community, playing their part during outreach events at libraries, park districts, neighborhood street festivals and celebrations.
The creation of the ensemble re-focuses the development of new and original work to come from within the company, creating dynamic and transformative theatre experiences by Chicagoans for youth and families of Chicago.
ASC Ensemble Members:
| Tom Arvetis |
| Tom Arvetis is the founding Producing Artistic Director of Adventure Stage Chicago, where he has directed world premieres of Katrina: The Girl Who Wanted Her Name Back by Jason Tremblay, The Blue House by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, and I Dream in Blues, which he co-wrote with Chicago blues singer Katharine Davis. Additionally, he recently helmed a workshop reading of Dragon/Sky by Elizabeth Wong (Silk Road Theatre Project). Tom is an Emeritus Company Member with Barrel of Monkeys, has acted in award-winning productions with the Neo-Futurists, Bailiwick Repertory Company (now Bailiwick Chicago) and Pyewacket Theatre, among others, and is a veteran sound designer. He is a graduate of Northwestern University. |
| Brian Bell |
| Brian Bell recently directed Gossamer for ASC (where he also serves as a teaching artist) and will appear in their upcoming production The Ghosts of Treasure Island. Previously he completed a directing internship with the Carrousel Theater an der Parkaue in Germany and went on to direct The Retreating World by Naomi Wallace at Berlin’s Acud Theater. Brian graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of North Texas, where he directed and adapted Woyzeck by Georg Buechner as a final thesis. Brian is the artistic director of Chicago’s Cabaret Vagabond and has worked with Lincoln Square Theatre, Darknight Productions, Piccolo Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre and Collaboraction. He is an alumnus of the Chicago Directors Lab. |
| Brandon Campbell |
| Brandon Campbell has worked for Adventure Stage Chicago as a teaching artist, stage manager and production manager since moving to Chicago in 2001. He is also an Associate of Collaboraction, serving as production manager for Sketchbook 5, 6, 7, 8 and Carnaval. Other production credits include the world premiere of Jose Rivera‘s Massacre at Goodman Theatre (with Teatro Vista), Chicago Sketchfest and several shows with the Neo-Futurists. In his creative time he has worked as a writer/performer (Dark Eyed Strangers), a puppeteer and designer (Laika’s Coffin, The Cay, Joe’s Garage, Beowulf Vs. Grendel), and a sax player (Seeking Wonderland, 2nd Story, Jenn Rhoads Project). |
| Sarah Rose Graber |
| Sarah Rose Graber graduated from Northwestern University’s theatre program and received her Acting Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She was the Circumnavigator Foundation’s Travel Around the World Study Grant Scholar, which enabled her to travel the globe while researching the way theatre is used as a tool for communication and education to encourage social change. She chronicled her journey in a play called Time For Take-Off! She adapted The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe into a bilingual play for English and Spanish viewers and Edmund Spenser‘s epic poem “The Faerie Queene” into a mask play she directed called IMAGO, for which she received the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts Grant (CIRA) and the Program in the Study of the Imagination Grant (PSI). Chicago credits include Northlight Theatre, Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Strawdog Theatre, Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, Village Players Theatre, and Factory Theatre, where she is also a company member. As a teaching artist, Sarah has taught and directed for Northlight Theatre, Arts Berwyn, Chicago Children’s Humanities Festival, the National High School Institute at Northwestern, Neighborhood Bridges, and many residencies at Chicago area schools. |
| Laura Kollar |
| Laura Kollar attended Loyola University Chicago, where she earned degrees in Theater and Psychology. Costume design credits at Adventure Stage Chicago include Gossamer, Holes, The Blue House, The Cay and Shakespeare Stealer. She co-designed Still Life With Iris with fellow ASC ensemble member Jessica Kuehnau and helped create costumes for Katrina: The Girl Who Wanted Her Name Back and I Dream in Blues. Laura’s work has also been seen with Actor’s Theatre Company, Theatre Mir, Lookingglass Theatre, Collaboraction, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Serendipity Theatre, North Park University and Pegasus Players, among others. |
| Jessica Kuehnau |
| Jessica Kuehnau‘s previous designs for ASC have included sets for Eye of the Storm, The Shakespeare Stealer, and The Blue House, and costumes for Still Life with Iris, Search for Odysseus and Katrina: The Girl Who Wanted Her Name Back. Since completing her MFA in Scenic and Costume Design at Northwestern University, Chicago design credits include Rivendell Theatre, Pegasus Players, Lifeline Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Backstage Theatre Company, MPAACT, The Building Stage, Metropolis Performing Arts Center, and Light Opera Works. She is also full time faculty and resident scenic designer at Northeastern Illinois University, as well as the resident set designer and design professor at North Park University. |
| Allison Latta |
| Allison Latta is a graduate of the theatre program at Virginia Tech. She has also studied Commedia dell ‘Arte with Anotonio Fava in Reggio Emelia, Italy. Chicago performance credits include Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, Strawdog Theatre and Redmoon Theatre. She was a founding member of TriArts, Inc. and created four original Commedia shows with that company, including Hfob-N-Ffos, which was named a Best of Fringe show at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. She has appeared in ASC’s productions of Sideways Stories from the Wayside School, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, Still Life With Iris, The Ash Girl, Holes and Gossamer. She can also be seen in a number of national commercials and independent films. She has worked as a teaching artist with ASC, Gallery 37 and Metropolis Performing Arts Center. |
| Scott Letscher |
| Scott Letscher is currently the Managing Director of Adventure Stage Chicago. He was a company member of the late, lamented Terrapin Theatre for over ten years, where he served for two years as their Artistic Director. At Terrapin, he directed the After Dark Award-winning production of Aunt Dan and Lemon, the world premiere of Requiem in a Light Aqua Room by Sean Graney, The Rimers of Eldritch, The Sneeze and Public/Privacy. He appeared in the Terrapin productions Nina Variations, Blue Remembered Hills, The Pooka and Daniel O’Rourke, The Kramer and Laurel and Hardy Sleep Together. He also spent four years with the Children’s Theatre Fantasy Orchard as an actor and adaptor. He received a Theatre Arts degree from Marquette University. |
| Jana Liles |
| Jana Liles came to Chicago after receiving her B.F.A. in Theatre from Emporia State University in her home state of Kansas. She completed her M.F.A. in Theatre from The Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She has performed with such theatre companies as Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Light Opera Works, Quest Theatre Ensemble, The GreyZelda Theatre Group, Chemically Imbalanced Comedy and Adventure Stage Chicago, while also appearing in numerous films, local television programs and commercials. An accomplished singer and dancer, she has also been fortunate enough to perform in front of thousands of people at the Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park. In addition to serving as ASC’s Marketing Coordinator, she is the Casting Director at BackStage Theatre Company. |
| Merissa Shunk |
| Merissa Shunk has been with Adventure Stage Chicago since 2007 as the Director of Education. Before moving to Chicago she lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She is originally from sunny California where she studied theatre, taught theatre, and studied how to teach theatre at UCLA and Santa Clara University. She has freelanced as a curriculum writer and teaching artist for the Silk Road Theater Project, is the Fine Arts Curriculum Advisor at Rowe Elementary School, and has been a mentor (Drama Mama) in Redmoon Theater‘s Mentoring program, Drama Girls. In fall of 2008 she co-founded the Chicago Arts Educator Forum and also serves on the board of the Illinois Theatre Association. |
| Brandon Wardell |
| Brandon Wardell is a freelance Lighting and Scenic Designer in Chicago. He holds an MFA from Northwestern University and teaches at several universities, including Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, The University of Chicago, and Illinois Wesleyan. Recent lighting credits include The Hollow Lands (Steep Theatre), On An Average Day (Backstage Theatre Company), The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (Theatre Mir), John & Jen (Apple Tree Theatre), The Robber Bridegroom (Griffin Theatre) and The Blue House (ASC). Scenic Designs include Maria’s Field (TUTA), In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Steep Theatre), Holes (ASC), Dracula (The Building Stage) and Be More Chill (Griffin Theatre). |
REVIEW: Legion (Wildclaw Theatre)
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Spooky special-effects; original music accent this horror-fest |
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| Wildclaw Theatre presents: |
| Legion |
| adapted by Charley Sherman directed by Anne Adams at Viaduct Theatre, 3111 N. Western Ave. through April 18th (more info) |
Reviewed by Aggie Hewitt
The story of Legion, the sequel to “The Exorcist”, has taken many forms: first as a 1983 novel by William Peter Blatty, then as a film (The Exorcist III) and now it is a play, adapted by Wildclaw’s Artistic Director Charley Sherman, and presented by WildClaw Theatre.
WildClaw’s favored subject matter is the frightening and supernatural. When horror is done right it’s one of the most fun and 
satisfying types of show to see – the audience feels like a unified place when everyone is afraid of the same boogeyman. The boogeyman here is two-fold. The string of murders that start Legion off match the M.O. of the Gemini Killer, who was supposed to have been killed twelve years before the start of the play. And of course being the Exorcist sequel, it must feature the worst villain in the history of literature: Satan. So what exactly is going on? Who is committing the murders? I’ll never tell…
Legion takes it’s name from a biblical quote that Blatty uses at the beginning of the novel The Exorcist: “Now when [Jesus] stepped ashore, there met him a certain man who for a long time was possessed by a devil … And Jesus asked him, saying, ‘What is thy name?’ and he said, Legion … “ Given the references to Mafia murders, the Vietnam war and the Holocaust that Blatty references after, it makes one wonder what exactly this Legion is. Is it’s the darkness and rage of humanity that makes this Satanic literary duo so terrifying? It’s not simply the devil. In contemporary society of different beliefs, cultures and mindsets, a biblical tale of demonic possession is not enough to strike fear into a universal audience. But you don’t have to believe in the Christian bible to think Legion is scary.
The main character, Lt. Kinderman is Jewish. His consistent references to kibitzes and Matzo are enough to make one a Meshugina, but the incorporating of a religion other than Christianity reminds the audience that this is a story about man, not God. Len Bajenski’s very endearing yet, (there is no other way to say this) Colombo-esque performance as the detective is more familiar than derivative and is a nice counter-balance to the heavy, daunting subject matter.
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Despite it’s serious side, Legion never forgets to be entertaining, especially with the over the top special effects skillfully done by Fraser Coffeen. The audience gets to witness the horrific crime scenes with Lt. Kinderman, bodies and all. Of course, the gore does not look real but there is a fun, campy theatricality to the poor victims in Mr. Blatty’s dark tale.
The adaptation takes great care to loyally mirror the book on stage, which can lead to information overload. Trying to cram the density of a novel into a two-act play is too much: too many characters, too many ideas, and too many subplots. Didactic speeches about the existence of God and the nature of man can be cut down substantially. The large cast still relies on double and triple casting of almost all of the actors, and the effect is confusing and overwhelming. Legion soars when it distances 
itself from the novel and finds its strength as an independent play. The best example of this is a comedia del arte inspired flashback to the childhood of the Gemini killer that is startling and extremely engaging.
The glue that holds this entire production together is the fantastic original music by Scott Tallarida. The screeching strings are reminiscent of the score from the movie Psycho. The music is both terrorizing and humorous, to a very entertaining end.
Director Anne Adams has made a creepy play. Her instincts about when to be campy and when to be down to earth are dead on. The staging of some of the larger group scenes are usually clean and precise, although some staging drifts into clutterdom. Not to give anything away, but Cheryl Roy is fantastically creepy in the ensemble and Scott T. Barsotti gives a performance that will make one jump in one’s seat – perhaps to one’s embarrassment.
Legion is a play that lives in the dark and the light: it’s political and scary and light and cinematic all at the same time. It’s unafraid to push the limits of on-stage horror to the maximum. While not a perfect production, this play hits all the right marks for a fun night out.
| Rating: ★★½ |
REVIEW: Uncle Vanya (Maly Drama Theatre at CST)
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Hear the creative genius of Chekhov in his native tongue |
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| Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg presents: |
| Uncle Vanya |
| by Anton Chekhov directed by Lev Dodin at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Navy Pier (map) performed in Russian with projected English translation through March 21st (more info) |
reviewed by Barry Eitel
Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is a hard play for me to crack. The 1899 work is simply subtitled “Scenes from Village Life,” which holds a clue to the nature of the play. It isn’t a straight comedy or devastating tragedy—it has elements of both, of course, but Chekhov’s genius shows through the fact that the play more or less captures snapshots of a summer. I guess that’s why they call him one of the fathers of realism. Chicago Shakespeare Theatre brings a rare treat home this weekend, a chance to catch this masterpiece in the original Russian, performed by one of the greatest theatre companies in the world, the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg. Although the whole run is pretty much sold out, it would be well worth it to do whatever possible to get your hands on some tickets.
There is another production of the play going on right now at Strawdog, directed by Kimberly Senior (our review, ★★★). That exceptional production is personal and well-acted. However, the Maly Production blows up the play to operatic scale, weighing the work so as to come off like a Dostoyevskian epic. For example, the production at Chicago Shakespeare is about an hour longer than the one at Strawdog even though the dialogue remain pretty close. Lauded director Lev Dodin and his cast sit and stew in Chekhov’s world; they aren’t concerned with pushing the pace to appease an audience. The company has worked on this production for years (there’s European theatre for you) and they know how to drain every drop of subtle emotion from the text. Still, at least for this American audience member, the show wears you down. A certain hyper-receptive mood is required to really appreciate what is happening on-stage, which is different than what we’re used to here in Chicago. Without an open-mind, this production can feel draggy and tiresome. Once you allow yourself to get sucked in, however, Maly’s brilliance jolts the intellect and gut.
The main tension in Vanya, and in most Chekhov’s pieces (and, maybe, in most plays in general), is between talk and action. Doctor Astrov (Igor Chernevich) “does,” the listless housewife Elena (Ksenia Rappoport) mostly complains. Uncle Vanya (Sergei Kurishev) “does” some things—he runs a freakin’ farm—but not the things he believes he should be doing. Nearly all of the characters complain about boredom and mourn their “wasted” lives.
These actors obviously have an intimate knowledge of Chekhov’s language. They truly live in the world, and much of this production’s comedy comes from unscripted physical moments. Watching them move around is like a master-class in how to stage a play. Lev Dodin’s staging is like a chess game played out on the giant hardwood floor supplied by set designer David Borovsky. Every move is meticulous, calculated, yet digs to the root of Chekhov’s characters and themes.
All of the actors stand out, even Alexander Zavialov as the rarely-seen Waffles. Kurishev’s Vanya is melancholy and self-effacing, funny and sad at the same time. Rappoport is complicated and sexy as the lusted-over Elena; it is very clear how so many men could be caught in her web of charm. Elena Kalinina gives a marvelous performance as Vanya’s passed-over neice Sonia. Her final speech is positively heartbreaking. It floods the giant theatre like an ocean.
Maly Theatre is renowned as one of the greatest theatres in the world (it is one of three named ‘Theatre of Europe’ by the Union of European Theatres), and they clearly have a profound understanding of drama. By doing a play by their countryman, they add a clarity not often seen in the States. Anton Chekhov is already known as an insightful writer, but these Russians can swim in his genius—Chicago Shakespeare presents an once-in-a-lifetime experience here that should not be missed.
| Rating: ★★★★ |
Extra Credit
- Uncle Vanya playgoer’s guide
- Simon Calow’s discussion on Maly Theatre
- the Cast and Creative team can be found after the fold
REVIEW: Just An Ordinary Man (Steppenwolf Theatre)
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More like extra-ordinary |
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| Steppenwolf Theatre presents: |
| Just an Ordinary Man |
| written and performed by Joe Frank at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted performed March 13th (more info) |
| reviewed by Aggie Hewitt |
On March 13, Santa Monica-based NPR broadcaster and monologist Joe Frank took his peculiar sense of humor to the stage at Steppenwolf for a very special one-night event. The night was organized by ensemble member Terry Kinney, and sold out three days in advance, according to Mr. Frank’s facebook page. His large Chicago fan base stems from his Sunday night radio show on WBEZ. His work is dreamlike, surreal and very, very funny. For his performance Saturday night, Mr. Frank read a piece from 2008 “Just An Ordinary Man.” He sat behind a desk, with at trashcan to his left and a glass of whiskey to his right and read aloud his 90-minute surreal monologue, without even taking one sip of water. On the opposite end of the stage, his musical accompanist James Harrah wailed on electric guitar at all the right moments. The only other set piece was a large movie screen, on which a short film was projected about halfway through the evening.
Joe Frank’s work is hilarious and profound. He has an uncanny ability to create a world of darkness, and then crack the tension with highly absurd comedy. Yet this alone does not encompass his writing style. It’s unhinged yet poignant. Often, the tales will lead to a metaphorical ending. For example, one story in the program is about a man who owns the largest telescope in the world, a dreamlike and abstract notion, and ends with the haunting, real world revelation, “You can’t see the entire universe in the daytime.” This particular show focuses on the passing of time, the loss of love and art, among many, many other things. It is very loosely framed by love letters from “Just An Ordinary Man” to the woman he is clearly stalking, but whom he considers to be his first love. His stories morph into one another, and are often separated by a guitar solo that leads into Mr. Frank picking up anew.
At one point on Saturday night, Joe Frank riffed on the word “meaning” as it relates to art. Meaning is important, he conjectured, but if there is too much meaning, then the thing loses all it’s meaning. His exhausting repetition of the word “meaning” rendered the word, (you guessed it) meaningless, transforming the word into the antithesis of its definition. This kind of insightful sculpting of words is more than a parlor trick: it is a profound and carefully orchestrated exploration of the English language and the boundaries of communication. Through the seemingly pointless speech, Mr. Frank made a clear point about intention and honesty in art. Finding this, the purest kind of communication, should always be the most rudimentary goal of theatre, although that intention is often overshadowed, perhaps in the quest of that little thing Mr. Frank finds so fascinating: meaning. Mr. Frank’s work forgets to be consumed with political or social import and instead explores the human mind.
The silent short film directed by Paul Rachman and featuring Linda Carol and Joe Frank bisected the evening. The film was projected behind Mr. Frank as he read aloud the narration. It was a clever and charming piece that flowed with the performance nicely, especially because of how in sync Frank’s reading was with the film behind him. The visual component was a refreshing addition to what was otherwise an evening of watching Mr. Frank read. The words were intended to be the stars of the evening, and the performance perfectly matched the radio show in tone, although a stronger visual component would have been nice.
Unfortunately. Mr. Frank has no scheduled dates to return to Chicago, but there are still opportunities to hear his work. His radio show airs in syndication every Sunday night at 11 PM on WBEZ and archives of his radio show are available on his website www.joefrank.com.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Show closings – last chance to see them!
Show Closings
“Master Harold”…and the Boys - TimeLine Theatre
The Fantasticks - Promethean Theatre
Jerry and Tom - Idle Muse Theatre
The Legend of Ginger Bred - Gorilla Tango Theatre
Monks in Trouble - Apollo Theatre (Studio space)
Off the Paddy Wagon - Cornservatory
Policeman’s Log - Gorilla Tango Theatre
The Ring Cycle - The Building Stage
Tim Miller’s Lay of the Land - Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
special ticket offers
Sunday is "Pay-What-You-Can" Night at Bailiwick Chicago’s Show Us Your Love! Doors open at 7:00 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Come on up to Mary’s Attic and donate what you can to see the show. Stay after with the cast/production staff for a drink and karaoke! Playing at Mary’s Attic (above Hamburger Mary’s), 5400 N. Clark St (Andersonville), Chicago. Visit www.bailiwickchicago.com.
$1-2 off tickets to LiveWire Chicago Theatre’s world premiere Lower Debt by Joshua Aaron Weinstein at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave. Join LiveWire and the Greater Chicago Food Depository in the fight against hunger by helping us collect nutritious non-perishable food items during the run of Debt (through April 4, Thu-Sat at 7:30 p.m. and Sun at 3:00 p.m.). Bring in one can and receive $1 off your ticket price; bring two or more cans and receive $2 off your ticket price. Cans collected at the door. Call the box office at 773.296.6024 to make your reservation. More at www.livewirechicago.com/lowerdebt.
REVIEW: Agamemnon (Dream Theatre)
| “Agamemnon” is a harbinger of good things to come |
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| Dream Theatre presents: |
| Agamemnon |
| Written/Directed by Jeremy Menekseoglu at Dream Theatre, 556 W. 18th Street (map) through April 11th (more info | tickets) |
| reviewed by Ian Epstein |
Though it might fool you, Dream Theatre’s Agamemnon is not nearly as dusty as, judging by its title, it seems. Artistic Director Jeremy Menekseoglu dons his actor/writer hat in this show as both the playwright and the male lead in the role of the homeward bound Greek title character: Agamemnon. Menekseoglu’s is a retelling of Agamemnon’s homecoming. It is told from a decidedly claustrophobic point of view that recasts Aeschlyus’ tragedy as a nautical No Exit played out between Agamemnon and a feisty, fluid-moving Cassandra (Courtney Arnett) who Agamemnon has found 
molested by one of his own Greek soldiers in the temple of Athena. He offs the soldier and sets out to seduce Cassandra in the confines and comfort of his General’s berth on board his Greece-bound ship.
Cassandra is the prophet no one believes or she’s a notable slave or she’s spill-over Trojan war spoils – this is the Cassandra to whom Apollo gave prophecy and the unfortunate condition that no one will believe what she foretells, so she stumbles forward into a future she can plainly predict, only able to retell her sad and tattered past. Her predicament is made worse by the fact that the sea drowns out her gift and leaves her reeling like just another drunk sailor at sea. In one of the plays intense, narrative monologues (there are several), Cassandra paints the traumatic picture of her six year old self, whisked off by an Apollo with questionable motives.
The play is an examination of Stockholm syndrome – where a captive falls in love with or takes the side of the captor – as much as it’s an exercise in mining one of Aeschylus’ classical dramatic texts for something relevant to audience’s today. And Dream Theatre is big on starting this experience the moment you step through the door. Members from the Chorus of Cassandra (Anna Weiler, Alicia Reese, and Molly Gray) greet all theatre-goers speaking a heightened language and looking like they’re on loan from the underworld. They solicit the audience member with mandatory chocolate candies then ask which show they’ve come to see before insisting that they’ve come to see Cassandra and not that other one.
Giau Truong and Anna Weiler collaborated on the set, and the effort shows in intricate, room-filling attention to decaying, wooden detail that evokes a nautical, underwater feel. Jeremy Menekseoglu also has his imprimatur on the sound design, which illustrates what the inside of a prophet’s mind sounds like with nail-biting, wince-inducing clarity. At other times, the sound design mimics fuzzy 
radio, with American dance music filtering through the air-waves and into Agamemnon’s regal berth. Agememnon tries to impress his captive audience by dancing a sloppy, drunken Black Bottom. Unimpressed, Cassandra whips out a performance-perfect Charleston that knocks Agamemnon on his ass. "Where’d you learn to dance like that?" he asks – "Delphi" she replies.
On the whole, Agamemnon is an odd and oddly fresh performance that hits intriguing notes. Menekseoglu and Arnett both deliver performances admirable in their intensity. It’s intimate and foreign; funny one moment and then frightening the next. It uses melodrama as a technique and not by accident. But the blend of heightened language with profanity and everyday speech still gets in the way. The attempts at many of the poetic moments feel overdone, prosaic, and closer to the 2,500 year old source-text than most moments in the rest of the show. A trait that may make the show a fuller experience for dramaphiles already familiar with the myth that Menekseoglu is molding.
As a first installment, Agamemnon is a harbinger of good things to come. It will certainly be exciting to watch as Menekseoglu steers the Dream ensemble through the next two plays of his Agon Trilogy. (see performance dates fore next 2 parts of trilogy after the fold.)
| Rating: ★★★ |
Wednesday Wordplay: Shirley MacLain’s anger, the origin of see-saw, and Rita Dove’s poetry
Fun and Inspirational Quotes
I’m not crazy…I’ve just been in a very bad mood for 40 years.
— Shirley MacLaine
Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.
— Paul Goodman
The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.
— Hazrat Inayat Khan
There ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got raw deals. You’ve got to say, ‘I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.’
— Lee Iacocca
To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.
— Anatole France
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
— Vernon Howard
One must also accept that one has ‘uncreative’ moments. The more honestly one can accept that, the quicker these moments will pass.
— Etty Hillesum
Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent. You need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive.
— Eric A. Burns, Gossamer Commons, 08-12-05
He felt about books as doctors feel about medicines, or managers about plays – cynical, but hopeful.
— Dame Rose Macaulay, Crewe Train, 1926
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
— John Adams
It’s always been about the experience of life and of not being passive. If something so excites my curiosty, I want to go there, be a part of whatever it is that’s either pushing me or pulling me toward it. That desire for experience has made me very rich in life experience.
— Tish Grier, love and hope and sex and dreams, 04-12-2006
Some days you’re a bug, some days you’re a windshield.
— Price Cobb
When you can’t have what you want, it’s time to start wanting what you have.
— Kathleen A. Sutton
You miss 100% of the shots your never take.
— Wayne Gretzky
POETRY: "Black On A Saturday Night" Rita Dove
From World Wide Words:
Q: What is the origin of the word “see-saw”
Aside: I’ve always thought “see-saw” was so named because of what happens when you’re on it – when you’re in the high position, you can see an object, and when you’re in the low position, when you can no longer see the object, you then say you saw the item. (I actually was told this by a relative). I realize that I was (gasp) wrong!
ANSWER: The term “see-saw” was first mentioned in a play by Richard Brome, The Antipodes, first performed in 1638. Later references support the idea that it may have been part of a chant, a work song, used by pairs of sawyers to keep their rhythm while alternately pulling a big two-handled saw. They might have been working on the level or they could have been pit-sawing, with one man above the other.
Brome’s version of the chant goes “see saw, sacke a downe”, while another from about 1685 records “see saw, sack a day”. A third is in another play the following century, Gammer Gurton’s Garland, as “See Saw, sacaradown, / Which is the way to London town?” With this example it had turned into a children’s rhyme, with a version of another rhyme, “See-saw, Margery Daw”, turning up in the same play.
Nobody knows when the playground see-saw was invented. The evidence from language is very late, with the first explicit references not found before the early nineteenth century. But so basic a play toy must surely be very much older. Iona and Peter Opie conjecture in The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes that it may have arisen through children watching sawyers at work and borrowing a plank and a log to play out their up-and-down motion. But this must surely be no more than a guess based on its links with saw.
The device certainly predates the word see-saw, which is the successor to another reduplicated term — the one you mentioned that some Americans have retained — the splendid teeter-totter. Various spellings of it are recorded, one being the East Anglian teeter-cum-tauter and another titter-totter. The latter is the oldest known version, which is first recorded in John Palsgrave’s Lesclarcissement de la Langue Françoyse of 1530. In that, it’s given as the English equivalent of the old French balenchoeres (now balançoire), from balancer, to balance.
Might this have been the origin of see-saw? These two men are sawing a fallen tree using a two-handled saw.
Q: How is it that “lbs” is the abbreviation for “pounds”?
Answer: Actually, “lbs” isn’t an abbreviation of “pounds”. It’s shorthand for “pounds weight” but isn’t an abbreviation of the word pounds.
The form lb is actually an abbreviation of the Latin word libra, which could mean a pound, itself a shortened form of the full expression, libra pondo, “pound weight”. The second word of this phrase, by the way, is the origin of the English pound.
You will also know Libra as the astrological sign, the seventh sign of the zodiac. In classical times that name was given to rather an uninspiring constellation, with no particularly bright stars in it. It was thought to represent scales or a balance, the main sense of libra in Latin, which is why it is often accompanied by the image of a pair of scales.
Find other great word and phrase facts at World Wide Words.
