Front Row at Lansing's Theaters

Thank you, Mr. Waldschmidt

2011-02-09T09:09:00.001-05:00

“I liked it. It was gud. I will tell my frunds abut it.”

Every time I sit down to write a review, those sentences go through my head. They were sentences that my high school English teacher frequently wrote on the chalkboard. It was his way of mocking the papers he received that claimed to be book reviews or literature essays.

It is one of those things which has stuck with me as the epitome of how not to write a review. Granted, I would hope that I have enough sophistication as a writer at this point in my career that my writing would be neither so crude nor so poorly spelled. However, each of those sentences represent other temptations that are easy to give in to when I’m not being vigilant.

“I liked it.”

Who cares? Really now, if I’m writing a serious review, it matters not one whit whether I liked the show or not. I hate Heart of Darkness, but that is irrelevant in any serious writing. My likes and dislikes are subject to my personal tastes, my emotions, how I’m feeling on a given day and what my life experiences are. None of those are relevant to other audience members nor to my readers.

For a Facebook status, a conversation with a friend, a blog post or even an informal radio segment, I’ll say whether I liked a show or not. With my friends, they know my biases. They know which of my judgments they share and which they don’t. They can ask me questions about why I liked it. On a recent evening I told a friend of mine how moved I was by a particular production and told him that he absolutely had to go see it. He laughed at me and said, "Yes, but you're a sucker for Greek drama." I agreed and then referred him to my husband for his opinion.

In the context of a review, my focus must be more on providing those details which will let my readers decide whether they will like the play. I have to provide sufficient information for them to be able to make an informed judgment that is independent of whether it was my kind of show or not.

“It was gud.”

This second sentence gets even trickier. Critics are supposed to make judgments about technique, aesthetics and the emotional power of a production. That includes stating whether something worked, whether it had worth, whether it succeeded in accomplishing what it set out to accomplish—in short, whether a choice was good or bad.

So why is that sentence a no-no when it comes to writing a serious review? It represents an unsupported and unqualified judgment. A critic’s job is not to merely return a verdict of thumbs up or thumbs down. It is to explain why the thumb is pointing in the direction that it is pointing. It is meaningless for me to say a show is good or bad. What is useful to the reader is to provide details that support a critical statement.

One of the questions I constantly ask myself when working on a review is "Why?" Was the choreography good? Why? What made it good and what evidence can I provide to show that it was good? It's not enough to say that something is good or bad. I have to show why.

"I will tell my frunds abut it."

This final sentence serves to remind me who my audience is. I am not writing a letter to send to my friends or an email blast telling those closest to me what I think of a particular show. If I'm doing my job correctly, I'm providing a detailed, well-supported evaluation of a performance based on commonly accepted criteria.

Those closest to me will tell you that the way I describe a show to them is very different than the content that I put in a review. There are different standards. With my friends, we share a long history of shared likes and peeves. We have a shared vocabulary and certain short-cuts that let us quickly communicate without having to provide detail.

In a review, on the other hand, the criteria that I use to judge a show is ideally based on wider, more accepted standards. They are those standards that have evolved through centuries of theater criticism and performance.

Thank you, Mr. Waldschmidt

Mr. Waldschmidt, I know you're no longer living, but if you were, I'd find you and thank you. You drilled those phrases into my head and because of that, made me a more conscious critic. I won't forget.

Cue Bette Midler: "You don't own me"

2010-09-29T21:19:00.001-04:00

I’m a great believer in transparency when it comes to issues of ethics. That is one of the reasons I have this blog. It gives me the opportunity to talk about issues surrounding theater and the coverage of theater.

What I am about to write next applies to very few people in this community. The vast majority of the arts community in Lansing is populated with individuals I am honored to be associated with. They are people who enrich those around them through their art. They are amazing, generous, and brilliant individuals. I have many times expressed my love for this community because it is truly filled with dynamic, caring, and talented people whose diverse individuality make Lansing a wonderful place to live. What I am about to write is something 98% of this community would wonder why I even find it necessary to state the obvious. To those folks reading this, I apologize. I also thank you for not treating me the way I am about to describe.

For all that I believe in transparency, that does not mean that I believe I have to share everything about myself. There are some explanations that I don’t owe anyone because they are of a personal nature that has nothing to do with my ability to cover the theater community. Even more important, my covering the local arts community does not mean that the community owns me any more than I own it. We are wayfarers with similar destinations, but how we take the journey is for each of us to determine.

Setting Boundaries: "I'm not one of your little toys"

So allow me to set a few boundaries for those few who need it. You don’t get to dictate what I see and what I don’t see. You can choose to take it personally if you wish, but you don’t get to tell me how I spend my time. You don’t get to tell me which shows I have to see or that I have to see each group’s show in even amounts. You don’t get to tell me the type and quantity of experience that I need to have in order to cover you—only my editor gets to do that. You don't get to tell me who I can write for and who I can't. You don't get to tell me what I'm allowed to write and what I can't. In truth, the second amendment gives you the right to say all those things, but I don’t have to listen and from now on, I won’t.

You are welcome to pass whatever judgment on my character that you wish. I couldn’t stop you anyway nor do I have any desire to. However, I also don’t have to be subjected to your tirades and I choose not to.

You don’t get to tell my husband what he can and cannot do. You don’t have the power or the right to tell us that one of us must choose a career and the other must drop it. You don’t get to tell me who I’m “allowed” to be friends with and who I must not be friends with.

You Probably Don't Own the Media Either

Also, while this may disappoint some people, I must advise that no newspaper is required to cover you. They aren’t required to give you equal coverage. They aren’t required to have a single policy which equally spreads coverage around. Their obligation isn’t to you. Their obligation is to their readers (though, nowadays, most newspaper executives would say their obligation is to their shareholders). If you want to be covered, then make a compelling case to the media as to why you ought to be covered. If you simply say, “I’m here and I’m doing something,” well, not too many editors or readers are going to find that compelling. You’ll fare even worse if you say, “You covered this exact same thing when another organization did it.” Telling a newspaper that they need to be redundant in these days of reduced news hole isn’t going to get you very far. Their response will be—“we already told that story.”

If you want the newspaper to cover you, tell its editors why your story matters to their readers. Tell them why it will appeal to a broad group of people. Tell them what makes it compelling and what makes it different. Tell them how it will make a difference in people’s lives. If you can’t do that, don’t be surprised that they don’t jump when you say boo. Don’t be surprised when they are merely bemused at your attempts to tell them how to run their business.

I'll talk, talk, talk about it

I welcome discussions of anything I write—I relish passionate debate on issues, debate that challenges word choices, that examines ideas. Tell me what I've written is wrong and why. Who I am as a person is not up for debate or discussion. At least, it isn’t with me. You can have whatever conversations about me that you want with other people, though I am not so egotistical as to think that I am very frequently a topic of gossip. I will not discuss my personal life choices (including how I spend my personal time) with you simply because you think that I ought. Nor will I engage in debate with you about me as a person.

I’ll gladly discuss journalism, theater, the arts, and the Lansing community with anyone who is interested. However, I’m still old-fashioned about manners. I will treat you courteously and I will expect the same in return. If you abuse me or attack me personally, I will cut off any future dialogue with you that isn’t strictly professional. I’ll do my job and cover you when you do something newsworthy. I’ll be as objective and fair as possible when I review you. I will not, though, allow you to threaten my health or well-being by tolerating abusive behavior. I won’t bear you ill will, for I have no desire to poison my outlook or become cynical about people in general. I will, though, refuse to allow you any further access to me than what is strictly necessary.

Celebrating Everyone Else

The real advantage to cutting abusive people out of one’s life is that you are able to be more open to the vast majority of people who are not. By refusing to engage with people who make unhealthy choices in their dealings with others, I have more time and energy to engage with everyone else. Once again, I will express gratitude that so few people need to be told what has been written here.

Twelfth Night: The Shakespeare Club

2010-09-17T17:04:00.002-04:00

One of many reasons that I haven't been writing here is that I've been helping Waverly High School by writing their fall play (it opens in a month, and no, I'm not done with the script yet). To go along with the play, I'm putting together a rehearsal blog to provide dramaturgy on not just Shakespeare but the plays time setting--the 1980s (which you already figured out from the subtitle, right? If not, your hint is: Scrambled eggs and bacon.

If you'd like to read my theater writing over there, the link is http://whstwelfthnight.blogspot.com/.

cough, cough

2010-09-15T00:06:00.002-04:00

Hi! Still here. Still recovering. Will write more once things are on a more even keel.

A qualification or two

2010-08-26T00:40:00.004-04:00

Generally speaking, I'm not overly fond of talking about my credentials. It isn't that I don't have them, it's that I do not wish to be arrogant or boastful (For more about that, you can read this note from Facebook). I also continue to believe that as a reviewer, I have to reprove my credibility internally with each review that I write.

Also, being a woman of "a certain age" (42 to be exact), I really don't feel like I have much to prove. I have enjoyed a wonderful career so far and I look forward to new opportunities and challenges in the years to come. A career is a fluid thing and the most important thing is to be engaged in lifelong learning and to be open to new experiences and new ways of doing things.

Sometimes it is also better to be quiet about one's credentials because there are times actors need to be able to call your credibility into account so that they can discount what you say. That's OK. If a performer needs to believe that I don't know what I'm talking about so that he or she can get back up on stage the next day, then go for it.

Knowing what I do about my qualifications, I'll confess that I was amused to hear them portrayed in a rather unfavorable light in "An Artist's Nightmare" last week. My experience was reduced to liking theater, having seen a "few" plays, and being willing to learn. While all of those things are true--I do like theater, I have seen a few plays (though a few every weekend would be more accurate) and I am willing to learn--they are major understatements. Now, I recognize that it really wasn't personal. I was being used as a device to present a particular point. I'm not offended and I continue to find it sadly amusing. I also recognize that I had the opportunity to boast to the playwright when we first met and chose not to because I was there to interview him and learn about his school, not to put myself forward.

For any curious, I'll post a more detailed version of my professional background. Everyone else can just skip to the next entry which I hope to make in the next week or so.

Writing/Journalism/Reviewing experience

27 years of professional writing experience
B.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University (I graduated either magna cum laude or summa cum laude, but I can't remember which--it didn't really strike me as important.)
Winner of Serwach Leadership Award in Journalism ("This award recognizes undergraduate journalism majors who have demonstrated superior leadership and reporting and writing ability for campus or professional media.")
Second place winner for the Focus:Hope Journalism Olympics award
Alternate for Dow Jones International Journalism internship in Brussels, Belgium
Executive Editor of my college newspaper at Olivet Nazarene University
Editor of the opinions section of my high school newspaper and editor for two years of my junior high newspaper
Temporary entertainment editor and reporter for the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers
Intern at the Grand Rapids Press--which included writing book reviews
Copy editor for the Lansing State Journal--which included editing theater reviews when they came in and writing restaurant reviews
Editor of hospitality textbooks and training materials for the past 17 years
Writer of training materials and textbook chapters for the hospitality industry for the past 17 years
Author of numerous books for the hospitality, private club, and spa industries
Ghost writer for marriage self-help book, football biography, several ph.d. papers, natural hormone replacement therapy book, textbook chapters on everything from turfgrass to training.
Category Lead for the Book, Newspaper, and Magazine category of Epinions.com, a consumer review site. I wrote for them for 10 years, primarily reviewing books but also writing travel and theater reviews. I was a top reviewer for many years.
Publisher and primary contributor of Book Help Web, a consumer book site that included exclusive author interviews, book reviews, author bios, and related book news. I created content for more than 1,500 pages.
Freelance writer for a variety of organizations including General Motors, Michigan State University, EduGuide, Lansing CityLimits magazine, Dramatics Magazine, National Parks and Recreation Association, Club Managers Association of America, International SPA Association, Pulse Magazine, and others.
2007 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Arts Journalism in Theater and Musical Theater at the University of Southern California Annenburg.
Was a founding contributing blogger to Flyover, a national arts blog focusing on theater outside the country's major theater centers. It is hosted by Arts Journal.
Theater reviewer for the Lansing State Journal and Encore Michigan
Performing arts columnist for the Lansing State Journal
Weekly theater correspondent for Michigan Entertainment Internet radio and occasional co-host at live theater broadcasts

Theater Experience

Performed in theater in junior high and high school
Performed in pit orchestra
President of the forensics team my senior year and competed on the team for three years
Was part of a religious acting troupe
Took several courses in dramatic literature
Performed in several community theater roles from minor parts to a lead.
Directed a show.
Assistant directed several shows.
Produced many shows.
Costumed shows.
Worked lights and sound for shows.
Served on two community theater boards.
Volunteered extensively for several years for a professional theater.
Taught drama to K-3 grades for four years.
Wrote, produced, and directed children's shows.
I also see an average of 100 live performances a year (mostly theater and musicals but also opera, dance concerts, symphonic concerts, and vocal concerts)--and have seen them all around the country.

(And I'm not sure if this counts or not, but I am married to an Equity actor and have learned a lot from him and his colleagues. Also, my father is a journalist and I hung out in newsrooms from the time I could walk.)

"Real-world" experience

2010-08-21T15:43:00.002-04:00

Does geography matter when it comes to experience?

Is art only art if it takes place in certain agreed-upon locations? Do we only count experience if the person gained it in these locations?

Rejecting Mamet's Glasses

2010-08-18T10:25:00.005-04:00

I've never liked the plays of David Mamet.

I used to think it was because of the foul language and how I felt verbally assaulted after I'd been to one of his shows. However, strong language in other shows didn't bother me. I'll even use vulgarity myself when the situation seems appropriate (though never profanity and I do draw a very distinct line between the two--if I say "God," it's because I'm talking to or about him).

So why is it that I don't like David Mamet plays? It's because of the characters themselves. So often they are people who exhibit the worst human qualities. They are cruel, heartless, selfish, and amoral. Many of his characters could easily be diagnosed as mentally ill--sociopaths and psychopaths.

While drama is an excellent way to explore social diseases, Mamet's outlook is far too pessimistic and ultimately lacks authenticity. The societal problem that it skirts isn't that there are people like the ones he portrays in the world. The problem is that we look at others and see monsters like the ones Mamet creates. How many times do you hear someone come out of a Mamet show and say, "I know people like that."?

I've met a lot of people in my life. While there may be people who resemble Mamet's characters and who engage in some of the behaviors, none are as lacking in empathy or soul as he portrays. When you take the time to listen, you discover that the person does have redeeming qualities. For some people, it might take a lot of listening and a lot of empathy.

Hatred is easy. It's a pretty destructive habit to have. It's far easier to scream obscenities at the person who cuts you off when you're driving than to say to yourself that perhaps that person is having a bad day or didn't see you or any of a number of reasons that would make their actions understandable. It's far easier to classify someone as an idiot, jerk, or any of a number of stronger terms that to simply acknowledge that we don't like some of their behaviors--anymore than they likely are fond of some of our own behaviors.

We get to choose how we see people. We get to choose what sort of interpretation we put on their actions. While it is not wise to be naive, it can take great courage and effort to choose to see the best in people. We could see the world through cynical eyes that believe others to be criminals, wastrels, and users. Or we could see the world through compassionate eyes that believe others to share in our own struggles and to be searching for ways to be healthy and happy.

The latter may be more difficult, but it is also far more rewarding.

The Difference

2010-06-27T16:44:00.003-04:00

What is the difference between community theater and professional theater?

Aside from the obvious difference that one is a volunteer organization and the other pays its performers, how are the missions different?

There are many people who want to define the difference by creating some measure of quality. There is some validity to that measurement, but what is it that contributes to that quality?

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge supporter of community theater. Yet, you will not hear me say that community theater is as good as professional theater. To me, that would be a bit like saying a strawberry is as good as a carrot. They’re both good, but both different in core ways. They both provide different but necessary vitamins to the human body just as the different types of theater provide different but necessary forms to the arts community.

Why do I value community theater?

I value community theater because it gives a wide variety of people a chance to participate in the art as an avocation. It enriches their lives and makes them more committed to the community in which they live. It helps them to form long-lasting bonds with people who share a geographic home with them. They’re able to connect to people who have similar interests, temperaments, and personalities.

Community theater, when it is true to its mission, is focused inward on the participants.

Why do I value professional theater?

I value professional theater because it elevates the art form and allows audiences to participate in the art as a transformative experience. The performers matter less than the story being told and the effectiveness with which it is being told. The story is the medium in which people are talking to people about things that matter to them. Theater becomes a way of exploring issues, experiencing catharsis, and laughing deeply.

Professional theater, when it is true to its mission, is focused outward on the audience.

In community theater, production values can take on a lesser role as what is important is providing the support and structure for the performers to be able to explore and create. Choices are made based on whether they challenge, encourage or distract the actor. The audience is coming to see their friends, co-workers and families. They’ll be far more forgiving and far more inclined to praise a show because the priority isn’t what the audience was able to feel, but what the performers were able to do. Performers want to be treated with respect because they have given up their free time and worked hard at something for an extended period of time.

In professional theater, production values are of extreme importance. Even a bare set needs to be executed well. Choices are made based on whether they will challenge, encourage, or distract the audience. The audience is coming to be entertained, moved and transformed. They’ll have high expectations for the time they are spending in the theater and will have high expectations. They want to be treated with respect and have the show creators think that the audience was worth the effort.

In community theater, the performers are learning on the fly in an invigorating, collaborative effort that allows them to transcend their daily lives. A show’s success can often depend on whether the cast is able to bond with each other in mutual respect and admiration. The participants should be given a chance to learn, grow, and develop. Once the show ends, the relationships can continue and all are likely to be given opportunities to perform together again.

In professional theater, the performers are already proficient and trained in the skills the art demands. A show’s success depends on the strong collaboration of artistic and technical staff that is focused on the work and not the personalities. When the show ends, the artists will go their separate ways, maintaining a professional respect and connection, but no longer a part of each other’s daily lives until they once again end up at the same theater.

In community theater, it is essential that an effort be made to draw in new people who may not know much about the art or the craft. There needs to be room for participants to grow as performers. They should not be required to be great performers when they first show up. A community theater stagnates when it doesn't allow "less talented" people to be part of the shows.

In professional theater, it is essential that every performer from the lead to the walk-on role, from the stage manager to the box office manager, have all of the skills required to do the job. The theater should make sure it is hiring the best people possible for each role and job and not just the performers and technicians with whom they are most familiar and comfortable.

Community theater fails when it treats its performers poorly or ignores their needs and abilities. They succeed when they select work that allows their participants to stretch without asking the impossible.

Professional theater fails when it ignores the needs and desires of its audience and gets caught up in what it wants to do to the degree that it shows contempt for their patrons.

Community theater enriches society by giving people the chance to perform.

Professional theater enriches society by giving people the chance to experience performance.

Thespie "Nominees"

2010-06-15T01:21:00.005-04:00

In just a few hours, the winners of this year's Thespie Awards will be on the newsstands. This is the 31st year of the Thespies--sponsored by the Lansing State Journal. They recognize great work done in the Lansing community during the 2009-2010 season.

Typically, only the winners are published, despite the large number of names that get considered. Part of this is because there is a limited amount of news hole. Also, with the process that the Thespie committee uses, we don't have formal nominees--thus the quote marks in the title. We float a lot of names before starting our votes. In some categories, a single judge might have a dozen nominees.

This year there had to be some last-minute changes in judges due to some illnesses and other complications. After the committee had discussed it for awhile after the meeting determining the winners was over, we thought it might be best to add an extra layer of transparency this year--to show the variety of shows and performers which were discussed.

Disclaimer: These were not formal nominees. They were the names we floated that made it through the first two or three rounds of elimination. They do include the winners.

In a couple cases, the professional and non-professional categories were divided out. These were cases where there were a great deal of nominees in both categories. I will post a link to the winners as soon as it is up (er, and I'm on the computer).

One more disclaimer: There are also several special awards--for those things which didn't fit within a category neatly. In a few categories, there is a winner but not enough other nominees for me to be able to list them here.

2009-2010 Thespie Nominees

Best Play:

A Few Good Men, Riverwalk Theatre
An Infinite Ache, Williamston Theatre
Bluff, BoarsHead Theatre
The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
The Seafarer, Peppermint Creek Theatre Company

Best Musical:

Altar Boyz, Peppermint Creek
Hank Williams: Lonesome Highway, Lansing Community College
The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk Theatre
Rent, Michigan State University

Best Director, Play

Chad Badgero, Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
Tony Caselli, It Came From Mars, Williamston
Tony Caselli, This Wonderful Life, Williamston
James Glossman, Bluff, BoarsHead
Suzi Regan, Home: Voices of Families from the Midwest, Williamston

Best Director, Musical

Chad Badgero, Altar Boyz, Peppermint Creek
Scott Burkell, Rent, MSU
Jane Falion, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
John Lepard, Hank Williams, LCC

Best Lead Actor, Play, professional

Jacob Albright, It Came From Mars, Williamston
John Astin, Bluff, BoarsHead
Aral Gribble, An Infinite Ache, Williamston
John Lepard, This Wonderful Life, Williamston
Wayne David Parker, It Came From Mars, Williamston

Best Lead Actor, Play, non-professional

Doak Bloss, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
Rick Dethlefsen, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek
Jack Dowd, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
Michael Hayes, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
Brad Rutledge, The Late Henry Moss, Icarus Falling
Brad Rutledge, The Seafarers, Peppermint Creek

Best Supporting Actor, Play

Dave Dunckel, A Few Good Men, Riverwalk
Mark Gmazel, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
Bill Henson, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
Jacob Hodgsons, It Came From Mars, Williamston
Brad Rutledge, A Few Good Men, Riverwalk

Best Featured Actor, Play

Joe Dickson, Book of Days, Riverwalk
Jason Garvey, You Can’t Take It With You, MSU
Bill Henson, The Importance of Being Earnest, Capitol TheatreWorks
Markitwia Jackson, The Late Henry Moss, IF
Kevin Knights, The Late Henry Moss, IF

Lead Actress, play

Sandra Birch, It Came From Mars, Williamston
Jasmine Rivera, Infinite Ache, Williamston
Emily Sutton-Smith, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston
Piaget Ventus, In The Blood, MSU
Veronica Gracia Wing, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
Amy Winchell, Power Plays, IF

Supporting Actress, play, professional

Laura Croff, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston
Alysia Kolascz, It Came From Mars, Williamston
Teri Clark Linden, The Smell of the Kill, Williamston

Supporting Actress, play, non-professional

Sarah Blossom, Third, Peppermint Creek
Abby Murphy, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
Char'Tavia Mushatt, In the Blood, MSU
Rachel Kabodian, Third, Peppermint Creek
Sandra Thomason, Enchanted April, Riverwalk

Featured Actress, play

Erin Cline, Ah Wilderness, LCC
Carol Ferris, Size 8 Shorts, Riverwalk
Julie Schilling, Bluff, BoarsHead
Becky Tremble, Talking With, IF
Gloria Vivalda, Enchanted April, Riverwalk
Amy Winchell, Talking With, IF

Lead Actor, Musical

Rusty Broughton, Rent, MSU
Chad deKatch, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Derek Smith, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, LCC
Evan Pinsonnault, Into the Woods, Riverwalk

Supporting Actor, Musical

Joseph Baumann, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
Doak Bloss, Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Jeff Kennedy, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
Brandon Piper, Rent, MSU
Sineh Wurie, Hank Williams, LCC

Lead Actress, Musical

Emily English Clark, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Claudia Dibbs, Rent, MSU
Paige Lucas, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Jennifer Schafer, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Riverwalk
Veronica Gracia Wing, Into the Woods, Riverwalk

Supporting Actress, Musical

Betsy Bledsoe, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Laura Croff, Hank Williams, LCC
Abigail English, Into the Woods, Riverwalk
Laura Stebbins, The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Kellyn Uhl, Rent, MSU

Ensemble, Professional

Bluff, BoarsHead
Home: Voices of Families from the Midwest, Williamston
It Came From Mars, Williamston

Ensemble, Non-Professional

The Late Henry Moss, IF
Opposites Attract, Lansing Civic Players
Seafarer, Peppermint Creek
Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight, Peppermint Creek
Trojan Women, MSU

Original Script, Professional

Home: Voices of Families From the Midwest, By Annie Martin and Suzi Regan
It Came From Mars, by Joseph Zettelmaier
Three By Poe, by Paul Riopelle

Original Script, Non-Professional

The Watch List by Eric Dawe
Thunder Hoof and the Prince by Fran Johnson and Yvonne Whitmore
I’ll Make Merry When I’m Good and Ready by Oralya Garza, Tony Sump, and Chuck Dimick

Children’s Show

Thunderhoof and the Prince
Bremen Town Musicians
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Dragonsong

Set Design

Enchanted April, Riverwalk
A Few Good Men, Riverwalk
Home: Voices from Families of the Midwest, Williamston
In the Blood, MSU
The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, MSU
The Smell of the Kill, Williamston

Set Dressing

Ah, Wilderness, LCC
The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Rent, MSU
Seafarer, Peppermint Creek
Three by Poe, Boarshead

Costumes

Enchanted April, Riverwalk
Frog and Toad are Friends, Holt-Dimondale Community Players
In the Blood, MSU
The Light in the Piazza, Riverwalk
Rocky Horror Picture Show, MSU
Trojan Women, MSU

**NOTE: There are additional nominees for lighting and sound, but there is a problem with my notes and I need to get the nominees confirmed by the other committee members before I publish them. My apologies.

The Red Violin

2010-04-24T16:18:00.003-04:00

Tonight we're going to be going to the John Corigliano concert at MSU's Wharton Center. I've been most excited about hearing Circus Maximus as it is one of those symphonies that must be experienced live in order to get the full effect.

Another highlight will likely be performances of his work from The Red Violin. Here is an MSU student giving a preview performance:

Weekend in Chicago

2010-04-11T22:13:00.001-04:00

Hey! Dancin!

Cherry Poppins: A New Musical (an improv musical)

Billy Elliott

Awesome food, even better company. It was a good weekend.

Comparing apples to apples

2010-04-09T00:02:00.002-04:00

Seeing the same play done by multiple companies is simply part of the job description for a theater critic. Moreso than any other art except ballet and classical music, live theater is a medium that explores different approaches to the same script. By its very nature it is dynamic and subject to many interpretations. While movies will have the occasional remake, it won't be done a thousand different ways by ten thousand different actors.

So when attending a show, a critic must try to approach each version of each play with an open mind. After all, it's not about whether a particular production was similar to another. What's more important is whether the production is living up to its own internal interpretation. What is the vision of a particular director? What does each new actor bring to his or her role? That said, outside of the structure of a review, it is highly enjoyable to compare shows and part of the essential discussion about what makes theater vibrant and dynamic.

Seeing Double: Canterbury and April

Several weekends ago, I had my weekend of seeing double. The two Canterbury Tales performances I saw were actually quite similar--which was to be expected. They had the same director and about a third of the cast was the same for each show. There were individual variations in character interpretations between the two different casts, but it was basically the same show.

The other show I saw twice was "Enchanted April." Knowing that I was going to review the Meadowbrook show while judging the Riverwalk version for the Thespies, it seemed only fair to see the Riverwalk version first. After all, Meadowbrook had access to greater resources, better trained artists, and the ability to rehearse as a full-time job rather than an after getting out of other work rehearsal schedule.

Enchanted April

What surprised me was how genuinely close the two shows were in overall quality--both in artistic performance and in production values. Both shows had their strengths and both had their weaknesses.

The Meadowbrook actors were far superior in their vocal quality, consistency of accents, and overall development of characters. Yet, while their Lotty was easier to understand, she also changed less. Nor could the Meadowbrook Rose hold a candle to the sensitivity and passion that the Riverwalk Rose showed. Likewise the marital relationship between Rose and "Florian" in the Riverwalk production was far more layered and complex. I could believe in Florian's change at the end far more than I could in the Meadowbrook production.

The Riverwalk production was also the more daring of the two, willing to commit to more intense choices. The men, while having very little to work with in the script, were also much more convincing and real in the Riverwalk production whereas they came across as too much of just backdrop in the Meadowbrook version.

The set, which is very much a part of the show--both in the grim grayness of the first act and the floral airiness of the second act--also had different strengths, even while looking extraordinarly similar. Both used the same color schemes with similar looking set dressing. For the first act, the Meadowbrook set was far more interesting with its constantly changing backgrounds and the ability to change lighting to a far greater degree. For the second act, the Riverwalk set had a much fuller, brighter feel to it. There was more depth and character to the castle. Also, the set change at the top of Act II at Riverwalk was one of those memorable moments that got its own applause. The audience was able to witness the transformation which once more underlined the theme of the show.

Proscenium vs. Thrust

The difference in sets could primarily be attributed to the two very different spaces. Meadowbrook is a large theater with a proscenium stage. Riverwalk is much more intimate and is a thrust stage. For the first act, the flatness added to the play's story while allowing the technical team far greater flexibility in swiftly creating many different rooms and settings. For the second act, the intimacy with the audience and the ability to emphasize dimension made for a stronger second act.

Both were shows well worth seeing for the beauty of the play and the fascinating differences in choices made by each cast.

Picking nits

2010-03-30T22:12:00.002-04:00

When I write a review that is restricted to 300 words or less, I rarely include much except the main points of the production. What most worked? What didn't? What was the overall impression of the show?

I often think this is a disservice because there are many things about a production that can be worth talking about even though they are not the main thrust of the show and even when they don't effect the overall quality of a show.

Sometimes I think some of the more interesting moments in a show are the small ones that go by quickly. They can be great moments, or they can be horrible ones. When they're bad, mentioning them seems like an exercise in picking nits. They can be interesting to discuss, but really shouldn't effect whether someone goes to see a show or not. Sometimes the little things are matters of interpretation--one person wondering whether a slightly different choice might have been more effective. In the latter instance, the overall performance may have been quite good and it can be demoralizing to raise a question in a review.

At other times, the nits do matter. Sometimes the lack of attention to a small detail can take the audience out of a production and make the overall show suffer. Sometimes the jarring detail or moment can indicate a sloppiness on the part of the actor, crew, or director (depending on what it is).

I've been bothered lately by one of those small details I saw at a show--a detail that would likely go unremarked upon in a review because there were so many more important things to comment on. And yet, that detail told me a lot about the show and about the actor. In the play, the actor is complaining about how cold it is and how frozen he feels with a lack of proper heating during a winter month. He's wearing a scarf and a sweater and would rub his hands to keep warm. Yet he had his sleeves pushed up to his elbow. It immediately told me that as an actor, he wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying. He wasn't feeling the cold. He wasn't thinking. I couldn't believe what he was saying because if he were really cold and shivering, he'd pull his sleeves down rather than leave his bare arms exposed to the frozen air.

Does that minor point of costuming matter compared to the other elements of the show? Only in that it informed my thinking about the other problems that show had and what might have contributed to them.

In the Blood review

2010-03-29T11:18:00.002-04:00

Here is my review of MSU's "In the Blood." It's posted at Michigan Entertainment.

It was a powerful show and I hope to be back to talk about it some more--after talking about Enchanted April.

What a weekend!

2010-03-28T19:08:00.002-04:00

Theater has the power to move, the power to change lives, the power to challenge us to re-examine our ways of thinking.

This weekend the theater I took in left me almost out of breath by the end of it with plenty of themes chasing themselves around in my head during today's car trip to the west-side of the state for a family birthday.

Friday night, Richard and I went to see Romeo et Juliette, the opera put on by the MSU College of Music. It is the operatic version of Shakespeare's play, sung in French, then set in Miami, Florida during the 1980s.

On Saturday, I went straight from MSU's "In the Blood" to Everett's "Rent." I'll be writing more about the MSU show as it was strong, powerful stuff. Speaking of that, I need to go finish my review of it for Michigan Entertainment. So I'll write more later.

Balance of appropriateness

2010-03-26T00:52:00.002-04:00

Earlier this month I attended a production of the musical Spelling Bee at the Ruhala Performing Arts Center. As with most productions there, the performances were superior and the young performers did an excellent job. Not only are they talented, but more importantly, they have put in a lot of hard work.

While their production was charming and wonderful, there were several times I found myself distinctly uncomfortable. Discomfort during a theatrical performance isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a sign that there is something to think more about.

When I first saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, all of the characters were played by adults--including the kids. This added a certain humor factor to it. It also gave us even more of a feeling of looking at the kids through adult eyes.

Spelling Bee is a fun musical that takes a very authentic look at the real struggles of junior high kids--especially those who are outcasts for one reason or another. If stage shows were rated, this would would probably get a PG-13, with one song about the young man's "unfortunate erection" making it push the edge of an R rating. There is also a fair amount of language which is both vulgar and profane.

If I acknowledge that nothing in the show is outside of the language, thoughts, or conversations of junior high aged students, is it hypocrisy to be uncomfortable when I see actors as young as age 12 performing it?

After much thought, I've concluded that the answer to that is no. Ultimately, it is a parental choice whether it is appropriate for their child to participate in musical or dramatic pieces with adult content. For myself, I would not have my child perform in a musical like The Spelling Bee. There is a difference between knowing that children use certain language and joke about certain subjects and having an adult demand that they do so and having them perform it in front of audiences.

When you teach math, you don't ask students to attempt trig before they've learned how to multiply and divide. So it is with other subjects. Students of life shouldn't have everything thrown on them at once. When we respect the learner, we allow the learner to take things in stages and steps without dumping things on them before they are ready. So it is with issues of sex. I'm all in favor of open, honest discussions with children about sexual topics--and in letting them lead the way when determining what they are ready for and what they are not. However, we already live in an over-sexualized society in which messages about sexuality are far from healthy. I'm not eager to push my child to explore topics of physical desire when he is still working out more basic social and decision-making skills.

A full weekend

2010-03-21T22:29:00.002-04:00

It was a good weekend for theater and I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend of seeing double. Everything went off as planned--I saw Waverly High School's "The Canterbury Tales" with Cast Canterbury on Thursday and Cast Southwark this afternoon. On Friday, I saw "Enchanted April" at Riverwalk and on Saturday night I saw the same show at Meadowbrook. The review of the latter show is posted at Encore Michigan.

We then topped it all off by a family night out at the movies with our friends the Thompsons. We splurged and saw Alice in Wonderland at the iMax.

Tonight, I am tired, but in the next couple days, I hope to write the following blog entries:

A review of "The Watch List"
A comparison of the two Enchanted Aprils
A discussion on the delicate balance of what we ask children to do in theater

Meanwhile, I wish for all of you a wonderful week.

Seeing Double

2010-03-19T00:57:00.002-04:00

I'll be seeing double this weekend.

Tonight I went to see the Canterbury cast perform "Canterbury Tales" at Waverly High School. I'll see the play again on Sunday with the Southwark cast. (The show has only eight characters and they were double-cast to give more people the opportunity to perform.)

Then Friday night, I'll be going to Riverwalk to see "Enchanted April." On Saturday night, I'll be going to Meadowbrook to see "Enchanted April."

A weekend full of seeing double.

Good weekend for theater

2010-03-15T00:44:00.002-04:00

I may have to break my usual rule and write a review for "The Watch List" in my blog. It's a new work and it deserves to get attention. So I'm going to put some thought into it and once I get my other assignments done for the week, I'll turn back to "The Watch List" and write about it.

I also saw "Opal's Husband" with Jane and Mark Zussman, Winifred Olds, Dan Pappas, and Jan Ross in it on Saturday night. I sat at a table with the director's parents who were quite proud of the cute show that their daughter directed.

Earlier tonight I saw a wonderful production of "The Ingham County Spelling Bee" at the Ruhala Center. It was a cast of exceedingly talented performers.

Directors and Editors

2010-03-12T21:56:00.002-05:00

Writers are told that when they fall in love with a sentence that they've written--when they think it is just the greatest thing ever, they should get rid of it. Sounds harsh, but writers with that kind of discipline are far more readable and effective than those who aren't. Granted, it often takes a good editor to kill the sentence that the writer is in love with.

There is a parallel to this in acting. Theater needs strong directors to sometimes tell the actor to get rid of something that the actor thinks is awesome.

Weekend of Theater

2010-03-12T18:43:00.002-05:00

In less than an hour I'll be heading out for the start of what I expect to be a wonderful weekend of theater.

Tonight I'm going to "The Watch List" at Riverwalk. On Saturday, I'll be at Starlight Dinner Theater's "Opal's Husband," and on Sunday I'll see the musical theater ensemble at the Ruhala Center perform "The 25th Annual Ingham County Spelling Bee."

Daily post

2010-03-09T22:07:00.001-05:00

I said I would post every day for a week, so here is today's post.

Eventually, I will get embarrassed if my blog entries continue to say nothing. Hopefully that will inspire me to create better content and not just stop writing here.

Monday Movie Musings

2010-03-08T22:46:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the Oscar Awards ceremony. This statement will surprise no one.

We didn't watch it for a couple reasons. One, we haven't a television. Two, with our car broken down, we couldn't get to any of the various Oscar parties taking place around town.

I can't say that I minded missing it the way I minded missing the Olympics. Primarily this is because I see so very few movies. As a theater critic, I see a lot of plays. When I talk about the "theater," I'm talking about what happens on the stage, not the screen. Given that I also have a day job, a family, friends, and more than a few hobbies, this doesn't leave much time for movies. This year, when I've missed many of the plays that I wanted to see, movies were an even lower priority.

Of the few movies that I did see (and you should take "few" literally), none of them were likely to be nominated for an award. I have fairly plebeian tastes in movies. If I'm going to go to the theater, I'm going to go see something that I can't see on stage since I far prefer the live medium to the two-dimensionality, distance, and static nature of movies. I prefer to have my actors life-size rather than bigger than life on the silver screen or in miniature on the television.

This means most of what I watch is animated. Yes, I could give you the excuse that I'm a mom and I do it for family reasons, but really, it's because I like animated movies. One of my favorite movies of all time is still Disney's Mulan.

Feeding into this was that I was raised a Nazarene at a time when Nazarenes didn't go to movies. While my parents never enforced this--preferring instead that I come to a decision on my own--as I became more active in the church, I saw movies less and less. By the time I reached high school, I had given up going to movies entirely. During my first two years of college, going to a movie could have gotten me expelled.

While that restriction has long since been lifted, movies never became a habit for me or even something that I typically think of when pondering entertainment options.

Nothing profound

2010-03-08T00:05:00.002-05:00

I have nothing profound to say today.

I realize I needn't be profound in order to write a blog entry, but there is a certain amount of internal pressure. If you take the time to find my blog and read it, then I want it to be worth your time.

However, I also want to form the habit of writing on a regular basis in part because that triggers me thinking about entries on a regular basis so that when I do sit down to type them out, it is a quick process.

I will share a few random quotes--not necessarily favorites, just ones germain to the topic of theater:

"I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."

--Oscar Wilde

"I have a terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theater, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai."

--Orson Welles

"It is one of the tragic ironies of the theater that only one man in it can count on steady work--the night watchman."

--Tallulah Bankhead

(Except now most theaters have replaced that person with an alarm system.)

"All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theater live. That's why it persists."

--Stephen Sondheim

"The reason why I hate working in theater is the tedium of memorization. But once that is done, then you feast on this never-ending meal. If you play it correctly, every night is fraught with very high stakes that are difficult to find in everyday life."

--Christopher Meloni

Secondary School Drama

2010-03-07T05:53:00.003-05:00

Oops! I haven't gone to bed yet, so I'm hoping this can still count as Saturday's post.

If you are involved in Lansing-area high school or middle school drama and your school is doing a spring play or musical--please contact me in the next week. I'll also be reaching out to the individual schools, but contact information can change. I'll soon be working on a spring overview article about what all the schools in the area are doing.

Linkety link

2010-03-05T20:50:00.004-05:00

I was hoping tonight to write about "The Watch List," an original new work by Eric Dawe that is having its premiere at Riverwalk Theater tonight. Well, actually, I did already write about it in this week's column. But that was a preview. I was going to see the show tonight.

Our car, though, had other ideas. So while Dominic is off at Boy Scout camp for the weekend, Richard and I are stuck at home without transportation (which is not, all things considered, anything to complain about!). It does, though, leave me without a topic for tonight's blog.

Given that, I'm going to share some links that I've been lapse in talking about.

First, remember the press release I shared awhile ago about the critics' panel I participated in? That was an event (in January) that went quite well. I did feel a little out of my league with the high quality of critics represented by my colleagues, but it was an honor and a pleasure to participate. You can listen to the podcasts of the event here--Episodes 7 & 8 (yes, we were a long-winded bunch).

Also, I'm now joining Jim Fordyce every Thursday at 5 p.m. on MIEntertainment radio. It's a streaming station that you can get on your computer, smart phone, or any Internet-capable radio or iPod. Click to listen to the station at TalkLansing.net.

And, of course, you can read my weekly Lansing State Journal columns about a wide variety of performing arts on this page every Thursday.

I also reviewed Icarus Falling's Power Plays by Elaine May and Allan Arkin for Michigan Entertainment.

Did I mention in this blog that I've joined the reviewing team at Encore Michigan? I think I did--in the post where I was talking about "The Smell of the Kill." The next show I'm reviewing for them is Meadowbrook's "Enchanted April." It opens the same weekend that that show opens at Lansing's Riverwalk Theater. I'm looking forward to comparing the two.

That's a wrap for tonight. I'm sure in the next 24 hours I'll manage to think of something else to write about. Stay warm, everyone.

Forming a habit

2010-03-04T20:57:00.002-05:00

For the next week, I am going to write a blog entry every day. Even if they are just this short.

Likes and Dislikes

2010-02-18T22:55:00.002-05:00

I will confess--I like theater that makes me think.

Yes, I absolutely expect to be entertained when I go to the theater, however, that is only one of many expectations that I have. I also want to be engaged.

There are many ways to engage a person and each person is going to find different things engaging. For myself, I want my brain to be engaged. If you can engage my emotions, that's a plus too. For me, a fine night at the theater is when I've found myself presented with ideas that I have to wrestle with or am given a new perspective on a familiar issue. I like plays that continue to unfold after I've left the theater, forcing me to continue to examine layer after layer. I'm especially fond of shows where there aren't clear-cut answers and I am left pondering and arguing more than one side of something.

Notice those past three paragraphs have a whole lot of the word "I" in there. It's intentional. Nothing in those paragraphs say "this is what makes good theater" or "this is what art is." Rather, they state what my personal preferences are. When I am in the role of critic, it is, quite frankly, irrelevant what I like or dislike or what my preferences are. Why should any of my readers care whether I like a show or not?

My Personal Opinion? Why would you care?

"Isn't that the point of a review? It's an opinion, isn't it?" you might ask. (Or maybe you wouldn't, but indulge me a moment, please).

I would argue no. I mean, yes, it's an opinion and an expression of subjective criteria. But whether I liked it is NOT the point of the review. The point of a review is whether you, the reader, would like it. Most likely, you and I have different tastes in at least some aspects of theater. My telling you I like or don't like a show gives you no information on whether or not you would like or dislike it.

While a review expresses opinion, that opinion should be supported by specific observations--observations that can help you to judge for yourself whether you liked or disliked a show. I may hate farces (I don't, but let's pretend for the sake of argument that I do) and you may love them. If I'm reviewing a farce, I shouldn't be complaining that the acting was over the top or the situations unrealistic. Rather, I should be critiquing whether the play lived up to the conventions of a farce or, if it broke those conventions, whether the choices were effective for the genre and for the purpose of the play. If I've written the review well, the reader really shouldn't know whether I liked the show or not.

I've found that I rarely give a direct answer to the question, "Did you like the show?" More often than not, I'll give some specific reply about what worked or didn't work in a show rather than express my personal pleasure or displeasure--that is, if I'm talking to someone in a professional context.

To be honest, it is the elements of a show that I find far more fascinating to talk about anyway. To say I "liked" or "disliked" it seems so final, so pat. It lumps everything I've just experienced into a single word. Most plays deserve far more than that. They deserve to be heard, to be listened to, to be discussed.

The Smell of the Kill

2010-02-15T19:42:00.004-05:00

It was an excellent weekend for theater. On Friday night I went to see Williamston's "The Smell of the Kill," to review it for Encore Michigan. The next morning I headed out to Holland to take my first stab as a forensics theater judge. That was an incredible day in which three of us were privileged to judge the incredible work done by five groups of students. They did 45-minute cuts of the following shows:

Sweet Nothings in Her Ear
The Laramie Project
Doctor Faustus
The Jungle Book
Romeo and Juliet

I look forward to doing that again some day and am most grateful to Jane Falion for recommending me.

A Study in Assertiveness

While you can read my review at the link above (go ahead, click on the word "review" and visit the rest of Encore Michigan while you're there), The Smell of the Kill is one of those plays that encourages you to keep thinking. I found myself taking plenty of notes that didn't really fit in the context of a review.

The Smell of the Kill could be a textbook case illustrating the differences between being passive, passive-aggressive, aggressive, and assertive. None of the women in the play are assertive.

Let me give you Exhibit A: Nicky, a career woman who enjoys the wealth that she and her husband has accumulated. When he is indicted for embezzlement, she is furious because they are going to lose everything they have. Her reaction is one of very overt anger—she says she’s going to kill him during the first several minutes of the play.

Exhibit B: Molly. It is tempting to think of her as being the passive one. She responds to her husband’s possessiveness by keeping up a smiling, sweet face while striking out to get what she wants. Yet, as the play goes on, the audience learns that she is not passive. She's found her own way to fight against that which frustrates her in her marriage. She doesn't confront him directly, but she goes out and gets what she wants in a very passive-aggressive manner.

Exhibit C: Debra. Debra truly is the passive one. The audience learns almost immediately that her marriage is not a happy one. At least, we learn that her husband is a cad with roaming hands and eyes. Yet, she is the one who defends her husband, who tries to shame Nicky for not being a supportive wife, and who gives up everything she wants.

It's not surprising that all of their marriages are failing.

For a moment, let’s take it out of the context of a play in which the playwright makes choices based on dramatic effect, humor, and entertainment. Indulge me and pretend that these are real women. None of them have marital problems that are insurmountable—at least, not if they had been approached with two partners who were assertive and honest—or at least assertive in the face of dishonesty.

None of them have created a relationship where problems are tackled with a desire for a win-win situation. They're all stuck in the win-lose or lose-lose scenarios. This is a play in which the husbands are cads, but their wives aren't much better. They've cast themselves as victims who can only become "winners" if they turn their husbands into victims.

The play is hilarious and highly entertaining, but it can also be a character study in how NOT to run one's relationships.

A Superficial Smell

Perhaps the other thing that keeps the characters from becoming too sympathetic is their motivations for wanting to kill their husbands--in particular Nicky and Molly. The character who has the most cause and stands to lose the most, is the one who is least aggressive and the one who doesn't have the hunger for revenge that the others do.

Nicky is married to embezzler and is angry because she is about to lose the wealth she has become accustomed to. She's ready to kill for money.

Molly is married to a stalker and is frustrated because she's not getting enough sex and doesn't have the babies that she wants. She's ready to kill for more sex.

Debra is married to an adulterer--one who is ready to divorce her and throw her out of her home. She is about to lose everything just so she can still have custody of her child--a child who hates her because the child thinks it was her decision and not the husband's to put him in military school.

It is fascinating that the one with the most cause is the one who holds out the longest and who keeps up the façade the longest while the one whose loss is the most superficial is the one most quickly incited.

Go ahead, go see "The Smell of the Kill" at Williamston and when you're done laughing, spend some time thinking about these women.

On being able to write

2010-02-11T22:47:00.003-05:00

There are many reasons I have not been writing lately--and being busy is not one of them.

In many ways, I have been the opposite of busy. I have been in a funk that has kept me from doing much of anything--a funk that started last July and that I have struggled to shake.

As a matter of philosophy, I typically avoid getting too personal in my blog just as I avoid inserting myself into reviews that I write. I'm starting to rethink part of that philosophy, even though I still wish to carefully guard the privacy of my family and those who are close to me.

Moved to Write About Altar Boyz, and yet hesitating

However, I had a bit of an epiphany this past week as I thought about "Altar Boyz" and how I wished to write about it. I wanted to talk about the final song and how and why it brought me to tears. I wanted to talk about how the art reached me and how it was so powerful because it spoke to me where I was. There might not have been anyone else in the audience who was hearing what I was hearing because they might have needed to hear something else. It's not the sort of thing I would put into a review because the message was a personal one.

In this blog, where I want to talk about theater and the connections it makes with people, how can I not talk about the connections art makes with me?

Getting Personal (or more than you want to know)

As those of you who know me personally are aware, this past year has been a challenging one. I have withdrawn from many activities and people that I love because I have needed to heal. I have had many days where I could not function on even a most basic level. That has kept me from writing because every time I started, I would end up revealing more about myself than I was comfortable with. I knew I was not in a good place. I knew I was not being my best self or even my somewhat-good self. I did not want that aspect of me put on public display when I was barely able to look at myself without contempt.

In July, I was struggling with an emotional crisis that I'm still not willing to talk about except to say that I was barely holding things together. Then Richard and I lost our sixth pregnancy. After that, I wasn't holding it together at all. I'll spare you the psychological details, but suffice it to say that in layman's terms I had what could be called a mental/nervous breakdown. (Yes, I know that medically there is no such diagnosis. It's a good shortcut phrase, though, that communicates things well without a lot of technical descriptions.)

Since then, I have cocooned. I've forced myself to do as much as I could where it was required--at home, at work, in my column. This blog fell by the wayside. There were several shows I missed simply because I could not face people and keep a smile on my face. Nor was going out without my smile an option. I would feel naked. My column has suffered, but I did what I could to keep it going and make sure things got at least minimal coverage even if I couldn't give it what it and the local arts organizations deserved.

There were times when I felt myself again and thought I had recovered. Those times would last a few days, sometimes a few weeks. I constantly counted my blessings, reminding myself how much I had to be grateful for. I thanked God for giving me a husband who was patient, understanding, and nurturing. As I slipped into paralysis, he stepped up to the plate and took over the care of our family and my needs. He encouraged me, never giving up on me and reminding me that I would recover. He kept me smiling and made sure that I laughed even when things seemed the darkest. There's a reason (several actually) why 25 years after we first met that I'm still head over heels for him--and he for me.

Finding Solace

Since Christmas, things have started to pick up, albeit in small ways. I'm reading again. I'm going to the theater again. I'm crocheting again. Playing the clarinet for the first time in decades has been wonderfully nurturing. I'm still having difficulty focusing and I have days where I cannot do the things I love. Work that used to be easy and fulfilling is still difficult and sometimes impossible. I still find myself caught in a past that I would exorcise if I could. I'm also far more emotional than is typical for me and far more vulnerable than I am comfortable with. But those things are starting to subside and more and more often I'm finding myself in the mirror again instead of the stranger who has been there for so many months.

While I have tried to practice compassion for myself and be patient with the healing process, I have not always succeeded. One of the things that has frustrated me the most has been the elusiveness of writing. Writing is often a gauge of my mental health. I am not one of those who writes well when depressed. In fact, I find myself unable to write at all in those times because all of my thoughts are focused inward. For me, writing has always been a means of communication--a way of making connections with people, with ideas, with life. If there is no connection, there is no point to writing.

Wrestling with Writing

So the questions that I wrestle with now are these: Can I find a way to write about my experiences in a way that can make a connection with others? Is it better to not write in this blog until I have healed more? (Not writing at all isn't an option given that I still need to feed my family.) For that matter, can I really write about art--something that I have often said is life-changing--without bringing at least some pieces of myself to that writing? Which pieces? At what point does it become unprofessional?

They are good questions to wrestle with, but while I'm engaged in that mental exercise, I can't make any promises that I will blog more or that I won't. I want to find a way to write things that are meaningful without being self-indulgent.

In the mean time, I'm going to quote from the lyrics in Peppermint Creek's production of Altar Boyz that left me unable to stop the tears from falling as the song's message spoke so much to where I've been since this past July and the hope that I have clung to when things were bleakest:

[Abe]
One beam of light, is enough to see where you're going
One wrong turn, is enough to lose your way
One choice, is all you have to make
One ounce of faith could save the day
I believe, that I came to know you for a reason
I believe, that the things that you say will come true
I believe that with you in my life I'll make it
I believe in you

[Juan]
One Mistake, doesn't have to mean that it's over

[Luke]
One bad day, only means there's work to do

[Mark]
One night, is sometimes all it takes

[All]
To realize one thing is true
I believe, that I came to know you for a reason
I believe, that the things that you say will come true
I believe that with you in my life I'll make it
I believe in you

[Matthew]
Take a picture of me now, take a look at who I am
Yesterday I wasn't half as strong

[Abe, Juan, Luke, and Mark]
Take a picture of us all, what we've been and what we are
Look at that, and tell me I'm wrong

Critics Speak

2010-01-04T23:48:00.002-05:00

I have a special press release to share today--one that I plan to write about more in this space both before and after the event. The press release is from the indomitable Don Calamia of Encore Michigan and Between the Lines.

YOU'RE INVITED: THE CRITICS SPEAK - AND THE AUDIENCE TALKS BACK

ANN ARBOR - They're loved and they're reviled - often by the same individuals who read them faithfully in many of Southeast and Mid Michigan's most important newspapers. They're theater critics, and readers, theatergoers and theater insiders alike will have a rare opportunity to talk shop with them on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 7 p.m. when the state's leading scribes come together at Ann Arbor's Performance Network Theatre for The Critics Speak.

The event will be moderated by Barton Bund (artistic director of the Blackbird Theatre) and Tony Caselli (artistic director of the Williamston Theatre) and recorded for a future episode of Encore LIVE!, a semi-monthly podcast series produced for EncoreMichigan.com.

Series co-creators and hosts Bund and Caselli agree that such a discussion has been a long time coming.

"Theater critics have a very powerful voice in the community and often play an important role in the success - or demise - of a show, yet no one really knows what criteria they use, or what their backgrounds are," explained Bund. "So we thought it would be fun and informative to get several of the best-known critics together and talk about local theater criticism."

It's also a chance for the public to get to know the critics, Caselli said. "We read them all the time, but the average theatergoer probably doesn't know who they are or what they look like. So The Critics Speak will give us an opportunity to get to know them better, while they learn what our concerns and expectations are. It will make for an interesting conversation, I'm sure!"

Although hosts Bund and Caselli promise to come armed with a long list of questions - "It's OUR turn to roast THEM," Bund laughed - the two-hour event will also include plenty of time for questions and comments from the audience. "That's why we opened the recording session to the general public and not just to the industry," Caselli said. "There's a lot about the magic of live theater that the average person doesn't know or understand - and theater criticism is probably near the top of that list. I'm sure the critics would love to get their feedback, too."

Critics expected to participate include Robert Delaney (New Monitor, Detroit), Tom Helma (City Pulse, Lansing), Jenn McKee (AnnArbor.com), John Monaghan (Detroit Free Press), Bridgette Redman (Lansing State Journal), and from EncoreMichigan.com, former Detroit Free Press critic Martin F. Kohn, D. A. Blackburn and Donald V. Calamia.

"These are the big guns when it comes to local theater criticism, so anyone who has ever wondered about the art or science of the job is encouraged to attend," Bund said. "But please leave home the rotten tomatoes."

Admission to The Critics Speak is $5.

Performance Network Theatre is located at 120 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. For more information, call Performance Network Theatre at 734-663-0681 or EncoreMichigan.com at 313-537-4860.

# # # # # #

BoarsHead canceling the rest of the season

2009-12-12T11:43:00.002-05:00

BoarsHead announced today it was canceling the rest of its season.

I've tried to withhold my opinion on this for a while, but I'll confess I'm angry. I'm angry at how BoarsHead has chosen to handle this for a long time now.

First, there was the ineptness in the firing of Kristine Thatcher. Even if they felt it was necessary, they bungled the handling of it. They treated her poorly and they treated their audience and supporters with contempt and arrogance. Theater is an art which brings a community together and helps them to make connections with one another. A theater cannot succeed when it tries to shut communications down and sever those connections.

A theater is not in business to sell tickets. If it is going to survive, it is selling an experience, an experience that involves people making connections.

Then with the most recent shut down, the board once again showed that it didn't understand what it was in business to do or how to survive. It was going to sit around and wait for corporate donations to come in.

I know that there were arts organizations that went to the BoarsHead board saying, "how can we help you?" But why wasn't the board out in the theater community asking for help? Why weren't they holding town hall meetings in which they invited their patrons in to talk to them?

Instead, the members of BoarsHead were told that they were not to speak to the public and a PR person was appointed who had not previously been a part of the arts community. There are influencers in our community who might have been able to help, but they were never approached.

BoarsHead was not beyond saving if it had been treated like an arts organization. Instead, it was presented as a business that had a need. Where was all the talk about how BoarsHead could help meet the needs of the community? How BoarsHead was important not just because they had existed, but because they could make our community better?

Honestly, why should people give money to a non-profit organization that can't properly articulate how it meets the needs of the community? Especially if that organization is supposed to be in the business of creating art with words.

Going Underground with LCP

2009-11-24T17:03:00.002-05:00

Saturday night I finally made it to the renovated LCP space, which has been dubbed LCP Underground.

I've been very impressed with the choices that LCP has been making this year and the creativity and passion they've poured into reinventing the organization. It's not an easy route to take and it is one fraught with risks.

Lansing Civic Players is the oldest theatrical organization in the area. They have a rich history and loyal audiences. Those two factors, though, are not enough to keep an organization out of bankruptcy or to keep it thriving in a changing world. They were known for doing standards--shows that demanded little risk-taking, but which gave local actors the chance to perform in cherished, iconic roles. There is great value in that for a community theater.

What they are doing now appears to many like a 180-degree turn. They canceled their mainstage season in favor of intimate, interactive shows that can be performed in the space that they have long owned. While they cannot fit as many people into the space, neither do they have to pay rent or any of the expenses associated with moving a production into a space.

Nor are they simply trying to do the same thing in a different space. They are re-thinking themselves and offering a different fare to a different audience. They're trying things that may or may not work. They're also putting a lot of effort into trying to communicate what they are doing and in making themselves accessible.

Succeed or fail, I applaud Lansing Civic Players for taking actions that have transformed them from the staid, tried-and-true organization to the one taking the most daring risks and creative experiments in our community.

Life & Theater

2009-11-20T17:02:00.002-05:00

Driving home from Peppermint Creek's "The Seafarers" last night, I got to thinking about my taste in theater, which admittedly at this point is pretty broad. I was tickled with a metaphor.

My taste in theater is much like what I want out of life:

Heavy doses of comedy to fill the days with laughter
Plenty of drama to challenge me, make me think, help me grow, and help me form healthier relationships with others
Strong dashes of absurdity to keep me on my feet
Small bits of the familiar to comfort me
A vast majority of new experiences to expand my horizons
Relevant stories that give me something to share with those around me
Lots of song and dance to celebrate it all

Arts Council Grants

2009-11-02T17:15:00.001-05:00

The Arts Council of Greater Lansing announced the awarding of several mini-grants. From their press release:

LANSING, Nov. 2, 2009--The Arts Council of Greater Lansing recently awarded $17,462 as part of its new Collaborative Arts Grant Program to local arts and cultural agencies. Funded by the Council's Arts Advancement Endowment Fund, the grants encourage local organizations to work together on new projects in greater Lansing.

Organizations receiving awards for fiscal year 2010 are:
Community Circle Players - $3,000
Community Circle Players, along with Peppermint Creek Theater Company, will present public performances of the musical "Caroline, or Change" at Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing in September 2010.

Kresge Art Museum - $3,884
Kresge Art Museum will sponsor a new approach for greater Lansing area fourth grade math and language arts students touring their facilities through "The GESSO Project: Art as a Foundation for Academic Excellence" during the 2009-10 school year.

The Steiner Chorale - $3,578
The Steiner Chorale will work with the choral departments of Grand Ledge High School and Leslie High School for a workshop and performance under the direction of Nina Nash-Robertson, professor of music at Central Michigan University. The performance will be at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Lansing in May 2010.

Reach Studio Art Center - $4,000
Reach Studio Art Center, students from Michigan State University's Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, and professional artists will work with urban Lansing youth to create artwork to be exhibited in Lansing's REO Town and at MSU.

Williamston Theatre - $3,000
Williamston Theatre, along with the Performance Network Theatre of Ann Arbor, will present the premiere of "It Came from Mars" by Michigan playwright Joseph Zettelmaier during the theater's spring 2010 season.

LANSING, Nov. 2, 2009--Five Lansing organizations have received a total of $13,000 in City of Lansing mini grants through the Arts Council of Greater Lansing.

The City of Lansing General Funds Mini Grant dollars are administered by the Arts Council for arts and cultural events that take place within city limits, directly benefit City of Lansing residents, and are sponsored by small non-profit arts organizations.

Organizations receiving awards for fiscal year 2010 are:
All-of-Us Express Children's Theatre - $2,550
Collaboration with Reach Studio Art Center and Riverwalk Theatre to present performances of "Dragonsong" involving Lansing children in spring 2010.

Earl Nelson Singers Company - $3,000
Free public concerts to be held in November, January and April at churches in Lansing featuring guest artists to illustrate the history of Negro Spirituals in America.

Happendance, Inc. - $3,000
Performances and workshops for children in Lansing School District elementary schools throughout the 2009-10 school year.

Meridian Community Band - $1,450
Free and discounted admissions for Lansing students and seniors to attend the 16th annual Grand Sousa Concert at Pattengill Middle School.

Reach Studio Art Center - $3,000
Free, after school drop-in art sessions for Lansing youth and families from March to June 2010 at Reach Studio Art Center.

The City of Lansing mini grants are awarded once a year. Non-profit arts organizations whose programs and activities specifically serve Lansing residents are eligible to apply. Applications for the mini grants are available in mid-July and are due in mid-August. All events must take place between Oct. 1 and June 30.

BoarsHead and Stormfield: Not or

2009-10-24T15:34:00.004-04:00

Earlier this week, the founding artistic director of BoarsHead, John Peakes, sent a letter to the editor at the Lansing State Journal. It encouraged people to support the new theater that Kristine Thatcher is forming, Stormfield. It also encouraged people to pull their support away from BoarsHead.

The first part of that call is something I can completely get behind. I was thrilled to hear that Kristine would be staying in our community and continuing to bring in the works that made BoarsHead an exciting place to attend during her tenure. She will be filling a niche that true theater lovers can appreciate--producing those works that prove the art is still alive, evolving, and relevant. She'll be introducing us to works as a way of finding out whether they are worth loving.

The second part of John's advice is far more problematic. Yes, I understand the anger at how Kristine was treated. Yes, I understand that such a move reveals frightening things about the artistic direction of the oldest professional theater in the region. I also fear that they've chosen stagnation over necessary risk-taking. However, neither do I think it would be healthy for anyone in the arts if BoarsHead were to fail.

Forget about the personality conflicts for a few minutes. Let's look at things philosophically:

Theater as an eco-system

I've written about this idea so much in this blog that I'm sure my long time readers are sick of it. It bears repeating in reference to this issue. John's email assumes an either/or attitude--that we must choose one theater over the other to support. It's a model of competition. Yet, theaters are non-profit for a good reason and not just because they aren't financial cash cows. They exist to serve a purpose in the community. They enrich the community and the people who live in it, improving their quality of life.

Each theater company in the Greater Lansing area serves a purpose and an overlapping audience. While resources may be finite, live theater has not begun to reach the limits of those resources, particularly when it comes to audience members (and, if we are going to be cynical, the financial resources that accompany those audience members). I've had the good fortune to attend theater at all of the local theater companies. Yes, there is an overlapping audience, but each new group also brings new people to theater. As the years pass, you start to see those new audience members at other theater productions.

In other words, each group creates its own audience and brings more people to the wonder and miracle of live theater. Even with all of the productions that take place in the Lansing area, they are still a fraction of the number of movies that come out each year--yet you don't hear people making a call for fewer movies. There are few people who will ever try to see every movie that comes out and there are even fewer people who will see every live production that comes out. However, the play that one person has no interest in will appeal to someone else.

The more theater we have, the more people are able and willing to make theater a normal part of their lives. We have already reached the point in Lansing that you can see theater every single weekend. This is essential for a society that increasingly does things spontaneously--making decisions about their entertainment choices not a year in advance, but an hour in advance. Also, the more theater we have, the more passionate people become involved and passion is contagious.

If we want a healthy theater community, we can only benefit from trading the competition model for the ecosystem model. We can recognize that every theater has something to contribute and all of them support each other in a myriad of ways.

Both BoarsHead and Stormfield have committed themselves to different types of theater work. Those works will appeal to different people--albeit there will definitely be overlapping audiences. There is sufficient room in this community for both types of work. Indeed, having both types of work is going to make each of the other more successful because people will become increasingly aware of the diversity of theater offerings. Rarely will someone decide they don't like all movies because they don't like the horror genre. Yet, you will hear people write off all of live theater because they think the few shows that they've seen represent the entire spectrum.

BoarsHead as Employer

Aside from the artistic element of theater, there is another reason that the Lansing theater community would not benefit from the failure of BoarsHead. It remains the largest professional non-profit theater in the area, providing more artistic support and artistic jobs than other theaters in the area. Even with film incentives making it somewhat easier, it is still an extremely difficult path to make your living in the theater arts.

Yes, I understand John's anger at those who made the decision that they did about Kristine. But more people would suffer if BoarsHead went under than just those people. In fact, those people would probably suffer the least. There are people who rely on BoarsHead for their living. There are those who rely on BoarsHead as an important supplement to their income. It continues to offer an important educational service to the community.

No one will benefit from the failure of BoarsHead.

Let's not make our choice one of Stormfield OR BoarsHead. Let's make it a choice of Stormfield AND BoarsHead.

Theater, but not in Lansing

2009-10-16T15:42:00.002-04:00

Last week, I took a trip with my mom, her two sisters and their daughters (my aunts and cousins). They had recently sold my grandfather's house and they decided to use the proceeds to take us all on a trip to Chicago to see "Jersey Boys."

I was excited about it because while I see a lot of theater, rarely do I see it with my relatives. Indeed, for my one aunt, this was her first time ever going to see live theater. She said it was on her list of things to do before she died.

So on Monday, five of us took the train into Chicago while my other cousin flew in from Arizona. We checked into the beautiful boutique property, Hotel Felix, and proceeded to go shopping at Water Tower Place.

On Tuesday evening, we headed to the Bank of America Theater to see Jersey Boys. We had a little trouble getting in as two of the six tickets had printed out in Japanese on my aunt's printer rather than English and we had to get that fixed at the box office. However, we all made it in in time for the first act. It was a pretty good show. I could tell it was a Tuesday night performance as the energy was low and some of the lead performers were struggling with mush mouth for the first half hour.

At intermission, everyone said what a good time they were having and we did the usual intermission things. After some time had passed, we realized that the intermission was lasting a really long time.

Then the ushers went to the front of the theater, and we watched as everyone in front stood up and started coming up the aisles. Sure enough, the ushers were evacuating the theater. They did so very calmly and efficiently. We all got outside and they moved us across the street. The Chicago police were there, as was the SWAT team.

Soon they evacuated the entire street and the hotel above the theater. Then people from the theater came out and told us all to leave, that our tickets would be refunded.

Later, we learned that two suspicious packages were found in the alleyway next to the theater. One of them had a note that read, "This is not a bomb." The other had a note that read, "This is not going to end good." (Obviously, they need to look for someone with an incomplete grasp on grammar.)

Eventually the bomb squad exploded the two boxes. There were not explosives inside and last I heard an investigation was going on to find who did it and hand them a bill for the city's response.

It was definitely a memorable night at the theater, even if we all left at intermission and can't tell you how it ended. Nor could the actors be blamed if the audience complained that the show bombed.

Fall Memories

2009-10-15T11:04:00.005-04:00

Dear readers, will you indulge me for an entry that has nothing to do with theater?

I recently found something I wrote 8 years ago; something that I rather like and find it to be as true today as it was when I wrote it (except the years listed would have to add 8 to them). The event I was writing about was now 24 years ago, not 16 years ago and I've been married for nearly 17 years now, not nine. But the sentiments are surprisingly unchanged:

A Lunchtime Drive

Earlier today as I drove home for lunch I admired the vibrant strokes of color that had painted the trees and leaves. Squirrels bearing nuts bounded over golden carpets and trees wept red and brown tears against the overcast skies.

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons and it always makes me nostalgic. Today on the drive home it made me think of an autumn night 16 years ago. Two nervous teenagers were returning home from their senior homecoming dance and the young man stood on the young woman’s front porch preparing to bid her goodnight.

It wasn’t exactly their first date. They had spent an afternoon together after a forensics team trip to book stores in Ann Arbor. They’d shopped together at a mall and spent a few hours in a video arcade, shared a Toblerone bar, and gone out to eat at a Coney dog restaurant. When the teenage boy had taken the girl home that night, he’d pointed out that it wasn’t exactly a date, and so he wasn’t sure if he should ask for a good-night kiss. She, somewhat flustered, demurred and suggested she just give him a hug instead.

But the homecoming dance was definitely a date. She was decked out in a sequin-covered, 80s-style black dress and he looked especially sharp in a thin gray tie and matching suit coat and pants. The October evening was brisk, but not cold yet, much like today’s weather. He gave a smile that she would soon become addicted to, and said, “Now I know it’s appropriate this time to ask you for a kiss goodnight.” She blushed, agreed, and they exchanged what would now be considered a rather chaste kiss goodnight.

Later he would learn that he’d just given that 17-year-old girl her “first kiss” and their dating relationship would be rather tumultuous over the next couple years. After all, these two were yet children as much as they might have wanted to think otherwise. They had yet to learn that love is more than an emotion. They had yet to learn that passion is only one part of a successful relationship. It would be years before they would discover that love has only begun to grow once the initial excitement and ardor wears off. They would have relationships with other people before they would learn that a marriage is made of something stronger than a fluttering heart.

But my drive home for lunch today was rather short, giving me time to think just about this one enchanted fall evening so many years ago—not the painful lessons that those two would later learn from each other.

I walked into my house to be greeted enthusiastically by my blond imp of a son who quickly filled my ears with giggles. I then turned to his dad—my husband of nine years—and greeted him with a kiss. How sweet to discover that his kiss is as dear today as it was on that brisk October evening 16 years ago.

Round-up of Changes in Lansing Theater

2009-09-23T12:48:00.004-04:00

I've been writing a lot lately, just not blogging very much. There is definitely a lot going on in our theater community, and not just because the new fall season has started. In the past several months, we've witnessed some pretty major changes:

(And I was about to use a bulleted list, but that screws with some people's readers, so I'll number the list and beg your pardon for the lack of pretty formatting.)

1. Kristine Thatcher's contract as Artistic Director was not renewed at BoarsHead.
2. Shakespeare on the Grand replaced Sunsets with Shakespeare as the summer outdoor Shakespeare company. Led by Lindsay Palinsky, Rita Deibler, and Tod Humphrey, they are associated with the Lansing Civic Players.
3. Len Kluge died.
4. Bob Gras died.
5. Lansing Civic Players announced that it was canceling its mainstage season and launching an Underground LCP Black Box season while they regroup and raise money.
6. The Renegade Festival in Old Town continued to grow by leaps and bounds and was an exciting event this summer.
7. Merrill Wyble died.
8. Paul Riopelle was hired as BoarsHead's interim artistic associate.
9. All-of-Us Express Children's Theater merged with the City of East Lansing and is moving into the Hannah Center.
10. John Neville-Andrews resigned as the Artistic Director of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival.
11. Kristine Thatcher announced the formation of a new professional theater company.

Things are changing fast around here. It's exciting times for the theater community.

I'm hoping in the next week or so to blog about a wonderful conversation I had with Jeffrey Sweet about theater and theater journalism. I also want to get a book he recommended and possibly share things from there.

In the mean time, if you're looking for theater this weekend, here are some of your options:

An Evening with Mark Twain at the Ledges Playhouse, Capital TheaterWorks
Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight, Creole Gallery, Peppermint Creek Theatre Company
Beau Jest, BoarsHead
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pasant Theater, Michigan State University
70 Scenes from Halloween, 168 Black Box Theater, Gannon Building, Lansing Community College
LCP Underground Grand Opening, LCP Firehouse (Reservations required--Saturday only)

I'll try to remember to come back tomorrow and stick in links for the Beau Jest review, the Rocky Horror picture show and 70 Scenes preview. Some of the other stories are no longer available online.

R.I.P. Merrill Wyble

2009-09-03T11:52:00.003-04:00

Merrill's obit is in today's paper here. It had to be cut far more than Bob's did, so I'll put the whole thing here. Granted, with the shrinking news hole, I'm glad they were able to get as much as they were in the print version of the newspaper.

On Aug. 29, the Lansing theater community lost another of its long-time members, the third since the beginning of July.

Merrill Wyble, age 80, died Saturday evening of complications arising from a colon infection. While he’d been ill for several weeks, he was recuperating and had been expected to be released from the hospital when he had to have an emergency colonoscopy Aug. 28.

Wyble was preceded in death by Spotlight founder, director, and theater critic Len Kluge on July 1 and director, actor, and teacher Robert Gras on Aug. 20.

Wyble, who retired in 1991 from the law firm, Church, Wyble, Kritselis & Robinson, PC, where he was a senior partner, was an active volunteer for Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Community Theater Association of Michigan (CTAM), and local theaters. Wyble was a prolific actor who appeared on stages at Lansing Civic Players, Riverwalk, BoarsHead, and Peppermint Creek. His final performance was in Riverwalk’s “Born Yesterday,” in the fall of 2008.

Winifred Olds, who along with her husband Wes and Betty White breakfasted with Wyble every Saturday, said that Wyble had slowed down a little in the past couple years.

“He decided to do smaller parts and to stick close to local theater—Riverwalk and LCP,” said Olds, whose husband Wes had a room at the hospital next to Wyble during his final illness. “We always went to Starlight Dinner Theater together—Merrill, Wes, Betty, and I. We always sat at the same tables so we could talk about the plays.”

Starlight’s Artistic Director, Linda Granger, said that while Wyble was skeptical about the viability of a dinner theater, he came to support it with his active patronage.

“What to me is most memorable about Merrill is that he spoke his mind,” Granger said. “I admire that in people and he was also the first to admit if he was wrong. He told me that my dinner theater would never make it and sent me a nice email some time later saying more or less, ‘I was wrong.’ When Judy Such, his girlfriend, was alive, they attended every single play in the Lansing area. After Judy passed away, Merrill kept going to all the local theaters. He was a regular customer at Starlight and I would see him at LCP or taking tickets at Riverwalk.”

Wyble’s volunteer contributions were many. He served several years on the board of LCP, participated in the Worship Arts team at Good Shepherd, and served on the board and several committees for CTAM.

“He was a good lawyer,” Olds said. “There was a time when he served on the board of LCP that a letter on his letterhead sometimes moved mountains.”

With CTAM, Wyble and his partner of many years, Judy Such, helped to organize retreats at Boyne Mountain and traveled around the state as adjudicators to help develop other community theaters.

“Community theater was his great passion outside of his profession,” CTAM board member Joanne Berry said. “He had a wit and charm about him and a genuine concern for people that drew others to him. He tackled many jobs having to do with community theater with great gusto. You could always depend on him to get done whatever had to be done for the organization.”

Berry said she is certain that people will be remembering and toasting Wyble at their Cadillac conference in late September.

Pastor Roger Straub said Wyble had been attending Good Shepherd for the past 20 years.

“He was very active in a number of areas in our church,” said Straub. “One of the things he brought to us was his interest in theater. He was an active part in the Worship Arts Group, whose purpose was as a group to enhance worship in a number of creative ways.”

Wyble’s eldest son, Rick Wyble, spent much of the last several months with his father. He said his father caught a cold at one of the nursing homes where he volunteered and it attacked his colon.

“He got through the first bout, but when it came back, he was too weak to handle it and became resistant to the antibiotics they were giving him,” Rick Wyble said.

He said that during the past few months in the hospital, he got to hear stories from his father about when he served in the army in Germany and first passed the bar exam. Rick is the oldest of six children and three step-children. Merrill Wyble is also survived by 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Good Shepherd with visitation an hour before.

“He was very specific on how he wanted it done,” Rick Wyble said. “He left us a letter of what he expects and how it will be done. There was one line in there that, ‘There will be no wailing or gnashing of teeth. It should be a joyous occasion.’”

Rick Wyble expects there will be a large turnout at the service as his father had made friends in many different circles.

“That’s one of the things he enjoyed most after he retired,” Rick Wyble said. “He was able to do everything. It gave him time to social network. He was very active at church, at theater. He got involved in mall walking. He has a circle of friends there, a circle of friends at theater, a circle of friends form his office, another for his family, and another from church.”

As the news spread of Wyble’s death, members of the arts community began their mourning and sharing memories.

“He will be greatly missed,” said Granger. “It saddens me that in the past two months we have lost three men who have been so pivotal in building and sustaining community theaters in the Lansing area.”

R.I.P. Bob Gras

2009-09-02T13:00:00.002-04:00

While writing obits were one of my first assignments in journalism back when I was still in junior high and high school, it isn't that common for an arts writer to have to write them. Nor was it common for me to know the people about whom I was writing.

In the past several weeks we've lost two giant in local theater: Bob Gras and Merrill Wyble. I knew, respected, had worked with, and liked both of them. Writing not a tribute, but a feature obituary for them was tougher than I thought it would be.

The obit on Bob Gras appeared last week here. Merrill's obit will appear later this week.

I'm going to once again take advantage of my blog to "publish" that which had to be cut because of space. The cuts are from various points in the story--not from all one place, so I'm just going to reprint the whole thing here.

On Aug. 19, the Lansing theater community lost one of its stalwart supporters and creative drivers.

Robert Gras, age 69, died from complications of acute leukemia after being on life support for more than a month. A retired Eaton Rapids Public Schools English and drama teacher, Gras is survived by wife Linda, children Robert Gras and Cassandra Gras, and two grandchildren.

Gras performed for community theaters throughout the Lansing area and led the drama program in Eaton Rapids schools. He was a driving force behind Riverwalk’s Black Box theater. In 2009, he performed in the final Black Box production at the Creole, “Substance of Fire,” for which he won a Best Lead Actor Thespie from the Lansing State Journal and a Best Lead Actor Pulsar from the City Pulse.

“Bob hadn’t been onstage all that much in the last few years because of his back condition,” said Bill Helder, the director of Substance of Fire. “Seeing what a good actor he is reminded people of some of the earlier things he had done. Bob really could do everything. Before he developed his back problems, he could design sets and build them. He was a super director and was wonderful to be on stage with.”

Former students Terry Jones and Wendy Fall both spoke highly of his teaching and how he inspired them.

Jones first met Gras 38 years ago in 7th grade when his teacher introduced them. Gras promptly cast him in a high school production.

“In the years after that, we formed quite a bond,” Jones said. “I was cast in every show that he did. I always got the lead if it was a non-musical. If it was a musical, I got the dominant non-singing role.”

Then during Jones’ senior year, Gras overruled the music teacher and cast Jones as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Jones lost contact with Gras until 1990, when he was cast as the title character in the first show that Gras directed at Riverwalk—Tartuffe.

“He went from teacher to mentor to friend,” Jones said. “He was a good guy. He knew his stuff.”

Fall said she still benefits from the motto Gras constantly repeated in his English classes: “Eschew obfuscation.”

“He wanted us to be precise,” Fall said, saying he was vigilant about removing all unnecessary words from their essays. She also said that he lit a passion for Shakespeare and great literature in his students. “He would get up and read it in his big booming voice with all his theatrical talent. It was incredible. When you’re a high school student, Shakespeare doesn’t make a lot of sense. But when he read it and brought the text to life for us, it was never the same. That was his particular talent.”

Playwright Eileen O’Leary described how Gras championed her new work, fighting to get its world premiere launched at Lansing Civic Players in 1999.
She had sent Gras a copy of her play “The Siege of Ennis.” He read it and wanted to direct it. At first, the LCP board resisted, saying that the financial risk of a new work by a new playwright was too great.

“Bob Gras told them that if they didn’t let him direct ‘The Siege of Ennis,’ he wasn’t going to direct any other play,” O’Leary said. “So they relented and put it on. I had never had anyone do anything like that for me before. He championed it and he put his neck out for it.”

O’Leary said that the production was gorgeous. She also said that she saw the financials after the show—and it made money.

“He was a real class act who would stand up for what he believed in. I thought he was fantastic,” O’Leary said. “He didn’t know me, but he liked the play and he didn’t want anyone to not allow him to put it on for a reason that was just financial. It was a wonderful thing to do for someone no one knew. Most people don’t stick up for others like that. He was amazing.”

Gras’ support continued to be inspirational to O’Leary. “I kept writing plays and I probably would have stopped writing because I was sort of at an impasse.”

Helder, who first met Gras during “The Crucible” in 1993 at Grand Ledge’s Spotlight, said Gras’ death is a real loss for Riverwalk.

“He really had taken the black box under his wing. He was the director of the first show in the black box at the Creole and starred in the last show. There is a certain symmetry there,” Helder said. “He was scheduled to open our first season in the new location with a Chekov piece.”

The Chekov piece has now been canceled.

“To the general public, (Gras will be) most remembered for the number of really solid shows that he directed,” said Helder. “He will be remembered as the kind of director that could direct everything: from a crazy farce like Noises Off to something like Hedda Gabler and on to something like Under Milkwood, which is really poetry on stage. He will be remembered for the variety of things that he could and all of them well.”

Renegade Festival

2009-08-21T15:14:00.002-04:00

Last night's time at the Renegade Festival in Old Town was a reminder of why I love theater so much.

Live theater matters not just because of what occurs on the stage, but because of the community that it builds and the creativity and hope that it inspires. The population of Lansing may keep it from qualifying as a "small town," but anyone strolling through Old Town last night would have enjoyed the small-town feel of community with the cultural opportunities of the city.

On a personal level, after a summer that has been challenging (to say the least), it was uplifting and inspiring to be once again immersed in the life I love and surrounded by the amazing people that make Lansing an incredible place to live. You really don't have to look long or hard to find people who are creative, compassionate, intelligent, interesting, and caring.

Thinking about a new policy

2009-08-19T11:00:00.002-04:00

I'm thinking about adopting a new policy. I may, in the future, refuse to agree to off-the-record conversations when the organizations refuse to keep their word about the release of information. I will act with integrity with information that I am given, but I do expect others to have that same degree of integrity.

Thankfully, most theater people and organizations in this community have a very high level of integrity and have shown sensitivity and honor. It's easy for me to expect people to keep their word because the vast majority of people in town do.

Chicago Thinks We're Crazy

2009-07-02T21:54:00.001-04:00

The theater community in Chicago thinks we're crazy for letting Kristine Thatcher go.

While I work on composing the blog entry I'm working on about Gov. Sanford and "A Clean House," I'd encourage you to go read this blog here and the comments that were left.

Pondering Riverwalk’s the Dead and Lost Loves

2009-06-29T15:10:00.003-04:00

Despite my plans, I did not, in fact, get to any shows this weekend. However, with my son still out of town, I did get some very high quality time in with Richard—the kind of time that every marriage should make room for once in a while.

On Sunday, I took a long walk, enjoying the beautiful day and found myself thinking back to Riverwalk’s production of James Joyce's The Dead. One of the beautiful things about great shows is how they stick with you and continue to give you things to think about long after they are done. The Dead had such beautiful imagery, language, music, and themes, that they’ve continued to resonate with me and to occasionally stroke my thoughts with new ways of looking at them.

The Dead is a memory play, but the memories central to the play are less those of the narrator and more those of the narrator’s wife. So why not have the wife be the narrator? That was the fascinating layer that my mind played with on Sunday. Joyce invites us to ask what we would do if faced with the narrator’s circumstances—what do you do when your love of a lifetime is flush with remembered love and filled with tears over the loss of a past lover, one who disappeared decades before?

This is where Doak Bloss’ choices and Mary Job’s direction was truly brilliant. For it was as much the facial expressions, the movements on stage, and the lighting as it was the words of the script that showed the husband’s choices. He was pained that the love he thought was exclusively his belonged in part to a memory. Yet, the love for his wife was so great that he did not berate her. He did not turn her pain into a betrayal of him or of their marriage. He didn’t try to exorcise the ghosts of the past, but rather, went and held his spouse so that they would not be alone during the haunting.

Would their marriage be the same afterward? Joyce doesn’t tell us, but if I were to believe the interpretation presented, I would say no. Neither person nor marriage would ever be the same afterward, but they would likely be better.

Free Theater this Weekend

2009-06-26T10:46:00.002-04:00

June has been the month for free theater--and one of the best months in Michigan to do the outdoor theater thing.

Richard, Dominic, and I caught "Leading Ladies" last week at MSU's Summer Circle. It was quite the riot. I enjoyed it when I first saw it at Starlight last year and it was fun to see it again with the different interpretations.

Summer Circle closes its season this weekend with "Kid Purple" and the late-night shows of "Clevenger's Trial" from Catch-22. I'm especially curious to see what they're going to do with the latter.

Mid-Michigan Family Theatre is performing two one-acts at their home in Frandor this weekend. They're doing Pied Piper and Dick Whittington and His Cat. I'm planning to take some kids to that one this weekend, though my own is still off at his grandparents.

Finally, I very much want to see Our Town at Lansing Community College. It's got a stellar cast and it's one of those classic shows that I've only ever seen once.

If you're in town, treat yourself to an outdoor show--there is something about the non-contained environment that makes for a truly special experience.

Learning Courage from my Father

2009-06-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

At the risk of turning my theater blog into a journalism blog, I’m going to make yet another entry that is more about journalism than theater, though it doesn’t abandon the latter theme. Also, with Father’s Day right around the corner, it is, perhaps, timely.

One of the things that has been very comfortable about being a performing arts columnist is that I’m mostly writing stories that my sources want to have told. People get angry at reviews, they rarely get angry at previews (except when I get something important like a time or a date wrong).

Like most people, I prefer to have people pleased with me rather than angry with me. However, I also learned a long time ago that such desires cannot be a driving force in good, moral decision making. How did I learn this? Many ways, I suppose, but what sticks out to me is one of my family’s stories about a choice my father made.

My Father’s Example of Moral Courage

My dad was a career journalist, one who was inspired (like many in the field) to enter the newspaper business because he wanted to make his community a better place. He graduated from college and immediately took a job as a community editor for a suburban Detroit newspaper.

This was during the Vietnam War, though because he had just graduated from college and was looking to pursue a master’s degree, he had received a draft deferral and his draft number was such that it wasn’t likely to come up yet for several years.

One of the early stories he covered were grand jury proceedings of a city politician who had hired a hit man to kill his opponent. The politician was furious at the coverage and brought a libel lawsuit against my father, seeking damages of $1 million. Eventually, the politician’s lawyer pointed out to his client that when it comes to libel, truth is an absolute defense and he was going to lose his suit as my father’s coverage had been accurate and truthful.

So the politician took another tack. He was chair of the draft committee in the community and changed my father’s number so that it would come up immediately. My parents were married on a Saturday and on that Monday, he received his draft notice. The politician took great glee and boasted about what he had done to his buddies in a local bar.

NEA Fellowship Instructor: “Be Brave. Be Specific.”

One of the things I’ve observed in the recent coverage of BoarsHead and the board’s decision to oust Kristine Thatcher, is that most of the public commentary has come from people out of town. Locally, people have opinions, but few are making any sort of public statement (with some notable exceptions).

I understand why this is the case. People locally have much more to risk, especially if they wish to work in a field that has very little opportunity in the best of times. I’ve had my own moments of paranoia—for while I myself have very little at risk in covering this story, I recognize that I could be jeopardizing opportunities for both my husband and my son. That thought pains me a great deal as I am a wife and mother before I am a journalist.

However, I have my father’s example to put that in perspective. My dad, by choosing to do the right thing, put his very life in jeopardy. Because he accurately and faithfully covered a story that needed to be covered, my brother and I might never have been born. I am faced with no such choice. Compared with the choices that my father made, mine are easy.

Listening Skills are Critical to Both Reporting and Reviewing

2009-06-16T00:41:00.002-04:00

Michigan State University's J-School does a great job of training journalists—or at least, it did when I went there, I'm not sure what the program is like now. There was an emphasis on always getting facts correct (any factual error—even a typo in a proper noun—meant your grade on that assignment was an immediate 1.0), and a demand that you take a variety of classes so that you could be knowledgeable on a variety of topics. You had to take courses in English, history, economics, plus an emphasis that was different from all of those (mine was Russian). You were limited in how many journalism classes you were allowed to take because they wanted to make sure you had a broad knowledge base. We were also strongly encouraged (it might have been required, I can't remember) to get practical experience through internships and other methods.

Learning to Listen

The one thing that got very little attention was reviewing. While I was assigned book reviews while interning at the Grand Rapids Press, I don't think I ever had a class assignment in which we had to write a review or where we even talked about how to review. Those were skills I had to pick up through practical experience through the course of my career. Looking back, I would now encourage J-schools to make review writing a mandatory course. Why? Because being a good reviewer develops the same skills that are essential to being a good reporter and they are the softer skills that can be hard to teach—the skills of listening, of setting aside one's own ego, and of being patient.

When I first started reviewing, I would try to critique my experience from the very beginning. When I was reviewing a book, I would start taking notes while reading. When I did restaurant reviews, I tried to memorize as much of the menu as I could and would be thinking about what I was going to write from the very first bite. When I started reviewing theater, I would spend half of the show thinking about how I wanted to write the review based on what I was seeing. It was while doing the latter that I finally figured out the flaw in this approach. This "pre-writing" kept me from hearing the story. Because I was mentally engaged in my story, I wasn't hearing the story that was being told to me. I had to learn to discipline my thoughts so that I could be open to what was being performed and to fully experience the work before I started critiquing or figuring out what I was going to write. It is only after a show is over that I let myself begin the process of critiquing—of evaluating how well the story was told and whether the choices made helped or hindered what appeared to be the director's vision. It is afterward that the mental work begins—not during the show. It's also why I almost never take notes during a show—it distracts me and gets me focused on what I think I want to write later and not on the story that is being told to me.

Reviewing Skills Transfer to Reporting

When a few weeks ago I found myself again reporting, I discovered that those skills have made me a better reporter than I used to be (of course, years as a ghost writer and a researcher haven't hurt either). Being objective as a reporter doesn't mean that you don't have an opinion, but it does mean that you have to truly listen to each source you're talking to without pre-judging or pre-writing. It wasn't that I didn't have an opinion on the story that I was covering, but I did have to set that opinion aside and lock it safely away into a compartment of my brain. It meant that every person I spoke to I needed to truly listen to and try my hardest to understand what they were saying, what they wanted to communicate, and to hear their angle of the story. It meant being open and not asking only the questions that would tell the story I thought I wanted to tell. It meant not determining what the story was until after I had the information. It meant giving each person every opportunity to present their information so that when I did write my story, it wasn't a story that reflected my opinions but one that represented the facts as I was able to find. It meant being willing to have my opinions changed by what I learned—to go the extra mile to hear each side of the story before doing the hard work of shifting through each fact and each source's information.

I have my own distinct taste in theater. There are some types of shows that I like more than others. However, if my readers are able to discern my personal taste from what I've written in a review, then I've failed in that review. My personal likes and dislikes are irrelevant. What is important is the informed, disciplined opinion on whether the show accomplished what it was meant to accomplish. Was it a good show? A good script? A good performance? Those are the things that are worthwhile to write about. My likes or dislikes are merely a matter of egoism—which is why, frankly, blogs exist. In a blog, I'll reveal my likes and dislikes. This is one of the main reasons that I insist that what I write in my blog is not a review—because it does not meet professional standards for a review. I hope it is interesting to read and that it might spark a conversation about theater, but it is not a critique in which I am attempting to objectively evaluate the art that I experienced.

The same is true with a story. You don't cover the theater community for any length of time without forming an opinion about what is going on. Years worth of observations, conversations, and events help to inform those opinions. However, when reporting on something that is taking place in the theatrical community, those opinions cannot be what drives the story. Just as in a review you present an opinion supported by specifics, a news story presents events with facts and specifics that explain those events. Yes, reporters still interpret, but the interpretations must be completely divorced from their egos.

Being Respectful

I've noticed that many novice reporters take great glee in being rude to sources—they consider that rudeness is necessary to ask tough questions. They thrive on controversy and scandal. I was never comfortable with rudeness nor do I expect that I ever will be. I used to think that would hinder me as a reporter. Twenty years later, what I've learned is that the opposite is true. I can write a better story when I go in to each interview with an open mind and a willingness for each source to be able to tell his or her story and to be receptive to what I am being told. I need to treat each person I interview with respect and fairness. After the interview is done, I can sit with it, listen to it again, think about it and compare it to other information I have. After the interview is done, I can begin the work of interpretation and reporting knowing that I haven't pre-judged the information that I've received. I can search for the way to make the story as balanced as possible so that multiple sides are presented and given appropriate weight. Does that mean being naïve? Absolutely not. But it does mean that the filter doesn't get applied before the information is received.

I've devolved into a lecture on journalism when really what I intended with this blog entry was to share what has come as a discovery to me—that the approach I learned to effective review writing is an approach that works equally well in the very different product of news writing.

Rothschilds Resumes Tonight

2009-06-11T16:17:00.003-04:00

I've been having a blast watching my son (and the rest of the cast) perform in Rothschilds.

Were I speaking, that last sentence would be slightly tongue in cheek as my son actually has a pretty small role in the play--only one song and two scenes in a play that is epic in scope. He's also only one of seven kids and one of 30 cast members. However, I'm a proud mama and I'll confess that I'm pretty focused on the antics of my son.

Being a Stage Mom, but Not a Mama Rose

So tonight I'll watch the show for the fifth time and will likely continue to beam through the entire show. For his part, Dominic has said he would gladly do another musical and that he's had a fantastic time.

While Dominic has grown up in the theater, we've tried to be careful about not pushing him into theater just because we're passionate about it. We've tried to make sure he's exposed to lots of other things so that he can make choices from athletics, outdoor activities, music, animals, etc. while trying hard not to overschedule him.

Working with Good People

Given that, our goal with his involvement in theater has always been for him to have good experiences. That takes precedence over everything else. Before we let him audition for anything, we try to find out who is going to be involved and how that person is with kids.

We let him do Macbeth with the Michigan Shakespeare Festival because we knew we could trust John Neville-Andrews and because his dad would be there to help make sure he behaved in an appropriate manner. We let him participate in Fantastical Friends because we knew we could trust Bill Gordon as a director and because there would be lots of other kids for him to spend time with. There are other shows that we investigated and would have let him audition for except he would sometimes say he didn't want to and that would always be the final word.

Neither Richard nor I want to be a Mama Rose and we do want to make sure that any theatrical participation is his choice and will be a good experience for him.

Rothschilds a Great Experience for Him

It's also one of the things I've been thrilled about with The Rothschilds. It has been a great experience for him and Jane Falion has been an excellent director, conscious of their need for sleep and for their studies. She's been a great guide for them, providing the structure that was needed and not hesitating to reign them in when necessary. The rest of the cast has also been very good to him--something that has made it a great experience for him. He's made friends and he loves going to every rehearsal and performance.

Lastly, but certainly not least of all, the show has been a good one--one that he can be proud of belonging to. He's gained wonderful experience in singing, dancing, and performing with adults on a thrust stage.

And if I weren't proud enough already, it doesn't hurt that he was also mentioned in the City Pulse review (which I'll have to make sure I get a copy of!).

Three Artistic Directors

2009-06-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

Is it something in the water?

I posted yesterday about BoarsHead's Kristine Thatcher being told that the board would not renew her contract. She's joined by two other women in the state's theaters who have been given the boot as artistic directors of professional theaters:

Evelyn Orbach, the founder of the Jewish Ensemble Theater and its AD fr the past 21 years, is no longer with the theater according to the board president.

And Tipping Point announced that its executive director had resigned. They, at least, had the courtesy to thank her for her work and effort. Perhaps it is because, officially, she resigned.

Early Morning Thoughts

2009-06-05T01:50:00.003-04:00

A few random thoughts after getting to see The Rothschilds all the way through for the first time:

If in life, we are fortunate enough to be given the blessing of doing some good, we are indeed rich. It's a big world we live in and very difficult for one person (or one family) to be able to significantly change it. Yet, in smaller worlds--in our individual communities, we are sometimes given the opportunity to do some small amount of good. I sometimes feel as though those chances are rare because the demands of scrabbling out a living can be so great. Also, doing good can sometimes be a risky business--a truth illustrated very well in this musical. How does one know that what you do will effect change that is meaningful and useful? How does one know whether one is on the side of angels, as it were.

Having a chance to make a difference in one's community is something that is worth striving for with a humility of spirit that acknowledges what an honor and a blessing it is. I hope I am aware enough to recognize opportunities when they come my way and to have the energy to pursue them. I hope also that I can remember that one doesn't have to alter the state of world affairs to make a difference. Perhaps it is enough to make a few people's lives somewhat more joyful.

Something else I was moved by: At several times during the play, the boys devolve into fights--either physical shoving matches or verbal shouting matches. Yet, despite the fights, there is an amazing bond between the brothers. They truly love each other and nothing could come between them.

Lots of Theater News

2009-06-04T09:50:00.004-04:00

There is so much going on in the theater world right now, I hardly know where to start. Given that, I'm just going to post some links and a few comments.

Kristine Thatcher To Leave BoarsHead
I have opinions on this issue, but since I'm currently covering it as a news story, I will keep those opinions to myself. My need at this time is to be as objective and fair as possible. I will, though, gladly host any discussion on the issue that anyone might want to have here.

The Rothschilds Opens Tonight
I'm very excited about this show, in no small part because it is my son's first time in a musical.

Flyover, USA Review
I loved Kate's review and agreed with every word.

Wilde Award Nominations
Encore Michigan and Between the Lines have announced their Wilde Award nominations. Lansing theater-goers will recognize several of the nominees.

Flyover, USA from a playwright's perspective

2009-06-03T00:44:00.003-04:00

I've been enamored with the concept behind the Voices of the Midwest series that Williamston is doing ever since I first heard about it. I've heard too many people who think the Midwest is a cultural wasteland and those who think that theater happens only in New York and London and everywhere else is just a pale imitation.

The Midwest series that Williamston Theatre is doing is fantastic because it "gets" it. I was fortunate enough to see one of the preview performances of Flyover last week and loved it. The day after the show, I was able to interview both the director and one of the two playwrights. The story was published here, but it had to be cut due to lack of space--and even when I first wrote it, I felt as though I left out as much good stuff.

So I'm going to share a little here. Joseph Zettelmaier is one of the two playwrights (the other is Dennis North). His play, All Childish Things, was performed at BoarsHead earlier this year along with a staged reading of Night Blooming. He and I talked quite a bit about Flyover. Here are some highlights:

I did (see Maidens, Mothers, and Crones) right before I agreed to work on Flyover--within a week. I tend to like theater for the emotional experience, so I tried to come in and absorb what was going on. I loved it--absolutely loved it. To be totally honest; I was a little nervous going in; I thought 'oh god, don’t let there be too many things about why men are the devil.' There absolutely wasn’t any of that; I thought it was pretty spectacular.

Dennis and I are both proud Midwesterners. We wanted to capture both parts of the series: That it is men and that it is the Midwest. I wrote the food fight scene, largely because I wanted to make sure we got a literal Midwest flavor into the show.
For most of the process, we went to our own corners and wrote. As we got close, we started sending in all our scenes and it was largely John (Seibert) and Tony (Caselli) who put together the play. At the first rehearsal I had 3 scenes I cut right away because Dennis touched on the same thing and did it better. The key to make a process like this work is to check your ego at the doorway. That’s the key to make any process work. I have no problem stepping aside for something that is a little better.

My favorite one to write, for different reasons: the Jack sandbox scenes are very personal to me. It’s something my younger brother went through almost verbatim. (Picking a favorite scene) is like picking my favorite kid. I liked food fight and first kiss as well. I like writing comedy.

First kiss—the scene with the young man taking the SAT after kissing the girl for the first time. We had a good read for it; but didn't know what to do with it. We’ve got John Seibert--he’s one of the best diretors in the state--he did so many different things with it. We looked at it so many different ways, each one just killed me; I was really happy. It’s very freeing writing that kind of thing. Every single guy could tell you the name of their first kiss within a milliscecond. Anything that happened more than five years ago hazes away, but I can remember my first kiss with crystal clear clarity. It was fun going back to that place. It’s a seminal event.

The big difference (in writing this play compared to other plays) is that it was a cowriting and it was a commission. Usually my plays are born out of whatever crazy ideas are running out of my head. I felt an obligation to really honor the work that was being submitted to Williamsoton. That was a different way for me to think. I like boundaries; I like structure. Maybe it's my German nature, having this framework to work in was really, really useful and to be honest, we got some amazing stories.

I take such solace with Midwesterners--we got so much of this in the responses--despite everything that is going on; the thing that I’m not getting is defeatism. It’s more a sense of a bad storm is coming and you weather it. That is something that I take great faith in. You prepare for it, you do what you can, and you get through it.

I lived in Georgia for four years and I’ll take Michigan winter to Georgia summer any day. That was what was hardest: the seasons aren’t really defined. It’s like there is sort of fall, but not really, sort of winter but not really; they all just kind of blend together. They have summer and then less summer. I like all four seasons.

During my first year in college, they got half an inch of snow. It was like the Apocolypse: No one knows how to drive in snow. I shuttled people around because people didn’t know what to do.

We’re in the new century. There are men who remember what our fathers taught us. We look at the lives that our fathers and grandfathers had and we're wondering what the hell are we supposed to do? We understand that the world changed; but we’re not sure what that means for us. They're just trying to find their voice and find their footing. Be it unemployment, understanding your father or your son: there’s something everyone is fighting for in this play.

Something that really came through in the submissions--and the voice of that was very strong--was how important family is and how important work is. I would personally gravitate toward that even if it wasn’t there, but boy, was it there. I think it is especially strong in a place; like in a lot of places in the Midwest where work is so scarce and laziness equals death. Get it done. Get a job. It was Dennis who wrote the unemployment scene. I love that scene. I love that it is about—"Look, I would love to work with what I know, but at the end of the day, I just want to work." I love that. Dennis is a brilliant writer. I love that he doesn’t say I “need” to work. He says I "want" to work. The need is obvious; but what is more interesting is the want.

With so many of these hunters, it’s not them against nature. It’s the exact opposite. It’s wanting to be a part of nature. It’s so easy to forget how massive Michigan is as a state. It’s gigantic. It takes as much time to get the U.P. as it does to drive from here to Georgia. So much of the state is natural beauty and forest and rivers and lakes. It’s one of the reasons I keep moving back here. It's just breathtaking. I can’t tell you how many actors I know have gone off to the big cities and keep coming back here.

Rothschild's Second Son Solomon

2009-06-02T01:19:00.003-04:00

The Rothschilds opens at Riverwalk this Thursday. It will be my son's first musical and I've been splitting child wrangling duties with my husband this past week so that one of us is always there for him backstage. It's been impressive to see the incredible scope of this musical. To throw out a statistic for you--there are more than 300 props in this show, all period props.

I spent some time talking with the director today about the show and we digressed into the history of the play. It got me curious about the character my son plays and what his life went on to be. Here's what I found:

Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was born September 9, 1774 and died uly 28, 1855. When Mayer sent the boys out, he was sent to Vienna where he was instrumental in establishing the finances of the Austrian empire. When he was 26, he married Caroline Stern and the two of them had two children, a boy and a girl. His eldest son, Anselm, married his cousin--Nathan's daughter. His daughter, Betty, married her uncle James (who is called Jacob in the play).

In Vienna, Salomon founded S M von Rothschild, a business that helpd finance Austria's first steam railway. In 1822, he was made a part of the Austrian nobility, being given the hereditary title of Baron. However, it wasn't until 1843 that he was given honorary Austrian citizenship--the first Jew to receive that honor.

Salomon invested much of his money in art and antiquities, though he also gave large amounts of money to charities. He became interested in engineering and foundries. He, like his brothers, was also interested in gold mines.

Salomon also became somewhat of the family's historian. He first began to gather family documents into an index that would record the history of their accomplishments. This index became known as Salomon's Archive. He saved letters to his brothers in which he reminisced on when the five of them lived in a single attic room in the ghetto. Salomon's archive contains the original court document naming Mayer as a court agent of Hesse in 1769.

It was also Salomon who hired Moritz Oppenheim to paint significant events in the Rothschilds' lives.

After handing the banking firm over to his son, he retired in Paris. When he died in 1855, some of his art works were donated to the Louvre.

S M von Rothschild stayed in the family for four generations. From 1911 to 1939, Louis Nathaniel von Rothschild was its president. When there was the financial crash of 1929, he personally shored up Austria's largest bank to prevent financial collapse. His fortunes soured when Nazi Germany took over Austria in 1938. His brothers Alphonse and Eugene escaped, but Louis was arrested for being Jewish. Louis was held in prison for a year. It was only when his family paid a large ransom that he was released. He was stripped of his Austrian citizenship and had to leave the country empty-handed. In 1939, the Nazis took over the banking firm and then sold it to the German private bank of Merck, Finck, & Co.

The Nazis had confiscated all of the papers and archives of the bank--including Solomon's Archive. Those papers made their way to Germany until 1945 when the Red Army found them and took all of the archives they found (50 rail cars full) to Moscow. They were maintained by the secret police and the West didn't find out about them until the 1990s. It wasn't until 2001 that what was left of the archives were returned to the Rothschild families. In return, the Rothschild families gave Russia a collection of letters of Tsar Alexander II and Princess Yuryevskaya.

A quote of Soloman's:
We are like the mechanism of a watch: each part is essential" ... Solomon von Rothschild, 1818.

I will also say that I found some pretty disgusting Websites created by conspiracy theorists. These are sites that are filled with seething hatred toward the Rothschilds and toward those of Jewish heritage. One goes so far as to say that the Rothschilds have reptilian blood and that Salomon impregnated an innocent maid in his house--a maid who went home and gave birth to Hitler's father.

It is sites like that which underscore Director Jane Falion's comment that we are still fighting the prejudices that are illuminated in this musical. There are still those in the world who will rail against those who have risen out of oppression and try to help others who are oppressed. There are still those whose lives are so small that they have no room for anything but hatred.

Good Night, Desdemona

2009-05-31T16:30:00.001-04:00

As I was going through some old book reviews, I found a review I wrote of the script, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning, Juliet.

It might be of interest to those of you thinking about going to see the play when Riverwalk does it this summer. Here's the link.

What did I think of the show?

2009-05-26T15:17:00.004-04:00

Ask a theater reviewer, and you'll find there are few questions he or she hates getting asked in the lobby more than that one. You'd think we'd enjoy it given that what we do is to write about the show. I think there are a couple reasons we hate that question--or since I shouldn't speak for all my colleagues, reasons why I hate that question:

Politeness. It may seem like some of us relish in making people feel awful, but really, we are quite human. Most of us do still believe in the social contract and the need to abide by it. We're also aware that our words are sometimes given more weight than those of the casual audience member--or at least that they are more likely to be picked apart.

Alan Alda wrote in one of his memoirs that the only proper thing to say to a performer immediately after a show is, "You were wonderful." You could extend that to anyone involved in the show (director, producer, crew member, etc.): "The show was wonderful."

As critics, we're supposed to be held to a certain standard of honesty, else there is no point in doing what we do. So to have to give the polite response sets up an immediate trap.

Time. Perhaps an even bigger reason for me has to do with how I watch shows. When I first started reviewing, I would immediately start critiquing the show, trying to figure out what I was going to say and trying to interpret things immediately as I watched it. Too often, though, that meant that I was working my way through a thought or a metaphor while there were still things going on on stage.

I had to learn to sit back and experience the show, fully aware and fully focused, without trying to think about it until it was over. While I am in the theater, my goal is to be open to what the actors, playwright(s), director, and technicians are trying to show me. I try to develop an attitude of receptiveness.

It is only after the show is over that I start to think about. I analyze what made me sit forward in my chair or at what points my attention wandered. I think about the story arc and whether the choices made on stage contributed to the story or detracted from it. I consider how the skills of the performers succeeded or were lacking.

However, if you catch me in the lobby, I haven't had time to do that thinking yet. I could tell you what I feel about the show, but not what I think. I need the time after the show--and sometimes with the person that I saw the show with so that we can both talk about what our responses were--to think, evaluate, and ponder.

To give an opinion in the lobby right after a show is over is to short-change the show by committing too early. It is unfair to those who put all the work into creating the production to make a summary judgment two minutes after seeing it.

It's one of the reasons I like going out after a show--because I do enjoy the discussions that engage specifics in the show without the pressure of having to give it a thumbs up/thumbs down or a number of stars.

So please, if you see me in the lobby and do ask that dreaded question, forgive me if I change the subject and don't jump to the conclusion it was because I didn't like the show.

Rothschilds: The pursuit of wealth

2009-05-23T00:24:00.003-04:00

There is a beautiful number in the first act of The Rothschilds between Mayer and Gutele before they are married. Gutele sings about how she needs very little and Mayer insists that she will have more than a little.

Gutele talks about how all she really wants is a single room--a place to be with him and a few other items. She then says, "It sounds like so little. It's not." It's a sentiment that is easy for me to relate to. It comes down to what is important in life. It isn't the accumulation of goods or the creation of wealth that matters. It is spending life with those you love and being a part of a community.

Given my empathy with Gutele, it surprised me that I was equally touched by why Mayer replied that it wasn't enough. His response:

"I've seen our neighbors' wives, how quickly they grow old when the children coe. In one room, a dozen hungry mouths and not enough to fill even one of htem. To settle for little, for most wives, that's fine. I cannot accept it for mine. My wife will never have to see apologetic looks in her husband's eyes. My wife will have as good a life as my will and my bran can devise."

Later in the play, the accumulation of wealth becomes the means by which they plan to knock down the ghetto walls and end the mistreatment of their people.

Perhaps the key factor is that wealth becomes a means to end, not an end in itself. In this musical, wealth is sought for the sake of making better the lives of those whom they love--which also means sacrificing everything if it is necessary to get to the real end.

One other note...

2009-05-20T14:30:00.002-04:00

Has anyone else noticed that the area seems to cycle through playwrights? For awhile everyone was doing George Bernard Shaw. Now the playwright appears to be Lanford Wilson.

Catching up

2009-05-20T14:11:00.004-04:00

I've been absent too long--and I thank those kind folks who wrote to inquire after my health.

Given the economic times we are in, I am not going to complain about an abundance of work. Rather, I'll just say that it is that abundance which has kept me from here. I'm doing a lot of writing these days and have spent what little free time I've had with family.

But a couple of random theater things I would have loved to work up into full blog entries (and maybe still will--but no promises):

My favorite number in Fiddler on the Roof remains "Do You Love Me?". While the plot seems to revolve around the daughters and their marriages, it is the love story of Golde and Tevye that has always struck me as the central story. Perhaps it is because there are relatively few musicals that focus on longstanding, solid marriages. When I was in high school, someone asked me to define what I thought marital love would be. I referred to the song "Do You Love Me?" My friend took that to mean that I thought doing dishes and housework for someone was true love (in which case Richard would have reason to worry!). But that wasn't it. To me, the song captured the ideal that a couple doesn't "feel" in love, they choose to learn to love. Then they stick with it for the rest of their lives, experiencing the ups and downs together regardless of how they might feel at any given moment. When you choose to love, the next step is choosing to be happy. Both are an incredibly freeing thing--to realize that you have the choice and it isn't simply happenstance or coincidence.
Seeing "The Glass Menagerie" on Mother's Day was a real treat. I loved the subtleties in this production.
Dominic is in "The Rothschilds" at Riverwalk. It's not a musical I'd heard of before this year, but I've been having fun singing the songs with Dom at home. They're really quite catchy. I've also been impressed with Jane Falion and her ability to stay calm while surrounded by a huge cast.
I can't wait to see "Goodnight Desdemona, Good morning Juliet" again--this time from the audience. It is one of my favorite scripts of all time.
I had some fun interviews over the past week with three women who were from Lansing but who are now all three performing in various Broadway shows in New York. I'll post a link to that article when it runs.
For those who have asked--yes, there will be Thespie Awards this year. We're waiting until after everything in the regular season has opened.

See you at the theater!

Calendar Quote of the Day

2009-04-03T11:11:00.002-04:00

At a friend's baby shower last year I received one of those quote a day tear-off calendars called "Wild Words from Wild Women."

Today's quote:

Science prolongs life. To consist of what--eating, drinking, and sleeping? What is the good of living longer if it is only a matter of satisfying the requirements that sustain life? All this is nothing without the charm of art.
--Sarah Bernhardt, nineteenth-century stage star

Part II: Integrating Arts Funding into Economic Stimulus

2009-03-31T18:42:00.004-04:00

I sometimes wonder what that amorphous "public" thinks of when they hear the phrase "arts funding." Do they think of it as money that goes exclusively to paying artists, buying paint, building sets, stitching costumes, framing work, setting up exhibits, etc.? Is it purely the front-of-the-house performance/exhibit aspect that is considered? Or worse yet, do they see public art money as supporting the leisure time of the elite or merely an extra that makes things "look pretty"?

I ask because I think if we looked at arts funding in a broader manner, the public might not only understand it better, but be more willing to get behind it.

While working on a story last December, I spoke with BoarsHead's Artistic Director Kristine Thatcher about how the arts survive during tough economic times. She pointed out that during the Great Depression, some of America's best plays were written and performed. "It is balm for the soul. It brings comfort and hope. You get together live and in person and share an experience. That's why theater exists--to examine who we are and who we want to be. We do that by looking at all of our stories."

Art has far more to contribute to an economic recovery than just escapism and the stimulation of creative thought (though both of those elements are quite important). Art can play a role in such areas as infrastructure, housing, and urban redevelopment--particularly the latter. That's not even touching upon the crucial role that arts play in education--a role that has been bolstered by study after study. (One of these days, I'll compile links to all the different stories and studies about how art in education improves literacy, reduces recidivism, creates more responsible citizens, and reduces racism.)

Leslie Donaldson, executive director of the Greater Lansing Arts Council, talked in an interview last year about how businesses are starting to realize the value of artists and the need for them in their work. She said:

In fact, a lot of reports have come out fairly recently on the importance of having an arts degree or a master of fine arts degree when you are in ithe business field. A lot of employers actually seek people who have arts backgrorusnds because when they are put in difficult situaions they want people who can be creative in approaching whatever issues might be in front of them.

Not only is it important for our soul in difficult times; it is important as a way to learn how to problem solve and be creative in our every day life.

Infrastructure

About a month ago, Richard Florida wrote an excellent article about the type of infrastructure that we need to be stimulating if we're going to survive. Let me share an excerpt (bold is mine) while encouraging you to go read the whole thing:

However, the facts are that the locus of economic growth has shifted dramatically and a stimulus that focuses on traditional infrastructure cannot succeed. What drives the economy today is not the old mix of highways and single-family homes but new, idea-driven industries. They range from software, communication devices and biotechnologies to culture and entertainment - and importantly the convergence of the two.
The familiar kind of stimulus - the "shovel-ready" kind that built highways and roads, and worked so well during the Great Depression and its aftermath - worked precisely because it didn't stimulate that period's aging agriculture economy. Instead, it accelerated the transition to a new economy based on housing, autos and all the products of the industrial assembly line, from refrigerators and washing machines to air conditioners and television sets.

The Keynes-derived notion of pouring money into public works built the roads and infrastructure that spurred postwar demand and primed North America for postwar global economic dominance, because the consumption embedded in our suburban way of life stimulated just the right kind of industrial production.

But eventually the system got out of whack. The housing and credit bubbles of the past decade ultimately biased and distorted our economy, channelling money and investment toward older industries, real estate and construction and away from more productive, innovative and creative ones.

For a stimulus to work today it has to stimulate the emerging creative economy, the engines of regional economic growth and higher incomes across Canada and the U.S.

Wonderful stuff there with a great historical perspective: the FDR New Deal worked because it moved us forward into a new economy. We now need to think carefully about whether we are trying to hold on to yesterday or whether we are forging a new economy, one that will make us productive in the future. Arts by their very nature are involved in the process of creation. We need the arts to help us create a new economy in which communication, technology, and creation are key players.

Housing

Some of the more exciting initiatives I've read about lately are the arts housing communities that are forming. They're still in the early stages and will have a lot to learn before they can be successful, but they're experimenting and taking the necessary risks.

The Jackson Arts Armory Project is one such undertaking. It creates housing and community where artists can live and create, incorporating studios into their living spaces.

The housing industry long ago figured out that they had to provide more than just walls and a roof to convince people to buy. They needed to create communities--whether gated or open--that gave people a reason to live in a particular place. They did this with suburbs and golf course and (more recently) spas. Art has always been about building connections and community.

Urban Redevelopment

It's easy to think about arts in such simple terms as creating murals in downtrodden neighborhoods--and those are wonderful, but the arts can go further in making a community somewhere that people want to live and where businesses want to invest. They help to give a voice to the people living in the community and to express how they want to live and what their concerns are.

Let me quote Kristine again, though this time from an interview more than a year ago:

If you can say one thing about the non-profit world, it is this: we’re big on ideas, short on cash. But it shouldn’t be that way. The not-for-profit world was created to fill a dire need in our communities. It doesn’t reflect commerce or regulations as do our businesses and our governments.

Both business and government can do precious little in terms of affecting social awareness and change. Non-profits exist to exalt the human soul, to rescue it when needed, to make life better, healthier, worth living. Hospitals, schools, churches, the Salvation Army, the Girl Scouts - that’s the work they do - they exist to change human experience for the better And by the way, the non-profits in this country are the country's largest employer.

We move forward together just a little bit to become a more decent and compassionate people. Theater does that whether we’re presenting serious drama or farce or light comedy. That’s why preserving the health of this organization is paramount. Lansing is a unique community - and this theater will reflect the life of this particular community.

If our urban areas are to survive, then they need to give people a reason to be there. They need culture--which is precisely where the arts come in. Think what could happen in Lansing or in any community if there were stimulus money available to build performance spaces, to construct outdoor arenas where the public can gather for concerts or performances, if studios were built to support the arts, to research the technologies of sound, light, and design.

Because I've already gotten too wordy in this blog (blog entries are supposed to be short, aren't they?), I'm going to post a few links to some urban development projects that incorporate art or artists:

Project where artists create a plan for unzoned land in consultation with residents.
Taking lessons in urban design from Thomas Kinkade's philosophy
A 60-page booklet published in 2003 on how the traditional arts can support and contribute to economic development. Part of its thesis is that there are three main arguments for why the fine arts should be a part of economic development: 1) Active cultural participation builds strong communities. 2) Strengthening cultural communities creates economic value. 3) The value created by cultural production can be harnessed for regional growth.
Seattle's efforts at creating affordable housing for working artists through targeted economic development.
Research abstract on cultural clusters and sustainable urban development.

Economic Recovery and the Arts

The Americans for the Arts went to Congress at the beginning of this year with several proposals for the role that arts could play in economic recovery. In their position statement, they wrote:

By investing in the arts, we're supporting an industry that is built on innovation and creativity, economic development, and the revitalization of America's communities and downtowns. When we increase investment in the arts, we are generating tax revenues, jobs, and a creativity-based 21st century competitive economy.

Some of their proposals included:

Artists be included in any unemployment and heath care benefits offered to part-time employees.
Boost arts projects in Community Development Block Grants. The "bricks & mortar" funding of the CDBG program is a primary government source for local arts instiutions of all disciplines. They called for $2 billion in funding for arts-specific projects to modernize, rehabilitate, and construct our nation's cultural facilities.
Provide economic recovery support to federal cultural agencies to increase current grantee projects. It encouraged the NEA to be able to allocate more money to formula grants that are administered through current local arts agency programs. This gets the money out to communities across the nation, disbursing local funding to all arts disciplines, employing artists and the cultural work force, and increasing access to the arts to leverage spending by audiences.
Include cultural planning through Economic Development Administration. Grants would help meet the increasing need for local cultural district planning and assisting municipalities with developing the creative economy in their communities.
Increase cultural facilities support in Rural Development Program.
Link Transportation Enhancements with state arts agencies so that they can contribute to transportation projects such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, historic preseration and public art projects.
Expand the services available to workers in the creative sector and through arts instutions that can provide professional development training to help workers find new skills.

The arts aren't just something that cater to the cultural elite or are a frivolous extra more concerned with outer beauty than real community. The arts are something that belong to everyone and can benefit every single citizen.

Balm in Gilead

2009-03-30T11:49:00.005-04:00

It's always a good night at the theater when I'm able to have some sort of epiphany or to learn something about myself and the world I live in. I had one of those nights Friday while at Lansing Community College's Balm in Gilead.

What I discovered was how very much my tastes in theater have changed over the past five years. Five years ago, I don't think I would have enjoyed Balm in Gilead much. I would have been bothered by the language and confused by the format. I would have wanted a show that was more conventional in its approach, spooning me softer food so that I could easily digest it.

That was five years ago.

On Friday, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the play, its presentation, and all of the experimental glory of Lanford Wilson's first work. The overlapping dialog and the multiple scenes provided the soundtrack for the actors who would only occasionally be given a solo moment to sing forth their part of the story. There was a cacophony that reinforced the chaos in each of the character's lives--a raucous rhythm that refused to be tamed into the melodic lines each of them longed for.

It made the quartet particularly potent, singing out their doo wops in the beginning with the New Yorkers rapt in attention, as if each still hoped that there could be such simple dreams expressed so clearly and easily. When that same quartet is later chased away, it is because their listeners have become more cynical, more hardened and are no longer pinning their hopes to a technicolor dream in button-down collars framing clean-shaven baby faces.

Balm in Gilead was a thoughtfully done play with staging and choices that each spoke in its own way, inviting you to delve into each image with all the allure of a Picasso hanging on a gallery wall. Neither will spoon feed you, but both are crafted with incredible attention to detail and fine artistic achievement.

A thought on Macbeth

2009-03-20T11:37:00.003-04:00

I'm not in the least bit superstitious. I don't believe in horoscopes and have little use for much of the New Age philosophies.

That said, I don't speak the name of Macbeth in a performance space and have taught our son to do the same. I follow most of the superstitions of the theater, even though I don't truly believe that they will truly do harm.

While writing about Riverwalk's Macbeth today, I think I finally figured out why I do so. It's the tradition and ritual of theater. Traditions and rituals have value because they connect us to each other and give us a shared practice and a sense of history. They remind us of our stories and give us--however small--a piece of commonality.

No Time to Write

2009-02-25T14:05:00.004-05:00

But there has been a lot of awesome stuff going on around the community. Last weekend I saw Riverwalk's The Dead. It was a beautiful production and one I enjoyed far more than I thought I would given how much I dislike James Joyce. It was a slice of life speaking of loss, memories, and the richness of life.

Nor have I stopped thinking about Williamston's The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. It was a very well-done show that surprised me with how different it was from how I remembered reading it. It took me awhile to figure out why, but I think I finally did. When I read the script, I was a teenager. While my situation growing up was nothing like Tillie's, it was Tillie to whom I related the most. When in the silence of a reading experience, the voice that sounded the loudest was hers. She was the one whose story was being told. Now, 25 years later and sitting in a theater, the voice that was sounding the loudest was that of the woman who was screaming and spewing her toxic waste on all those around her. It became more of Beatrice's story and Tillie's ability to survive Beatrice.

You have one more weekend to capture either of those shows.

On Monday, I went to see Z at the Ruhala Performing Arts Center. I have far more to say on that show than a paragraph will allow, so I'm not even going to try unless I find more time.

Up next:

Tonight I'm headed to Wharton to see Spring Awakening. I've been completely entranced by the cast recording and can't wait to see the show.
Friday will be Tape at LCC
Saturday is Hedda Gabler at MSU

I was hoping to get Wappin Wharf and Brothers Grimm squeezed in there too, but right now it's not looking so good because of scheduling and my desperate need to get some freelance work done.

Before I continue...

2009-02-16T17:06:00.003-05:00

I would like to share with you a letter from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and a memo from Art Serve. Please, consider writing a letter or sending an email and expressing your opinion on this issue.

From the Arts Council:

Subject: MI ARTS & CULTURE IN CRISIS - UPDATE

An update from ArtServe Michigan. If you have not already, please help us take action by sending a letter to Governor Granholm!

ArtServe Michigan

MI ARTS & CULTURE IN CRISIS - UPDATE

Gov Recommends $1,000 Nonrefundable Grant Application Fee!

Not only does the Governor want to nearly zero-out arts and cultural grant funding in Michigan, but ArtServe has learned that she has also recommended increasing the nonrefundable grant application fee from $300 to $1,000. The Governor is essentially making it impossible for smaller organizations to apply for access to a small portion of this $1 million.

If you have not already sent an email through ArtServe's site...DON'T WAIT! Tell the Governor that these cuts are unacceptable!

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL GOVERNOR GRANHOLM!!!

Note: if the link does not work please copy and paste this into your web browser. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://capwiz.com%2Fartsusa%2Fmi%2Fissues%2Falert%2F%3Falertid%3D12673381

Talking points of local interest:

* The recommendation to nearly eliminate the budget for the arts is in direct opposition to the Governor’s efforts to attract and retain business investment, and talent as a part of restructuring Michigan and its economy. The cuts to the arts from $25.5 million in 2002 to last year’s $7.9 million to the proposed near elimination for 2010 demonstrates a continual disinvestment and contradicts the Governor’s messages to build Cool Cities, attract business investment, and retain talent.

* The arts employ a significant workforce, and purchase goods and services from local businesses in order to operate. Locally more than 500 direct jobs, and more than 1500 indirect jobs are at risk.

* The major festivals in Lansing and East Lansing alone draw 450,000, provide $13.5 million in regional economic impact, nearly 80 direct jobs, more than 400 indirect jobs.

* The arts attract attendees and visitors to our region. Those attendees purchase gas, meals, hotel stays, souvenirs, gifts, and other items from local businesses, providing more than $35 million in local economic impact. Purchases made by the arts and cultural sector together with its attendees positively impact our region with $51.5 million, and provide the state with $2.8 million in tax revenue.

* With the continual cuts to K-12 education, the nonprofit arts sector picks up the slack by working with school districts to provide positive, quality educational programming, and free opportunities for low income families and at-risk youth.

* Last year the MCACA served 17,000 clients. These clients hired 80,000 contracted artists. Overall, Michigan arts and cultural activities support more than 108,000 jobs in the state.

* Last year our state ranked last in its investment in the arts. In 36 hours we invest more in our prison system than we invest in the arts for an entire year.

* The arts employ people; people who must eat and provide food and shelter for their families. Without arts and cultural activities, the unemployment rate will escalate and the state will lose $811.2 million in personal income. In addition, 30,000 jobs in the state would not be retained.

* Arts and cultural opportunities in the greater Lansing define our region and improve quality of life. Without our festivals, events, cultural centers, theaters, galleries and arts educational offerings, what would our region look like?

Federal Stimulus - A Win for Arts and Culture Nationwide

On Friday, Americans for the Arts announced that we have successfully convinced Congress to leave in arts friendly aspects of the stimulus bill. The Conference Committee chose to insert $50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts as well as removing the Coburn Amendment language banning use of recovery funds for arts groups.

Thank you very much to all of you who sent in emails to our members of Congress. Good things happen when we come together to fight for what we believe in!
--------------------

From Art Serve:

Oops. I received permission from Mike Latvis to reprint the memo, but it is in pdf format which I can't cut and paste at the moment. I'll retype some of the highlights once I turn in the stories that are due today.

In the mean time, you can download the memo for yourself if you'd like here.

Part I: Articulating the Economic Impact of the Arts

2009-02-13T11:18:00.004-05:00

Since I committed to writing this series of posts on why the arts should be a part of an economic stimulus package, the issue has become even more urgent here in Michigan. Yesterday, Gov. Granholm announced (among other things) the zeroing out of all operational arts grants in the state. This is a move that will be devastating to arts organizations and cause major job losses around the state.

Because art is seen as affecting the quality of life and not the necessity of life, it is almost always the first item on the cutting board. It gets relegated to the status of pork barrel. Art is always asked to pay the price for the economic mismanagement of all other sectors. And it always does because artists don't require a profit to keep doing what they're doing. Unlike those who will shut their doors or ship jobs overseas if their profits aren't high enough, artists are going to keep practicing their art until they starve to death from it.

Cutting the Arts is Short-Sighted

What is sad is that cutting the arts results from a short-sightedness in not seeing how arts can play a role in economic recovery. And if our politicians are short-sighted, I'd say that even more blame has to fall on those of us who see the value of arts but have not articulated it in a language that can be understood outside our auditoriums, museums, concert halls, and stages.

It is not enough, as was written over at Theatre Ideas, for us to say, "but it's art--it's important." It is, but a lot of things are important--even critically important. The response from the artistic community can not be a self-absorbed one. It must be focused on what it can bring.

Speaking in Numbers

If we want to make a case for the importance of the arts, one of the cases that has to be made is an economic one--and one of numbers. While this study is starting to get a little dated, it is still an important one: In 2002, 3,000 non-profit arts organizations were surveyed and studied. These were the results from "Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences" (the bolding is mine):

According to the report, America's nonprofit arts industry generates:
$134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues.
The $134 billion total includes $53.2 billion in spending by arts organizations and $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences.
The $53.2 billion represents a 45 percent increase (from $36.8 billion) since 1992.
The $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences reflects an average of $22.87 per person in spending for hotels, restaurants, parking, souvenirs, refreshments, or other similar costs-with non-local attendees spending nearly twice as much as local attendees ($38.05 compared to $21.75).
The $134 billion in total economic activity has a significant national impact, generating the following: 4.85 million full-time equivalent jobs.
$89.4 billion in household income.
$6.6 billion in local government tax revenues.
$7.3 billion in state government tax revenues.
$10.5 billion in federal income tax revenues.

Americans for the Arts has published more recent data based on their ongoing research (and lest you worry about whether there is fuzzy math involved, the research does use Dun & Bradstreet data to map and report on arts-related businesses):

The $166.2 billion in total economic activity has a significant national impact, generating the following:
5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs
$104.2 billion in household income
$7.9 billion in local government tax revenues
$9.1 billion in state government tax revenues
$12.6 billion in federal income tax revenues

So if we're looking for measurable stimulus, let's start here. I find 5.7 million jobs to be both significant and measurable. The tax revenue generated from non-profits (and think about that one for a moment given that they are exempt from many forms of taxes) is pretty significant.

When we cut the arts, are we saying we don't need jobs? That we don't need tax revenue?

Non-Artists Benefit Economically from Vibrant Arts Organizations

There is another statistic that I'm still trying to find that has found a correlation between how much is spent in each community for every dollar spent on a ticket to an arts event. It is significant in that it is a measure of how much economic impact the arts has on its local community. For every dollar they bring in in ticket sales, far more money goes back into the community in lodging, meals, paint supplies, lumber, fabric, marketing, advertising, etc.

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the rise of the creative class. Businesses that are failing are those that have failed to innovate and respond to changes in the world. They've cut out research because there isn't an immediate contribution to the bottom line. They eliminate products that have low contribution margins even when those products have value. The arts have the ability to attract workers from the creative class in a way that high salaries won't.

It's Local

Arts spending is also more local than most other spending. When I write about theater, I'm not writing about theater that takes place in New York or London. I write about theater that is happening in my community--just as there are others like me writing about the theater and art that is taking place in their communities. Art doesn't belong to the big cities like Chicago or Washington D.C. (though those are the places where art is most likely to survive in the absence of ongoing funding). It belongs and is taking place in every city and town across the country.

The ironic thing about the Oklahoma senator's amendment to remove arts spending from the economic stimulus bill is that it will hurt small-town America far, far more than it will places like New York, L.A., or Chicago. It's the heartland that he's stuck a knife into, not the coasts where organizations are surviving on the strength of longstanding endowments.

More Research Is Needed

There has been great progress in the past ten years in quantifying the economic value of arts. But there is still a long way to go. There are many things that artists "think" or "feel" that arts benefits, but without the hard data, we'll continue to have people who think that the benefits of art are purely subjective and apply only to a small niche of the population.

I would love to see a study done on the correlation of property values and strong arts communities. We know that the arts can draw people to a community and gets them to stay. It builds bonds between people. When a community is attractive to people, that tends to have an effect on property values--however, I know of no hard data I could point to on that subject. Yet, it is measurable.

Yes, art is subjective. The need for it, though, and its benefits are something that can be measured and must be if it is going to survive.

Until I Return...

2009-02-11T12:43:00.003-05:00

...with my discussions, I would invite you to read this blog entry over at Theatre Ideas.

A quick excerpt:

The point I was trying to make about the arts in the stimulus package is not that the NEA funding ought to be removed from the bill, but rather that as artists we need stop seeing opposition to the arts as the sign of narrow-minded cretinism and instead form our arguments with some sort of historical awareness and sociological knowledge and, yes, understanding of opposing viewpoints. We have to learn from our total bungling of the NEA flap of the 1990s, during which artists couldn't marshal much more than sputtered "How dare you question us! We are artistes!"and a few airy generalities in defense of the arts in American society.

Continuing a Conversation

2009-02-11T10:28:00.002-05:00

While I try to respond to most comments immediately on my blog, sometimes there is a delay. This delay might be because of my other time commitments or it might be because I want to take the time to formulate a thoughtful response. Sometimes it is both.

Such is the case with a comment my dear brother-in-law left on my last blog entry. It's a comment that deserves far more than a quick thank you and reaction. He brings up several points that I think the arts community has been engaging and needs to continue to engage. So I'm very grateful that he left the comment and is giving me an opportunity to articulate further what I think are some very important points. However, so I don't over-weary my readers, I'll break up my response into three points in three separate blog postings. And because I'm under a lot of deadline pressure at the moment, I'll be stretching my response out over the rest of the week.

First, let me quote Ron's comment:

I know a lot of arts folks will disagree, but I'm not the least surprised this vote went this way. I doubt how much measurable stimulus the arts generate. I imagine that any measure of the benefit would be subjective and a topic of much heated debate.

The only lasting employment the gov't ever provides is bureaucracy and the military. Capitalism creates wealth. I guess my list of candidates for stimulus spending includes a lot of boring things like:

-Infrastructure support (repair of roads, bridges, water, electricity and gas distribution) because this will generate a lot of jobs and provide a lasting benefit to anyone and everyone who uses them. We rely on roads to transport everything we need These funds should also require at least a partial match in funding from the state. Construction can also be a crooked business, so oversight is indicated.
-Basic Transportation for people and goods, urban and rural, including buses and trains, because so many rely on these things to get about. Bus companies (for example) are privately owned, so matching funds, contractual commitments, and oversight must be required.
-Basic energy spending to shore up aging power generation and distribution, stiffen up the grid to avoid disastrous outages, and keep prices low.
-City spending to purchase and demolish abandoned housing, retail space, and manufacturing space, and generate replacements as needed. Lots of manpower (jobs) required.
-Directed, results-based manufacturing spending. This would require a lot of haggling, but I think (for example) that auto manufacturers would build an open-source vehicle perfect as affordable, reliable, basic, minimal, safe local transportation if that was the only way they'd get funding and if regulations were eased.
-Money to buy handguns to shoot and fund bounties on lawyers.

The arts? I think they should be market-driven and self-supporting, including philanthropic endowments. It's long been that way; composers, painters, and others have had patrons for ages. If your art sucks, it will not feed you and you'll change it. We should all support our local buskers, and we'd be wise to heed this advice:

If thou of fortune be bereft,
And in thy store there be but two left
Two loaves-sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
- James Terry White

Very well-reasoned and some excellent points. The three issues that I would like to respond to are:

Articulating the economic impact that arts have on our communities and the nation.
Integrating arts funding into such areas as infrastructure, housing, and urban redevelopment (along with the observation that perhaps if more people participated in the arts, we wouldn't have to shoot the lawyers because we'd be able to out-think the charlatans while rewarding those that make our legal system work)
Addressing capitalism and the need for a dual system of market and gift economies to make it work.

Stay tuned--and I'll try not to get dull or over-wordy. :) (The key word there is "try." Feel free to call me out on it if I do.)

I'd also welcome anyone else's participation in the conversation.

Frustrating News

2009-02-07T12:22:00.004-05:00

I've been following Art Serve's push to get arts and culture included in the economic stimulus plan. It's something I've been encouraged by because of the important role that the arts are able to play in a recovery on multiple levels. Yes, they provide jobs, they stimulate spending in local economies, they raise property values, and they encourage commitment to local communities. Just as importantly, the arts raise people's spirits, encourage the creativity necessary to overcome the problems that we are facing, provide a sense of historical perspective, foster tolerance and community building, and give people hope when they have little.

So this news that came out in an ArtServe alert today almost makes me want to cry:

As some of you have already heard, yesterday, the US Senate voted to adopt an amendment to the federal stimulus that would bar any stimulus money for arts and culture. Please read the message below from Americans for the Arts as well as our steps of action needed.

Just a few minutes ago, the U.S. Senate voted to accept, by a vote of 73-24, an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) which states, "None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project."

This amendment, which was supposedly intended to restrict objectionable spending in a few select federal infrastructure programs, will resulted in prohibiting any spending through the economic recovery in these areas. This is the first clear vote on the arts that has occured in the U.S. Senate since July 12, 2000. The Senate final bill passage is still unclear, although it is expected to take place later tonight. Next week they will have a House-Senate conference committee to agree to a final version for the President to sign.

If this is not taken out of the final bill the project submissions that were sent to Governor Granholm would be void. Senator Debbie Stabenow voted for this amendment and we need your help to get her to re-think her decision as she could be vital in getting this language taken out while the bill is in conference committee. Americans for the Arts has already crafted a letter for you which can be sent by visiting this website: http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12612041

Creativity as Service

2009-01-31T12:32:00.002-05:00

I've been working on a preview article this morning and came across this quote by Donald Byrd, the choreographer for The Color Purple. He's talking about creativity:

Look at it beyond the personal. That, in fact, what you are doing is like a service. If I have a gift, my job is to use that gift to open doors for other people so that they are able to have insight into our shared humanity.

Getting Covered

2009-01-22T17:42:00.002-05:00

While working on the Tiempo Libre story, I received an enormous press pack from their publicist. It was a fantastic collection of articles and interviews that gave me a wealth of background material. In it was an interview with their producer, Elizabeth Sobol, done by timba.com. It was a fascinating article for many reasons, but one of the paragraphs jumped out at me as being appropriate for any art form, not just music. Just replace "timba" with any other art form.

She said:

I see so much commentary on timba newsgroups about how timba isn't given any attention. There's even often the implication that there is some sort of cabal--political or otherwise--that is standing in the way of timba receiving its due recognition...Media is not going to cover a genre. They cover artists. And the artists have to have a compellign story to tell in order for it to be interesting to the media. They have to deserve the coverage. Thinkingthat you're the best is not a story. Getting media attention takes time, it takes lots of work, it takes investment. And, once an artist actually gets their initial media opportunities, they have to have an innate sense of how to itneract with the media, how to give interviews, not to mention basic things like arriving on time and following media schedules.

The last, and very important point on this subject, is that the music business is a business. People have to make money--the promoters, th erecord companies, the managers, the radio, and the TV stations--not to mention the musicians. That means that they have to sense that there is an audience out there interested in and willing to pay money for that music. I am always amazed at how much moaning goes on here in Miami about the music scene and how little attention is paid to timba, but when the night of the show rolls around, most of the timberos don't show up! It's not unlike complaining about the current situation in the WHite House and then not going out and voting on Election Day.

Art and the Inauguration

2009-01-20T13:00:00.002-05:00

This blog is not now nor ever will become a political platform. Yet, after watching the inauguration, I find I cannot let it go by without comment. Fear not, though, I shan’t stray far from the avowed subject of this blog.

I was struck while watching the inauguration by many things, but one thing in particular related to this blog’s topic: art.

It occurred to me that the ancient Greeks, from whom we derived the idea of democracy, might have looked with approval upon the inauguration.

The words were about change, about technology, and about moving forward into a new world. But they were delivered through ritual and celebrated with arts as ancient as memory. In a brief period, we heard the recitation of poetry, the presentation of a new instrumental composition by top-performing artists, the power of oratory, the lifting of voices in song—both solo and choral, and heard prayers lifted to the divine. This evening the event will be celebrated with more music and dancing.

Art is not dead—nor will it ever be so long as human beings have a soul. Art is the way that we express the divine in us. Without it, we have no language for hope, for peace, for dreams.

An education infused with the liberal arts is not a waste of time—it is a necessary part of a healthy soul. It is what allows us to talk to each other, to learn from the past, to be inspired, and to dream.

Art tells our stories and puts words to our dreams. It always has and neither the passage of years nor the changes in technology will alter that.

Riverwalk's Sherlock Holmes

2009-01-15T11:49:00.005-05:00

Whenever I write a column, it always feels like I'm leaving out more than I'm putting in. For the most part, this is a good thing. The longer something gets, the less likely people are to read it. It's somewhat like theater itself. No one minds sitting through a three-hour play if it is compelling and engaging for those entire three hours. However, it is difficult to keep up that sort of intensity for that long. So with writing. The longer something gets, the more likely it is that the writer is simply lacking in discipline. (And yes, I know how long many of my blog entries get--I'm preaching to the mirror here!)
This week it was particularly hard to choose what went into the column and what got left out. So many people in the arts community give fantastic interviews filled with eloquent insight into the work that they do. I often feel selfish knowing that I've hoarded those words and reduced them to a few quotes in a story.

So today I'm going to do as I've done before and take advantage of the freedom a blog provides and share some of my interview with Terry Jones, who is playing Watson in Riverwalk's Sherlock Holmes this weekend and next. The full story you can read here--or better yet, go buy today's paper and read it in the What's On section.

I asked Terry whether the Watson in this play was the bumbling figure that has often been portrayed in various productions of Holmes stories or whether his was the everyman who seems slow only in comparison to the brilliance of Holmes.

His response (to that question and several others):

More of the second. Looking at Holmes himself: he’s so brilliant and aloof. Watson is his only friend. He has lots of contacts and exposure. Everybody knows him, but no one hangs with him. His idea of a good time is to discuss deep things--not so much to discuss, because before he gets into a discussion, he’s already decided what the answer is. He wants to see how more far ahead he is in that subject. He’s not a fun guy to be around for the most part. Watson, being a doctor; is very intrigued by just the biology and how Holmes works. He knows Holmes is a unique subject. He knows he’ll never come across another subject like that.

Holmes, maybe not on a conscious level, has someone he can continually bounce thngs off. He likes to chide Watson; but he doesn’t treat him like he does anyone else. He can get mean, but he would never do that with Watson.

In this particular play, you see Holmes at his most tender. There are a couple of parts where he wants Watson to be sure he understands how much Holmes cares about him. He mentions a couple times that 'I would hate to get you harmed; if you want to go about your own business I wouldn’t think less of you'.

I had a friend years ago who gave me this theory on friendship. He said with very good friends, there is something you really admire about your friend. It’s easy to see what you would admire in Holmes: he’s brilliant, over-observant. What is it in Watson that Holmes sees? He's accomplished in his practice, easy-going. Watson puts up with him.
Watson has been with Holmes for so long--he’s still dumbfounded at times and in awe--but he’s picked up on how Holmes works. The buffoonnishness is kind of gone; that was earlier when he was still getting use to Holmes. There are times when Holmes surprises him, but other times he knows where Holmes is going and arrives at almost the same time. Watson is very much more comfortable with Holmes. He doesn’t have a hard time getting a jab in to Holmes too, nothing vicious, but nothing he would have attempted early on in the relationship. He likes to push buttons; before he wouldn’t have been able to do that at all.

It makes me giggle

2009-01-13T12:34:00.002-05:00

"It makes me giggle" is not a good reason to publish something. Which is why when I wrote about the dogs in Legally Blonde for the LSJ, I did not refer to the understudy dogs as "underdogs." Even though I really wanted to.

Quiet Weekends

2009-01-11T23:19:00.003-05:00

Given the amount of snow and the hazardous conditions of the road, it's probably good that there were relatively few shows taking place this weekend.

The one that I did go to see was lovely--it was a fund-raiser for Starlight Dinner Theater. They hosted "An Evening with Gershwin and Sondheim," with a quartet of singers: Emily English, Abigail English, Ben English, and John Delaney. All of them have incredible voices and it was especially thrilling to hear how closely matched all the voices of the Englishes were.

I was also amused that when I got back into my car, 91.7 was playing an evening of Gershwin music, so I listened to Rhapsody in Blue as I navigated the icy roads home.

Wherein lies my loyalty?

2009-01-07T13:48:00.003-05:00

Loyalty is something I've been thinking about a bit lately--specifically as it has to do with my writing both as a full-time writer and editor and as a professional freelancer. Sometimes the waters can get a bit clouded and it is important that I constantly make sure what I'm doing is ethical and appropriate.

Ethics of Freelancing

I recently struggled with the ethical question of whether freelancing for a newspaper that had cut many full-time staff positions was contributing to what I consider harmful to the community and to the paper itself. I have very strong feelings about the importance of arts coverage--anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows this. Arts coverage is important to the newspaper, to artists and arts organizations, to arts patrons, to the community, and (to get really philosophical) to the future.

It is the passion that I have for writing about the arts that has me freelancing for the Lansing State Journal at all. Newspapers don't exactly pay good rates for freelancers most of the time. It's not a way that you could make a living. It's why I will sometimes tell people that I consider the writing of my column to be my community service. I'm able to use what talents I have to support the artistic growth of our community. I write because I'm passionate about the community we have here and I believe that the more people who get involved in the community--whether as a participant or an audience member--the healthier of a community we are going to have in terms of economics, quality of life, safety, education, and interpersonal connections.

Priorities of a Freelancer

That said, no matter how passionate I am about the arts community, the harsh reality is that covering it is never going to be at the top of my list of priorities. At the top of the list are the needs of my family, which is going to mean pursuing work that keeps us housed, clothed, fed, and provides for my son's current and future education. Next on the list is going to be EI, the employer I have been with for 15 years. They are fantastic to work for and the writing I do for them and for the hospitality industry is interesting, challenging, and (hopefully) of benefit to people around the world. This is why a freelancer is never going to hold the same value to the community as a full-time arts reporter. Yes, I think that what I do provides a service to the community, but I never wanted to take the place of full-time arts writers who could truly cover the arts beat.

However, the stark reality is that my refusing to freelance wouldn't bring back a single full-time employee. The issues that newspapers are struggling with right now go far deeper than that. Nor would taking a stand by refusing to write benefit anyone--and it would end up hurting quite a few.

So there is one question of loyalty: What is my loyalty to the profession of arts writers and how do my actions impact that profession?

Another question of loyalty is whether my loyalty is to the newspaper first or the arts community first? I'd like to think that in most cases it is possible to be comfortably loyal to both. Yet there are times when the goals of the two can come into conflict.

What makes me a journalist?

I grew up in newsrooms as my father was a community editor who would frequently take my brother and I with him to work. I remember interviewing him about his work for a class project when I was in elementary school. As he explained to me why he was a journalist, I became star-struck with my own father. He passed on to me the value that journalism is about service--service to the community, to our country, and to individuals.

I started working on school newspapers in junior high and knew then that I would be a journalist. I took classes in it all through junior high and high school and eventually earned a bachelor's in journalism from MSU. By then, I was already working full time for the Journal (though I had to promise my editor that I would finish getting my degree).

Leaving the Journal to come to EI was one of the toughest things I ever did, even though I know now it was the right thing to do career-wise. However, a change in employment doesn't take the journalist out of a person. It remains my training and I retain many of the ideals that I grew up with.

I often think that the tension between the journalistic background and the love that I've developed for the arts community is a healthy thing because it forces me to evaluate what I do, to listen to what others are saying, and to stay constantly open to learning.

When I attended the arts journalism fellowship at USC a few years ago, I made friends with colleagues who shared the same struggles and brought a myriad of approaches to those issues. I saw that the types of things we struggle with here in Lansing are struggles found in communities all around the country. There is no lack of art in Flyover country, but there is a lack of coverage and awareness. The fellowship also made me aware of my own shortcomings and helped me identify areas that I need to pursue greater education. Sasha Anawelt, the director of the program (and an absolutely amazing woman), provided a lot of encouragement in this area, giving the wonderful advice that if I stay open to receive the art that I'm experiencing, then I'll find a fair way to write about it.

Now I've gone off on several tangents, when what I eventually wanted to get to was this: If I'm called upon to choose a loyalty, it actually won't be to either the Lansing State Journal or any individual arts organization in the community. Instead, it will be to my ideals; it will be to the necessity of both journalism and art for a healthy community.

Arts on a Budget

2009-01-02T10:36:00.005-05:00

I'm always sympathetic to the job of an editor. I know how very difficult it is to cut things for space and still have them sound elegant and to the point. I'm not a writer who will complain about being edited (well, maybe every so often, but I treat such complaints as a vice to be eradicated). That said, sometimes I write something that I really like and there simply isn't the space for it to be published.

It is during those times, that I like to take advantage of this blog space. Yesterday's story was one I really liked--and I thank the editor who worked on it for squeezing in as much as she was able to. Here was the first half of the story (and then you'll have to go to the LSJ site--or better yet, go buy a copy of yesterday's paper) to read the rest of it:

Arts on a Budget

When difficult economic times force people to make difficult choices, participation in the arts can seem like a luxury. Yet, traditionally, people turn to the arts in hard times in search of solace, community, hope, escape, and creative solutions to the problems that they face.

“It seems that in difficult times, people want a connection on a different level,” said Leslie Donaldson, executive director for the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. “A difficult and an emotional time allows us to reflect differently and I think the arts help us do that in a lot of different ways.”

BoarsHead’s Artistic Director Kristine Thatcher agrees, pointing out that during the Great Depression, some of America’s best plays were written and performed. “It is balm for the soul. It brings comfort and hope. You get together live and in person and share an experience. That’s why theater exists—to examine who we are and who we want to be. We do that by looking at all of our stories.”

“It’s definitely not just a luxury,” said Melissa Kaplan, Lansing Community College Performing Arts Coordinator. “Art keeps me happy. It keeps me hopeful. It is inspiring. Being hopeful and inspired helps you ride out the rough times. It helps you see how you might better manage those rough times. Sometimes it is just a great escape to get away and be transported by a performance, whether it is a story or a concert or a dance or in an art gallery.”

David Rayl, associate dean in Michigan State University’s College of Music and the director of the choral programs, points out that there is an intangible value for audience members in both the arts in general and specifically the performing arts.

“Art is something that can teach us about the human condition. The arts have the power to make life better, to transform people in some way,” Rail said. “Any activities that build community rather than tear down community; any activities that give (people) the opportunity to work together to create beauty instead of working separately to create chaos—there is a very real value to society.”

Communal experiences are something that have grown increasingly scarce in a society still in the early throes of its love affair with technology.

“We don’t have that many communal experiences because everything can come to us,” said Emily Sutton-Smith, development director for Williamston Theatre. “We don’t have to see our neighbors. No one is looking at each other. That kind of communal experience is essential to our cultural identity. If we lose that…”

“We become like Wall-E,” said Managing Director Chris Purchis, finishing Sutton-Smith’s sentence. “Everyone in their own little hovercraft in their own little television, not knowing there are other people around.”

No matter how convinced people are of the value of art, there is still the hard reality of ticket prices, parking fees, and gas. Members of the arts community have several suggestions for people who are on tight budgets.

Read more here.

Holiday meanderings

2008-12-20T12:42:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, primarily because I've been doing a lot of writing elsewhere. It certainly hasn't been because I haven't been seeing show or because I have nothing to say about theater.

Nutcracker and Holiday Music

This time of year is filled with events. Theater is about as busy as usual, but other things ramp up--choral concerts, dance concerts, and instrumental concerts. I've felt extremely blessed this year to be able to attend many events. As I wrote earlier, I saw the Nutcracker for the first time this year--and I've gotten to see it twice. Both productions were gorgeous and both were quite different from each other. It is impressive how much work and preparation goes into putting on a production that is made to look so effortless.

I was also able to attend the Home for the Holidays concert sponsored by the MSU College of Music. It was a delightful evening filled with performances by the Men's and Women's Glee Club, the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and the MSU Children's Choir.

Hymn and Carol
I also truly enjoyed BoarsHead's Christmas play. It was a quirky piece that brought together individualized scenes and beautiful singing It was reminiscent of a Christmas cantata. There were some complaints that the musical was too religious. It's a complaint I find a bit odd given that the topic was Christmas. It is, after all, a religious holiday. I would find it odd if I went to a play about Ramadan and found it to be secular. So why would we demand that a play about a Christian holiday be secular?

Religion has always been a topic that art treats upon. If we suddenly decide that religion belongs only in the churches, then we've invalidated a large percentage of art through the ages. Art should help us explore religious topics just as religion should encourage art. If the two aren't twin siblings, they are at least cousins. Art and religion both help us to explore the unknown, to examine the human soul, to determine what it means to be human. They also both challenge us to think about what we believe in and why. They offer us ideas that we may disagree with and challenge us to think about why we disagree.

So needless to say, it didn't bother me that the play had strong religious overtones or that it told the Christmas story. Whether you agree with it or not, it's still an amazing story.

A co-worker of mine attended the show the week before I did and he pointed out that while he enjoyed many of the sketches, he didn't feel that they tied together well. As we talked about the show, we kept mentioning the things that we liked--the satire of Harod's spin doctors, the detached power of Shariesse Hamilton's monologue about her dead child, the rapt expression of Mary (Lara Bidus) in the dress shop, and the amusing comic sketch about the prophets. When it came down to it, though, he said he thought that the parts added up to more than the sum. He liked all the pieces, but wasn't sure what he was left with when it was all put together.

Well, Christmas errands call, so this blog entry is going to end. If I can, I'll be back to write about some of the other shows I've seen including Starlight's Christmas Belles.

Request for Help

2008-12-12T16:25:00.003-05:00

I'm working on a story for the LSJ about how to keep the arts in your life during hard economic times--when your budget is tight and spare cash hard to come by.

I'd like to be able to interview someone who has been or is unemployed and continues to visit art galleries, attend concerts, go to shows, etc. If this describes you or someone you know, and if you (or the person you know) would be willing to be interviewed and to share tips on how to continue to have the arts in your life during hard economic times, could you please contact me? You can leave a comment on this blog or e-mail me at bredman.lsj@gmail.com

If anyone else has any suggestions or tips, those would also be welcome.

Have something to say?

2008-12-10T01:02:00.002-05:00

For those who would like to express an official opinion on the layoffs of the Lansing State Journal and the entire NOISE staff and what that is going to mean for arts coverage in the area, you might want to follow this link.

And here are the guidelines they provide:

Letters must be 175 words or fewer. Include address and telephone number for verification purposes only. Letters are subject to editing.

Letters to the editor, opinion and Viewpoints columns, and articles submitted to the State Journal may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.

Viewpoints: Do you wish to write a 500-word opinion on a topic of general interest? Send it to Derek Melot at dmelot@lsj.com.

Memory Jog

2008-12-09T14:53:00.002-05:00

I need a memory jog.

Someone once told me about a group of women who get together for lunch every week and talk about theater. Does anyone reading this blog know who any of those women might be?

Tribute to Mike Hughes

2008-12-04T10:26:00.002-05:00

The voice of arts and entertainment coverage in Lansing since 1974 has been, without question, Mike Hughes, the arts and entertainment writer for the Lansing State Journal. Nor could we claim him as simply our own. The articles he wrote on all angles of popular culture were picked up by wire services and run in newspapers around the nation. When I told arts writers from around the country that I freelanced for the Lansing State Journal, Mike was always the name they knew.

Yesterday, Gannett had another round of massive layoffs and Mike Hughes, their veteran reporter and a driven and prolific writer, was let go. Along with Mike, the staff of the NOISE was also let go as were others.

When I first arrived in the State Journal newsroom back in the early 90s, I was focused on news and was only vaguely aware of Mike. As a member of the copy desk, my work day started after his ended. But I knew who he was because his was the desk piled high with papers. I would learn over the years, it was because Mike's beat was pretty wide and his desk was full because his work load was tremendous.

After I left the LSJ and slowly became a part of the theater community, I became more and more aware of Mike as he was one of the few voices consistently covering the arts. His passion was obviously for television and movies, but he knew the theater community and was a constant and consistent voice for them.

He was also very enthusiastic about my writing a performing arts column and was always supportive. While Robin did most of the coordinating, Mike and I would talk occasionally about who would write about what and he was always a big advocate of groups getting more coverage. He has a very generous nature and even after 30 years remained curious and interested about local arts and art organizations.

Mike was also the chair of the Thespie Committee. More than that, it was his baby. He selected judges, determined the process, and was a living memory of every Thespie meeting. He was also our tie-breaker. It was during these meetings that I had the opportunity to meet Mike on a personal level and during which my respect for him grew.

Mike was not only one of the most productive and prolific local entertainment writers, but he was also the most upbeat. He is constantly cheerful, always has a smile, and could burst out with one of those great laughs that made you want to join him.

I know that arts and entertainment writers are being culled from newsrooms around the country. It's short-sighted on the part of corporate news companies who consistently prove how very out of touch they are with the next generation, which they seem to think are interested exclusively in beer and fashion.

I don't know what will happen with the arts coverage at the Lansing State Journal. What I do know is that the loss of Mike Hughes as their arts and entertainment reporter is a blow to the entire community.

Mike, I wish you well. It has been an honor to work with you and I hope to continue to see you around town.

Dance concerts

2008-12-02T23:25:00.002-05:00

For each of the past two Sunday afternoons, my family has gone to a dance production--both very different from each other and both equally rewarding.

Beyond the Borders

Two weeks ago, we attended the Habibi Dancer's Beyond the Borders concert which was a fundraiser for Riverwalk Theatre. They were one of the first outside groups to perform on Riverwalk's stage when they first opened, so the 50th anniversary committee wanted them to come back again for their celebratory year.

For that concert, Habibi and guest choreographers chose to stretch beyond some of their more traditional fare and to take risks with some more unusal dances. In each case, it paid off. There was a fantastic number in which a solo dancer came out with a picnic basket and proceeded to dance atop three glasses. It was an impressive feat made all the more enjoyable by the dancer's delightful stage presence in which she flirted with the audience and engaged in an entertaining storytelling dance style.

The troupe's artistic director also danced a fascinating number with a large, live snake. It was mesmerizing to watch and the snake never missed a step. ;)

As always, I was struck by the diversity of the Habibi dancers--diversity expressed in so many different ways. There were dancers of all ages, colors, and sizes and all of them were beautiful in their own way.

The Nutcracker

For many people, seeing the Nutcracker is an annual tradition. Many of the dancers I've interviewed over the years have said it wouldn't feel like the holidays to them if they weren't participating in The Nutcracker in some form or another.

Despite the multitude of shows that I attend each year and despite having a husband who loves the ballet and used to treat me on Valentine's Day with tickets, I had never actually seen the Nutcracker. Not until this past Sunday, that is.

On Sunday afternoon, our whole family headed off to the Wharton through the snow-bedecked skies to where the Children's Ballet Theatre was performing Tchaikovsky's classic ballet. It was an amazing experience and I was enchanted and moved. Indeed, there were points I was so swept away by the beauty of it all that I was moved to tears. Nor was I the only one in my family who had that experience.

Two Hours

Afterward, I found myself wondering what a different world we might have if everyone were able to experience live something of such breathtaking beauty for at least two hours every week. We often consider the arts as a luxurious expendable. Something "extra." Certainly that has been our civic policy.

Yet, few will argue against the benefits of art and research continues to show new benefits to art--whether it is that those who listen to classical music regularly live longer and have healthier hearts or whether it is that high school students who participate in a single school theatrical production are substantially less likely to be racist than their peers.

So as people continue to predict that the economic times are going to worsen, what can we do to keep arts alive in our lives? How can we make sure that as we meet our physical needs that we are also meeting our emotional and spiritual needs?

The arts enrich our lives. They are not, though, a luxury.

Random, semi-connected thoughts

2008-11-18T16:22:00.003-05:00

This week/weekend, I want to experience:

Mozart
Belly dancing
Health retreats
Shakespeare
Drumming
D&D
Singing
Sondheim
Figaro
Saxophone
Godspell
Elementary school dancers

And if I plan it right, I just might get to all of those things.

(And yes, I did cheat in that some of those bullets refer to more than one event.)

Power of a Good Director

2008-11-17T14:03:00.002-05:00

This weekend, I saw renewed evidence of the difference a good director can make in the performance of an actor.

There is a performer that I have seen multiple times over the years. She's quite skilled and is willing to take risks and be big. However, more often than not, her performances have annoyed me because no matter what the role she's had, she's always played it so that the focus was on her, regardless of the story. When there was a choice to be made, the choice was always made for the cheap laugh rather than for the more authentic storytelling that can have a deeper effect on the audience.

What I saw her perform this weekend was the best that I'd ever seen her do. She took all of her wealth of acting skills and talent and performed in a disciplined fashion. By cutting back and doing less, she put in a powerhouse, memorable performance.

Much of the credit for this goes to the actor herself, but I would also guess that one of the reasons she blossomed in this show was because she had the benefit of a very strong director, one who worked with her and helped her to perform as a part of the play rather than simply be amused by the bits and business that this creative performer was able to produce.

It is said that stage is an actor's medium whereas film is a director's medium. Perhaps so, but even on stage, directors are able to make incredible differences in individual performers when they are skilled at teaching and the actor is responsive to the direction.

The Early Girl (again)

2008-11-16T18:20:00.000-05:00

So,I've been thinking about the production of Caroline Kava's "The Early Girl" since I saw it on Monday.** And, yes, if you didn't take my advice to go see it, you're out of luck now because it ran for only two nights.

It's one of those interesting plays that you don't see done much. I find it curious that it is so rarely done given that it is a single-set show, is very well written, is a fascinating character study, and deals with issues of employment that many people can relate to.

If I had to speculate on why this show, written in 1986, is so rarely done, perhaps it is because people are uncomfortable with the idea that the work they do could be compared to the work done by prostitutes. Or perhaps it is because these prostitutes tend to defy the usual stereotypes. They aren't all tragic and they aren't all alike. They aren't all hardened and each of them have very distinct personalities. Nor are they all mass produced from the "prostitute with a heart of gold" mold.

There were several themes in the show, but the one I found most interesting was the exploration of why people stay in a job that is soulless, exhausting, and dangerous. The reasons were different for each of the five girls and the madam, but they were ones that are by no means restricted to the profession of prostitutes. One was addicted to shopping and material things, one thought she was in love with one of the customers, the other had a child to support, and the madam was intoxicated with the idea of success and glamor.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the play was how it did not deliver on the expectations that the audience has about a play set in a whorehouse. The types of drama and tragedy were very human and not the type of tragedy that we expect when sitting smugly in our respectable jobs. Rather, they were the same type of dramas and struggles that any worker in any type of position must deal with.

Because it was a dark night production, the second company had to work with the set of the mainstage show--which in this case was the basement apartment of "All Childish Things." Richard joked that it was going to be a play about the best little whorehouse on Tatooine. Thankfully, one pretty quickly looked past the set. The main challenge was something that Richard said he came to love--the fact that the only entrance was up and down a flight of stairs. While it made the play a very aerobic workout for the actresses, it also created in a dramatic, unspoken way the sense of how exhausting their work was. Yes, they tell you that they are servicing 37 johns in a night, but the constant pounding up and down the stairs reinforced it.

While there were solid performances put in from everyone, I was especially impressed with the honest performance put in by Lara Bidus. She was cynical, but not hardened; aggressive, but not harsh. She also portrayed a vulnerability that only occasionally slipped out.

Knowing that Meghan Nystrom was recovering from mono and was still struggling with nose and throat issues, made the strength and energy she put into her performance particularly impressive.

Nor could the madam have been played more perfectly and with more strength than what was done by Cassie Little. She could have given any corporate executive a run for their money when it came to personnel management techniques, competitive motivational manipulations, and strict control of time off, pay, personal calls, and workplace rules.

I enjoyed the play that night and would have liked to have seen it Election Night if I wasn't already booked for Frost/Nixon (which was also an excellent experience, but you can read about my views on that show here.) I do believe that the reason this show is not staged more often can be tied to the fact that it is simply too uncomfortable for most of us to find so much similarity between the choices we make in our workplace and the choices made by working girls.

**OK, when I first started writing this blog entry, it was still the week that the play ran. I've gotten a little behind in posting.

"All Childish Things" and "Leaving Iowa"

2008-11-06T16:40:00.003-05:00

This weekend is the final opportunity to catch both "All Childish Things" at BoarsHead and "Leaving Iowa" at Williamston. Both are shows well worth seeing. If you want to read some reviews on them, there have been several:

All Childish Things:

Ken Glickman's review in the Lansing State Journal
Don Calamia's review at Encore Michigan (scroll down a ways) (This is also the review in which I most frequently found myself nodding in agreement. Perhaps because we went on the same night.)
Len Kluge's review at the City Pulse
Jim Fordyce's review at Michigan Entertainment

Leaving Iowa

Kate O'Neill's review in the Lansing State Journal
Robert Bethune's review at Encore Michigan (scroll down)
Yana Levovna's review in the City Pulse
Jim Fordyce's review at Michigan Entertainment

So with links to all the reviews of my professional colleagues out of the way, I'm going to write a little about some of the things that struck me with each show.

All Childish Things

There was so much about this show to love. Yes, it helps that I was a child of the 70s and 80s and remember the thrill of these shows coming out. The four characters on stage are my contemporaries and it is easy to relate to them and to their passions (even though I never was a collector, believing that toys were for playing with).

I know I just compared the last BoarsHead show (Permanent Collection) to this musical, but bear with me as I do the same to this play. I was reminded (for a different reason) of Avenue
Q again, even though the what is a major theme in the musical is a secondary one in All Childish Things. In both productions, the characters are wondering what has happened to their lost idealism and whether there is anything but cynicism in their future.

All Childish Things is a very funny play, but it is also a very touching one. I was especially impressed how playwright Joseph Zettelmaier was able to use the Star Wars series on multiple levels. There was the overt, obvious way in which it was in all of the dialog, the plot, and the set. But there were also thematic and structural echoes with moments of predictability being used the same way they appeared in the films. It made for a brilliant script that was filled with secretive winks and invitations to listen even more closely.

I had a blast at the show. Yes, there was fine acting in it. Yes, Aral Gribble was at the top of his game and Jason Richards, Brian Thibault, Molly Thomas and Keith Allan Kalinowski also turned in excellent performances. Yes, the set was a perfect basement that brought smiles to geeks everywhere. But it was ultimately the fact that I was moved to feel hope and optimism, that I felt the playwright was able to reveal what mattered most in a materialistic and sometimes shallow world, that made the evening one I am grateful for. There were moments during the climax that made my eyes water because of how perfectly the play captured the importance of friendship, loyalty, and holding on to dreams.

Leaving Iowa

Leaving Iowa was in many ways in the same vein as All Childish Things. It was also one of those plays in which you are constantly laughing--until it is time to cry. Unlike the BoarsHead show, though, this is a show I would recommend taking the entire family to. Yes, there is some minor language, but it is relatively rare and is more than made up for by the delightful family themes and interactions throughout the play.

I suppose it had particular poignancy for us this year because of both my grandfather's and my father-in-law's deaths this past year. It was a short trip to the reminiscences of past family vacations and on the drive home from Williamston after seeing the show, our son was regaled with tales from both of his parents of what family car vacations were like. Richard talked about how organized his father was with the AAA triptychs and every portion of the trip planned out. He was part of a large family and they would often sprawl out in the back of the station wagon on longer trips (this was in the days before children wore seatbelts). I recollected how we called every round haystack a "Snuffleofagous" and how my brother loved to count overpasses--especially when I was trying to read.

It was the beauty of "Leaving Iowa" that it brought out memories and gave our family something to share beyond what was seen on the stage. And for days afterward, our son would burst out with one quote or other from the play.

For the actors playing the two children, John Lepard and Teri Clark Linden, it was a return to a show they had done years ago at Purple Rose. Linden very nearly stole the show, she was so very animated and delightful to watch. She easily had the role that was the most fun.

Another powerful aspect of the show was the relationship between the father (Hugh Maguire) and Don (Lepard). Rarely did they speak directly to one another, but there was a bond of love, guilt, and affection that was almost visible. In scenes where Lepard's character spoke to his father's ashes, Director Tony Caselli placed Maguire on stage, silently watching and actively listening. It created a powerful, compelling mood.

Like all Williamston shows, this one paid attention to detail. The set was sparse, but it was the sparseness that made it rich in the imagination of the audience and allowed for them to create multiple locations with only a few chairs.

Leaving Iowa is very definitely a feel-good show, the kind that reminds you that good family theater extends beyond fairy tales and musicals.

We interrupt this blog

2008-11-04T11:44:00.003-05:00

It's Election Day. Today is the day that each of us have our opportunity to help govern the country. Today is the day that we are called upon to perform our most important patriotic, civic duty. It is by going to the polling place and casting your vote that you earn the right to call yourself a citizen of the United States, a patriot.

I know there are many who feel that voting doesn't make a difference. There are those who say that because they don't like either candidate (even though you're voting for a long slate of candidates in many races), that they won't bother voting. There are those who believe it is all rigged and so their vote doesn't matter.

I would beg anyone who has fallen victim to cynicism to not become an object of cynicism. Don't be the disaffected, uncaring voter who is willing to let things go to hell in a handbasket because they "are going to anyway."

For more than 230 years, this country has led the way in peaceful changes of government. Be a part of that. There is no more important civic duty. There is no more important way to express your patriotism. You are the government of the United States of America. If you want your representatives to be good governors, then you must lead by example by showing up and casting your vote.

OK, lecture over.

I'll end with two thank yous:

Thank you to my employer who gave us two hours with pay off to go to the polls and vote.

Thank you to the Lansing School District for choosing today as a planning/professional development day. It let me take my son to the polls to wait in line and explain to him what voting was all about.

The Early Girl

2008-11-03T11:17:00.003-05:00

One of the reasons I insist that this blog is personal and not professional is so that I can write about things that would not be kosher to write about professionally--namely, those things which my husband is involved in. This is as it should be, because while I have the ability to be objective about my husband and his work (just ask him sometime what I tell him in private), I refuse to be objective about him in any public forum. He is, after all, my husband and as such, he gets nothing but my full support. If you ever want to hear anything negative about my husband's work (and I don't know why you would), you'll have to talk to someone other than me. (Indeed, be warned that I would be rather hostile to any attempts to engage me in a negative conversation about my husband. But I suppose that goes without saying, right?)

So, huge disclaimer out of the way...

Tonight and tomorrow the BoarsHead Second Company is performing "The Early Girl" by Caroline Kava. Lara Bidus chose this show about call girls in a whorehouse. It's a show that opened on stage the year I graduated starring Demi Moore, and I have to confess that I've felt a cringe here and there as it was referred to as a "period piece." I've barely adjusted to the 80s being "retro," much less the idea that a play set in 1983 counts as a "period" piece.

Richard is directing the show and cast members include Lara, Erin Clossen, Kristi Starnes, Kellie Stonebrook, Cassie Little, Meghan Nystrom, and Andrea Vesecky.

I've not seen even a minute of rehearsal (nor indeed, even met most most the cast). But I would encourage anyone (any adult, that is) who has a Monday night free--or who wants to escape the election madness Tuesday night (after you've voted of course!) to come enjoy this free show.

P.S. Because Dark Night productions take place on the set of the main stage show (and the current show is the excellent "All Childish Things"), Richard has been joking that the play takes place at the best little whorehouse on Tatooine.

Movies and Born Yesterday

2008-11-01T15:00:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, I went to see Born Yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the timing of it was perfect as it deals with issues that continue to be relevant today. It's a theme I wrote about this past week in my column.

On a slightly different theme, it got me thinking about comparisons that we make between things which we've seen. It will surprise no one reading this that I prefer live performances to movies. Watching Born Yesterday this weekend and Caberet the weekend before that reinforced one of the reasons I have that preference.

Theater invites us to believe that there is more than one right way of doing things. Every time we go to see a stage production of any show, it will be different from the time we saw it before, whereas every time we see the same movie, it will be the same.

One of the challenges that modern live theater has is that whenever they produce a show that has been made into a movie, the performers are going to be compared to their silver screen counterparts. Indeed, for many people, the movie becomes the standard to which the live performance is compared. I've many times heard a person say they didn't like an actor's performance and when you engage them on the reason why, it is because they weren't like the person who created that role for a movie version.

Is it that the movie performer is automatically better? Or is it simply that the movie version can be returned to repeatedly and it is always the same?

One of the appeals that theater holds for me is that it is different every time. I've seen many productions of Macbeth and I always look forward to another opportunity to see it because I know it will be done differently than the other times I've seen it. There is no one right way that Macbeth must be portrayed, or Lady Macbeth, or any of the other characters. It depends on the vision of the show, what theme the director wants to explore, and how the individual actor is choosing to create the character.

I believe that live theater by its nature invites us to be more open-minded and to accept and embrace diversity. Not all audience members accept the invitation, but it is there nonetheless. It is difficult for static electronic media to issue the same invitation.

Thoughts about reviews

2008-10-27T18:23:00.002-04:00

What makes a review a review?

I have very definite ideas about the topic, but they're not always in harmony with what gets used as common parlance. For example, I would argue that there is not a single blog entry in "Front Row at Lansing's Theaters" that qualifies as a review. I talk about shows and things that capture my interest, but I'm not reviewing any of them.

Likewise, I would argue that what gets published in the Lansing State Journal is a review, but not a critique. I would make the case that some of the blog entries that Don and I wrote earlier this year about Doubt qualify as critiques.

However, there are textbook definitions and then there are reader perceptions. I find more often than not when I talk to people that they interpret my blog entries to be reviews--even though I don't bring the same level of rigor to most blog entries that I do to a review.

Is it a losing battle? Do most readers make distinctions between theater talk, theater reviews, and theater critiques? Or is that something that is done only in the trade?

A Doll's House

2008-10-25T17:30:00.001-04:00

When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who loved Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." We studied it in both 10th and 12th grade and I remember writing multiple papers on it. He described the slamming door at the end of the play as the trumpet that sounded the beginning of modern drama.

While I had studied and read the play a great deal (albeit nearly two decades ago), I had never seen it performed live, the way it was intended to be. It was for this reason that I was very excited to see the show in Icarus Falling's season.

Ibsen resisted calling this play a feminist play and I think he had a point. If you call it a feminist play, then it is pretty dated in 2008. However, when it is looked upon as a play about relationships, about growing up, and about independence, the play continues to be relevant.

I was able to see the IF show on the Saturday of their opening weekend. The space they were performing in at Olivet was beautiful and the auditorium was a cozy, comfortable, intimate one.

The somewhat spartan set (though certainly more of a set than what IF usually mounts--there were actually painted flats) underscored that the Helmers had been experiencing hard times for a number of years, hard times that might finally be at an end now that Torvald Helmer has secured a new, prestigious position at the bank.

The relationship between Torvald (played by Mark Gmazel) and Nora (Amy Winchell) is one that is far more complicated than its contemporary audiences would have believed for the first two acts. They are in many ways conventional. Torvald is patriarchal, and Nora is the devoted wife who hides her strengths away from her husband to protect him from worry.

Ah, and I'm lapsing into essay/term paper writing mode, aren't I? It's a huge temptation with this show because there is so much meat to be chewed upon in it. It's also a play that requires a fair amount of analysis--or table work--for the actors who are performing it as they must be able to capture both the outward appearance of the character and the deeper, more complex motivations.

Perhaps also my biggest issue with this play is that Torvald is so unsympathetic. Part of that is due to our modern sensibilities. We rightly cringe at a husband treating a wife like a child. However, that is a role that Torvald chose out of duty and love and that Nora encouraged and was a complicit partner in. What makes her choice at the end so compelling is that she recognizes what society at that point doesn't--that the relationship has kept her a child and that she needs to grow up if she is truly going to have a relationship filled with wonder, respect, and love. In this production, and perhaps without changing the script it is impossible to do for modern audiences, the unhappiness in the relationship seemed entirely Torvald's fault.

The majority of the storytelling falls to Winchell and Gmazel. Winchell creates a Nora who is blissfully and obliviously happy. She is completely unaware of her affect on others and is sometimes cruel in her carelessness. She is a delightful child filled with childish joys, innocence, and fears. She rarely leaves the stage during the three-hour production and her energy is the main reason the show flows so well and does not feel like a three-hour show.

Gmazel created a very consistent character who sometimes edged too close to buffoonery. His voice and manner captured well the patriarchal husband who was desperately in love with the ideal of his wife while being oblivious to his wife's real needs and character.

I do wish that in the final conflict that Nora had been placed further upstage. I wanted to see Torvald through Nora's eyes and not simply look at Torvald's back as he berated her. That was the moment that revealed the relationship for what it was--and revealed Torvald's obsession with appearances. It felt like a disservice to the audience that Torvald was looking away from them.

Another disappointing aspect of the show was Adam Bright's Krogstad. While he did very well to keep him from being the melodramatic mustache-twirler with a black cloak, he also failed to be at all intimidating or worthy of the fear that others showed him.

However, all of these observations are part of what engaged me in the show. It was an evening I thoroughly enjoyed and I've continued thinking about aspects of the show since then. What made it a great night of theater was that it inspired so many things to discuss afterward.

While I must get this posted as it has sat in draft for more than a week, there is plenty more that could be written about. Michael Hays did a fine job as Dr. Rank and he provided some of the most compelling emotion in the show. Jordan (ah, and I must go find my program and come back and edit this entry to stick in her last name) did a lovely job as the bright, beloved daughter of the Helmers. The costumes were beautiful--especially the Tarantella dress.

But for now, dinner calls and if you read this soon, there are still two performances you can catch at Woldumar: one tonight at 8 p.m. and the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

Monday greeting

2008-10-21T00:57:00.003-04:00

Just stopping in to say hi. I have about half of a blog entry written about "A Doll's House" and then I want to write about some of the interesting things that Rob Roznowski did with Cabaret. I'll try to get at least one posted tomorrow and the other on Wednesday.

If you're going to be in town this weekend, you have lots of theatrical choices:

A Doll's House/Icarus Falling
Born Yesterday/Riverwalk
Under Milkwood/Riverwalk black box
Dracula/Lansing Civic Players
All Childish Things/BoarsHead
Leaving Iowa/Williamston

There are also several great concerts going on this weekend.

New poll

2008-10-15T17:36:00.001-04:00

I've added a new poll over in the right-hand column.

I'm also going to experiment with some of the lovely gadgets that Blogger is providing. However, I won't be doing that until after I've written about A Doll's House.

Saying hello

2008-10-08T11:11:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile since Sept. 21, so I'm stopping in just to post a hello.

There is a ton of theater going on right now. This past weekend I caught "Opal's Baby" at Starlight and "Dog Sees God" at Peppermint Creek. They were two vastly different shows--almost opposites. What I found encouraging was that both had large audience numbers. In fact, I think both of them sold to capacity. I know that PCTC had a waiting list and people standing outside hoping to get in. It was also encouraging in that the two crowds were very different. It was not the same audience going to both shows (which makes a lot of sense given how very different they were).

Personally, I find it encouraging that the Lansing area can support a diversity of theater that will appeal to different people and fill different needs.

Rumors

2008-09-21T12:33:00.002-04:00

I really wish I'd been able to get around to writing about the Lansing Civic Players' Rumors before today. Their final production begins in about 90 minutes and it is a show well worth seeing. It has the greatest depth of a show I've seen at LCP recently. Every single actor does a superior job and is a delight to watch.

The script itself isn't one of Neil Simon's cleanest endeavors, but it is still a lot of fun and is filled with sufficient satire to keep the audience laughing. Indeed, laughter was a frequent noise in the theater when I went last Sunday. The performances were crisp, clean, and quickly paced.

The set and costumes were also stunning.

I will try to get back to writing more about Rumors, but for now I need to get ready to go see Well at Michigan State University.

"Greater Tuna" at Ledges Playhouse

2008-09-19T13:34:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, I had the treat of watching Michael Hays and Terri Jones on stage at the Ledges Playhouse Theatre. It was amid the downpour of rain we were having and I fear the weather kept people from wanting to drive out to the park and make the long walk from the parking lot to see theater in a barn. At least, there were only a dozen of us in the theater--and I'm told that was twice what they had the next day.

Thankfully, the weather is promising to be much nicer this weekend, the type of weather that encourages a visit to a park as well as a show. This is good, because Greater Tuna is worth seeing. It's an entertaining, fun show with a heavy dose of satirical wit. It is almost the mirror image of BoarsHead's Permanent Collection. It too deals with racism, but Greater Tuna is purely a comedy while Permanent Collection is a drama. Greater Tuna also has a slightly more dated feel as we hope we live in a world where what is portrayed on stage can now be seen as quaint and unacceptable. Yes, there are still people in the world who are like those who inhabit Greater Tuna, but the optimistic among us hope that they no longer exist as an entire town.

Last Saturday was the first time I'd seen any of the three Tuna shows. It's easy to see why this show is considered an actor showcase. It definitely showcased the talents of both Hays and Jones. They created characters that you managed to care about even when they were at their most reprehensible. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that you wanted to see more of the characters even though the show was a goodly length.

There were issues inherent in the script that make pacing difficult. The play is set in small-town Texas and both Jones and Hays provided strong Texas accents for each of their characters. The drawl and mannerisms build in a certain amount of slowness and then it is necessary for the characters to make major costume changes in very short amounts of time. Sometimes it seemed as though having an additional person backstage (and I have no idea whether they had no one or ten people) to help with the costume changes might have helped the pace pick up a little.

It was impressive that despite the small audience size, both actors were able to create a chemistry between each other and the audience. I didn't see Michael and Terry up there. I saw the numerous characters and the distinct relationships between each of them. They both had a strong sense of what to play to the audience and what to play to each other.

Some of the funniest scenes came when they were playing the feminine half of the Tuna population. Granted, simply having a man come on stage in a dress invites a level of guffaws, but both Hays and Jones were able to create female characters that were funny in and of themselves, not simply because they were played by deep-voiced men.

Last week, I wrote about why the play's opening was delayed by a week. The fact that Terry still has minimal vision in one eye and spent most of this summer lying face down so his eye could heal made his performance particularly impressive. He gave no indication during his performance that his vision was impaired and never missed a step or a move.

Little Shop of Horrors

2008-09-16T22:50:00.002-04:00

Riverwalk opened their season this year with Little Shop of Horrors, which I went to see last Friday night. It easily had the largest audience of the shows I saw this weekend--with rain possibly keeping away some of the crowds at other locales.

I have an audio interview with Stephanie Banghart that I'm going to try to post later this week. I promised I would go through it first and take out anywhere that we got sidetracked into non-show related stuff. Stephanie was in the very first show that I ever acted in in this area--a show called To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday out at Bath Community Theatre Guild. She was still in high school then and I had just found out I was pregnant with my now 10-year-old son. She was wonderful to work with then, and I have to imagine that her cast has also discovered the joys of working with her.

One of the things that stood out the most about the show (other than the knock-your-socks-off voices of the two leads) was the great time that the audience was having. The energy created on stage rippled through the seats and everyone was audibly enjoying themselves. It's exciting to attend a show that goes from being a mere performance to creating an experience for everyone who was there. The musical was very much a two-way conversation between performers and audience members, the kind of thing that draws people to the theater and keeps them coming back.

Weekend shows

2008-09-15T13:34:00.002-04:00

I saw three shows this past weekend and all of them were enjoyable events that were time well spent. They included:

Little Shop of Horrors at Riverwalk
Greater Tuna at Ledges Playhouse
Rumors at Lansing Civic Players

They're all worth commenting on, so I'll work on making more entries this week.

Permanent Collection

2008-09-13T10:36:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday night I saw Permanent Collection at BoarsHead. My biggest disappointment with the show was how small the audience was. It was a show that was perfectly put together with fine acting and a great script. It's the kind of work that theater needs to be doing--the kind of work that fulfills the mission of theater at a very deep level.

Permanent Collection doesn't preach. It doesn't make trite statements about racism or spout conventional wisdom. Instead, it provides one of the more honest discussions about the topic that have been offered for a couple decades.

In his book Boom! Tom Brokaw says that since the upheaval of the 60s, our society has been unable to have an honest conversation about race. We have too many hot buttons that keep us from tackling the problem head-on in a meaningful way. We talk about race a lot, but we're stuck in unproductive conversations that are simply a teeter-totter of accusations and denials.

Avenue Q came through Wharton last year and had an absolutely brilliant book. One of the songs in it is "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." I couldn't help but think of the lyrics to that song while watching Permanent Collection. They sing the song in true muppet-style--upbeat, happy, and silly--while offering some extremely wise observations.

It left me wondering how different the outcome of the situation in Permanent Collection could have been if the character of Paul had been able to say to Sterling, "OK, I guess I am being racist. Help me to understand." and if Sterling had been able to respond without anger, arrogance, and smugness. What if both of them had been able to treat each other with compassion and respect and tackled the issue head-on rather than using the issue of racism as a further divider.

How would it change our conversations if we stopped arguing about whether we were or were not racist and instead said, "OK, what I'm doing is offensive. Let's work on it." and that people did not assume that because they were offended by something that the other person is automatically a bad, evil, or ignorant person?

I reviewed Permanent Collection for the Lansing State Journal here. This is one of those shows, though, where the discussion and interaction of it stretches far beyond a simple evaluation of performances and presentation. It's a show that asks a lot of questions and leaves it to the audience to work through them. It isn't educating or preaching, it's the start of a dialog that is important to all of us. In other words, it is theater at its finest.