Theatre – Page 3 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Robert LePage’s Hamlet without Words, Words, Words

Told through dance, LePage’s Hamlet is a thrill.

What a treat. Last night a group of us celebrated a friend’s birthday by attending the Robert LePage production of Hamlet. Billed as a Hamlet without words Le LePage collaborated with choreographer Guillaume Côté, who also danced the title role, to deliver a piece almost entirely as a ballet performed by a company of nine. It was an exquisite theatrical adventure.

With the exception of a few supertitles announcing character entrances for identification, the story unfolds and unfurls through dance, and Côté’s choreography was excellent throughout. Although, I felt the vocabulary he established for himself in the title role was not as strong or consistently surprising as it was for the rest of the ensemble. In and of itself surprising, because the entire story revolves around Hamlet’s surprising reactions to the events enfolding him.

The true standout in the company was Carleen Zouboules as Ophelia. Her descent into madness, her drowning, and the graveyard scene were the highlights among many in the production. The entire ensemble were excellent and each had standout moments of their own.

LePage always surprises and Chicago audience were lucky to have this US premiere here. Thrilled I got to see it. There’s a trailer linked below, although it seems to have a larger ensemble than the nine person version we saw last night.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

A Dream Cast Delivers a Dreamy Dream of Autumn by Jon Fosse

Exceptional performances highlight a magical evening with a magical play.

Fantastic! That’s the first, but not the last compliment I’ll issue to the remarkable cast of our staged reading of Jon Fosse’s play Dream of Autumn last night. Matt Keely, Thomasin Savaiano, Gabrielle Brite, Amy Stricker, and Kevin Grubb were each, and as an ensemble, gloriously fantastic. They deserve all the praise that came flying their way after the reading. Producers should hire them.

Dream of Autumn was presented as a part of this year’s International Voices Project festival. Each piece is given a one-night only reading after a limited rehearsal period (more on that later).

For those unfamiliar, the actors read from their scripts, but are expected to bring full life to the text. This group sure did. Dream is a tricky play, dwelling in the realm of magical realism, with time shifts, and in this story character shifts, that can turn on the edge of dime. In a full production there would be production elements to help the audience follow those shifts. In this very barebones reading style, with the actors sitting in chairs and reading from their scripts from behind music stands, those shifts were handled via the reading of stage directions and the acting choices made by each member of the cast. According to the audience during our post-performance talk back, every one followed each twist and turn.

We only had about six hours of rehearsal to prepare, and the cast took the direction that was given and ran with it, culminating in a very “in the moment” experience for themselves as well as the audience. This was the first time this cast had read the play start to finish, together, without stopping. It was also the first time I had heard it. You could feel the entire room caught in the moments of the play and the moments of performance, breathing as one.

Having directed a number of these staged readings I’ve seen similar quite a few times, but rarely as well and as thrilling as last night’s effort. I often maintain that one of the true tests of an actor’s mettle is watching them carry the day with little preparation, trusting their skill and instincts. This team certainly carried this play last night further than most.

My hat’s off to each of them. Job exceptionally well done.

All photos by Scott Dray.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. Check out the categories for this blog to read more about my theatre work.

Next Up: Dream of Autumn by Jon Fosse

My next gig onstage: Dream of Autumn by Jon Fosse

Monday night, November 18 at the International Voices Project we unveil a staged reading of Jon Fosse’s Dream of Autumn. Fosse won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2023 for his work.

Dream of Autumn was translated into English by Sarah Cameron Sunde. The piece features quite a tension filled family reunion gathering at a cemetery. That’s actually a mild description of this piece the takes some twists and turns with time along with a dip into the wild world of magical realism. I doubt you’ll ever look at a gravestone the same way again.

The staged reading is free, and The International Voices Project is an organization I’ve worked with for years and certainly one that deserves support for bringing voices from other countries to Chicago.

Come check us out.

Politics and Theatre: Demonstrators Wave Nazi Flags Outside Performance of Diary of Anne Frank

Like everything else the theatre and the arts are in for turbulent times ahead.

Most of my theatre professors earned their bones in the 1960’s. So it’s no suprise that one of my favorites once told us that “you aren’t doing real theatre unless someone shows up with guns to stop people buying tickets at the box office.” I’m not sure this was what he had in mind.

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A group of people showed up outside a community theatre performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in Livingston, Michigan waving Nazi flags. Obviously this upset the play goers and the play doers. Some were escorted to their cars following the performance. The demonstrators left the American Legion parking lot, where the play was being performed, after being told to by local police, but did exchange words with patrons across the street.

Here’s a quote from The Fowlerville Community Theatre via CNN:

The Fowlerville Community Theatre, which put on the production, said in a statement the play “centers on real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust” and added the cast and crew “endeavored to tell their story with as much realism as possible.”

“On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected,” the group said. “The presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding.”

“As a theatre, we want to make people feel and think. We hope by presenting Anne’s story, we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again.”

Something tells me theatres, and the arts in general, are in for more of this, and not just on topics that bring out anti-semitism, given how we’ve just turned this country upside down and inside out, revealing all the ugly that I think my professor genuinely thought that theatre and the arts should be protesting against and illuminating.

Of course the theatre and the artists have also shown throughout history that they can be important voices against ugliness and hatred as well even in times when they’ve been shut down and persecuted. Art and storytelling always finds a way.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Winning Night for The Lehman Trilogy

A winning team takes home awards for The Lehman Trilogy.

It was a big night for Playhouse on the Square and our production of The Lehman Trilogy in Memphis. Nominated for seven Ostrander Awards, an annual award celebrating excellence in theatre, we won four: Set Design, Leading Actor, Overall Production, and I was honored with an award as Director. POTS also took home a number of awards for other productions as well.

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We had a more than one blast getting the gang back together over the weekend before, during and after the awards event. Lots of reminiscing. Lots of fun. Lots of “we have to do this again” conversations. And we do.

On the big night, I can’t beign to describe how much joy I felt watching John Maness, Michael Gravois and Kevar Maffitt win the award for Leading Actor as a trio. These three gentlemen tackled a unique challenge and did indeed blend into one and it would have been impossible to single out one from another. It was a terrific way to acknowledge this unique collaboration.

All in all it was a great night for celebrating that rare achievement when you create an amazing piece of theatre and an amazing bond in one of those rare experiences that don’t come around that often and is more than just another show.

Bravos and Kudos to all!

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

From James Joyce to finger painting, some Apple spoiling, some Peter Falk, some politics and what will the LLMs spit out next?

“Every life is many days, day after day.” But Sundays are for reading. Here’s a mix of politics, tech, and culture into what I hope is a tasty smorgasbord of good writing and good reading. Also some good fun. Enjoy this edition of Sunday Morning Reading.

There aren’t many areas of interest I follow that don’t seem to be fraught with tension and turmoil these days. Apple, its technology and business practices, is certainly one of those. One of the best recent pieces I’ve read on how the tides of popular and populist opinion may be shifting against the folks in Cupertino is one written by Matt Birchler. Check out Is This The Slow Decline of Apple’s “Cult”?

This is a terrific read and a terrific piece of theatre and entertainment history. Wayne Lawson’s When Peter Falk Was My Roommate, and Theater Ruled NYC is a trip down a memory lane most of us probably never were aware of.

Joan Westenberg takes a look look at The Bruised Egos of the Intellectual Narcissists that want to populate our thoughts. Joan also takes a good look at Truth Social, Twitter and the Loneliest Reich.

David Todd McCarty thinks we should rekindle some of what we lost as we pass through the years and recommends borrowing a four-year-old to help us see the world through their eyes in Finger Painting Through Life.

On the politics front, Marc Elias is doing the work for us all in his legal efforts to secure voting rights and the all important counting and certifying of the vote. Best piece of political news I’ve heard this week is that Elias has joined the Harris campaign’s legal team. Check out The Fight To Certify Elections Has Already Begun. We can’t say we haven’t been warned.

Perhaps you remember when the Nord Stream Pipeline exploded earlier in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Bojan Pancevski gives us one helluva story in A Drunken Evening, A Rented Yacht: The Real Story of the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage.

It’s easy to think this tempest of a political moment we’re in is something that’s suddenly sprung upon us. Aaron Timms reminds us that it’s been brewing for awhile in The Decade That Mangled The American Right.

Artificial Intelligence may be losing some of its luster as its purveyors continue to lust after our data. For those who enjoy seeing this play out, Aaron Drapkin gives us AI Gone Wrong: A List of AI Errors, Mistakes and Failures. I wonder how the LLMs will incorporate Drapkin’s work and spit it back out.

If you don’t recognize the quote that begins this week’s Sunday Morning Reading, perhaps Natasha MH gives us a clue in her piece Reading James Joyce Ulysses Will Be Fun, They Said. Tackling Joyce may or may not be worse than a trip to the dentist, but you can risk being “embalmed in spice of words.”

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Sunday Morning Reading

On the road this weekend, but regardless here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

David Todd McCarty tells us that he felt the Earth move last weekend when Biden stepped away from his candidacy and endorsed Kamala Harris. He’s not the only one who felt the ground shifting under his feet.

Thomas Zimmer says Kamala Harris May Force A Reckoning. Here’s hoping she does and we do.

Joan Westenberg takes on the Macro-Morons with Micro-Vision. She’s talking about the VCs greedily bankrolling Trump. All I can say is at least they are being open about the destruction they hope to cause.

Politics is synonymous with lying. Actually for most living is synonymous with lying. Maria Popova dives into Lying In Politics by talking about Hannah Arendt On Deception, Self-Deception, and The Pyschology of Defactualizataion.

Perhaps you have, perhaps you haven’t heard of the Federal Theatre Project. Regardless you might not have heard of Martin Dies. Check out A Texas Congressman Wrote the Cuiture War Playbook When He Killed a 1930s Theater Program by Courtney Thomas. Yup, there’s nothing new under the sun.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

The Lehman Trilogy Diaries: Showered with Nominations In Awards Season

Great recognition for a wonderful team of theatre artists for a special production.

Well this is exciting news. Our production of The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis was nominated in seven categories for The Ostrander Awards. As always any recognition is more than appreciated, but when you have a special production with a special team it is even more special.

Nominated from our team include:

Iza Bateman for Props

J. David Galloway for Scenic Design

Rachel Lauren for Lighting Design

Joshua Crawford for Sound Design

Myself for Direction

Myself and our Stage Manager Emma White for Production

And in a terrific nod to the three amazing actors who carried the load, John Maness, Michael Gravois and Kevar Maffitt were nominated not as an ensemble but together as one Leading Actor in a play. That may not make much sense if you don’t know the show, but these three amazing talents literally became inseparable as one in creating the hundreds of characters that fill this challenging piece of theatre. I can’t think of a finer way to honor the incredible performances they gave and the amazing work it took to get there.

Kudos to all involved as well as all of the other nominees. Thanks to the Ostrander folks for the recognition and thanks to the great folks at Playhouse on the Square for the opportunity for us to tell this amazing story. We’ll find out if we won anything on August 26th.

Photo above by Sean Moore.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Ghostlight Is a Must See

One of the best films of the year.

Perhaps it’s because I’m an old theatre hand who knows all the tricks of the trade in what some consider the world’s second oldest profession. Perhaps it’s because I’m just an old guy trying to figure out the ups and downs of life. Either way, the film Ghostlight touched a nerve. It is one terrific story that uses the magic, hilarity, and hubris of making theatre to help tell an unerring tale of humans dealing with a grief so profound it can take your breath away, while breathing abundant life and delivering layers of complexity into a remarkably simple and well told story.

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Ghostlight is a tender and intimate independent film featuring a family dealing with their grief after the suicide of a son and brother. By accident, the struggling blue collar father stumbles into participating in a small town community theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. Eventually his family also folds into the production, while he stumbles further into playing Romeo.

It might sound like something out of the Mischief Theatre Company’s misadventures with the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and The Play That Goes Wrong, but this little backstage adventure takes a different tack to find its way into your heart.

The story takes its time unfolding and revealing its mysteries with great care and surprise. And the surprises are many. The cast is superb and the direction is sublime. Ghostlight is in limited distribution in art houses currently but deserves a wider audience, which I hope it finds once it begins to stream.

If you get the chance or can make one, this is one to see. I expect this to end up on many best of the year lists.

A couple of side notes: The three leads playing the family are a family in real life, adding yet another layer to this marvel. Also, as a Chicago theatre practitioner it was great to see so many Chicago faces in the ensemble all doing remarkable work.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading: Travel Day

Sunday Morning Reading is taking the week off as I depart Memphis and head back home to Chicago. A new Sunday Morning Reading will be back next week. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to read this Sunday morning, you might want to check out this excellent review of The Lehman Trilogy, the show I just directed at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. Sounds like we did it right, at least in this reviewer’s mind.

See you next Sunday.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.