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(03/09/04 4:20am)
Eight people have banded together to offer the humor-deprived a long-form sketch comedy group called The Odditys. Based at the Bloomington Playwright's Project, Odditys presented its first show at 11:30 p.m Friday night. After considering many of the other groups in town as either "just not funny" or including too many "ego-stroking" jokes, the group sought to create its own odd genre of humor.\nThe 45-minute show revolved around a central topic of "war and politics," but this main theme served as more of a suggestion than a fast rule. The group carefully managed to keep this topic from becoming too bogged down, but still tied the entire show together well.\nUnfortunately, the production suffered from a lack of experience among the performers. While many of the ideas behind the sketches held promise, the grouped lacked cohesiveness as well as timing. Some of the sketches could have been trimmed of excess material and a general smoothing out of transitions would have been much easier on the audience.\nThe group worked very well together and managed to present a nice balance between offensive throw-aways and clever twists. The group's three writers put forward some very good ideas for sketches and the performers all maintained a high level of energy throughout the show. \nIt takes an admirable amount of courage to step forward and take the risk of presenting something you believe in. These performers should be congratulated for being daring enough to fight for their cause and making such a bold stand.\nThe Artistic Director of the BPP, Richard Perez, helped support this group during its formation. He said he aided this group in its development because, "it's important to encourage people who are courageous to start new work."\nSuch new work is vital to communities and creates discussion and a continual redefining of our society. Once people stick with the safe comedy, it no longer retains its humor. Comedy should never be safe or routine.\nThis group will be very interesting to watch in the next few months as it learns and gains experience. It showed great potential during its first show and should improve greatly with practice.\nThe cast of all IU students includes seniors Kenny Dellinger, Ambur Lowenthal, Mike Mauloff, and Greg O'Neill; juniors Amy Backes and David Mickler; sophomore Jeremy Weston; and freshman Aaron Henze.\nTickets are $5 for the next show at 11:30 p.m. Friday, April 2 at the Bloomington Playwright's Project, 312 S. Washington St.
(10/27/03 5:14am)
George Pinney's cabaret-style production of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" opened Friday night to a standing ovation and lots of applause. This simple production began in an ambient nightclub and moved skillfully between light entertainment to serenading the audience to heavy emotional cries, all the while subconsciously injecting questions and observations on life's little quirks.\nThe presence of Brel shone through the production as the ensemble cast performed on a recreation of a cabaret theatre, where many of Brel's songs were originally sung. \nThe set was designed by MFA student Gordon Strain, complete with 'candle-lit' tables and a jazz band dressed in black and an appropriate beret. The intimate thrust stage served as a wonderful platform for the flexible dancing and careful choreography of the six cast members presenting Brel's songs and different aspects of his personality.\nThe expressive and evocative lighting design by MFA student Laura Dowling enhanced the simple and sincere direction of the production. The lighting shifted effortlessly from the minimal to the striking, depending on mood and subject of the song, and added the only necessary spectacle to such a clean production.\nThe performers, clad in the warm earth tones of MFA student Yuri Cataldo's costumes, appeared much like a '70s band of gypsy/hippie performers. They glided over the stage in a straightforward manner when necessary, but often correctly chose stillness for the heavier songs. The stillness in the air during many of the songs was nearly tangible. Not to say that the entire night was heavily dramatic or anything; humor danced among the peaceful and uncomplicated performance with a grin and a twinkle and even serenaded the audience at times.\nThe members of the ensemble cast, composed of Sachin Bhatt, Vanessa Brenchley, Zachary Frank, Tom Hershner, Belinda Quimby and Hannah Willman, each took on different aspects of Brel's character and covered the range of the material well, from entertaining to antagonizing to flirting all the while remaining open and sympathetic to the audience. They were so youthful and full of energy that I was a bit surprised that I was straining to hear the lyrics during the large numbers. Perhaps the sound levels on their microphones were not balanced just right, but I felt a bit robbed of hearing their sweet voices along with the staccato and rhythm of the infectious music.\nPinney's directing carefully balanced entertainment and truthfulness. The added dancers helped to make some of the songs much more visually connective while not obstructing the evolution of the original image. Especially interesting was the choreographed pantomime during the opening number, which evolved at certain points during the production. Pinney carefully used stillness to allow the audience to imaginatively participate in such heavy matters while adding some comic relief before the dramatics got too heavy-handed. While the production certainly was "cute in a stupid-ass way" in some instances, it still managed to sneak in some very effective and poignant thoughts on love, life, war and aging.\nThe production plays nightly at 8 p.m. through Nov. 1 in the Wells-Metz Theatre with a matinee at 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $17 for adults and $14 for students and seniors (Mon through Thu). Student rush tickets are also available for $10 cash and a student ID. For ticket information call 855-1103 or purchase tickets through Ticketmaster at 333-9955 or www.ticketmaster.com.
(10/24/03 5:46am)
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" is a bit of an anomaly among pieces for the stage. It is a musical, but it is also a revue in another sense, and a character study of one man's opinions and beliefs in another sense. \nThe production opens tonight at the at 8 p.m. and plays nightly through Nov. 1 except Sunday with matinees Saturdays at 2 p.m at the Wells-Metz Theatre. \nIn a show without a linear plot or discernible characters, one must ask: What is the focus of this 'musical'? The answer is ideas. The life of one Jacques Brel and his lyricism, translated from French, are presented in this production, originally created by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman. \nThese songs were "written to be sung in clubs and coffee houses in France and Belgium," said author Scott Miller. The show was originally written for four performers who sing, dance and portray Brel and his thoughts. Each of the 26 songs serves as a one-act musical on the struggle to survive, growing old, sex and war.\nThe inaugural off-Broadway production opened in 1968 and ran for over 1800 performances for five years. \nBrel was born in Belgium in 1929, but lived in Paris most of his life until his death in 1978, twenty-five years ago.\n"Hopefully the audience will reevaluate the human condition and a person's place in society and their relationships with one anothe,r" said IU professor and Emmy Award-winning director/ choreographer George Pinney. \nHe believes "the songs' meanings can be revealed through dance," and has added two additional cast members to give a modern dance approach to the production. The production also includes a small orchestra composed of an electric keyboard, guitar,bass and drums. \n"I hope that in a university environment people would want to broaden their horizons," Pinney said. "An old theater rule states that 'an audience will accept any device or artifice in a production as long as it is introduced within the first 10 minutes.'" \nMusicals do not appeal to everyone, and many people might just write off musicals because of the conventions employed or personal taste. Many can accept the use of soliloquy in Shakespeare, yet using song as the language of musical theater is just too artificial? All art is artificial on some level; the difference comes in how open the audience is to the subject and presentation.\nBrel's lyrics read more like poetry than any other literary form with a great amount of imagery and specific structure. Words that normally would be stressed in a reading purposely lie on the off beats in his music and more than a third of the score is in variations on triple time. The audience must actively participate in this production to really receive the full depth of the production.\n"Theater, at its best, is always dangerous," said Hallie Flanagan, the former head of the Federal Theatre Project. \nBrel is definitely infused with cynicism, wicked satire and biting social commentary from the lyricist, yet centers on what it means to be human. So come prepared, ready to think, ready to be open and ready to use multiple senses at once.\nTickets are $17 for adults and $14 for students and seniors (Monday through Thursday). Student rush tickets are also available for $10 cash and a student ID. For ticket information call 855-1103, or purchase tickets through Ticketmaster at 333-9955 or www.ticketmaster.com.\n-- Contact staff writer Nikolas Priest at npriest@indiana.edu.
(10/13/03 4:20am)
The IU Theatre and Drama Department opened its season with a daring and slightly unconventional choice of Christopher Durang's "Betty's Summer Vacation," and the effect was everything one could expect from a satire. Those numerous manifestations of society's fixation on entertainment may have met their long-deserved match in this wacky and bizarre piece. Howard Jensen's production carefully treads the line between mocking our sensationalistic society and preaching about our moral corruption.\nSet designer Christopher Sinnott's quaint, pastel, seaside cottage seems almost too picturesque and lovely. The peaceful setting is only heightened by the warm, fuzzy lighting provided by C.C. Conn and the subtle, yet distinct costume design of Linda Pisano, which forms a charming image of modern American life waiting for corruption. The swarm of disruptive and oddball characters are released onto the set in bursts, as if introducing them all at once would put the audience into shock.\nGraduate student Allison Batty portrays a sweet, lovable Betty who just can't seem to make sense of the insanity going on around her. But she holds the voice of reason and a solid grounding for the audience to relate to, along with a powerful set of lungs to back her up in the tight spots. Junior Tenaya Hurst's Trudy ranges from incessant babbling all over the stage to a very pressurized silence as she battles with her traumatic experiences, past and present. \nGraduate student Jonathan Molitor presents a very wispy, intriguing Keith with a shell-shocked persona who is sweet in a puppy-dog-biting-your-ankles sort of way. Buck (junior Colin Donnell) asserts his presence onstage with a crude and commanding presence complete with overabundant hair and scratching; a more amiable sexist I've never met. Junior Mike Mauloff dances and flashes his way around the stage in such an engaging manner that we forget his Mr. Vanislaw is supposed to be a pervert. Freshman Codey Girten, senior Lauren McCarthy, and graduate student Scot Purkeypile also do a wonderfully antagonizing job, but to disclose anything else would ruin a very odd (and slightly disturbing) surprise. Of course, I couldn't forget the powerhouse that is graduate student Carmen Meyers playing Mrs. Siezmagraff as her MFA thesis role. Her whirlwind of energy and charisma nearly steals the show. All of her character's faults are quickly forgotten as she parades around the stage and excuses everything with a cheesy smile, a careless gesture and only the slightest reason.\nJensen's production carefully leads the audience through gut-busting laughter, gasps, chuckles, surprise, horror and painful silence. Several times in the production, the momentum halts for an uncomfortable tension-filled period to remind the audience of the actual severity of the subject matter before charging back into the ruckus. This distorted world allows the characters to exit the stage, but never from the plot, as no escape is possible from this twisted self-enclosed world. The impending insanity could have been heightened and more effective if the timing near the climax had been tightened up.\nWhile the play violates quite a few moral lines here and there with a large dose of profanity mixed in, the question arises as to how much of the production comes from everyday life and how much is exaggeration. This dark comedy emphasizes the characteristically hollow impression left by such entertainment, though these undermining ideas may not hit you until well after the laughter has died down. Even though the production may not be for the faint of heart, the underlying view on trends in modern entertainment brings up some interesting ideas about an audience's desire for entertainment.\n"Betty's Summer Vacation" runs nightly at 8 p.m. through Oct. 18. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors.
(10/10/03 6:36am)
What do you get when a young, normal woman; her chatty, emotionally scarred friend; a suspected killer who is a very sweet young man; a sexy, sexist pig; an overly happy flasher and the landlady who is oblivious to it all get together to live in a summer cottage on the beach?\nA new NBC sitcom? Nope. This is the premise for Christopher Durang's play, "Betty's Summer Vacation," set to open up the IU Theatre and Drama Center's season tonight.\nThe original production in 1999 at the Playwrights Horizons in New York city won four Obie Awards, the Village Voice's Off Broadway awards, for playwriting, directing, set design and acting.\nIn the author's notes on the play, Christopher Durang said he wrote the play "as a reaction to the glut of high-profile, gruesome and wildly personal court cases that seemed to capture the nation's consciousness on television."\nDurang, one of America's best known comedic playwrights, often uses a traditional form and satirizes it to make his point. In this case, Durang targets tabloid culture and sensationalist news stories. \n"('Betty's Vacation' is) a really good comedy, satirical as it is, that really hits something valid as our trashy culture," Director Howard Jensen said. "(We) have moved from the 50's 'let's not talk about it' rule to the 90's exposure of personal feelings on national television. (The play) has a very serious subject until you consider that the subject of sex, murder and mayhem is mainly what the American public wants to hear."\nSatirizing violence and many other anti-social behaviors in a play can cause troubling results if not handled properly.\n"There is a balance that has to be struck between making the play real so it is disturbing and … with finding the humor at these absurd situations," said Allison Batty, a second-year Master of Fine Arts acting student who plays the title role. "Some people will be offended no matter what we do because of the material ... in a way, as odd as it sounds, that is how we will know we were successful."\nDurang's play starts out the IU Department of Theatre and Drama's season with a bold choice of a new play and a mix of classic and new works to follow. Whether one considers reality TV entertainment or not, the play raises interesting questions as to the nature of society's entertainment fixation.\n"The audience will see how truly funny but also how truly horrible our obsession is with entertainment," Jensen said.\n"Betty's Summer Vacation" starts at 8 p.m. tonight through Oct. 18 except Sunday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors Monday through Thursday. Student rush tickets are available 30 minutes before each performance for students with a valid IU ID for $10 cash. For more ticket information call 855-1103 or you can purchase tickets through Ticketmaster at 333-9955 or www.ticketmaster.com.