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(04/12/10 3:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Project P: The Property Line Punch-Out” began in an old-time theater and ended in a modern backyard, with bodies dropping dead throughout the show. Last weekend at the John Waldron Arts Center in the Rose Firebay, Theatre of the People’s productions of “Aria da Capo” and “A Sandcastle in the Sky” told different stories of different times, but of similar problems with the same results.For the show, TOP combined the satiric stories of two shepherds who lose sight of their friendship and two neighbors who lose any chance for a peaceful suburban life.In “Aria da Capo,” shepherds get carried away with their roles when a game goes awry. The actors face tragic consequences, but not before getting a few laughs from the audience first. Next, “A Sandcastle in the Sky” displayed the antics of Jane and Joe as they fought for backyard space. The antics quickly turned to attacks, however, as the conflict spun out of control.Sarah Leaffer, a freshman at Bloomington High School South, said the plays were appropriately matched with each other.“I think it was really cool to put in a classic play and a new play together,” Leaffer said. “I think they all blended well together. ‘Aria da Capo’ was definitely funny. And for ‘Sandcastle in the Sky,’ David Nosko is a great director. I was pretty excited to watch the show, and I wasn’t disappointed.”Bloomington resident Barb Black said her favorite aspect of the show was the artistry behind it.“It was very imaginative and creative and funny,” Black said.As with all TOP shows, audience members could leave a feedback card after the performance so shows can improve over time. However, that feedback meant something more to the cast of “Sandcastle.” The play was written by Bloomington playwright Albert Powell, and TOP premiered it last weekend. In addition, the cast will perform the play again in August in an effort to get the play published.“In order to get a play published, you need to have three showings, so each of those three times we’ll improve it more and more,” co-director and sophomore Suzie Zimmermansaid.Fellow sophomoreand co-director Molly Rose said performances have been going well so far.“Opening night was good,” she said. “We had a good crowd, lots of friends and family, so there was very supportive energy, and it just made us feel really good about the material we were doing. A crowd always brings something different, so that’s always interesting to see what they find funny and things like that.”
(04/09/10 3:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Double features are long gone from the world of movie theaters, but this weekend Theatre of the People will bring the double feature back with something old and something new.TOP’s “Project P: The Property Line Punch-Out” features two satires — 15th-century-inspired “Aria da Capo” and “A Sandcastle in the Sky” by Bloomington playwright Albert Powell. Shows start at 8 p.m. Friday and continue April 10 and 15 to 17, with additional shows at 2 p.m. on April 10 and 17. Performances are at the John Waldon Arts Center Rose Firebay and tickets are $10. “Aria da Capo” follows four people, two “haves” and two “have nots” who clash when class issues and the fickleness of human nature turn them against each other. Co-Director Adam Bradley said he appreciates how the play deals with the human condition. “Given almost no prompting whatsoever, best friends will literally stab each other in the back, families would kill each other,” Bradley said. “Human beings are capable of the most animalistic tendencies and are also capable of the most beautiful love. Both are there all the time.” “A Sandcastle in the Sky” will premiere after “Aria da Capo.”In the play, Ms. Jane and Mr. Joe fight over the border between their two homes. They drag in more and more officials and bureaucrats to try to win until the fight is totally in the hands of the bureaucrats and they are totally helpless. Director, actor and senior Jared Miller said he wanted “Sandcastle” to have many meanings so it would be accessible to all audience members. “In my mind, I know what I’m thinking of when I approach this piece, and I know how it connects with me,” Miller said. “And I’m pretty sure it would be different from others though it’s the same thing. I think some people might read that message differently than others.” Patty Blanchfield, junior and co-director of “Aria da Capo,” said she is excited to see how audiences react to the double feature. “In ‘Aria da Capo’ and ‘Sandcastle in the Sky,’ there is a boundary that separates the characters. It’s not a real wall, but it creates disagreements and arguments and strife,” Blanchfield said. “I saw that parallel and I really liked it. So I’m really excited to see how these two plays complement each-- other.
(04/02/10 3:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Leg warmers, parachute pants and cut-off sweatshirts are back in style at the Bloomington Playwrights Project.The BPP is celebrating the good times of the 1980s with its “’80’s Shorts” show, which features six 10-minute plays about, or set in, the ’80s. The show opens at 8 p.m. Friday, with performances also at 8 p.m. April 3 and 8 through 10. There will also be a matinee at 2 p.m. April 4.Tickets are $18 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors.The six plays are chock-full of pop culture and political references. They feature everything from movie parodies to new-wave music and a nun who falls in love with an ice cream man, all in celebration of the BPP’s 30-year anniversary.“The reason why the theater has chosen to do something about the ’80s is because this is the 30th year the BPP has been in existence,” said Director Holly Holbrook. “It’s the 30th anniversary of the theater, and the ’80s was the first decade that the BPP was here.”Junior and actress Emily Mohler said she enjoys performing in “’80s Shorts,” although she didn’t experience the period firsthand.“I just kind of like the collaboration of fun, funky things, because I like the ’80s,” Mohler said. “I’m pretty sure there’s some references that I’m missing, but there’s a lot of stuff that I can catch, like especially the pop culture stuff. The politics I’m not so up on, but I think a lot of other college students will catch the pop culture stuff too.”Derrick Krober, actor and sound director, said he is excited to share the ’80s with Bloomington audiences.“There’s just a lot of interesting energy and interesting characters,” Krober said. “I’m definitely a child of the ’80s. If you grew up in the ’80s, join the nostalgia, if you didn’t, come see what all the nostalgia was about.
(03/29/10 2:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Baseball is more than a game to some people — it’s a job or career. For fans, baseball can be their entire reality, or maybe just America’s pastime.In the Department of Theatre and Drama’s newest production “Take Me Out,” baseball plays different roles for the people in the play, even though it’s the only constant as the characters’ world changes around them.Kippy Sunderstrom, played by graduate student Henry McDaniel, narrated the story of what he called “the whole mess.” McDaniel knows all the trouble began with the coming out of biracial superstar Darren Lemming, played by graduate student Jaysen Wright. The mess spirals out of control with tragic consequences once a fellow teammate makes racist and homophobic comments.Junior Russell Stout said he enjoyed how the show grappled with issues of identity in the world of baseball.“I just thought it was great to incorporate all the aspects of the game both on the field and off,” Stout said. “There was a lot of different diversity as far as racially, sexually — everything was all together. It covered a lot of areas, and I thought it was amazing.”The players drew a steady stream of laughter from the audience, even during some of the play’s darker moments, when the ball players interacted on the field and in the locker room.The all-male cast made the show unique, sophomore Charnette Batey said. The masculine nature of the play, Batey said, did not make her feel distanced from the show, nor did the shower scenes.“I wasn’t distracted by the nudity. The play was so serious and so raw,” Batey said.“Usually there’s a lot of different distractions in the show, but with this one I was really drawn into the story and not just the nudity that everyone’s talking about.”Junior Gina Ricci said she really liked the play, especially the combined realms of baseball and theater.“I liked that it was a sports-related play,” Ricci said. “It broadened the horizons of the viewers and brought a lot more people in.”
(03/26/10 3:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Baseball fans have sung “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” many times, but when a beloved player announces he’s gay, will the fans still fill the stands? The IU Department of Theatre and Drama’s latest production, “Take Me Out,” explores what such a revelation can do to the game of baseball, the team players and the individual himself.The play opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, with shows Saturday and April 1-3, with an additional show 2 p.m. April 3. All shows are in the Wells-Metz Theater. Tickets are $20, while student and senior citizen tickets are $15. The show contains mature content, including full male nudity.“It’s nudity done really well,” said sophomore Jeremy Frankenthal, who portrays William R. Danziger. “It’s not like people are just going up there and standing there for no reason. It does serve a purpose.”During the show, the world of the New York Empires changes forever after star Darren Lemming, portrayed by graduate student Jaysen Wright, lets the world know that he is gay.“Really, it’s about racial identity, sexual identity and really finding out who an individual is, how an individual should feel about themselves and how society deals with superstardom and things that go against the norm,” said Frankenthal.Featuring an all-male cast, the show follows the players on the field and in the locker room. The team dynamic shifts in a new direction after they learn Lemming’s secret, but the team manager discovers a love for the game because of the secret.“Take Me Out” is not just a man’s play, however, nor is it just about being gay.“It’s basically what happens to a person when a person reveals an inner truth and is not accepted,” said Henry McDaniel, the graduate student playing Kippy Sunderstrom. “When we reveal things that are very personal to us, it has consequences and for better or worse, those consequences affect us. I think men and women deal with that issue equally.”Director and graduate student Jonathan Courtemanch said he is proud of his cast for their fearlessness and talent and hopes the audience is ready for a good time.“Keep an open mind and get ready to have some fun,” Courtemanch said. “That’s the most important thing. It’s going to be a great opportunity for this community to see what is really a great new American play.”
(03/08/10 2:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fourteen performers with disabilities shared their stories onstage through songs and dramatic monologues in the show “I Am You.”The performers were clients of Stone Belt, a service provider for individuals with disabilities. They worked on their pieces with the help of Theatre of the People, The Bloomington Playwrights Project and other volunteers.Each performer brought something different to the stage. Mike Collins shared the story of meeting his fiance Gina Barger and sang “Good Morning Beautiful” for her. Misty Lawyer, Melissa Abbitt and Krista Heard brought laughter to the audience as they talked about what they liked to do. And many others shared their life stories in the spotlight. The night ended with Dixie Chaney singing “You Are My Sunshine,” and the audience joined in as all of the artists took the stage.Junior Sara Rebmann volunteered as one of the directors for the show and worked with the performers backstage.“Everyone was really nervous,” Rebmann said. “They were just chatting about different things, trying to take deep breaths... it was pretty calm overall.”One of the artists, IU employee Rebecca Zimmerman, said she was pleased with her performance that night, even if she was a bit nervous.“I was happy, glad, a little nervous, and overall I did pretty well,” Zimmerman said. Bloomington resident Annie Corrigan said she enjoyed the show and its message.“I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a great evening,” Corrigan said. “It was very touching, one of the more touching bits of theater that I’ve been to in a while, actually.”
(03/05/10 1:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Individuals with disabilities will take the stage this weekend to share their stories at the Bloomington Playwrights Project. The show, called “I Am You,” is a series of monologues written and performed by people with different handicaps.The project is a collaborative effort between Stone Belt, an agency that helps individuals with disabilities, the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Theatre of the People and Trinity Episcopal Church.The show, now in its second year, was started in 2008 by alumna Michelle Davenport. Amy Jackson, community engagement director of Stone Belt, said it began “very organically” with Davenport’s individual efforts and vision that grew into the monologue show it is today.“They are monologues that share stories of their lives, and they really cover the whole gamut of the human experience,” Jackson said. “From friendship and love and family to loss and issues of independence and work and identity. Really, a very wonderful variety of the human experience is covered.”Davenport said “I Am You” benefits not only the individual performers, but the community as well.“The program was started to give voice to individuals with disabilities and to also grow in self-esteem and self-confidence,” Davenport said. “But the second part of my mission was for advocacy and awareness in the community because there are people who do not understand individuals with disabilities.”Since its sold-out performances last year, the “I Am You” series has grown to include more performers from other Indiana counties. Directors from Theatre of the People and some IU students have helped the performers for the last six months to prepare for the weekend.Junior Jamie Patton, one of the directors for the show, said she wants to pursue a career working with people with disabilities.“Working with people with disabilities is really not that much different from working with anybody else. You just have to go about it in a different way,” Patton said. “You have to be creative and think of different ways that will help them get what they want to say out. Because they have amazing things to say.”Davenport said she is excited to see how the show has evolved in the last year and said audiences should be aware the goal has always been to create understanding and a sense of community.“We’re not trying to create sympathy,” Davenport said. “The event is for empathy. It’s to create understanding and awareness.”
(03/01/10 1:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One might think a donation for the poor is always a good thing. But not if you ask Major Barbara, who quits her post at the Salvation Army as soon as it accepts donations from breweries and arms dealers. Questions of morality and religion rise up in the IU Department of Theater and Drama’s production of “Major Barbara,” which opened Friday.Salvation Army Major Barbara Undershaft and her weapons-manufacturing father Andrew Undershaft are both determined to convert the other to the “true” religion. For Barbara, that means Christian salvation; for her father, it means money and gunpowder.Then there’s Barbara’s fiancé, Adolphus Cusins, a Greek scholar and a collector of religions, who’s keeping a few secrets of his own. Add in a family conflict about the Undershaft inheritance, and here is a play about money and morality, but also much more.The ’60s setting of the show gives new direction to the George Bernard Shaw play. Barbara’s sister Sarah and her dimwitted fiancé Charles Lomax are now a hip, mod couple, and the “vulgar, silly dress” Barbara dons in place of her Salvation Army Uniform is bright yellow, complete with miniskirt and go-go boots. Music from the ’60s fills the air during scene transitions, and Andrew’s newly produced weapons look suspiciously nuclear.Sophomore Arthur Marsh said he enjoyed philosophic discussion in the play, especially in the last scene.“I thought it was pretty brilliant,” Marsh said. “I really enjoyed the dialogue.”The actors impressed sophomore Will Dickinson, who said he did not expect to enjoy the play so much.“Clever, witty, it’s hilarious,” Dickinson said. “It’s extremely well-acted, especially the actor who plays Andrew Undershaft, the father, Justin Harner. He’s magnificent.”The director and grad student Sabrina Lloyd said she was proud of her cast and crew and the work they did opening night.“I thought they did a great job, the pace was lovely and they were really listening to the audience,” Lloyd said. “I’m just proud and impressed with all the amazing people that helped it happened. I’m really grateful.”
(02/26/10 4:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Morality or money — which can better help the poor? And what about their souls? These are the questions Major Barbara faces when her mission to save souls is thrown off course by her armaments-dealing father.The IU Department of Theater and Drama’s production of “Major Barbara” opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, with shows Feb. 27 and March 2 through 6, with an additional show at 2 p.m. March 6.Barbara Undershaft, played by sophomore Hannah Kennedy, is an officer in the Salvation Army. She reunites with her wealthy father Andrew Undershaft for the first time in years, and the two start a competition of conversion. Barbara is determined to show her father the power of Christian salvation, and Andrew wants his daughter to get over her moral disgust of his profession.When the Salvation Army accepts a huge donation from the Undershaft arms company, Barbara is horrified, resigns from her position and is left to find another way to continue her Christian mission.“Barbara initially takes a very absolute view on what is right, and then she realizes that she can adapt and still be true to herself while still making a difference,” Kennedy said. “It’s also a love story and a story about family. It’s definitely not an old, English-living drama. It has big ideas and important things to say, but it’s also really funny and really fun.”The George Bernard Shaw comedy was first published in 1907, but graduate student and director Sabrina Lloyd has set the play in the 1960s. “By looping it forward in time we get to see the cyclical nature of human beings,” Lloyd said. “They were the same in 1907 as they were in 1964 and as they are now. You have your poser couple, you have your educated snob, you have your militant extremist.”Even without the update, Lloyd said many college students can relate to the story.“It centers on young people, their decisions and their place in life,” she said. “Barbara is a young woman just breaking out of her family life and trying to become her own person.”Sean Magill, a sophomore portraying Barbara’s brother, said he thinks the play is about the power to do good and what it means to use that power.“Power for its own sake isn’t really a good thing if you’re going to abuse it,” Magill said. “If the good people take the power to affect change, even if that be through dangerous and destructive technology, then it’s much better than people who are out for power and money for their own gain.”
(02/22/10 2:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Six actors, 31 plays and 71 minutes.It began with announcements instructing the audience on what to do in case of a natural disaster or nuclear holocaust, followed by harassment and demands from the actors.Six actors then took the stage for their performances, and the stream of laughter from the audience was all but continuous for the rest of the show.“Blizzard Rewind,” a short play showcase presented by the Bloomington Playwrights Project, opened Thursday with 31 plays celebrating the BPP’s 30th anniversary.The plays were presented in a random order determined by audience members, who shouted out years between the plays. The show was also timed; the BPP’s goal was 31 plays in 71 minutes. The actors met the goal each night but with only seconds to spare.Senior David Lim said he found this format of the show enjoyable.“It was something I had definitely never seen before done with a play,” Lim said. “It was just really interesting to see different genres and different motifs all together. You could still see what the playwright intended for very short plays.”The show was also very interactive. Audience members shouted out not only years but also encouragement — or insults.“The louder the people are, the more fun it is,” Director Chad Rabinovitz said. “This is the kind of crowd that if you were in a movie theater, you would hate to be sitting next to, but it’s perfect for us. It’s just been nonstop fun. They’re loud, they’re vocal — it’s designed to be interactive.”Bloomington High School North student Neena Armitage said one of her favorite plays was “A Bastardized Version of the Muppets Teaches Us How to Vote.”“I thought it went really well,” Armitage said. “And I was really surprised by how actually funny it was. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all.”
(02/22/10 2:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A city-boy actor trying to live life on a farm might sound like the perfect reality-show premise, but “The Drawer Boy” is a deeper story of everlasting friendship and the growth of understanding between three men.The Cardinal Stage Company show, which opened Friday, centers around Miles, who shows up ready and willing to work on characters Morgan and Angus’ farm to research rural life for his new play. Morgan agrees, but neither knows what they are getting into.Miles, an unwitting city boy, is given tasks as practical as moving hay and as ridiculous as polishing gravel. Morgan, who takes care of his memory-impaired friend Angus on the farm, finds out too late exactly what Miles is observing and writing down for his play.Slowly, gaps in Angus’s memory are filled in front of the audience. Miles’ play forces Angus to confront the night he received his memory-impairing injury and the history between him and Morgan.Kathy Doering, Bloomington resident , said she had no idea what the play was going to be about but was very pleased with what she saw.“I loved it,” Doering said. “I liked all of it. It was so well done.”Patty Cole, wife of actor Dave Cole, who portrayed Angus, said she was proud of her husband’s performance but also enjoyed the show as a whole.“I’m pleased with all of them,” Cole said. “I thought they really pulled it together. It was pretty solid.”IU employee Sean Pendergast said the play was “intense” and he especially liked the ending.“I thought it was beautiful,” Pendergast said. “It started really slowly, and I was concerned it was going to pay off, but it was absolutely wonderful intense. The actors were terrific, all three of them.”
(02/19/10 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Young versus old, rural versus urban, farm life versus ... theater life? The
story of the city misfit figuring out farm life is retold with a new
twist that explores the power of storytelling in Cardinal Stage
Company’s production of “The Drawer Boy.”
The play opens Friday and runs through March 7, with performances
Thursday through Sunday at the John Waldron Arts Center. Performances
are at 7:30 p.m., along with 2 p.m. shows each Saturday and Sunday. It
is part of ArtsWeek 2010.
In the show, characters Morgan and Angus, played by Ken Farrell and
Dave Cole, have lived on a farm since their return from World War II,
where Angus sustained an injury that has given him serious memory
problems. Morgan takes care of Angus until a big-city actor, Miles,
played by IU alumnus Harry Watermeier, shows up on the farm seeking
material for a play about rural life. Miles’s intrusion threatens to
dig deeper than Morgan wants when he discovers what parts of his life
are being exposed in Miles’s play.
“Because Miles is unfamiliar with farming and this kind of life, the
show is, in a way, this fish-out-of-water comedy at first glance, but
it’s really a character study of Morgan and Angus,” Watermeier said. “I
hope the play is, for an audience member, difficult to categorize. They
won’t leave saying ‘that was a great comedy’ or ‘that was a great
drama.’ It’s just a great story.”
The Canadian play was inspired by a true story of a collision between
actors and farmers in Ontario and the play the actors created about the
farmers’ lives. Since its first production in 1999, “The Drawer Boy”
has become the fourth most-produced play in the past decade.
“We wanted to do a piece that spoke to a different community that is
normally represented on stage,” director Randy White said. “So this is
a rural farm community, and the clash of that rural and urban
environment I think is something that we really experience here in
Bloomington.”
White said he also thinks the play is applicable to the experiences of students as well.“Watching
this young person figure out how he can succeed, how he can move
forward, this is like his first steps in the world and he’s screwing up
terribly,” White said. “He’s naïve and earnest and well-meaning, but he
literally steps in all kinds of things on the farm, all the time.”
(02/19/10 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Young versus old, rural versus urban, farm life versus ... theater life? The story of the city misfit figuring out farm life is retold with a new twist that explores the power of storytelling in Cardinal Stage Company’s production of “The Drawer Boy.”The play opens Friday and runs through March 7, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, along with 2 p.m. shows each Saturday and Sunday, at the John Waldron Arts Center. The show is part of ArtsWeek 2010.In the show, characters Morgan and Angus, played by Ken Farrell and Dave Cole, have lived on a farm since their return from World War II, where Angus sustained an injury that has given him serious memory problems. Morgan takes care of Angus until a big-city actor, Miles, played by IU alumnus Harry Watermeier, shows up on the farm seeking material for a play about rural life. Miles’s intrusion threatens to dig deeper than Morgan wants when he discovers what parts of his life are being exposed in Miles’s play.“Because Miles is unfamiliar with farming and this kind of life, the show is, in a way, this fish-out-of-water comedy at first glance, but it’s really a character study of Morgan and Angus,” Watermeier said. “I hope the play is, for an audience member, difficult to categorize. They won’t leave saying ‘that was a great comedy’ or ‘that was a great drama.’ It’s just a great story.”The Canadian play was inspired by a true story of a collision between actors and farmers in Ontario and the play the actors created about the farmers’ lives. Since its first production in 1999, “The Drawer Boy” has become the fourth most produced play of the past decade.“We wanted to do a piece that spoke to a different community that is normally represented on stage,” director Randy White said. “So this is a rural farm community, and the clash of that rural and urban environment I think is something that we really experience here in Bloomington.”White said he thinks the play is applicable to the experiences of students as well.“Watching this young person figure out how he can succeed, how he can move forward, this is like his first steps in the world and he’s screwing up terribly,” White said. “He’s naïve and earnest and well-meaning, but he literally steps in all kinds of things on the farm, all the time.”
(02/12/10 3:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Started just 12 years ago with a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” on a New York stage, V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, is now celebrated all over the world.This Friday, IU will carry on the campaign to end violence with its own production of “The Vagina Monologues.” Performances will be at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Organizers around campus have been selling T-shirts and chocolate vulva lollipops, along with tickets in anticipation of V-Day, and Wednesday the actresses of the show presented their own personal vagina monologues at Rachel’s Cafe alongside an a cappella performance by Ladies First.Ten percent of all proceeds will go to the worldwide V-Day campaign, and remaining funds will be donated to Middle Way House, a center working against domestic violence, to specifically help the women in Bloomington.Actress and sophomore Jordan Kay said no one should be intimidated to see the show.“It’s for a good cause. It’s not bashing anyone. It’s not making fun of anyone. It’s for everyone,” Kay said. “When they see it, they’ll be able to feel what the monologues mean and they’ll take away certain aspects of the show and change their views on women, hopefully.”Stephanie Seweryn, a junior also in the performance, said the show is “very candid and very direct” and hopes that will drive the point home for the audience.“I think that the most important thing is it’s so direct that it might inspire people to investigate those things they are not clear on,” Seweryn said. “I think that’s what the main purpose of this show is: to bring people out of their comfort zone so that they are more actively pursuing answers to those things that they didn’t know before they saw it.”Before anything else, the show and campaign are about helping women, said junior and director of the play Stephanie Moore.“I think it might seem like it’s a quite in-your-face sort of way of talking about this, but the heart of the message and the heart of the show is just to tell about women’s stories and about the abuse that they’ve overcome,” Moore said. “We don’t want it to be considered depressing or too explicit. But it is just about general empowerment of women and how it’s important worldwide.”
(02/08/10 2:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“We want our revolution now,” cry the patients of the Charenton asylum.Sometimes shouted, sometimes whispered, sometimes sung, the statement reverberates throughout the play “Marat/Sade,” produced by the IU Department of Theatre and Drama and directed by Dale McFadden.The show will have additional performances this week. The show opens with the patients of the modern-day asylum, played by IU students, bewildered at the audience they attracted. Dressevd in colorful, elaborate costumes made with everything from fancy fabrics to plastic spoons and spare surgical gloves, the inmates take their places as the asylum director welcomes the audience to the show.The play within a play, written and produced by the Marquis de Sade, tells the story of the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, a leader of the French Revolution. Charlotte Corday, played by an inmate with sleeping sickness, visits Marat three times before she successfully stabs him to death.Marat’s assassination is paused several times, sometimes for debates between Marat and Sades and sometimes by the patients’ musical pleas to Marat for a revolution.And when the players’ acting pushes them to the brink of noisy insanity, the asylum director herself interrupts the show, warning Sade to keep his actors in line and avoid saying anything the audience might find discomforting.With mental patients for actors, the characters are unpredictable, and the lines between their characters and their insanity are constantly blurred, creating a show that sophomore Samantha Raab said was “very strange and eccentric, but interesting” and “captivating.”As “Marat/Sade” is itself a play within a play, more lines between reality and fiction are blurred, an aspect of the show that sophomore Katie Groneman said she enjoyed.“It confused me a little bit at first, but it became a lot more clear as it went on,” Groneman said.Junior Matt Herndon said he was impressed with the actors’ “ability to stay inside all that crazy madness going on all over the place, but to keep the story moving along too.”Herndon, who said he is a frequent theater-goer, said he also was very impressed with the cast.“I had high hopes coming into this show, and it actually lived up to all of the hype,” Herndon said. “In order to pull off this play, you have to have a cast that is on their game all the time. And I think this cast was able to do that tremendously, and it really helped this play and this production.”
(02/05/10 2:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Mental patients take the stage Friday at the Wells-Metz Theatre. The patients will be performing a play about the murder of Jean-Paul Marat, with Marquis de Sade as director.That is the “play within a play” of the performance titled “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” better known as “Marat/Sade.” The IU Department of Theatre and Drama will have performances Friday, Saturday and Feb. 9 to 13 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee on Feb. 13 at 2 p.m.In “Marat/Sade” actors portray asylum inmates who put on a show, led by Sade, from whom the term sadism is derived. These intertwining plays deal with the distinctions between ideas like war and peace, optimism and pessimism, human nature as good and evil, as well as the question of to what degree can people change.“The author, Peter Weiss, explores those themes in that, in setting it in an asylum, you have this overall question of ‘What is sanity? What is insanity?’” said Matthew Martin, a junior portraying a patient who believes he is Jean-Paul Marat. “Are people insane and can they be changed and controlled, or are people the subjects of their environment? He takes these huge themes and compresses them into this world where everything is questioned and nothing is resolute.”One major twist in the production is instead of the original 18th century setting, this show takes place in modern times, in a modern asylum, complete with the patients’ childlike crayon drawings adorning the asylum walls.“We’re taking a much more irreverent and theatrical approach to the play than has been done in the past,” said Dale McFadden, director and Professor of Acting and Directing. “I’ve never been satisfied with those productions that kept it in the faux period of the 18th century. The issues at work in the play need to be pushed forward.”Everything from humor to violence to beautiful songs mingle to create what McFadden calls a “clinical cabaret.”“It’s not just what the play is about but how it’s presented, which the audience I hope will find challenging and involving,” McFadden said.Sophomore and stage crew member Rachel Livingston said the play sets a “very odd boundary” between the audience and the actors, and she is eager to see what the audience thinks of it.“I just can’t wait to see how people will react to the uncomfortable silences and see how much they react to the characters,” Livingston said. “The complexity of the story is really interesting. You never really know who’s going crazy because they’re all insane.”
(02/01/10 3:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The John Waldron Arts Center bustled with music and chatter Saturday when Bloomington residents filled the gallery in anticipation for the unveiling of the Bloomington Playwrights Project’s 2010-2011 season. Chad Rabinovitz, the BPP’s producing artistic director, presented the theater’s plans for the year, which include a collaboration with the IU Theatre Department on a musical, as well as a production of the winner of the Reva Shiner Comedy Award and an Off Broadway/On Ninth production in which the BPP will take a brand new play from New York City and bring it to Bloomington.Planning for the BPP’s AwareFest in October has also begun. The event is an effort by the BPP to spread awareness about an important topic through the arts. This year’s topic is “going green.” Other arts organizations will also contribute to the festival, and the BPP plans to reach out to schools in Monroe County. Rabinovitz also promised the Artistic Fulfillment Guarantee, through which any unsatisfied theatergoer can get a free ticket to another BPP show, no questions asked. “We are the only ones in the world doing this,” Rabinovitz said. “This theater is not just unique to this area, it’s not just unique to Bloomington, it’s not just unique to the state or to the country. This theater is unique to the world.” Afterwards, limos took show-goers to the BPP for a showing of “Cadillac,” the Project’s latest production about conflicting ethics and changing times in a used-car dealership.The show ended with a recording of mayor Mark Kruzan, who could not attend the event, naming the past accomplishments of the BPP, calling it “an integral part of the area arts scene for three decades” and proclaiming Jan. 30, 2010 as Bloomington Playwrights Project Day.Rabinovitz and managing director Gabe Gloden then kicked off BPP’s Lights Out/Heat Off “going green” initiative with a humorous candle-lighting ceremony. The BPP will continue to function with minimal heat and electricity until after the Feb. 4 showing of “Cadillac.” A talk-back session with “Cadillac” playwright Bill Jepsen took place in the candlelight where Jepsen discussed his play, BPP’s production of it and the Chicago Dramatists’ Playwrights Network, where he works. He also spoke about the future of American plays and BPP’s role in protecting that future. “Chad spoke tonight about how there’s a danger right now of losing the new American play because of lots of factors out there,” Jepsen said. “There are very few organizations that dedicate themselves solely to new plays and each one has their own little niche that they’re doing.”
(01/28/10 3:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sneaky and underhanded, car salesmen are sometimes characterized as enemies of the consumer who are not to be trusted. The stereotype might assert that any honest car salesman just hasn’t had the temptation to cheat yet – but give him time. Bloomington Playwrights Project’s production of “Cadillac,” which opens at 8 p.m. Thursday, deals with an “honest” salesman and the decision he makes between the customers and the sales quotas. Performances of “Cadillac” run through the next three weekends.Used car dealer Howard Austin, played by Gerard Pauwels, faces a moral challenge when he must decide to sell Fred, played by Thomas Thompson, the car of his dreams – a Cadillac – or to protect his sales record.“It’s about a man who finally has to choose to do the right thing or the wrong thing, and the tension in the play is, ‘Will he do the right thing?’” Thompson said. “Can you find ethics in a used car lot?”Director Chad Rabinovitz said the strong script does most of the storytelling on its own, and Pauwels said it is “seamless” playwriting. “All of the characters are complex,” Pauwels said. “All of them are interesting and believable, and the action between them is believable and everything fits together. It shows the complexity of life in the decisions that they’re making.” BPP’s performance of “Cadillac” will be the second production of the play. The first occurred at the Chicago Dramatists’ Theater, where the play was written by Bill Jepsen in 2008.Rabinovitz said that because the play is so new – like all plays produced by BPP – he thinks it will be more accessible to today’s audiences. “We are one of the few theaters in the country that is focusing on new work, on edgy, contemporary theater,” Rabinovitz said. “A lot of times when people think of theater, they think of Shakespeare. ‘Cadillac’ is about now. This is edgy. It’s intimate. It is talking about things that the younger generation is impacted with.”
(01/25/10 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Interesting enough to draw a nearly full house and strange enough to drive a few of them away mid-show, Theatre of the People’s “The Trial” raised many questions about justice but gave few answers when it opened Friday.The show began on a black-and-white set with the arrest of Josef K, who is accused of a crime that is never explained. The officers who arrested K stationed themselves at either side of the stage, which was enclosed in a cage, periodically heckling K and attempting to provoke the audience. The show illustrated K’s downward spiral after the accusation, with K calling on the audience at times for help. The audience rarely responded to his pleas. When it came time for his verdict, the audience became the jury and sentenced K to his demise. Typical theater conventions were broken down when a man was literally both dog and lawyer, a bank employee chirped and a judge spanked two men with a dead horse. Sophomore Farrell Paules said the strangeness of the play was appropriate for Theatre of the People. “I’ve read Kafka before, and TOP and Kafka are a good fit,” Paules said. Another audience member, sophomore Rebecca Johnstone, said the style is typical for the theater company but is usually “not quite this existential.” “I think this is the best thing they’ve done,” Johnstone said. Not everyone found the show so entertaining. A noticeable chunk of the audience was missing after intermission. Director David Nosko said he noted the absence of a “whole row of professors.” “Some folks find it very difficult to accept change and especially with the way a novel is everybody is free to imagine whatever,” Nosko said. “It’s a balance of trying to stay true to the writer and trying to make it theatrical.” “The Trial” was sophomore Aimee Stanton’s first TOP production, but she plans to attend more.“What was really interesting to me was how, even though there was one scene going on, there was another scene going and another scene over there,” Stanton said. “It was interesting to say the least.”
(01/22/10 4:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The phrase “innocent until proven guilty” might be a mantra of the courts, but the power of bureaucracy and rumor can easily reverse the saying for the accused. Such is the story portrayed in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” which opens 8 p.m. Friday at the John Waldron Arts Center.Theatre of the People’s latest project, based on Franz Kafka’s novel, tells the story of Josef K, accused of a crime but never told what it is, and how the accusation alone begins to impact his life.“The Trial” will be performed 8 p.m. Jan. 22 through the 23 and Jan. 28 through the 30, with additional shows at 2 p.m. on Jan. 23 and 30.“Sometimes the difference between being guilty or innocent is totally irrelevant,” said director David Nosko. “Just being accused, for the accused, the rest of their life is an attempt to shed that.”K is consumed by the accusation, which affects his life throughout the play. “It takes over his job, his career, his personal life. It just slowly sort of eats away at his sanity,” said Nicholas Maudlin, a sophomore portraying K.Even the stage is enclosed in a cage, separating the audience from the actors and figuratively imprisoning the characters.Adam Bradley, a junior and K’s coworker in the show, said he sees the relevance of “The Trial” particularly in the controversy concerning Guantanamo Bay prisoners.“If someone’s taken in the middle of the night ... taken to an undisclosed location and beaten for a confession, they may have no idea what they’re actually supposed to be confessing,” Bradley said. “It’s the state having a lot of power.”Kafka’s original novel was never finished, so the play, adapted by Nosko, will feel disjointed, surreal and sometimes just plain absurd for audience members.“The story itself is a little bit fragmented, so it comes out in pieces,” Nosko said. “It’s little vignettes that add up to a whole. In the end it is a story of its own.”He said he also wants to encourage audience members to react openly to the play, even if that includes chanting or heckling at times.“TOP theater is not like the IU Department of Theatre and Drama; it’s not like Cardinal theater; it’s not like the Bloomington Playwrights Project, nor are we attempting to be,” Nosko said. “So we just ask for an open mind and an open heart and that people try to enjoy themselves and actually feel free to express themselves.