J. H. Authors

One Woman. Three Names. Many Books.

Theatre

Tectonic Catharsis

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I listened to Moises Kaufman on Downstage Center a week or so before Tectonic Theater Project came to town to help launch ArtsEmerson’s inaugural season. They are performing both THE LARAMIE PROJECT and LARAMIE TEN YEARS LATER in repertory, the first stop in a national tour.

First of all, the work is amazing. I had never seen THE LARAMIE PROJECT, and to see some of the company members who originally went to Laramie, did the interviews and created the work was a wonderful opportunity.

In his interview Moises Kaufman talks about the cathartic properties of theater, and how we don’t know what theater is capable of yet. I’ve been thinking about that all week. When you are sitting in a room with other people, breathing the same air, watching the same performance–which by its nature cannot be the same as the previous performance because of the human factor–when you are sitting in that room, something happens.  And companies and playwrights who are willing to stretch and push audiences make magic.

The Tectonic Theater Project’s shows tell a horrific story from many points of view.  It is strong, brave work, and I am so honored to have seen it.

The Joy of FRAULEIN MARIA

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Last Friday I saw Doug Elkins’ FRAULEIN MARIA, part of ArtsEmerson’s inaugural season. As someone else said, I was sorry when it was over. I wanted more. FRAULEIN MARIA is an homage to the movie of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, using that soundtrack to deconstruct/reconstruct the story through a mixture of modern dance. See it and you’ll never think of “Climb Every Mountain” the same way again. And I defy you not to be moved by Doug’s interpretation of  “Edelweiss”. It is here for another week. Don’t miss it.

And yes, I called him Doug. I was fortunate enough to meet him this past summer, when he came to town to discuss doing a flash mob with our students. I was inspired and charmed. As were some Emersonians who spent the first few nights of the new school year learning the choreography for a flash mob. Here are the results. You can see my in the audience  at one point. Beaming. Try not to after you see this:

The Season Begins

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No, not football. The (my) theater season. I went to two shows this week, and will average at least one a week until May.

I love theater. I am blessed to be able to make my living working as a general manager in an academic theater company, and to work with the next generation of theater artists. While I have strong opinions, this blog will be more to apprise you of what I’ve seen, and less as a critic.

On Thursday I saw THE 25TH ANNUAL SPELLING BEE  at the Lyric Stage Company. It was directed by my Emerson colleague (and friend) Stephen Terrell. Four of the cast members were Emerson alum. And I knew I loved the show already. So I was tilting towards loving the show, but that can be dangerous (because of disappointment). But it was a wonderful way to start the season. Good production.

On Saturday I saw ALICE V WONDERLAND at the ART. The cast was comprised of Institute students, and it was new work. The design elements   were excellent. The show itself was good. I believe we saw one of the first performances, so it didn’t feel settled in yet. The show was visually stunning. I would happily have brought my nieces in the future, but I have an odd complaint of sorts. There were a couple of f&!% bombs in songs, and a few “shitty” moments. Not sure if they were necessary, but they do remove potential audience. Believe me when I say I’m not a prude, but I don’t need my sister to blame me for bad habits. I’ve already got them singing show tunes.

The Summer of Kicking it Up

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This AM I went for a 70 minute bike ride and 10 minute run with my Boston Fit peeps. Add a 1/2 mile swim in front, and quadruple the run, add three weeks and ta dah. Cranberry Sprint on the 28th. The swim still freaks me out a bit (though a swim clinic put on by Max Performance helped A LOT). I may be last. It may not be pretty. But I’m going to get this done.

That isn’t the only stretch of the summer. I am joining a blog on Monday–the New Hampshire Writers’ Network blog. Their motto is “Live to Write–Write to Live”. I admire the work of the blog, and am really thrilled to be a part of it.

And theatrically, all of my subscriptions are in. And last week I had some inspiring moments–meeting Doug Elkins (whose piece, FRAULEIN MARIA, will be at the Paramount in September), seeing a dress rehearsal of THE SUN ALSO RISES and then OTHELLO. All in the same day. I haven’t seen as much theatre as I would like to this summer, but I am starting to flex my muscles a bit. This looks to be a very exciting season in Boston theatre. You will be hearing much more about it.

And talk about stretching…despite injuries galore, the Red Sox beat the Yankees last night.

Life is good. Life is great.

The End of the Season

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Thursday marked the end of my theatre going season. Well, not really. I would like to see ASP’s Timon of Athens. And there is the Gloucester Stage Company summer season to look forward to.  But all of my subscriptions have run out for this season.

Happily, the last show I saw was Speakeasy Stage Company‘s fun The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which has been extended through June 5. Such fun.

I also saw ART‘s Johnny Baseball. I saw the third performance of a world premiere, so it was still rough. That said, the ART is doing a great job at creating a baseball feel around the show (Scott Sinclair has a great blog post about this), and I plan to go  back in June and see what changes are made.

I will say it it best that the season is over. There was a woman texting at Johnny Baseball, and had a been on an aisle I would have persuaded her to stop. Likely by ripping the phone from her hand and stomping on it.

Will catch up with my thoughts on the season later, but suffice it to say, it was a good one.

GATZ at the ART

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When I heard about Gatz, I will admit I was concerned. The complete text of The Great Gatsby read aloud over two performances, Chapters 1-5 and 6-9. Six hours total. My memories of The Great Gatsby were distant (high school, almost 30 years ago) and tainted by the class assignments I remembered, like writing down all the color instances and what they meant. The colors in Gatsby are interesting, and thesis worthy, but when the main thing you remember is the green light and Myrtle's yellow dress it takes a little of the joy out of the work.

Nonetheless, I was committed (as a subscriber), I decided to make it a day long affair, starting at 3pm on a Saturday. I wore comfortable clothes, brought a shawl. I reread the book in the days before, and went in with an open mind.

A note about the book–it has made me consider rereading all high school reading lists. What a stunning book. Such beautiful prose. More Fitzgerald is on my TBR (to be read) list.

The play opens in a run down office, where our narrator can't turn his computer on, so he picks up a copy of The Great Gatsby and starts reading aloud. There isn't any other dialogue than that in the book. So the office workings keep happening around the narrator, but the context of who is who, and what they are doing is implied rather than stated. For the first half hour of the show, I was thinking "I don't know if I can do this". It sounded like an audio book. Then, suddenly, the janitor says one of Tom's lines, and we're off.

And it works. The reality of the office and Gatsby's world collide, but don't superimpose themselves. In other words, the janitor stays the janitor, but he is also Tom Buchanan. Nothing happens outside of the set of the office, but everything that happens in The Great Gatsby happens on stage including the big party scene, the car accident and the funeral.

An amazing, exhausting day at the ART. And Elevator Repair Service, and especially Scott Shephard, have a new fan.