All the World’s a Political Stage: TeCo Productions’ One-Act Competition

Political theatre. Didn’t we just barely survive a year and a half’s worth of non-stop lunacy at operatic pitch? For those who just can’t get enough political soul-bathing, hustle over to TeCo Theatrical Productions (www.tecotheater.org) at the Bishop Arts Theater Center to catch the 7th Annual New Play Competition: The Best of Political Theater. Artistic Director and energizing force at TeCo, Teresa Wash, put out the call last year for Dallas regional playwrights to submit their finest-honed political one-acts to compete in this festival: winner to be chosen, appropriately, by popular vote. From nineteen submissions, six were selected for performance in this year’s festival competition. Each offers thought-provoking, poignant and often humorous commentary on major issues that affect all on a scale from the intensely personal to grandly universal.

“If America can elect a black man, I can sleep with one” declares a white character in Richland College professor and founder of Blacken Blues Theater Willie Holmes’ opening one-act Change, dealing with inter-racial issues and tolerance. Holmes deftly mixes humor with serious exploration of a timely subject. Barbara Macchia received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship through The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, MN, and is a longtime member of the New York Dramatist Guild. The death penalty and a grisly birthday party in celebration of its enactment sober the audience resoundingly in her The Special Schedule. Oak Cliff homeboy, playwright and film and photographic artist Phillip Morales takes on the subject of illegal immigration through the voice and heart of a US citizen in The Son of A Immigrant, a man who brings his solo protest to the steps of Dallas City Hall. lynuslynell returns to the New Play Competition for the 5th time with the hyper-energized The Assassination of Nathaniel Gary Gamarcus Anderson, in which a revved up revival-style pastor admonishes the Rev.’s Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as if they sat among the house audience and rouses the dead. Novelist and accidental playwright Richard Carter brings us a whimsical “what if” play set in the Oval Office with President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton faced with a most unusual request from a undeterred middle –aged constituent, in I Only Need a Few. Rounding out the evening of hot button entertainment is local author, teacher, performer and UT Arlington graduate Paula J. Sanders. In her play, The Valiant Never Taste of Death But Once, a smooth talking, well-dressed African American man personifies a deadly worldwide scourge with such terrifying immediacy it’s hard not to avert the eyes.

No shy performances in the acting ensemble; several appear throughout the evening. Keep watching JuNene K, Heather Pratt, Selma Pinkard, Akron Watson and Brandon Christle, as they glide effortlessly from one well-defined character to another. Aubrey Stephenson’s sonorous singing voice in Holmes’ Change sets the tone of the evening with its melodious soulfulness. We do indeed live in interesting times, as reflected by the depth and scope of these productions.

Who will win the competition’s $1000 and airline tickets? I cast my vote, and I’m not telling. I promise it wasn’t as easy a choice to make as last November’s presidential election. The one-act performances end this Saturday the 28th. Dallas’ Bishop Arts District is the place to go and TeCo Theatrical Production’s The Best of Political Theater is the scene to make. Time for real change….

Tickets: www.tecotheater.org 214-948-0716

Orinoco Loco: Teatro Dallas Afloat

The Orinoco River, at 1330 miles, is one of the longest rivers in South America. Its drainage basin covers 340,000 square miles, three quarters in Venezuela, the rest in Columbia .  The Orinoco and its tributaries form the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the llanos of Columbia. It offers very rough going with many obstacles and life-threatening hardships, both in the water and out. When nationally celebrated Mexican playwright and distinguished literature professor Emilio Carballido chose the Orinoco as the setting for his late 1970’s play of the same name, he must have been thinking of the lawlessness and exotic remoteness such a setting would present.

In Orinoco!, Carballido’s vividly detailed monologues, describing the reality of the river or an actor’s state of mind, infuse the play with a strangely feral beauty. His lyrical dialogue foreshadows knife-edged potential for death and destruction. Every spoken or sung metaphor, every action of its characters (two down and out burlesque dancers who find themselves abandoned and adrift on a blood-spattered boat floating down the river towards a grim future) portend of violence and savagery. All may not be as it seems, may be worse. Contrast may indicate deceptive surprises. Who is the never seen silent man lying injured in the drifting boat’s stateroom; does he truly exist? Or is he a fabricated “cover” for bizarre mass murder?

Teatro Dallas presents a tentative, safe production of this intriguing, nuanced play. At the play’s opening, we learn that during the night prior, the boat’s entire crew engaged in a drunken, vicious brawl, which escalated into an attempt to break into the showgirls’ room to gang rape them, and ended with all but one crew member savagely murdered and tossed overboard. The set – the ship’s deck – the scene of the brawl, should reflect the bloody, grisly mayhem that took place the night before. Instead, a scant smattering of cautious red paint splatters dot here and there with a few unbroken beer bottles placed unobtrusively at the edges of the playing space. The deck should be littered with a jumble of debris—torn clothing, discarded shoes, shards of bottles, hats, weapons, lots of blood…all of which would offer the two capable actors fertile ground to develop character through and lead the audience into the boat’s dark mysteries. The rest of the production continues on that safe path, taking few risks, pushing no boundaries, hinting at few hidden agendas, creating little conflict and tension. It’s a workmanlike but non- adventuresome realization of Carballido’s evocative work.

Phyllis Cicero and Marbella Barreto as dancers Mina and Fifi are well cast and play believably together. There are moments where each verges on transcending the staidness of the production; the scene passes, and the deeper range of artistic possibility fades away. The only time the sordid un-reality of their situation and lives comes across clearly is when they rehearse a bit of song and dance routine. They aren’t awful; they’re just grimly amateurish. Choreographer Mark-Brian Sonna (www.mbsproductions.net) directs the women to communicate an air of desperation and bone-tiredness, as they laugh and clown and gyrate together in a threadbare routine of unbalanced enticement, almost a squalid dance of death. Too bad it’s a short scene.

Caraballido’s play Orinoco! merits performance. Even with Teatro Dallas’ production’s shortcomings, it provides thought-provoking, spine-chilling theater. For more Dallas stage reviews, go to http://sjamaaka.wordpress.com or www.examiner.com.

Audacity Theatre Lab: Dishing It Up & Out

If attending live theatre is like sitting down to a prix-fixed meal of the imagination, then Audacity Theatre Lab’s Hello Human Female is gourmet grilled potluck, peppered plumb full enough of implausible characters and wacky situations to sate the humor-seeking palate. It’s kind of like watching Joaquin Phoenix on David Letterman, except these folks mean to be funny and are aware of their audience. Soap opera plot meets Lost in Space meets Young Frankenstein meets Lassie, Come Home and Wizard of Oz, with homage to the faked orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally. Whew. In retrospect, the chaotic concatenation somehow channels Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with its over-riding theme of amor omnia vincit (LUV conquers all). In this case, LUV certainly does. Clean your plate and go back for seconds.

The secret to the hyperkinetic, no-holds-barred romp? Matt Lyle, the playwright, currently resides in Chicago, where he’s studying comedy writing at The Second City and screenwriting with Chicago Dramatists. Director of the play and artistic director of the company, Brad McEntire, mounted and produced over fifty plays here in Big D then toured successfully to New York and Austin Fringe Festivals, before sallying forth in 2006 on an artistic sojourn to Hong Kong and other exotic, inspirational locales. There’s a brazen confidence herein, born of endless dribbling of ink on paper and much time spent clamoring to earn and keep the attention of maddeningly fickle audiences. These boys got it down to a science.

On stage, in the kick-ass dual role of codependent overbearing Mother in drag and equally overbearing, smarmy Mad Scientist in gaiters is Jeremy Whiteker, with as much meritorious experience in performing in quirky, absurdist one-act originals as he has in straight ahead musical comedy. S/he is a hoot and a holler, a medium rare sight to behold and savor. Becca Shivers steams into her debut with Audacity Theatre Lab like a locomotive in overdrive in the gender-bending role of pre-teen boy “Timmy”, returns in Act II as the Mad Scientist’s humanoid sweetheart, a real honey-bee of a waspish creation. The star-crossed lovers, Jeff Swearingen as hump-backed humanoid Blork and Arianna Movassagh as perpetual virgin in search of true love or unreasonable facsimile, play off each other effortlessly with a fine balance of physical humor, crisp verbal repartee and droll song. Their duet version of “Somewhere Out There” ought to be filmed and posted on YouTube. Worth a reprise at play’s end, wish it had happened. Stirring in a classical whiff of Ionesco, Beckett and Shakespeare to the madcap hilarity, venerable regional actor Scott Milligan plays Homeless Harry (shades of Everyman) and Timmy’s aw-shucks Gramps. He lends a sober grounding to the enterprise, in a bizarre but comforting way. Narrating the production and guiding the audience in docile compliance to its seats with dulcet-toned instruction of what to do in case of ‘inevitable fire” is professional voice over artist and ex-pat Brit Emily Gray. She adds a zesty dollop of whipped cream ephemera to the absurdist reality sur la table. Jolly bon appetit.

Audacity Theatre Lab’s Hello Human Female runs Wednesdays through Saturdays through March 7 at the Ochre House intimate space, 825 Exposition Avenue. Street parking is ample, close to the venue and well lit. House staff is super-friendly. Reservations and tickets: 469-236-2726 www.audacitytheatrelab.com

Non-profit Arts Stimulate National & Local Economies

Finally! A US president recognizes the positive impact of the arts on our nation’s economy. “Innovation” and “creativity” were welcome words in President Obama’s speech in Denver. Unfortunately, not everyone gets the picture, from elected officials to puzzled citizens. The $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts in Obama’s Stimulus Package is not “pork”, as some claim. In addition to improving quality of life and providing needed “stimulus” to creatively keep our world functional, thriving arts have a positive, measurable economic impact on communities.

America’s nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity yearly—$63.1 billion in spending by organizations, an additional $103.1 billion in event-related audience expenditure. This economic activity supports 5.7 million jobs and $29.6 billion in increased government revenue. Yearly. Between 2000 and 2005, event-related spending by arts audiences increased 28%— from $80.8 billion to $103.1 billion. Documented fact, it’s not chump change nor “pork”. Want to review the economic impact of event-related spending by arts audiences? Check out the Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Prosperity Calculator: www.americansforthearts.org.

When you attend an arts event, you’re ‘stimulating’ the economy and supporting local arts organizations and artists. Thank you, President Obama, for understanding.

Data sourced from 45 year old non-profit arts advocacy organization Americans for the Arts, from an independent study quantifying the impact of the non-profit arts industry on the US economy: www.AmericansForTheArts.org/EconomicImpact

Godly Collaboration: DTC Innovation

More benediction than play. More poetry than proselytizing. More inclusive creative process, company to community. In January, Dallas Theater Center’s Kevin Moriarty introduced his new repertory ensemble to Dallas audiences with a “dramatic exploration” of the Bible’s Genesis: 1-10. Some might consider it risky to present a production that is A) drawn directly from religious text, and B) created informally by performance artists in conjunction with community theologians and pastors. Moriarty had a vision for inclusiveness that could expand art’s outreach potential beyond traditional theatre audiences and inspire open, civil discourse. In the Beginning…

The Kalita Humphreys Theater stage was strewn with a layer of earth and sawdust chips flanked by monolithic panels inscribed with Genesis excerpts in Hebrew, inspired by a 15th century manuscript. Spare elements— fanciful trees, a sacrificial carcass on an open fire, a massive drawbridge door for Noah’s ark—lent a tangible reality to the production without pulling focus from the performers dancing, acting out, singing or discussing the text. Fourteen men and women graced the stage as modern-day hosts and period storytellers, Biblical characters, or, when dressed in simple white cotton, feet bare and grounded in earth, as representations of God the Creator. Visually compelling, elegant, respectful, and celebratory.

Believing that the stories’ ideas and insights relate directly to 21st century experience, Moriarty interspersed the production with song — solo expression, some in tone poem counterpoint to action, or unison full ensemble. Songs included Neil Young’s “When God Made Me”, Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” and Thomas A. Dorsey’s “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Ensemble members Liz Mikel, Christina Vela, Cedric Neal and Sean Hennigan dramatically enhanced the thought-provoking performance with outstanding vocal interpretation.

Considering the production from a performer’s perspective, regional award-winning actor Cedric Neal shared these thoughts: “This has been the most challenging, sensitive and, ultimately, rewarding experience…. The fact that we can gather in a theater and peacefully discuss, what to me is a sacred text restores a little of my faith in humankind. I’m so proud to be a part of an acting company full of such creative creations.”

Fourteen community theologians and scholars participated on the Advisory Council, from a wide range of backgrounds and denominational congregations across the metroplex. A different advisory council member attended and participated in the lively Q & A sessions following performances. Discourse was respectful, spirited and inspiring.

Overall, In the Beginning was a moving and dignified production. I wished for a stronger artistic conclusion; it fizzled to an abrupt halt rather than glided to an intentional finish. But that is a small complaint when balanced against the production’s effective translation of written word into potently vital enactment, when balanced against the community goodwill and cultural diplomacy it generated. In addition, it met the company’s financial expectations. “It IS good.”

In the Beginning runs at the Dallas Theater Center January 21 through February 15, 2009.

A Cuckoo That Changed Its Tune

“What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world.” Ken Kesey

In 1959 a Stanford graduate student participated in a government sponsored experiential psychoactive drug study. After ingesting various hallucinogens, Ken Kesey filed his government report and wrote his celebrated novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. From the considerable income and attention generated by the book, Kesey toured the country in a 1939 International Harvester school bus painted with drug inspired day-glo and became a major catalyst for what became known as the Psychedelic Era, heralding the San Francisco hippie scene. The novel was a quintessential anti-establishment statement and was interpreted as a “compelling cautionary tale that viewed society as a cold, formidable negation of all that is free, lusty and nonconformist.”                            

www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/kesey.html

So how does a stage adaptation of this narrowly focused 1962 novel have relevance for today’s theatre audiences? It’s a stretch, even with adaptation penned by multiple Tony and Emmy award-winning author Dale Wasserman. Contemporary Theatre of Dallas’ production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest strives valiantly to put fresh bloom on this rainbow-hued vase of withered poppies and largely succeeds, thanks to a strong acting ensemble and the restrained guidance of regional leading director Marianne Galloway. Instead of focusing on the book’s counter-culture polemical duality, Galloway emphasizes the humanity in all the play’s characters, steering her actors clear of oversimplified stereotypes, for the most part.

Consider main character Nurse Ratched. The book portrays this woman supervising the inmates of a psychiatric hospital, the action’s setting, as the embodiment of everything evil in the dominant, repressive government-run culture. The classic 70’s movie with Jack Nicholson did the same; all cheered when the intentionally cruel, all-powerful Nurse Ratched got her comeuppance. In CTD’s production, Galloway has pointed actor Sue Loncar in a different direction. Sue’s Ratched maintains firm control but appears to operate from a belief in “best care” practice, with no trace of sadistic delight at the suffering she doles out. Nurse Ratched juggles supervising recalcitrant, irresponsible, under-qualified staff with caring for a wily collection of voluntarily committed, needy psych ward patients, getting little support from the on staff psychiatrist (played convincingly by Reg Platt), who aspires to become “one of the boys” on the ward. She’s the lone adult voice of sanity and order. Sue’s Nurse is quietly icy and focused, outcome-oriented. She clamps down hard on infractions brought on by the taunting, relentless clowning around of main male character, the grinning misfit McMurphy. To preserve order in the midst of chaos, to do her job, she has no choice.

It’s not the most interesting character I’ve seen Sue Loncar create, but it’s a consistent and believable portrayal. When she returns on stage after McMurphy cracks up and assaults her, her physical discomfort is obvious but her determination to “do her job well” reflects no savage revenge motive. It’s unexpected to consider Nurse Ratched a sympathetic character, but Sue Loncar’s depiction elicits at least empathy.

The shift in Ratched’s portrayal causes a titanic shift in McMurphy. Under Galloway’s direction, Mark Nutter presents him as a self-centered, one-dimensional anti-hero. He’s a “good ol’ boy” in a tight spot, trying to wrest power away from the lady in charge, “just cuz.” If he can scam some spare change off the gullible inmates through gambling in the process, so much the better. He’s also a baldly unrepentant statutory rapist, which distances him further from comic lead or “hero” status. Does he disrupt the lives of the inmates on the ward? Definitely, with dire results. Does his violent attack on Nurse Ratched seem justified? In no way. Does he deserve to have a lobotomy? Probably not. Does the audience sympathize with him? Not much. It’s hard to know if the shift is script or director driven, but it sure changes the show. In the book, his death at the end creates a sense of transcendent release. In this production, it’s a relief he’s gone. Intriguing to watch, I’m not entirely sure it works.

The balance of the cast is a tight ensemble featuring some of the most stage-worthy performers the Dallas region offers. Randy Pearlman as the inmates’ “spokesman” Dale creates a vivid picture of an intelligent man who has chosen to step away from “real world” challenges, curiously more fleshed out than McMurphy. Nye Cooper, Andrews Cope, Ryan Martin, Andrew Bourgeois and Bobby Selah provide a non-stop cacophany of bumbling comic relief and believable psychotic behavior as the gaggle of inmates, effectively defining a reality that has no basis in it, whatsoever. On the other hand, Jim Johnson’s Chief Bromden seems oddly detached from the rest of the production. As the play’s conscience, the agent of transcendence and the only character that “escapes” to the real world, he needs to clearly convey the play’s point, the author’s vision. In this production, he almost fades into the scenery he’s so oddly understated. Director’s decision, dropped line, opening night jitters or scripted that way? Hard to tell.

This isn’t an easy play to stage, given its dated message and apparent reworking of the novel’s core characterizations by the adapter. The full house on opening night seemed to sincerely appreciate the performance. When Ken Kesey died in 2001, his son read this statement at the memorial service: “If there is one thing he would want us to do it would be to carry on his life’s work. Namely to treat others with kindness and if anyone does you dirt forgive that person right away. This goes beyond the art, the writing, the performances, even the bus. Right down to the bone.” Remember that sentiment when you see this production.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Dale Wasserman, based on Ken Kesey’s novel, runs through March 1, 2009 at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, 5601 Sears St., Dallas, TX 75206 (one block west of lower Greenville, behind the former Arcadia Theatre). For tickets and directions: www.contemporarytheatreofdallas.com.

Nibroc Trilogy: Appeal of Love’s Eternal Glow

Searching for a unique, memorable way to celebrate St. Valentine’s with a sweetheart? Go see Echo Theatre’s current production of Arlene Hutton’s nostalgia romance, the award-winning The Nibroc Trilogy at the Bath House Cultural Center. Billed as “5 actors, 3 plays, one love story”, it’s a three-play cycle tracing the initial courting ritual and consequent married life of a charming, deeply in love, small-town Kentucky couple from the 1940’s into the post-war era. Purchase a Festival Pass to pick and choose three performance dates to attend, or take in all three plays in one day on one of the two “Nibroc Festival” dates, February 21 and 28.

The first part of the trilogy, Last Train to Nibroc, opened February 5 to an enthralled, near capacity crowd. Morgan Justiss and Ian Sinclair, as the couple May and Raleigh, trade gentle barbs and polite revelation with thorough sincerity and a natural conversational style. Well-matched and engaging, they imbue Hutton’s lyrical script with a veracity that is both a tribute to America’s “greatest generation” and very accessible to today’s audience. Co-directors Ellen Locy and Pam Myers-Morgan capitalized on both actors’ appealing looks, talents and delightful stage chemistry. In elegant balance, they create an aura of romantic intimacy while keeping the play fairly clipping along. The play’s three scenes are set upon a railroad car seat, a park bench and a porch swing. The focus stays on character interaction while clearly revealing time’s passage and setting change, a simple but effective design motif. Nibroc rocks. It soars. It beguiles. It buries sweet memories in a real gentleman’s proffered hankie and restores faith in the values of character and integrity, in the promise of true love.

The Nibroc Trilogy runs through February 28 and includes Last Train to Nibroc, See Rock City (opening Feb. 12) and Gulf View Drive (opening Feb. 19). Advanced reservations are strongly recommended.
Schedule: www.echotheatre.org
echoreservations@att.net, 214-904-0500

Morgan Justiss & Ian Sinclair as May & Raleigh