SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #238

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

04/11/08

 

Themes and music lush and grand:

Malashock’s premiere Stay the Hand.

 

 

HAND IN HAND

 

THE SHOW: Stay the Hand,  a world premiere conceived by John Malashock, Shahrokh Yadegari and Tara Knight, co-directed by Malashock and Yadegari, with music composed by Yadegari and choreography by Malashock. Presented by Malashock Dance.

 

THE BACKSTORY: Here’s the titular backstory: When Abraham was 100 years old, his aged wife miraculously gave birth. The obedience of the Patriarch was tested by God, who told him to sacrifice his young son, Isaac. Abraham reluctantly agreed, but at the last minute, an angel interceded, ordering Abraham to “stay the hand.” That Old Testament story inspired the work that also draws on Islamic myth and the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. The eternal struggle between good and evil is present in all the traditions, and this drove the collaborators to examine modern-day issues of conflict and resolution, discord and harmony, set against a backdrop of Persian folk melodies and Persian poems by writers old (Rumi) and new (Fereidoon Moshiri, Ahmad Shamloo), recited in Farsi.

 

The suite of dances comprises ten segments that are imagistic in title (“Green Memories”) or emotionally evocative (“Rapture”) or steeped in ancient belief (“Mithra’s Gaze” relates to a Zorastrian diety, the protector of truth;  “Vashti” is a Persian queen in the Book of Esther, viewed by some as a proto-feminist for her refusal to obey her husband; “Samsara,” in Eastern religious/philosophical traditions, refers to the cycles of birth, death and rebirth).

 

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: There is no narrative arc, per se. But we see a range of conflicts and polarities in the first act, with some unity and harmony interspersed, and a modicum of joy at the very end of the evening. The tone is generally somber, tense and intense until that last moment. The dancers give new meaning to “artistic trust,” as they fling and fall and fly against their partners. The company is impressively disciplined, focused, athletic, controlled and resilient.

 

One of the most potent pieces is “Green Memories,” with the Cain-Abel competition, conflict and violence between the wonderfully muscular, marvelously matched Michael Mizerany and Bradley R. Lundberg. The music crescendoed to strident and shrill here, then subsided, as the whole group formed a circle at the end, supporting each other, swaying like sheaves of wheat. The two men and the two most notable women, Jillian Chu and Christine Marshall, pair off in “Mithra’s Grace,” mirroring each other’s aggressive moves, attaining impossible positions. “Rapture” is backed by the thrumming of a tabla, as Lara Segura takes center stage, in a seductive, flirtatious dance directed provocatively at the audience. No coupling here; speed picks up and the dancers spin off, leaving the woman alone, backed by a Persian poem (by Moshiri) that says, in translation: “Across a desolate desert/Amongst a people weathered by pain/The talk is about the death of affection, the death of love/It is about humanity dying.”

 

“Vashti” begins with the moaning, keening sound of the flute-like ney (the music for this piece is “a collaborative melodic composition” with Hossein Omoumi). Jillian Chu is magnificent in this deeply disturbing piece that puts her at the command of three men (Mizerany, Lundberg and Eduardo Larios Cueto). She has a doll-like board-stiffness as she is totally manipulated and manhandled -- abused, raped, tossed around like a slab of meat, thrown upside down and then dropped. This is a gut-wrenching  work that would have made a shocking end to the first act. But death and burial come in the act-closing “Tear,” filled with leaping and twirling and birdlike, flailing arms, culminating in quiet postures of prayer and supplication.

 

In the second act, Malashock himself joins in several times, replacing an injured dancer. He hasn’t danced publicly in five years, but he acquits himself well. In these pieces, there seems to be an increased effort to connect in positive ways, especially in the stunningly sexy duet that’s part of “The Walk.” Mizerany and Christine Marshall, who paired so magically in Malashock’s 2007 premiere, “Silver and Gold,” are tightly interwoven and steamily sensual in this segment. 

 

The two stretched-white, geometric-shaped fabric forms that are the backdrop, rearranged several times by the dancers (design by Nicole Black), are reconfigured in more harmonious ways in the second act, with less tension between the angular, tent-like contours. In keeping with the theme of duality, the costumes (Jeanne Reith) change from black to white. In “Samsara,” the astonishingly feather-light Marshall is tossed about like a shuttlecock, her body unbending. The penultimate piece, “Dust,” which effectively uses multiple, contrapuntal female voices in surround-sound, foreshadows the ending, with a Rumi poem that says “My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless.” The final section, “Traceless,” features all the instrumental options used throughout the evening: the stringed, lute-like, Middle Eastern oud, vocals, violin, tabla and Yadegari’s Lila, a software program he created to sample and loop acoustic Persian music. The sound is stirring. The moves are more open and carefree; the faces are, at last, smiling. The lighting (Jennifer Setlow) is brighter, with a pinkish tinge of dawn and hope. And then there’s that final ‘WOW’ moment, when Marshall is flung into a breathtaking, stop-action mid-air toss, leaving us (like the world itself) in a suspended state of expectation and hope.

 

THE LOCATION: Birch North Park Theatre, through April 13

 

BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet

 

 

 

CHILLING

 

THE SHOW: Frozen, by Briony Lavery, which won London's Barclay Award for Best New Play in 1998. It concerns a serial killer, the mother of one of his victims and the researcher studying the case. Acclaimed local actor Ron Choularton, who appeared in this staged reading at North Coast Repertory Theatre in January and again this week at New Village Arts, has been trying to get someone to produce the show for years. It’s a hard sell, for sure. But the characters are deep, juicy and multi-faceted. And in this reading, directed by North Coast Rep artistic associate Stephen Elton (who’d mounted a full production at the Beowulf Alley Theatre in Tucson, where he served as artistic director), the cast was magnificent. Choularton, using his own Manchester dialect, is as cheerfully crazy and murderous as Javier Bardem’s nutcase killer in “No Country for Old Men,” this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture.

 

Grief is threatening to destroy the two women who orbit around the killer, Ralph. Both remain in a ‘frozen’ state, as does Ralph’s brain, damaged multiple times (frequently by abuse) in his youth. Jo Anne Glover, sporting a very credible South London accent, just keeps getting dramatically better and better (Playwright Zsa Zsa Gershick, who created Blue Bonnet Court, in which Glover currently appears, just told me that Glover is “frighteningly good”). Glover is marvelous as the grieving, never-give-up mother, moving forward with activism but stuck in place emotionally, ignoring her still-living daughter and estranged from her helpless husband. Terri Park, looking stunning, plays the most enigmatic (and under-developed) of the characters, the American researcher who tries to understand Ralph, and keep him away from Nancy (Glover), while harboring her own secret loss, guilt and remorse. Confrontation brings release in various ways, but the ending is as disturbing as the rest of the piece. The play has little action, and given its reliance on monologues, actually seems to work better as a reading. But it’s well worth seeing, and maybe some producer will have the cojones to give it a try in a full production.

 

 

NEWS AND VIEWS ….

… April is Jazz Month… and thanks to you, and many other arts-loving San Diegans, KSDS Jazz88.3 made its goal for the Spring Membership Campaign. As a special incentive during my pitch-time, I was able to give away tickets to Cygnet’s wonderful production of A Little Night Music. So, keep supporting Jazz88.3, and tune in to my weekly review at 9am every Friday. If you miss the broadcast or live-stream, you can read or listen to my reviews, any time, at www.jazz88.org. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback; and thanks for showing your support.

 

… Name Change… 6th @ Penn Theatre held a press conference to announce the new name of the 49-seat space, reflecting an altered course and change in theatrical direction. The Compass Theatre will be helmed by playwright/actor/screenwriter Matt Thompson, not unaccustomed to the role of artistic director (a title he held at the Repertory Theatre at Sea Program and still maintains for Plutonium Theatre, which is dedicated to the production of new works). Matt is also currently working on his master’s degree at San Diego State University. And, as if that isn’t enough, he’s also in rehearsal for Inukshuk Productions’ Terra Nova, a rental production opening at Compass Theatre on April 18.

 

The inaugural production of the newly-renamed theater will be a high-profile production: Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer-nominated Three Days of Rain, directed by Rosina Reynolds, starring Sean Cox, Jason Heil and Christy Yael.

 

Meanwhile, back behind the scenes, 6th @Penn founder/producing artistic director Dale Morris will become managing director for Compass Theatre, whose motto is “discovering new directions.” Actress Sunny Smith (Thompson’s main squeeze, who was seen onstage with him in North Coast Rep’s Dracula) will serve as associate artistic director. Sometime actor Michael Thomas Tower (recently seen in Vanguard Theatre’s Proof), will continue as resident playwright and artistic director of New Works Projects (including Q Plays and the inventive Challenge Theatre, which he helped create and which resumes April 20). Rounding out the creative team is actor/stage manager Kelly Lapczynski as associate managing director. Monetary grants continue to come in, from the Tippett Foundation, from the City’s TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax), from the San Diego Foundation (in association with the la Jolla Playhouse) and for touring the acclaimed 6th @Penn production of …Young Woman from Rwanda.

 

Energy and enthusiasm were high for the new era at the small but influential theater, which will soon be re-decorated (in thematically-apt nautical colors) – and the box office will move inside. Watch for the return of the Resilience of the Human Spirit Festival (more light-hearted this time) during the summer months. One caution as the new theater launches: not too much nepotism (i.e., not too high a proportion of the new plays featured in the Festivals should come from in-house).

 

… Planting Seeds of Change… That was the theme of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Diego Foundation for Change, which provides seed money to grassroots organizations working for progressive social change. The honorees were: Foundation founder Victoria Danzig, activists Roberto Martinez and Donald Cohen, and San Diego LGBT Pride, which attracts 200,000 participants to its annual parade and Festival. It was an inspiring evening at the Birch Aquarium, with socially and historically relevant performances by the youth and adult members of Eveoke Dance Theatre. In these tough times, it’s nice to know that social activism is alive and well -- and flourishing -- in San Diego.

 

…. North Coast Repertory Theatre will host the West coast premiere of McGuire, play-by-play sports legend Dick Enberg’s one-man drama about another legend: Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire. The play, which is being presented in cooperation with Marquette University, premiered on the Milwaukee campus in 2005. This special benefit production includes a hosted reception and talkback with Enberg. April 21-22 only. 858-481-1055; www.northcoastrep.org.

 

… Common Ground Theatre presents Awaiting Judgment, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermon at Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967. The drama depicts two 20th century theological giants: Dr. King and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor hanged for his involvement in plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The play, written by Rev. Art Cribbs (former pastor of the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church in San Diego), had been directed by the late Dr. Floyd Gaffney, to whom this production is dedicated. Rhys Green, Craig Huisenga and Rev. Anthony Stephens Drummond star. 4pm Sunday, April 27 at the Bayview Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. Christian Center, 6134 Benson Ave. 619-262-8384; www.commongroundtheatre.org.

 

… Local actors on the Big Screen…  “Ready? OK!,” an indie film set in Normal Heights, stars some local faves in quirky roles. Multi-talented writer/director James Vasquez (associate director/choreographer of Cygnet Theatre’s A Little Night Music), reports that, in his film, “Sandra Ellis-Troy is fantastic and funny as the matriarch; Steve Gunderson makes a terrific cameo as an uptight mailman; Ari Lerner appears as the object of the lead little boy's affection; and Jim Chovick is sweet as ever as a local priest hearing confession.”  The 93-minute movie is the closing-night selection for FilmOut San Diego 2008, the gay and lesbian-themed festival running April 11-17 at the Ken Cinema. "Ready? OK" screens at 7:15pm on April 17. Check it out, and support the home-team!

 

…Coming to a theater not-so-near you…. Book your New York tickets, Star Trek and Harry Potter fans! The Chichester Festival Theater’s Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart, has moved from Brooklyn to Broadway (he opened this week at New York’s Lyceum Theatre). Stewart has gotten raves for his powerful, intelligent performance; guess he’s a born leader, whether it’s Capt. or Thane. … And direct from London, Harry takes off his glasses – and everything else! Daniel Radcliffe comes to Broadway as the star of the provocative Equus (with its famous nude scene), along with Richard Griffiths (Tony and Olivier Award-winner for Best Performance in The History Boys, which will be part of Cygnet’s season, opening 2/28/09). Radcliffe’s well-reviewed performance (and physique) can be seen in September; 9/25 is the official opening at the Broadhurst Theatre. … And Givin’ ‘em What They Want (to borrow from a song from the Old Globe’s award-winning Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, where he was last seen locally) John Lithgow will appear at Lincoln Center in his one-man show, John Lithgow: Stories by Heart. Probably hoping to follow in the Tony-winning footsteps of Billy Crystal (whose solo show originated at La Jolla Playhouse), Lithgow appears for 14 performances only, performing his “meditation on the art and essence of storytelling,” concluding with a 40-minute performance of the P.G. Wodehouse story, “Uncle Fred Flits By,” in which the star portrays nine characters.

 

 

READING ROOM

… San Diego Black Ensemble is back… with a staged reading of Waiting to be Invited, by M. Shepard Massatt, directed by Antonio TJ Johnson, SDBET’s executive director. Set in Atlanta in 1964, the play concerns four courageous African American women who decide to face their fears -- and their foes --and eat lunch at a department store, without ‘waiting to be invited.’ Great cast: Sylvia M’lafi Thompson, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Monique Gaffney, Veronica Murphy, Veronica Henson-Phillips and Ida Rhem. Tuesday, April 16, 7:30pm, 10th Avenue Theatre. Tickets at the door; all proceeds go toward SDBET’s 2008/2009 season. There may be a repeat performance for Mother’s Day… watch for further news here.

 

… Poetry in Motion… Vox Nova Theatre Company presents a staged reading of Kirsten Brandt’s new drama, Waves, inspired by the lives of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley; Mary’s sister Claire and Lord Byron are also in the mix. The drama is “a modern look at relationships, sex and deeply rooted psychological conundrums that keep us from our own happiness.” Brandt, former artistic director of Sledgehammer Theatre (1995-2001), who created memorable works such as Berzerkergäng (Patté Award for Outstanding Production of 2003) and The Frankenstein Project (v. 1 and 2), is currently associate artistic director at San Joe Repertory Theatre. Her newest creation will star Amy Biedel, Walter Murray and (flying in from New York) Jessa Watson, directed by Vox Nov executive artistic director Ruff Yeager. Monday, April 28, 7:30pm, Lyceum Theatre. A Pay-What-You-Can event; no reservation needed. www.voxnovatheatrecompany.com

 

… Boston Marriage, David Mamet’s 1999 play exclusively about women, will be presented at New Village Arts on Monday, April 21. Joshua Everett Johnson directs his acting students. Enemy of the People, part of ion theatre’s Intimate Ibsen series, shows on April 28. www.newvillagearts.org

 

…Carlsbad Playreaders presents Bleacher Bums, a “nine-inning comedy” conceived by Joe Mantegna and the Organic Theatre, shepherded by Patté Award-winning director Eric Bishop. www.carlsbadplayreaders.org. Bishop, new chair of the theater department at Mira Costa College, also directs the up-coming college production of Neil Simon’s Proposals (4/20-5/11).

 

 

 

 

DANCE DEPARTMENT

… City Ballet closes its 15th anniversary season with a classical, full-length ballet, Don Quixote, staged with extravagant sets and costumes, under the direction of former Boston Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet dancers Steven and Elizabeth Wistrich. With its high-caliber dance and training programs, City Ballet boasts that its alumnae dance with companies such as American Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet. DQ plays at the Spreckels Theatre, May 9-11 (including a special Mother’s Day ‘Brunch and Ballet’ on 5/11). 858-272-8663; www.cityballet.org.

 

…San Diego Ballet presents “Choreographer's Creations” the company’s annual in-studio workshop that allows experienced chorographers to work with SDB dancers and permits SDB dancers to try a little choreography. Attendees will see works by Claire Torres, Ryan Beck, Danika Pramik-Holdaway, Peter Kalivas, Kirsten Thorne, Sandra Mangusing, Kirsten Heinrich, Claire Bletz, Jean Isaacs, and Javier Velasco. April  25-27 at Dance Place San Diego at NTC (2650 Truxton Road 92106. Reservations suggested: 619-294-7311.

 

… The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and Culture's Edge will co-present The California Touring Project on May 10 at Sherwood Auditorium in La Jolla. As part of a three-city tour, the one-night event presents three California contemporary performance and dance groups, hailing from San Diego, Los Angeles, and Santa Cruz: The Hybrid Authorship Project, Cid Pearlman, and casebolt and smith. The California Touring Project was created last year by San Diegan Liam Clancy, along with Nina Haft and Cid Pearlman, as a way to create touring opportunities for independent dance artists with limited resources. The group’s previous local performance was named by the San Diego Union-Tribune as one of the "Top 10 Dance Performances of 2007." Tickets at the Museum's downtown and La Jolla locations or at www.sandiegoperforms.com.


 

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

 

Stay the Hand – stunningly athletic dance, based on music and myth and the forces of good and evil, from the Judaic, Islamic, Persian and Zoroastrian tradition. Exciting and exotic

Malashock Dance at the Birch North Park Theatre, through 4/13

 

A Little Night Music – a challenging chamber musical, delightfully executed

Cygnet Theatre at the Old Town Theatre, through 5/11

 

Blue Bonnet Court – dramatic and provocative themes, interspersed with comic relief; excellent ensemble work

A Moxie Theatre & Diversionary Theatre co-production, at Diversionary, through 4/13

 

Dancing in the Dark  - world premiere musical, based on the MGM classic; wonderfully done; great fun

Old Globe, extended through 4/20

 

 

 

 

(For full text of all of Pat’s past reviews, going back to 1990, use the Search engine at www.patteproductions.com)

 

 

This month is teeming with theater… get in on the act!

Pat

 

© 2008 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

 

For more than 20 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in San Diego. An Emmy Award-winner with a Ph.D. in Communication Arts & Sciences, Pat sees and reviews more than 200 local theater productions every year. For the past decade, she has hosted and produced The Patté Awards for Theatre Excellence, a gala community event that honors local theatermakers (“San Diegans making theater for San Diego”) and celebrates the broad diversity of San Diego theater.