SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #262

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

10/24/08

In Bleeding Kansas, they sang a song:

Everything Will be Different – but boy, were they wrong!

More Bloody Politics…

THE SHOW: Bleeding Kansas, the second fully staged production of the latest play by Kathryn Walat, whose Victoria Martin, Math Team Queen was such as success under Moxie’s careful attention last year. This work premiered in August 2007 at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York.

THE BACKSTORY/THE STORY: There’s a whole heap of history behind the play – and in it. In an informal, post-opening presentation, Walat confessed that she’d known nothing about the Kansas Territories before she saw a PBS documentary on the subject. Then she couldn’t get it out of her head. She did a great deal of reading and research, a lot of which makes its way into her sometimes didactic text. Walat refers to this little-known chapter of American history as "a snapshot of a country, politically divided and ready to shed blood over issues of God and man." Sound familiar?

The Real Story: In the mid-1850s, the plight of Kansas presaged the Civil War. It was a battleground state, then as now. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act divided the Nebraska Territory into the two named areas, which would become either free or slave states, depending on how their residents voted. This created open season for every doctrinaire American alive, and they all converged on Kansas, flooding the new Territorys with ‘slave vs. free’ partisans who’d fight to the death to defend their ideology. That included gangs of “Border Ruffians” from Missouri who staunchly supported slavery; Abolitionists of a moderate and a violent stripe (that would be John Brown and his destructive family); and “free soil” farmers, who were most interested in gaining a piece of land, and could swing in either philosophical direction. The situation was fraught with brutality and bloodshed; the carnage was so extreme that writer/reformer Horace Greeley (who some years later, would advise Americans to “Go West, Young Man”) dubbed the area “Bleeding Kansas.”

The Play’s Story: Tough-as-nails, apolitical Kittson “Kitty” Clark and her sensitive, non-farmer, ‘free-stater’ husband, George, have come to Kansas to make a new life, tormented by the loss of their young daughter en route from Indiana. Bright-eyed, Bible-toting Bostonian Hannah Rose has come to support the anti-slavery campaign (even though, as a woman, she’s unable to vote). Edwin “Red” Redpath is a Border Ruffian who develops a soft-spot for the opposition, in the form of the upright Hannah Rose (whom he protects repeatedly, as he teasingly calls her “Boston”). Josiah Nichols is a good-hearted fellow farmer, who’s pro-slavery though he’s never owned anyone himself. Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D-IL), who pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress, puts in a brief and pompous appearance, as does the militant, murderous John Brown. Mostly, the play is about strong women, and how everyday folk are affected by the political maelstrom they’re caught up in. And also, quite topically, how extremism gets out of hand, and how people readily kill in the name of God. The relevance is strong, but the play has many weaknesses. It’s the production that elevates it from documentary to compelling drama.

The PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The play is a perfect vehicle for the high-spirited Moxie women (and their men), and they’ve torn into it with gusto. Jerry Sonnenberg has designed a superbly evocative set: a log cabin seated on real dirt-ground, backed by a wide blue sky puffed with cumulus clouds. On the distant horizon sits another small cabin. The design conveys a strong sense of the Big Sky expanse of the territories, the hardscrabble life and the promise of something better. Costumer Jennifer Brawn Gittings has created a wonderful array of credibly dusty, muddy, bloody frontier wear. Jason Bieber’s lighting highlights it all. Jason Connors’ sound design and musical compositions also have an earthy country feel, with the mournful moan of Erica Erenyi’s cello adding extra emotional depth.

Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg makes us feel the grit and anger, the anguish and rigidity of these folks. And we’re caught up in the palpable attraction between Kitty and George, as well as the unlikely connection between Red and Hannah Rose. These characters may represent the many opinions and factions in the incendiary conflict, but the five excellent actors give them flesh, sinew, blood and bone, and make us care about their concerns. The versatile men play multiple roles, from the high-handed, top-hatted Senator Douglas to the wildman John Brown. Often, in highly theatrical style, we watch their quick-change, onstage transitions from one hard-headed fella to another. Christopher Buess is especially excellent as Red, a dangerous outlaw who retains a little heart. David S. Humphrey makes George a dreamer, a man not suited to farming, but well suited to his loving wife. Their moments together – and apart – are quite tender and moving. Mark Petrich does a solid job with the least interesting of the main characters, Josiah, a nice guy who gets caught in Kitty’s crosshairs of enmity, envy and vengeance.

Center stage, the two females really hold the play together, proving that indomitable women can get on, move on and endure even the hardest of hardships. Jennifer Eve Thorn is delightfully wide-eyed and bouncy as the straitlaced Hannah Rose, who becomes increasingly toughened but retains her optimism. Her letters home to her sister in Boston, often poetic in their imagery, could become cloying, but they work fine, and draw us further into her world and perceptions (even if they may be the source of the most preachy outpourings in the play). Jo Anne Glover takes a voracious bite of yet another no-nonsense, hardy and resilient woman, a rough-as-nails pipe-smoker who just wants to start a new life in a new land. But when the crazed violence reaches into her home, she becomes a woman possessed; she takes a fierce and bloody step, and then she soldiers on.

These are the kind of women we remember, the kind we didn’t read much about in history books. Walat created them, but Moxie brings them to vibrant, vigorous life.

THE LOCATION: Moxie Theatre at Diversionary Theatre, through 11/2

Adolescent Angst

THE SHOW: Everything Will be Different, the West coast premiere of the play by Mark Schultz that won the New York National Arts Club's 2006 Kesselring Prize for New Playwrights

THE STORY: Charlotte is a teen of about 14-15, trying to cope with her mother’s death, her father’s booze-fueled grief and her own mourning. Not to mention her budding sexuality. Unable to cope with her reality (everyone tells her she’s not pretty, and definitely not as pretty as her mother), she takes refuge in fantasy – creating a friend, a boyfriend, and a sexually active guidance counselor (well, most of these people really exist, but she creates bizarre relationships with them, and nearly brings down most of them in her destructive cries to be noticed, pretty, loved and significant. She fixates on the story of Helen of Troy, but her focus is not only on the devastating power of beauty; it’s mostly on Helen’s daughter, Hermione, left behind when those 1000 ships were being launched. Char hopes that some day, when her father comes out of his drunken stupor, and perhaps when she grows up, ‘everything will be different.’ Maybe, maybe not.

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The Lynx Theatre production was so relentless and disturbing, I felt compelled to consult reviews of the New York premiere (SoHo Rep, 2005). I learned that this is an often humorous coming-of-age story, not the deeply depressing tale of a seriously disturbed girl who needs immediate psychiatric help. Director Al Germani, a psychotherapist when he’s not making theater, likes to delve into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. He loves taking risks, but here, he does a disservice to the play. His Char is bordering on psychotic. This production is not a black comedy about the confusion and cruelties (imagined or not) of adolescence; it’s a portrait of mental illness. So for me, the play didn’t work at all. The girl at the center is planted on a platform, her primary action repeatedly taking off and putting on her shirt. Each character has a playing space, and pretty much stays put, spotlighted (lighting and stage design by Germani). The choice to make Char’s unequivocally imaginary friend (in the original production, many critics weren’t sure if her popular best bud was real or not) an older woman (Joan Westmoreland as Char’s dead mother?) and have the story of Helen of Troy told by a very young, garishly lipsticked young girl (uncredited) only served to further unnerve and confuse.

That said, the performances are quite strong. Each actor carves out a character. Michelle Procopio is excellent and rather scary as Char. Her portrayal is potent, well conveyed, but I wish it had been more of the wild emotional rollercoaster and unstable eroticism of adolescence than the craziness of the really disturbed. She’s so out-there that no one would see her as a normally angst-ridden teen. The kind of characterization she displays renders her guidance counselor (the game Walter Ritter, who’s in for some gut-wrenching emotional abuse) ineffectual and unprofessional. Both roles call for a comic edge, but there’s little of that here. Bill Kehayias plays one dissipated, angry note, until the very last moment, which is incestually creepy. Joshua Manley is fine as the handsome jock, Fredie, and Kevin Koppman-Gue is admirable as the geeky Franklin, perhaps the only friend Char really has, and the one most destroyed by her. The tone (acting, reality, fantasy, projection) is not always consistent. Being kept off-balance by a play is fine. Feeling beaten by it is less appealing.

THE LOCATION: Lynx Performance Theatre, through 11/2 (no performance 10/31)

Five Fabulous Females

…New Village Arts launched its new monthly performance series with a sensational staged reading of the Alan Ball comedy, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. Ball is best known for writing “American Beauty,” and creating “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood.” And boy, does he know gals! He sets the play in an upscale bedroom in Knoxville, TN (we had to imagine, since we were in the rundown hotel room that’s the set for Fool for Love), as five women dish and diss the unloved bride for whom they’re wearing those similarly horrendous dresses. Dana Case directed a spectacular cast, who seemed to be having entirely too much fun! It was great fun for the audience, too. Those dastardly drawling damsels were played the fabulous Kristianne Kurner (weepy and obsessed), Amanda Morrow (deliciously nasty!), Amanda Sitton (a riot as a hyper-religious virgin), Wendy Waddell (the tough-broad who’s done with men… or not) and Frances Regal (very funny, especially in her beauty-pageant spoof that was suspiciously reminiscent of a certain VP candidate). They played their juicy roles to the hilt. Whatta gorgeous group! And joining them was the very lucky (and skillful) Tim Parker, whose scene wasn’t necessary (why the arrival of a man at the 11^th hour?) but who, with Waddell, definitely made the most of it. The play is great fun, and should be strongly considered a mainstage production, even if it’s more fluff than substance. Look for NVA’s first bilingual play-reading, Simply Maria, by Josefina Lopez (author of Real Women Have Curves) on November 8 at 8pm. www.newvillagearts.org

NEWS AND VIEWS

Scary Times for Halloween…

… Lyric Opera San Diego and Hawthorn’s Restaurant cap off their month-long Horror Movie Series with that ever-popular midnight revel, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which starts at 10:30pm.

… Chronos Theatre Group presents a late-night performance of poetry, prose and live music about the mystery of Death and the joy of Life, in honor of Dia De Los Muertos. 10:30pm on November 1. Reservations at 619-615-8928; info@chronostheatre.com

Reading Room

… Carlsbad Playreaders invites you to a cross-generational battle of the sexes, as Jonathan McMurtry reprises his Old Globe performance in Trying, by Joanna McClelland Glass. He’s joined by Kristianne Kurner (on her first day off after her Fool for Love run!) for a reading of a battle royale. Monday October 27, 7:30pm in the Dove Library.

… Also on October 27, Blue Trunk Theatre Company presents a staged reading of a new play, Taxi Dance, written and directed by Joe Powers. Set in a run-down dance hall, the piece features a first-rate cast: Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson, TJ Johnson, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Monique Gaffney, Eric Poppick, Jason Connors, Sara Beth Morgan and Dónal Pugh. 7pm on 10/27at Lamb’s Players Theatre.

… Write Out Loud is offering "Turns and Leaves," tales and poems about autumn. The stories and poems will be read/performed by Amy Biedel, Francis Gercke, Veronica Murphy, Eric Poppick and Walter Ritter. 2pm Saturday, October 25 at Cygnet Theatre/Rolando. Reservations at 619-297-8953 or
writeoutloudsd@gmail.com.

DANCE CORNER…

.. Two by Two… Malashock Dance presents another of its duo delights, “Let’s Duet,” featuring dances created by Emmy-winning choreographer John Malashock working in his favorite dance form – the duet. Danced to music ranging from classical to pop, the duets explore relationships and emotions of every kind. Nov. 21-22 in the Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla. 858-362-1348. And you might also be interested in Malashock’s “Studio Series,” an exciting opportunity to watch the choreographer and his company at work. November 7-8. www.malashockdance.org.

MORE NEWS

… Devlin Does New York (again)… Local cabaret chanteuse Devlin made another big splash in the Big Apple. Last year, she made her NY debut with a sold-out run at Helen’s. Then she appeared at The Metropolitan Room. Her new show, “The Places You Find Love,” was a hit this month at Don’t Tell Mama. According to cabaretscenes.org, she’s “a memorable singer adept at jazz and the blues and not afraid to show her rich, emotional soul.” Her new CD, “Live From New York,” was hailed by theatermania.com as “a fine introduction to a talented cabaret singer who traverses the soundscape of Laura Nyro, Amanda McBroom and Irving Berlin with ease and flair.” So support a local! Buy Devlin’s CD (http://cdbaby.com/cd/devgirl)...and check out her website (http://devlinsings.com/).

… San Diego boy makes good (again): Former San Diegan Bartlett Sher, who cut his theatrical teeth on local stages and went on to win a Tony Award for his direction of the much-loved and lauded current revival of South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, has been named the resident director of Lincoln Center Theater. At the same time, he’ll retain his position as the artistic director of the Intiman Theater in Seattle, but will maintain an office at Lincoln Center, where he’ll direct one production a year. Sher garnered Tony noms for his direction of the Lincoln Center productions of Awake and Sing! and The Light in the Piazza.

…Daddy-Oh!... The Daddy Machine, a commissioned show that premiered at Diversionary Theatre last January, is getting its second full production at Diversionary’s LGBT sister, Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles. The show plays Saturday mornings and afternoons from October 18-December 20. The family-friendly musical was written by Patricia Loughrey, with music and lyrics by Rayme Sciaroni, who’s directing Diversionary’s next production, Scrooge in Rouge.

.. Tooting my horn… but it’s the subjects that inspired me… and earned me five awards at the 35^th annual San Diego Press Club Awards this week. I snagged first and second place in Radio Reviews for my pieces on Corpus Christi at Diversionary Theatre and ‘Night, Mother, the premiere production of the new Ascension Theatre Company. Thanks for the great work that stirred me to award-winning verbiage!

…Food for Thought… The guidelines of the Broadway League strongly suggest that two or more shows avoid opening on the same date. So why can’t San Diego do the same??

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

Bleeding Kansas – history has amazing relevance in a didactic play in a terrific production

Moxie Theatre at Diversionary Theatre, through 11/2

bash and In a Dark, Dark House – dark, disturbing dramas, extremely well performed

Ion theatre, in repertory with bash, through 11/1

Waiting to be Invited – a flawed play, a variable production, but an important piece of history

Common Ground Theatre at the Educational Cultural Complex (ECC), through 11/2 (no performance 10/31)

Fool for Love - wonderful performances; still-provocative play

New Village Arts, through 10/26

The Light in the Piazza – beautiful, lush, luscious and romantic

Lamb’s Players Theater, through 11/2

Tobacco Road – set during the Great Depression, the play is chilling in its relevance. Flawed production, but some fine performances

La Jolla Playhouse, through 10/26

The Women – elegant, glamorous and backbiting; sheer delight!

The Old Globe Theatre, through 10/26

Boomers - you gotta love it, even if you aren’t one. Fabulous band, super songs, high-energy performances

Lamb’s Players at the Horton Grand Theatre, an open-ended run, now selling through 12/31

It’s almost Halloween… so put on a costume and go to the theater!

© 2008 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

For nearly 25 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 and celebrates the broad diversity of San Diego theater.