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Pat Launer on San Diego Theater

Thursday, July 16, 2009

REVIEWS OF: “The Glory of Living,” “Dickinson,” “Measure for Measure,” “Looking for an Echo”

Little Girl Lost

THE SHOW: “The Glory of Living,” the San Diego premiere of a dark, disturbing drama by Rebecca Gilman, presented by InnerMission Productions

It’s hard not to think ‘Trailer Trash.’ In this particularly unsavory mobile home, Lisa, age 15, watches TV while her mother turns tricks behind a flimsy curtain. “She’s a screamer,” Lisa explains dispassionately, when the friend of her mother’s current john sits down on the sofa next to her. Clint, who’s twice her age, turns on the charm, and Lisa takes notice. Her father died when she was 10, and Clint’s the first person who’s ever paid any attention to her. So when he asks her to leave with him, she does. She even marries him, and soon she’s saddled with a pair of twins he palms off on his mother and rarely lets her see.

He’s got other plans for her, like trolling for young girls to satisfy his ravenous sexual appetites; she picks them up in the car, handcuffs them and then dispatches them with his gun. The Bonnie and Clyde due go from one ratty Southern motel to another, Lisa repeatedly doing Clint’s bidding and unflinchingly taking his abuse. Until they’re caught, thanks to Lisa’s phonecall moments of remorse, leading the police to the bodies.

In the second act, she’s on Death Row, he’s out scot-free (after a brief stint behind bars). And we watch as Lisa is interrogated by an empathic, court-appointed attorney who cannot fathom what has made her do what she’s done. Clint is clearly a monster, a sociopath. But Lisa defies comprehension. Gradually, we come to see the pathos in her tragically stunted emotional development. It never crossed her mind that she could leave him, or avoid doing what he told her. Though she remains impassive to the end, her final scene nearly breaks our hearts.

It’s a sordid little story, penned by award-winning playwright Rebecca Gilman, whose unsettling stalking drama, “Boy Gets Girl,” was presented by San Diego’s Stone Soup Theatre in 2003. “The Glory of Living,” a sadly ironic title, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002.

This play definitely isn’t for everyone. But if you have the stomach for it, InnerMission Productions is doing an outstanding job with the piece. Artistic director Carla Nell loves to delve into the depths of human emotion. And she gets her bellyful here. She’s marshaled an excellent cast of eleven, headed by 18 year-old Bonnie Alexander, a recent graduate of Grossmont High School. Petite and disarming, she’s terrifically unflappable as frightening, but never frightened, young Lisa. As Clint, Scott Andrew Amiotte looms over her ominously; he creates an aptly ferocious, menacing presence. As a balance between them, David Kelso’s Carl is wonderfully calm, gentle and centered as the compassionate attorney. The rest of the cast gives quality support.

It makes all the sense in the world for this play to be performed at the quirky 8Teen Center, which opened eight months ago to showcase artists (there’s a gallery in the back, and a coffee bar in the main room) and provide a place for homeless and disadvantaged youth to “be empowered” and “make better choices.” That’s what this piece is all about. Brava to Nell for being a fearless artistic risk-taker, and for forcing us not to ignore the seamier side of our own society.

THE LOCATION: InnerMission Productions at 8Teen Center, 3925 Ohio St. (619) 245-4958; www.innermissionproductions.org

THE DETAILS: Tickets: $15-20. 8 p.m. performances on 7/30 (Pay What You Can), 7/31, 8/1, 8/5-7; 8/12-14, through August 14.

Note: A portion of all proceeds goes to homeless youth charities in San Diego.

BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET

Poetry in Motion

THE SHOW: “Dickinson,” a drama about the poet Emily Dickinson, presented by Lynx Performance Theatre

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” Poet Emily Dickinson was good to her word. She wrote nearly two thousand poems before her death at age 55, in 1886. But we know nearly nothing about her except for that. She had her sister burn her correspondences after her death. Her education was cut short. She rarely left her parents’ home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was a recluse, perhaps an agoraphobic, maybe even a madwoman. For more than a century, scholars have pored over her terse, cryptic and ambiguous works to figure out who she was, and what made her so obsessed with death.

San Diego playwright William Roetzheim, like the fictional writer in his brief, intense drama, “Dickinson, The Secret Story of Emily Dickinson,” has written “Five Poet Plays” focused on the most influential poets of the turn of the last century: Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Robert Lowell, Robert Frost and Ezra Pound. Both playwrights see Dickinson as the centerpiece, even though she died before 1900; most of her poems, which were scribbled on scraps of paper, were published posthumously.

When Lynx Performance Theatre brought “Dickinson” to New York last month for the Planet Connections Theatre Festival, it played along with “Pound, The Poet on Trial.” In 2008, “Dickinson” was named a finalist for Best Stageplay at the Moondance International Film Festival (“the American Cannes”).

It’s a taut piece of work, a little problematic, but then, so is the poet. The conceit of a writer struggling to create a drama about Dickinson feels a little forced, but it works most of the time, thanks to Greg Wittman’s convincing performance. When we meet the nameless writer, he’s frustrated (and drunk), and is plagued by myriad unanswered questions. And then, Emily Dickinson herself appears before him. He interacts with her, he sees how sharp and feisty and emotional she was, not the prudish Victorian spinster of legend. Still, he doesn’t get many answers, but viewing re-enactments of her life and relationships, he begins to formulate hypotheses about what drove her. He even tells her that she exhibits 33 of the 37 factors on a checklist identifying victims of incest. It was her father – and also, perhaps, her beloved brother. And then there were those intense relationships with women which, to The Playwright (and Roetzheim, presumably) seem to point to possibly unfulfilled lesbian desires.

Rhianna Basore is spellbinding as the poet, showing sparks of anger, jealousy, passion, hysteria and depression. It’s a stunning performance. Charlie Riendeau and Diana Sparta, who pleasantly sings a raft of 17^th and 18^th century songs (including “Rock-a-bye- Baby” and “Lavender Blue”) effectively portray all the other people in Emily’s life. Al Germani directs with precision, keeping the intensity high, as we watch the tortured woman whirl through the disturbing details of her life.

The tiny, intimate, 40-seat North Park Vaudeville Theatre brings us very close to the action; we almost feel like voyeurs in these highly personal, emotionally fraught moments. The small stage is nearly bare, and dimly lit; the costumes – especially Emily’s signature white lacy dress – are just right. But for such unfussy staging, the scene changes took inordinate amounts of time (perhaps this was to allow the AC to click on and cool the place down).

Dickinson’s poems are deftly woven into her highly charged dialogue, and that makes you want to go back and read them all again, to try and unravel the riddles of her eccentric and enigmatic life.

THE LOCATION: Lynx Performance Co. at North Park Vaudeville Theatre, 2031 El Cajon Blvd. in Normal Heights. (619) 220-8663.www.northparkvaudeville.com

THE DETAILS: Tickets: $15-18; Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m., through August 7.

BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET

Hypocrites in High Places

THE SHOW: “Measure for Measure,” William Shakespeare’s 1603-4 “problem play” (which is to say, difficult to classify), presented by Poor Players

They were only Poor in financial resources; they were rich in Shakespearean knowledge, enthusiasm and acumen. The Poor Players troupe, which produced more than two dozen Shakespeare plays in San Diego, from 2001 to 2005, have been much missed during their four-year hiatus. Ironically, like their metaphorical name-source from “Macbeth” (“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more”), they left the local stage, as founding artistic director Richard Baird headed off to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and then the Southwest Shakespeare Company (Mesa, AZ) and most recently, the Kingsman Shakespeare Festival (Thousand Oaks, CA).

From the outset, the company was committed to attracting young people and making the Bard relevant -- and often irreverent. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll often made their way into Poor Players’ productions. But they were serious about their dedication to clarity of diction, character delineation and textual analysis. Baird, who dominated every production with his commanding presence and superlative acting, last played Angelo in “Measure for Measure” in 2005, and he won a Patté Award for Outstanding Performance.

He directs and stars again, and he brought with him several actors he worked with at Southwest Shakespeare Company: Sarah Hayes (a fine Mariana; also Mistress Overdone and Juliet), Amanda Schaar (a wonderfully saintly and energized Isabella) and Eric Schoen (riveting and splendidly natural as the gadfly/go-between, lecher/liar, Lucio). Shakespeare veteran/Equity actor David Loar (formidable as the Duke) joins Poor Players returnees Justin Lang (solid as Claudio, funny as the pimp Pompey), John Tessmer (stalwart as Escalus) and Neil McDonald (fine as the Provost, less funny than he could be as that wacky malaprop-spewer, Elbow).

The story concerns Angelo, the righteous deputy empowered by the Duke of Vienna to rule over a city that’s become a hotbed of scandal. The Duke disguises himself as a friar to so he can get a sense of the moral decay of his surroundings – and observe Angelo in his new position of authority. As soon as he assumes power, Angelo grabs the opportunity to enforce his strict standards of morality, seizing on an archaic law that condemns fornicators to death. His first victim is Claudio, a young man who’s impregnated his beloved fiancée. Claudio’s virginal sister, Isabella, a novitiate, comes to plead for her brother’s life. Her piety and sincerity arouse Angelo’s lust and he uses his power to blackmail her into surrendering her virginity to him, in exchange for her brother’s release. The Duke overhears the awful offer and sets in motion a complicated scheme that will save Claudio’s life and Isabella’s chastity, and force Angelo to make good on the engagement he broke years ago.

The last time, Baird’s Angelo was a hidebound, straitlaced religious fanatic, something like an Opus Dei devotee, who self-flagellated when he found himself irresistibly attracted to Isabella. This time, he’s more of a nerd at the outset, and he seems to be more seduced by power than ruled by religion. Still a mesmerizing actor, Baird doesn’t dominate the stage; he’s far more an ensemble player than before. That makes for a better, more balanced production, but Baird doesn’t get to flaunt his prodigious talent. His performance is captivating, if not show-stopping.

True to the nature of this highly polarized society, Baird the director has every character costumed either in black or white. When Angelo moves from powerlessness to potentate, he changes from his hiked-up black pants to a pristine white three-piece suit, an unequivocal sign of his supposed purity. When he’s drawn to Isabella, he gives up any semblance of civility. There’s a naughty bit of sexual innuendo when Angelo, shocked at being so smitten by Isabella, says “What’s this?,” and glances with surprise at his crotch. Later, he tries to fondle her breasts, quite an offensive act toward someone in a nun’s habit. The madam, Mistress Overdone, is definitely overdone here: she inexplicably sports an eyepatch, leg-brace and limp. But other aspects of Baird’s effective direction serve to consolidate and clarify the plot, and make the story relevant. Hypocrisy at the highest levels of government? Unimaginable.

As before, Baird leaves the audience guessing at the end. The final scene, when the Duke unexpectedly proposes to Isabella, is typically a cause for general merriment and happy reunions. Even Angelo is forced to wed, reluctantly marrying his former affianced, the jilted Mariana, who, in this production, looks like Dickens’ Miss Havisham, still wearing her wedding gown and veil. Baird terminates the piece provocatively; it’s not clear whether or not Isabella will accept the Duke’s offer. And that adds one more layer of interest and intrigue to the production, which is, overall, quite excellent. Welcome back, Poor Players. Hope you’re back for the long haul.

THE LOCATION: Poor Players at the Off Broadway Theatre, 131 Main St., in Vista. www.poorplayers.com

THE DETAILS: Tickets: $15-25, Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. (no performance 8/1 or 8/15), Saturday and Sunday, 8/8-9 at 2 p.m., Sunday 8/16 at 7 p.m., through August 16

BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET

Meet Me on the Corner

THE SHOW: “Looking for an Echo,” a new doo wop musical revue, created and directed by Calvin Manson, founder of the Ira Aldridge Repertory Players

Sha-boom, shoo be doo and dip di dip….. Doo wop is back! And it sounds better than ever.

Calvin Manson, founder/artistic director of the Ira Aldridge Repertory Players, San Diego’s only African American dinner theater, gathered together nine of our most compelling a capella singers for his latest musical revue, “Looking for an Echo: After 40 Years, We Still Ain’t Got a Band.”

The title would suggest a storyline, but there really is none. These middle-aged guys (“Slow it down,” one says. “I’m 65!”) are reuniting to revisit the old days of standing on street corners and creating great sounds in tight, four-part harmony just like The Drifters, The Moonglows and The Temptations.

In the first act, there’s the tantalizing suggestion of a little friendly competition: four singers stage-left are confronted head-on by five singers stage-right. But that’s as far as it goes. They alternate songs and then come together, obviously relishing collaborating on fun/nostalgic songs like “Under the Boardwalk,” “Up on the Roof,” “(What a) Wonderful World,” “Chain Gang,” “Sincerely,” “This Magic Moment” and “Get a Job” (oddly altered to “Got a Job”).

There’s no mention of a band, and not much about looking for an echo (except in the Planotones’ song of the same name). Too bad. Though the singing is spectacular, the show, which is more concert than musical, would benefit greatly from a little structure, fewer songs (there are 19 in the first act, 13 in the second), and some attempt to link the numbers thematically. After hanging on the corner or in a warehouse (a brick ‘wall’ and stacks of boxes comprise the set, created by Manson), the guys re-enter for Act 2 spiffed up in white dinner jackets. No clue given as to why the transition or where they are supposed to be performing. The only text is a short voiceover narration at the top of the show, which suggests that the hip hop kids of today have no idea of the roots of their music. This theme could easily be further developed, and it would help justify the inclusion of gospel songs like “Were You There?”

But if you like the sound of doo wop – and who doesn’t? – you’ll clap and tap and snap along with these exceptional vocalists. The lead singers are superb: Roosevelt Carter is suave and cool, with a sultry, Sam Cooke vibe. Aaron Holland, with his giant smile and wide vocal range, is high energy, flirtatious and quite the showman (he’s the only one with multiple theater credits; most of the rest of the guys are regulars in church or gospel choirs). Rodger Varner is notable for his delectably rock-bottom, rhythm-keeping bass. And Gary Martin makes a splash with his pure, effortless falsetto. Ph.D. and Mesa College Professor Art Boyd creates a comical character at the beginning, but then that falls by the wayside. More character – not just vocal – differentiation would be welcome.

During the course of the evening, just about everyone (including the Overstreet brothers, Eric and Carl) gets a chance to take the spotlight, but there’s a strong sense of ensemble overall. It’s great to reconnect with these songs (those were some serious makeout tunes for me!) – and a treat to uncover such stellar local talent.

THE LOCATION: Ira Aldridge Repertory Players at the Sunset Temple, 3911 Kansas St. (619) 283-4574; www.iarpplayers.org

THE DETAILS: Tickets: $40 dinner + show; $27.50, show only. Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m. (6:45 dinner); Sundays August 2 & 9 at 4 p.m. (3 p.m. dinner); through August 9

BOTTOM LINE: GOOD BET

NEWS AND VIEWS

… Bilingual Bard: The Old Globe is winding up its second annual Summer Shakespeare Intensive for Teens, which concludes with a performance of Shakespeare’s “Pericles, Prince of Tyre.” The play will be presented in English, with scenes in Spanish and American Sign Language. The entire performance will be sign language interpreted. A scholarship was offered to each of the 40 participating 9^th-12^th grade students, who hail from all around the county. The program, which provided more than 100 hours of training (in classical theater technique, voice, movement, stage combat, etc.) was presented by USD/Old Globe MFA students, professional actors in the theater’s summer productions and members of the Globe’s technical staff. “Pericles” will be performed on Monday, August 17 at 8 p.m., on the Lowell Davies Festival stage. Tickets at www.theoldglobe.org or at (619) 23-GLOBE.

… The Symphony Does Broadway: The San Diego Symphony’s Summer Pops will be presenting a special two-night program, “Broadway Today,” and I’ve been asked to be the announcer/introducer on August 8. Very exciting! The conductor is Randall Craig Fleischer, and the featured singers are: Christiane Noll (who appeared in the national tour of “Urinetown” and the new musicals “The Mambo Kings” and “The Witches of Eastwick”), Hugh Panaro (who sang the role of the Phantom on Broadway more than 1000 times) and Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte, who was in San Diego as a featured singer at the Globe in “An Intimate Evening with Jerry Herman” (2008) and this year’s “Stephen Schwartz and Friends.” They’ll be assaying numbers from “The Lion King,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Mary Poppins,” “West Side Story,” “Les Miz,” “Chicago,” “Wicked,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” and “Mamma Mia!” You won’t want to miss this one! August 7 and 8 at the Embarcadero Marina Park South. Tickets at www.sandiegosymphony.org/summerpops/

… Bernadette!: Tony Award-winning singer/actor Bernadette Peters will headline the 14^th annual “Symphony at the Salk – A Concert under the Stars” at the Salk Institute. The al fresco fundraiser, under the baton of guest conductor Thomas Wilkins, supports the Institute’s innovative scientific research and community education programs. Over her five-decade career, Peters has starred in musicals, films and television, as well as headlining concerts and recordings. She’s one of the most critically acclaimed Broadway actors and the youngest person ever inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. She’s won two Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards and a Golden Globe, as well as recording four Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast albums. She performs on August 22. Information at (858) 453-4100, ext. 1882.

… Elementary, Holmes!: Tony Award winner and nominee Rupert Holmes (“Drood,” “Curtains”), currently at the Old Globe working on the book of the world premiere, “The First Wives Club – A New Musical,” seems to be the film-to-stage book-writer du jour. He’s creating the book and lyrics for a new musical version of “The Nutty Professor,” to be directed by Jerry Lewis. And he’s been tapped to pen the book of a new stage adaptation of the 1964 Rat Pack movie, “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” which is scheduled to kick off with a West coast tryout (maybe here?). Both shows are set to open on Broadway during the 2010-2011 season.

… Radio Days: KSDS radio, Jazz 88.3FM, an SDNN media partner, where my reviews air every Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m., recently won an award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The My Source Community Impact Awards for Engagement honor a station’s commitment and responsiveness to the community. KSDS was fêted for its “Music Education Initiative for the Music Matters program, which brings donated instruments into local schools… I’ve just started appearing regularly on another SDNN radio/media partner, KPRI 102.1 FM. I talk to Madison in the Morning every Thursday and Friday at 7:40 a.m., about what’s coming up on local stages for the weekend…. And let’s not forget that I talk to Neil and Joe every Thursday morning at 8:40 on SDNN radio. Looks like we’ve got the radio dial covered!

…Brush Up Your Audition Skills: Director/teacher/actor Jason Heil, currently appearing (hilariously) in Cygnet Theatre’s “Noises Off,” is once again presenting his valuable workshop, “10 Monologues in 12 Weeks.” The course will focus on choosing, analyzing and presenting monologues, as well as the business of auditioning. Heil, who’s appeared on many local stages, including the La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego Repertory Theatre, spent nine seasons with the Utah, Lake Tahoe, Marin and Texas Shakespeare Theatres. He’s been a guest lecturer for the American Conservatory Theatre, the Actors Alliance of San Diego, and several Shakespeare theaters. His “homework-intense” class runs from September 21-December 14. Info/registration at: jmheil@aol.com

Catching up With…

… Matt Harrington, a graduate of Point Loma High, where he competed in and won the 1999 English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition. After that victory, he even got his name on the school marquee, upstaging football for a week. Now he’s completed a BFA and MFA at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and has just landed his first professional acting job -- a leading role. He’ll be playing Einstein in Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” this fall, at the 500-seat Syracuse Stage in upstage New York. His mom, Rhoda Auer, who helmed the local Shakespeare Competition this year and whose husband, Mike Auer, has helped spearhead the San Diego Student Shakespeare Festival, are right proud. Mike directed Matt in the excellent, Patté Award-winning production of “The Trial,” an adaptation of Kafka’s harrowing nightmare; Matt was wonderful as the central character, Joseph K. Looks like he’s well on his way to a promising career.

… Max Branscomb, a professor at Southwestern College, just won the 2009 national Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). Last year, Branscomb won the San Diego Press Club’s Jim Reiman Enlightened Management Award for Outstanding Media Management. This year, his students and the San Diego Pro Chapter of SPJ nominated him for his work as faculty advisor for the student paper, The Southwestern College Sun, which has won numerous state and national press awards. Branscomb’s teaching and advising have earned him the College Media Advisers’ Distinguished Adviser of the Year award and the Chicano News Media Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Under his leadership, The Sun won 19 awards at SPJ’s recent 2009 San Diego Area Excellence in Journalism Awards event. Branscomb will be recognized for his national SPJ award on August 28, at the 2009 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Indianapolis.

The Dance Corner

… Grieving: The dance community is mourning the death of two choreographic powerhouses: Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham. The German-born Bausch, a dance legend, died last month at age 68 in Wuppertal, Germany. A pioneer of Tanztheater, a neo-expressionist form of modern dance, Bausch created more than 40 full-length pieces for her company, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Among her many honors were Britain's Olivier Award (comparable to a Tony) and Japan's Kyoto Prize. Her work, which often focused on male-female interaction, reached a wider audience through the 2002 movie “Talk to Her,” directed by Pedro Almodóvar. A lifelong smoker, she died of lung cancer just five days after diagnosis.

Cunningham, the visionary American choreographer who helped transform dance into an important artform and a significant form of theater, enjoyed a wildly successful 70-year career, and he continued to perform until he was 70. Even at age 80, though frail, he danced a duet with Mikhail Baryshnikov in New York. His most recent creation was “Nearly Ninety,” a 90-minute piece that premiered this past April. Cunningham ranks among the most influential choreographers of all time, and until his death this week, he was repeatedly hailed as the world’s greatest living choreographer. His groundbreaking collaborations with his long-time partner, composer John Cage, introduced the idea that dance and music could be created independently. Cunningham did more than any other choreographer to demonstrate that dance can be classical without being strictly ballet. As music critic Mark Swed put it in the L.A. Times, Merce’s work and life were marked by “a perpetual state of openness to new possibilities.” Both dancer/choreographers will be sorely missed on the world stage.

PAT’S PICKS: BEST BETS

“The Glory of Living” – dark, intense, and very well done