Theatre Ventoux has focused its 2009 pair of plays on same-gender casting.  They produced the Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women earlier this year and are balancing that all-female show with the all-male, Twelve Angry Men.

This particular play has a unique history as it started out as a teleplay in the 1950’s.  Several people have adapted its three act camera structure to the stage with varying degrees of success.  Despite its age and 1950’s peculiarities, however, it still has important things to tell us about the dangers of group think and the idea of doubt in justice.

Staged in a very intimate space (the room seats about 50 in 3/4 round), Theatre Ventoux’s production gives the audience very little in the way of safe separation from the action of the play.  There are times when the actors stand and speak just two feet away from the front row of the audience.  That sort of intimacy can make audiences a little jumpy– exactly the way you’d want them.  Being on a jury in a murder trial would be enough to make anyone jumpy, and isn’t the point to help the audience experience the life of the characters while they share the same oxygen?

The intimacy of the staging is particularly powerful in that not only is the audience forced to confront the reactions of the actors onstage, but they can also see the reactions of the other audience members across the way or next to them.  That has a really fascinating way of implicating the audience in the action of the play itself.  In some ways, the audience becomes the alternate juror– able to watch and listen to deliberations, but unable to contribute.

There are some challenges to staging this play, however.  Any play that has a table as its central set piece is going to suffer from having a good number of bodies with their backs to a good portion of the audience.  In this production, I got to see little of the work of actor Stephen Torres, except when he was directed to leave his seat and work the room.  For the other side of the audience, actors Eric Orum and Jeff Tuck were largely left in their seats, depriving the house right audience of some of their nuanced character business. But that’s the tough thing about adapting a script meant for camera angles to the stage.

There were a few other moments of awkward staging– blocking in tight circles can close off action to an audience and prolonged nose-to-nose confrontations can seem forced from time to time.  But, for the most part, these things do not detract from the enjoyment of the show.

Some really fine moments of staging occur, too.  One in particular, when Patrick Tromborg’s character supplies us with an over-the-top racist rant, each juror removes himself from his vicinity and turns his back to him in a metaphorical reversal of circling the wagons.  It is a powerful ensemble moment.

Overall, the company makes the most of the space they have and manage to get pretty creative within its confines.

As for the acting, this cast boasts an ensemble of some of the most talented and experienced actors around.  Each of them seems to be making the effort to stretch himself in terms of creating character.  They’ve each found certain ticks and tells that reveal the character through action, which is often my preference.  A few seem to be putting on a cartoon character in terms of facial expression and over the top gesticulation in an attempt to create a character completely outside themselves.  In those cases, the acting doesn’t seem to match the more naturalistic style of the rest of the cast.  A little restraint or editing could go a long way toward elevating those performances and bring them into the same world as the others.

And that really is the danger in a very taught, tense show such as this:  the actors, wanting to “take it to the next level”, will begin to overreach with their bits and tricks and reactions until suddenly the jury room is filled with pratfalls and vaudeville characters.  It takes a strong hand in direction to step in and make sure that the tone and focus stays exactly where it should.

On opening night, though, this play had a terrific tension, a wonderful energy, and its pitch was near-perfect.

I highly recommend Theatre Ventoux’s TWELVE ANGRY MEN.

Friday, Saturday evening 8 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday matinees.  2 p.m.

November 20-22.

Cal Arts Academy BLACKSTONE.   $15

greg@theatreventoux.net for reservations.

When I was named Artistic Director for WSF last year and found myself in the thick of producing and directing again, I felt it best that I suspend my formal reviewing of local shows.  It can be incredibly hard to balance working with actors, directors and designers with public criticism of them.

But more and more, I’ve found myself saying, “I really wish that more people would review shows they see on their various blogs, facebooks, etc.  Add more voices than just the write up by the newspaper reviewer.  Many people in our audiences have blogs, newsletters, and mailing lists and they could contribute to the dialogue regarding creative arts in our communities.  It is only in that dialogue– and often in terms of peer to peer review– that artists manage to take stock of what they are doing well and what isn’t working for them.”

But we are so often terrified of P2P review.  If we alienate people, they won’t want to work with us again.  If someone openly has something bad to say about my work, how will I feel about that?

But there’s something kind of sick and dysfunctional about that, isn’t there?  Artists so often associate their work with their person; perhaps that isn’t unreasonable.  But when it hinders growth and an honest appraisal of the work you’re doing, it is a sickness.  It is a cancer beginning to grow in the core of your work.

I am not saying that artists should always take everyone’s reviews of their work at face value.  Everyone has their bias.  People misunderstand things.  But without at least hearing and seeing some criticism, we cannot make decisions about where we can improve.  We also cannot truly see– unequivocably– what we are doing well.

And reviewing often helps the reviewer, if he or she is an artist as well, to articulate their aesthetic, their biases, and begin to piece together a concrete vision of themselves.

So, what I am saying, I suppose, is that I wish we’d all– myself included– give some lovingly honest criticism to our comrades in arts.  And give them the opportunity to review our reviews for their own growth.

Without commentary we cannot make decisions about what we’re doing and where we’re going.  I plan to add my voice to the discussion.  I hope others will do so as well.

Heather

The following list of shows are one’s I’d anticipate being able to recommend based on my past experiences with the companies, the slated talent, the texts, and the play’s previous press.  That said, I could be wrong.  “We’ll see,” said the Zen master.

FRESNO:

Fresno City College:

Eurydice

Grasmere

Theatre Ventoux:

Twelve Angry Men (fall)

VISALIA/TULARE:

BAKERSFIELD:

The Spotlight Theatre Company:

True West

Romeo and Juliet

Parade

I had a lovely evening at C.O.S’s production of Mel Brook’s The Producers this weekend. While not without its small problems, the splashy musical is effectively staged and has a lot of energy. I can easily recommend it to Visalians looking for a fun night out. Personally, I particularly enjoyed Mike Hamilton’s “Franz Liebkind” and Justin Allen’s “Carmen Ghia” (I’m getting so old. . . I was Mrs. Medlock to Justin’s “Colin” in a production of The Secret Garden years ago! Ack!).

The Valley has had an upswing in productions this winter of highly acclaimed scripts, and so far none have let me down.

First, Chris Mangels directed Conor McPherson’s The Weir at the Ice House Theatre in Visalia, which was a beautifully rendered piece and some of the best work I’ve seen from Visalia talent in a long time.  This show has just edged out Irene Morse’s Two Rooms as the best production of the season at the Ice House (so far). 

The ART in Fresno put up David Lindsey-Abair’s Rabbit Hole, an amazingly fraught piece staged with wonderful intimacy and balance by Julie Ann Keller.  The performances from Mike Peterson and Jennifer Hurd-Peterson are some of the best work I’ve ever seen from them. 

And finally, The Spotlight Theatre in Bakersfield is running The Goat, or Who is Sylvia in previews this weekend.  A very difficult play to stage with any beauty because of its subject-matter, the cast of this production really puts its heart into it, never looking down their noses at their own characters, and deliver a moving performance with tremendous grace.  Highly recommended. 

The Spotlight’s I Am My Own Wife was also sold out and had great word of mouth, so I’d watch out for their non-musical productions in the future.  Tickets to them could be increasingly difficult to get!

Check out San Joaquin Valley Theatre Bulletin Board for postings on “The Goat” and other upcoming shows.

This show has been sold out for it’s last two weekends for some time, but the producers are keeping people on standby if you show up 1 hr and 30 minutes before curtain to get your name on the evening’s standby list.  If there are empty seats at 5 minutes before curtain, they’ll start seating people. 

TRUST ME, IT’S WORTH IT!  I didn’t stop smiling the whole time and director/choreographer/Frank n’Furter Daniel Chavez is sublime!

Description

ART’s Rocky is the classic rock & roll musical with a fresh new style! Directed by Daniel Chavez Jr., the show will feature a live six-piece rock band and some of the best singers, actors, musicians and dancers in town.

Last week, before I came down with strep throat AND the flu AT THE SAME TIME, I had the joy of a lovely weekend of theatre going. 

I managed to catch FPU’s Hay Fever by Noel Coward on its opening night and was delighted by a lovely production.  

The first thing to catch my eye was the elegant living room box set by FPU Theatre Program Director, Julia Reimer.  Subdued colors and nicely edited decoration made the set a suitable backdrop for the outlandish characters who will soon tramp across it.  (Of course, I’m probably biased on this score since the loveseat, the wingback chair, the drop leaf tea-table, the bookcase with the vintage style radio, the antiqued wall decorations, photos and piano in the corner are an eerily similar match to the items in my own living room.  What does that say about me? )

But back to the show.

Noel Coward’s deceptively simple drawing room comedies always sparkle with wit and a lighthanded sense of satire, all of which the cast handles quite well given their age and experience level.  There are no ‘ringers’ in this cast– no accomplished community members from outside the regular department.  No professors from the campus ranks.  No. . . this theatre program is obviously intended for the students and that benefits them with a richness of experience they might not get otherwise. 

Act I starts out with some great character capturing from Ava Nicole Pacino (Sorel Bliss) and Benjamin Carr (Simon Bliss) who set up the situation of their unusually ill-mannered family all inviting relatively normal acquaintances to the house on the same weekend.  While during the first 15 minutes of the act their speech was extremely fast paced and hindered by their well-studied accents, it was a bit difficult to land each of their jokes.  But once they calmed down– and with the addition of actress-mother Judith (Donna Carr) to the scene– they settled into the familiar buoyancy of Coward’s writing.   

Pacino, in particular is a sparkling youngster in the play with a great deal of ingenue work ahead of her if she keeps at it.  Donna Carr, as the show’s centerpiece figure, understands the style requirements of her character, but lacks the rich vocal registers of a grand diva– something that will come with age and is really no fault of her own.  It’s just the pitfall of playing older than you really are.  She handles Judith’s supercilliousness with tremendous grace, however. 

The depth of natural talent of the supporting players, though, is what really shores up this production.  Very often, in a drawing room comedy, these roles are glossed over.  But here director Jennifer Sampson has cast it pitch perfectly.  Tony Sargosa’s slightly dim athlete, Sandy, is sweet tempered but decisive; Stephanie Wasemiller has the pretty, but charmingly scrunched face of a Renee Zellwegger delivering her best comedic looks; Maya Oselsky as the exotic Myra is the most comfortable in her skin and carries herself with a seductive twist and a sly look in her perfectly boned face.  The real find, however, was Jacob Bailey as the “diplomatist” Richard Greatham.  Baily has the look of a mild-mannered professor and the perfect delivery for a man who knows exactly the right thing to say.  Each of these characters are nicely individualized and carried well by these very young actors. 

Sampson’s direction appears sound– she’s obviously nurtured some terrific student performances from this group.  There were a few moments of staging where a character’s back was to the audience, downstage center, in a style of blocking that I love in a 3/4 round stage or on a rake.  But Noel Coward is designed specifically for classic 20th century procenium blocking, and it was distracting when actors in the most prominent positions on stage were cutting off the audience from the action. 

But that is really a minor quibble in an otherwise delightful show.  Lovely set, BEAUTIFUL costumes (always a plus with me), and a terrific script.  Nicely done.  Here’s hoping Ms. Sampson can bring some of that energy and teaching ability to her other job at Bakersfield College!

Fresno Pacific University will present Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya  April 16-18, 23-25.  Contact Julia Reimer at jreimer@fresno.edu for more information.

After much consideration, I’ve decided that I must retire my on-again/off-again work as a reviewer of plays in the area.  The truth of the matter is simply this:  I have landed two positions in the local theatre community that are going to cut down my ability to objectively review plays.  I’ll undoubtedly be seeing a lot of work in my new positions, but I’ll also be producing a lot of work.  Some people can make producing and reviewing go hand in hand, but I’m not certain that I can.

So my upcoming review of Fresno Pacific’s “Hay Fever” will probably be my last full review.

I do plan, however, to report back on work I’m seeing that I like.  Today’s young theatre goers are looking more and more to online comments to recommend what they should spend their money on.  I’ll be happy to lend my voice to the stuff I think worth the time and money– in a shorter, more succinct way!

Heather

I suppose one testament of a good show is when you FINALLY sit down to write it up almost TWO WEEKS later, you still giggle at some of the antics you witnessed onstage.

With my profoundest apologies for not getting to this review sooner, I can honestly say that Spotlight Theatre’s current production of Noises Off! is well, acted, well paced and a well spent evening in the theatre.

This show is highly technical and requires athletic timing and precision to land the jokes (as do all farces), and the fact that this cast succeeds is a real testament to their determination and talent.  Already a tough show to do, this Noises Off lost its Lloyd (the “director” in the fictional theatrical production that is at the center of the play) due to a horrifying car accident.  Luckily, the original actor will pull through, but that left company artistic director, Hal Friedman, to step into the role with only three days to prepare before opening.

By the Sunday of the second weekend, when I saw it, the audience would have thought that Friedman had been part of the ensemble all along.

The Spotlight has a lovely little space, but it can feel very cramped and crowded due to its tiny stage and wall of stadium seating.  But this production– which needed desperately to use every square inch it could find– stages it well.  During the first act, in which a rehearsal is playing out before our eyes, the lights remain up over the audience and Friedman’s Lloyd (as well as a few other actors in the story) use the house as their playing space.  Since that is the director’s domain in rehearsal it makes sense.  It also give the production a tremendously open and transparent feel.  As a theatre practitioner, I felt as though I were sitting in on another director’s rehearsal and watching the politics and tensions common to any ensemble unfold.

And anyone who has been involved in theatre knows intimately the characters and situations in that first act– well, throughout the play, really– and cringes with recognition.  But to this production’s credit, beyond the first act I didn’t dwell on my own experiences, but rather got caught up in those on the stage.  Director Jarred Clowes seems to have channeled his ensemble’s experiences within the rehearsal process to fuel the production onstage, which is a testament to his ability to lead and focus a disparate group of actors.  It is far too easy to let the metadramatic aspects of this play overwhelm the direction and watch it go spinning out of control.

Standouts in the production are the aforementioned Friedman; Kathryn Brinkley (as Dotty), with a broadly comedic face and a Carol Burnett inspired mop-maid ensemble that underscores her ascerbic character; Brian Sivesind (as Freddy), whose “dumb-but-sensitive guy” routine can only be pulled off with a smart acting technique; and Jeny Rendt-Scott Sanchez who is charmingly quirky in her smallish role of stage manager, Poppy.  But, in fact, each of these actors had the help and support of an entire cast of energetic, sympathetic and very, very funny characters.

And Kudos must also be given to the technical crew of Noises Off!  Building and reversing a two-level stage complete with stairs and door slamming in a stage 25feet wide, 17 feet deep and 14 feet high is a bear, but these folks pulled it off.  And they worked their asses off doing it!

The Visalia Community Players open their 2008-2009 season with a moderately unorthodox choice– the topical drama Two Rooms by Lee Blessing.

But while it may be unorthodox in that most community theatres start their seasons with a comedy, the Players have done this opener just right.  Two Rooms is an elegantly staged, sensitively treated production that illustrates the level of work the Players can achieve when they engage both the heart and mind.

Two Rooms was originally written in 1988 when the Reagan/1st Bush Administration were carrying out policies on a string of American abductions by Islamic militant groups.  Yet the script is remarkably timely in the closing of the second Bush Administration and its increasingly callous treatment of Western-Islamic relations. Nothing in the script feels as though it is 20 years old except for the geography.

The story is a simple one:  An American professor is held hostage Beirut.  In an attempt to connect with his experience and keep her heart engaged with him, the professor’s wife converts his study into a bare room mimicking the room of his captivity.  Into these rooms come the debate on American foreign policies, the government’s coldness towards victims and their families, and the role of media and journalism in such crises. But more importantly, these two rooms contain the individual experiences and feelings of the people for whom this isn’t an ‘issue’ but instead it is their life– and death– experience.

As Lainie, the wife, Anna Nersesian displays the widest range of emotion in a performance that is compellingly constructed.  Her ability to pace her emotions, choosing just the right moments to let loose or to hold back, shows the level of her acting technique.  She is the driving force behind this production and the scenes in which she debates the emotional realities of her character’s experience with her fellow actors are fully engaging.  You root for this woman who is fighting through her pain.

As the American professor in captivity, James Sherill is well cast.  His tall, lanky frame seems to collapse in on itself under the weight of his imprisonment and Sherill has a natural sensitivity that suits the character well.  While it’s evident that he’s not yet as seasoned a performer as Nersesian, he performs this role well.

As the journalist interested in telling Lainie’s story, Clark Hawley is immensely likeable.  His best moments, though, are when he’s arguing a point or action with Nersesian’s Lainie.  He doesn’t shy away from an argument or let Nersesian take over the scene, which makes for far more interesting watching for an audience.

The fourth member of the cast is remarkable in her own right:  Ashley Halford, as the government bureaucrat assigned to Lainie’s case, makes her acting debut in this production.  Poised and restrained, her characterization was nicely done, annoyingly dogmatic without being insufferable.  Her public speaking and debate background played very nicely into her character, Ellen’s, monologue about how the government must make horrid, heartless decisions about hostage cases in order to be able to function for the whole nation.  The monologue makes their case quite clear and helps us to understand how her character’s emotional doors remain closed– even though we wish they wouldn’t.

The play itself is done in a black-box style with some multi-media added in as required by the script.  The lighting design is graceful and effective, giving the set (and the people in it) an otherworldly glow.

Directors Irene Morse and Elicia Russell have given us some fine, contemporary work in the past with shows like Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Stop Kiss.  Two Rooms is an excellent addition to their list of credits.

Two Rooms runs September 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, and 20 at the Ice House Theatre in Visalia.  Tickets are $12.