Ion ascends from the "Valley of Caster"

Finally, Claudio Reygoza and Glenn Paris will open the San
Diego premiere of Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of
Inishmaan," with barely a moment for their company to catch
its collective breath amidst a move into a new performance
space.

The five-year-old ion prides itself with the largest number
of resident artists next to the venerable Old Globe. Claudio
and Glenn previously rallied their artists when, confounded
by City Code violations, the company vacated their freshly
constructed New World Stage facility in downtown mid-run of
"The Grapes of Wrath." Ironies persisted. That exodus led
ion to the Academy of Performing Arts nestled next to Murphy
Canyon. (Where's Grantville? many asked.) The company
persevered in APA's 79-seat theatre and put Grantville on
the map.

Then the heat of the Christian Right fueled "Yes on
Proposition 8" (the anti-same-sex marriage initiative). The
proposition passed.

Ion discovered APA's property owner, Terrence Caster,
dedicated an over $680k plus donation to the "Yes on Prop 8"
efforts in his belief's that "God reveals the value of each
person through the work of his son, Jesus."

A married same-sex couple, Raygoza and Paris decamped APA in
a conflict of moral consciousness. Ion's exodus from the
"Valley of Caster" led to the oasis of the San Diego Rep's
Lyceum Space. In cognate, the couple's commitment to their
values proved a fortuitous (ad)venture. The company has an
ideal location, a larger more and comfortable house, and a
theatre equipped to industry standards.

In dark rooms, rather than in moneyed salvos from Church
against State, Dionysian devotees continue their rituals
around the flame of magic.

With a keen eye on McDonough's period European play, the
team sustained focus on crafting its version of "Inishmaan,"
as director Glenn Paris reveals in this Q & A via the Internet.

* * *

Espresso: What has the mood been like with the company since
moving?

Glenn Paris: The mood is strong, powerful and perseverant.
There has been a tremendous outpouring of support from both
the theatre community and LGBTQ community. People are proud
that we took a stand, and I think it ties current and new
friends closer to us as we share a love of theatre and a
perspective of advocacy for necessary changes in California
and the nation.

E: What was your immediate, initial response to "Inishmaan?"
Did you see or read it?

Photo: Rich Carrillo and Jason Connors (courtesy ion theatre)

GP: Claudio was aware of the play, having worked on the
production at the Geffen. As we determined this year's
season, he gave it to me and encouraged me to read it. I
immediately fell in love with it, and was impressed by how
strong and how funny a piece emerged from such a young
writer. I had seen "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" on Broadway
and later did a reading with the great Irish actress, Anna
Manahan who played the mother in "Leenane." Claudio and I
deepened our love affair with McDonagh the playwright when
we saw "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" on Broadway a few years
ago. I have a poster for the production hanging in my office
at the Playhouse!

E: "Inishmaan" takes place on a small-unfrequented Irish
island circa 1934. How have you explored the location and
time period with your actors?

GP: With the help of our dramaturge, AC Harvey (who was
Special Advisor to the Ibsen series) we have thoroughly
explored the period, typography and climate of the Aran
islands, and the rich given circumstances that establish the
play's situations. Led by AC and me, actors have discussed
and agreed upon a timeline and past and present off stage
events.

E: The character of Kate Osborn, Billy's (the crippled
orphan's) adoptive aunt, talks to stones. Do you treat this
character's behavior as mental illness or a spiritual
practice?

Photo: Dana Hooley and D'Ann Paton (courtesy ion theatre)

GP: Kate is rather dotty, and talking to stones both ties
her to the earth and helps her with her inner confusion in
the wake of Billy's absence. She is a very nervous woman, as
much as she represses her strife. Talking to stones is a way
for her to try to ground herself in reality. She is the more
erudite and sensitive of the two sisters; Eileen is the more
practical of the too, though she satiates her own anxiety by
munching on sweets. Kate and Eileen are Billy's "pretend"
aunties. They are very tied to him, may even exist for him,
or at least he gives them a reason for living (each other is
not enough) and what they perceive to be their time with him
helps alleviate their potential loneliness and isolation.

E: In terms of theatrical space, how has working in the
Lyceum affected your work on the piece?

GP: We are thrilled to be working in a larger venue and hope
the play is popular with audiences. It should be a tonic in
these ever-increasingly tough times - once again, I think of
"Inishmaan" as a very funny play. Working in a new space
always has its particular challenges and the REP Space's new
configuration is not different. ion has a strong track
record of adapting to new environments and conditions, so we
are confident that we'll meet the challenges effectively.

# # #

The Cripple of Inishmaan
By Martin McDonagh

ion theatre at
Lyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza
Pay-what-you-can preview Friday, April 24 at 8pm
Saturday, April 25 opening
Runs through Sunday May 10
Wednesday through Sunday, with matinees on
Saturdays (4pm) and Sundays (2pm)
Lyceum Theatre box office: (619) 544-1000
http://iontheatre.com/ or http://sdrep.org/

The Stage, Screen and Television Actors' Conference (in San Diego!)

Last year I attended the inaugural Actors’ Conference. The afternoon turned up several incisive presentations, coaching sessions and lectures.
Photo: Marcia Ross

As a kid, Marcia Ross, V.P. of Casting for Disney Theatrical Film, rode the commuter trains alone into Manhattan to see Broadway shows. I identified with her practice in adventure, only I took the Greyhound bus from Cleveland to the half price ticket booth in Times Square. She started a Show Business career in New York as a stage manager. Ross eloquently expressed her love of the Theatre, for actors and the meaningfulness to get actors jobs.

After various epiphanal anecdotes from her career as a casting director, Ms Ross boiled down casting categories to: a) great actors, b) serviceable actors and c) types. Sobering stuff, huh?

Listening to the pros (you’ll recognize the names of keynote speakers from opening film credits) give the “411” on Show Business (and the business of show is emphasized) will make you run out and get your 8x10s or decide to get that certificate in Culinary Arts you’ve been considering.

The two days are invaluable for any actor, student or professional, especially the student. Actors in training will get the rare inside look at the practicalities of Show Business procedures, etiquette, rules and traditions, plus there are golden opportunities to make your contacts.

This year’s Keynote Speakers are:

• Mary Jo Slater C.S.A., New York & Hollywood, "Reality and Practicality"
• Gary Zuckerbrod C.S.A., President Casting Society of America – Hollywood, "Being a Professional Actor"
• Justin Huff C.S.A., Telsey + Company Casting, New York "Preparation, Reality & Love"

The presenters include:

• Frank Catalano, Professor of Theatre Arts, University Of Southern California
• Justin Huff, Casting Director, Telsey + Co. Casting
• Troy Magino, Director & Choreographer
• “The True Story of Commercials – What you need really need to know about the Commercial Business"
• Terry Ross, Owner/Director, Acting Professionally
• Elana Dvorak, “What Does a Manager Do,” and “How to Find the Right Manager for You"

Locals include:

• Robert Smyth, Producing Artistic Director, Lamb's Players Theatre
• Nanci Washburn, President and Founder, Artist Management Agency
• Sam Woodhouse, Artistic Director, San Diego Repertory Theatre
• Stephen Elton, Casting Director, North Coast Repertory
• Candis Paule, Casting Director, Stu Segall Productions

Actors, save yourself countless months of frustration and check this out.

# # #

The main stuff:

Saturday April 25, 2009 & Sunday, April 26, 2009, Location: San Diego State University Extended Studies Center

http://www.actorsconferences.com/info.htm

Jack's Words

JACK O’BRIEN, San Diego’s lion-hearted Artistic Director Emeritus of the Old Globe Theatre, recently appeared in a Youtube interview promoting his latest Broadway work, “Impressionism.”

His discourse is classic Jack; a master director as much as he’s a producer, a publicist and kin to P.T. Barnum. The section where he tells us of seducing Joan Allen into taking the lead role is a keen example of his slightly devilish manipulation of actors.

Though “Impressionism” met with unanimously mixed reviews (Marsha Mason's work prevailed), stay tuned for his upcoming production of "Catch Me If You Can" (based on the film) and Weber’s sequel to “Phantom,” “Love Never Dies.” Impressions can be left behind; they only serve to fuel Jack’s next foray to the Rialto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2n8e8L78uI

Commentary: Rocky Times, “The Cradle Will Rock" at Stone Soup Theatre

The masthead reads "Steeltown U.S.A." The banner headlines warn us of troop deployments, stock market plunge, bomb explosions, union strikes, soaring unemployment numbers, vanquishing Arts funding and bank disinvestment. This towering sepia toned newsprint serves as the backdrop for "The Cradle Will Rock," the latest production of Stone Soup Theatre, a 1930s polemic opera that threw a rock through Big Businesses glassined window.

Although the "Living Newspaper," a weekly dramatization of newspaper accounts of Depression era hardships, was a notable theatre event, "Cradle" remains the emblematic agit-prop theatre piece of the period. The echo of "Cradle Will Rock's" socio-political upheaval of the 1930s resonates with today's Fraud Barons' perpetration of our current financial and ethics crisis.

In its National Theatre Project premiere the show proved too hot a piece for the sponsoring Works Progress Administration (WPA) that canceled its opening night and the actors' union forbade the actors to perform. The result was a spontaneous mid-town Manhattan parade of audience and actors to a vacant theatre where the actors sang from the house. The opera's composer, Marc Blitzstein, played the score on a beat-up piano on stage.

The show is an ideal choice to mirror today's high economic frauds and their rippling effects on Americans' sense of diminished trust in economic institutions. The opera's driving pro-union theme reflects the push for today's Employment Free Act bill pending in congress. (The bill gives workers the right to unionize as soon as a majority of employees in a workplace sign cards stating they want a union.)

Playing out as a courtroom sideshow, allegorical figures of the status quo plead their cases on indictments of alleged collusion, power brokering, perjury and union smashing. Sensorial sanction on the Arts via private and corporate donors also takes the stand: the Big Guys were aware of Art's power punches.

Stone Soup was widely hailed for its production of Larson's "tick, tick... BOOM." The company, though it is well intentioned, underestimated the demanding tasks of a period work and the Blitzenstein score. Director Lindsey Duoos Gearhart renders facile work.

Gearhart's production's sole attempt to update the opera is with Rocky DeHaro's mix of period and contemporary costumes and misses the mark. The design is executed without precision and the effect is a look of wrinkled indecision. The acting doesn't evoke period context, rather, the director settles for cutout characters. Mr. Blitzstein created three dimensional, albeit, stylized characters.

Even so, there were a few spasms of entertainment. Standout work prevailed thanks to Bryan Curtiss White as the hypocritical Reverend Salvation and newcomer Sarah Michelle Cuc. Ms. Cuc exhibited a trained voice and sparkling vivacity as Mrs. Mister. She then countered as the stoic Ella, an uncompensated widow of her spouse killed in a manufacturing accident. (Her next stop is Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts for its upcoming stock season. Santa Maria's gain is San Diego's loss.)

The evening's yeoman was Billy Thompson in double duty as the courtroom clerk and pianist. Christopher T. Miller gave a forceful singing attack as the agitating Larry Foreman, the 11th hour role of the union organizer.

Stone Soup's production represents a kind of growing pain in the theatre's development, and that is not a bad thing. Sensing a company's balance in reach and grasp is a good thing.

The company's next production is Strindberg's "Miss Julie." This play should prove a more manageable project, especially with the translation by local Strindberg expert Dr. Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey. "Miss Julie" opens August 9th with Stone Soup's Artistic Director, the formidable Rebecca Johansen, in the title role under Robert Dahey's direction.

Photo: Sarah Michelle Cuc and Bryan Curtiss White
(courtesy, Stone Soup Theater)

"The Cradle Will Rock"
10th Avenue Theater
930 10th Ave. Downtown San Diego, , cross street is Broadway
Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m
Tickets: 619-287-3065
Tickets: $25 available online only
All Other Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can
www.stonesouptheatre.net

Stratford version 2.0

The Stratford Ontario Shakespeare Festival is in rehearsals for a 14-play season of playwrights ranging from The Bard to Ben Johnson to Chekhov to Plautus by way of Stephen Sondheim. The Ontario fest is the most ambitions repertory theatre company in North America employing a company numbering over 116 actors supported by a staff of 121. The company is helmed by multiple Tony Award(R) winner Des McAnuff, Artistic Director Emeritus of the San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse, one of my favorite directors (along with Lee Breuer of Mabou Mines).

While attending the Festival during my teens, an imperative sense of consistent acting style in period plays with rich character work was instilled in me. The creation of characters in Festival productions is daring character work compared to the range of persona I see on our regional American stages. The acting in this company always made for exciting hours of engagement in the dark and goaded my determination to continue my actor training.
If you love the classics and a good musical consider attending the Stratford Festival. It's the closest thing you'll find to the U.K. brand of production for half the price. Better yet, the City of Stratford has built and gardened the likes of the original Stratford around the Festival theatres.


The line up
Macbeth
West Side Story Cyrano de Bergerac
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Importance of Being Earnest
Julius Caesar
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Three Sisters
Bartholomew Fair
Ever Yours, Oscar
Phèdre
The Trespassers
Rice Boy
Zastrozzi

Home Page
www.stratfordfestival.ca

Available at the SSF website are multimedia, webcasts with interviews, videos, photos, activities, lectures, meet the company events, docs...












Theatre pics from top: Festival Theatre, Avon Theatre, Tom Patterson Theatre and Studio Theatre
(photos: Stratford Shakespeaer Festival)

"Killer Joe" Makes a Stab at Compass

Commentary

Photo: Joe Baker and Amanda Cooley Davis in Compass Theatre's "Killer Joe." (Courtesy of retrobang.com)

Compass Theatre, like a phoenix rising from the ashes of "Back Water Blues," is alight with "Killer Joe" in a walloping production under the direction of Ms. Lisa Berger. Producer Dale Morris followed his best instincts in choosing Ms. Berger as director. She has conspired with a creative team and actors to produce one of the most satisfying evenings of theatre currently available in San Diego.

One of Tracey Letts' ("August: Osage County") early plays, the story evolves around what Dr. Phil would easily award for best Texas Trailer Park Family in Dysfunction. As with most dramas set in incubator-like environments, "Killer Joe" explodes as the Smith family "shark" for life insurance rewards. This is a distinctly American play infused with many of the American family's institutionalized insanities such as talk to family member but stare at television when disaster hits.

There is an element of inevitability in "Killer Joe." This is not a case of second guessing the plot wherein one's viewing experience is self-defused, nor is it a viewing hobbled in anticipation of events, rather, the Compass production unfolds with a sense of the characters' destiny.

Don Pugh, Amanda Cooley Davis, Mike Sears, Judy Bauerlein-Mitchell and Joe Baker all turn in engrossing, at times, hypnotic performances.

Such performances are a rarity in smaller San Diego theatres (even some mid-size companies). The typical case in such theatres is a production in which one or two capable performances smother in the rest of an acting company's mediocrity. Berger and her actors have bear-hugged these desperate humans with violence, humor and grit.

Personally, of particular note is the young emerging actor Joe Baker. Mr. Baker appears in the role of Chris, a 20-something pot-smoking get-rich-easy kid frantically struggling to get quick cash to make good on a deal gone wrong. Having worked with Mr. Baker in a playwright-director association last year, I was taken by his ability "grow" a role with his earnestness to learn. In the nurturing hands of director Berger, they have created a vivid portrait of hoodwinked ambition dropping dead in the starting gates. A recent graduate from UCSD in engineering, it appears he has left Auto-Cad behind. One should keep an eye Mr. Baker as he drafts a promising career that is determinately not on autopilot.

When Michael McKeon's set design hit my eyes, I could practically smell the interior of the Smith family's trailer. And yes, there was a lot of trash ensconced in and around the mobile hovel's crevices. Such is the authenticity and detail in McKeon's design as with Lisa Burgess' costume designs. The costumes have the rarely seen "lived in" look, as if authored by the characters. Five minutes into act you can smell the characters.

Catch this show before the Compass cleans its stage for its next production.


"Killer Joe"

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 4 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; through April 5

Where: Compass Theatre, 3704 Sixth Ave., San Diego

Tickets: $20-23

Phone: (619) 688-9210