Cotton Patch Gospel|
Custom Made Theater Co.
Directed by: Marilyn Langbehn.
Starring: Edward Hightower

I'm a huge fan of the music of Harry Chapin. Not many people know about the genius of Chapin's music, and its a tragedy that he passed in a car accident in 1981. Although the music featured in Cotton Patch Gospel is not Chapin's usual style his vocal and musical influence is felt throughout the piece. Going into Custom Made Theater's performance I was a little apprehensive because of the overtly christian story that Chapin's lyrics tell, and how this would play in a city like San Francisco, but it seemed that that was not the issue with the play.

Instead, the majority of the faults lie in the staging. Even though the next stage is a thrust space the piece was performed in a style that would have been better "in-the-round." The good acting of the lead was negated by the horrible staging as almost half of the time the audience could not see his face. The lighting was subpar, and the other technical values were lacking as well. The actor and the three singers were at times hard to hear because the blue grass accompaniment overpowered them, because the actors were not provided mices.

However, the acting prowess of Edward Hightower makes up for some of the technical follies, and the musicality of Chapin's words and music provide a welcome break from the "show-tunes" fad of our generation. Go and check out this show before it closes next month.

www.custommade.org

The Living dead undead dead are alive, and they are conveniently located in a warehouse, conveniently located next to a graveyard, near you.

Anthony Miller's "Zombie! The musical" is a laugh out loud riot, but more than that, its a good piece of theater. The script is well written, albeit it very random and unexplainable at times. (Ozzy Osborn appears on stage, then gets turned into a zombie)But the show itself knows where its boundaries are, and knows not to overstep them. It keeps with a cheesy B movie feel throughout, but at times has moments where it pops down into reality and gives the audience a deeper view of the characters.

The music is stunningly composed by Brendan West (Shotgun Players, Beowulf: A thousand years of Baggage). It fits the feel and mood of the piece in general and for the most part suited all of the actors voices. The acting was sub par in places, and came of very awkward, but the 5 member ensemble of zombies more than made up for the rest of the cast's shortcomings. Their technicality in movement and attention to precision made them a treat, and I had a hard time looking away from their grotesque makeup. Every moment of their movements were, for lack of a better word, "breath taking."

GO see this show before it closes on Halloween weekend!

Dogsbody is a modern day adaptation of Homer’s The Iliad told from the point of view of child soldiers, addressing war, the nature of force, and the perpetration of genocide.

I had the opportunity to see an Open Rehearsal of this show a few weeks ago. It was phenomenal. The level of work that Milosevic has been able to accomplish with such young acting talent involved is breath taking. This is a show you will not want to miss. Yugen is powerful, as always and the subject matter hits home. The musicians are some of the best to ever grace the theatrical stage, and their experimental compositions really help to set a tone for the play.

Dogsbody comes through in a big way.

Dijana Milosevic (Guest Collaborator, Director)
A graduate of the Faculty of Special Psychology at the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, worked with autistic children before continuing in theater directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the same University. In 1991, she co-founded Dah Teater in Belgrade, the first theater laboratory in her country and has been actively involved in it through directing and devising all its performances. In 2007 she and her theater were recipients of prestigious Otto Rene Castillo Award for political theater. She tours with her company, gives workshops and teaches around the world. She also writes for theater magazines and publications.

Erik Ehn (Artistic Associate - Theatre of Yugen / Playwright)
Erik is married to Patricia Chanteloube-Ehn. Erik’s work includesMaria Kizito, The Saint Plays, Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Beginner, Ideas of Good and Evil, and an adaptation of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. He is an Artistic Associate at San Francisco’s Theatre of Yugen, recently writing and directing a Noh-inspired Frankenstein with them (2003, 2004) which received 2 BATCC awards (Costumes, Lighting) and 3 other nominations. Additional work with Yugen includes Crazy Horse (2001), which combined Noh forms with Native American music and dance. Remounted in 2005 as Moon of the Scarlet Plums, the new bi-lingual production opened at Expo Hall at the World’s Fair in Aichi, Japan. His plays have been produced in San Francisco (Intersection, Thick Description, Yugen), Seattle (Annex, Empty Space), Austin (Frontera), New York (BACA, Whitney Museum), Atlanta (7 Stages), San Diego (Sledgehammer), Chicago (Red Moon), the Lincoln Center Festival (NY); elsewhere. He has taught at the U of Iowa, Naropa, UC San Diego, UT Dallas, and Cal Arts (graduate), as well as U San Francisco, SF State, Santa Clara, and Skidmore (undergrad). He currently is Dean of the Theater Department and Head of Writing for Performance at Cal Arts.

Whenever I witness a piece of art that is particularly moving—whether it be a painting, a play, or a song—I get a tingling in my whole body. I'm not sure if I believe in a soul, but in those moments it seems that the commingling of truth and beauty elicits something deeper and more powerful than my mind alone can grasp. Usually poetry doesn't do it for me—I just don't “get it”.

Mark Jackson brings Faust, Part 1 to Berkeley and the Ashby Stage’s The Shotgun Players. Jackson’s freeing adaption of Goethe’s FAUST falls someplace in between a fairy tale and a gothic horror. It gives a real theatrical presence to Goethe’s closet drama. While the adaption itself is quite intriguing, the real value of the show comes from the direction of Kevin Clarke and Mark Jackson. Jackson’s background in theater is a dance based, full body, physical acting. The beauty of the piece lies in the moment, or lack thereof, portrayed by the actors. Much like Jackson’s Yes Yes to Moscow, we see an outward expression through physical expression of each characters real internal struggle. Jackson does not do realism, in any production I have seen of his, but has an innate ability to draw his audience in through his formalism. What may at first glance appear to distance his viewers from the events ends up being what brings them closer than they have ever encountered the text before.

Jackson’s adaption refuses to investigate some of the real issues at play beneath the text. The “Woman” is constructed, in much literature as the whore or the angel, and while the text brings up this issue, it leaves it quickly for bloodshed and action. It seems like there are a lot of big issues that are lying just under the surface that are not really addressed within the adaption. Of course since this is only part 1, we have but a portion of the story. Hopefully Jackson will adapt the second part, and challenge some of these notions.

While the set is simple and vague, Jackson hopes you will take the leap into this fairy tale with him. Not only did Jackson adapt/co-direct, he also starred as Faust himself. Faust’s performance seldom seemed forced, but instead seemed natural and flowing, no matter how ridged Jackson plays him. It is truly a treat to see Jackson and co-star Peter Ruocco (Mephistopheles) and the subtleties they are able to bring out of the rich text provided to them. Ruocco strides onstage and persuades the audience that he is the embodiment of evil simply by stating that fact. His portrayal of Mephistopheles is, as one viewer put it, “like a jaded melancholy” and it works beautiful into the scope and setting that Jackson and set designer Nina Ball have created

However, the real highlight of the show lies with the performance of Blythe Foster just as the tragedy begins to unfold. The dance sequence that has been created is an incredible piece of visual beauty. Hearkening back to the style of movement in Yes Yes to Moscow, Jackson abstracts movement and turning it simply into something that Gretchen does to express her inner turmoil rising up within her. This scene alone is worth the cost of the ticket, and all the rest of the play is simply enjoyable.

While there are still some nuts and bolts to iron out, Jackson’s concept is strong enough, especially when supported by the performances of Peter Ruocco and Blythe Foster to create a piece that, on the whole, is a beautiful representation of movement and how it should be used. In Faust, Part 1 Jackson has created another piece that he should be proud of.

-Picture by Jessica Palopoli
http://www.shotgunplayers.org/faust.htm

Natasha and the Coat by Deborah Stein is a deeply moving tale of cultural clash. Natasha is an intern at an upscale clothing retail store in Brooklyn, NYC. The play chronicles her interaction with the Hasidic Jewish family who lives below her and rents her a room. Because this is part of the Playwright's festival, it was only a reading and not a full production, however it was still possible to see some great working being done.

The direction was subtle, but what Sean Daniels was able to accomplish was a beautiful reading. A fairly simplistic staging with the actors behind music stands allowed the actors the freedom to actually act instead of being hampered by remembering complex stage direction. In the 12 hours of rehearsal accomplished before its first reading, Daniels created a visually appealing experience without taking away from the amazing script that Stein provided.

The script is subtle, but beautiful in is intricate writing. Many of the touching moments come between the plays main two characters, Natasha and the young Jewish man who runs the dry cleaning shop. Their relationship is beautiful and poignant and pushes the young Hadsid to expand his horizons, and appreciate tradition for its truths instead of the useless reason of "because his parents taught him that way." His story is similar to one that might be read in the writings of Chaim Potok, and Steins plot is just as beautiful as Potok's in Asher Lev.

The acting was, Brilliant. Lead by young actress Danielle Levin and up and coming star Jonathan Bock. Their onstage chemistry was incredible and drug the audience along for the hour and a half ride. At the end of the show, the audience was left wanting more, which is exactly how an audience should be left.

Blasted
19:21 Theatre Company
Mossmer Hotel, SF June 22, 2008.

The seven of us stood in the lobby of the Mossmer Hotel on Fourth Street. We didn’t now much; all we knew was that we were seeing a production of Blasted, Sarah Kane’s first popular play. We are handed veils as we are told to put them on and place them on over our heads. There were three holes; one hole for our mouth and two for our heads. From this moment on we knew we were in for something special. We would soon be observes to something that would become more poetic than any experience I had ever had before.

What you see feels like something other than theatre. There are none of the traditions that are present in normal theatre. There is no cast list and there is no program. In fact there is no program. And appropriately at the finale there is no blackout, (the room is already dark), and no curtain call.

19;21 Theatre Company from England brings us a trans-continental cast production of Blasted by Sarah Kane. This company brings us perhaps one of the most intimate but also one of the most aloof theatre experiences I have ever had. This production of Blasted has been staged, like the real play, in a hotel room. There is no defined stage, just as there is no defined place for the viewer to be. The audience is free to move to find a better vantage point as the show is staged around them. If you want to see part of a scene better, it is your job to find a better place stand.

The acting was almost subpar at the top of the show, as the two leads did not seem to play very well together at first. The main reason there is this feeling at first is the audience is in fact not used to this style. The dialogue is not given in a particularly “theatre” style, it is given more conversationally. But gradually as you grew into the style and into this new form, the audience gradually warms up to the actors and the style of the show.

When the work shows its true brilliance it is when things starts to fall apart. As the apartment is thrown into to ruin by the entrance of the soldier the play takes on a whole new light and the performances get so much more believable. Lighting helps to play a big role in this as the lights begin to get less and less and are used to focus you on what you are supposed to be seeing. The performances of the actors too becomes all the more intense and believable.

Those of my readers who are familiar with the work of Sarah Kane know how brutal she is. Her work, thusly, is incredibility hard to stage. And 19:21 have found a new way to bring her work to life. The staging and lighting of the piece is so brilliant you don’t realize it until hours or maybe even days later. How they accomplish what the piece calls for is the most theatric part of the piece, and is worth seeing the piece just for itself. But where the piece really shines is the experience. The feelings that the piece gives the audience as we leave, unsure if we were to clap, just leave or cry. Blasted remains true to the ways of Sarah Kane and hits you dead on in the face with its unique experience. Ultimately this piece provides the perfect introduction to a new viewer of Kane’s work, but it also brings to life one of her plays in a new way that people even the most familiar with her work would not miss.

What can only be classified as “event theatre.” When it really comes down to it, Blasted is all about the experience and what the audience goes through as they journey through the play. And because of that they get away with some things that would not quite work in any “normal” production. All theatre productions should take a little advice from this production and accommodate the experience of their audience. It helps a lot and effectively engages any member of the audience. Blasted is one of the best events of the year, and is well worth the look. This is an experience you will not soon forget.