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May 26 2014
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‘Raisin’ is still timely at Cal Shakes

By Judy Richter

t’s 1959, and three generations of the Younger family share a cramped, rundown apartment on Chicago’s predominantly black South Side.

Hope is scarce, but now the family has some in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” presented by California Shakespeare Theater. The matriarch, Lena Younger (Margo Hall), receives a $10,000 check (big money in those days) from her late husband’s life insurance. It’s enough that maybe some dreams can come true.

Lena dreams of moving the family to a home of their own. Her college student daughter, Beneatha (Nemuna Ceesay), wants to become a doctor. Her son, Walter Lee (Marcus Henderson), wants to become rich by investing in a liquor store. His wife, Ruth (Ryan Nicole Peters), wants to revive their crumbling marriage and provide a better future for their 10-year-old son, Travis (Zion Richardson).

These dreams come in a racially divided society, one that has left Walter Lee, who works as a white man’s chauffeur, frustrated and angry. He takes out his anger on the women in his family, especially Ruth, and tries to escape through alcohol.

When Lena makes a down payment on a house in a predominantly white neighborhood, ClybournePark, a representative of its homeowner association, Karl Lindner (Liam Vincent), calls on them. In one of the highlights of this production directed by Patricia McGregor, the family’s politeness on the assumption that he is welcoming them to the neighborhood gradually turns to dismay and anger when they learn that the association will buy their house at a considerable sum to keep them out. They send him on his way.

In the meantime, Lena has given Walter Lee the $6,500 left after the down payment. She tells him to set aside $2,000 for Beneatha’s education and to put the rest into a checking account for himself. Instead, he gives all of the money to one of his partners in the liquor store plan, but the man disappears.

This play, which opens Cal Shakes’ 40th anniversary season, is historic in its own right because it was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway. It also depicts a sorry chapter in American history that is still ongoing despite numerous advances in racial relations since 1959.

Director McGregor has elicited nicely nuanced performances, especially by Hall as the indomitable Lena and Peters as Walter’s long-suffering wife. Ceesay makes Beneatha an intelligent young woman who’s searching for more meaning in her life. Richardson is believable as young Travis. Beneatha’s two boyfriends and fellow students, the wealthy, pretentious George and politically astute Joseph from Nigeria, are well played by York Walker and Rotimi Agbabiaka (who hails from Nigeria), respectively. Vincent is suitably officious as Karl, the white neighborhood emissary who keeps referring to the family as “you people.”

Henderson’s performance as Walter Lee is problematic because he makes the character so agitated most of the time.

The set is by Dede M. Ayite with ambient lighting by Gabe Maxson and sound by Will McCandless. Costumes are by Katherine Nowacki.

The play’s title comes from “Harlem,” by black poet Langston Hughes, who wrote, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

In the case of the Younger family, it doesn’t, thanks to the hope evinced by the ending.

“A Raisin in the Sun” will continue at Cal Shakes’ outdoor Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way(off Highway 24), Orinda, through June 15. For tickets and information, call (510) 548-9666 or visit www.calshakes.org.

If you’re a first-timer, be advised that evening performances can be quite chilly. Picnicking is OK, and there’s a café.

 

May 26 2014
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2014 Spring Fringe of Marin—Program II

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

 Ricky Montes as Jason and Micah Coate as Amelia in Let Me Go, in Program II at the Fringe of Marin

 [rating:4] (4/5 stars)

The Fringe of Marin now celebrates its 33rd season with some of the most innovative work of San Francisco Bay Area playwrights, directors and actors.

The Festival was established by Dr. Annette Lust in 1995, Professor Emerita at Dominican University. She ran the Festival until her death in February, 2013.  Last spring, Gina Pandiani, a 1985 Dominican graduate stepped in as Managing Director with Production Manager, Pamela Rand—and so the Festival continues on.

This review centers on Program II consisting of four plays and one solo performance.  Program II opened with Tuesdays in the Park with River Apple by C.J. Erlich and directed by Robin Schild, who has directed many plays for the Fringe over the years.  Mr. Schild has a flair for comedy in this satirical look at motherhood as four young mothers meet while watching their toddlers.

Claudia Rosa gives an amazing performance as Zsusanna, who is new to the city and the mother of 4-year-old River Apple.  New to full-time motherhood, she tries to juggle her various roles.  Ms. Rosa uses very expressive body language throughout. She is ably supported by three other young mothers..  Gigi Benson (Jessica) gives a very animated performance.  Colette Gunn plays Abby, a sympathetic role and Victoria Vann is Isham, who is very shy.  Micah Coate makes a sexy entrance as Lark, a nanny to the children.  This light satirical play was followed by The Next Big Thing by Robert Wanderman and directed by Pamela Rand.

The Next Big Thing is “vulture capitalism.”  When the owner’s hands are in the crapper, vulture sweeps in and swallows and turns it about.  Jeffrey Schmidt as Abe knows how to take the stage and gives a convincing performance along with Victoria Vann as Casey and Duncan Maddox as Bill.

Let Me Go, written by Shai Regan is next on the program. The play is very sensitively directed by Gary Green.  In this amazing play, Amelia, played by Micah Coate learns how to deal with posttraumatic stress with the help of her fiancée Jason played by Ricky Montes, after she sees him attacked.

The second half of the program opens with Jinshin Jiko written by Bridgette Dutta Portman and directed by Amy Crumpacker with Sheila Devitt as Assistant Director. This play takes place on a train. The expressions and body language of the passengers are brilliantly choreographed. Morgan, an uptight businesswoman (Chelsea Zephyr) is hysterical when the train is stalled and she has a presentation to make. She imagines A Japanese Woman, Yurei (Mimu Tsujimura) is attacking her.  The other people on the train are Sheila Devitt, a Dutch woman, Vonn Scott Bair, a Dutch man, RJ Castaneda, a Japanese man and Sam Tillis as Kenneth.

The final play of the program is a full-scale production, Little Moscow written by Aleks Merilo and directed by Greg Young starring Rick Roitinger as the Tailor.  This play employs a complete set of the shop of the tailor and projections on the back wall of places and people about which the Tailor speaks.  This is a real tour de force for Rick Roitinger as an aging, Russian immigrant tailor whose recollections of man’s crimes against humanity and a father’s love for his country conflict with his love for his daughter.

What a wealth of talent in Program II! The only fly in the ointment was the poor acoustics of Angelico Concert Hall at Dominican University. This could be improved with a sound system or the actors could have mikes as much of the dialog was lost.

The Spring Fringe of Marin Festival plays one more weekend at Angelico Concert Hall, Dominican University, 20 Olive Avenue, San Rafael, CA.

Program I plays Saturday-Sunday, May 31-June 1 at 2 p.m. Program II runs Friday-Saturday, May 30-31 at 7:30 p.m.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

May 26 2014
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Custom Made Theatre presents Arthur Miller’s The Crucible

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

 

Set in 17th century Salem, this classic story of individuals standing up against the corruption of their society was Miller’s allegory for the witch-hunts of the 1950’s House Un-American Activities Committee led by Senator Joe McCarthy. The Crucible shows the persecution and state-sponsored murder of twenty persons by their friends and neighbors for alleged affiliations with the supernatural world. It also shows how power in the wrong hands can be wielded and opposed in any community–an issue that remains to this day.

As a work of theatre, The Crucible is one of Miller’s best examples of his mastery of subtext. And while this production as a whole is not done in a style that demonstrates Miller’s genius, there are many elements that remain praiseworthy.

It is always difficult to know whether artistic choices are directorial. One in particular is the surprising lack of subtlety in the portrayal of Deputy Governor Danforth (Paul Jennings). A man in a position of power has no need to prove it by shouting angrily. There is nothing more frightening than such a man who benevolently imparts a despicable point of view.

Equally confusing is why if both Proctor (Peter Townley) and Goody Proctor (Megan Briggs) repeatedly mention the emotional chill in their home, she would greet her husband open-heartedly with a welcoming smile. In a society where dancing is considered a sin, casual touching and shouting strike false notes, and feel completely antithetical to the culture. 

The Crucible directed by Stuart Bousel also presents challenges in the trial scenes when the young girls demonstrate hysteria. This alternates with dialogue among the judges which dialogue unnecessarily gets completely lost. Picking up cues without talking over others can build in volume to a more dramatic effect.

In the majority of scenes, the ensemble works well together keeping the action apace with notable performances by Reverend John Hale (Nicholas Trengove), Goody Putnam (Melissa Clason), Ezekiel Cheever (Vince Faso), Rebecca Nurse (Carole Swann), Francis Nurse (Richard Wenzel) Mary Warren (Alisha Ehrlich) and Giles Corey (Ron Talbot). As always at CMT the sound design (Liz Ryder) is stellar. 

Even with these reservations, The Crucible is an American classic worth seeing. Thurs-Sat 8pm Sun 7pm thru June 15. Gough Street Playhouse 1620 Gough Street, SF www.custommade.org 

Linda Ayres-Frederick

May 26 2014
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A-ASC’s Much Ado About Nothing is Something to Write Home About!

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

 

Much Ado About Nothing at African-American Shakespeare Company is definitely noteworthy. Under the expertly imaginative hand of Artistic Director L. Peter Callender, this rich plot of twists and turns that explores courting and romance gains momentum from beginning to end. Set in post WWII, the music of Ella Fitgerald enriches the sharp Shakespearean comedy. Callender’s cast is fearless dealing with the serious tones of honor and shame that are interspersed between the more exuberant aspects of love.

Nowhere will you find a more delightfully sassy Beatrice (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) who meets her match in Benedick (Ryan Vincent Anderson). Their sparring wit contrasts the innocent puppy dog love of Claudio (Twon Marcel) and his lovely young Hero (Danielle Doyle). The story of the two pairs of lovers is enhanced by an ensemble that features solid performances from Don Pedro (Kelvyn Mitchell), Don John (Jim Gessner) and Leonato (Dwight Dean Mahabir) to name a few.  Tom Segal’s Choreography and Maureen “Mo” Stones’s Costumes add their talents to give this Much Ado even more pizzazz.

AASC is this year’s worthy recipient of the Paine-Knickerbocker Award by the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Named for the former theatre critic of The SF Chronicle, this Award is presented to an organization that has made a continuing contribution to Bay Area Theatre.

Much Ado About Nothing completes AASC’s 2013/14 Season. With such an array of talent, their next season promises to be equally exciting.  Located at Burial Clay Theatre in the African American Art & Culture Complex, 762 Fulton Street (near Webster) in SF, an added perk is the free parking next door. Tickets for the upcoming season will be available at the Box Office or Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006. www.african-americanshakes.org.

 

Linda Ayres-Frederick

May 25 2014
Love0

The Ethereal, Exotic and Erotic in the Yogic Art of India

By Guest Review

The Ethereal, Exotic and Erotic in the Yogic Art of India

By Jenny Lenore Rosenbaum     jennyLenore8@gmail.com

Transcendence, awakening, enlightenment – grand, often intimidating terms that seek to express what is fundamentally ineffable: union with the Divine and the cosmos, which themselves are one. Among the most haunting works in the stunning exhibition, Yoga: The Art of Transformation, at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (through May 25) is a painting of an indigo-hued Vishnu Vishvarupa (from around 1800). His body girded with a golden robe, his four arms hold the symbols of lotus, scepter, shell and cosmic circle.

The deity’s blazing face and erect body embody and encompasses all of existence. One eye embraces the sun, the other cradles the moon. Hellish snakes and fires are inscribed on his legs while images of heavenly bliss fill his chest. The deity contains within himself all that exists, and his being infuses all – epitomizing the mystical attainment of oneness.

In over 100 works that span more than two millennia – from the 2nd to the 20th centuries — the exhibit reveals how artists of India sought to embody this inexpressible state, the one attained by Gautama Buddha when, after reaching Enlightenment, he defeated the suffering embedded in human existence. At the core, it is extraordinary that artists would be so brazen – or impassioned – to attempt to express, through form itself, what is essentially formless and invisible. Equally amazing is that they accomplished this using such a cornucopia of styles and iconographic elements.

It is intriguing to contrast Islam’s shunning of any human representation of the Divine — forbidden because the Source, all-knowing Allah, transcends such visualization and, in fact, would be defiled by it — with the irrepressible urge, in the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain traditions, to visualize spiritual empowerment in human form.

And it was yoga, in collaboration with meditation, that became the interfused, empowering vehicles for reaching nirvana. They became the exit strategy through which seekers could plot their escape route from the cycles of bodily degradation, mental torment and emotional vulnerability to which humans are prey.

In an article entitled, Eons Before the Yoga Mat Became Trendy, art historian Holland Cotter describes yoga, in its most rarified form, as “a shattering personal revolution.” The exhibit uncovers the myriad ways – both lush and austere – that artists of India managed to embrace such a shattering: the cracking open of the heart to allow the Divine to flood in. It is, indeed, the process of making oneself irresistible to the Divine — the quest that consumed yogis (spiritual evolved beings) and yoginis (female yogis).

The exhibit’s sheer breadth, diversity and complexity are riveting. It traverses far-flung eras and dives into vast facets of Indian culture beyond the spiritual and mystical – including the political, aesthetic and sociological realms. All of this is interwoven with cross-pollinating traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sufism. Precisely targeting the birth of yoga is elusive even to scholars, but many believe its origins go back 4,000 years. But precision dating fades in importance when one beholds the exhibit’s lavishly illustrated catalogue, illuminating key aspects of yogic art and the tapestry of its cultural context.

The works were assembled from museums and private collections in India, the U.S. and Europe. Originally conceived at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (of the Smithsonian Institution), curators there approached their counterparts at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, an institution that holds a magnificent treasury of Asian art, considered one of the world’s premier collections of the arts of India, Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia and Java. The show, designed and materialized by Jeffrey Durham, Curator of Himalyan Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and Qamar Adamjee, Associate Curator of Himalyan Art, will complete its run at the Cleveland Museum of Art (through September 7).

On a global level, no other exhibit has ever assembled an aesthetic record of yoga’s genesis, evolution and philosophical underpinnings. Tackling this subject represents nothing less than penetrating the heart of artistic expression in India, the most concentrated spiritual locus on earth. When this realization settles in, it becomes amazing that such an exhibit was not created earlier and that its itinerary includes only three venues.

So passionate has been the diamond-sharp focus of India’s spiritual seekers that their struggle for transformation became seized upon by artists, perhaps yogis themselves? One can only wonder. The spiritual quest, translated through the sensibilities of artists working in diverse media, is manifested in a torrent of masterpieces: sculptures (of both historic and divine yogis), paintings, a 15-foot scroll depicting the chakras (the network of spiritual energy centers within the body), opaque watercolors, ancient manuscripts and Islamic divination texts.

But let’s cut to the chase. Liberation from all that ravages the soul is far too much for most mortals. The knawing reality is that arriving at this state entails an unimaginable level of not simply effort but, more accurately, giftedness — or perhaps it’s “just” an irrepressible spiritual hunger. Those rare few who get there, arriving at the wondrous top of their game, have the ultimate payoff: the go-ahead to merge the drops of their singularity into a sea of sacredness that suffuses everything that is, was and will ever be. Or so the mystics whisper.

Greeting visitors upon entry is Three Aspects of the Absolute (opaque watercolors from an 1823 folio). It eloquently encapsulates what cannot actually be encapsulated: the stages of spiritual unfolding. The first panel, a shimmering field of undifferentiated gold, symbolizing the Absolute, gives way to the next — a Brahman yogi in a lotus position. In the final panel the yogi, in the same pose, has attained awakening amidst the cosmic sea.

As this exhibition abundantly reveals, getting to this apex can be expressed through sculptural figures that are chillingly serene, even austere – a deity standing in perfect equipoise, in imperturbable symmetry. Or, this fruition can be expressed through representations of yogis and yoginis encircled, in sometimes baroque renderings, by snakes, skulls, swords and shields. A demonic entourage seems to hover, suggesting the disquieting facets of the human condition, reminding us of the transient nature of life yet assuring us that death is but a portal to eternity.

Three larger than life size yoginis were reunited in this exhibition for the first time since they first adorned an open-air 10th-century temple. They exude a voluptuousness that, to a Western viewer, might be charged with eroticism. But to a Hindu of that era and later, the erotic dimension is eclipsed by their evocations of abundance, fertility, auspiciousness, and the sacred feminine, in all its aspects.

For the gurus, saints, sages, mystics, seers, deities, prophets and bodhissatvas (those who surrender their own eternal marination in non-duality to stay on earth, guiding suffering mankind), the process could mean diving, head first, immersing the chakras in self-mortifications and austerities – subjecting themselves to torturous heat and freezing, protracted fasting, striding upon nails, hanging from trees. The historic Buddha did it, then abandoned that path when an epiphany revealed the Middle Way – between the extreme of sensual indulgence and profound asceticism (part of the renunciation movement embraced by many yogis.)

Durham, a specialist in esoteric art history and visualization practice, speaks of being surprised to discover, in the course of co-curating the show, that the first visual depictions of asanas (Sanskrit for yogic postures) derived not from Buddhist or Sanskrit writings by Hindus, as scholars would expect, but rather from a text that emerged from the Sufi tradition (the most ancient and mystical strain of Islam). Called the Bahr al-Hayat (“Ocean of Life”), this 16th-century folio gave rise to a delicately rendered series of 10 paintings in the exhibition – adorned with calligraphic Persian script — showing the range of asana postures used by devotees.

Scholars have noticed that the depicted yogi bears a resemblance to Christ, perhaps resulting from the contemporaneous influence of Jesuit missionaries. One might speculate that the artist was drawing an analogy between Indian mystics and mystical elements of Christianity.

Also striking, Durham notes, is the fact that these asanas were not depicted in the folio until a full millennium and a half after the Indian sage, Patanjali, compiled the yoga sutras in the 2nd century A.D. A seminal figure in the yogic tradition, it was his text that systematically set forth the principles and precise means of self-liberation. The sage, considered more of a pragmatist than a mystic, makes clear that practitioners could attain not only clear minds – the fertile soil from which transcendence can blossom – but superhuman capacities such as immortality, the ability to journey to the past, and the capacity to fly.

In the exhibit is a striking Mughal era painting of a yogi soaring through the sky, with a flying princess in close pursuit. But she drops a ring into a pond below to entice the earthly king, cavorting in the water, with whom she is enamored. She straddles two worlds, as did many yogis who were courted by the political elite for their extraordinary powers.

Paradoxes abound in the quest to transcend body and mind: losing oneself in order to find oneself, becoming empty to be full, enduring mortification of the flesh as one avenue to ecstasy. The god Shiva is at once terrifying and soothing-ethereal. A curvaceous yogini offers a gentle smile but she has fangs and delicately holds a skull.

In the Mughal period of the 16th to 18th centuries, emperors, sultans and maharajas – who themselves had spiritual aspirations – held yogis in high esteem as gifted personages who could help them politically, militarily and engender prestige for their courts. This mutual respect and face-to-face contact between the politically powerful and the spiritually evolved was a rare instance of symbiosis between seemingly antithetical sectors. It evokes the role of the samurai in medieval Japan: their powerful ties to the imperial court, the influence of Buddhist philosophy and tea ceremony on samurai culture

During the British colonial period that followed the Mughal emperors, yogis were frequently perceived as barbaric creatures, freaks to be ridiculed. They also satisfied the British appetite for exoticism, an ardor for “the other” living on the far fringes of society. In the 19th-century, meticulously staged sepia studio photographs depicted them in self-mortifying poses, their visages forlorn. These images, suggesting, in more than subtle ways, intentions to humiliate, are a far cry from the august yogic presences that must have enraptured populations in eras past.

The final gallery brings yoga full circle, to its role in contemporary culture –.a potent tool, practiced by an estimated 16 million Americans and an untold number globally. Holistic spirit-mind-body benefits abound. Yoga came to have relevance and applications to everything under the sun — from heightened professional productivity to the unleashing of creative energies, enhanced interpersonal dynamics, sustained emotional balance, rejuvenated sexuality, and capacities to transcend grief, illness and death.

Indeed, in every facet of life, yoga has been promoted as a kind of antidote, par excellence, to the ravages of postmodern culture. Final images of the show are videos of some of yoga’s most revered contemporary practitioners, whose extreme asanas bear a resemblance to Cirque du Soleil contortionists, if somewhat less dionysian.

Having attained an undeniable charisma, yoga today rests solidly in the toolbox of self-help gurus. It has become a revered complement to traditional Western medicine as well as integrative (mind-body-spirit) medicine and modalities linked with the healing arts. Like practitioners from earlier centuries, teachers and students today still seek to unleash the powers of the subtle energetic body that underlies the anatomical body and engenders self-healing capacities. Durham elucidates a key relationship: “Yoga entered western medical discourse by mapping the subtle body onto the anatomical body.”

In the ways it has infiltrated popular culture, one can feel a degradation of yoga from eras past — when Shiva, Vishnu and the yoginis led practitioners on thrilling spiritual odysseys. But yoga remains a transformative art. It is at once diluted yet undiluted. While superficial — in its poignant reincarnations at elite spas and upscale health clubs — its sacred aura persists. If some strands of it are devolving, others are constantly enriched by the race memory of ancient lineages and the mastery of modern practitioners. Yoga’s nectar still seeps into the chakras, rejuvenating celebrants from Bali to Brazil.

Click here to download images from the Yoga exhibition. Also included is the Yoga image caption sheet.

END

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, in its inimitable way, offered an elaborate series of events to accompany the exhibition and strengthen its impact: lectures and demonstrations by master yoga teachers, panels by medical researchers and physicians influenced by yoga in their work on integrative medicine, performances by dancers and musicians whose creativity is infused with yogic practices and philosophy. At these events, abundant opportunities exist for the public and school children to interact with all the presenters.

On a daily basis, the Museum’s docents gave illuminating tours of the exhibition, based on three years studying Indian art, in its cultural and spiritual contexts. The rigors of their study included mentoring by Museum curators.

Few museums go to such lengths to transform historic art exhibits into extraordinary opportunities for personal transformation. The benefits are destined to reverberate through the intensely multi-cultural life of San Francisco, the Bay Area and beyond, richly marinating the chakras of bodily and geographic terrain for years to come.

May 24 2014
Love0

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a stunning ‘kitchen-sink’ drama.

By Kedar K. Adour

 

 

Emmy-nominated actor Mark Margolis (Gus) heads up the Marcantonio clan in the West Coast premiere of Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, an epic family drama at Berkeley Rep. Photo courtesy of kevin berne.com

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures: Drama by Tony Kushner. Directed by Tony Taccone.Berkeley Repertory Theatre,Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org   May 16-June 29,2014

West Coast premiere. [rating:3] (3 of 5 stars)

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures is a stunning ‘kitchen-sink’ drama.

In a recent interview of Tony Kushner by Chad Jones for the SF Chronicle, Kushner suggested that this play is his attempt to write a “well-made kitchen-sink drama.”  The term ‘kitchen-sink’ owes its derivation to a 1957 3-act play entitled The Kitchen that played in the Royal Court Theatre in London written by the noted Arnold Wesker. During the 50s and 60s London playwright’s, termed the angry young men,wrote plays about everyday working class characters. This included John Osborne who wrote Look Back in Anger (1956).

Wesker’s play is about the disintegration of a Communist Jewish family whose ideals are shattered as the world around them is radically changing. In that play the matriarch is the one with the strong Socialist convictions while the patriarch vacillates. Their son and daughter are mirror images of the parents.

It seems apparent that Tony Kushner has been influenced by The Kitchen. Even so, he is a unique writer with a plethora of theatrical awards including Pulitzer Prize and the seminal Tony Award winning Angels in America. The kitchen-sink influence extends to the play’s construction written in three acts with act one setting the premise(s), act two leading to a climactic confrontation and a third act denouement. The comparisons end there as five of Kushner’s characters are homosexuals. If is intended as an extension/update of his seminal Angels in America it is redundant and deficient. Never-the-less, even though it is pretentious to run for three hours and 45 minutes, he has created a unique powerful drama that is being given a stunning performance under Tony Taccone’s tight direction.

In Kushner’s play the family is Italian Catholic and the widowed elderly patriarch Gus (Mark Margolis) is disillusioned with his past and present life and wishes to commit suicide. He has unsuccessfully tried once, and now his family has arrived home to try to dissuade him from doing it again. In the past he was a Communist Union organizer on the waterfront and has been able to provide well for his family. Home is a New York City brownstone that is now worth millions of dollars.

Gus’s has three children. The eldest boy Pill (Lou Liberatore)has failed to get his doctoral degree is married to Paul (Tyrone Mitchell Henderson). The daughter called Empty (Deidre Lovejoy), lives with her lover Maeve (Liz Wisan) who is 8 months pregnant presumably by artificial insemination. The decision to live as a lesbian apparently came late in life and her estranged husband Adam (Anthony Fusco) lives in the basement of the home. Vito (Joseph J. Parks), the younger son, is a blue-collar contractor and has strong belief in the capitalistic system. Aunt Clio (Randy Danson) is Gus’s sister is mostly a sounding board for the other characters and has been looking  after Gus. She is important to play because of her belief in Christian Science and has a copy of Mary Baker Eddy’s pamphlet “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”Another major reference within the play is to George Bernard Shaw’s “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism” as indicated by the grandiloquent title of Kushner’s play.

Liz Wisan (Maeve), Deirdre Lovejoy (Empty), and Anthony Fusco (Adam)

The pivotal non-member of the family is a street smart hustler Eli (Jordan Geiger) that Pill loves and has been paid thousands of dollars for his services thus threatening the marriage of Paul and Pill. His return to the stage in the final scene is both touching ambiguous.

Kushner is a master at amalgamating everyday action with weighty ideas and this play is further proof of his ability. However you may miss many of those intricacies since Kushner and Taccone allow extended scenes where the characters talk over each other creating pandemonium rather than understanding.

Individually and collectively the actors do great justice to Kushner’s dialog. Mark Margolis leads the way with his portrayal of Gus’s disillusionment that we later learn is infected with guilt. Tyrone Mitchell Henderson dominates the stage with his anger beginning with the first scene that extends deep into the play. Lou Liberatore  as the love smitten ineffectual Pill is at his best in a quiet scene with Margolis. Deidre Lovejoy has a difficulty creating therole of Empty probably because Kushner has not fully defined that character. Liz Wisan  as the very pregnant Maeve could not give a better performance.  Jordan Geiger under-plays Eli to perfection and earns his spot in the final scene of the play. Joseph J. Parks as the angry Vito is a bit excessive but necessary to

Lou Liberatore (Pill) and Jordan Geiger (Eli) portray lovers

create conflict.

Berkeley Rep has mounted Kushner’s opus (almost opus) on a fantastic two level set by Christopher Barecca that alone is worth a visit to the Rhoda Stage but not at the expense of the extended running time of three hours and 45 minutes.

CAST: Tina Chilip (Sooze), Randy Danson (Clio), Anthony Fusco (Adam), Jordan Geiger (Eli), Tyrone Mitchell Henderson (Paul), Lou Liberatore (Pill), Deirdre Lovejoy (Empty), Mark Margolis (Gus), Joseph J. Parks (Vito), Robynn Rodriguez (Shelle), and Liz Wisan (Maeve)

CREATIVE TEAM: Christopher Barecca (scenic designer), Meg Neville (costume designer), Alexander V. Nichols (lighting designer), Jake Rodriguez (sound designer), and Julie Wolf (Music Consultant).

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

May 24 2014
Love0

Fringe of Marin Spring 2014: Season Opener

By David Hirzel

The Fringe of Marin has gotten off to a good start for Spring 2014, opening their 33rd season’s Program One at Dominican University’s Angelico Hall.  This relatively new venue (2nd season there) is in most ways a decided improvement over the stage at Meadowlands.  There is, for example, a real theatrical sound and lighting system, a real stage and several hundred banked seats.  These, taken together, add a theatrical polish to the overall production, and this in turn brings out the best in the performances.

One of the best of these is the opener, “Fourteen” (written by Inbal Kashtan), a glimpse into the frustration and desperation of an adolescent girl (very well played by Stefanee Martin) seeking connection in a disintegrating household.  Very well staged and directed by Jon Tracey.  Gaetana Caldwell-Smith’s “Andrew Primo” looks into a woman’s discovery that her man is, literally, a machine.  Wth Edith Reiner’s performance as Elaine, it all makes sense.  Lesbian honeymooners on a camping trip are “Fighting for Survival” against all intruders—men, bears, nude dancers, a thunderstorm.  Lucas Hatton’s over-the-top stint as a hapless campground-census taker brought the evening’s richest laughter.  Dylan Brody’s “PreOccupy Hollywood” takes us to the staging room of a group of movie extras hoping for a shot at the bigger time.

For all that this new venue adds, something has been taken away—the close-in intimacy of Meadowlands’ black-box narrow hall.   This is particularly noticeable in “Little Moscow” where Rick Roitinger’s estimable portrayal of a Russian Jewish tailor’s reflective monologue to an unseen customer loses much of the potency of Alecks Merilo’s powerful script to the cavernous auditorium.  It is a credit to his performance and physical embodiment of that tailor, that Roitinger transcends the difficulties of giving an outward projection to the thoughts and words of an inwardly-directed character.

Altogether, a great evening’s entertainment right here in San Rafael.  Program Two promises at least as much, if not more.  Premiere Program Two Saturday May 24, 2:00.

For all dates this season, click Fringe Spring 2014

Box office:  Fringe 2014

Review by David Hirzel  www.davidhirzel.net

May 23 2014
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Kushner fascinates in ‘Intelligent Homosexual’s ….’

By Judy Richter

There’s no doubt that Tony Kushner is one of the nation’s most brilliant, erudite playwrights. His much-honored “Angels inAmerica” is the best example of his genius.

Now Berkeley Repertory Theatre is staging a more recent work, “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.” While it doesn’t equal the power and fascination of “Angels,” it nevertheless is absorbing and often humorous throughout most of its three hours and 40 minutes (including two 15-minute intermissions).

The title itself reflects Kushner’s wide-ranging intellect, referring to playwright George Bernard Shaw’s nonfiction “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism” and Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy’s “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”

The play, however, is primarily a family drama set in the Brooklyn brownstone of the Marcantonio family in 2007. The sister of the Italian American family’s patriarch, 72-year-old Gus (Mark Margolis), has gathered his three adult children and their significant others because he wants to sell the house and commit suicide. He says he’s developing Alzheimer’s.  It later turns out that Gus, a retired longshoreman, former Marxist and labor leader, also has grown disenchanted with the 21st century.

Although his announced intention is the catalyst for the play, it also focuses on relationships within the family and between the children and others, starting with his son Pill (Lou Liberatore). He’s a history teacher who recently moved to Minneapolis with his longtime lover and now husband, Paul (Tyrone Mitchell Henderson). The couple moved from New York because of Pill’s romantic relationship with a young hustler, Eli (Jordan Geiger).

Gus’s only daughter is Empty (her real name is Maria Teresa, or MT), a lawyer played by Deirdre Lovejoy. Her wife, Maeve (Liz Wisan ), is eight months pregnant with sperm from Empty’s other brother, Vito (Joseph J. Parks), a contractor, who is married to Sooze (Tina Chilip). Empty’s former husband, Adam (Anthony Fusco), lives in the home’s basement apartment.

Completing the family circle is Gus’s taciturn sister, Clio (Randy Danson), a former nun who does social work in the slums of nearby Patterson,N.J. The only outside character is Gus’s friend Shelle (Robynn Rodriguez), who appears briefly in Act 3 and details how he can kill himself.

There’s a great deal of angst, argument and political philosophy as events unfold. Often everyone talks at once, but does anyone listen?

Directed by BRT artistic director Tony Taccone, the acting is excellent and most of the characters are sharply etched, but Kushner hasn’t developed some as well as others.

Christopher Barecca’s set design features the two-level brownstone and other locations that are slid or lowered into place. Completing the design team are Alexander V. Nichols, lighting; Jake Rodriguez, sound; and Meg Neville, costumes.

Even though Taccone does his best to keep the action flowing and Kushner has revised the play since its 2009 premiere in Minneapolis, it still could benefit from revisions. Some scenes, especially those involving Pill and Eli, are too long. Some of the secondary characters, such as Sooze and Maeve, need more fleshing out. Some plot developments seem abrupt.

In short, Kushner weaves a rich tapestry, as he always does, but this one has some loose threads.

The play will continue at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley, through June 29. For tickets and information, call (510) 647-2949 or visit www.berkeleyrep.org.

 

May 22 2014
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Big Marcus Shelby band uniquely weds jazz to Shakespeare

By Woody Weingarten

 Woody’s [rating:3.5]

Marcus Shelby skipped the hat and wore less conspicuous shoes for his Cal Performances tribute to Duke Ellington. Courtesy photo.

To be inventive or not to be inventive, that is the question.

When it’s bandleader-bassist Marcus Shelby doing the asking (as well as the innovating), the answer is a resounding “yes.”

In a Cal Performances concert at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley celebrating Duke Ellington’s 115th birthday, Shelby flaunted his calculated risk of failing — by juxtaposing swinging big-band jazz and Shakespeare.

He didn’t fail.

Instead, he and his 15-member, mostly-brass ensemble evoked toe tapping, applause, whistling, cheers and foot stomping with each section of the obscure but stimulating “Such Sweet Thunder.”

The suite had been popularized by the Duke on vinyl but written by his longtime collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.

Shelby’s sidemen brought out each segment’s uniqueness, helping me see how Strayhorn was in effect trying to cover the entire jazz landscape in a single symphonic work.

And each segment’s pithiness left me wanting more.

Because the music was based on the plays and sonnets of the Bard, it was a big deal but not a big surprise that Shelby integrated soliloquys by five actors from Cal Shakes, more formally known as the California Shakespeare Theater.

While all the spoken-word interludes were top-notch, I found some connections to the music tangential at best and, thereby, hard to distinguish — even given information that “the essence” of Shakespeare’s material was being emphasized rather than any one scene or character.

I did find a few links clear-cut, though.

A Juliet balcony scene obviously bonded with a ballad, “The Star-Crossed Lovers,” and a bluesy waltz-time “Lady Mac” danced a direct path to “Lady Macbeth.”

“Sonnet to Hank Cinq” was, of course, a hip reference to Henry V, and “Sonnet for Sister Kate” might have had a little to do with Willie the Shakes’ “Taming of the Shrew.”

In my mind’s eye, by evening’s end I’d labeled the experiment fascinating and a success.

Even though I’d have liked the music alone.

The pre-intermission set of the concert, which also marked the 15th year of the Shelby group and the 40th anniversary of Ellington’s death, consisted of more familiar melodies.

It was dubbed “The Legacy of Duke Ellington: 50 Years of Swing!”

And swing it did.

For me, the highlight was an unbilled rendition of “Take the ‘A’ Train,” but I was also delighted by “Perdido,” the show’s bouncy opener; “C Jam Blues,” its rousing closer; and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Hit Me With a Hot Note” in the middle.

The San Francisco-based Shelby, who took only one solo, happily spotlighted other musicians from his troupe as well as his guest stars.

Into the latter category fell scat vocalist Faye Carol (the high-strutting, scat-singing “Queen Bee” who’s worked with Shelby for 20 years), violinist Matthew Szemela (who occasionally kept time with both feet at the same time), sax vet Jules Broussard (whom the bandleader labeled one of his mentors) and trumpeter Joel Behrman.

Perfection was elusive, however.

I couldn’t appreciate a trumpet solo despite Shelby’s explanation that some of its notes were un-trumpet-like.

And I cringed when Carol grew raspy several times on “In My Solitude.”

Duke Ellington composed almost 1,000 pieces of music. The concert only skimmed the proverbial surface. But it did provide a glimpse into the man’s genius — through an exciting evening of standard and not-at-all-standard jazz.

In case you missed the Shelby orchestra, Cal Performances offers other excellent jazz choices. Try, for example, vocalist Mavis Staples on Oct. 30, Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra on Nov. 16, the Peter Nero Trio (playing Gershwin compositions) on Feb. 8, Cassandra Wilson (singing Billie Holiday tunes), or pianists Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock on March 19. Information: www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/buy/ or : (510) 642-9988.

May 22 2014
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An energetic/delightful/winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Center Rep.

By Kedar K. Adour

                              The Cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at CenterRep

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: Musical Comedy. Music and Lyrics by William  Finn. Book by Rachel Sheinkin. Conceived by Rebecca Feldman. Directed by Jeff  Collister.  Music Direction  by Brandon Adams. Choreographed by Jennifer Perry. Center REPertory Company 1601 Civic Drive in downtown Walnut Creek. 925-943-7469, or  www.CenterREP.org.  May 16 – June 21, 2014

[rating:5] (5of5Stars)

An energetic/delightful/winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Center Rep.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (APCSB) hit the Broadway stage in 2005 after a circuitous journey starting from improvisational act called C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E ( meaning tenebrosity. . . look it up) and lasted for 1,136 performances winning multiple awards before its journey to multiple local venues around the U.S.A. In 2009 the Willows Theatre’s performed it in a miniscule cabaret in Martinez and as directed by Marilyn Langbehn was described by this reviewer: “The cast seemed to have as much or more fun than the audience since they emphasize the humor without fully developing the bittersweet pathos written into the text.” That same year San Jose Rep mounted the play under Timothy Near’s direction: “If there were Tony Awards for West Coast shows San Jose Rep’s production of . . .  Spelling Bee would garner multiple nominations and winners.”

Center Rep has taken a different approach creating a gay splash emphasizing musical aspects with exuberant dancing (Jennifer Perry) and singing and allowing the superb cast to pull out all the stops with broad acting yet keeping more than a modicum of pathos. All this plays out on a fantastic semi-surrealistic (Kelly Tighe) gymnasium set with lighting design by Kurt Landisman. Once again CenterRep has a “must see” show.  

The place is the gymnasium of the Putnam County Middle School where the 25th Annual Spelling Bee is being held under the leadership of the County’s number one realtor Rona Lisa Perretti (Leanne Borghesi) who was the winner of the 3rd APCSB by spelling “syzygfy.” She is assisted by the Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Michael Patrick Gaffney) who has the dubious pleasure of reiterating, with the company as backup, “The Rules.”  Then there is Mitch Mahoney (Berwick Haynes) an ex-con doing community service as the “Official Comfort Counselor” who gives the losers a hug and a box of fruit juice as he leads them off stage.

Enough about the adults, except to say, that Borghesi and Haynes have powerful voices and excellent comedic timing holding their own with the talented cast of “youngsters.” Those “youngsters” are not by any stretch of the imaginations middle-school denizens but they add a lot of verisimilitude to their roles as youngsters and all give whirlwind performances.

Before the evening is over you will have your own preference/choice for who should be the winner. Of course there is only one winner but before the show ends the company reminds us of that coming in second is not so bad with the upbeat song “Second.”

You will not recognize Brittany Danielle with her blond hair pulled almost into a pony-tail and a lisp in her voice as Logainne SchwartzandGrubenniere the daughter of two gay men who would do anything for her to win.  The most poignant of the group is charming Mindy Lym as Olive Ostrovsky whose mother is in India and her father is working late and may miss the contest. Her final duet with Zac Schuman as William Barfee (pronounced Bar-Fay) is a gem. He initially comes on stage a bit too strong but is marvelous as the speller with the magic foot who may be willing to forfeit winning for the love of Olive. Then there is Adam Elsberry as Issac ‘Chip’ Berkowitz the winner of last year’s competition but finds that puberty is affecting his concentration.

Zac Schuman as William Barfee (bar-Fay)

Adding to the fun are three members selected from the audience to participate in the spelling bee. One by one they are eliminated until only of the youngsters is the winner.  That information will remain a secret. Consider it another reason to see this hilarious musical. Running time a fast paced 90 minutes without intermission.

CAST: Leanne Borghesi as Rona Lisa Perretti; Brittany Danielle as Logainne SchwartzandGrubenniere; Adam Elsberry as Isaac “Chip” Berkowitz;  Michael Patrick Gaffney as Vice Principal Douglas Panch; Berwick Haynes as Mitch Mahoney; Lindsay Hirata as Marcy Park; Mindy Lym as Olive Ostrovsky;  Zac Schuman as William Barfee; Warren McLean Wernick as Leaf Coneybear.

ARTISTIC CREW: Directed by Jeff Collister; Music Direction by Brandon Adams; Choreographed by Jennifer Perry. Creative Team: Set Design by Kelly Tighe; Lighting Design by Kurt Landisman; Costume Design by Victoria Livingston-Hall; Sound Design by Jeff Mockus;  Stage Managed by Nicole  Langley*

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com