{"id":4323,"date":"2012-11-18T20:08:10","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T04:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=4323"},"modified":"2012-11-18T22:11:53","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T06:11:53","slug":"a-beautiful-production-at-the-shelton-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/a-beautiful-production-at-the-shelton-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCTION AT THE SHELTON THEATER"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shelton Theater presents\u2026\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE RAINMAKER<\/strong><\/p>\n

By<\/p>\n

Richard Nash<\/p>\n

Directed by Julie Dimas-Lockfeld<\/p>\n

Starring Amanda Gerard-Shelton & Matt Shelton<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Magic is believing in yourself.<\/p>\n

If you can do that, you can make anything happen.<\/p>\n

Goethe<\/p>\n

Part of the mission of the Shelton Theater is \u201cto communicate what it means to be human in the world\u201d and Richard Nash\u2019s classic play does just that.\u00a0 \u201cThis poetic story has touched us with its quirky nature and courage to embrace the unknown,\u201d says Director Julie Dimas-Lockfeld. \u00a0\u201cIt only takes a sliver of hope\u2026to step into the grandeur of a larger and even more real perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lockfeld worked with actors who have studied at The Shelton Studios.\u00a0 Together, they created a moving tale of hope, love and beauty \u201cThe story for me becomes a romance between the elements of earth and sky – caring and dreaming,\u201d says Lockfeld.\u00a0 \u201cThe heart of the story is about opening up our closed minds and valuing what is right here. Funny thing is that what is here is so much more than what we imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For those of you who do not know the story of The Rainmaker, it is set in rural depression America during a drought that is destroying livestock, crops and hope.\u00a0 Lizzie (Amanda Gerard-Shelton) is farmer H.C (Phillip Estrin)\u2019s only daughter.\u00a0 She is single, lonely and as big a source of worry to her father and two brothers as the lack of rain.<\/p>\n

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Noah, her older brother sees her for what she really is, a plan, quiet girl whose prospects diminish with each passing year, but her father sees the beauty that is beneath the surface: her goodness, her honesty and her compassion for others.\u00a0 He loves her and wants her to find love and companionship, security and comfort.\u00a0 The younger brother, Jim (John Kiernan) is a bit of a lush and a dreamer and does not realize that while he squanders money and time womanizing and drinking, his family needs him at home to help with the farm.<\/p>\n

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Into this quagmire of starving cattle, failing crops, spinsterhood and frustration comes Starbuck (Matt Shelton) a con man whose real name is Smith.\u00a0 Shelton has created a character so charming and charismatic that his chicanery only adds to his appeal.\u00a0 He burst into the kitchen and his appeal mesmerizes both the audience and the family on stage.\u00a0 \u201cI woke up this morning and I said to the world, this world is going at it all wrong\u201d he says.\u00a0 The family is so hungry for hope that Starbuck manages to convince H.C. and Jim to give him $100 to make it rain.\u00a0 Both Lizzie and Noah doubt the rainmaker, but he reassures them: \u201cMaybe God whispered a special word in my ear.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on to say, \u201cFaith is believing you see white when your eyes tell you black.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This is an ensemble piece and all the actors support one another beautifully, but it is Amanda Gerard-Shelton\u2019s professionally accurate and sensitive performance that carries the play.\u00a0 We not only hear her need in her speech, we see it in her eyes and her every movement.\u00a0 She is lonely and she has accepted that all those hopes she once had will never come true.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m sick and tired of being me,\u201d she tells Starbuck and she goes out to the tack room where he is sleeping to find out if there can ever be something more in life for her.\u00a0 \u00a0Starbuck convinces her that beauty begins in the mind.\u00a0 Sometimes, he says, it is a good thing to ignore what seems real, and believe that life is the way you want it to be.<\/p>\n

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When the brothers realize their spinster sister has spent the night with a crazy man they hardly know, they are scandalized. But H.C, knows the importance of love even if it is only for a moment.\u00a0 He tells Noah,\u201d You are so full or what right you can\u2019t see what\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And indeed that is the point of this play.\u00a0 We so often let our minds get in the way of our hearts that we keep ourselves from living the lives we could have if we but reached for the stars.<\/p>\n

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The set designed by Steve Coleman is a perfect replica of the time and place.\u00a0 It sustains the mood of the play and yet looks as if it were plucked out of an American farmhouse from long ago.\u00a0 \u00a0Lockfeld uses the magic strains of the violin and artistic lighting to bring the audience into the world they see on stage.<\/p>\n

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The first thing we see is Lizzie in her bunk bed sleeping and we know that she is the fulcrum of the story.\u00a0 \u201cI just thought that this story is actually more of a fable. It’s more like elements in the psyche and I had the idea to style the production as a storybook tale. I wanted the experience of the actors to be real and personal and we keep working to grow that truth of experience in our work,\u201d said Lockfeld. \u201cThen maybe our modern sophistication and political correctness could be suspended a bit and we could enjoy the old fashioned family love, living close to the land, keeping faith in your heart qualities of The Rainmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The story, sentimental as it is, touches on important truths that transcend generations.\u00a0 Only we can live our lives and only we can make those lives magic.\u00a0 Lizzie says to Starbuck, “Maybe if you’d keep company with the world…if you saw it real.”<\/p>\n

But the truth is that if we can believe in miracles, they will comfort us. As T. S. Elliot once said, \u201cMankind cannot stand too much reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This is a beautiful production, understated and real.\u00a0 It lasts an hour and 35 minutes without intermission and in that short space of time, you will be transported into a charming world where thinking makes it so.<\/p>\n

Where there is great love
\nThere are always miracles.
\n\u00a0<\/em>Willa Cather<\/p>\n

IF YOU GO\u2026.<\/p>\n

WHERE: The Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, San Francisco<\/p>\n

WHEN: Now through December 22, 2012,<\/p>\n

Fridays and Saturdays, 8 PM<\/p>\n

TICKETS: $38 GENERAL ADMISSION<\/p>\n

WWW SHELTONTHEATER.ORG<\/p>\n

1 800 838 3006<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shelton Theater presents\u2026\u2026 THE RAINMAKER By Richard Nash Directed by Julie Dimas-Lockfeld Starring Amanda Gerard-Shelton & Matt Shelton Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[837],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-joe-cillo"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"