Director Wanted.
The Columbus Civic Theater is seeking a director for its November production of Home by Samm-Art Williams. Candidates must have an MFA in Directing or similar credentials and/or experience. Please send resume or CV to the Civic’s Artistic Director Richard Albert at richard@columbuscivic.org.
Auditions for Irish One-Acts.
The Columbus Civic Theater is holding auditions for their Irish One-Acts, three short plays, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, Spreading the News, and Riders to the Sea, at 2pm - 5pm Saturday, August 21st, and 6:30pm to 10:00pm Sunday, August 22nd at The Columbus Civic Theater, 3837 Indianola Avenue, Columbus, OH 43214. Please bring a recent headshot and resume, a short, prepared, modern monologue, and be prepared to read from the text. (Most libraries carry all three of the plays to be mounted.) C Austin Hill will be directing. Rehearsals begin the first week of September, with the show opening October 7th at the the Columbus Civic Theater, 3837 Indianola Avenue in Clintonville. All positions are paid. Actors doubling roles are probably necessary and should be expected. If you have questions for the director, please send an email directly to him at solsticetheatrecompany@gmail.com. The Civic’s phone number is 614.447.PLAY.
(left to right) Alexis Moberger and Rudy Frias in Raconteur Theatre’s Arborophilia by Jacob Appel, a comedy about a girl in love with a tree, performed at Columbus Civic's Theatre. Photo Credit: Sam Blythe.
by Bob Weesner
As written by Jacob M. Appel, the plot to Arborophilia at first appears to
center on the lives of two sisters. One is in love with a tree and the other is
in love with a Republican. Both situations are considered equally distressing by
other characters, who in their own ways appear just slightly left of center.
(Left of center? Are you kidding? They are so far out there they figuratively
passed New Jersey half an hour ago!)
The thrust of the story line in this Raconteur Theatre production is
actually and comparatively unimportant, a background intended to justify
presentations of one biting satire after another, and falling somewhere between
the best of Vaudeville and Saturday Night Live. Symbolism is ladled out in
generous proportions. I kept asking myself “What does this mean?” and “What does
that mean?” until I reached the conclusion “I have no idea!” (Except I think I
do have an idea. I think I’m gullibly being led down one steep rabbit trail
after another.)
Bottom line; this is one of the funniest character-driven adventures I’ve
seen in a long time – something to be experienced more than once if you can,
because it’s impossible to catch all the nuances the first time around.
Under the skilled direction of Danielle Mari, this was truly an ensemble
presentation. In a play where all the characters are bizarre, I can’t say any one
performer stood above another … except for Jill Ceneskie … uh, literally. Fine
performances were also given by Krista Threadgill, Alexis Moberger, Mary-Aileen
St. Cyr, Dale DeWood, Rudy Frias, and Anne Grove. I liked the pace, which was
fast, and the energy levels, which were high. Side-by-side with the posturing
absurdities were small tableaux, tender and warm, endearing moments almost
offhandedly displayed by Moberger and Frias. This was acting and directing at
its best.
In the end, I think I’m beginning to like this Raconteur Theatre Company.
I’ve seen two of their shows now, and in both cases the work has been good and
the front people have been respectful and unassuming – the appearance of a “Mom
and Pop” organization in the best sense of the term. They are looking for a
permanent home. Any offers?
Arborophilia will continue to be presented Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm until August 28 with a matinee performance at 3pm on Sunday, August 22. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and may be purchased at the Raconteur’s website. The play is being housed in the Columbus Civic Theater, at 3837 Indianola Avenue. This is a petite and charming 50-seat theatre, unfortunately in need of sound conditioning in the
audience area. Loud laughter was often painful to the ears.
******
For most of his career, Bob was employed as a television director, working for stations from Los Angeles to Columbus. During this same time period he wrote and directed plays for theatres all over the Midwest. For several years he was the drama critic for the Spectator newspaper chain and for channel 6 here in Columbus. Bob has won numerous awards, including two Emmy awards, A Freedom’s foundation award, and two recent awards from the National Writers Digest Playwriting Competition.
Christopher Johnson, Kathy Sturm, & Jim McCullough in A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody with Emerald City Players. (photo: Dale Bush)
by Bob Weesner
In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess to a prejudice. When I found out Tina Gleason was directing this production of A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody, I automatically started smiling. For several years Ms Gleason has been one of my favorite directors. Her work expresses an extension of her personality; and that is with great warmth, charm, humor, and the subtle touches I’ve always found endearing.
When I walked in the door the first person I saw was stage manager, Lauren Wong. As a general rule, even adequate stage managers don’t receive the appreciation they deserve, and Ms Wong is the very best I know. When Gleason and Wong are paired together, they are a force to be reckoned with.
So now you understand. From the start I expected to be pleased by what I saw.
The play begins with Matthey Perry (Jim McCullough) announcing to his wife (Kathy Strum) that he’s going to kill her and use the money he saves for travel extravagances.
Okay. I checked my notes. Comedy. That’s what it says I’m watching. Okay.
By half way through the show a large number of people are dead, the result of seeming near misses.
I get it now.
With his first appearance, Jim McCullough seems a bit stiff, almost formal. Kathy Strum (for want of a better word) is fluid. The characterizations – on the surface – don’t appear to complement each other, but in this quirky comedy they seem entirely appropriate.
Daughter to this latest version of the Odd Couple is “Bunny,” wonderfully portrayed by Kristin Yarger. As the name might suggest, this character plummets the concept of being “intellectually challenged” to whole new depths, and Ms Yarger carries it off not only with style but (incredibly) believability.
Luther Center plays the role of the butler, “Buttram.” He has the uncanny ability to look both distinguished and silly at the same time.
(Interestingly, later this year both Luther Center and Jim McCullough will perform the same role, one in the Rosebriar Shakespeare Theatre production of Richard III, and the other in the Bread and Circus Theatre production of the same play.)
Also appearing in this production is Chris Johnson as “Detective Plotnik.” Here, at least, is a character I can easily recognize, being a satire of every B-movie big city policeman created in the 1940’s.
And finally there is Brian Horne as “Donald Baxter.” Here is the comparatively straight character, the natural foil for everyone else.
A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody in the end becomes two hours of silly and satire. It speaks well for the presentation that it went by quickly and I laughed often. Since what I saw was the final dress rehearsal, the play will only improve with the addition of an audience. The work has been obviously written with the thought of one reaction building on another.
The Emerald City Players production of A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody will continue to be presented Fridays and Saturdays through August 14 at 8pm with a Sunday matinee at 2pm on August 8. Tickets are available for $12 (adults) and $10 (seniors/students) at the box office, or online through PayPal with a $0.75 handling charge added to each ticket. Emerald City Players performs at 6799 Dublin Center Dr in Dublin. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 614-210-1111 or visit the company’s website.
******
For most of his career, Bob was employed as a television director, working for stations from Los Angeles to Columbus. During this same time period he wrote and directed plays for theatres all over the Midwest. For several years he was the drama critic for the Spectator newspaper chain and for channel 6 here in Columbus. Bob has won numerous awards, including two Emmy awards, A Freedom’s foundation award, and two recent awards from the National Writers Digest Playwriting Competition.
TAPA Columbus announces auditions for its upcoming production of The Dixie Swim Club by Jones, Hope and Wooten on Sunday, August 8 at 7pm; Callbacks on Wednesday,August 11 at 7pm at 501 W. Schrock Rd. Ste. 107, Westerville, OH 43081 (4 story brick bldg at corner of Schrockand Cooper Rd.)
Roles are being offered for 5 women, ages 40-65.
Call Director Char Anderson at 614-446-7909 or visit the Facebook page here.
Available Light Theatre announces auditions for its 2010-11 Season
Auditions will be held Monday, August 23 7:00pm-9:00pm and Wednesday, August 25 6:00pm-8:00pm at the Vern Riffe Center, 77 South High Street 4th Floor, Columbus, OH
Audition for 3 shows:
Limited to 2 minutes per person and must include. - one classical monologue - one contemporary monologue. Please provide a headshot and resumé if you have them.
If you are called-back for “Richard the Third” you will be notified by email no later than Monday, August 30 and asked to attend a callback session at a later date. Callbacks for the other shows will be held as the rehearsal schedule warrants.
Please sign-up online. More info about out 2010-11 season here
SIGN-UP ONLINE HERE: For more info: avltheatre@gmail.com
by Douglas Whaley
This charming musical has long been a favorite of mine, and I went to the Evolution Theatre Company’s final performance of Boy Meets Boy with high hopes. The musical, with its tuneful score, clever lyrics, and deliberately corny book (Billy Solly wrote the music and lyrics, and collaborated on the book with Donald Ward) is certainly up there on the stage at the Riffe Center, and it is a true production of the now 35 year-old show. For the most part it’s well sung, acted, and staged. I took two young gay friends and they had a good time.
But anyone sitting in the audience, including them, sees problems with the show. Postponing that, let’s start with the show’s good qualities.
Everything on the stage is done with great enthusiasm, and lots of talent is on display. The two leads are Eric McKeever as Casey O’Brien, a playboy/reporter who falls in love with an ugly duckling English nobleman, Guy Rose, played by Daniel Christian. Their love affair is what the opening chorus calls “an old cliché again” (boy meets/loses/wins boy), set in an improbable 1936 where marriage between men is accepted without question. These two performers are both terrific, and their strong singing and acting (and even chemistry) keeps the show above water. The show’s director Mark Phillips Schwamberger doubles as an actor, playing Andrew, Casey’s best friend, and he’s quite a talent too, having the only consistent English accent in a show that calls for lots of them. Adrian Helser, who plays two different English characters, doesn’t even try. Ms. Helser is charming and can sing, but never takes over the stage the way one of her roles, Josephine La Rose, must do in Act Two, particularly in the song “It’s a Dolly.”
That brings us to Scott Risner as the villain Clarence Cutler. He’s a most frustrating performer to watch. Quite visibly nervous at the start, his timing was off, and I thought we were about to witness a disaster. But then Mr. Risner calmed down and was very funny as he diabolically manipulated the plot, and the audience loved him. Alas, when singing alone, he simply couldn’t do it, which was painful to watch, and he wisely ended up talking his way through much of his two big numbers. Interestingly, he could sing fine when in a duet with others, so it appeared to be a matter of self-confidence. His big second act solo, “Clarence’s Turn” was a train wreck, with parts omitted (I assume intentionally), and, at its end, was turned into a duet so that the ending could actually be sung.
The chorus members, all of whom had minor solo parts, were uneven, with the women faring better than the men. All could sing, but when the six of them sang together it rarely blended into a consistent sound. The dancing was nothing to brag about, though not embarrassing either. The lighting by Jason Banks was excellent, and the costumes by Mary McMullen were period-perfect, although she seemed to think that all the men of the thirties wore suit pants that sagged alarmingly at the ankles like the skin of a shar pei at rest. The sets were almost non-existent, even in the big nightclub scene, and that distracted from the charm the show usually carries. The musical direction by Kelly Winner was proficient, and I assume she was the energetic pianist who ably accompanied the musical numbers.
Mr. Schwamberger’s direction was quite good, but, perhaps because he was on stage as an actor, little annoying things went unattended to. For example, when the heroes sang a sprightly duet about their mutual love of scouting, only one of them could do the Boy Scout salute correctly. Or, at the very end, a nice tableaux of the gay couple on a wedding cake was marred by their having to a battle a large hanging valentine which mysteriously obscured their faces unless they awkwardly leaned around it.
If this version of Boy Meets Boy had been a local community theater production it would have been deemed a great success. But as a professional performance it couldn’t be given that label by anyone who saw it, even someone who enjoyed it as much as I did. Evolution’s next production, The Goat: or Who Is Sylviahas been canceled as the company goes through the process of restructuring Evolution will return next season with two to three productions to be announced. For more information, call 614-256-1223 or 614-256-1223.
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Douglas Whaley is an Ohio State University Law Professor who went back to doing theater in 2004 when he retired from full-time teaching. In his youth he did a great deal of theater, and since retiring has acted in numerous shows (playing the leads in “King Lear” at Rosebriar Shakespeare’s 2008 production, and “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “Deathtrap” at Little Theatre Off Broadway), and directed three plays (”The Curious Savage” at LTOB, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at Emerald City Players, and “Closure” at Curtain Players). He is the author of a novel called “Imaginary Friend” and, since having had a heart transplant in November of 2009 (!), he has maintained a very popular blog.
Auditions for Zinniaphobic, an independent production are being set up by appointment only.
Currently casting for a short original comedic play under 10 minutes that will have two afternoon performances at the Corner Cone 10 Minute Play Festival in Yellow Springs, OH (It’s about an hour away, and I can drive.) It’s an unpaid gig, but I’ll probably buy you ice cream
Rehearsals will be here in Columbus. Since it’s a quick play,… the rehearsal schedule will be light
The show will run for 2 afternoon shows on Saturday, August 14.
Message Sarah Senff through Facebook if you’re interested and to can schedule a reading.
RoundTown Players announces auditions for Bell, Book and Candle….A Bewitching Comedy By John van Druten on Sunday, August 1 at 7:00p and Monday, August 2 at 7:30pm at 165 1/2 East Main St. in Circleville.
Call 740-474-5856 or head to http://roundtownplayers.com/ Questions of Director Call Susan Perkins 740-477-3300
Phil Garrett through OSU/ACCAD announces auditions for “Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen” by Tennessee Williams on Wednesday, July 21 & Thursday, July 22 at 7:00pm.
Auditions will be held at the Drake Performance and Event Center at OSU; 1849 Cannon Dr., Columbus ROOM 101 **Due to construction, enter Cannon Dr. from the NORTH, off Woody Hayes Dr.
Phil Garrett will be producing and directing the one-act play “Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen” by Tennesee Williams. In a dingy room, somewhere in New York, a man awakens from a drunken slumber and tells a woman what he remembers of the night before. A desperate, dramatic poem, the play explores despair, connection, lost characters and the dream of “splendid isolation, away from all the troubles of life.”
Two roles available: A man, a woman, youthful but ravaged by experience.
Sides from the show will be provided at the auditions.
Performances are set for Thursday, September 16 at 7:00pm, and Friday, September 17 at 7:00pm & 9:30pm
CONTACT: Phil Garrett, garrett.106@osu.edu, 614-315-4036