Commonweal Apprentice Company Presents: The Metal Children

As has become the custom at the Commonweal, the Commonweal season begins with a full production by the resident apprentice company. The production comes as the capstone of a 10-month residence at the Commonweal for the 5 actors, directors, production team members, ticket-takers, box office workers, and practitioners of every job conceivable at the Commonweal. All five members of the company have been busy on stage and off during the 2011 season.

It has also become customary that the apprentice production stands up very well on the Commonweal stage. The shows are challenging, thought provoking and very well played. This year’s production of The Metal Children promises to continue this custom.

Gary Danciu and Rachel Kuhnle in Adam Rapp’s The Metal Children by the Commonweal Apprentice Company. Photo by Jason Underferth.

The Metal Children, written by Adam Rapp, follows a washed up young-adult novelist as he leaves his NYC apartment for the American heartland after his book, The Metal Children, is banned by a small-town school board. There he finds something more bizarre than fiction—extreme politics, radical teens, and vigilantes in Porky Pig masks—all because of his book.

Megan Pence, who served as assistant director for two productions last season, will direct. She finds that “what’s interesting about The Metal Children is how one artist’s creation can spur a multitude of consequences. An author writes a book, and it reaches further than he ever could have imagined.”

The 2012 Apprentice Company includes Pence, Gary Danciu, Brandon Grayson, Carla Joseph, and Rachel Kuhnle—all seen on the Commonweal mainstage during the 2011 season. The set, costumes, props, and sound design are also handled by the five apprentices with the addition of guest lighting designer Michael Dold, who is a senior at St. Mary’s University in Winona.

The Apprentice Program at the Commonweal Theatre is a ten month commitment designed for recent college graduates or young professionals with commensurate experience who would benefit from a prolonged relationship with a small professional theatre company. Focused primarily on experiential learning through a traditional mentor/apprentice relationship, the program affords artistic opportunities, regular classroom instruction, and administrative responsibilities in the areas of Marketing, Development, and Production.

The Metal Children has a limited run of 8 shows, Thursdays - Sundays, March 22 - April 1.

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Leading Ladies

La Crosse Community Theatre
By Ken Ludwig; directed by Anne Drecktrah

La Crosse Community Theater opens Leading Ladies, Friday, March 9 in La Crosse. In this comedy two struggling English actors, Jack and Leo, pose as long-lost nephews to inherit the estate of a rich old woman who has just died. Their trouble begins when they arrive to find out that the long-lost nephews are actually nieces, and the old woman isn't as dead as they thought!

Cast members include Katie Clausen as Meg, Kevin Laumbach as Leo; long-time LCT actors Michael Marcou as Jack, Megan Larson as Audrey, Dennis Kuhn as Duncan, Susan Fox as Florence and Daniel Schneider as Doc; and Daniel Rapoport, who is making his LCT stage debut, as Butch.

Set and lights designed by Andrew Brackett and costumes by Mandy Parmeter. The production is rated theatre PG.

Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. For more information visit www.lacrossecommunitytheatre.org.

The Divorce Revolution

By Alison DeNio; directed by David Coral
Presented at Valencia’s Academy Theatre, Winona, MN

The Divorce Revolution played to a small but enthusiastic audience in the black box space at Valencia Academy last night. The play has several objectives. One of them is to increase people’s awareness that there are possibilities of life after divorce—to rewrite the narrative about divorce, as DeNio writes—not just for the adults, but for the Children involved as well. Another objective is to present a strong, work of theater. And this play meets both of these objectives.

DeNio, left, and Hamilton during a rehearsal for Divorce Revolution.

The finely-written and inventive script provides a nested narrative that is able to tell a complex story in a short space, using an honesty that allows the audience to see both the humor and the possible tragedy in the all-too-human failings in marriage and in separation.

The story is a fictionalized telling of the marriage and divorce of DeNio and her parenting partner Wes Hamilton. Hamilton was involved in the writing and production and plays himself across from DeNio. While a good number of the audience members know DeNio and Hamilton, I’m convinced that this play will hold up nicely as a play as it moves on to locations beyond Winona.

Along with DeNio’s script, the production benefits from a number of talented managers and designers, headed by director David Coral. Coral just finished his second season with GRSF and a prominent role in the Commonweal’s Ibsen offering, Enemy of the People this past spring.

Tonight is the last scheduled performance in Winona, and while the play is likely to see more productions here later on, I highly recommend seeing this one tonight if you can.

For more information onThe Divorce Revolution, visit www.divorce-revolution.com/.
The Divorce Revolution plays Saturday, August 6, 2011 at Valencia Academy, Winona, MN, 7:00 p.m.
It runs 1 hour, with a panel discussion after a short intermission.

Sylvia

A.R. Gurney, Dir. By Alan Bailey
Commonweal Theatre (July 11, 2011)

The premise of A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia is pretty simple: A middle-aged man whose kids have moved off to college and whose job has lost its purpose and whose wife has filled her life with a new profession finds a stray dog in Central Park and falls terribly in love with it, placing stress on the relationship with his wife.

It’s always dangerous to bring either kids or animals on stage because the audience can move into the oh cute mode. In fact, when a picture of a real dog is displayed at the end of the play, the audience gives a collective “oh cute.” But Sylvia largely stays above this emotive realm by representing Sylvia as a human being, not a person in a dog suit.

Adrienne Sweeney and Phil Losacker in the Commonweal’s Sylvia
(Photo by Jason Underferth as seen in American Theatre)

Adrienne Sweeney handles the role of the stray dog, and it is her performance that makes the play stay on the right side of the oh cute line. Sweeney plays the role on two feet and largely as a human being. Yet, she offers enough subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) moves that anyone who has spent any time with animals would see her as a dog. In fact, by the end of the play, Sweeney has become the dog. When that picture of the real dog is displayed at the final scene of the play, I think the audience is a little surprised to see an actual dog and not Sweeney in the portrait.

Sylvia speaks, in English. In fact, the dog has the first lines of the play. If having an animal on stage risks pushing a play over the edge, an anthropomorphic animal—a Snoopy or Garfield—could doom a play. But somehow, Sweeney and her surrogate family, Greg (played by Phil Losacker) and Kate (played by Laura Depta the night I saw the play) are able to keep the conceit working: Sweeney is still the dog. The play’s notes suggest Gurney’s strategy for the talking dog: the dog speaks largely what the people around her expect her to say and sometimes what the people around her are thinking. While this may not always be the case, the talking dog motif works because the dog does seem to reflect what the people feel and what people expect the dog to feel. And this seems to be one of Gurney’s main observations: people interact with their pets with a both a frankness and affection that is therapeutic.

This therapeutic effectiveness of pet ownership is contrasted with the three advice-offering characters that Scott Dixon plays in Sylvia. (This seems to be a recurrent talent of Scott Dixon—playing a large number of the supporting characters in a play. I’m not sure if this is written into the play as it was in Jeffery Hatcher’s adaptation of Turn of the Screw last fall or if this is a Commonweal invention. But it is fun to watch). Dixon plays the recurring role of Tom, a New York tough who is strangely in touch with the complex relationship between man and dog and husband and wife. (Tom’s dog is named Buster, a much safer name for a man’s dog than the gendered Sylvia, he warns.) In each appearance, Tom has read another pop psychology book and has another insight into the relationship between a man and his wife and a man and his dog. Greg seems to find Tom’s insights helpful, but mostly his accidental meetings with Tom give Greg the opportunity to talk openly about his relationship with his dog. Tom’s thinking certainly is more substantial than the other two characters Dixon plays: Kate’s former college classmate and self-proclaimed expert on New York society and Kate’s androgynous and self-obsessed therapist, Leslie.

While Dixon plays these two cross-dressing roles effectively and to many of the play’s biggest laughs, these two characters move the play outside of what an audience can accept as real. This is a bit of irony: the anthropomorphic dog plays like realism while the socialite driven to the scotch decanter by an over-friendly dog plays like a bad sitcom; the pet seems a living character while the therapist languishes as a caricature.

The strength of Gurney’s play, and the strength of this production, lies with the ability to make Sweeney’s character feel like a living character—a dog. A human playing a dog is certainly a comedic element, but I find it a satisfyingly comedic element rich in its subtly and physicality. I’m not as satisfied with the play’s willingness to embrace the cheap laugh, the laugh that seems to be the staple of all too many summer comedies. Of course, this type of comedy wouldn’t be used if it did not resonate with play-goers. On the way out of the theater, people were talking about Sylvia, about their own pets, but mostly about Dixon’s portrayal of Leslie the therapist. One fellow patron declared that his favorite character in the play was the therapist.

Sylvia plays in repertory with Little Shop of Horrors through August 19.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre (www.commonwealtheatre.org)

Sylvia

By A.R. Gurney; directed by Alan Bailey
Commonweal Theatre

The Commonweal Theatre Company opens A.R. Gurney’s comedy Sylvia, Saturday, May 21. The title character is a stray dog that meets Greg, a middle-aged financial trader in the midst of questioning where his career and his life have taken him. This chance meeting with Sylvia turns Greg’s entire world upside-down. This outrageous comedy challenges everything we think we know about love, sex, relationships, and the meaning of life.

Sylvia’s director, Alan Bailey says, “What sets Sylvia apart and makes it memorable and fun is that an actress plays Sylvia, a poodle-lab mix. But this isn’t an attempt at a faithful recreation of a dog, but an artist using her human body and voice and expressions to convey Sylvia as a full-realized character in the play.” [For commentary on the success of this “fully-realized character,” check out Sylvia’s trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnVne6JgYAQ

Phil Losacker (Greg) and Kirby Bennett (Kate). Photo by Jason Underferth.

Pet-lovers will undoubtedly recognize how powerful a force for change “Sylvia” proves to be in this play. “Without question, pets have the ability to change our lives,” Bailey adds. “If you invite your pet to truly be a member of your family - and increasingly, many of us invite pets into our homes to fill larger and more meaningful roles - then they absolutely become friends and confidantes and combatants.”

The love triangle in Sylvia features Twin Cities acting duo Phil Losacker and Kirby Bennett as Greg and his much-irked wife Kate with Commonweal Resident Artist Adrienne Sweeney as the titular Sylvia, who provides sudden competition with Kate for Greg’s time and affection. The cast is joined by Commonweal Resident Artist Scott Dixon playing triple roles of a fellow dog-lover in the park, an old college friend of Kate’s, and a marriage counselor.

Sylvia plays in Repertory with Enemey of the People through June 10 and with Little Shop of Horrors through August 19.
Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre

I am Ann Frank

May 20, 21, 27, and 28
Libretto by Enid Futterman; Music by Michael Cohen; Stage direction and design by Ben Krywosz
Nautilus Music-Theater (at the Jon Hassler Theater, Plainview)

Nautilus Music-Theater’s Ivey award-winning production of I Am Anne Frank opens this weekend at the Jon Hassler Theater for a four-night run. This musical adaption of Anne Frank’s famous diary, according to the producers, is the story of a young girl standing tip-toe on the edge of her future during a time of hatred and intolerance. The play combines spoken excerpts from Anne’s diary with songs that reveal the power of her inner life. Fully faithful to its source material, Anne’s famous chronicle of two Jewish families secreted in a cramped garret in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation is still as suspenseful and moving as ever. Her writing is propelled by an undying faith in the goodness of people. This heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story stirs our deepest emotions as it insists upon honoring the endurance of the human spirit. Vanessa Gamble portrays Anne Frank in this production.

New York critics called Futterman and Cohen’s work “A moving, poignant, and in every sense tasteful piece of musical theatre... beautiful, flawless... this is what theater is all about.” Nautilus’ production earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike when it premiered in 2006. The production won a coveted Ivey award, which noted that “the impressive artistic contributions of the talented cast, combined with the matchless vision of the directors, made Nautilus production of I Am Anne Frank a stunning collaboration of fine acting, sharp stage direction, effective lighting, and gorgeous music—a wonderful blend of music and acting, and an innovative way of telling an important story.”

Visit the Jon Hassler Theater online for schedules and tickets: www.jonhasslertheater.org
Phone the Jon Hassler Theater at 507-534-2900.

14thAnnual Ibsen Festival

Featuring Jeffery Hatcher’s adaption of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People at the Commonweal

The Ibsen festival marks both spring and the beginning of the area’s professional theater season. The centerpiece of the weekend will be the Commonweal’s production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. This will mark the second Ibsen play adapted by playwright Jeffery Hatcher. Last year’s Commonweal season featured Hatcher’s first run at Ibsen with John Gabriel Borkman as well as Hatcher’s take on Turn of the Screw. Scott Dixon Directs the Ibsen classic.

The weekend is full of food and cultural events. Below is a partial listing of events. For a full listing, download the festival brocure.

Weekend Highlights:

Friday April 15

Film
Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story
7:30 pm; Free Will Donation; St. Mane Theatre
Presented by the Lanesboro Arts Center with support from Lanesboro Local, the film traces the development of America’s heartland and its effect on the legendary river. The film offers fresh ideas and concrete solutions to the river’s troubles. Following the film there will be a discussion with sustainable agricultural specialist Loni Kemp. For more information visit www.lanesboroarts.org.

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
7:30 pm; Commonweal Theatre
Newly discovered health springs offer prosperity to a struggling town, until a local doctor realizes the waters are dangerously polluted. How far will a community go to turn a blind eye when the truth will bring about their personal ruin? This final preview performance features a post-show discussion. Reservations recommended.

Saturday, April 16

Book Signing
11:00 am to 3:00 pm; Lanesboro Local Publisher and author Deb Nelson Gourley was raised on her family’s ancestral Norwegian farm in Amherst, Minnesota. The author of Astri My Astri, Deb takes inspiration for her stories from her Norwegian ancestors.

Lecture
For the Love of Lakes
Darby Nelson
11:00 am; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
Minnesota – the land of 10,000 Lakes! But there is much more to a lake than meets the eye. With Thoreau’s ghost over his shoulder, Darby Nelson (President of Conservation Minnesota) explores the natural history of lakes and our relationship with these alluring bodies of water that are so much a part of our lives.

Artist Demonstration: Debra Ganglehoff
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm; Lanesboro Arts Center
Taking her inspiration from the beauty in nature, fiber artist Debra Gangelhoff works with felting, appliqué, and stitchery to make beautiful, useful items for the home.

Lecture
Ibsen Our Contemporary
Richard Hornby
1:00 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
Chair of the Theater Department at the University of California at Riverside and theatre critic for the Hudson Review, Professor Hornby will discuss the challenges and opportunities of staging Ibsen for contemporary audiences.

Panel Discussion and Script Signing
Adapting and Staging Ibsen
4:00 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre
The Commonweal has commissioned Jeffrey Hatcher — one of America’s premiere playwrights — to adapt five plays from Ibsen’s canon, including An Enemy of the People. Join Jeffrey, director Scott Dixon and Interim Executive Director Hal Cropp as they discuss the many facets that go into creating a contemporary adaptation of a text more than a century old. Immediately following the panel discussion Jeffrey Hatcher will be signing copies of his script.

The Luther Jazz Quintet
6:30 pm; FREE; Commonweal Theatre Events Hall
Plan to arrive early for the show and enjoy an improvisational jazz concert featuring Tom Bourcier and inspired by the themes found in An Enemy of the People.

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
7:30 pm; $30; Commonweal Theatre
Join us for the opening performance of this world-premiere adaptation and stay for a celebration with the cast and crew after the show. Reservations recommended.

Sunday, April 17

Film
Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story
11:00 am; FREE; Commonweal Theatre

Theatre
An Enemy of the People
1:30 pm; $30; Commonweal Theatre

Visit the Commonweal for schedules and tickets: Commonweal Theatre