Cleveland Public Theatre: Akarui [Bright]

Cleveland Public Theatre, presenting world premiere of playwright Jen Silverman's Akarui now through June 9th, always manages to pack in surprises.

Photo: Steve Wagner/Courtesy CPT

Akarui is no exception -- a mix of stories and fables, pounding music and drama -- with settings ranging from an American bedroom to Baba Yaga's chicken hut and a rave cave "at the end of the world" is a compelling story of acceptance and the power and right to change.

Aside from phenomenal acting -- which I'll get to in a moment -- the set, lighting, and sound design were all among the best of those productions in recent (and not so recent memory) effectively and creatively supporting the story without being intrusive and a completely believable portal to another dimension through the theatre's proscenium.

I don't do blood, guts, or surgery well -- I'm known to pass out with detailed descriptions -- but typically with plays I'm able to put it aside as fiction without problem. At one point near the end of Act I, Akarui's story combined with persuasive acting had me feeling a little lightheaded (and Rachel asking "are you alright...?")

Photo: Steve Wagner/Courtesy CPT

Beth Wood's demented portrayal of Baba Yaga [yes, the same Baba Yaga as also appears in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition] as mad scientist kicked the action off to an amusing start and her appearances throughout rarely left without a worried chuckle ("Why do you insist on torturing yourself when I'm already torturing you?" perhaps being my favorite line from the show) -- but compelling didn't end there.

A DJ (Chris Siebert) watches over and occasionally guides the happenings. Each of the interlocking stories is a character undergoing change -- female to male, alive to dead, manta ray to man -- and struggling with acceptance, of their own status and as well as their status as seen by others -- before arriving at a rave "at the end of the world". And that rave is full of energy that spills out into the audience.

About two hours including an intermission, the show's pacing and overlapping stories held even my attention and it felt only about half as long.

Lincoln

(Directed by Raynond Bobgan, Cast: Chris Siebert as DJ Akarui, Beth Wood as Baba Yaga, James Alexander Rankin as Joshua, Molly Andrews-Hinders as DC, Davis Agulla as Fish/Manta Ray, Richard Brandon Hall as Mateu, Lew Wallace as Stack, Dionne D. Atchison, Roxana Bell, Carly Garinger, Fay Hargate, Jeremy Paul, Amy Schwabauer, Adam Seeholzer, Rose Sengenberger as Chorus; Todd Kripinsky, set design; Alison Garrigan, costume design; Benjamin Gantose, lighting design; Chris Siebert, pervussion coach; Michael Roesch and Raymond Bobagn, sound design; Richard Brandon Hall, choreographer; Danielle Case, production stage manager; Jennifer Caster, assistant producer)

Cleveland Public Theatre: At-TEN-tion Span

Cleveland Public Theatre is quick to point out that that At-TEN-tion span isn't merely a festival of unfinished short plays but is, instead, a single show of twelve short plays loosely linked together.

This year all twelve works are works created by Cleveland artists and cultivated at CPT, and all are in effect world premieres. Some are funny, some are weird, some are introspective, some are most of the above. Though I was completely sober going into the show there are a few where, to be completely honest, I think a bit of a buzz could have helped make a bit more sense out of a few of them: And if you care to take my advice there, you're in luck: The bar in the lobby is open a bit early.

Throughout the evening performances move on and off stage and around the theater-- sometimes the audience is instructed to take a seat -- literally -- while moving from piece to piece; others you are moved to seating mysteriously prepared while you're otherwise occupied.

At-TEN-tion Span runs at CPT through February 4th.

The works are
Act I
The Refrain, conceived and directed by Jeremy Paul; featuring Ray Caspio, Jenni Messner, Adam Seeholzer
Openings, conceived and directed by Raymond Bobgan; featuring members of the ensemble
Crash Project conceived and directed by Pandora Robertson; featuring Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, Caitlin Lewins, Adam Seeholzer
Fail, conceived and directed by Simone Barros; featuring Faye Hargate, Darius Stubbs
How... conceived and directed by Raymond Bobgan; featuring the ensemble
Act II
How 2, conceived and directed by Raymond Bobgan; featruring the ensemble
El Beth-el, conceived and directed by Dairus Stubbs; featuring Dionne D. Atchison, Stevem Schureger, Darius Stubbs
The Three Musketeers conceived and directed by Douglas H. Snyder; featuring Lauren Joy Fraley, Caitlin Lewins, Lauren B. Smith
To Fasten Your Seatbelts... conceived and directed by Renee Schilling; featuring Ray Caspio, Jere,y Paul, Amy Schwabuer, Lauren B. Smith
If I Lie, conceived  and directed by Chris Seibert; featuring Molly Andrews-Hinders, Amy Schwabuer, Adam Seeholzer
Sealed, conceived and directed by Raymond Bobgan, featuring the ensemble.

While the program was generally linked, as far as subject matter it was like channel surfing a hotel's cable TV lineup -- or Cleveland weather: If you didn't like what you were watching (or if it was making you think too hard) just wait a few minutes and something completely different would be along.

So for me I didn't really get The Refrain or Sealed -- and after the performance Rachel warned that if I tried thinking too hard my head might explode. How and How 2, both products of CPT Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan bookended Intermission and the way in which the actors are utilized reminded me of atoms in a molecule bouncing off each other exchanging electrons and ideas.

I'm not sure how much I can say about Openings without giving away this delightfully surprising mirror on real-life-theater but be prepared to do quite a bit of looking around -- and perhaps choose a seat near the back for the best view

Fail takes a nervous tick and amplifies it before transferring it as one heretofore unsuccessful writer discovers that the successful writer doesn't have all the control that he thinks where a pregnancy is involved and was one of Rachel's favorites.

While all were well acted, The Three Musketeers was at the top of its game with what I think was a commentary on relationships -- again Rachel warned me that my head may go boom if I thought too hard on it -- and was just generally funny.

My hands down favorite, though, was To Fasten Your Seatbelts: It didn't require critical though but had me laughing out of my seat (I was within about a half inch of winding up on the floor) and is a subject near to my heart: Air travel. While the cast of zany flight attendants make it funny, I think the stress of an interview or an on-the-job test makes this relatable to just about anyone who's set foot in the real world: This alone was worth the trip to the West Side; combined with all of the others it was an evening well spent.

Synopses, summaries, or even the intended meaning of the plays was not included in the program so please feel free to share your take or interpretation in the comments

Lincoln

Cleveland Public Theatre: Springboard - Again And Against

I don't make it West to Cleveland Public Theatre as often as I'd like, but a friend suggested that I check out the Springboard Festival -- and with my Saturday night open (and feeling a bit guilty for missing Pandemonium) I figured it would be a great opportunity to bring Rachel across the river.

Springboard is a festival of staged readings -- each play is a new work, still being honed to perfection. Actors are on script, only a (single) handful of rehearsals are allowed, creative staff are allowed and encouraged to make revisions. I've only attended a handful of readings -- staged or unstaged -- but it appeals to my quest to get "behind the scenes" and it's also a unique opportunity for the audience, in most cases, to contribute to the development of a work -- suggestions and concerns are frequently taken into account as the piece is massaged before it becomes fixed and finally staged.

Tonight's offering was playwright Betty Shamish's Again and Against, with Raymond Bobgan (as an Iraqi-American FBI agent) interrogating Ms. Chris Seibert (as a Palestinian-American accused of terrorism but claiming to agitate only for understanding) with Beth Wood providing the rare bit of context via voice over. In the program, all three are given directing credit; online Ms. Wood has that credit. All three gave commendable performances, with Mr. Bobgan and Ms. Seibert being particularly gripping; especially considering that they were on script*. Based on the casting and context clues it took a relatively long time for me to figure out that both characters shared an ethnic heritage -- which is fairly important to the plot of the play.

The action unfolds entirely within a sparsely-furnished interrogation room. A college student is accused of plotting terrorist acts -- she insists that it's merely a not-so-peaceful protest and she doesn't (and didn't) intend to harm anyone. Over the course of the interrogation stories are told as truth, truth is served as a as a story, and the only thing clear is the lack of clarity: Where do stories end and the truth begin? Does she know more than she's telling; who is actually interrogating her? Where is the line between protest and terrorism? What is truth, anyway? Is it what is written (and therefore the woman's need for her side of the story to be written down during the interrogation?)

Sympathies change with every newly revealed truth -- or is it a lie? While I initially found the female sympathetic... half-witting participant in something she didn't fully understand and without malevolent intentions...the revelation near the end of the play that twenty dogs were involved made me doubt the one thing that heretofore had been without question. Are you assimilated? What culture do you identify with? What do other people see you as?

While the play was gripping and compelling -- billed at a 140-minute, intermisisonless, run time it didn't feel nearly that long -- but so much information was being thrown out, and so much of it then revealed to be lies -- that it was difficult to keep track of what information was actually important, and I feel I occasionally lost track of the message amongst the mental filing, refiling, and shredding.

Following the performance, there was a brief talk back and it was interesting to hear how other audience members reacted: A condemnation of politics and society, from one member. Men generally sympathized with the interrogate (and her sarcastic humor hooked me), while women generally found her abrasive and irritating--and without sympathy. (I wish more productions would include this feature--certainly helps to round out the theatre going experience)

Information about the rest of Springboard can be found on Cleveland Public Theatre's Website at http://www.cptonline.org/theater-show.php?id=160.

Lincoln

* i.e. reading from the script.

FiveOne Music: Sonic Cinema (Experimental Orchestra, at Cleveland Public Theater)

Thompson: Quintet: Summer 2010 (Video: Tolliver)
Nowakowski: Quuntet No. 1
Zare: Phobos (Video: Wibanks)
Allen: Resonance (Video: Jones)
Bratt: Chronicles of Laughing Yesterday (Video: Kasumi)
At the James Levin Theater, part of Cleveland Public Theatres' Big[BOX] Series
(See the end of this post for a complete lists of he artists involved in the musical side of this project)

I hadn't heard of FiveOne Music until recently when a friend suggested this program as something I might be interested in. FiveOne's interesting, but daunting mission and vision speaks of a lack of boundaries to a new perspective on musical works and to challenge concertgoers through a collaboration of some sixteen musicians and composers .

And challenged would be a good adjective for my initial impression with Quintet: Summer 2010. When approaching any work -- visual or auditory -- the overarching questions I try to answer are "How do I feel?" and "How did the artist want me to feel?". Summer 2010 was presented in two movements with two distinct pieces of video. The first movement, Hawaiian Blue, didn't really connect with me on a visual or an auditory level; Screaming with the Circuits, the second movement, really grabbed me rhythmically but I didn't sense the connection to the accompanying visuals. As the piece ended and I realized that I felt an almost primal connection to the music, and on that note -- rightly or wrongly -- the video mixing politicians and primates made sense. I loved the persistent sound that developed throughout the work.

Quintet No. 1 didn't really captivate me, however, I was struck by some interesting and rather unusual sounds from the piano in the piece. While the music was interesting to listen to, the program note for Roger Zare's Phobos with video by Ross Willbanks speaks of uncertainty, tension, and an adrenaline rush but I didn't sense any of these emotions stirring within me in response to the music or the video.

The counterpoint to that rather apathetic reaction, though could be found with Jeremy Allen's Resonance. Played on solo piano in a blacked out room with synchronization to a video, it was the only piece on the program where the video and music felt as if they were a perfect couple unlike the comparatively awkward first dates of the other pieces. The beautifully lit and wonderfully executed video presents a musician in a warehouse alone with piano; beginning gracefully and devolving into an almost painful to watch sledgehammer-driven destruction of that instrument. The piano and pianist creating the music to accompany the visuals were submerged in darkness, but the notes the emerged were just as clear as the video. During the experience of seeing and hearing this piece, it struck me as the struggle, frustration, and inspiration of the creative process...and in reading the program note after the piece, it seems that was precisely the artists goal. Well done.

The program concluded with Michael Bratt's Chronicles of Laughing Yesterday; though I didn't feel as strong a connection between music and video both were delightful to encounter, with some subtle humor in both.

Non musically, for the first two pieces, the lights on the conductor's music stand were positioned in a way to be nearly blinding and quite distracting from the video, but the light also highlighted Violinist Ms. Furuta's facial expressions and were an interesting study in a musician's exertion and immediate reaction to both the conductor and the music.

The Musicians of FiveOne Music are: Melisse Brunet, conductor; Madeline Lucas, flute; Anthony Slusser, clarinet; Conrad Jones, trumpet; Doug Jones, trombone; Doug Jones, tuba; Adam Whiting, piano; Joeseph Rebman, harp; Jonathan Thompson, electric guitar; Nathan Von Trotha, William Delelles, percussion; Elizabeth Fututa, Deborah Milburn, violin; Timothy Mauthe, viola; Anna Bowman, cello; Jeremy Allen, Michael Bratt, composer.

This program repeats Saturday February 19th at 7:30 PM and and Sunday at 3:00 PM.

Lincoln

Cleveland Public Theatre: Pandemonium

"I don't need your umbrella, that's OK, I like the rain" - No More Kings, Umbrella

"Well, I'm a horrible dancer, I ain't going to lie, but I'll be damned if that means I ain't going to try / Yeah, I'm a sh---y romancer, baby I ain't gonna lie, but I'll be damned if I ain't going to try" - The Limousines, Internet Killed the Video Star

"No time for cameras, we'll use our eyes instead, I see flashes of gold" - Matt and Kim, Cameras

So... I'm confronted with a conundrum: I had planned on attending Cleveland Public Theatre's Pandemonium with someone who I would have been meeting for the first time and who had a rather pressing personal matter come up. Despite the best efforts of myself, friends, and even a few random strangers I couldn't come up with someone to use the ticket. Thus, if I'm evaluating value at $125 per person Pandemonium was a fantastic hit; if I'm evaluating value at $250 per person, effectively what I paid, eh...it's a bit steep.

The event, covering nearly the entire CPT campus, including parts that I had never before realized were parts of the CPT campus defies easy description: With performances ranging from stand up comedy to interpretive dance on 20-odd stages throughout the complex, mingled with food from an equally diverse selection of providers, all without being nickle-and-dimmed-- admission is truly all-inclusive.

Early in the evening I decided not to ask questions, but before we get there... I helped to build a bridge. Literally. And it may have been the single most memorable part of the night for me. As the event began it was raining, and a small river formed between the main entrance and half of the stages. Several CPT volunteers and staffers looking quite nice in their evening wear were shuttling bricks in to form a dry walkway and it seemed like it would have been most ungentlemanly of myself to not lend a hand while they were wading through the water...so that's exactly what I did. Eventually a 8' table also appeared, and between the table and bricks we solved a problem. Boom.

Then we get to the not asking questions part: Those who know me know I'm probably one of the pickiest non-itarian eaters you'll encounter in the wild. Tonight I made a conscious effort not to ask what I was eating, or to examine it too closely: I took a small portion, tasted, and moved on. While all of the food was reasonably good, I have to say that Bourbon Bakeshop's plate was delicious: A wild mushroom risotto with dates, thyme, and toasted almonds, basil gougers, and summer vegetable compote with goat cheese was fantastic. I don't generally like mushrooms, and I've had mixed luck with vegetables and almonds but the combination was tasty, and I probably could have eaten the basil gougers (I'm still not entirely sure what a gouger actually is) all night.

Entertainment wise, I took a similar approach wandering from stage to stage without paying particular attention to the schedule. I didn't make it to all of the stages -- and the evening's entertainment was over before I could really blink -- but I saw some funny stuff (stage 20), some disturbing stuff (stage I-can't-remember), some thought provoking stuff (stage 18, The Petition Box -- a project that when I first walked in I didn't get, but reading submissions I felt compelled to add my own note to the wall).

Approaching random strangers is not something that comes easily to me but I did initiate a few conversations on my own; unfortunately none really went anywhere (One: "If I ever get married for a third time, I'm keeping it simple. I gotta pee. Nice talking to you.") and it was exceptionally difficult to tell who was with whom, but, anyway.

Once the entertainment was finished, dessert came out in the form of tables with people in the middle roving through stage 1. I've never had to chase dessert before.

Following that, I caught up with a friend from CPT who made some easy introductions and several hours of good conversation flowed. I'm glad. Taking to other humans has a distinct stress-relieving component to it.

Ok, and now I'm going to fall asleep.

Lincoln

Cleveland Play House/Cleveland Orchestra/GroundWorks DanceTheater: A Soldier's Tale (Fusion Fest 2010)

With such a veritable wealth of cultural institutions and raw talent in the Northeast Ohio area, covering nearly (if not) every possible aspect of the arts I'm surprised that collaborations don't happen more frequently. (It may be worth noting that while this performance was a sell out, I spotted several members of the Orchestra and at least one Cleveland Museum of Art staffer in the audience: This cross pollination is always a sign I take as good)

As the three institutions (The Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Play House, and GroundWorks Dance Theater) proved with the performances of Catch and Release (By Esa-Pekka Salonen) A Soldier's Tale (Libretto by Kurt Vonnegut), both with music by Igor Stravinsky such collaborations can be fantastic, drawing on the strengths of the parts to produce an fascinating whole.

The venue, the blackbox-ish/3/4-round Brooks Theater was more intimate than any dance or music show I've attended (excepting house concerts, of course), and among the more intimate I've seen straight drama presented in hightened the connection between dancer, actor, musician, and audience.
The players in the pieces were also interesting: The members of the Cleveland Orchestra performing in this piece are not musicians I've heard perform in small ensemble before; with the exception of one actor, the actors were all new to me; and I've somehow never managed the pleasure of seeing GroundWorks perform.

Catch and Release was a more traditional dance number with video projected from above, and it moved with such dispatch as to make attempts to focus on any one aspect (dance, music, video) for any substantial period of time fruitless: You quickly learn to sit back and enjoy the whole. As one audience member behind me commented, "There sure was a lot of catching and releasing".

I've enjoyed reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, still one of the best books I've read; Slaughterhouse Five, I may need to reread now that it's not at academic gunpoint.

A Soldier's Tale was quite well done, involving actors, dance, musicians, and video (this time on the rear wall) and sometimes blurring the line between actor and dancer. The dialogue was witty and well delivered, the music beautifully played, the dance well woven into the story. I didn't realize prior to the ending that the libretto for A Soldier's Tale was based loosely on the true story of Eddie Slovik, a World War II draftee who was executed -- the only soldier since the Civil War -- for desertion.

The only shame was that this production only saw four performances, the last of which was the one occurring this afternoon.

Musicians: Tito Munoz, conductor; Jung-Min Amy Lee, violin; Charles Carleton, bass; Robert Woolfrey, clarinet; Barrick Stees, bassoon; Jack Sutte, trumpet; Sachar Israel, trombone; Marc Damoulakis, percussion. (All members of The Cleveland Orchestra)
Cast: Robert Ellis, general; Justin Tatum, soldier; Zac Hoogendyk, MP, Lindsay Iuen, Red Cross Girl.
Dancers: Amy Miller, Felise Bagley, Kelly Brunk, Damien Highfield, Sarah Perrett (All members of GroundWorks DanceTheater)
at The Brooks Theater, Cleveland Play House.

Lincoln

CPT: Why Torture is Wrong And The People Who Love Them

Saturday evening I ventured West for Cleveland Public Theater's staging of Christopher Durang's Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them.

It wasn't as funny as I hoped--or perhaps I should say that the audience wasn't as uproarious as I hoped, but it is one of the funnier things I have seen recently. It seemed quite obviously a parody of the present situation, but it felt like it had its wings clipped before it made its way over the top. Had this happened, I may have been rolling on the floor. The actors didn't really feel like they were selling their characters (notable exception "Voice")--Save for the last scene in the fine dining establishment known as "Hooters".

Aside from the entertainment value it does force some introspection on where we as a country are with regard to national security, trigger happiness, et. al.

While a tangential line that had nothing to do with the plot, early on the mother makes a comment about some her friends committing suicide ("willing their hearts to stop beating") after three evenings in a row of Tom Stoppard plays. I may have been the only person laughing at that line, but having suffered through two Stoppard plays a month and a 3-hour flight apart, I can only imagine doing the same thing myself if I were to do two, much less three in as many nights.