Winter Break

As students head home -- or into hibernation -- for Winter break, my blogging will lull as does the theater in Athens. However, don't forget to see OVST's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (more on that later).

Also:

Athens High School Drama Club

Fall Production: The Nerd, by Larry Shue
November 16-18, 2007, 7:30 PM
AHS Auditorium
Admission $5, non-reserved.

Please feel free to comment -- I'll be checking up on the blog during break, and then will be back in January!

Happy Holidays!

<-- From me!

LFC in Review (in pictures!)

The Pillowman

So The Lost Flamingo Company is producing Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. Already, members of the Athens' theater community have been whispering about the future production of this popular -- and dark, very dark -- play. Questions as to whether LFC can pull off the production have already been debated in corners of coffee shops and through pointed glances at mention of the play.

If one is not familiar with The Pillowman, I strongly suggest you read the play. Short and easy to read on the page, this bright orange play will haunt you. (Also, if you read it, I don't have to write a synopsis!)
Read a synopsis
Suffice to say, this play is very dark. It features creepy stories that involve child mutilation, one of which involves a child being crucified on-stage.

The range of viewpoints on the production of this play varies drastically. Some people are so very excited to see and/or get involved with the show. Others have proclaimed grandly that they refuse to see the production, afraid that it will not be produced properly.

What think you? Will LFC do this play justice? Should this show be performed at all in such an environment? Why or why can't this play be a success?

LFC Winter Shows

The Lost Flamingo Company announced its Winter shows the other day, to the excitement of many a theater fan. Come Winter quarter, LFC will be producing four shows:


The Vagina Monologues
Eve Ensler's is made up of a varying number of monologues read by a varying number of women. Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the female body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.
Performed during the week of Valentine's Day, all proceeds go to local women's shelter, My Sister's Place.

A Bad Year for Tomatoes
A two-act comedy by John Patrick, the play deals with the very funny misfortunes of a famous television actress who seeks to get "away from it all" in a small New England Town. Fed up with the pressure and demands of her acting career, the famous Myra Marlowe leases a house in the tiny New England hamlet of Beaver Haven, and settles down to write her autobiography. She is successful in turning aside the offers pressed on her by her long-time agent, but dealing with her nosy, omnipresent neighbors requires a bit more creativity...

Deathtrap
Ira Levin's 1978 play holds the record as the longest running comedy-thriller on Broadway. In 1982 it was adapted into a film of the same name starring Christopher Reeve, Michael Caine and Dylan Cannon.
'Nuff said.

The Pillowman
A play by Martin McDonagh, this drama tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories, and their similarities to a number of bizarre incidents occurring in his town.

Auditions will be held early next quarter, within the first two weeks of the quarter (Exact dates TBA). LFC asks that you have one monologue, poem, or joke to perform; it need not be memorized.

If you have time for fun...

Rockstar 2007
Every year, the School of Theater sophomore studio gets up onstage and rocks out as the rockstar of their choice (granted, they must resemble said rockstar from stadium distance). Feel free to stop in and enjoy the intense lip-synching action!

Expect stars from the past and present! And this particular blogger, who -- in true cross-dressing fashion -- will be Bono for 3 minutes only.

Baker Theater, Kantner Hall
Thursday, Nov. 9
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
FREE

Some photos

I filched all the School of Theater pictures I could find from this past quarter. Here are a few photos from How He Lied to Her Husband and MacBett. Thanks to Kristin Shirilla and Sarah Hoppes.

This Week in Theater, Nov. 5

How He Lied to Her Husband
George Bernard Shaw's one-act satire will have you laughing and ... well, laughing some more.
ONLY ONE MORE SHOW

Tuesday, Nov. 6
Rm. 308, Kantner Hall
8:00
FREE
Limited seating, get there before 7:45


MacBett
Eugene Ionesco, the master of absurdism, takes on Shakespeare’s most sinister play, and the result is a wildly theatrical comedy about good, evil and the horrors of war. Both thought-provoking and funny, MacBett is a play for our time.

October 31 - November 3
Forum Theater, RTV Building, 8 p.m.
FREE for OU Students
$10 General Admission
$7 Seniors and Students
Presented by the OU School of Theater

Arsenic & Old Lace

A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family.

Saturday, Sunday (Nov. 9, 10)
Mitchell Auditorium, Seigfred Hall
8:00 p.m.
$4

Midnight Madness
Fridays at 11:00
The Hahn, Kantner Hall
FREE
Web site

Hosted by grad playwright Ryan, this week is Hand Job Madness.

The Hahn Theatre has only limited seating. Tickets are given out at 10, so come early to get a seat for the madness!

A view from the hole in the curtains

How He Lied to Her Husband, the OU School of Theater lab show, opened yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Performed in a blackbox-like classroom in Kantner, the theatre only seats 40 people. But at the opening of her first School of Theater show, this young actor might have been performing for thousands.

That is, until I found the holes in the curtains. From backstage, laced into my corset and bumble-bee-esque period dress, I peeked through the humble openings and at the audience: In the front row, two of my studio classmates; in the back, my roommate; in the middle, my friend's mom who I just met, but who said she might extend her Athens visit to see my show.

Any anxiety that was trying to root itself into my shoulders evaporated. No one in the audience wanted anything but to see me succeed; no one was sitting in the audience waiting to revel in any of my screw-ups. For my studio-mates, every individual success reflects the improvement of the group. My older peers were turning out to support me and the cast and crew, just as I had supported them by attending their shows so many times. My teachers -- when they do show up -- will be there hoping to see their work in action, if only rudimentarily.

What really hit me was that I was a part of this community. A community that extends beyond just the OU School of Theater. The theater community can be judgemental, clicky, and can feel very small, but it is also most definitely a "community." If nothing else, there will always be other theater people in the audience! We're all in this, and we're all in this together.

Cheesy? Perhaps -- let me know what your experiences with the theater community. What are outsider's perspectives on the theater community?

RENT

From Ohio University:

The Ohio University Performing Arts Series is proud to welcome back the Broadway Sensation RENT!

By popular demand, RENT will return to Ohio University's Memorial Auditorium on February 20, 2008 at 7:30 PM. A special Ohio University student-only presale will begin on Monday, November 5th and will run through November 16th. Presale tickets will only be available through the Memorial Auditorium ticket office. The ticket office is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 PM.


For more information, visit:
http://www.ohio.edu/performingarts
or
http://www.myspace.com/ouperformingarts

Resources for Theater-goers

I would like to use this post to invite anyone who has something to say about shows he/she has recently seen to comment. (Recent shows: Betty's Summer Vacation, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Some Girl(s), MacBett.)

Whether a performer or spectator, how was the experience? What did you think of the show? Feel free to post anything!

Also, I would suggest friending Arts for Ohio on Facebook. With regular updates and messages, this friend will keep you informed on many of the arts performances on the OU campus.

Friend Arts for Ohio!

Read about Arts for Ohio

How He Lied to Her Husband

I almost forgot to mention the OU School of Theater lab show How He Lied to Her Husband. This farcical play is particularly interesting in that it features the writer of this humble blog. That is correct: I am the role of She. If that's not enough to get you to come out to the show, read on:

How He Lied to Her Husband
Sunday, Nov. 4 -- 2 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 5/6 -- 8 p.m.
Kantner Hall, rm 308
FREE

Marriage, theater, and missing love letters...

The venue has limited seating; arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the show, and I would suggest hopping in line earlier -- these shows fill up quickly.