Linda Ayres-Frederick reviews

Smuin Ballet Celebrates the Dark and the Light

2011-10-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

Smuin Ballet kicked off its 2011-2012 Season at the Palace of Fine Arts with a world premiere Dear Miss Cline by Choreographer in Residence Amy Seiwert set to the music of Patsy Cline. This acrobatic upbeat piece completed an evening that presented previously performed repertoire including the late Michael Smuin’s seductive fantasy of possession and passion Tango Palace played out in the steamy underworld of tango. Along with its sultry qualities--this particular dance is known for elements of the passionate French Apache style--Tango Palace also captivated the playfulness that Smuin expressed in his notes: “I wanted to make a piece that was more than heavy breathing, bared teeth and swooning back bends – tangos with a twinkle in the eye.” It was refreshing to see two of the men dancing so gracefully together after being refused by one of the women. With subtle lighting (Sara Linnie Slocum & Michael Oesch) and beautifully suggestive costumes in combinations of jewel toned turquoise green/blues and fiery orange/reds (Ann Beck), Tango Palace started the evening off with ferocious pizzazz.

Following Tango was Stabat Mater, Smuin’s response to 9/11. Set to Dvorak’s choral work of the same name, this breathtaking piece eloquently expresses the hope of moving forward after grief and loss and ten years later still has the emotional strength it did when first introduced. Least interesting of the evening was the pas de deux The Eternal Idol named for the August Rodin sculpture of a nude couple locked in an embrace. More reminiscent of the little mermaid statue of Hans Christian Anderson at Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens, Eternal Idol is far too repetitive in tone and costumed so obviously in ill-fitting body suits that destroy the fine efforts and expertise of Ms. Cornwell and Mr. Dummar to invoke the sensuous intention of the piece.

It’s hard to ruin the music of Patsy Cline. While Seiwert’s quirky choreography brought out the humor of the ten Cline tunes, one sometimes wished for more daring interpretation in which the movement would be less tied to the exact rhythms which gave the pieces a predictable quality. Perhaps a rearrangement of the program would create an even more dynamic evening. If, say, Dear Miss Cline began the evening and the more varied Tango ended it omitting The Eternal Idol altogether.

Smuin Ballet’s Bay Area tour of their Christmas Ballet will run November 24 through December 24. For more information about upcoming performances go to www.smuinballet.org or 415.556.5000.

Moving forward after Grief and Loss in Golden Thread's Night Over Erzinga

2011-10-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Enjoying its West Coast Premiere at the South Side Theatre at Fort Mason Center is Night over Erzinga by Adriana Sevahn Nichols. Produced by Golden Thread Productions, Erzinga, directed by Hafiz Karmali, is the first play of the Middle East America New Plays Initiative, a project that is managed by GTP, New York’s Lark Play Development Center and Chicago’s Silk Road Theatre Project.

A story about the immigrant experience of Armenian Americans, the central characters Alice and Ardavazt (in younger and older incarnations) try to build a new life in the U.S. in the aftermath of the Armenian genocide. Inspired by Ms. Nichols’ personal heritage as a Dominican-Armenian American, the two and a half hour epic spans two continents and three generations from Western Armenia of 1913 to 1930’s Massachusetts to 1960’s New York. Lynchpin of the production is Juliet Tanner in a stellar performance as the Young Alice, and Alice’s daughter Ava. Capturing all the emotional subtleties demanded of both roles, Ms. Tanner moves with mastery from the emotionally overwrought European immigrant haunted by the horrors of her past to the flirtatious, spunky first generation American determined to make a life for herself in an often less than ideal world. With multiple roles for the entire ensemble, the play offers them the opportunity to show their acting chops. Brian Trybom complements Ms. Tanner as both eye-wandering young husbands: Ardavazdt and Benny as well as playing Grandpapa and Khalil. Lawrence Radecker shows his emotional range as the understanding Cop, a daring Turkish Soldier, a very Vegas Stage Manager, Alberto and others. Terry Lamb provides gravitas as the Older Ardavazdt, a caring Aram and the asylum Doctor. Completing the cast are Neva Marie Hutchinson as Older Alice and others, Sarita Ocon as Older Estrella and others, and Natalie Amanian, age 9, the youngest member of the tightly knit ensemble as young Estrella and others.

While reaching heights of poetic lyricism at many moments, Erzinga might have even more emotional impact with some serious editing. The play as written loses effect in scenes (mostly in the First Act and at the overly long finale dance) where no stone is left unturned. With enough material for two plays, Ms. Sevahn Nichols might consider killing off some of her “darlings” and resurrecting them in later work. Even so, Erzinga in substance reaches beyond its particular cultural ethnicity to that of others who have come to this country from the darkness of previous abusive hardship with the hope of entering the light of a better freer life.

Night Over Erzinga plays through October 9th at South Side Theatre at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina & Buchanan Streets, SF 94123. Tickets $20-$36. goldenthread.org 415.345.7575.

Hunter's Point - a play by Elizabeth Gjelten

2011-09-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Homeless Benefit from Premiere Production of Gjelten’s “Hunter’s Point”

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

Proceeds from the production of Elizabeth Gjelten’s very special play Hunter’s Point benefit the homeless via the Gubbio Project. Considering the topic, it is an apt and generous choice for the newly formed Strange Angels Theater in collaboration with Jump! Theatre. Performed in the lower level venue of St. Boniface Church which has a special outreach to the homeless, the play Hunter’s Point directed by Christine Young involves the very complicated relationship between two sisters—Ruth a travel writer, and her homeless sister, Eva, who suffers from a variety of mental disturbances.

At rise, we hear Eva (the sweet voiced soprano Eula Janeen Wyatt) singing atop a scaffold in the Hunter’s Point area where she has been sleeping. At the same time we see her sister Ruth (alto Christine Rodgers) folding laundry in the safety of her modest Mission apartment. Soon after, we meet the streetwise, also homeless Hunter (the multi-talented Carlos Aguirre) who is a consummate beat box artist. Hunter invites the audience to gather round while he wows us with his stirring jazz solo. Ruth bargains with Hunter to find Eva. While the main thread of this two and a half hour play involves Ruth’s thwarted attempts to contact Eva to give her the news that their father is dead, the story hints at the parallels between Ruth’s journey as a visiting outsider in Sarajevo and Eva’s experience as a homeless outsider in her native land. Touching scenes in the SF Public Library between Eva and librarian Violet (a caring Allison L. Payne) illustrate Eva’s increasing frustration to find “moral treatment”. Ruth also encounters frustration in her attempts to reach Eva via cellphones that remain turned off or uncharged. Another of Ruth’s obstacles is the pull of amorous attention from Zulko (also played by Carlos Aguirre), a native of Sarajevo who will not leave no matter what the war has done to his country.

With projections of both local SF and foreign street life in the background, the multi-leveled multi-use set design (Nick A. Olivero) captures the gritty urban atmosphere. Additionally, on the lower level floor area the use of bicycles going back and forth figures prominently in the plot especially when Eva’s bike is stolen and Hunter manages to “relieve” someone else of theirs to give her a replacement. Even changing a wheel becomes an added enjoyable beat box moment. While costumes (Rebecca Cross) seem appropriate, Eva looks a bit less disheveled than one would expect from someone living on the street. Perhaps her earlier religious upbringing (the girls would sing together in church in their youth) was so strong that her need to stay clean remained
ingrained—“cleanliness next to godliness” no matter what the circumstances.

To further complicate matters, some street dwellers have been set afire by a pyromaniac. Eva still blames herself for the earlier death of her young son when she could not respond to a fire in her own home years ago.

The challenge between the sisters comes to a head when Ruth whose offer to get Eva off the street is found out to be less than real. When Eva actually says she’ll come home with her, Ruth’s expression gives away the truth. She really couldn’t handle dealing with her homeless less-than-solidly sane sister. It’s a sad but multi-leveled reality that faces head on the question of how to balance one’s personal survival with the responsibility to others. While the road to hell is often paved with good intentions, the heart breaks for the well-intentioned would be caretakers who can’t deliver their promises as well as for those who society and sanity have abandoned.

In Hunter’s Point, Ms. Gjelten has woven an often lyrically told emotional tapestry that poses important questions about family relationships, home and homelessness that the audience can continue to consider long after the lights go down. While there are no easy answers, the Gubbio project also attempts to address these issues with the “moral treatment” and dignity all humans so deserve.

In addition to post-show panel discussions, there is a pre-show visual exhibit curated by and featuring the photographs of Mark Ellinger, a formerly homeless photographer who chronicles the people and architecture of the Tenderloin.

Hunter’s Point continues Friday 9/30 7pm, Sat 10/1 7pm as a benefit for The Gubbio Project, St. Boniface Church Theater, 175 Golden Gate Ave., SF
Tickets: Pay What You Can (suggested donation $15-$25) www.http://hunterspoint.eventbrite.com/

Twelfth Night with a Twist at San Quentin is a Stunner

2011-08-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

“If Music be the Food of Love…play on”
Twelfth Night by Wm. Shakespeare

It’s easier to get into San Quentin than it is to get out, even when you are just visiting for the rare opportunity to see thirteen inmates performing in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night. With an audience comprised of 200 invited guests that included members of the press, friends of Marin Shakespeare plus fellow inmates, this updated 1960’s tie-dyed version of the Bard’s lovelorn tale of mistaken identities rocked with joy.

Getting to that effervescent experience took a few steps. Even before entering the prison compound, every outside audience member needed to attain security clearance, and once through the second set of gates, having signed your name twice and having your hand stamped with a special infrared ink, the faux castle architecture emitted a grievous sadness that grabbed you viscerally.

Walking through the open courtyard to the chapel lightened the emotional load somewhat and once inside where banners proclaimed “They that sow in tears shalt reap in Joy”, the buzzing activity of videographers in prison garb and cast members greeting us with welcoming smiles set the stage and mood for what was to come.

When Romeo Valentine (A.Terrell Merritt), the songmaster serving Orsino (Erin O’Connor) and his back up Singers Group--Angel Alvarez, Joey Barnes, Eric Lowery, and Perry “Spike” Simpson-- dropped to their knees and lip-synched “Lonely Teardrops”, this audience member laughed so hard she cried. The signature swish of their capes as they entered and exited throughout the show raised the audience’s spirit with a single unforgettable gesture.

In spite of the fact that some of the actors were on stage for the first time, the sense of ensemble that held them together was better than that of the best pro sports team of the past season. And of course there were standouts. Luke Padgett’s Malvolio made it obvious that here was a man whose artistry defied the limitations of his environment. Consistent throughout, borrowing elements from Rocky Horror Picture Show, family traits and his own process finding the character, Padgett delivered such an exquisite performance that one can’t imagine a more perfectly modulated Malvolio. Standing tall, joy through devilment reigned!

John Owen Neblett as Antonio also stood out for his comic timing and daringly expressed lust for the tender hearted, oft bewildered Sebastian (Angel Alvarez). And Erin O’Connor had the stature and convincing confidence demanded by his role as Orsino, the Duke of Illyria. Jonathan Wilson as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Henry “Black Myth” Montgomery as Sri Yogi Maharishi provided additionally unique comic elements to this shenanigan-filled farce. MSC’s own Lesley Currier brought experience and charm to her Viola as did MSC interns Elizabeth Keller as her servant Maria and Brent BC Harvey as her boisterous, drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch.

The script as adapted by Marin Shakespeare's Managing and Artistic Directors, Lesley and Robert Currier, was set with a variety of music from the Beatles, Rolling Stones and others including original music by Joey Mason--who also played a fine Feste, the guitar-strumming Clown serving Olivia. Mike Anthony, who played the bespectacled poker-faced Olivia in a blonde wig with Shirley Temple curls admitted that the hardest part of performing was having to dress up in gold brocade and heels in front of his peers.

Under the direction of Suraya Keating, the inmates and the three additional members of MSC have been studying the play, creating characters, learning lines, practicing songs and dance moves, and preparing for the performance for the past 10 months. The work has definitely paid off.

The Marin Shakespeare Company, which performs at Dominican
University's Forest Meadows Amphitheatre each summer, added the
Shakespeare program at San Quentin to their array of education
programs eight years ago during which Ms. Currier has been performing with them. The teachers who have worked with the
inmates have found the men eager to learn.

In the talkback after the performance the men concurred that the program helped “keep their sanity” and to live “from their authentic selves.”

"Shakespeare gives inmates the opportunity to learn to communicate in new ways, to practice conflict resolution, to develop empathy, and
teamwork skills. In addition, the men are expanding their
vocabularies, learning about poetry, and enjoying classic literature,"
said Currier. "Shakespeare has been transformational for many of the
men who participate, building confidence and communication skills.”

"Shakespeare actors are role models within the San Quentin community, demonstrating that even behind bars men can continue to set goals, learn new skills, and become better human beings.”
Given the standing ovation this Twelfth Night so richly deserved, there’s no doubt that this program is a stunning success!

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot: An Ambitious Undertaking

2010-10-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

Custom Made Theatre has ambitiously undertaken a monster of a play in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Guirgis (Our Lady of 121st Street & Jesus Hopped the A Train) is strongly focussed on the issues of his Catholic roots. With 25 characters played by 15 actors running close to three hours, Last Days does not stay within the time frame of Judas’ actual “last days” of biblical history. Rather it jumps back and forth through centuries and locales real and questionable (do Heaven, Hell and Purgatory really exist?) to examine and inquire in a courtroom setting whether Judas Iscariot should be damned for eternity for betraying his beloved, best pal Jesus Christ. The play also attempts to elicit from the over double dozen personae their opinions on despair, morality and salvation.

The courtroom in this small section of Purgatory called “Hope” is where litigation determines the fates of its inhabitants. Thanks to a writ signed by God, himself, Judas Iscariot is on trial, though he sits in a catatonic state in Hell. It isn’t quite clear what his smart and smart-looking defense attorney Cunningham (Edith Reiner) or his wiry prosecutor El-Fayoumy (Ben Ortega) have to gain from winning their side of the case. Release from Purgatory perhaps? Up or down? If it is mentioned, it got lost in the many lengthy esoteric discussions. Whatever the attorneys' stakes, each one is equally zealous to prove her/his point of view.

The opening is an impassioned plea by Judas’s mother Henrietta Iscariot (AJ Davenport) in biblical attire (Costumes by Scarlett Kellum) on the upstage left elevated region of Sarah Phykitt’s multilevel set. Henrietta gets to give a full description of Judas later in court in defense of his questionable moral character. Another more famous mother, Mother Teresa (Brandy Leggett) is called from Heaven as a witness after a long list of her own wrongdoing is brought to light—she apparently took funds from all sorts of immoral types to fund her own projects to help the poor. She also refused to support the Papal declaration to absolve the Jews as “Christ-killers”. Guirgis enjoys finding the holes in the commonly accepted myths of societal heroes.

A punky St. Monica (Corrine Elizabeth Proctor) is one of the more lively characters gyrating verbally and physically in revealing goth attire. Her persistent attempts to get a rise out of Judas fall on deaf ears. Later she shares the stage with Mary Magdalene (Amelia Avila) in a contrapuntal duet in Judas’ defense skewering further holes in stories of Jesus’ marrying or fathering an offspring (ala Dan Brown’s creations). Catz Forsman is memorable as the bearded Freud, St. Matthew and St. Thomas. Judge Littlefield (Lewis Campbell, a late replacement) recuses himself to become Caiaphas whose occasional verbal stumbles belie a Priest unprepared to defend the difficult choice of passing judgment on Jesus as a rebellious Rabbi. Bailiff (Michael Kelly who also plays an enthused Simon the Zealot) takes over the court until the Judge returns. Pontius Pilate (Stuart Elwyn Hall) is called upon to elucidate his part in the matter in Judea--a problem filled part of the Roman Empire he ruled with Mafioso backroom tactics.

With all the talk about his complex personality, Judas (Kristoffer Barrera) is portrayed as a mostly angry fellow when he isn’t sitting mute and staring. Jesus of Nazareth (Charles Lewis III) gets to grapple with Judas as his insistently forgiving—to the point of being cloying about it—friend. Director Brian Katz makes an extended cameo appearance as Butch Honeywell—delivering a refreshingly contemporary monologue on loss and betrayal that would zing even more if it didn’t have to follow so much previous overwriting. Perry Aliado ably fulfills his roles as St. Peter, Matthias of Galilee and a Soldier as does a jaunty Richard Wenzel as the Devil himself completing the ensemble cast.

If you are up for a bit of redundancy, word-play and circular thinking, Last Days offers you the opportunity to contemplate some worthy subject matter. It’s not an easy two and three-quarter hours to sit through, but it offers some talented portrayals of memorable character while taking your mind on a jaunty walk up and down the hills of eternity.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot continues through Oct 30 at The Gough Street Playhouse (formerly The Next Stage) 1620 Gough St (at Bush), SF. Thurs-Sat 8pm; Sun 7pm. Tickets $20-$30 510.207.5774 www.custommade.org/judas

DREAMGIRLS: Vibrant, Extraordinary, Beauteous!

2010-09-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

With 305 of 465 available costumes and 175 of 205 traveling wigs used during every single performance of Dreamgirls, you’d think the actors would be busier offstage than on. But these troupers are so hot onstage that the costume and wig changes must be just another bit of juice to rev up their already electrifying performances.

Now playing at the Curran Theatre is SHN’s Best of Broadway revival of the musical Dreamgirls (Music by Henry Krieger, Book and Lyrics by Tom Eyen) that walked off in 1982 with six of thirteen nominated Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, the Theater World Award for Jennifer Holliday, Oscar’s for the 2007 Film version and Jennifer Hudson, and multiple Grammy’s for both.

Opening backstage in the excitement of wannabe talent hoping to win a contest at NYC Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, Dreamgirls tells the story of an up and coming 1960’s female singing group called the “Dreams” and the challenges and triumphs that come with their pursuit of fame and fortune. While the group’s ambitious manager Curtis (Chaz Lamar Sheperd) has dreams with admirable political implications to cross over from soul music to mainstream pop charts, his manipulating machinations eventually have dire consequences. The story takes a bit of time to unfold, but eventually the meat of it takes hold when one realizes the larger than life dynamic lead singer Effie White (Moya Angela) is going to be pushed aside so that a slimmer different but equally potent voiced Deena (Syesha Mercado) can take her place in order to fulfill Curtis’ and their dream.

By the time Effie is expelled from the group altogether, it’s not just her heart that is broken. (Curtis dropped her romantically for Deena.) Effie’s composer brother CC White (Trevon Davis) has seen his music rearranged, and James “Thunder” Early (Chester Gregory) has been so toned down from his explosive soul and dance style, he’s been mistaken for Tony Bennett. Gregory infuses the James Brownish character Early with extraordinary joie de vivre by delivering his lines as well as executing amazing physical dance feats with perfect timing. “I’ve been waiting so long in that car” he quips, “Ray Charles has had enough time to get himself another Grammy!”

The effects of Robin Wagner’s sets are visually staggering with LED technology: rotating screens filled with Howard Werner’s moving and still images. There’s much to draw you in along with William Ivey Long’s shimmering costumes and director Robert Longbottom’s and co-choreographer Shane Spark’s staging, but it is the stellar cast of fabulous voices and vibrant rhythm infused bodies that carry this show from one show-stopper to another. And let’s not forget those beauteous, fine singing Dreamgirls Lorell (Adrienne Warren) and Michelle (Margaret Hoffman) as well as the wise Marty (Milton Craig Nealy’s). Conductor Sam Davis and Orchestra invigorate the evening with their solid backup.

Filled with unforgettable moments from the uptempo “Steppin’ to the Bad Side” through the heart wrenching “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” to “I am Changing” and the duet “Listen”, Dreamgirls is a show that’s well worth the price of admission.

Dreamgirls continues through September 26 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St. SF. Tickets $30-$99 (888) 746.1799, shnsf.com or the Theatre Box Office. $25 rush tickets available 2 hours before performance. Limit 2 per person.

2010-02-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

A PASSIONATE ROBERT HENRY JOHNSON:
ARTICULATING DANCE

By Linda Ayres-Frederick

In an interview, Robert Henry Johnson spoke passionately about dance and his life in the arts. His work will be featured in the upcoming Black Choreographers Festival in The San Francisco performances at Dance Mission Theater on February 19 ,20 & 21 (www.bcfhereandnow.com). Now, in its sixth year, it is honoring the legacy and celebrating the next generation of the African American Dance Diaspora.

LAF: What do you love most about dancing?
RHJ: The impartation…things one can impart through dance…when I was a child it always did something for me…I’ve been thinking a lot …about this lately ..why I’m so passionate about dance to the point that It can bring me to my knees and weep. From the beginning, when I first saw it…it was so spiritual…how it presented to me…it was something particularly very beautiful…the beauty of the form, the gracefulness. I just wanted to do that…I wanted to be a beautiful vessel…I remember watching people dancing on stage..not knowing their names..especially the persons who didn’t have solos…the ones .in the back who weren’t even in the program…coming on stage and doing this amazing thing with their body and then going off stage and disappearing into the night …uniquely creating wonder on stage...leaving behind a trail of hope. If I am successful that is what I would want to do. Leave behind a trail of hope.

LAF: In the dance, I’ve seen you do that…
RHJ: Really? I think what I was trying to do was pray…my spiritual instincts were to pray for people who could not. And to dance for people who could not. That’s what I love the most about dance.

LAF: When did you first begin dancing? And Choreographing?
RHJ: I think I was 3 years old…or 4 years old…no 3. There’s this legend of “Bobby” in my family. …On my 3rd birthday, I woke up about 6am and started dancing. It was a dance called the Hammer from the 50’s …I’d never seen it before it…and I wouldn’t stop and my Mom got scared …She called her sister, my aunt, “Girl, there’s something wrong with my son”. I danced right through the morning in my bed clothes across the courtyard to my Aunt’s house and I danced all day long….till I got this filled up feeling and never stopped ‘til the day was over. The dance wanted to come through me. In my journey there have been some forces to stop me…but not for long. People’s opinions like boys shouldn’t dance and that kind of thing.….none of that happened to me. I had a positive and supportive journey from my community and family. That part of it is like a perfect journey…

LAF: Sound’s like you were born a dancer.
RHJ: The Dance, said, “We got him. This is what he’s gonna do.”

LAF: Were you surprised?
RHJ: I wanted to be an actor and a writer. The first idea of my identity was that I was going to either write plays or be an actor…When I was on stage, my fellow actors would say I upstaged them. I didn’t mean to. I had the audience in stitches…just by the way I’d lift a leg. I still make the audience laugh. I don’t think I’m funny but…I fixed it…and
somehow I always managed to dance during all this time.

LAF:When did you realize you wanted to be a professional dancer?
RHJ: The first time I connected with it…I saw a PSA for the musical Timbuktu with Earth Kitt…an African version of Kismet..Jeffrey Holder, tall, bald, black man…he’s a hailed choreographer…this tornado of a production came to San Francisco. In the PSA I saw there were two guys dressed as birds. It looked like Paradise. I remember seeing them do something with their feet and their arms out in a gesture spread out to the side …it was glorious like Paradise I remember thinking, “I want to do that. Be in that world.” I’m definitely an escapist.

LAF: What do you consider to be your strengths as a performer?
RHJ: I’m comfortable on stage….If I could live and sleep on stage--and this is stolen from Michael Jackson--I would do that. Also to completely deconstruct my process and share it with the audience. My journey from the time I get on stage ‘til the time I get off stage.

LAF: Could you say more about that--how that evolved?
RHJ: I spent many years on stage in big halls…with people who spent a lot of money for their tickets and were all dressed up…who then went home after…I felt disconnected being at such a distance from the audience. I was uncomfortable with that. I wanted to connect with the audience. I was creating a community but didn’t know who that community was. In my shows now, I turn the houselights up. I talk to the audience. There are no wings. I change costumes on stage. The spaces are intimate. It’s a different kind of performance. I found my niche again. I found my home again. For me I think that’s what it should be: a literal conversation. People leave saying “Wow, Robert! I learned so much.” Everything is art…art is about process. The challenge is to bring it out of your head--out to where people can see it. That process is very special and important to me. As you can see, I love talking about dance.

LAF: When you run out of ideas, if ever, where do you seek inspiration?
RHJ: I go to my dancers. In the generation I’ve come up with…there is the notion that the choreographer has all the answers. The choreographer really guides this lab of exploration. Yes, with decisions and an eye for editing. What will make the piece work dynamically…shaping it so the audience knows where to look at what and where. The way we learn…what form of dance we learned…each kind of dance has its own hierarchy. In Ballet where you are confined to the studio, you don’t speak or talk to the Choreographer. There is give and take…but hardly any talking….in African dance, people show up late with babies, food and dressed in glorious colors. In Modern, you’re expected to have a brain. Dancers might be asked by the Choreographer to explore the color yellow in 64 shapes and come back in an hour.

If you asked a ballet dancer to do that, they would go nuts. Because they wouldn’t know how to think outside the box. When I turn to my dancers, they have a lot of interesting ideas if they are open to it.

Or I turn the piece inward and ask questions about the concept that we are working on. For example, for the piece about the transatlantic slave trade involving the passage from Africa, there is lots of information but a lot of that information was not written down. Of the human cargo who were shipped, over 100 million people died in that forced migration. And each year the numbers are growing. Gone is that hole in history. We put questions in that hole. We deal with the question. Is it going to work? in the body? and how is it going to work? It’s an interesting process. The piece is called the “Safety of Abstraction” I think a lot of our history is talked about abstractly.
because it’s too difficult to talk about by the teachers and for the students. There’s this uncomfortableness but history must be taught how it went down. I feel like we’re just scratching the surface of it:
How humans become cargo, dollars become numbers.
So many were thrown over board when nothing was wrong with them because the captains of the ships could collect insurance. To commit such inhumane acts of murder..because that’s what it really was..murder…something must have separated in their brain. That’s where we become volatile and emotional because people begin to think we can’t coexist and that one has to die in order for the other to exist.

LAF: If you were to give advice to someone wanting to be a dancer today what words of encouragement and/or warning would you offer them?
RHJ: If people want to dance, they shouldn’t do it on some reality TV show like “So you think you can dance.” Being a dancer, it’s like a priesthood. You must love the blood and sweat of it. If you take care of yourself and play your parts right, you’ll receive the reward on your level. Wanting to be a film star is fine…but I’m not chasing that. It’s not my arena. My place is in the studio and being pleased with the house and the process.

LAF:What’s up next?
RHJ: Trying to figure this new piece out..this experiment…trying to institute a new protocol of the way pieces are made. It’s a really quiet piece.

LAF: What about it works?
RHJ: The experimentation of it works. It’s not a match piece work. It’s a little thing I hope is interesting…This new system of creating work …like building a new philosophy of how to move through space…both frustrating and rewarding and personally I feel successful….a bunch of questions about experimentation have been answered.

LAF: Who would you say has influenced you most professionally?
RHJ: My Mom. My first memory of her was her leaping through the air in a huge grand Jete as the black cat in the play The Black Cat at Civic Auditiorium in San Francisco. There was a freedom dance at the end…the American flag billowing behind her…and her dancing through the air. She grabbed the American flag, and threw it on the ground and danced on it as an act of freedom. My mom was the most beautiful person to me in the entire world.
I haven’t always been successful living up to that beauty and grace and mercy…if there is such a thing as a person as Robert Henry Johnson.. if we go into that world.

LAF: You are also a playwright, yes?
RHJ: Yes, I was working on the Othello papers in July in an amazing workshop at SF Playwrights…so there is something there for me as a writer. It’s a monster of a piece which was commissioned by the Afro -American Shakespeare theatre. I’m working with them on setting a date for the show. I’m also working on getting a play reading series…sharing experimental literature written by African Americans…I’m tired of seeing the same images and want to speak differently in a language that may be unpopular but that is true to us. Things have opened up in San Francisco. It’s opened us. It’s key for us in terms of forward movement to institute the performance of our history. I’m drawn to the work of Suzan-Lori Parks and Toni Morrison and the rigorous, powerful and insightful work of Ishmael Reed, Laurie Carlos. John Pringle, Giovanni Johnson--Is anybody going to understand this besides me?--experimenting with form and history and the idea of the avant garde. This is the work I’m attracted to.

LAF: That’s all we have time for right now, Robert. Thanks so much. It has been inspiring talking with you and I look forward to seeing your work in the upcoming festival.
RHJ: Thank you!

Events and performances of the 2010 Black Choreographers Festival are February 12, 13 and 14 at Oakland's Malonga Casquelourd (1428 Alice Street); February 19 ,20 & 21 and 26, 27 & 28 at San Francisco's Dance Mission Theater (3316 24th Street). Friday and Saturday performances are at 8pm; Sundays at 7pm; Family Matinee, Sunday, February 14 at 4pm. Post-performance curtain talks take place after the Sunday evening show on February 21 and Friday evening show on February 26. Tickets are $15 general advance, $20 at door; $10 children 12-and-under and $5 tickets to Family Matinee. Tickets may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by phone for the following locations: Oakland's Malonga Casquelourd Center (888) 819-9106 / San Francisco's Dance Mission Box Office (415) 273-4633. For more information go online to www.bcfhereandnow.com

SWEET CAN! Affordable Holiday Entertainment to Keep Your Spirits Up

2009-12-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

YES, SWEET CAN REALLY CAN!

by Linda Ayres-Frederick

Something that will keep you warm and happy this holiday season is the new Sweet Can show directed by Wendy Parkman: Yes, Sweet Can which just opened their winter run at the Dance Mission Theater. This delightful quartet of attractive, athletically talented circus artists with resident composer/musician EO brings a sense of joy and enjoyment to their show that is positively infectious. After a musical intro, trumpet solo included, the program begins with the four performers staring out at the rain through a window pane--reacting in unison to the soundscape of lightening and thunder. Clad in bright red, orange, green and blue, they are soon reading the exasperating news and attempting to cheer each other up with as many tactics as they have in their varied circus vocabulary: acrobatics, tumbling, jumping, aerial silks (Kerri Kresinski), slack rope (Beth Clarke), flying broom (Matt White) and a super duper hula hooper (we’re talking at least ten hoops on Ms. Natasha Kaluza) not to mention all sorts of balancing acts.

With her winning smile, Ms. Clarke, SC’s co-founder, manages to make hot chocolate standing on one foot in a high heeled clog while cradling the cup on her other bent knee, pour the milk from the silver coffee pot she’s been holding on her head and still balance a cookie tin in her other hand and the cocoa tin on her shoulder. Talk about multi-tasking! Ms.Kresinski flies through the air on her aerial slik with astounding speed and agility. Throughout the show the performers travel toward expanded perspectives all propelled by the infectious musical concoctions of EO--a one-man orchestra. These sojourns reveal the magic in the mundane, which is accessible to everyone, by using the ordinary objects that make up their world. Their journey through a surreal storm where gravity is challenged, garbage cans dance, and an ordinary broom can take on the attributes of the most adored of lovers. Highly Recommended!

With zany pratfall humor reminiscent of the Ernie Kovacs and the Carol Burnett shows from years past, Yes, Sweet Can continues through Jan.3 at Dance Mission Theatre, 3316 24th St. at Mission, SF 94110. Show times vary. See website for full details. http://sweetcanproductions.com. 415.273-4633. Tickets $15- $20
1-800-838-3006 http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/90101.

TRAGEDY:a tragedy A Newspeak Nightmare on One Never Ending Note

2008-03-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

TRAGEDY: a tragedy
A Newspeak Nightmare
On One Never Ending Note
By Linda Ayres-Frederick

“Night has fallen!” and that is pretty much the end of the story, except that the newish kid on the block playwright Will Eno has managed to extend that thought for eighty (according to the program) interminably long and repetitive minutes in a play entitled TRAGEDY: a tragedy at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It’s one of those “Emperor’s new clothes” sorts of situations except with an SNL twist. Waiting in the anteroom of your dentist ‘s office where at least you can move about and read outdated magazines in anticipation of the insistent, invasive buzz-buzz of the drill might be preferable. TRAGEDY could even possibly be construed as a poorly constructed unsubstantial imitation derivative of Beckett (dare we honor the upstart by mentioning that genius’ name in the same breath!)

The set up is a TV newsroom where the seasoned news anchor Frank (David Cromwell) is sitting at his desk giving us the evening news report covering the events of the day. The BIG event is that “Night has fallen”…once and for all time…That’s it. The end of day as we know it…the end of the world…or is it they just haven’t gotten around to the morning yet to report if the sun has bothered to come up? Heaven forbid if we had to sit through another of Eno’s pieces in real time to find out. Surrounding the one interior newsroom location are three other newscasters in the field to corroborate the story in excruciatingly minute detail in vapid newspeak tones. The one female reporter Constance at the Home (Marguerite Stimpson) is in front of a house describing the lawn we don’t see with its cement ornament—a broken-eared rabbit. This easily recognized sexist designed role yammers on about the house that is not a home. The lights are out and no one seems to be inside. Where did they go?…yadda…yadda. We actually feel her pain over the emptiness or is it our sympathy for the actor caught in the excruciating bind of having to say these words? A second reporter John in the Field (Thomas Jay Ryan) talks about wishing his mother were there to comfort him but knows if she were there that he’d wish she’d go away. During their break for national news, he does Tai Chi. Later when he suffers an anxiety attack, Constance tries to calm him with words of comfort. Another mike wielding newsman named Michael, Legal Advisor (Max Gordon Moore) moves from one political location to another (Governor’s Mansion, White House, Capitol Steps, etc.) with no visible change to indicate the difference. Wow! Is Eno trying to make a big pointarooney? All our incompetent politicians have flown the coop. Gee whiz, don’t we wish! Michael, L.A. keeps reporting the frightening remarks of the leaders spewing their thoughts as they abandon their duty and the public they never served in the first place. The Governor, we are told, writes his own speeches. So?

Once you realize what the premise is, it just repeats with variations that run the gamut from “A to A”. It’s the media gone into a repetitive loop that we all witness every night on the evening news hour making news out of nothing because they just have to keep talking like programmed robots collecting their paychecks. WE GET IT! In the first five minutes….and like any one trick pony it trots downhill from there leaving unmentionables in our path. The real tragedy--if any--lies in the enormous waste of artistry. If it weren’t for the noble cast of five splendid actors—whose cumulative talent soars above the sewer level of the piece--this member of the media would have walked out way before the final blackout. Moments of humanity or rather moments pointing out the isolation of one newsperson from another arise when the anchor Frank thinks he’s having a heart attack and none of his colleagues are available to react. They are connected only via their electronic equipment which they occasionally turn off. Is this another theme we are being bludgeoned with? Particularly notable is the work of Danny Wolohan in the role of The Witness who with one or two glances upward and out into the darkness communicates more internalized emotional terror than all the spewed verbiage that fills the airwaves spoken by those behind him. His brilliantly executed final speech makes a silk purse out of the sow’s ear of thin material he is given to share. Wolohan embodies the guileless everyman who bears witness to the real tragedy of the loss of human and humane common sense.

In the interview with Eno in the program he is asked “If you weren’t working in the theatre, what would you be doing?” His glib reply “Drugs, probably” is most likely intended to be amusing but more telling is it of what state of mind he might wish one to be in to view his work. TRAGEDY is a show that might fare better endured while under the influence of illicit drugs but given the fine spring weather, a walk in the park would be a far better use of time. Although there were members of the audience (suspiciously plant like) who cackled in the first five minutes at every insipid remark possible, even their forced laughter could not be sustained for the duration. Simply stated this newspeak nightmare might make a great short skit on Saturday Night Live (and has probably already been done there with greater panache) but in its present condition TRAGEDY lacks the staying power for a tolerable evening of live theatre. Not recommended.

TRAGEDY: a tragedy continues Tuesdays through Sundays at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison Street @ Shattuck, Downtown Berkeley. $33-$69 with discounts.TIX and INFO 510.647.2949 or 888.4BRTTix – www.berkeleyrep.org