Daily PlayLab readings are the foundation of the Great Plains Theatre Conference. Twenty PlayLabs are held throughout the Conference week with two staged readings running simultaneously. Playwrights receive feedback on their work from a panel of GPTC Guest Artists, as well as other local and national theatre artists and the general public.
THE LAKE AND THE MILL is one of the 20 plays chosen out of 800 submitted.
See the full list of plays here.
There is something wonderfully effortless about “The Last Wide Open,” which had its world premiere at the Playhouse in the Park Thursday evening.
That’s not a very compelling description, I know. But it’s a compliment. You see, Audrey Cefaly’s play defies all those laws of time and logic that we grew up with. It’s a play that should, by all rights, be utterly confusing. And, I suppose, if you’re one of those people who insists on grasping every last shred of reason out of a script, it still can be.
But why would you go to the theater and battle the playwright? This is the person you’ve asked to take you on a journey. Give in. Trust your playwright. Give yourself a chance to be enriched by the ride. And what an enchanting ride Cefaly and her cast – and director Blake Robison – take us on.
It all takes place in a small Italian restaurant called Frankie’s. There are just two characters; Lina and Roberto. He’s an Italian immigrant, while she is someone always wanting something she doesn’t have. That has the makings of a story. But Cefaly isn’t content with that. She’s leading us into an adventure.
“The Last Wide Open,” you see, is more than a love story. It is three variations on the same story. All three take place on the same day in the same place. What does that mean, exactly? Well, in the first section of the play, Roberto has spent five years as a dishwasher at Frankie’s. In the second, he’s still the same man, but he is a teacher who is helping out at his uncle’s restaurant – Frankie’s. In the third, he is a bus boy who has only just arrived in America. We meet three different faces of Lina, too; as an impatient, directionless server, a nurse and finally, a part-time server who is a week away from being married.
Confused? Probably, because this sounds much more complicated on paper than when it is played out in front of us. Cefaly has created characters who are, in many ways, just like the rest of us. Sure, there are actorly demands. But Lina and Roberto are people coping with anxiety, longing, uncertainty and the greatest burden of all, trying to find meaning in the humdrum of everyday life.
Is there sadness? Definitely. And apprehension and anger, too. And love? We hope there will be, because by the time we’re a few minutes into the play, we really like these characters. A lot. Kimberly Gilbert (Lina) is a bundle of . . . well, I was going to say “nerves.” That’s true. But there is so much more. Not only does she feel immobilized by the pressures of life, but she is also in a constant dither. Her greatest pride, it seems, is in the precision with which she mops the restaurant floor. And as Roberto, Marcus Kyd seems unflappable, no matter how muddled and chaotic the situation around him. Perhaps he has learned that, as a man with only a rough understanding of English, the safest way to proceed is to smile a lot. And nod occasionally. And be charming.
Oh – there is one more person on the stage, as well. Debra Hildebrand is the chief of the theater’s properties running crew. She’s the one in charge of making sure all that “stuff” on the stage is in the right place at the right time. Usually, the role would have her hidden backstage. But Cefaly wants everyone to be a part of the mix. So Hildebrand wanders in and out at significant moments, moving errant forks or handing the actors musical instruments – just being there when she’s needed. And she has a lovely presence, like a favorite aunt wafting in and out of the room.
There are a handful of songs, too. Written by Matthew M. Nielson, they’re not big musical numbers. They’re more like musical ruminations, except that they’re funnier and more clever than that description makes them sound.
“The Last Wide Open” is much harder to describe than it is to experience. Remember, it’s “effortless,” even in its unusual dramatic format. Should it be three separate plays? Played by separate actors? Who knows? That’s up to Cefaly. And the world she chooses to wrap us all up in is one that manages to be mystical and real. And charming. As I mentioned earlier, trust her. And trust her writing. And while you’re at it, trust her characters, too, no matter where they take us.
Read the full review from the Cincinnati.com here.
FEB. 13 – MARCH 10, 2019 SHELTERHOUSE THEATRE
Fate plays its hand in this romantic world premiere play that features original songs and live music. Lina, a young waitress, and Roberto, an Italian immigrant, have been working together for years but rarely talk. If they do, it’s from a distance or gets lost in translation. But when a late-night thunderstorm finds them alone in the restaurant at closing time, they find their lives intersecting in surprising and mystical ways. Over wine and conversation, they test the waters of happiness and intimacy. A love song in three movements, The Last Wide Open imagines how the universe conspires to bring us together.
See what is playing at the Cincinnati Playhouse here.
PROVIDENCE — It’s not your grandmother’s “Macbeth.” Rather, Trinity Rep’s production of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, now onstage through March 3, is a top-notch, new twist on the old “Macbeth,” and a production theater-lovers, Shakespeare fans and students will surely want to see. Trinity doesn’t disappoint when it comes to reinventing the classics, and with “Macbeth,” director Curt Columbus (Trinity’s artistic director) proves once again that a modernist approach can be a superlative, satisfying and meaningful one.
From the moment I saw Witch 2 (Stephen Berenson is one funny witch) nibbling on an unattached arm — dripping with blood — I knew we were in for a wild, bloody and exciting evening of theater. Berenson, stooped over, shuffling and wearing a woolly mop of gray dreadlocks draping down to his shoulders, plays one of the three prognosticating weird sisters, The Witches, who chant the famous and familiar “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble,” lines as they “Round about the cauldron go.”
Joining Berenson’s trio is Janice Duclos as Witch 1 and Jeanine Kane as Witch 3. The three, in their matching black garb and gnarly hair, are as hilarious as they are creepy. Just wait ‘til they start adding the eye of newt and toe of frog to the cauldron, which was actually a vintage white porcelain claw-footed bathtub (full of smoke and spooky people). Yes, there is humor infused in this otherwise horrifying tale of jealousy, ambition and murder. And dismemberment. And beheading. Yes, this is the play featuring “the best of the cutthroats.” Heads will roll.
Mauro Hantman tackles the role of Macbeth with an intense ferocity. He’s shaved his head for the part and is quite lean and trim. We first meet him as he pants away while jogging on a treadmill wearing a suit of armor. Speaking of suits, costume designer Andrew Jean has created some exquisite clothing for the cast. Of the many stellar costumes, there is one I can still see clearly in my mind’s eye: it’s when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (Julia Atwood gives a gripping performance) march around the stage with precision, he wearing a snow white suit and she a stunning, floor-length, blood-red, Grecian-style gown. Such a striking contrast. Atwood, whose eyes widened and spun ever more wildly with each passing scene, is a study in madness. Her sleepwalking, hand-washing scene (“Out, damned spot!”) was excellent. She is superb.
Guest artist Alexander Platt was also superb in the role of Macduff and delivered his lines with strength, clarity and veracity. Stephen Thorne, too, gave a good, solid performance as Banquo. Timothy Crowe is an excellent Duncan, and managed to add some levity while wearing his gangster-ish red velvet dinner jacket and white wig.
Fred Sullivan Jr., who plays Ross, was, as always, stately and engaging. Rachael Warren plays Captain and Lady Macduff.
Unfortunately, I had trouble understanding Aman Soni, who plays Duncan’s son, Malcolm, the newly crowned king of Scotland. And it was up to him to deliver the final lines of the play — about the “dead butcher and his fiend-like queen.”
The spare, open set, with its platforms, overhead balcony and drop-down net, works well, thanks to the talents of Michael McGarty, as does the unusual music — which ranges from disco to electronic to hip-hop. Viraj Gandhi, who plays Hecate and the DJ, sits in a DJ box off-stage but very visible and very much a part of the nightclub set.
Lighting design is by Oona Curley, sound design by Peter Sasha Hurowitz with magic design by Nate Dendy.
So, brush up on your Shakespeare, your history, and your current events and head to Trinity Rep for a “Macbeth” to remember, a “Macbeth” to discuss. “Macbeth” is a timely play, Columbus tells us in his notes, “particularly for our political moment.”
Read the full article here.
Artistic Director Kenny Leon and True Colors Theatre Company present Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew beginning this February. Part of Morisseau’s The Detroit Project trilogy, Skeleton Crew, is an insightful drama about the value of work to workers and what happens when their livelihoods are threatened by layoffs. Set in 2008’s Great Recession, Skeleton Crew tells the story of factory workers at the last auto stamping plant in Detroit and their uncertainty as rumors of their plant’s imminent closing stir. Jamil Jude True Colors’ Associate Artistic Director, returns to the director’s chair after a successful run of August Wilson’s King Hedley II last spring.
Read the full article from Broadway World here.
