Sunday, August 16, 2009
A+E, In this Issue..., Theater
Center stage
The season’s top 10 productions
Christopher P. Kettrey
“Blood Knot"
The 2009 SPotlight Awards:
Center stage: The season’s top 10 productions
Best Lead Actor and Actress
Best Supporting Actor and Actress
Bert Osborne’s top 10 pet peeves
TOP 10 DIRECTORS
With his inventive "The Snow Queen" for Synchronicity, CLINT THORNTON has arrived. KATE WARNER left Dad’s Garage on a high note, between the lowbrow laughs of "The B-Team," the sharp satire of "Class" and the cool creepiness of "MoJo." At the Alliance, KENNY LEON staged a rich "Gem of the Ocean," and for his own True Colors a fine "Miss Evers’ Boys."
Three others get extra credit for adapting their own material. In addition to staging a refined "Titus Andronicus," Georgia Shakespeare artistic director RICHARD GARNER premiered an original musical version of Sophocles’ "Antigone." In his last show as artistic director for Theater Emory, TIM McDONOUGH reimagined a blessedly shorter take on Ibsen’s epic "Peer Gynt." At the Shakespeare Tavern, JOHN STEPHENS revived his funny update of Chaucer’s "The Canterbury Tales" (first produced several years ago for the late Theatre Gael).
Veritable veteran ANDREA FRYE guided a lovely "Blues for an Alabama Sky" at True Colors and the lively "A Cool Drink a Water" at Horizon, while relative unknown MARK SMITH nimbly balanced the dual monologues in Theatrical Outfit’s "Going With Jenny." MELISSA FOULGER and JESSICA PHELPS WEST distinguished lesser plays (Actor’s Express’ "Suddenly Last Summer" and Theatre in the Square’s "Tradin’ Paint," respectively) with atmosphere and flair.
ALSO WORTH NOTING...
Best local playwright: LAUREN GUNDERSON’s smart high-school comedy "Class" (at Dad’s Garage) let the audience vote to decide the outcome of an election for class president. Candidates Theroun Patterson and Alison Hastings shined, under the direction of Kate Warner.
Others might have more space or bigger budgets, but the sets of resident Stage Door Players scenic designer CHUCK WELCOME rarely failed to impress: "Don’t Dress For Dinner" (a British drawing room); "Spreading It Around" (a Florida condo); "Pippin" (the Middle Ages).
Give it up (again) to talented and prolific lighting designer JESSICA COALE—"End Days," "The Little Prince," "The Snow Queen," "Voir un Ami Pleurer," "Looking Over the President’s Shoulder," "1:23," and a half-dozen more, at least.
Costume designer CLINT HORNE deserves mention, primarily for his glamorous threads in Atlanta Lyric’s "The It Girl," "Smokey Joe’s Café" and "The Pirates of Penzance"—but also for his modest attire in the Renaissance Project’s "A Raisin in the Sun."
Although she worked on scores of other typically splashier shows, musical director ANN-CAROL PENCE’s finest hour of the season was Theatrical Outfit’s "Tent Meeting." Its quiet four-part harmony and simple piano accompaniment sang volumes.
ANTHONY OWEN, an actor and bit-player on the musical-theater scene, seems to have found his calling. According to the program, Onstage Atlanta’s "The Wild Party" marked his debut as an energetic and inventive choreographer.
Capitalizing on his triumphs in staging the Greek-inspired dramas "Metamorphoses" (2006) and "Eurydice" (2008), Georgia Shakespeare artistic director Richard Garner adapted Sophocles’ tragic "ANTIGONE" as a multicultural, modern-day musical (Kendall Simpson composed the songs and co-wrote the lyrics). The result occasionally felt like the first draft of a work in progress, but it was such an ambitious, even audacious undertaking—and so vividly atmospheric—who cared? Naima Carter Russell played the lead, though Chris Kayser’s Creon stole the show.
A triumvirate of prominent Atlanta artistic directors—Theatrical Outfit’s Tom Key, True Colors’ Kenny Leon and the Alliance’s Susan Booth—collaborated on an electrifying Outfit/Colors co-production of the South African apartheid drama "BLOOD KNOT." Key and Leon reprised their roles (as half-brothers) from a celebrated 1998 version of the play, this time under the superb direction of Booth. (Kudos, as well, to Leslie Taylor’s evocative set.) Like a master class in great acting and gripping storytelling, the show commanded our attention and held it tight.
Based on last year’s Top 10 show "The Last Schwartz" and this season’s splendid Horizon staging of "END DAYS," Deborah Zoe Laufer is a rising playwright worth tracking. Although the dysfunctional-family context of her plays isn’t overly original, their discussions about spiritual values and scientific theories are smart and sophisticated—this one’s cast of characters included Jesus and Stephen Hawking (both played by Adam Fristoe). Directed by Heidi Cline, the biggest highlight was a sensational performance from Nick Arapoglou as a lovestruck nerd and Elvis fan.
Masterfully directed by Kenny Leon, the Alliance’s sparkling "GEM OF THE OCEAN" marked a beginning and an end to August Wilson’s cycle of 10 plays chronicling the 20th-century black experience (one per decade)—the first in terms of its setting (1904), but one of the last he wrote. It’s a testament to the writing and directing that the lyrical drama stood on its own merits, regardless of how the story or characters connected to any of the other plays. New York actress Michele Shay and local dynamos Afemo Omilami and Donald Griffin distinguished Leon’s cast.
Another something by which to remember former Dad’s Garage artistic director Kate Warner (who has since left to run a theater in Boston), the seedy British crime thriller "MOJO" featured one of the season’s strongest ensembles: Ed Morgan, Matthew Myers, Doyle Reynolds, Brent Rose, Clint Sowell and Scott Warren as sundry thugs and nightclubbers embroiled in a deadly kidnapping scheme (or three). Between the rapid pace and their thick but convincing accents, you didn’t need to catch all the words to utterly believe the characters—or feel the unsettling tension.
The whole wasn’t exactly equal to the sum of its parts, but when the parts were being played by the inimitable likes of Shelly McCook, Don Finney and LaLa Cochran, Actor’s Express’ gay-centric comedy "THE NEW CENTURY" could hardly go too wrong. Their demanding individual monologues dominated the first act, before the play fell apart by contriving to cross their paths in the second. Director Alan Kilpatrick’s actors rocked nonetheless—particularly McCook. Who else is so versed as to have you laughing out loud one minute, then tug at your heart the next?
How nice it must be for the privately funded, academically oriented Theater Emory not to concern itself with the commercial appeal of its work—and how nice for serious audiences, too. Where else would we see the classic Ibsen drama "PEER GYNT"? Or, you may ask, why would we want to? In its original form, it’s some four hours of talking. But outgoing artistic director Tim McDonough condensed the play by half, split the title role between two actors (Hugh Adams as the adult, Greg Lockett as the youngster), and maintained a brisk and compelling momentum.
I’ve usually drawn the line at reviewing "family" or "children’s" theater, but director Clint Thornton’s mesmerizing Synchronicity production of "THE SNOW QUEEN" truly confounded my expectations. Incorporating a remarkable array of techniques—video projections (designed by Wes Parham), puppets (designed by Brittany Garmon), periodic musical interludes (music direction by Bryan Mercer, choreography by Celeste Miller)—the show may have been aimed at the kiddies, but it beautifully avoided pandering to adults.
In a remount of its original production from last season (which I missed), Theatre du Reve’s "VOIR UN AMI PLEURER" ("To See a Friend Crying") featured a dexterous ensemble of French-speaking Atlanta actors—Carolyn Cook, Ariel de Man, Chris Kayser, Joe Knezevich and artistic director Park Krausen—in a series of insightful vignettes about how Americans are perceived abroad. As sharply staged by French director Valery Warnotte, the show culminated in a closing scene (set to Jacques Brel’s title song) that was undeniably moving.
It always sounds like an underhanded compliment to preface any praise for Onstage Atlanta by mentioning its low-budget production values and occasionally inconsistent casts. Still, while other, larger companies this season were producing froth like "Damn Yankees," "The Sound of Music" and "Beauty and the Beast," there’s a lot to be said for artistic director Barbara Cole Uterhardt attempting at all the sordid Jazz Age musical "THE WILD PARTY." That the show succeeded so effectively was even better. Googie Uterhardt, Mary Nye Bennett and Marcie Millard led the cast. SP