Filmmaker John Sayles at IWU Next Week

Eight Men Out.

The Brother from Another Planet.

Return of the Secaucus Seven.

Matewan.

The Secret of Roan Inish.

Lone Star.

Honeydripper.

Passion Fish.

All great movies with terrific writing, compelling characters, a social conscience and real intelligence. That's John Sayles. He also wrote the screenplays to Piranha, The Howling and Alligator, movies with a lot more wit and spark than you'd expect from the titles.

Sayles is a native of Schenectady, New York, and a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which also boasts composer Stephen Sondheim, film director Elia Kazan, playwright A. R. Gurney and actor David Strathairn among its famous alumni. More on Strathairn in a minute, but Maggie Renzi, the woman who would become Sayles' frequent collaborator, producer and life partner, is a also a Williams College grad.

Since his college days, Sayles has managed to make movies while still maintaining his own ethos and setting his own path. His screenplays for Passion Fish and Lone Star were nominated for Academy Awards, and he received a so-called "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation. His first film, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, put him -- and to a certain extent, indie films in general -- on the map. Sayles has appeared as an actor in six of his own movies, while Renzi showed up in seven. David Strathairn was in six, as well, including memorable roles in Eight Men Out, Matewan, Secaucus Seven and Brother from Another Planet.

As part of a program from Illinois Wesleyan University's Center for Human Rights and Social Justice, the Chaplain’s Office, the Department of History and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Sayles and Renzi will be visiting Bloomington-Normal next week to discuss their work and screen a 2010 film called Amigo.

This week, as a ramp-up to the official visit, IWU has put up a mini-film festival, with Lone Star last night, Matewan at 7 pm tonight and Casa de los babys at 4 pm on March 19 in Ames Library's Beckman Auditorium. Those three films illustrate Sayles' range as well as his commitment to social issues, with Lone Star delving into racism and murder in a small town in Texas, Matewan looking at a 1920 miner's strike in West Virginia, and Casa de los babys centering on American women hoping to adopt Latin American babies.

Amigo -- Sayles' look at the Philipine-American war of 1900 -- will be on screen March 26 at 7 pm in the Hansen Student Center, with Sayles and Renzi on hand after the film to take questions. The film features Chris Cooper as a tough American military man and Filipino star Joel Torre as the mayor of a small town caught in the crossfire.

Showcasing the fact that he is a master of more than one trade, Sayles will also read from his most recent novel, A Moment in the Sun, at 4 pm on March 25 in Beckman Auditorium. A New York Times Notable Book of 2011, A Moment in the Sun picks up its action in 1897, during the Alaska gold rush. It "takes the reader into the Spanish-American War, the Filipino fight for independence, racial injustice and the plight of working people in the U.S.," according to IWU's press release.

You can see the common thread in all these disparate works -- injustice, the struggles of the common man (or woman) and how easy it is to get crushed when corruption, greed, bigotry and wealth come calling. And that is a story that always needs to be told.

ISU and IWU Stars Battle on the Big Screen for Friday the 13th Box Office Honors

As it happens, new movies open this weekend starring two actors who got their starts at Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. When ISU and IWU go head to head at the box office, will ISU's Sean Hayes and his comic hijinks in "The Three Stooges" prevail over IWU's Richard Jenkins and the fright fest that is "The Cabin in the Woods"?

Sean Hayes, the Emmy and SAG Award winner (for "Will and Grace") who was a music performance major at ISU, plays frizzy-haired Larry, probably the least violent of the Stooges. Against all odds, the movie is pulling in good notices, with reviewers calling it a "thoroughly enjoyable paean to Moe, Larry and Curly and the art of the eye poke" as well as "an enchantingly well-done tribute."

Hayes, who appears at right at the bottom of the stack of Stooges, was cited by EW for doing "wonders with Larry's lost-puppy stare and syrupy voice" and by USA Today for perfectly capturing "the elastic sour face of bushy-haired Larry."

Richard Jenkins is probably best-known for playing the ghost dad on HBO's "Six Feet Under," even though he took home an Oscar nomination for 2008's "The Visitor" and received a special "You had a great year" award from the San Diego Film Critics Association for 2008, when he appeared in "Burn After Reading," "The Tale of Despereaux," "Step Brothers," and the afore-mentioned "The Visitor." He works frequently with the Farrelly brothers, the directors behind "The Three Stooges."

"The Cabin in the Woods," Jenkins' new release, was actually filmed in 2009 and then shelved until now because of studio MGM's financial woes. It has been receiving fabulous reviews, with Peter Hartlaub calling it "a film that defiantly follows its own muse -- and that muse is a zombie carrying a bear trap on the edge of a chain" in the San Francisco Chronicle. NPR critic Ian Buckwalter says, "Goddard and Whedon have created a wonderful puzzle of a film that is loving in its appreciation of good horror, even as it takes the genre (and its blood-lusty audience) to task for the unimaginative banality that has been too typical of recent scary movies."

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum singles Jenkins out for praise, noting "his outstanding ability to make a fully formed character out of even the most minimal of building materials."

Both "The Three Stooges" and "The Cabin in the Woods" are playing locally at Carmike Palace Cinema 10, Starplex Normal Stadium 14, and Wehrenberg Bloomington Galaxy 14 Cinema.

Note: ISU's Pete Guither has pointed out that another ISU alum -- the amazing Jane Lynch -- is also in "The Three Stooges." Maybe it's the one-two-punch that put the Stooges over the top, as "The Three Stooges" edged out "The Cabin in the Woods" for second place this weekend, with "The Hunger Games" hanging on to first place overall. Box Office Mojo shows "The Three Stooges" took in $17.1 million in its first weekend, with "The Cabin in the Woods" right behind at $14.85 million.

"Promenade" Sprints Through IWU

If you attended anything theatrical in the 70s, whether high school, college or professional, you were likely to run across something absurd, something avant-garde, something existentialist or open or experimental or guerilla. My junior high dipped into Eugène Ionesco. My high school regularly put on Jean-Claude van Itallie. There was Beckett and Pirandello and Pinter at every turn.

María Irene Fornés, the Cuban-American playwright behind "Fefu and her Friends" as well as the book and lyrics of "Promenade," the musical currently on stage at IWU's McPherson Theatre, is part of that same tradition, although "tradition" is probably the wrong word to use for a kind of theater whose primary focus was upending it. Fornés is associated with the Off-Off-Broadway movement, with an exploration and deconstruction of society and culture and what we used to call "the Establishment." I've seen varying numbers of Obie Awards associated with Fornés, although nine seems to be the most popular choice, but it's still clear that she has had her finger on the pulse of the theatrical world Off- and Off-Off Broadway for quite some time.

"Promenade," which was created in 1965, is part of the brighter, lighter, earlier part of the Fornés ouevre, and the Al Carmines score reflects that. His music is peppy and lively, even when the Fornés lyrics attached are about getting kicked in the head.

And there's a reason there are lyrics about getting kicked in the head. The two main characters in "Promenade" are sort of everymen, schlubs, Regular Old Guys, who happen to have numbers instead of names because they begin the play in a prison cell. Numbers 105 and 106, played and sung very nicely by Will Henke and Isaac Sherman for Illinois Wesleyan, tunnel their way out of jail, initially landing themselves in the midst of a posh society party. At the party, we see a coterie of rich fatheads playing an endless game of Change Partners, a lady pop out of a cake, a saucy maid who has an eye for jewelry, and an interruption from the jailer (Peter J. Studlo as a combination Inspector Clouseau/Station Inspector from "Hugo") who is on the trail of the escaped prisoners. There's a detour into a battlefield, a celebration of Spring, and another party with an Alice in Wonderland flourish. And that's what constitutes a "Promenade."

There isn't any particular rhyme or reason to where they go or what happens to be happening, but it's all performed with good humor and commitment from the ensemble here. IWU Associate Professor Jean MacFarland Kerr directs "Promenade" at McPherson, so it stands to reason that the choreography and staging would stand out. And they do. The dance moves are sharp and smart, and they create a sense of movement that helps the play stay entertaining and fun, instead of just inexplicable. I especially liked the prison break, the exchange of jackets, and the Maypole sequences, in terms of staging, and the general pace and tone of the piece.

Also on the production side, Bernadette Brennan's scenic design is handsome and effective, sort of industrial chic, with layers and levels and a nifty plastic kiddie slide, and Marcia K. McDonald's costume design is fun and bouncy, with lots of entertaining details in terms of boots and wigs and furbelows.

The ensemble as a whole is quite strong and quite tuneful, thanks to Musical Director Saundra DeAthos-Meers, who also conducts a lively orchestra. The Alphabet People (Misses I, O and U and Misters R, S and T, played by Jenna Haimes, Laura Martino, Abigail Root, Joseph Chu, Josh Levinson and Ben Mulgrew) play it big and as absurd as they can be, functioning nicely as a reminder that the rich are stupid and silly, plus they sound good when they sing and look good in their formal wear and déshabillé. I also enjoyed Caitlin Borek, very snappy and sardonic as the maid; Roz Prickel as Miss Cake, who adds good energy as the girl who jumps out of the cake; Rachel C. Grimes, another excellent singer who plays Mother, running around looking for her missing children; Marek Zurkowski and Zach Mahler as various characters, but best as a pair of soldiers who aren't sure why they're at war; and Michael Holding as a buffoon of a politician who keeps threatening to send people to jail.

I'm not sure what it all amounts to, to be honest, since Fornés seems quite content to let it unfold every which way and not mean anything at all. Kudos to Jean MacFarland Kerr for keeping the show's sense of humor at the forefront, and to her cast for jumping in and performing the heck out of Fornés' words and Carmines' music.

PROMENADE
Book and lyrics by María Irene Fornés and music by Al Carmines.

McPherson Theatre
Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts

Director: Jean MacFarland Kerr
Set Designer: Bernadette Brennan
Lighting Designer: Stephen Sakowski
Sound Designer: Ian Scarlato
Costume Designer: Marcia K. McDonald
Associate Costume Designer: Zach Wagner
Music Director/Conductor: Saundra DeAthos-Meers
Assistant Conductor: Blake Brauer
Choreographer: Jean MacFarland Kerr

Cast: Will Henke, Isaac Sherman, Caitlin Borek, Peter J. Studlo, Rachel C. Grimes, Michael Holding, Roz Prickel, Jenna Haimes, Laura Martino, Abigail Root, Joseph Chu, Josh Levinson, Ben Mulgrew, Marek Zurkowski, Zach Mailer.

Remaining Performances: April 4, 5 and 6 at 8 pm and April 7 at 2 pm.

Running Time: 2 hours, including one 10-minute intermission

For ticket information, contact the box office at 309-556-3232 or visit www.iwu.edu/theatre.

With April Upon Us...

I am a day late in setting up your theatrical options in April, but at least this way you know I'm not making it up. Everything here is really scheduled to happen on area stages and screens in April. Put on your roller skates. It's going to be a busy month!

First up, tomorrow night we've got "Promenade," the absurdist musical about two prisoners (played by IWU students Will Henke and Isaac Sherman) escaping into a world that seems crazier than the one they left, at Illinois Wesleyan's McPherson Theatre. "Promenade," with music and lyrics by Cuban-American avant garde artist María Irene Fornés and book by Al Carmines, is directed by Jean Kerr, associate professor and choreographer at Illinois Wesleyan. If you want to see "Promenade," you'll need to get to McPherson Theatre this week, as the final performance is Saturday the 7th at 2 pm.

"Picnic" continues at Illinois State University's CW 207 through April 7,  with "La Bohème" in the Center for the Performing Arts, also through the 7th. "Picnic," directed by Lori Adams, has been selling out (it's in a small venue) so you are well-advised to make reservations if you can. And Connie de Veer's take on "La Bohème" is not to be missed, either, even though the CPA allows a little more breathing room when it comes to available seats. Just in case you still don't have your fill of ISU Theatre, Shakespeare's timeless political drama "Julius Caesar," directed by Christopher Dea, opens on the 5th, with performances until the 14th. See "Picnic," "La Bohème" or "Julius Caesar" now; do your taxes later.

The Art Theater in Champaign is showing lots of amazing things this month, including a restored print of Georges Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon," which was showcased in last year's "Hugo," at 7:30 pm on April 4. The Art is also offering "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," Werner Herzog's documentary about the drawings inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, "capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting." This cave painting documentary comes to the Art on April 7 at 5 pm and April 8 at noon. On Sunday, April 15, look out for the filmed version of Oliver Goldsmith's comic romp "She Stoops to Conquer" from Britain's National Theatre Live program. I'm guessing that will also be a noon show, as their other National Theatre Live programs have been.

Here in Normal, the Normal Theater continues to highlight Oscar-nominated (and winning) films, with boffo Best Picture winner "The Artist" back on screen from April 5 to 8. All shows are at 7 pm. That's followed by "Albert Nobbs," the cross-dressing Glenn Close pic about a woman in Ireland in the mid-19th century who remakes herself as a man in order to find work in an uncertain world. "Albert Nobbs" runs April 12 to 15. The Tilda Swinton showcase "We Need to Talk About Kevin," a searing examination of parenthood and children who go wrong, is up next from April 19 to 22.

Heartland Theatre opens its production of Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" on April 12 with a special Pay-What-You-Can preview, with performances continuing through April 29. This "sharp little bite of Uptown life" is set in Chicago, and it involves the owner of a faded doughnut shop and the eccentric little family he's created for himself, including the Russian down the street, a couple of cops, and a homeless woman who isn't all there. Arthur Przybyszewski (pronounced more like Shubershevski) and his Superior Donuts have settled into a world-weary rut, but then new employee Franco Wicks comes along, bringing a spark of life and the hard reality of the outside world into Arthur's doughnut shop. Michael Pullin stars as Arthur, with Gregory Hicks as his new pal Franco. "Superior Donuts" is directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson.

Also opening on the 12th over in Urbana is the Station Theatre's production of John Logan's "Red," about painter Mark Rothko and his tortured relationship with art and artistic integrity. Will he paint a mural commissioned for New York's posh Four Seasons restaurant, with its huge commission and murky ethical waters? Or will he try to keep his art above the petty demands of financial gain? Celebration Company Artistic Director Rick Orr directs Gary Ambler as Rothko and Jesse Angelo as his assistant in the two-hander that won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play.

On Saturday, April 14, the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts offers "Say Goodnight, Gracie," a one-man show featuring Alan Safier as George Burns, telling stories about his long life and his lifelong love for his comedy partner and wife, Gracie Allen.

"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," a musical stage adaptation of Judith Viorst’s award-winning children’s book, comes to Eureka College Theatre April 17 to 21. All performances are scheduled for 7:30 pm in Pritchard Theatre on the Eureka College campus. "Alexander" is directed by EC Theatre Professor Holly Rocke, someone you may've seen acting on area stages. (She's very good.) Her direction is also excellent as a matter of course and should create interest in the show whether you have children or not.

David Sedaris, billed as a "best-selling author, humorist and contributor to This American Life," brings his wry and entertaining musings to the Peoria Civic Center on Friday, April 20, celebrating the release of his newest book, "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary." The book, which was released in September 2010, contains "acerbic, outrageously funny fables, featuring animals with unmistakably human failings." This "Evening with David Sedaris" is a one-night only event, and tickets are available at the Peoria Civic Center box office, online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000. Travelzoo is also offering a discount on tickets if you don't have yours yet.

I have no particular information on anything happening to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday, usually attributed to April 23, but maybe we can rustle up a cake with 448 candles. I myself will be going to Chicago to see Simon Callow's one-man Shakespeare show, not on the 23rd, but close. Another option would be to take that day to order your subscription or single tickets to this summer's Illinois Shakespeare Festival, which will be offering "Othello" and "Comedy of Errors" from Shakespeare and Sheridan's "The Rivals," as well.

And that is most of April. I'm sure I will be adding things as the month progresses, so stay tuned.

IWU's "Playground Creatures" Examines the Gilded Cage

Add April de Angelis's name to the list of female playwrights currently getting productions in this area, with Illinois Wesleyan's production of de Angelis's "Playhouse Creatures" showing exactly why it's important to highlight women's work.

"Playhouse Creatures" deals with a topic that every actress ought to find fascinating. The play is set in the 1660s, after Charles II had been restored to the throne of England, after he'd reopened the theaters the Puritans had shut down, and after he'd made it legal for theatrical companies to employ women on the stage. No more boys playing girls' roles! No more male Juliets and Lady Macbeths hiding under wigs and rouge!

For girls like Nell Gwyn, born into a life where selling oysters on the street or hawking oranges in the theater stalls was the best she could hope for, life upon the wicked stage was a definite step up. Using her beauty, wit and charm, Gwyn parlayed herself into a career as England's most celebrated comic actress of the Restoration period, a side life as the King's mistress, and a pension, a house and a title for her son (who was also the King's son). She also died at 37, probably from complications from syphilis.

In "Playhouse Creatures," de Angelis's fictionalized versions of Nell and her colleagues Elizabeth Farley, Mary Betterton and Beck Marshall all come up hard against the dark side of their progress. Their career gives them money and prestige, at least for a while, but they're still dancing to other people's tunes, still at the mercy of their powerful lovers' desires, the whims of the theater company owner, and the vicissitudes of age and illness and bad luck.

It's not just women in theater we're seeing here, it's women in general, in what you might call a No Win Situation. Just as in the play, women may be told the only way to get ahead is to use their looks and sexuality. But if they do, they're whores. If they don't, they're uptight, humorless whores. If they use contraceptives, they're double whores. And if they get pregnant... Triple whores!

De Angelis's non-linear, somewhat floaty script creates indelible characters and a compelling situation, as well as a bit of humor in the early going. Director Christopher Connelly and his cast do an excellent job filling out the characters, aided by Aaron O'Neill's wide, theatrical scenic design, and a beautiful (if asphyxiating, at least in terms of the corsets) array of lingerie and gowns from costume designers Celeste V. Kelley and Mariah Williamson.

Among the cast, Annie Simpson stands out as the very picture of youthful exuberance and optimism as a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked Nell Gwyn, with Allison Sutton also quite wonderful as Mrs. Betterton, showing all the affectations of an older diva who has figured out how to cock her head like a clock to demonstrate different emotions.

Lizzie Rainville takes on the challenges of ill-fated Elizabeth Farley's ups and downs with good skill, while Laura Williams looks lovely and gives spirit to Beck Marshall, laid low because she tries to retaliate against a villainous suitor. Abigail Dryden is stone-cold and scary as a Janie-Come-Lately in their theatrical world.

As Doll, Kirsten Andersen gets the unenviable role of being the old lady who cleans up after everybody else, as well as a sort of narrator, but she goes for it, shining especially on her speech late in the play where she talks about the bears who used to be tortured to make them dance in this very place.

There are only two men on stage in a turnabout of sorts, with Antonio Gracias and Ian Scarlato doing a) hapless and b) nasty quite nicely.

The only downside to this production of "Playhouse Creatures" is that there are only three total performances, and opening night was sold out, with a Standing Room Only crowd. If you can get in, you really ought to try.

PLAYHOUSE CREATURES
By April de Angelis

E. Melba Johnson Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre
Illinois Wesleyan University

Director: Christopher Connelly
Scenic Designer: Aaron O'Neill
Costume Designers: Celeste V. Kelley and Mariah Williamson
Lighting Designer: Leigh Huff
Sound Designer: Christopher Connelly

Cast: Kirsten Andersen, Abigail Dryden, Antonio Gracias, Lizzie Rainville, Ian Scarlato, Annie Simpson, Allison Sutton, Laura Williams.

Running time: 2 hours, including one 10-minute intermission

Remaining performances: March 7 and 8 at 8 pm

For reservation information, click here.

A Sweet Send-Off in IWU's Senior Soiree

The seniors in Illinois Wesleyan's School of Theatre Arts are starting a new tradition, a "Senior Soiree" staged in Chicago to introduce themselves to directors, artistic directors, managing directors and casting directors as well as IWU alumni who are now living and working in the city.

The 2012 Senior Soiree will take place at TimeLine Theatre on Chicago's North Side on Monday evening, February 27th, with a wine and cheese reception from 6:30 to 7 pm, including "a gallery showcase of work by student stage designers, directors, stage managers, and teaching artists." After that, IWU's seniors graduating in Theater and Music Theater will perform songs and scenes to showcase their  skills, with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and conversation to follow.

As a dress rehearsal for their TimeLine gig, IWU's senior class performers and designers took their show to the First Presbyterian Church in Normal last night, with parents, faculty and guests in the audience.

First up, we met lighting designer Krystal Martinez, scenic and lighting designer Tristan Meredith, scenic designer Aaron O'Neill, sound designer Antonio Gracias, stage manager Mary K. Holm, director Megan Francomb, and teaching artist Sameehan Patel (who also happens to be a pre-med student), as they displayed photos, models and in Gracias's case, audio of their work, and chatted with visitors about what they'd achieved so far and where they hoped to be after they graduate.

Playwrights Kamaya Thompson, whose work has been performed by New Route Theatre in Bloomington, and Smith Elder, wrote pieces performed by actors as part of the showcase.

The performances consisted of selections from songs, monologues and plays, with actors dipping into a collection of pieces called "Open Road Anthology" that was first performed at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, several times. There was a nice mix of the familiar ("Hamlet") and the unfamiliar (original work by Thompson and Elder), the old (Cole Porter) and the new (songs from the brand-new "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Newsies" musicals), as the performers moved quickly from one piece to the next

The full company opened with a bouncy "Live Out Loud" from Andrew Lippa's and Ben Crawley's musical version of "A Little Princess," moving on to Chase Miller singing a heartfelt "If the World Looked Like You," from the musical "Just Ahead." After Abigail Root did a slice of Rollin James's "Ron Bobby Had Too Big a Heart," the first piece from the "Open Road" collection, all of the men performed "Man" from "The Full Monty," the fun (and funny) attempt to maintain masculinity in the face of adversity.

Actors Michael Holding and Amanda Williams took on the sibling rivalry in Kamaya Thompson's "Schooled," with Rosalind Prickel performing an adorable ode to candy bar lust called "Oh, Henry!" from the musical "Homemade Fusion," by Michael Koorman and Christopher Dimond, Blake Brauer taking on Laertes' instructions to Ophelia, Caitlin Borek doing the crazy high (and crazy hard) aria "Glitter and Be Gay," the Leonard Bernstein/Richard Wilbur showstopper from "Candide," and Josh Conrad singing "Till I Hear You Sing," a lush bit from Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to "Phantom of the Opera."

Root, Brauer and Miller came back to sing and dance their way through "Tom, Dick or Harry," which you may know as an Ann Miller number in the film version of "Kiss Me Kate," with Bob Fosse as one of her dancing companions. No Bob Fosse here, but Root, Brauer, Miller and Peter Studlo, performing tricky choreography by Jean MacFarland Kerr that kept them neatly inside the small in-the-round staging area, while still leaping, lifting and getting all sassy.

Sammi Grant performed part of the "Dunkin America" scene from the Open Road Anthology, accompanied by Laura Williams, Rosalind Prickel and Laura Martino singing the lovely "Meadowlark," a Stephen Schwartz song from "The Baker's Wife."

And then we saw Allison Sutton with a Kia Corthron piece of "Open Road" as if she were on the subway, followed by singers Ian Coulter-Buford and Root on "Go Back Home," a soaring Kander & Ebb song from the recent "Scottsboro Boys." The show itself wasn't universally loved, but Coulter-Buford, especially, made the music sound wonderful.

Holding and Studlo came back for a war-themed scene from John Olive's "Minnesota Moon" that segued into Stephen Sondheim's "Sorry-Grateful," the song where a set of husbands ponder the conflicted nature of marriage, as sung by Studlo, Brauer and Conrad.

The ladies in the group took center stage after that, with a hilarious and rousing rendition of "All Girl Band," an anthem from a fun feminist show from the early 80s called "A... My Name Is Alice."

John Patrick Shanley's "Italian-American Reconciliation," always popular material for actors to use for monologues and duets, provided a nice platform for Holding to shine, with Laura Williams turning it back on Holding by asking him the musical question "How 'Bout a Dance?" from Frank Wildhorn's  new Broadway version of "Bonnie & Clyde." Video of that last dance has been uploaded to Youtube if you'd like a look.

After Kirsten Anderson performed another piece of "Open Road," Coulter-Buford, Borek and Martino emerged in all black with bowler hats, a tip-off we were headed into Bob Fosse territory. Kerr was the choreographer again, as Coulter-Buford led the trio in a slink, Fosse-inspired performance of "Bye Bye Blackbird," a 1926 which first appeared staged this way in Liza Minnelli's "Liza with a Z" TV special, but also showed up in the Broadway revue "Fosse."

Smith Elder's fresh and amusing "Annunciation," wherein an angel, played by Sammi Grant, appears to three women (Anderson, Sutton and Amanda Williams) to tell them one will be giving birth to a new Jesus, was the last dramatic piece of the evening, with a finale combining "Go the Distance" from Disney's "Hercules" with "Seize the Day" from the 1992 film "Newsies," which has been turned into a full musical (with the Disney label, as well) that will open on Broadway on March 15. IWU alum Evan Kasprzak is in the cast of "Newsies" on Broadway, which provides a nice note of inspiration for the graduating seniors.

Thanks, IWU and your senior School of Theatre Arts students, for offering this sneak peek to locals!

Translating "Tartuffe" at IWU

Molière's "Tartuffe" is a tough assignment for college theater. It's not just that it's farce. Or that it's French farce. Or that it's French farce from the 17th century. Or that it's French farce from the 17th century written in rhyming couples.

Okay, maybe it is the rhyming couplet thing.

Most translations of "Tartuffe" keep the couplets, including the one by Richard Wilbur, which is considered to be high on the list of top translations of Molière's work. But those couplets... Actors have a tendency to fall into a singsong rhythm, to sink into the rhymes, losing the sense of their lines. But without the rhymes, it doesn't feel like the complete Molière experience. And that's what makes it so tough to pull off.

What's it all about? As you might expect, it's about a man named Tartuffe, a greedy hypocrite pretending to lead others on the path to virtue while feathering his own nest at every opportunity. A wealthy man named Orgon is now buying whatever Tartuffe is selling, hook, line and sinker; he is so thoroughly smitten that he is willing to put Tartuffe before his lovely wife, Elmire, his children, and any semblance of good sense, no matter how much his family and his servants, including saucy maid Dorine, protest. Even though Tartuffe doesn't really hit the stage until almost an hour in, he is still the center of attention, as foolish Orgon refuses to see what a dupe he has become.

Illinois Wesleyan's current production of "Tartuffe," directed by Nancy Loitz, looks very good. Curtis Trout's elegant set is simple and smart, using pillars and a chair or two instead of the overdone Frenchified drawing rooms with ten or twelve doors and a million knickknacks you normally see when Molière is in play. Marcia K. McDonald's costume design is also smart, sticking to the period and identifying characters through color (Elmire sizzles in an orangey pink, while ingenue Mariane gets pale yellow) and level of frippery. I was a little surprised to see Tartuffe himself, the fake pinnacle of piety, not decked out in all black like the Puritan he pretends to be (or the one you see in IWU's poster shown below).

As played by Chase Miller, this Tartuffe looks pale and waifish, with long, lank hair and a pronounced limp. He's been described as red and round and rosy, but he is decidedly not. Miller gives his all to the role, but he looks more like the Aqualung cover than a 17th century religious leader.

Still, the audience on opening night was very appreciative of the comedy stylings of the entire cast, with Miller's Tartuffe, Amy Stockhaus's Dorine, Rosalie Alspach's Mariane, Kate Fitzgerald's Elmire, and Josh Conrad's Orgon earning an especially enthusiastic response.

TARTUFFE
A play by Molière
Translation by Richard Wilbur

McPherson Theatre
Illinois Wesleyan University

Director: Nancy B. Loitz
Scenic Designer: Curtis C. Trout
Costume Designer: Marcia K. McDonald
Lighting Designer: Krystal Martinez
Sound Designer: Kamaya Thompson
Stage Manager: Raven Stubbs
Dramaturg: James Matthews

Cast: Allyce Torres, Josh Conrad, Kate Fitzgerald, Blake Bauer, Rosalie Alspach, Zach Wagner, Ian Coulter-Buford, Chase Miller, Amy Stockhaus, Elliot Plowman, Josh Levinson, Casey Cudmore.

Performances through February 19, 2012. Click here for box office information.

Very Warm for February

Yes, February is here, whether we like it or not. It's certainly coming in as a nicer February than last year, when we were in the midst of the Snowpocalypse. I'll take Very Warm for February, thanks.

First up in February: The Black Actors Guild at ISU presents "Purlie Victorious," also known as "Gone Are the Days!" with screenings in Milner Library Room 164D on February 1 and 6 at 7 pm. This 1963 movie, with a screenplay by Ossie Davis adapted from his stage play, stars Davis himself as Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson, who returns to the Southern plantation where he grew up, with his fiancee (played by Ruby Dee, Davis's real-life wife) in tow, hoping to build a church and by hook or by crook pry an inheritance out of a bigoted plantation owner (Sorrell Booke, known from "The Dukes of Hazzard") and his more progressive son (Alan Alda, in his first film role).

The Sondheim/Furth musical "Company" opens the month for the Station Theatre, bringing bachelor Bobby and his search for emotional connection back to Urbana from February 2 to 18. Featuring the soaring"Being Alive" as well as the comedy showstopper "Getting Married Today," "Company" is a very entertaining, thought-provoking show. Are friends enough, or does everybody need a partner? Is anybody better off alone? How do you get beyond being "Sorry/Grateful"? Karma Ibsen-Riley directs "Company" for the Station, with Debra Dobbs as Musical Director.

"The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" also opens February 2, in the Studio Theatre inside the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana. It's a courtroom drama set somewhere in Purgatory, with Judas and his lawyer petitioning for mercy and a ride out of Hell. Read more about this Stephen Adly Guirgis play and the U of I Department of Theatre production here.

"Tartuffe," the Moliere classic that punctures pomposity and religious hypocrisy, will take the stage at Illinois Wesleyan's McPherson Theatre February 14 to 18 at 8 pm and February 19 at 2 pm. Professor of Theatre Arts Nancy Loitz directs "Tartuffe" for IWU. It's a popular choice for college theaters (I think I saw one at ISU just a few years ago, and one at U of I a few years before that) but always good for a laugh, too. Who doesn't like to see a phony baloney religious leader, who pretends to be a paragon of spiritual virtues while he's really filled with lust and greed, brought down? To see that, you can either watch the news or go see "Tartuffe" at IWU.

Heartland Theatre gears up for 2012 with Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius," which Rebeck has described as a play about, ""Betrayal and treason and poor behavior. A lot of poor behavior.” This little drama involves stamps from the island nation of Mauritius that were printed wrong in 1847. Because of the mistake, the stamps are incredibly valuable, and they may just have shown up in a stamp album left to two sisters when their mother passed away. Which sister really owns the album and the Mauritius stamps? Which of the three men -- a stamp store owner, a wheeler dealer and a greedy collector -- who desperately want the stamps will prevail in the game of cat-and-mouse they all begin to take control? "Mauritius" is directed by Sandi Zielinski and stars Sarah Stone Innerst, Andrew Head, Michael Pullin, Nancy Sultan and Kevin Paul Wickart in the Heartland Theatre production, which opens February 16 and runs through March 4.

Sarah Ruhl has been a hot playwright for a while now, and she's only getting hotter. "Passion Play," a sweeping and yet intimate play about three different incarnations of the traditional Passion Play, one in medieval England, one in Oberammergau, Germany, with Hitler in power, and the last in South Dakota during the Reagan years, comes to ISU's Center for the Performing Arts February 17-25, with a cast that includes Owais Ahmed, Matt Bausone, Caitlin Boho, David Fisch, Frank Huber, Ashlyn Hughes, Keith Jackewicz, Clayton Joyner, Carlos Kmet, Jeff Kurysz and Brody Murray. Click here for my previous piece which includes a more detailed description of the play, or here for ticket information about ISU's production.

If you're trying to catch up with Oscar-nominated movies before February 26, when the Academy Awards show airs on ABC, you have quite a few options. Yes, some of the films have already left theaters, but Comcast On Demand is offering quite a few of them ("Beginners," "Bridesmaids," "The Help," "The Ides of March," "Midnight in Paris, "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life," and "Warrior," at the time I checked.) Otherwise, "Hugo" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" are playing at the Starplex Normal Stadium," "The Descendants" is still showing in three first-run movie theaters in B-N, "War Horse," "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "The Artist" are at the Wehrenberg Bloomington Galaxy, and "The Artist" is also on screen at the Art Theater over in Champaign. If you want to see "The Artist" in an older theater that dovetails nicely with the plot of the movie, the Art is your best shot. And if you want to see "Hugo" in an older movie theater that dovetails nicely with the plot, our very own Normal Theater can make your dreams come true. "Hugo" will air on the Normal Theater's wonderful big screen February 23-26.

The Normal Theater is also showcasing Oscar's favorite short films from 2011, with programs of the nominated Documentary Shorts February 14 and 15, Live Action Shorts February 16 and 17, and Animated Shorts on the 18th and 19th. I've seen one of the Animated Shorts, and that one alone was so lovely I think I'm going to have to go see the whole bunch. The one I saw was called "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," created by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg. If you'd like to know what's nominated in those categories (as well as all the others), you may click here.

And on the local front, the Vale Community Players at Vale Community Church in Bloomington will present "Seasons of Love" February 23 and 24. I don't have a whole lot of info about this production, but it popped up as a Facebook page, so I know they're out there somewhere.