Heartland Dedicates 2012-13 Season to Michael Pullin

Heartland Theatre Company has announced that it is dedicating its 2012-13 season to Michael Pullin, the resident scenic designer, actor and colleague who passed away August 7th.

The notice you see above will appear in all of the programs for Heartland shows this season, as well as on the Season page of the Heartland website.

Pullin was a huge part of the Heartland family, and the Heartland Board of Directors felt strongly that this season should be dedicated to his memory. He had already put together plans for the scenic design for "These Shining Lives" and he also planned to star in and design the set for "Red." Michael's absence will be felt keenly in those shows, but his presence will be there, too.

"These Shining Lives," directed by Don LaCasse, is in rehearsal now, with a cast that includes Colleen Longo, Paula Nowak, Reena Artman, Christine Wing, Jared Kugler and Todd Wineburner. Playwright Melanie Marnich wrote this story about "Radium Girls," happy to have found a life as working women in the 1920s, but betrayed terribly and completely by the company they work for. As they dip their tiny paintbrushes in radium-loaded paint, licking the brushes to make precise, glowing numbers on watch dials, they are poisoning themselves. It's a play about women's work and self-worth, life and death, the freshness of youth and the tragedy of turning old before your time.

Heartland's production of the play opens September 6 with a special Pay-What-You-Can Preview, followed by performances September 7-9, 13-16 and 20-29. To see performance dates and times as well as reservation information, click here.

Saying Goodbye

I don't usually talk too much about myself on this blog -- I learned long ago that I was a "reporter," not a "revealer" when it came to writing style -- and so I'm confronted with a bit of a dilemma. How do I talk about Michael Pullin?

Michael was an actor, scenic designer, painter, writer, cooking expert, costumer and vivid, larger-than-life presence in the lives of anyone who has anything to do with theater or the arts around here. He passed away on Tuesday. It was very sudden and shocking, and those of us who knew Michael have been reeling.

As I said on his Facebook page, where people have been posting their thoughts as a way to cope with this terrible news, there are some people so vital and so full of energy that it seems impossible they can leave us. Michael was one of those. He had immense talents in so very many areas, and he was incredibly generous in sharing them, whether that meant offering cooking lessons at the Garlic Press or OSF, mentoring younger actors, working with kids at his church, singing in the choir, writing a play about a middle-aged, cigar-chomping tooth fairy, sewing a huge, bright-colored elephant onto the back of a cape, making a life-size puppet to dance with at the Discovery Walk, or designing countless sets for theatrical productions.

As resident scenic designer for Heartland Theatre, Michael created absolutely beautiful sets. I told him at the time that the atmospheric, leaf-strewn back porch set he did for "Proof" was better than the Broadway set for that show, and I marveled at the way he had managed to fit two complete houses and a tree into the tiny space at Heartland for "Morning's at Seven." Amazing.

Michael Pullin, actor and scenic designer for "Superior Donuts"

If the mark he left as a designer was indelible, his work as an actor was equally unforgettable. We all know, I think, that theater is only here in the moment. Designers design, directors direct, actors act, and the performance unfolds. But each performance is unique, because the actors change just slightly, the audience reacts differently, something goes wrong, something goes right, it's hotter or colder or darker or lighter in the theater that day. Each performance is a thing of its own, here in the moment, gone too fast. And that really describes Michael Pullin, doesn't it?  A person of his own, here in the moment, gone too fast...

Still, all the different characters Michael played live on in the memories of those of us who saw the shows. Last season alone at Heartland, he gave us kindly old Basil Bennett in "The Diviners;" menacing Sterling in "Mauritius," so elegant and so scary in his beautifully tailored clothes; and then Arthur Przybyszewski in "Superior Donuts," a leftover hippy running a doughnut shop that time has left behind. Before that, he was Crumpet the Elf in "The Santaland Diaries," a show where Michael did a solo act on stage, designed, built and painted the set, made his own costume, and publicized the heck out of it to make sure the house was packed for every show.

He was also a vibrant presence in the annual Discovery Walk, writing and performing as real citizens from Bloomington's past, like William Horine, who got a little sentimental over letters from home, and Christoph Mandler, a cigar-maker who danced with a doll named Mathilda, which seemed to especially appeal to the children who took the Walk. Michael built the bench Mandler rolled his cigars on, and built Mathilda from the ground up.

Michael Pullin dancing with Mathilda in the 2010 Discovery Walk

I'm glad I got to see those performances. I'm glad I got to experience his remarkable sets. I'm glad I got to work with him on "Superior Donuts." And I'm sorry that we won't get to see what he had in mind for "These Shining Lives" or "Red," where I think Michael hoped to play artist Mark Rothko and show off his painting skills on stage.

Mostly, I'm sorry Michael is gone. Godspeed, Michael Pullin. You are already missed.

Opening Tonight: Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" at Heartland Theatre

Tracy Letts hit it big with "August: Osage County," a scorching play about family bonds and family destruction that earned him the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He has been a member of Chicago's Steppenwolf ensemble since 2002, appearing as an actor there in a range of plays from "Glengarry Glen Ross" to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" But "Superior Donuts," which opened at Steppenwolf in 2008 before transferring to Broadway, is the first play Letts has written set in his adopted hometown.

Everything about "Superior Donuts" says Chicago. There's a Polish-American guy from Jefferson Park who owns a doughnut shop in Uptown, and his store is frequented by a streetwise kid whose mom works in the cafeteria at Senn, an Irish-American cop, a gambler from Bridgeport, and a Russian immigrant from down the street who owns an electronics store. It has a real neighborhood feel, focusing on the kind of family-owned business that has always been a mainstay in Chicago but is disappearing in the wake of Starbucks and Krispy Kreme on every corner. If nothing else, "Superior Donuts" serves as a comment on and commemoration of a distinctive Chicago way of life, marked in time before it's gone completely.

Heartland Theatre Company and director Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson bring "Superior Donuts" and its Chicago stylings to Normal beginning tonight, with performances running through April 29. You can see the complete list of performances here if you're interested in choosing a night that suits your schedule. Reservations are strongly encouraged, except for opening night, which is a special Pay-What-You-Can preview performance where no reservations are accepted.

What's great about "Superior Donuts" is its heart. That may seem odd coming from the guy who wrote "Bug" and "Killer Joe," but friendship and camaraderie, forming a family unit from people of different ages and backgrounds, is what "Superior Donuts" is all about.

In Heartland's production, Michael Pullin plays Arthur Przybyszewski (it's pronounced Shu-ber-shev-ski), the world-weary man inside the doughnut shop, while Gregory D. Hicks takes on the role of Franco Wicks, an energetic black kid who needs a job and gets his foot in the door in Arthur's store.

Pullin has been seen many times on area stages, most recently as a wealthy stamp collector (and the polar opposite of Arthur Przybyszewski) in "Mauritius." He is also Heartland Theatre's resident scenic designer, and, yes, he did the "superior" set you'll see in "Superior Donuts."

Hicks is active with New Route Theatre and ISU's Black Actors Guild, where he coordinated and appeared in "The Mystical Willie Lynch" last month, and he appeared in Heartland Theatre's "Three for the Show" and 10-Minute Play Festival in 2010.

The supporting cast includes Heartland board president Todd Wineburner, who was seen to such good effect in Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Sirens" at Heartland last fall, and Clark Abraham, who did excellent work in Joel Drake Johnson's "The End of the Tour" last spring. Wineburner plays Max, the friendly (and ambitious) Russian from down the street, while Abraham portrays Luther Flynn, a scary bookie who doesn't look kindly on people who owe him money.

They are aided by Cathy Sutliff and Marcus Smith as a pair of beat cops who keep coming back to Superior Donuts, Holly Klass as a slightly dotty bag lady who thinks of the place as her own, and Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler as two different kinds of muscle.

"Superior Donuts" is at times funny, profane, sweet, profound and affecting. It fits perfectly within Heartland Theatre's commitment to offer theater that means something, that touches the human heart and expounds on the human condition. You may leave yearning for doughnuts or for old school neighborhood stores, but you will also find a fulfilling dramatic experience.

SUPERIOR DONUTS
By Tracy Letts

Heartland Theatre Company

Director: Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson
Scenic Designer: Michael Pullin
Lighting Designer: Jesse Folks
Costume Designer: Lauren Lowell
Fight Choreographer: Tony Pellegrino
Stage Manager: Rachel Krein

Cast: Clark Abraham, Jay Hartzler, Gregory D. Hicks, Holly Klass, Michael Pullin, Aric Rattan, Marcus Smith, Cathy Sutliff, Todd Wineburner.

Running time: 2:20, including one 10-minute intermission

Performances: April 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28 at 7:30 pm and April 15, 22 and 29 at 2 pm.

Box office: http://heartlandtheatre.org/boxoffice.html or call 309-452-8709

Heartland Announces Cast for Upcoming "Superior Donuts"

Tracy Letts' award-winning "Superior Donuts" is coming to Heartland Theatre in April, with Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson, associate professor at University of Illinois-Springfield, directing a cast that includes Michael Pullin, Gregory D. Hicks, Todd Wineburner, Clark Abraham, Cathy Sutliff, Marcus Smith, Holly Klass, Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler.

The poster from Steppenwolf's "Superior Donuts"

"Superior Donuts" is a Chicago play, Letts' first set in his adopted hometown, and it premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Michael McKean (the Lenny half of Lenny and Squiggy from "Laverne and Shirley" and then immortalized as David St. Hubbins in "This Is Spinal Tap") and Jon Michael Hill (who stepped straight from the theater department at U of I to the Steppenwolf ensemble) in the lead roles. McKean played Arthur Przybyszewski, the owner of a neglected doughnut store in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, while Hill created the role of Franco Wicks, a smart kid who talks his way into a job at Arthur's store. Franco has dreams of becoming the next great American poet, but he's got some bad decisions and bad connections from the past that are standing in the way. Both Arthur and Franco need to overcome the past in order to have a future, whether that future involves doughnuts or not.

The play's themes of personal growth, connection and redemption are universal, and they fit nicely within Heartland's missions "to explore the human condition through the art of theatre" and to call "attention to the experience of being human and the shared pain, joy, sorrow and celebration that it entails." There is pain, joy, sorrow and yes, even a celebration in "Superior Donuts."

For Heartland, Michael Pullin, just seen as Sterling, the ruthless stamp collector, in "Mauritius," will play Arthur, while Gregory D. Hicks, who has recently performed in "The Women of Lockerbie" at ISU and "The Mystical Willie Lynch" with ISU's Black Actors Guild, will take on the role of Franco.

Todd Wineburner, who last appeared at Heartland in Deborah Zoe Laufer's "Sirens" in November, is slated to play Max Tarasov, the friendly (and ambitious) Russian down the street, with Clark Abraham, seen in Joel Drake Johnson's "The End of the Tour" last spring, as Luther, the loan shark who has no compunctions about keeping his minions in line, with whatever means necessary.

Cathy Sutliff and Marcus Smith will play the pair of cops who hang out at Arthur's shop, often running into another patron, a lady who goes by the name of Lady, played by Holly Klass. Rounding out the cast are Aric Rattan and Jay Hartzler, playing Luther's henchman and Max's nephew respectively.

"Superior Donuts" opens at Heartland on April 12, with performances through April 29. No word yet on whether they will be offering doughnuts at intermission, but we can hope!

Tense "Mauritius" Packs a Punch at Heartland Theatre

Tension and intensity are the keys to Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius" as it uncoils on stage at Heartland Theatre. There's tension among all the actors and the characters they play, as they circle hungrily, not unlike a pack of wolves, around a potentially valuable stamp collection. Director Sandra Zielinski adds intensity to the mix with her staging, ramping up into physical violence as her characters shove each other aside on their way to the prize.

Two half-sisters, Mary and Jackie, have been left behind after the recent death of their mother. Mom also left behind a stamp collection, which both half-sisters profess to own. Mary, the older daughter, argues that the stamps were the prized possession of her grandfather (a grandfather she did not share with Jackie) and that they are therefore of sentimental value to her and her alone. But Jackie was the one who stayed at home with her mother through what sounds like years of financial distress and emotional abuse, and she is desperate to sell the stamp collection to provide the funds for a new life far away from her mother's house of pain.

Neither consults a lawyer. That's understandable, since most of Rebeck's conflict would fly out the window if they did. Probably better to just call that poetic license and move on. Oh well.

Instead, Jackie takes the stamp collection to a less-than-posh stamp shop, owned by the cranky, uncooperative Phillip, to try to figure out what it's worth. Phillip isn't in the mood to rouse himself to look over her stamps or offer an opinion on their value, but Dennis, a cagey younger guy always looking out for just this kind of score, is willing to jump in. He notices immediately that there are some very rare, very valuable stamps in the album she's toting.

And that's when things start to get good. Are the stamps real? If they are, who owns them? What will Jackie and Mary do to each other in order two keep their hands on them? And who among the trio of pursuers -- slick, charming Dennis, worn-out Phillip or greedy, menacing collector Sterling -- will bend the others to his will?

Rebeck's script is all about cross and doublecross, smackdown and backhand, with clever dialogue that comes out in naturalistic bits and pieces, as well as a fair share of swearing, shouting and swagger. In the intimate confines of Heartland Theatre, the violence -- both verbal and physical -- is in-your-face and scary, with edge-of-your-seat suspense. The actors work quite well together, which is absolutely necessary when they're choreographing this much action in such a small space.

Sarah Stone Innerst leads the cast as Jackie, who comes off stubborn, hard and just unhinged enough to do some serious damage as she faces off against the world. As her sparring partner, older sis Mary, Kate McDermott-Swanson is flinty and snooty, a real piece of work, the one who had all the advantages but still doesn't feel like she needs to share.

The three men are different enough, and yet each threatening in his own way. Kevin Paul Wickart is world-weary and hang-dog as Phil the Philatelist, brooding in the background and nursing his hurts like a perennially sore tooth, while Michael Pullin's Sterling is really, really scary. Pullin's physical presence is menacing from the first moment he appears in a long, plush coat, swirling it like his super-villain cape, casting a dark shadow over everybody else.

Andrew Head finishes out the trio, playing Dennis as a smooth wheeler dealer who thinks if he throws out words fast enough, nobody will noticed they're being conned. Head's Dennis is less the self-assured seducer of the off-Broadway production and more a boyish overachiever, an Artful Dodger, a whiz kid. It works just fine, as Dennis becomes the irresistible force opposite Jackie's immoveable object, and Head and Innerst strike up a nice chemistry.

Scenic Designer Michael Pullin, who also plays Sterling, contributes a snazzy set, which I am told offers a gray-green back wall with inset squares to reference the color of money and the shape of stamps. Nicely done. 

"Mauritius" continues with performances through March 4, with a panel discussion after the matinee this Sunday, February 26th.

MAURITIUS
By Theresa Rebeck

Heartland Theatre

Director: Sandra Zielinski
Scenic Designer: Michael Pullin
Lighting Designer: Grace Maberg
Costume Designer: Judith Rivera Ramirez
Sound Designer: James Wagoner
Fight Director: Paul Dennhardt
Stage Manager: Melissa Jean Mullen

Cast: Andrew Head, Sarah Stone Innerst, Kate McDermott-Swanson, Michael Pullin and Kevin Paul Wickart

Remaining performances: February 23-25 and March 1-3 at 7:30 pm; February 26 and March 4 at 2 pm

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

Opening Tonight: "Mauritius" at Heartland

If you've been hearing Theresa Rebeck's name in the news recently, it's probably because of "Smash," the new hit show on NBC about putting together a Broadway musical. Rebeck is the creator of "Smash," as well as the head writer on the show, and she has deep writing and producing credits for TV ("Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "NYPD Blue") as well as for the stage ("Seminar," currently on Broadway, "The Understudy," "The Scene.") Rebeck was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 as the co-writer of "Omnium Gatherum" with Alexandra Gersten.

"Mauritius," which opens tonight at Heartland Theatre, is prime Rebeck, featuring smart, flawed people with mixed motives behaving badly in pursuit of some irresistible object. In this case, what they all want is a possibly valuable stamp collection, one which may contain the so-called Mauritius Post Office stamps. These stamps, issued by the British Colony of Mauritius in 1847, were printed with the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid." There were only about five hundred printed of each of them -- one orange and worth a penny, the other blue and worth two cents -- and the printing mistake is what makes them so sought after in the world of stamp collecting.

That theme, of what we're worth, mistakes and all, recurs throughout the play. Or, as one of the characters in "Mauritius" puts it, "If only people were more valuable because of their mistakes."

Rebeck is very good at creating snappy, dynamic dialogue and the edgy characters to go with it. "Mauritius" features a set of five of those characters, from Mary and Jackie, the half-sisters who each think they should have dominion over the stamp album in questions, to Dennis, the smooth operator always on the lookout for a score, Phillip, owner of a sleepy stamp shop who can be roused to action if the right circumstances present themselves, and Sterling, the mysterious collector with a briefcase full of cash and a "gimme gimme" attitude to go along with it. 

Sandra Zielinski, Professor in ISU's School of Theatre, directs this Heartland Theatre production, with a cast that includes Sarah Stone Innerst as Jackie; ISU MFA candidate Kate McDermott as Mary; Kevin Paul Wickart as shop-owner Phillip; Andrew Head, a graduate of Bradley University's Department of Theatre Arts, as slippery Dennis; and Michael Pullin, a Heartland favorite who is also the resident Scenic Designer, as Sterling, the avaricious money man.

From L: Michael Pullin, Andrew Head and Sarah Stone Innerst

Photo credit: Jesse Folks

Performances of "Mauritius" open tonight with a special Pay-What-You-Can preview, followed by 7:30 performances on February 17-18, 23-25, and March 1-3, with 2 pm matinees on February 19 and 26 and March 4. A discussion about the play will follow the February 26th afternoon performance, with Alaine Winters, an expert in language from Heartland Community College's Communications Department; Loree Adams, from IWU's Department of Psychology; and director Sandra Zielinski appearing to discuss the issues presented by the play and take questions. This panel discussion is open to the public and free of charge.

For more information about Heartland's production of "Mauritius" or to make reservations, click here.

"Southern Comforts" Opens at Heartland Theatre

Is love really lovelier the second time around? Playwright Kathleen Clark offers a definitive yes in “Southern Comforts,” currently on stage at Heartland Theatre.

Clark’s play involves Amanda, the Southerner in the title, and Gus, a more taciturn Yankee in New Jersey. They’ve both loved and lost in the past, and neither is looking for any kind of romantic entanglement at this late stage in their lives. But when Amanda stumbles into Gus’s sparsely decorated home trying to drop off some church envelopes, they discover they have more in common than they might’ve guessed.

On the outside, it’s a classic match-up of opposites beyond just the Southern/Northern thing. She’s chatty and perky while he’s laconic and reserved. She dreams of traveling to other countries, while he prefers to stay within sight of his garden. She likes to fill her life with lace curtains and soft pillows, while he wants his house and his life to stay virtually empty. She loves books and used to be a librarian, while he’s a retired stonemason who’s very good at putting up walls.

Initially, all they have in common is baseball. Soon, however, they discover that they share a yearning for companionship and warmth, for a love that could be eminently more satisfying than their first marriages.

“Southern Comforts” is a sweet, gentle play – there are no huge bombs or explosions, literal or metaphorical, in this script – about the difficulties and transformative power of love, no matter the age of the lovers. It’s about being set in your ways, and yet flexible enough to accommodate change, a scary proposition even if you go in with your eyes wide open. That’s illustrated on stage when Amanda and Gus discuss her moving in with him. He knows she’ll be bringing a lot of baggage – books, pictures, knickknacks – but the reality is something else altogether. And in the end, it’s his baggage that’s the problem. I can pretty much guarantee that “Southern Comforts” is the only play you’ll ever see where choosing a headstone is both an obstacle and a sweeping romantic gesture.

Heartland director Mike Dobbins chooses to set the play in 1986, which makes Amanda and Gus somewhere in their early 60s by my calculation. That works well for his actors, Carol Scott and Michael Pullin, who certainly wouldn’t be realistic as 80-somethings if it were given a contemporary setting.

Dobbins emphasizes the humor in the script, keeping the tone playful and light, and that also keeps the story skimming along without too many sticky moments. He notes in his opening remarks that “Southern Comforts” is a perfect play for this Valentine’s season, and I think he’s got that exactly right.

His actors are also on target. Scott and Pullin play well together; she shows a nice touch of mischief under Amanda’s Southern charm, while he gives Gus a heart under the American Gothic, no-nonsense exterior.

Pullin also designed the set, and it looks good both in its initial spare phase as well as the girlied up version later on.

“Southern Comforts” runs through March 7th at Heartland Theatre. For reservations or more information, you can click on that link over there on the left.

Heartland Theatre Company presents
“Southern Comforts,” a romantic comedy by Kathleen Clark
Sponsored by George & Myra Gordon
Donor Advised Fund – Illinois Prairie Community Foundation

Cast
Carol Scott and Michael Pullin

Production Staff
Director: Mike Dobbins
Scenic Designer: Michael Pullin
Costume Designer: Gail Dobbins
Lighting Designer: Jesse Folks
Properties: Victoria Hill
Sound Designer: Robert LaSalle
Sound Engineer: Christopher Jaynes
Stage Manager: Ben Layman
Dramaturg: Christopher B. Connelly
Sound Board Operator: Brock Watkins
Floor Manager: Kevin Woodard
Dressers: Gayle Hess and Jaron Myers
Photography: Jesse Folks
Publicity & Program: Gail Dobbins
Niche Marketing: Ann B. White