Undine Down the Rabbit Hole in New Route's "Fabulation"

New Route Theatre's mission is to represent Bloomington-Normal in all its diversity, and to bring plays by "ethnically and culturally diverse playwrights" to the stage here in town. Last night's performance of Lynn Nottage's "Fabulation, or, the Re-Education of Undine" at Bloomington's Eaton Gallery fulfilled that mission nicely.

"Fabulation" revolves around a character Nottage saw around her in the African-American community, a ferociously ambitious, whip-smart woman who has achieved a lot in a short time. But to climb the ladder, Undine has completely turned her back on where and who she came from. In fact, when she graduated from Dartmouth and began her own company, she told reporters her entire family had died in a fire, torching any possible connection to her roots. It's only when her lofty financial and social worlds crumble (when her handsome con man of a husband absconds with all of her money) that Undine, who was born plain old Sharona Watkins in Brooklyn, is forced to take a hard look at herself and who she's become.




If that sounds bleak or tragic, well, in Nottage's hands, it's not. Instead, "Fabulation" depends on vivid characters and the snap of social satire to show Undine's trip down the rabbit hole. And yes, there's a certain schadenfreude at work here. Who doesn't enjoy seeing somebody puffed up and pretentious get taken down a few pegs? For Undine, it's not just getting taken down, though. It's opening her eyes and learning to be a real person.

For New Route, director Gregory D. Hicks put the emphasis on Undine's journey, moving simple set pieces -- a few chairs or a desk -- on and off quickly, using quick costume changes and light and music cues as he moved his ensemble cast through a whole lot of different characters and scenes.

Jamelle Robinson had a difficult assignment with Undine, who could've become unlikable right from the start with her snobby, high-handed ways. But Robinson showed the charm and intelligence to keep us entertained and interested in what was going to happen as Undine unraveled.

New Route's program didn't tell us who among the ensemble played what roles except for Robinson (something I hope they'll fix in productions to come) but I think I've figured it out. If I'm right, Wilma Brown did excellent work as Sharona's feisty grandma and one nasty piece of work of a Social Services supervisor; Corey L. Hardin was terrific as Sharona's dad and a Yoruba priest; Sean Hastings was sexy and slick as Undine's bounder of a husband and the almost-too-perfect new guy she meets back in Brooklyn; Ariele Jones was hilarious as the last friend Undine had left at the top and scary as a too-young mother-to-be; Anne Cook was just as scary as Stephie, Undine's assistant (it was the strange hipster outfit that did it); Charlene Ifenso-Okpala showed off her versatility as a tough cellmate and a sweet girl who used to be half of a Double Dutch duo; Miles Michael Spann was very impressive as Sharona's brother Flow, who's spent years trying to compose an epic poem about Br'er Rabbit; Claron E. Sharrieff was stalwart and sympathetic as Sharon's mom back in Brooklyn; and Ryan Tipton made a good impression as the accountant who brings bad news, a doctor who steps in at a crucial moment, and a guy who gets smacked down in group therapy.

In other words, this was a strong ensemble that did excellent work with multiple characters.

For this "One Shot Deal," every chair was taken at the Eaton Gallery, and even in last night's stifling heat, everybody paid attention.

This was my first opportunity to see one of New Route's "One Shot Deals," but it won't be my last.

The image that accompanies this blog comes from the audiobook version of the LA Theatre Works production of "Fabulation." That audiobook is available at Amazon if you'd like to have a copy to listen to and keep.

Illinois Wesleyan's Fall Season

If the midsummer heat is getting to you, and you'd like to start thinking ahead to cool fall shows, Illinois Wesleyan's fall theater schedule is ready for you. IWU has become known for edge as well as excellence, going the extra mile to pay off cutting-edge work, especially when it comes to musicals. The 2011-12 season will continue that trend, taking on challenging shows as well as a couple of classics.

First up in McPherson Theatre, Thomas Anthony Quinn (right now on stage in "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival) will direct Lillian Hellman's 1934 play, "The Childen's Hour," a scary story of just how much trouble malicious gossip can cause when unleashed at a small boarding school for girls. "The Children's Hour" opens September 27 and runs through October 2.

Josh Tobiessen's "Election Day" is up next in the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre, directed by Allison Sutton. "Election Day" is a fast and furious comedy about a politically incompatible boy and girl, ecoterrorists, and a mayoral campaign that is totally out of control. Just in time for fall elections, this one plays October 20-22 at the Lab Theatre.

"Hello Again," Michael John LaChiusa's musical about lonely people circling each other's love lives, comes to McPherson November 15-20 under the direction of Scott Susong. Susong brought us selections from LaChiusa in "Lonely Nurse" last season, and this time he goes for the full-length "Hello Again," which is based on the 1897 play "La Ronde" by Arthur Schnitzler. Like Schnitzler, LaChiusa tells the story of ten different people, from a whore to a soldier and senator, two at a time, as they meet up and try to find some connection. "Hello Again" is sexy and dark, and it will be very interesting to see what Susong does with it.

Molier's "Tartuffe," the 17th century French satire that punctures religious pomposity, is back at McPherson February 14-19, directed by Nancy Loitz, with "Promenade," directed by Jean Kerr, taking the stage in early April. "Promenade" is is an oddball mix of musical comedy (with book and lyrics by María Irene Fornés and music by Rev. Al Carmines) and Theater of the Absurd, involving two escaped prisoners and what they make of the world outside their prison bars. Look for "Promenade" April 5-10 at McPherson Theatre.

Rounding out the season are two "To Be Announced" choices for the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre, one in March and one in May.

You can see the whole schedule here or call 309-556-3232 to speak to someone at the box office.

Two Chances to Audition for "The Diviners" at Heartland Theatre

Heartland Theatre and director Christopher Connelly held auditions for the upcoming production of Jim Leonard Jr.'s "The Diviners" this afternoon, but additional auditions will be held tomorrow evening, Monday, July 11, beginning at 7 pm, and Tuesday, July 12, beginning at 6:30 pm. That means it's not too late if you're interested in trying out.

"The Diviners" is billed as "a play in two acts and elegies." This intensely theatrical play, set in depression-era Indiana, concerns a mentally challenged boy and his friendship with a former preacher suffering a crisis of faith. Buddy, the boy, is pathologically frightened by water, yet he is also the town's "diviner," finding hidden water during drought times. When ex-preacher C.C. Showers arrives in tiny Zion, he attempts to help Buddy as well as stay far away from the town's empty pulpit, in what becomes a collision of faith, fear and the terrible power of good intentions.

Jim Leonard Jr. wrote the play (and won first prize at the National College Theater Festival with it) when he was an undegrad at Hanover College in Indiana; he is now a writer and consulting producer on the Showtime series "Dexter." Let's just say that the voice behind "Dexter" and "The Diviners" is considerably different!

"The Diviners" is a much beloved and oft-performed play with roles for six men and five women in a variety of ages. Roles being cast are:
Buddy Layman, a 14-year-old boy who is blessed with the gift of divining or finding water, yet is deathly afraid of water, as well.
C.C. Showers, a wanderer who has quit his former profession as a preacher.
Ferris Layman, Buddy’s father, cannot bring himself to do what’s best for Buddy, i.e., force the rash-ridden boy to overcome his fear of water and take a bath.
Basil Bennett, a farmer and Zion’s “doc­tor.”
Melvin Wilder, a young farmhand who thinks himself worldly-wise.
Dewey Maples, an innocent young farmhand who is in love with Norma’s niece, Darlene.
Jennie Mae Layman, Buddy’s protec­tive sister and primary caregiver.
Norma Henshaw, one of the most de­vout townspeople, strongly pressures the un­willing C.C. to be Zion’s preacher.
Goldie Short, another of the townspeople who pressures C.C. to take up preaching again; she also owns the Dine-Away-Café.
Luella Bennett, Basil’s wife, is a woman of doubtful faith.
Darlene Henshaw, the niece of the devout Norma Henshaw, has been taught to walk the straight and narrow but longs to dance instead.

Because Heartland's production of the play does not have an image yet (it will be performed in September), I am offering poster art from several different venues to give you an idea of how other theaters have chosen to represent this intriguing play.

Lynn Nottage's "Fabulation" Comes to Bloomington

New Route Theatre continues its "One Shot Deal" series on July 13 with "Fabulation; or, The Re-Education of Undine," a play about an ambitious African-American woman who learns quite a bit about herself when her lofty social status crumbles, written by MacArthur Genuis Award recipient Lynn Nottage.

Nottage is perhaps best known for "Ruined," the 2009 play that won her the Pulitzer Prize, but "Fabulation" earned good notices and an Obie Award for its Off-Broadway production at Playwrights Horizon in 2004. This is a rare chance to catch Nottage's work in central Illinois. I saw her "Intimate Apparel" in a wonderful production at the University of Illinois a few years ago, but I have yet to see "Ruined" or "Fabulation," which includes "punchy social insights and the firecracker snap of unexpected humor," according to Ben Brantley of the New York Times.

For New Route, Jamelle Robinson will play the lead role of Undine Barnes Calles (born Sharona Watkins), under the direction of Gregory D. Hicks. As New Route Artistic Director Don Shandrow describes the play, "Fabulation is a riches-to-rags comedy that follows the apparent decline of Undine from her high-profile job back to the projects where she grew up. Although she loses her status, wealth, and pride, she gains wisdom and self-knowledge that would have eluded her in her prior existence. Facing the people from her past, she must come to accept them and herself as she learns that one can never truly outrun the past."

This "Fabulation" features a cast of 12 actors in multiple roles, including Wilma Brown, Anne Cook, Corey Hardin, Sean Hastings, Charlene Ifenso-Okpala, Ariele Jones, Quinton Neal, Claron Sharrieff, Miles Span, Justin Thompson and Ryan Tipton. Jennifer Rusk acts as stage manager, while Excedus Marshall has designed the lighting.

As always, this "One Shot Deal" will be presented at the Eaton Gallery in downtown Bloomington.

FABULATION:, OR, THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE
Herb Eaton Studio and Gallery
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
7 pm
$5 recommended donation

Please note that seating is limited at the Eaton Gallery, and you should reserve a seat by sending an e-mail to new.route.theatre@gmail.com (including the number of people planning to attend).

PS Classics and Six New "Classics"

Have I told you about PS Classics before? I feel sure I have. PS Classics has been around for 100 albums by now. They restore, revive and reimagine "the heritage of Broadway and American popular song" by offering recordings of some vintage and/or "lost" shows (like their brand-new "studio cast recordings" of "Sweet Bye and Bye," a 1946 musical from Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash that "crashed and burned during its pre-Broadway try-out," and "Strike Up the Band 1930," a fresh version of the Gershwin classic) as well as new cast recordings of select recent Broadway shows (like 2010's "Sondheim on Sondheim" and "La Cage aux Folles.")

They also do solo albums from Broadway stars and "songbooks" like "Sondheim Sings" and (my favorite) "The Maury Yeston Songbook."

I'm happy to get the new stuff, but even happier to discover vintage material I didn't know existed, like "Kitty's Kisses," a bright 20s romantic comedy that brings to life a kind of show that has pretty much disappeared from the scene, and "Fine and Dandy," a show with music by Kay Swift, one of Broadway's first female composers and rumored love interest of George Gershwin.

Each and every one of these recordings uses amazing Broadway stars, with people like John Lithgow, Kathy Bates, Martin Short, Audra McDonald, Danny Burstein, Raul Esparza, Gavin Creel, Laura Benanti, Cheyenne Jackson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Kate Baldwin, Brent Barrett, Rebecca Luker, Beth Fowler and Christine Ebersole showing up in the PS Classics catalog.

Since PS Classics has also released otherwise uncovered material like Michael John LaChiusa's "First Lady Suite," parts of which showed up at Illinois Wesleyan last spring, we can all thank them for the chance to dig deeper and enhance our theater-going experience.

And right now -- or between June and August, at any rate -- PS Classics is putting out six cds, from the afore-mentioned "Sweet Bye and Bye" and "Strike Up the Band 1930" to Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman's "The Trumpet of the Swan," an "eloquent, witty and graceful" musical version of E.B. White's classic children's book, "Boom!" an album full of songs from the 60s and 70s performed by sisters Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Kate Baldwin singing Sheldon Harnick songs in "She Loves Him," and "A Minister's Wife," a new cast album from Joshua Schmidt.

In Tommy Krasker and Philip Chaffin's last "About Us" column, the two guys behind PS Classics wrote: "We handpicked these six from the dozens we considered green-lighting this past year. We feel a genuine passion for each one; they're labors of love."

If "the heritage of Broadway and American popular song" interests you, I can pretty much promise you'll love PS Classics right back.

Click here to start looking for albums to add to your collection. Come on, you know you want that "First Lady Suite" and you're dying to find out about "Kitty's Kisses."

A Romp Through "The Complete Works," Complete with Good Ol' Boys

Do you find the idea of Shakespeare daunting? Well, if you’re looking for an easy entrance into the world of bodkins and fardels, look no further than the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged),” wherein three performers fool around (and act foolish) for a couple of hours, romping through the entire canon in the most irreverent, accessible manner possible. Teens, dads, grandmas… Everybody gets this kind of Shakespeare.

“The Complete Works” returns to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival for the second time in four years, with most of the RSC’s script (written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield) intact, the same director in Bill Jenkins, and two of the same actors, with David Kortemeier and Thomas Anthony Quinn both back for more.

The folks behind the ISF assure us that it’s not the same show, and there are indeed updated references to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lady Gaga, among others, and the substitution of Paula Deen for Julia Child. Plus the two good ol’ boys played by Kortemeier and Quinn (shown above) are aware that they were here before and even make this encore performance part of their shtick. And the third member of the troupe, a sort of “Complete Works” groupie played by Gerson Dacanay, is completely different. Last time the “guy who gets roped in” was supposed to be a high-strung intern. This time, he’s a diminutive super fan with a mullet of his own (at least part of the time), a sparkly hand-made T-shirt and an effervescent personality.

Still, much of the show is the same, as our three players sprint through the comedies and the history plays and then spend some quality time on “Hamlet” after the break. There’s plenty of crazy audience participation, lots of laughs, and excellent performances from all three actors. Kortemeier and Quinn have enough chemistry to feel like they really are odd stepbrothers and Dacanay seamlessly slips into their shared down-home insanity.

So, yes, I’ve seen several productions of the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “Complete Works” (or “Compleat Works” or “The Compleat Wks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)” – it seems there are any number of ways to frame that title. "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" is a new one to me.) And I’ve enjoyed it every time. I’ve also found something different in it every time, and I’m not talking about whether Paula Deen or Julia Child is doing the cooking. A scene or a bit just comes alive in a different way, and there I am, along for the ride and wondering what comes next. Even though I actually know what comes next. And, hey, my section of the audience got a different line to yell at Ophelia this time. “Get thee to a nunnery!” has never been more fun.

My advice? Bear your fardels, bare your bodkin, and get tickets to this “Complete Works.” It's all in good fun.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED)
By Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival at Ewing Manor

Director: Bill Jenkins
Costume Designer: Leticia Delgado
Scenic Designer: Michael Franklin-White
Lighting Designer: R. Lee Kennedy
Sound Designer: Jason Tucholke
Stage Manager: Ryan Prendergast
Vocal Coach: Robert Ramirez

Cast: Gerson Dacanay, David Kortemeier, Thomas Anthony Quinn.

Running time: 2 hours, including one 15-minute intermission.

Performed in repertory through August 7.

For tickets and other information, visit the Illinois Shakespeare Festival website here.

July Heats Up on Stages and Screens

As the summer heats up, so do area stages and screens. Some things continue in summer rep, while others open, offering all kinds of choices, no matter what your taste.

So, first, the hold-overs…

Heartland Theatre's 10th Annual 10-Minute Play Festival finishes up its run this week, playing its last show tomorrow. You have two last chances to catch these Back Porch plays, which have been very popular so far.

The Illinois Shakespeare Festival has already launched “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” and those shows will continue in July, along with jazz, art, backstage tours and all manner of optional add-ons. Plus the ISF’s third offering, “The Winter’s Tale,” the one about kings and queens, jealousy, love, a scary bear and a statue that comes to life, opens July 14th. Need tickets? Call 309-438-2535 during daytime hours or click here for more information.

Urbana’s Station Theatre continues its hit production of “Hairspray” through July 9. You should be aware that all performances are currently sold out, but director Dallas Street is willing to put you on a waiting list if you are willing to come out and give it a try. See details here. The Station opens its next summer show, the four-man roller coaster known as “The 39 Steps,” on July 21, if you’d like to try for that instead of “Hairspray.” This "39 Steps" is a comic adaptation of the 1925 John Buchan novel and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, with four actors playing all 100+ roles, changing costumes and personae faster than you can say, well, "39 Steps."

If you want to see “The Tree of Life,” the Terrence Malick film that just took the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, you won’t find it anywhere except on screen at Champaign’s Art Theater, continuing through at least July 7. And if you’re wondering what all the "Tree of Life" hullabaloo is about, Roger Ebert wrote a lovely blog about what the film meant to him.

New in July is Community Players’ take on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the stage version of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book about a boy, a golden ticket, a strange candy factory, some Oompa Loompas, and a girl who turns into a giant blueberry. Want to see how all that works on stage? “Charlie” plays at Community Players July 8 through 17.

And completely and totally new is "The Affray: Lincoln’s Last Murder Case,” a play about Abraham Lincoln and a tricky Springfield murder case where he was counsel for the defense, written by Jared Brown and Bob Bray. “The Affray,” which is sponsored by the McLean County Museum of History in conjunction with Illinois Voices Theatre, will be performed at the Museum on July 15, 16 and 17. The July 15th opening night performance is a special fundraiser for the Museum, with tickets at $25 per person. That $25 includes a special, limited-edition Abraham Lincoln poster. Tickets on Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, are priced at $10 for Museum members and $12 for everyone else. For reservations or more information, you may call the Museum at 309-827-0428 or email education@mchistory.org.

Although two of its shows are done, U of I’s Summer Studio Theatre brings on its third show, Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” opening July 7th.

And at the tail-end of the month, Prairie Fire Theater returns with “HMS Pinafore,” opening July 29th in the Normal Community High School Auditorium. Read all about it here.

Plus, of course, there are all kinds of July 4th celebrations, picnics, fireworks and parades. Independence! Theater! Movies! There's plenty to do in every direction.