Alister Smith's Triumphant Return to the Gallery!

Local musician and guitar master Alister Smith has announced that he will be returning (not just returning, but triumphantly returning) to "the place where I cut my teeth and electrocuted my lips on my first ungrounded microphone."

Although he will not actually be playing at the Gallery (where he cut his teeth and electrocuted his lip), Smith will be playing at the Firehouse Pizza and Pub on Beaufort Street in Normal, which he figures to be as close to the old Gallery as he's going to get in 2012.

All of this happens on Friday, February 10, at approximately 9 pm, when Smith opens for the singer from the band Moto and Mike Felton, an acoustic/blues/folk rock performer from Chicago.

For more information, you can visit Alister Smith's Facebook page for the event here, or check out Firehouse Pizza and Pub here.

Oscar's Best Pics: "Moneyball"

On paper, "Moneyball" ought to be perfect for my household. We love baseball, we love baseball movies, and my husband is a computer programmer who loves statistics and was on-board with Bill James and SABR ages ago. I think he even wrote for some of SABR's publications back in the early 80s. SABR, by the way, is the Society for American Baseball Research, and it provides the SAB and R in "Sabermetrics," which is all about using statistics and empirical evidence to analyze baseball players to figure out who has helped and can help your team win.

It's what Jonah Hill's fictional character Peter Brand brings to the table in "Moneyball," opening the eyes of a desperate Billy Beane, GM of the then-hapless Oakland Athletics, helping the team rise from the cellar of the American League West.

Billy Beane is real. Peter Brand is not. Most of the other characters in "Moneyball" are real, even though in various cases, they're Hollywoodized, prettied up, made more conflicted or drawn in sharper lines to create drama. Obviously, that process worked for somebody, as the film has done very well and earned not only a Best Picture nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but a Best Actor nomination for Brad Pitt, playing Billy Beane, and a Best Supporting Actor nod for Jonah Hill as his schlubby numbers guy.

Frankly, I'm mystified as to what all those Oscar (and AFI, BAFTA, Golden Globes, SAG and various guilds and critics groups) voters are seeing. "Moneyball" is okay. Brad Pitt is okay. Jonah Hill is okay.

But what should be an exciting story about how technology changed baseball, how the people who ran a very old and traditional game came to accept something new and different, instead feels soft and sluggish. Brad Pitt is playing the same world-weary, down-on-his-luck, sad sack you've seen a million times in better movies, from better actors. He coulda been somebody. A contender. He screwed it up with his ex-wife. He has a cute kid. He wants to do better, to show he's not just a nobody, a loser.

Yeah, well, that line forms behind Terry Malloy, Roy Hobbs, Rocky (Balboa), Rocky (Graziano), Jake LaMotta, Bull Durham, Jim Piersall, all those Angels in the Outfield, and that guy in "Field of Dreams."

The real Billy Beane is a perfectly nice looking guy, if not a Golden Boy like Brad Pitt. But he also has intelligence, intensity, energy... None of which holds true for Brad Pitt's Billy Beane, who mostly plays like... Brad Pitt. He's sweet. He looks a little scruffy, I'm guessing so that we can see that his Billy Beane is down on his luck. In general, he acts kind of hang-dog and depressed. We mostly see him driving around, staring into space or kicking furniture (to ramp up a little intensity, I suppose.) If you're thinking I found this Billy Beane less than compelling, you would be right.

As his sidekick, Jonah Hill is amusing. Slightly. But no more than that. His real-life counterpart, Paul DePodesta, is better looking than Hill, in a weird Hollywood reversal. But DePodesta supposedly didn't care for the way he was represented in the first drafts of the "Moneyball" screenplay, so he opted out, and they created "Peter Brand," an amalgam of several different people, instead. Hill does well personifying a nerdy computer guy stereotype and looking befuddled when called upon to talk at scout meetings where they discuss players' potential. And he and Pitt create a nice buddy chemistry.

But it's all so dull... So soft-focus... So slow...

I liked the scenes with the scouts, who I think must be real-life scouts drafted to act as themselves in the film. They seemed gruff and hard-boiled enough to be the real thing, plus they offer a nice contrast to pudgy sweetpea Peter Brand and world-weary Brad Pitt-Beane. (I have a hard time calling the character Billy Beane, since there is a real Billy Beane who is so little like this one.)

And Chris Pratt, who is so good as a doofus on "Parks and Recreation," does fine as Scott Hatteburg, a player only a Sabermetrics guy could love. They even did a decent job intercutting footage of the real Hatteburg with Pratt at the plate.

But the talents of Robin Wright, who plays Beane's ex-wife, Philip Seymour Hoffman, as a very fictionalized version of Athletics' coach Art Howe, and especially Tammy Blanchard, as the mostly invisible wife of a player, are wasted. And Spike Jonze, the director, seems truly bizarre as Beane's ex's flaky new husband.

"Moneyball" strikes me as a movie with no there there. It's all mood and no content, all hunches and no statistics, and it runs at 2 hours and 13 minutes, which is about 40 minutes too long to establish Beane the character and show us how he turned around the A's against the opposition of baseball's entrenched money men.

In case you're wondering, the Sabermetrician in the house also votes thumbs down. He thinks the numbers are far more interesting.

Great Opportunity to Get Your Art Up!

It totally makes sense that the McLean County Arts Center is looking for art. But this time, they're looking for art to display at the brand-new Uptown Station, the Multimodal Transportation Center right in the center of Uptown Normal. This competition, which promises to pay artists for their work (out of a budget somewhere around $100,000) in addition to the joy of seeing that work displayed inside the station, is only open to McLean county residents, but choice of material or kind of art is wide open.

That's the Uptown Station you see under construction at right. As planned, there will be plenty of space for art in this 68,000 square foot, four-story structure. McArts tells us how the space will be used: "The first floor of the facility will accommodate Amtrak and BNPTS ticketing and office space, waiting areas, a food court, retail, and general community information. The second and third floors will accommodate Town of Normal municipal offices. The fourth floor includes public meeting space and the Town Council chambers for the Town of Normal."

McArts lists specific requirements at the link, including digital images of the work proposed and a resume that offers the artist's professional achievements and exhibitions. Although no subject matter is specified, just the location of the artists, a slice of Bloomington-Normal life is what I'd want to see on the walls of the station while I wait for my train if I got to choose. And because I know some fabulous photographers, I'd love to see some photographic art make the cut.

(Don't worry. I don't get to choose. The panel of judges is Doug Johnson, Executive Director of the McLean County Arts Center, Natalie Goken Wetzel, co-owner of the Pod, "an eclectic specialty art and gift boutique" located near the Children's Museum in Uptown Normal, and Slate Grove, an artist and MFA candidate at Illinois State University who works in glass. They sound a lot better qualified to pick art than me!)

Susan Smith Blackburn Finalists Announced

The 2012 finalists for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize, which carries an award of $20,000 to the winning playwright, have been announced. They include one Irish, five American and four British playwrights.

This year's finalists are:

Johnna Adams (U.S.), for "Gidion’s Knot," submitted by The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

Alice Birch (U.K.), for "Many Moons," submitted by Theatre 503 in London.

Madeleine George (U.S.), for "Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England," submitted by Clubbed Thumb in New York.

Jennifer Haley (U.S.), for "The Nether," submitted by Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Nancy Harris (Ireland), for "No Romance," submitted by the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Zinnie Harris (U.K.), for "The Wheel," submitted by National Theatre of Scotland.

Molly Smith Metzler (U.S.), for "Close Up Space," submitted by Manhattan Theatre Club.

Meg Miroshnik (U.S.), for "The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls," submitted by Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

Jaki McCarrick (U.K.), for "Belfast Girls," submitted by King’s Head Theatre in London.

Alexis Zegerman (U.K.), for "The Steingolds," submitted by Playful Productions of London.

The Blackburn prize is awarded annually to "recognize women who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre." Previous finalists Margaret Edson, Beth Henley, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel and Wendy Wasserstein went on to win Pulitzer Prizes after their Blackburn honors.

Plays are nominated by professional theaters, and nominated scripts are then read by an international panel of judges. The 2012 judging panel includes familiar names like Martha Lavey, actress and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago; actress Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress Oscar for "Fargo;" Ben Power, Associate Director of Britain's National Theatre; and actress Imogen Stubbs, who has played Desdemona for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Stella opposite Jessica Lange in "Streetcar," as well as appearing as Viola in the 1996 film version of "Twelfth Night."

For more information about the nominated playwrights, click here. You can also read what judge Randy Gener (an award-winning writer, editor and critic) thought about the process here. He's not telling who won, though! That will be announced in London on February 28th.

The art you see with this post is an original Willem DeKooning lithograph created just for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The winning playwright gets the lithograph in addition to the $20,000 cash prize.

Lori Adams Honored with Rives Award for Teaching Excellence

The 2011-2012 Stan and Sandy Rives Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education has been awarded to Illinois State University Theatre Professor Lori Adams, who acts as head of the Undergraduate Acting Program in ISU's School of Theatre. The Rives award will be presented to Adams at the Founders Day Convocation on Thursday, February 16th, at 2 pm.

According to ISU's press release, the Stan and Sandy Rives Award was created to recognize "outstanding teaching or any significant contribution to the undergraduate experience, with special attention given to the first-year experience." That makes it a perfect match for Adams, whose position puts her in charge of more than 150 undergraduate acting majors,. She personally auditions and interviews each incoming acting undergrad, and makes it her mission to stay in touch and guide them through that crucial first year at ISU.

It is also part of Adams' responsibility to coach and prepare the student actors who will represent ISU in the Irene Ryan Award competition at the annual American College Theatre Festival. Adams' actors have done very well in the ACTF competition, with ISU's Clayton Joyner named one of two national Irene Ryan champions in 2011, and Owais Ahmed and Abby Vombrack winning at the regional level in Urbana last month, earning the right to advance to the ACTF finals at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.


Aside from her ISU responsibilities, Lori Adams is a very well-regarded director, recently earning "Best Director" honors from St. Louis Post-Dispatch critic Judith Newmark for her work on "Falling" at St. Louis's Mustard Seed Theatre, and a prominent actress, with notable credits in Alan Ayckbourn's "Woman in Mind" and Martin McDonagh's "The Beauty Queen of Lenane" at Heartland Theatre and in "Macbeth" and "Henry VIII" at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. As you can see from the poster above, Adams also starred in "Shame the Devil: An Audience with Fanny Kemble," a one-woman show written by Anne Ludlam that toured extensively around the US and Canada.

Up Close and Personal with Kevin Paul Wickart on "Mauritius"

Heartland Theatre's production of Theresa Rebeck's "Mauritius" opens two weeks from tonight. To get an inside look at the show, I put actor Kevin Paul Wickart (shown below), who plays Philip, the owner of a scruffy stamp shop, under the microscope.

Hi, Kevin! Thanks for chatting with me. Congratulations on being cast in Theresa Rebeck’s “Mauritius” for Heartland Theatre. Had you heard of the play before the audition notice went up?

Thank you, Julie. No, I hadn't heard of the play before. I had done some research on the show that Heartland had originally been looking at, and later noticed the change in the schedule. I kept in touch with (i.e. "hounded") Mike and Gail Dobbins to see about getting a review copy of the script, so I was familiar with the play before auditions were announced.

You’ve described “Mauritius” this way: “The discovery of a possibly-valuable stamp collection brings out the absolute worst in five people.” What can you add to that? What is “Mauritius” really about? And what does the title refer to?

That was my "one breath" synopsis for Facebook. The slightly longer version is: "Mauritius" is about two half-sisters whose mother has passed away after an extended illness. In going through her belongings, they find an old stamp collection that may contain the Holy Grail of stamp collecting--two incredibly rare stamps from the island country of Mauritius. When one of the sisters attempts to have the collection appraised, three men begin plotting to get hold of it.

Rebeck has taken some flak for supposedly writing “Mamet Lite” with this play, with some comparisons to “American Buffalo.” What do you think about that?

I think that some of the comparisons to Mamet are inevitable, given the use of profanity in the show. Like Mamet, Rebeck uses profanity to give her characters a measure of contemporary verity, rather than for shock value. I'm not sure what comparisons to Mamet's "American Buffalo" can be--or are being--made, other than use of the device of collecting and a bunch of people behaving badly. In plays of this type, there is always a "McGuffin," the thing that is sought by the characters, and the seeking of which invariably reveals their true natures. Whether that McGuffin is a stamp collection, coin collection, or the Hand of the Maiden Fair, the core plot is that of The Quest. What remains is the question of what each character is willing to do to get it. So...yeah, there are similarites.

How does your character, Philip, fit into things? How can you describe him?

Philip is a stamp dealer and expert, in whose store much of the play takes place. He has a history with the character of Sterling; though their views regarding stamps are quite similar, there is an "unpleasantness" between them.

As you go through rehearsals, what are you enjoying most about the play?

There are so many things! As an actor, I'm really enjoying the process of finding my character's motivations and voice, and seeing how he plays out against the other characters. And, of course, I love being part of a show that includes new and old friends.

I’m going to guess that the fight rehearsals are your least favorite part, given your description of being “slammed, punched and pummeled repeatedly about the head and body.” Or maybe you enjoyed that? Who knows?

Actually, I am loving fight rehearsals! I can only imagine what it'll all look like from the audience, but from my perspective it's completely awesome!

What is it like working with director Sandi Zielinski and the rest of the cast? Have you worked with Andrew Head, Sarah Stone Innerst, Michael Pullin or Nancy Sultan before? I would imagine a lot of snap and crackle with those scene partners.

Working with Sandi is amazing. She continually challenges us to look deeper into our characters, to keep us from getting complacent.

Also keeping me on my toes is the fact that I'm working with a group of talented and experienced actors. I worked--and sang and danced--with Sarah in "The Pajama Game" at Community Players, and I worked with Michael as an actor in last October's Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery. Nancy and Andy were new to me, but we're all blending quite nicely. And yes, there is a lot of "crackle" in some of the scenes.

Although I have known you for a while, I realized I don’t actually know much about your past theater career or non-theater career, for that matter. So when did you first step on the stage and who or what were you playing?

Hmm...easier asked than answered, I think. Assuming you mean local stages, my first foray was as Mr. Meeker in Heartland's production of "Inherit the Wind" at the Historical Museum in 1990 or thereabouts.

I actually did mean your first role ever, and now that I know that’s hard to answer, I’m even more intrigued. Was it traumatic, like you were a Goose A-Laying in a Christmas pageant? Or a ham, like Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Or is it just that you’ve done so much theater that you really can’t remember? Maybe you were Cousin Oliver on “The Brady Bunch” and you don’t want to reveal your secret identity?

Ah. Well, then...my first role that I can recall was that of Baby Bear in my second grade production of "Alice in Christmasland."

How long have you been in Bloomington-Normal?

I came downstate to attend ISU in 1977, and pretty much forgot to go back home.

What did you study at ISU?

I studied a little Physics, a little Computer Science, and some Psychology.

All good things for keeping your acting honest and your singing on the beat! And what do you do when you’re not on stage?

I've been known to put some time in as a Bank Technician at State Farm Bank. In my copious free time I relax at home with my family, hang out with friends (most of whom are theatre folk), or build model rockets.

I know you have performed locally in both musicals (“Titanic” at Community Players and “HMS Pinafore” for Prairie Fire) and straight plays (“Don’t Forget to Play My Numbers” at Heartland last summer), plus you directed a Neil Sedaka revue for Prairie Fire Theatre. Do you have a favorite role you’ve played thus far? How about a role you’d love to play if you were running the world?

My favorite role so far was my debut with Community Players, playing seven characters in their production of "The Woman in Black" in 2008. As far as a role I'd love to play (if I were running the world), I think I'd have to go with something from Shakespeare--Hamlet or Puck, perhaps. I love the language, the poetry, and the intensity of his characters.

Wow. Hamlet and Puck are not usually in the same actor's repertoire. Interesting. (Note to casting directors out there: You have a potential Hamlet or Puck who can also handle the physics in "Copenhagen" and "Arcadia." Just sayin'.)

Back to "Mauritius" as we close out here. How is “Mauritius” different from what you’ve done before?

Mainly, it's my first use of violence and profanity on stage. Considering the number of shows I've done over the years, I find this rather amazing.

And, finally, what (aside from the violence and profanity) makes “Mauritius” a do-not miss for audiences?

We have a top-notch cast and crew, the characters are complex and being fine-tuned every day, and the script is excellent and fast-paced, having been crafted by an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. All the elements are there for a top-level show, under the guidance of an amazing director. All we need now is an equally fine audience.

Thanks, Kevin!

It's been my pleasure!


"Mauritius" opens at Heartland Theatre on February 16th, with performances running through March 4. For reservation information, click here.

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.