Almost Time for Discovery Walk 2011

I really, really like the McLean County Museum of History's annual Discovery Walk, produced in conjunction with Illinois Voices Theatre and Bloomington's Evergreen Cemetery.

In the past, I've written for some of the historic characters who've populated the Discovery Walk, and I've also been a tour guide for groups touring Evergreen Cemetery to hear these voices from the past speak out. Last year, I took on a third role, portraying Lucy Orme Morgan in the Walk.

I will not be on the front lines this time, but I did write another character -- Mrs. Eliza Esque, who helped organize celebrations in honor of soldiers (including her husband), returning from the Civil War as well as the Emancipation Proclamation -- and I'm looking forward to seeing how actress Jennifer Rusk portrays my Eliza! (That's one of the benefits of writing for this sort of thing. Whether your character's historical file is slim or hefty, you can't help but become intrigued and a little bewitched by the person you're trying to conjure up.)

This year, all of the characters relate to the Civil War, as we honor the 150th anniversary of that war beginning. Eliza Esque will be joined by:

George and Frances Ela, a young married couple separated by war but maintaining their love and their patriotism in letters.

William Horine, a private in the McLean County Regiment who sent home very colorful letters about the conditions of war.

Lewis Ijams, a Union soldier, severely wounded and assumed dead on the battlefield, who managed to make it back to Union lines and eventually home.

John McNulta, a Union colonel and commander of the McLean County Regiment who employed innovative methods to ensure the safety of the men under his command.

Martha Rice, a Southern woman living in Bloomington. She and her husband, a Confederate sympathizer, were not looked on kindly by their neighbors.

John C. Roeder, a German immigrant who hunted lawless Confederate outlaws and desperadoes in Western Missouri.

Lee Smith and George Stipp, doctors who experienced the horrific conditions both surgeons and patients faced in an ill-equipped, over-crowded Union hospital housed in a former hotel on the outskirts of Washington DC.

Actors this year include favorites like Kathleen Kirk, Michael Pullin, Rhys Lovell and Todd Wineburner as well as newcomers Gwen de Veer, Nick McBurney, Michael O'Sullivan, Jeff Ready, Jennifer Rusk and Kevin Wickart.

Tickets for Discovery Walk 2011 will be on sale beginning September 6. You may purchase tickets at the Garlic Press, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery or the McLean County Museum of History. Prices range from $4 for children and students with ID to $10 for Museum members and $12 for the general public.

All tours take place at Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington, with tours scheduled for 11 am and 2 pm on Saturday and Sunday October 1-2 and 8-9.

For more information, visit the Museum's webpage here or call 309-827-0428.

Lions and Tigers and Hippopotami, Oh, My!

Alanna DeRocchi's "Animal Presence" exhibit continues through October 22 at the McLean County Arts Center, with a special "artist's talk" tonight, August 30th, at 7 pm.

DeRocchi's exhibit includes large scale ceramic and mixed media sculpture, described as "Ceramic animals, awesome in size and delicate in their detailed features." The Arts Center's materials explain her process this way: "DeRocchi builds her massive beasts from coils of clay, sculpting the surface as the animal grows. Through the raw wood constructed displays that the animals rest upon to the unfinished painted surfaces of the animals, DeRocchi references taxonomical research and the practice of recreating the exotic in natural history studies. Putting a twist on zoological dioramas of institutions like the Field Museum in Chicago, she explores the wonder and obsession we have with understanding our fellow species."

Pygmy Hippopotamus Bathing, ceramic, paint, graphite, wood, steel, foam, caster wheels, 6' x 4' x 3', 2010

Alanna DeRocchi has a BA and BFA from Western Illinois University in Macomb. She then did post-baccalaureate work at California State University in Long Beach and earned an MFA at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her work has been exhibited from Macomb to Montana.

Animal Presence is sponsored by Peter and Susan Hood.

McLean County Arts Center
‎601 N. East Street
Bloomington
309-829-0011

"And Then There Were None" Opens This Week at Community Players

I've read Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" in novel form (under a different title -- the book went through a couple of unpleasant, politically incorrect titles post-publication in 1939), seen at least two film versions and three stage productions and I remember the episode of "Remington Steele" that took off on it, and yet I never remember whodunit. "The Mousetrap," I remember. But the killer in "And Then There Were None" eludes me, no matter how many times I see it. It's a mystery!

I do remember the basic plot, however, wherein Christie strands ten strangers on a remote island. The host who invited them, the mysterious U. N. Owen (unknown, get it?), is nowhere to be found. But there is a message for all ten guests, accusing each of hiding a murderous act in the past. They're stuck on the island, wallowing in guilt, eying each other nervously...

And then they begin to die, one by one, in keeping with a nasty little poem tacked to the wall. The last line? "And then there were none." But how can that be? How can there be none left if the murderer is among them? Cue the scary music!

I'm not telling how the plot twist works. That would be cheating. I will tell you that the original book ended differently than the first stageplay, penned by Agatha Christie herself some four years after the book, which means that various film and TV and stage versions have felt free to pick whichever ending they liked better. Which means you may have a better memory than I do and still find the end unfamiliar if you've only run across the one Community Players didn't choose. Two possible endings, ten possible suspects, ten possible victims... That just makes it more fun, don't you think?

"And Then There Were None" opens at Community Players with a preview performance on Thursday, September 1, followed by performances September 2-4, 8-11 and 15-17. Evening performances are scheduled for 7:30 pm, with Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm.

Cathy Sutliff directs a cast including Brett Cottone, Larry Eggan, Jay Hartzler, Hannah Kearns, Nancy Nickerson, Allen Popowski, Aric Rattan, Jeff Ready, Leslie Ringger, Jeremy Stiller and Kevin Woodard as the array of suspects and victims. You may read more about it and match up the roles to the actors, as well as purchase tickets, at the CP website.

"Blackout/All Clear" Give Connie Willis Another Hugo

One of my favorite authors, Connie Willis, has just notched her 11th Hugo Award, this time for the two-volume time travel opus called "Blackout" and "All Clear."

These novels involve the same Oxford University time-traveling group as previous works "The Doomsday Book," which took her historians to 1348 and the ravages of the Black Death, and "To Say Nothing of the Dog," a more cheerful piece that takes its time travelers to 1888, just in time to punt down the Thames and run into Jerome K. Jerome.

In "Blackout/All Clear," Willis deals with Britain during World War II, as three Oxford students posing as specific people drop into specific locations -- a housemaid at an English manor house that takes in children sent away from London for safety, a reporter at the Battle of Dunkirk, and a shopgirl at a women's dress shop during the Blitz -- and find that things are not at all as they expected. They also find they can't come back to where they started from (Oxford in 2060) and they may be changing history where they are. Will their actions mean that Hitler wins the war? Will they die where they are so that they don't collide with other versions of themselves at other times? And what do they do with the people they've become attached to back in 1942?

Willis handles all sorts of issues, from life and death to fate and religion and social responsibility, always mixing humor and silliness with her most dire elements. I loved "To Say Nothing of the Dog," and found "The Doomsday Book" ultimately too dark and intense for me. I have put off reading "Blackout/All Clear" for that reason -- I'm not sure I'm over "Doomsday" yet. When I was a history major in college, I sort of loved the Black Death and wrote more than one paper about it for various classes. But "Doomsday" makes it a whole lot more real than my microbiology paper and its attendant rats and fleas did. I suspect "Blackout/All Clear" would be lots more wrenching than watching "Watch on the Rhine" or "Waterloo Bridge" a few more times. I guess I'm a Pollyanna when it comes to time travel.

Willis has now won 11 Hugos, 7 Nebula Awards, 4 Locus Awards, and induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

The 2011 Hugo Awards were presented in Reno, Nevada on August 20th.

"The Diviners" All Set to Go at Heartland

Heartland Theatre's production of "The Diviners," Jim Leonard Jr.'s "splendid Depression-era fable," is in rehearsal and gearing up for a September 8 opening.

"The Diviners" is billed as "a play in two acts and elegies," underlining the play's serious themes on the issues of religion, trust and personal faith, as a lapsed preacher named C.C. Showers arrives in a small Indiana town in the 1930s, coming up against townspeople's conflicting views on what faith really means. The biggest part of C.C.'s problems arise with a teenager named Buddy, who happens to be a first-rate "diviner," meaning he can find water even in times of drought, even though he is also deathly afraid of water.

Leonard's play is poetic and engaging, raising lots of questions without necessarily providing the answers. It was written in 1980, when Leonard was still an undergrad, as an entry for Hanover College in the American College Theater Festival. Since then, the play has been well-produced at high schools and colleges, as well as in regional theaters, as its down-home, unpretentious view of small-town life during the Depression has proved appealing to audiences.

For Heartland, Christopher Connelly is directing a cast that includes Kim Behrens, Derrick Billings, John Bowen, George Freeman, Lauren Hoefle, Michael Pullin, Amanda Serianni-Davis, Joy Schuler, Sarah Stone Innerst, Reggie Walker and Rian Wilson.

The Thursday, September 8 performance is a "Pay What You Can" preview, with no reservations accepted. Beginning Friday, September 9, tickets are $12 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with discounts for seniors and students on Thursdays and Sundays. Curtain is at 7:30 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 pm on Sunday.

"The Diviners" at Heartland Theatre is sponsored by the Religion, Culture and Arts Endowment of the First Methodist Church in Normal.

For more information or to make reservations, visit the Heartland website here.

Note: The artwork above, "Untitled" oil on wood, is used by permission of the artist, Laura Von Rosk. You may see more images of her work at lauravonrosk.com

"Twelfth Night" in a Resplendent Setting in Door County

I'm not exactly sure why Door Shakespeare, the theater company that performs in the woods in Wisconsin's Door County, chose the image at left to represent it. That Dance of Death, seen at the end of Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal" is not a happy or cheerful image, as it shows the people Death (avec sickle) is leading away to the Great Beyond. Door Shakespeare's image cuts off Death at one end as well as the jester at the other end, showing just the other players who meet Death at the end of the film. Still...

I don't see how that relates to Door Shakespeare. Except for the Scandinavian connection. I mean, they colored that logo in Swedish colors, and they stage their shows in the midst of nature at Björklunden vid Sjön, a beautiful, sprawling estate on the shores of Lake Michigan which bears a distinctly Swedish name.

"Twelfth Night," which has its last performance at Door Shakespeare tonight, takes full advantage of the Björklunden setting; they even offered a "roaming" option to playgoers on the night I saw it. That means, if you wanted to, you could tramp down to the shore with other audience members, arriving just in time to see leading lady Viola (played by Kay Allman for Door Shakespeare) and a helpful ship's captain (Mark Moede) appear as if by magic from out of the misty twilight, with the wide blue expanse of Lake Michigan as a backdrop. The sea breeze ruffled Viola's hair and dress, seagulls keened overhead, and waves crashed behind the players.

For a play that begins with a shipwreck, that was one fine way to open.

This roaming experiment involved two other scenes, as well, including the one where Duke Orsino commands, "If music be the food of love, play on," which should come first, but here was second, performed in a handy meadow. Anyway, it was the seaside entrance that really made an impact. Their motto at Door Shakespeare is "Timeless performance in a resplendent setting," which describes that opening nicely.

Safely back in our seats (folding chairs set up in tiers opposite a simple dirt playing space bounded by tall trees), we saw Viola, now disguised as a boy named Cesario, volunteer her services to the melancholy Duke (played by Steven Marzolf), including acting as his intermediary with lovely Olivia, who isn't at all interested in Orsino, but finds herself falling for Viola/Cesario. Ooops!

The comic plot involves Olivia's drunken, irresponsible uncle, Sir Toby Belch, his silly friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria, Olivia's servant, all of whom conspire against the fussbudget steward, one Malvolio, who doesn't appreciate their noisy shenanigans.

Throw in Sebastian, who happens to be Viola's twin, presumed-dead-but-not-so-dead brother, as well as a jester named Feste, hijinks involving a forged letter, yellow stockings and a poorly conceived duel, and almost everybody pining for someone he can't have, and you have "Twelfth Night."

Door Shakespeare and director Jerry Gomis don't mess with big props or set pieces, instead using the surroundings they've been given to frame the action. That includes Sir Toby and his pals eavesdropping from behind pine fronds, exits and entrances into the trees, and one pretty gate that Toby can't manage to unhook.

Gomis also played Malvolio at the performance I saw, and he was so good -- sort of a cross between Hollywood character actor Franklin Pangborn and Lucy's Gale Gordon with his rolled Rs and prissy demeanor -- it's hard to imagine the regular actor besting him.

Stephen Pearce was the youngest Toby Belch I've seen, and that undermined his performance a little, although it may just be that I don't really get into that part of the plot, anyway, since I'm really on Malvolio's side of that argument. (Drunken hooligans against the guy who runs a tight ship and is trying to get some sleep? Yeah, I'm with Malvolio every time.)

In that crowd, Barry Saltzman's Sir Andrew and his long blond hair looked funny enough (like Martin Short's Jackie Rogers Jr.) to make me laugh, anyway, and James Valcq, who is not only an actor but a composer (with "The Spitfire Grill," so recently performed at IWU, on his resume), tried gamely to elevate that tiresome clown Feste.

I also enjoyed Scot West's good-humored take on Sebastian, even if he was miles taller than Kay Allman and unlikely to be mistaken for her under any circumstances, and Leslie Ann Handelman's sparkling Olivia. I remembered Handelman from her performances at U of I in "Into the Woods" and "Intimate Apparel," and it's always nice to see Whatever Happened To.

This summer, Door Shakespeare chose "Twelfth Night" and an adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" for their summer season. Given how well the outdoor setting worked for "Twelfth Night," I'm hoping they will continue the "roaming" option and pick "The Tempest" and "Into the Woods" next year. I don't know how they'd pull off a whole orchestra, but they definitely have the woods and a viable Cinderella in Leslie Ann Handelman.

TWELFTH NIGHT
by William Shakespeare

Door Shakespeare
www.doorshakespeare.com

Director: Jerry Gomis
Costume Designer: Barb Portinga
Lighting and Scenic Design: Stewart Dawson

Cast includes: Steven Marzolf, Tim Murray, Ryan Shaw, Kay Allmand, Mark Moede, Stephen Pearce, Debra Babich, Barry Saltzman, James Valcq, Leslie Ann Handelman, Jerry Gomis and Scot West.

Celebration Company Fills in the Blank with John Logan's "Red"

That TBA on the Station Theater's 2011-12 schedule is TBA no more. The Celebration Company at the Station Theater in Urbana has announced that John Logan's "Red," a play that looks at painter Mark Rothko, the nature of art versus commerce, and the difficulties of the creative process, will take the last spot, opening April 12 and running till April 28, 2012. Rick Orr, the Celebration Company's Artistic Director, will direct.

Although playwright John Logan has strong ties to Chicago, "Red" began its life at London's Donmar Warehouse, with Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne playing Rothko and his assistant. That production, including Molina and Redmayne, transferred to Broadway soon after, picking up six Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Direction of a Play for Michael Grandage, Best Featured Actor in a Play for Redmayne, and Best Scenic, Lighting and Sound Design of a Play. "Red" also won several Drama Desk awards and the 2010 Drama League award for "Distinguished Production of a Play," with Molina taking home the "Distinguished Performance" award.

In other words, "Red" is new, hot and made a definite splash with its New York production. It's quite a coup for Orr and the Celebration Company to get the rights so quickly, especially in a season when they will also present Yazmina Reza's "God of Carnage," another daring new play, and Gina Gionfriddo's "Becky Shaw."

For more information about the new season, including audition info, you are advised to check out their Facebook page, which is updated more frequently than their website.