TADA!

Evan Harrington

We are pleased to have with us conducting master classes for the remainder of this week one of our alumni, Evan Harrington. Evan graduated in 1998 and has since gone on to appear in many venues. He is currently with the cast of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway playing the role of Piangi, and was with the Broadway cast of Avenue Q as Brian for two years. He’s also done national tours of The Music Man and The Full Monty as well as performed regionally with The Kansas City Rep, the Arizona Theatre Company, and New Repertory Theatre. Evan’s focus in his classes is trying to get singers more connected to their lyrics, to personalize songs, and to keep things simple in the audition process. It’s always a good time when we bring back alums to share with our current students. The vibe is great, and our alums enjoy giving back something to the place where they got their start. Evan will be doing a small 30-minute recital tonight at 7:30 in the Bartlett Theatre and then conducting further master classes, concluding with a Q&A on Friday morning at 11:00 AM.

well… this was quite a weekend. I had my auditions for 4.48 psychosis, and it absolutely sucked (in the best possible way).

One thing I love about 4.48 is the freedom it allows. But that very freedom made casting this show so brutal. The students at this school DO NOT make it easy for anyone to cast a show! I was presented with many great options at the first set of auditions. I think the callbacks only amplified those options, and for some parts made it harder to decide. I could have cast almost any combination of people in almost any role. It was insane. It was so hard because there were so many students who really deserved to be cast, and I’m certain all of them could have done wonderful jobs in the show. But, unfortunately, I could only cast so many people. And as a director, I had to make some choices. It’s really tough, because you know that you are going to disappoint some people, but I guess if we’re trying to pursue careers in theatre, we need to be prepared for that. I think casting is definitely the hardest part of directing a play (although with this play, that’s debatable). But it’s also the most important. I hated myself afterward, but I cast my show, and I feel really good about what I have.

Well, now that that’s all over, I’ve got a lot to look forward to, first being thanksgiving break!

Believe it or not, with the conclusion of Fuddy Meers and La Bohème, the TADA season for this semester is coming to a quick end. Our theatrical season for the first part of the year concludes with the student organization Performing Arts Company (PAC) putting on their second show of the season, Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company. The show is considered an “experimental” by PAC, which means limited technical support and performed in an alternative space. In this instance, Company will be performed in the 1891 Fredonia Opera House. If you are interested in tickets, please go to their website or call their box office at 716-679-1891. Tickets for this show are NOT on sale on the Fredonia campus.

To find out more about this production, you can view this interview with the production’s student director, Kyle Blount, and Chris Wicek, who is playing Bobby, the central character.

If you haven’t got ticket to La Bohème, you’re probably out of luck. Tickets went quickly over the week, and the remaining three performances are sold out. Of course, you can still catch Fuddy Meers playing also this weekend in its second weekend of performances tonight and tomorrow night.

The Fredonia Brown Bag Series, a collection of lunchtime presentations by faculty on the research or creative activities in which they are engaged, featured a presentation by four faculty members involved with La Bohème last Wednesday Nov. 4th. Dr. David Rudge, musical director, and Prof. Julie Newell, Coordinator of Opera for the School of Music, as well as Prof. Steve Rees, Chair of Theatre and Dance and the opera’s technical director, along with Prof. Tom Loughlin, stage director, spoke about the collaboration between the SOM and TADA in producing this opera. You can read about it in an article from the Dunkirk Observer, our regional newspaper.

Here is a small sample from the final dress rehearsal of La Bohème, featuring aluma Jennifer Winn as Mimi performing the Act 3 aria “Addio Senza Rancor.” (”Farewell, without bitterness”)

Tonight was Company’s first dress rehearsal in Acting A at 8:30.  I walked in after running 2 rehearsal before it; one for my one act and one with just Bobby.  4 actors were late; 1 had no excuse.  I’m a very high stress person (I’ve been hospitalized with chest pains multiple times since being at college) so my blood pressure is already high.  By the time we got everyone in and warmed up, we were 20 minutes behind schedule.  The last thing I said to the cast before the run was a very annoyed “I said places for act one!”

Then they opened their mouths to start the show.  All of a sudden, every single thing we’ve talked about over the past 3 week managed to fall into place.  I wasn’t watching people walking around Acting A.  I was watching Bobby and his friends tell the story of his life.  Line was called a good amount of times.  We adjusted a few things.  But I saw the ideas that have only really been in my head in front of me.  And they worked.  But they didn’t work because I’m a brilliant director.  (Far from it… I’m guessing and somehow making correct choices) My ideas worked because my cast fully committed to them and took them in stride.

Part of me should be annoyed that some things still aren’t right.  But most of me is on the verge of tears because I am so proud of my cast.  I have watched them grow together as a unit.  14 people have started to work and create this crazy vision I had.  It’s come to life before my very eyes.  It’s a very humbling experience because in the end, you have no say in what happens.  The actors have to CHOOSE to do what you told them to.  And it’s sometimes even better when they don’t.  Tonight, a character change a movement to better complement her dialogue and it looked fantastic.

I have watched over the past few weeks this very difficult piece of theatre pull itself together.  I’ve listened to complaints from my friends on the PAC board about things I do wrong.  I’ve watched people around me grow increasingly frustrated with each other over the smallest things.  And I let it affect me.  But then I walk into rehearsal and my cast greets me with energy and ready to work.  Every single person I cast is thrilled to be there and is ready to do whatever I ask.  It’s very funny to me becasue a concept for the show I DIDN’T choose to go with is that all you really need in life is good company.  And my cast is exactly that.  They roll with every thing I throw at them with a smile on their face.  They grow as a unit and as individuals.  And to know that I helped them to get there is a very overwhelming feeling.  I feel nervous for them when they’re unsure.  I feel triumph when they nail a particularly hard spot for them.  For example, Bobby has 2 HUGE monologues.  I had to give Bobby his book back twice.  Tonight, he had to call line 4 times during them, but he got through it.  He conquered the memorization issue.  I could not be more proud of him for that.  Some people are irritated that not everyone is line perfect and we open in a week.  But I’m sorry… we’re still doing educational theatre and to see that kind of improvement in someone in 2 days is extremely promising.

I realize I’ve been rambling but I’m so full of emotions after rehearsal tonight.  I’m nervous for the things I have to go in and fix tomorrow.  I’m excited to see new life in places that were dead.  But most of all, I’m feeling very proud yet not for myself.  I’m so proud of each and every cast member.  They have pulled their weight more than I could’ve asked for and, by doing that, have showed me that they have more respect for me than I’ve ever felt from any other group I’ve worked with.  I can not wait to see them succeed on opening night.  They will have a triumph all their own.

Gotta love the busy college life.  It’s been a while since I’ve gotten on here.

Let’s see… Charlotte’s web ended a couple of weeks ago.  My first and last mainstage here.  It was kind of bittersweet.  I have more time to do homework and focus on other things, but I had a really great experience working on the show.  I’m so glad I actually decided to audition.  I was so certain before school started that I was not going to be cast in anything, but I auditioned anyway because I’ve never been the kind of person to skip out on an audition for any reason.  If nothing else, it’s good practice.  Like a friend told me, you never know, and I’m glad I went for it .

I’ve registered for classes for my LAST SEMESTER IN COLLEGE!! Wow, what a great feeling.  Kind of scary, but it’s exciting.  I’ve worked it out so that I only have to take 14 credits next semester, and my earliest classes start at 11.  This leaves me more time to focus on directing, and late classes help because I’m a bit of a night owl.  I think it will be great.

I’ve helped out a couple of days with the after school program that APO is running.  It’s definitely… interesting. hehe, but the kids are trying really hard and their starting to get things more.  I’m amazed sometimes at the commitment of some of them.  and it’s great to see how their growing.

This past weekend, we had a couple of workshops with alumnus Marc de la Concha.  I must say that it’s very disappointing that more students don’t take advantage of these things.  I know students that would give anything to have opportunities like these, and some of the students here just choose not to go. Why?-I’ll never understand.  Anyway, it works out better for the students who do go, because that’s more time and focus that can go into each individual student.  On saturday, everyone had an opportunity to sing a song or two, then after he would give us an audition scenario that we had to prepare for the next day.  Later on, we got to see his one-man show, which was quite entertaining.  The next day everyone came in with songs to sing for their ‘audition.’  My audition was for Annie from Henry and Mudge, a little girl who’s energetic and easily distracted.  I don’t have a lot of sheet music, but I have My friend the dictionary from the 25th annual putnam county spelling bee.  I wasn’t sure if it was great, but it was the best option I had.  Marc thought it was a pretty good choice, and he gave me some really good advice on how to make the performance better.  I can definitely use that song for future auditions, since I would like to get into children’s theatre.  After singing we had a mock movement call with a number from the drowsy chaperone.  That was a lot of fun, and was a great way to wrap up the weekend.
There are more workshops coming up next week with another alumnus.  I’ve signed up to sing, and I’ll definitely use this opportunity to work on My Friend the Dictionary a little more, as well as another song.  I’m a BA student, so I don’t have singing lessons like some of the BFAs do, but I can still put myself out there.  Really, even if I didn’t have any music and didn’t like to sing, I would still go.  It’s a great way to learn, observing your fellow students, taking the constructive criticism they get and applying it to yourself.  If you’re too busy, that’s one thing, but there’s no reason to miss out on these things because you don’t have music prepared, or don’t want to perform.  These are great opportunities to learn from people who are working in the business.  I mean, if students aren’t going to these things, what reason does that give P.A.C. or the department to keep doing them?  It’s time for students to become more involved.

My auditions for 4.48 Psychosis are on Saturday. AAHHHHHH!!!!! I’m soooooo excited!! I’m still in shock that I’m going to be doing this, but I can’t wait.  Auditions are, in my opinion, the worst part of working on a show.  Auditions, from the director side, have taught me something really important as an actor: You can be a great actor, but sometimes your just not right for the part.  It was really hard for me last semester during 1 act auditions to see students who I thought had great auditions, but have to say no because they were too tall, too big, etc.  Basically, it sucks.  But this show isn’t too specific with characters and their appearances so that wont be as much of a concern.  I’m really excited to see students come in and see my cast start to form.  and by Sunday night, I’ll have a cast! that’s when the fun begins .  Words cannot describe how excited I am!

Well I better get back to philosophy homework and get to bed for my eight o’clock class in the am.  Till the next time…

This is perhaps the most intense two weeks of our semester here at TADA, as we will have two full productions running simultaneously this weekend. Fuddy Meers, our current Walter Gloor Mainstage Production, will be entering its second weekend of performances Nov. 12-14. Concurrent with Fuddy Meers, the great Italian opera La Bohème will be performed in the Marvel Theatre Nov. 12-15. It has everyone in the department scurrying around at high intensity as we prepare everything for opening night.

One of the most passionate and musically richest operas ever written, La Bohème tells the story of four young men living as the quintessential “starving artists” in an attic in Paris in 1838. One of them, a poet named Rodofo, encounters a young seamstress named Mimi who comes to his garret when her candle blows out and she can’t see to find her way back into her own room. The two of them are immediately attracted to each other and fall in love. They celebrate with a night out in the Latin Quarter of Paris on Christmas Eve. Mimi, however, has consumption, and in order to spare her feelings Rodofo pretends to fall out of love with her and they separate. But Mimi returns to him in the last act, where once again they express their love for each other as Mimi dies.

La Bohème is based on Henri Burger’s novel Scènes de la Vie Bohème and has become one of the great vehicles for opera performers over the century. The tenor and soprano roles of Rodofo and Mimi are a must for every singer to have in their repertoire. The opera has many magnificent arias and duets, including O soave fanciulla, Quando me n’vò, Mimì tu più non torni, and one of the great arias for a bass singer, Vecchia zimarra. The opera is the inspiration for the recent Broadway hit Rent, and is also a featured item in the 1987 movie Moonstruck starring Nicholas Cage and Cher.

La Bohème is a co-production of the School of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance in association with the Hillman Opera Foundation. Produced by Prof. Julie Newell of the voice faculty of the SOM, with musical direction by Dr. David Rudge and stage direction by Prof. Tom Loughlin, La Bohème will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Below is a feature video produced by the Rockefeller Arts Center which will give you a further look behind the scenes as we prepare for La Bohème.

The review for Fuddy Meers is in – congratulations all around!

If you are looking for an evening of bizarre theatre, in the best sense of that phrase, have I got a recommendation for you! Go see Fuddy Meers, currently being presented in the Bartlett Theatre on the Fredonia State campus. The play, by David Lindsay-Abaire, explores questions about memory, language, and the ways in which we construct reality, and it does so with humor and affection. Of course, discussions about how we construct reality also get us into the realm of the unreal, which is how the bizarre enters the play.

The play is about a woman who suffers from a form of amnesia that requires her to depend on those around her for her understanding of who she is, but none of those around her are fully trustworthy, so neither she nor the audience can be sure of who she is. The one character who does seem trustworthy has recently had a stroke, so that her ability to use language is severely impaired. Consequently, even when she tells the truth, we can barely understand what she is saying. Thus, when she describes the distorting mirrors in a funhouse, she calls them “fuddy meers,” which is itself a distortion. Just as the mirrors distort the images that they reflect, so her language, and the language of all the characters, distorts the reality that it is supposed to present.

What prevents these reflections from becoming too solemn is the play’s abundant humor. This humor is not the laugh-out-loud type (though someone in the audience guffawed ostentatiously). Rather it considers the philosophical complications with a kind of wry wit. For instance, I found myself laughing at Gertie’s garbled speech, then remembered that I was laughing at a purported stroke victim, then realized that she was making no less sense than the other characters who were concocting such abundant lies.

As we have come to expect, the SUNY Fredonia Theatre Department has done an excellent job with this play. Charlotte Foster, as the amnesiac Claire, does a good job of registering surprise at everything that she learns, even though she knew the same things yesterday and has already forgotten them. Steve Brachmann, as Richard, captures the edginess of someone who is responsible for an amnesiac and then develops his character as we begin to see his true complexity. Jon Dimaria plays Kenny as a young man who knows more than he wants to, which may be true of most of us. Mark Reeve and Scott Malkovsky work well as a half-comedic, half-threatening duo, while Crystal Gramkee does a nice job with Heidi. Camellia Tatara is outstanding as Gertie, largely because she has to imitate the speech of a stroke victim, simultaneously seeming to make sense while speaking what sounds like gibberish. (I should note that in this paragraph I have tried hard to describe the characters without giving away their relationships. The audience has to figure those out for themselves.)

Fuddy Meers is well-directed by Jessica Hillman, who utilizes the space in the Bartlett Theatre in some clever ways. Ted Sharon’s fight choreography is again worth noting. One wonders how much actual fighting he has done.

Two final notes: I wouldn’t bring children to this play, not because of the few “naughty words” that are used but because it would be too difficult for them to follow. And food and drink are not allowed in the theatre. (I mention that last point because the program reads “Food and drink is not allowed in the theatre.” One would expect better from a program for a college production.)

Remaining performances are Nov. 12, 13, and 14 at 8 p.m.

Theodore L. Steinberg

Department of English

SUNY Fredonia

I know, I know, Tom’s going to be extremely disappointed in my lack of updates. The reason is also the topic for this post.

Sometimes, you’re going to have a rough semester.  You may have too much on your plate, you may be growing away from old friends, or you may be having financial troubles. Whatever it is that’s going on, it can affect your social life, your schoolwork, and so on.  So what can you do? Bad things happen, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That much you have to accept. But sometimes, it isn’t that easy.

Share time! I’ve been diagnosed with a variety of mental disorders, all of them stemming from a combination of Bipolar disorder and clinical depression. Most people wouldn’t know it if I didn’t tell them, and that’s mostly thanks to medication.  With medication, I’m just like anyone else.  And just like anyone else, I’m allowed to have a bad day here and there.  Unfortunately, this semester has been full of them. In fact, the past two years have been full of them.  Rather than focusing on all of it, I’ll focus on 2009 only.

During Urinetown’s run in February, I wound up in the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration. Two days later, I was driving through some snow in the Jamestown area, hit an ice patch, and long story short, my minivan is now a little cube somewhere.  Nobody was hurt, but there will always be mental scars from that.  Then March came along. Spring break! That was fine and dandy until the last day – my grandfather died, thus completing the decimation of my grandparent population.  (I lost my dad’s dad and my mom’s mom when I was very young. My dad’s mom died in 2008.)  Ok, so the rest of the semester went fairly smoothly.  Then summer came along. I moved into a beautiful new apartment, and was completely unable to find a job.  I had the summer orientation show thing, which was great, but other than that, I had nothing.  On top of that, there was a friendship lost, and that didn’t make life any easier. So I went home for a while. Please note that there’s a reason I moved to Fredonia. Long Island has just become unpalatable for me. I couldn’t get a job there, either.

Then I came back here. Things were looking up. My housemate is great, my boyfriend got hired at a hotel, and my brother, who had taken a week off of work for his birthday, decided to spend most of that time here.  So in the middle of September, I had a great day with Rob. Then things took a turn for the worse.  See, I have pet rats. (Don’t you dare ew at me. They’re better pets than any cat I know, and they’re tied with my dog.)  Samantha and Molly were closing in on two years old, which is pretty much the lifespan of a rat.  Sam had gone through 3 surgeries to remove 4 tumors, and her age was really starting to show.  In fact, she had gotten to the point where I had to have her euthanized.  Anyone who has lost a pet will know that it’s tough.  Anyone who has (deities forbid) lost a child will know how I felt.  I didn’t give birth to her, she wasn’t human, but she was my baby. That was a hard hit to take.  Then, just a few days later, I received terrible news.  One of my relatives, Doug, had died of ALS.  He was 37 years old and survived by his wife and two sons, as well as both of his parents and all of his siblings. 

The opera got into full swing then, and while I won’t go into the issues I’m having there until they’re resolved, suffice it to say that things got hairy.  Between classwork, homework, and taking care of the house, bills, etc… It gets crazy sometimes.  And then I got rear-ended.  Yeah, that’s right. While I was stopped, with my blinker on, trying to get into my driveway across traffic, I was plowed into.  Yes, I’m fine, yes, the car will be fixed, and no, there was no need to go to the hospital. Please recall, however, the mental scars mentioned in the first segment of this flashback.  I had just managed to bounce back from that incident when things went wrong again.  Molly, Samantha’s “big sister” became very lethargic. Barely ate, drank, or moved.  I realized that she was just very old and it was her time, so I called the vet to have her put down.  She didn’t make it to the vet.  In fact, she didn’t make it to the car.  She died, cuddled up to my chest, as I was putting on my jacket.  Admittedly, it was very much in her style to do things her own way, and she really disliked going to the vet.  So she opted out of being poked and prodded. It was peaceful, it was painless, and it was on her terms, which helped just a little.  And the hits just keep coming.  Last night, after a whole mess of work at the opera and my house, I was informed that one of Doug’s older brothers, Gary, died Wednesday morning.  I’m not certain how old he was, but he wasn’t “old” by any means.  He is survived by his two sons, his wife, his parents, and all but one of his siblings.  Gary was one of the people who meant the most to me because he made my grandmother incredibly happy, and as she was my “other mother”, anyone who made her happy was immediately a saint.

Dealing with bad things, like death, accidents, and changes in friendships is not always easy.  Sometimes, you can get over it quickly, but other times, it just doesn’t work that way.  For years, I refused to get help because I saw it as a “weakness”.  I was incredibly stupid back then.  I’ve since gone to seek help, and let me tell you: it works.  Lograsso has a counseling center, where several counselors are available to help you through bad times.  There’s a crisis team for emergencies, and much as I hate to admit it, it’s something I’ve used.  And that’s what the counceling center is there for: to be used.  If you can find help within your circle of friends or your family, great!  But if for any reason you need more help, don’t hesitate.  Like every other doctor, they can’t divulge information to your parents unless they feel that you’re a danger to yourself or others.  And for those of you who are concerned that someone might see you there and think you’re crazy, don’t worry about it.  If your friends are going to think less of you because you’re talking to someone, then your friends suck.

Hello everyone!

Pardon my leave of absence lately.  I’ve been going slightly insane here at good ole SUNY Fred.  I’ve quite a lot on my plate.  I’m currently directing 3 different projects in varying levels of importance.  At the bottom of the list (sad to say) I’m directing a scene for Tom’s directing 1 class.  My actors are both doing a great job and I feel I should place more importance on it, but the final presentation of it isn’t until December so I’ve put it aside for a bit.  I’m also starting to direct my final for the class, a one act.  I’m actually doing a cut from the play The Pillowman.  I’ve picked a difficult and fairly long section but I cast the right people.  We had a read through recently and the actors fit very well together.  I lucked out and got both my first choices for actors and they are both on the same page as me on character development.  And of course my biggest challenge right now is PAC’s latest production of Company.

We open in 11 days and rehearsals are going great.  I could not have asked for a more dedicated cast.  The entire show was blocked and staged in 7 days.  Half my actors are already off book or very close to it.  A huge challenge I am facing, as a first time director, is trying to keep my eyes open for everything.  The rest of the PAC board decided that I needed an Assistant Director so Andy Herr has stepped in to be another set of eyes.  It’s been extremely helpful to me, yet slightly disappointing.  My favorite part of directing is working one on one with the actors and trying to pull as much as I can out of them.  But with the time restraint I’ve been under I can’t do all that and block/choreograph and keep my eye on the visual appearance and work the technical aspects at the same time.  So I keep adjusting and fixing the big picture while Andy takes a few people aside at a time and gives them little nudges in the right direction towards my overall concept.

When I sat down to assemble the information for the program, I decided to add a briefs director’s note.  In it, I explained what I am trying to get across to the audience and what I want them to take home with them.  I pose the question of “What makes a good relationship?”  Sondheim never really tells us exactly, but he gives us hints throughout the show.  I go on to explain how there is someone for everyone that you just fit with.  The little quirks you possess will mesh/clash perfectly with someone else’s at some point in time.  In the end, what Sondheim is trying to say is that one can exist on their own, but it’s not being alive.  That entails having someone to assist through life while they do the same.  It makes me take a look at my own life.  I’ve worked with a couple of my actors privately, giving them my ideas on who they are in the show.  The difficult part is giving them examples from my own life to try to help them connect to the people they are portraying.  Part of my concept is that the couples are all real people, but they hve a heightened stereotype attached to them.  It’s important that the stereotype is played and made apparent, but the characters should still be real people.  I want the audience to leave feeling that they’ve justed watched  their friends or even themselves.

Company runs November 18 and 19 at the Fredonia Opera House.  Tickets are $3.00 and are available at the box office of the opera house!

Hope to see you there!