Theatre year in review
It's been a really great year for me, theatrically. Every contact I've made over the past ten years seemed to converge and create amazing opportunities I hadn't even dreamed of. The wonderfully creative team behind Bckseet Productions, Kate Brennan and Gregory DeCandia, which has now moved its base of operations to NYC, contacted me about playing Brutus in an all-female touring production of "Julius Caesar." We toured local Philadelphia schools, including Boys Latin, and had an incredible experience hearing Shakespeare's words as if for the first time.
At Curio in the Spring, I performed in a world premiere of a play written by Curio co-founder, Paul Kuhn, "Madville," about his childhood in Nova Scotia. I played the complex, tormented mother to a brood of imaginative, wild children.
Then, for a complete change of pace, Josh Hitchens, a fellow member of Curio Theatre, contacted me about a production of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," to be performed in a beautifully preserved Victorian mansion in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. I didn't hesitate before saying yes, never having had the opportunity to play Ibsen, one of my theatrical gods, and then... to be presented with the chance to play Nora, arguably the most symbolic of his heroines! What a beautiful experience this was. So beautiful, in fact, that we made a film of the production, (copies of which can still be purchased for $15, plus shipping and handling.)
And then, there was "Macbeth." I still haven't quite recovered from this production, directed by one of my favorite theatre people, Dan Hodge, and starring another, Jared Reed. There are times every component of a production comes together and creates absolute magic. That is what this production was for me; pure magic. I miss not only the setting and the other actors and that wonderful sense of collaboration between director and crew and even playwright, for the play became a living, breathing creature, adapting itself to our talents and needs, but I miss that part of me that came out in Lady Macbeth... sensuous and graceful and articulate and compelling. I'm a damp dishrag in comparison.
I talked to our friend, the phenomenally talented Lee Moyer, about creating a poster from some of Kyle's production photos, so that I could give Jared and Dan a closing gift that had meaning for me. And this is the thing of beauty he created:
Back at Curio in the Spring, I revisited a play dear to my heart, Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa," which was a defining moment in my college career at Smith. It was the first time I felt I truly inhabited a role and forgot about audience and final exams in that complete stage world. This time I played the oldest Mundy sister, Kate and had to dance like I knew what I was doing. Scary for me, a non-dancer, but ultimately very rewarding.
Tomorrow, I begin rehearsals for a production of "Sense and Sensibility." This is not a production photo, but a book jacket design my friend, photographer JR Blackwell, is creating. It's as close to Elinor Dashwood as I've ever been!
At Curio in the Spring, I performed in a world premiere of a play written by Curio co-founder, Paul Kuhn, "Madville," about his childhood in Nova Scotia. I played the complex, tormented mother to a brood of imaginative, wild children.
Then, for a complete change of pace, Josh Hitchens, a fellow member of Curio Theatre, contacted me about a production of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," to be performed in a beautifully preserved Victorian mansion in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. I didn't hesitate before saying yes, never having had the opportunity to play Ibsen, one of my theatrical gods, and then... to be presented with the chance to play Nora, arguably the most symbolic of his heroines! What a beautiful experience this was. So beautiful, in fact, that we made a film of the production, (copies of which can still be purchased for $15, plus shipping and handling.)
And then, there was "Macbeth." I still haven't quite recovered from this production, directed by one of my favorite theatre people, Dan Hodge, and starring another, Jared Reed. There are times every component of a production comes together and creates absolute magic. That is what this production was for me; pure magic. I miss not only the setting and the other actors and that wonderful sense of collaboration between director and crew and even playwright, for the play became a living, breathing creature, adapting itself to our talents and needs, but I miss that part of me that came out in Lady Macbeth... sensuous and graceful and articulate and compelling. I'm a damp dishrag in comparison.
I talked to our friend, the phenomenally talented Lee Moyer, about creating a poster from some of Kyle's production photos, so that I could give Jared and Dan a closing gift that had meaning for me. And this is the thing of beauty he created:
Back at Curio in the Spring, I revisited a play dear to my heart, Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa," which was a defining moment in my college career at Smith. It was the first time I felt I truly inhabited a role and forgot about audience and final exams in that complete stage world. This time I played the oldest Mundy sister, Kate and had to dance like I knew what I was doing. Scary for me, a non-dancer, but ultimately very rewarding.
Tomorrow, I begin rehearsals for a production of "Sense and Sensibility." This is not a production photo, but a book jacket design my friend, photographer JR Blackwell, is creating. It's as close to Elinor Dashwood as I've ever been!