Theater Arts From East to Left Coast

     Normally at this time I would be deep in the throes of event planning and organizing the upcoming season of One Acts and Snacks. After 3 fantastic seasons, including our first All-Female Playwright Extravaganza last year, the Casa has gone on the road -- literally! Click here for a peak in at our road trip cross country and our Ridiculous Party in Hungary.  If you've been a guest at the Casa over the past three years you will immediately recognize Sabrina, last seen getting belly-rubs in the audience of One Acts, and Ninja and Peanut Butter, more stealthy but also known to show up on stage or an actors lap halfway thru the show!

     We miss our beloved Casa community and so we are actively working on the next iteration of One Acts and Snacks. We hope it takes the form of something for everyone, no matter what coast you're on.

In the meantime, there is no lack of  opportunities on either coast! 

Below are 4 of many, many more: 2 for East and 2 for West :) 

1 --> Manhattan: Attend!

The WorkShop Theater presents Sundays@Six: free, sit-down readings of new and revisited scripts by company playwrights and of projects initiated by company artists. Most of the readings are followed by a moderated dramaturgical discussion. Next Sunday, September 10th is En Passant by Tony Sportiello, which just happens to be set in the San Fernando Valley! How's that for New York/California connectivity?! More info at: http://www.workshoptheater.org/sundays

2 --> Brooklyn: Participate!

Recently featured by Worksbywomen.org, Gold No Trade is a Brooklyn based company that supports women in the arts by creating strong and nuanced female characters and offering women an important role behind the scenes in production, play-writing and company management. They recently enjoyed a sold out run of The Subtle Body at 59E59 Theaters. To find out how you can be a part of Gold No Trade's next project join their mailing list or find them on Facebook here.

3 --> San Francisco: Write!

Playwrights Center of San Francisco was established in 1980 as a forum for playwrights to get together and hear their work read. (Sound familiar?! :-D) The mission of the The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco (PCSF) is to encourage and develop local playwrights and promote script writing, audience development, and related arts. Over the last 30 years it has grown to a membership organization that offers a number of successful programs that offer support and feedback to new and experienced playwrights alike and provides opportunities for actors and directors as well. Playwrights can find submission guidelines here.

4--> San Jose: Support!

Teatro Visión is a Chicanx theater company with more than three decades of service to the community. Their work amplifies the voices of Latinxs, creates a dignified and empowering sense of identity, inspires action, builds respect and understanding, and explores the social and psychological experiences of Latinxs. They are committed to nurturing the next generation of community leaders and cultural ambassadors. Along with their regular schedule, they are currently working on a very special new work, born of a year-long search for local stories. 

Obviously this doesn't cover all the boroughs in NYC of all the cities in the Bay Area. And, unless you're one of those bi-coastal folks we all so admire, you may not be able to get to more than 2. Pass the info on to someone you know out on that other coast! And let us know what you're looking forward to in your city so we can feature it in our next update!

XOXO from Coast to Coast!

Katie

A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Public

 What could be more quintessentially summer in the city than watching A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Public's Delacorte Theater surrounded by your fellow sweltering New Yorkers?

Midsummer is one of Will's "friendlier" comedies. The mistaken identities revolve around love-struck teenagers, rather than befuddled twins. The magical conflict is serious but not dire. And the comic relief could easily extend into a "tediously brief" show of it's own. Given it's prevalence, it actually becomes one of the harder plays to watch with an open mind. The text rolls off your mental Teleprompter as easily as Hamilton lyrics. Each scene change begets another comparison to a past production. Each costume, sound and lighting choice is scrutinized. (It was preview night; of course the mics didn't work perfectly and the levels needed some slight adjustments.) Each actor is held up to an impossible standard of personal preference.  

Except that this is Shakespeare in the Park at The Public:

"We are their parents and originals"

We live in a time when the adults in charge seem more like overgrown children than fully matured caretakers. A time in which it's rare to see a female face over 30 and the men are closely following suit. That said, I've no idea what Phylicia Rashad has been up to since The Cosby Show ended. Last I heard her daughter was playing Juliet at the Richard Rogers. And yet the moment Ms. Rashad entered, I felt no time had passed: her voice brought me back to my childhood and I felt in Titania a maternal warmth Shakespeare's script usually denies her. Richard Poe as Oberon gives the audience a refreshing vulnerability in his discord  with Titania. Both actors rule the stage with the regality of wise parents rather than the anger of slighted children.  With this choice they portray on stage a mantle of maturity that our current world is sorely lacking.

"Fairies skip hence!" 

The burgomask by the bumbling mechanicals famously ends the play, which is why I questioned the choice to include one at the beginning. What at first seemed a rustic dance to live jazz streaming out the balcony, was actually fairy revels. These fairies surprise as a beautiful chorus dressed in white from hair to shoes. The largest group of elders I have witnessed on the professional stage, they enter dancing, unapologetically existing as do all artists regardless of age: for the pure purpose of sharing human emotion through art. Subtle and strong, Vinie Burrows as Peaseblossom and Kristine Nielsen as Puck, meet as equals, calm and rational adults, as well as carefree fairies. In that instant the magical world of Midsummer comes to mean more than petty fighting or corse sex; these beauties care deeply for themselves, each other and us. They are the foundation, as our grandparents and parents ought to be, of our shared world this evening.

"Is all our company here?"

A true ensemble is defined by no one actor overshadowing nor overcompensating for another. Even utilizing the amazing physical comedy skills of Annaleigh Ashford as Helena and Danny Burstein as Bottom, the story remained tight and gave all viewpoints their due. The vulnerability bar set by Mr. Poe was given reverence by each member from Bhavesh Patel's gleefully excited Theseus to David Manis's more worried than angry Egeus.  Mr. Burstein  believably became the "lover who dies most gallantly for love" in the last moments of his "performance" as Pyramus; luckily he returned to ridiculously obscene death throes, preserving my tears for the moment the lovers sat their "parents", played by our band of fairy elders, before the nuptial ceremony. Recent Juilliard grad Justin Cunningham as Philostrate exhibited the subtle sign of a brilliantly maturing actor by embracing the supporting role and imbruing it with the same level of grace and commitment as the chattier roles. 

This is Shakespeare in the Park at the Public, 2017. This is where one can count on novelty, on concepts that challenge, and, even if it's not your favorite production, theater that takes our current sociopolitical landscape into account and asks that you consider our current world deeply thru the fresh eyes of both elder fairies as well as young changeling boys and girls.