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Posts Tagged Theater
Variety is the ticket to Albuquerque’s theater scene
Posted by Kelly Koepke in Theater on September 1st, 2010
More than 30 companies guarantee an exciting season
By Kelly Koepke
Albuquerque Little Theatre, White Christmas
The Adobe Theater’s fall season began in August with David Mamet’s “A Life in the Theater” (through Sept. 5), and September/October continues with George Bernard Shaw’s classic “Candida.” October/November brings in “A Thousand Clowns” by Herb Gardner, and the holiday season kicks off with “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
From the newest to the oldest, Albuquerque Little Theatre heralds its 81st season with the rousing “Chicago” in September/October, then switches to family friendly holiday fare with Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” for November/December. Albuquerque Little Theatre also provides space for October’s production of “Captain Louie, Junior” from PLAY Conservatory Project.
Albuquerque Senior Theatre, the city’s first live theater program directed to the senior population, produces plays at local senior centers. This fall catch October’s “Murder on the El Capitan,” a dinner theater with original narration, pantomime and audience participation. Then in December, enjoy “Merry Christmas Caper” by D.K. Oklahoma.
Auxiliary Dog Theatre starts its fourth season in September with Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” then slides into October/November with “Coming Attractions” by Ted Tally. Aux Dog also provides a venue to other companies in town, so watch for their productions, too.
The Box Performance Space moved into the heart of Downtown at 2nd and Gold this year, and its resident company Blackout Theatre presents Noah Haidle’s “Rag and Bone,” directed by legendary Albuquerque director Denise Schulz, in September. Look for a new sketch show in November, as well.
The Desert Rose Playhouse’s Northeast Heights theater brings “Vecinos” directed by Henrique Valdevinos in September and “I Considered Smiling” written and directed by Theodore Jackson in October.
Duke City Repertory
The fledging company opened the season in August with “Trust,” and brings David Mamet’s “Oleanna” to The Filling Station in October. Then the pros at Duke City Rep put a twist on a seasonal classic with “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” by Tom Mula in December: Scrooge from his partner’s perspective.
The East Mountain Centre for Theatre
Dinner and a show? At The East Mountain Centre for Theatre, the October show, “The Dress Shop Murders of 1933, a Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre,” written and directed by Richard Atkins, includes eats by Greenside Café. And food’s even in the title of “A Tuna Christmas,” the December romp about a fictional town in Texas.
Learning’s not just for the young ones at the Explora! Theater—they produce full-length plays related to science, technology and art. Fall 2010 productions include “Frank Oppenheimer: Of Bombs and Museums” on Sept. 18, “Christa McAuliffe—Teacher to Astronaut” and “Albert Einstein—More Than Just Hair” in October.
FUSION Theatre Company’s Broadway-influenced season announcement made waves because of its novel delivery method—a YouTube video, FUSION Theatre Company. Fall begins with their exciting news of the regional premiere of the Pulitzer and Tony Awards-winning “August: Osage County” by Tracy Letts in September. A month later, see Nobel Prize-winning Samuel Beckett’s tender portrait of a couple in “Happy Days.”
Landmark Musicals is becoming the go-to group for song and dance theatrical productions. October’s “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” by Dean Regan, starring the amazing Laurie Finnegan, returns by popular demand.
Get thee to The Filling Station again for the new season from Mother Road Theatre Company, including September’s “Moby Dick” and October/November’s “Love Song” by John Kolvenbach.
MTS is bouncing back from the fire that destroyed its costume warehouse with a holiday production of “Willy Wonka.”
N4th Theater stages and produces intriguing works this fall. This month, see the Two Worlds Festival’s staged reading of “War Paint” by Bret Jones, a two-act play set in the present day among the people of the Muscogee (Creek) tribe. In October, Global DanceFest presents the U.S. debut of “The Crossing” by Jonathan Khumbulani Nkala, a unique theatrical story of Zimbabwe. November’s staged reading of local Lou Clark’s “We All Fall Down” will be performed by N4’s resident Solarity Theater Company. December turns festive with Ka-HOOTZ for Kids’ “Cinderella &The Beanstalk” (also by Lou Clark) and directed by Susan Pearson.
National Hispanic Cultural Center
“Bless Me, Ultima,” Rudolfo Anaya’s iconic work, a mystical coming-of-age story set in post-World War II New Mexico, has been adapted by the author as a full-length stage production, to be shown Nov. 11-14. Part of the Revolutions International Theatre Festival, New Orleans performance artist José Torres Tama’s “The Cone of Uncertainty” explores the concept of forced exile after Hurricane Katrina in a multimedia solo piece in January.
Also for the kiddies (and their adults) is New Mexico Young Actors’ November production of Disney’s “Aladdin, Jr.” Then December announces “Here Come the Cows,” a touring melodrama.
Popejoy bring the best touring theater to Albuquerque with two shows that couldn’t be more different in December—the Tony-nominated “The Color Purple” and “A Christmas Carol.” And by now I’m sure you’ve all heard about “Wicked” coming in January. You haven’t? Come out from under your rock!
Local company Teatro Nuevo Mexico brings the esteemed New York theatre company Repertorio Español to the National Hispanic Cultural Center in October for “La Casa De Bernarda Alba” by Federico García Lorca.
Tricklock Company and UNM Department of Theatre and Dance
Tricklock Company’s avant garde sensibilities run to the physical, and “Traitors” by Kristen D. Simpson in November at UNM’s Theatre X is no exception—a fantasy of action, adventure, true love and treachery. And while we’re on the subject of UNM, the students and faculty of the UNM Department of Theatre and Dance produce plays and the Words Afire Festival of New Works each year. October’s set for “The Firebugs” by Max Frisch, and “No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre, while November’s ablaze with “The Cherry Orchard” and the aforementioned Words Afire.
The Vortex comes off a highly successful summer Shakespeare trifecta with September’s “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley, then slides into October’s classic “The Little Foxes” by Lillian Hellman. Susan Erickson’s “Raised by Humans” arrives for November and stays through December.
For details on dates, tickets and a schedule of upcoming live theatrical productions visit the Albuquerque Theatre Guild’s website.
—Kelly Koepke is a contributing editor to albuquerqueARTS.
Theater Guide
Posted by E Christina Herr in Theater on September 1st, 2010
African American Performing Arts Center
Cardboard Playhouse Productions
Duke City Repertory
The East Mountain Centre for Theatre
National Hispanic Cultural Center
The New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA)
Public Academy for Performing Arts
UNM Department of Theatre and Dance
If you would like your theater listed please send you website link to calendar@abqarts.com.
Adrenaline rush
Posted by Jim Belshaw in Theater on September 1st, 2010
The curtain lifts on a new season
By Jim Belshaw
Hugh Witemeyer, secretary of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild
You are an actor standing just offstage in the wing of a theater. You listen to the muffled chatter of an audience settling into its seats. Maybe you sneak a peek through a little part in the curtain to see what the “house” looks like. All the while you wait for the stage manager to whisper one of the most frightening one-syllable words you will ever hear—“Go!”
An addictive habit
The experience produces odd sensations for an actor. The rush of adrenaline combines with the abject fear of forgetting your first line, and the next thing you know the inside of your mouth has become a jar full of cotton balls. But the curtain lifts and on you go.
It’s called theater. A new show has begun.
Multiply this by a factor of 30 or so and you have many such moments, new shows and new seasons, full of expectation and the addictive energy that brings people back to the stage time and time again.
“People do get addicted to it,” Hugh Witemeyer, secretary of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild, said. “One of the common wisecracks you often hear is what job do you have to support your theater habit?”
Genesis of the Guild
The Albuquerque Theatre Guild came into being in 2007, largely built on dissatisfaction with the way local media—or more to the point, the Albuquerque Journal—covered (or didn’t cover) local theater productions. Frequently, shows would open and close with sparse audiences because people simply didn’t know about the show.
“The Guild came about in a kind of protest,” he said. “Theater is pretty much all volunteer, and you had these groups working so hard and no one in the media was covering them. Things weren’t getting reviewed. If we were lucky we got one or two reviews in a week. In January of 2007, there was a meeting of theater groups and out of it came the idea of a guild organization or federation or alliance of theater groups to represent the theaters and to try to lobby on behalf of them.”
The Guild has 38 member organizations, 35 of which stage productions. (Three are venues only that do not stage their own productions.) There are children’s theater groups, about a dozen organizations devoted in whole or part to theater education, groups specializing in musical theater, groups that have their own space and groups that don’t.
Some are beginning a new season; some perform all year round.
“I think here in Albuquerque the ‘new season’ is a less dramatic annual transition than it is in cities where the theater scene is quiet in the summer,” Witemeyer said. “In many cities theaters are dark in the summer, but here theaters operate all year round. It’s never really dark. The Adobe Theater, for instance, does 10 shows a year. The Vortex Theatre is just finishing up its summer Shakespeare festival, and then comes ‘Crimes of the Heart’ in fall. But it’s not coming in with trails of red and gold leaves as a seasonal event.”
New company, big goals
One group that most assuredly is starting a new season is the Duke City Repertory Theatre. The season is not only new, but so is the Rep, featured last month in albuquerqueARTS. This year marks its inaugural season, the culmination of years of work.
“Terrifying and exciting,” its artistic director, Amelia Ampuero said. “We have worked toward this for three years, and suddenly it’s a week from when we open and it’s like we’re having a baby, a real baby.”
The new season and new company began on August 19 with “Trust.” Its next production, opening on October 14, will be the David Mamet play “Oleanna.”
The Duke City Rep has big plans for Albuquerque and the Southwest.
“We want to become a theater that pays everyone a living wage,” Ampuero said. “We want to be the theater where people who have chosen this art form as their career can make a living. We aim to be the state theater of New Mexico and the regional theater of the Southwest. There is a lot of community theater that’s wonderful, but we want to be something bigger than that.”
Theater thrills
Hugh Witemeyer calls the growth in local theatre “explosive” in the last five years. Witemeyer, who said he’s been involved in theater since high school, retired from teaching at the University of New Mexico six years ago and says that theater has become the central activity in his life, pointing to the “great diversity of people held together by this one interest.”
“From an audience point of view, what’s exciting about the theater is that it’s live,” he said. “It’s real people up there on a stage walking a metaphorical tightrope they could fall off of at any moment. There’s an element of risk you don’t have in movies or television. It has the poignancy of the ephemeral. Theater is in the moment. When the show is over, it’s over, never to be recovered.”
There’s a payoff for the actor, too, especially one who spent a career standing in the front of a classroom.
“For the performer there is the thrill of doing your thing in front of an audience and being appreciated for it if you do it well,” he said. “You have a feeling that you’re making a difference for people. You’re either entertaining them or making them think. It’s that sense of being in contact. For me, when you’re acting, it’s not unlike teaching. You’re up in front of a group of people doing your thing. But in the theater you get a response right away which, believe me, is not always the case in the classroom. And to top it off, you don’t have to grade their papers! It’s the best of all possible worlds for me.”
Many new seasons are beginning. Many actors are standing in the wings, waiting for a stage manager to whisper, “Go!” Check out the Web page Albuquerque Theatre Guild, the Theater story on p. 4 of September’s print issue, and at albuquerqueARTS for online listings.
The seasons will announce themselves to you there.
Jim Belshaw
—Jim Belshaw is a contributing editor at large for albuquerqueARTS.
Moby Dick – A Tale of a Whale September 3 – 26
OPENING NIGHT GALA!
Friday, September 3. Fabulous food and libation starting at 7 pm, curtain at 8.
Mother Road Theatre Company, Albuquerque’s dynamic, professional theatre company located at The Filling Station on historic pre-1937 Route 66 continues its 2010 season themed “Love & Madness” with Moby Dick, a play with music, adapted by Julian Rad with Hillary Adams from the book by Herman Melville and directed by Mother Road Theatre Company artistic director, Julia Thudium.
About the Play: With the young mariner Ishmael to narrate, we follow the ill-fated whaling crew of the Pequod on their final, fateful voyage. After a lifetime of whaling, this marks the first commission for Captain Ahab since
he lost his leg in an attack by the mythical white whale known as Moby Dick. The loss of his limb has left Ahab with an all-consuming passion for vengeance. His obsessive determination to bring down the white whale turns this once respected leader into a raving madman who will stop at nothing to exact his retribution, including the willingness to risk the lives of his
crew. A beautiful physical theatre piece, Moby Dick is also a “play with music” which includes traditional seafaring songs sung by the eight-man cast.
AWARDS Moby Dick was nominated for three 2004 Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Play, Outstanding Director of a Play, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.
The outstanding ensemble cast includes veterans of the Albuquerque theatre scene: Vic Browder, Peter Diseth, Brian Haney, John Hardman, Marc Lynch, Ruben Muller, Kelly O’Keefe, Ernest W. Sturdevant, and, Nicholas Ballas as Ahab.
Thursday & Friday at 8:00 pm, Saturday 6:00 pm, Sunday 2:00 pm
The Filling Station, 1024 4th St SW
Tickets: $16, Friday, Saturday, Sunday*, $10 Thursday
*First Sunday, Sept. 5 is Pay-What-You-Can
Reservations & Information:
505.243.0596 (information only)
Email: reservations@motherroad.org
Online ticketing and information about Mother Road Theatre Company
Mission Mother Road Theatre Company is a collaborative of theatre professionals whose mission is to enliven our artists and audiences, educate our community, and electrify New Mexico’s cultural landscape with works that engage, challenge and transform.
Mother Road is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation.
Albuquerque Theatre Guild August/September 2010
Performance Calendar
FYI: More theatrical performances take place every weekend here in Albuquerque than in any other U.S. city of its size.
August 13-September 5
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2.
A Life in the Theater – by David Mamet, directed by Jim Cady A Life in the Theatre is one of American playwright David Mamet’s early successes. The two-character drama/comedy has hallmarks of Mamet’s later work: intense characters; taut, revealing dialogue; and a mentor/teacher relationship. Describing life in the footlights from an actor’s point of view, A Life in the Theatre focuses on the relationship between two thespians: Robert, an older, experienced performer; and John, a relative newcomer. Though Robert’s guidance is welcomed by John at first, as the play progresses Robert falters as an actor and mentor, and John emerges as a mature actor.
Adobe Theater
9813 Fourth St. NW
505.898.9222
Price: $14, Seniors or Students $12
August 19-29
Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2.
Trust – by Steven Dietz. Duke City Repertory Theatre presents the first show of its inaugural season. This contemporary dramatic comedy follows six people as their lives intersect platonically and romantically. Trust is a candid observation of the basic motivation that often drives us toward or away from others, a void within. This production contains adult language and themes and is not recommended for younger audiences.
The Filling Station
1024 4th St. SW
Go to Duke City Rep or infodcrt@yahoo.com to make reservations.
Price: $20, students/seniors/military $12 (cash or check only at the door).
August 19-29
After Darwin – by Timberlake Wertenbaker, produced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois. This is a richly layered and thought provoking “play-within-a-play.” During rehearsals for a production about Charles Darwin and his captain of The Beagle, Robert Fitzroy, four theater professionals deal with their own issues of natural selection and survival of the fittest.
Explora
1701 Mountain Road NW
505.224-8341
Price: Explora members $5.50; non-members $7.
August 20-29
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2
Same Time, Next Year – by Bernard Slade. One of the most widely produced plays in history, it won several Tony Awards on Broadway, and was made into a hugely successful Academy Award winning movie starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn. It’s the fresh, touching and hilariously funny story of George and Doris, two married people who meet in 1951 while on separate business trips in the wine country of California. Impulsively drawn to each other, they have an affair and agree to meet again every year on the same weekend at the B&B where they first met. Over the next 25 years we follow George and Doris as they build a deep, caring, tender and loyal friendship.
The Enchanted Rose Inn and Theatre at the Albuquerque Little Theatre
224 San Pasquale SW
505.242-4750
Price: $20, Seniors or Students $18.
Online Post Requirements
Posted by abq arts in ArtSPREE, Dance, Film, Food & Wine, General, Literature, Music on August 27th, 2010
Greetings!
At albuqueraueARTS we love to post your events!
Requirements:
Please send your event information in a word document or the body of an email.
All the fancy pdfs we receive are pretty to look at, however we can’t create an actual post with them.
Listed below in order of importance are the details that will help us get the word out in a fast and efficient manner:
Event title
Date / time
Location
Website / Contact information/phone/email
A brief description of the event
Images! A picture tells a story!
72 dpi
at least 410 pixels
Click here to send your events via email to albuquerqueARTS Calendar
thank you!
The Growing Stage at ABQStages! Fall Classes
FALL SESSION #1 AUGUST 21 – SEPTEMBER 25
Musical Theatre Junior, Musical Theatre Senior, Solo Studio, Improvisation
FALL SESSION #2 OCTOBER 9 – NOVEMBER 13
Musical Theatre Junior, Musical Theatre Senior, Solo Studio, Monologues
All classes meet for six consecutive Saturdays at:
Covenant Presbyterian (9315 Candelaria, west of Eubank)
Culminating with a showcase for family & friends
on the evening of the final Saturday.
To register, please email kari or call 288.1205.
CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
MUSICAL THEATRE JUNIOR
Kids build skills as they work together on a scene & musical number.
Focus is on teamwork & stage skills while having fun.
Ages: 5 – 8 Time: 10:00 – 11:30 Instructors: Reeses & Roth Tuition: $120
MUSICAL THEATRE SENIOR
Kids develop characters & work on performance skills.
Scenes & musical numbers are rehearsed with a project-based learning approach.
Like the Junior class, with more challenging material.
Ages: 9 – 12 Time: 11:45 – 1:15 Instructors: Reeses & Roth Tuition: $120
SOLO STUDIO
Individualized instruction in healthy vocal technique & performance skills.
Like taking private voice lessons, except more affordable and with the support of a group.
A great challenge for serious singers who are ready to “go solo.”
Ages: 9 & up Time: 1:45 – 3:15 Instructors: Reese & Roth Tuition: $120
TEEN IMPROVISATION
Acting without a script is fun and exhilarating, plus it builds important stage skills.
Learn to think fast on your feet with great improv games at TEAM GROWING STAGE.
This class is offered for Fall Session #1 only.
Ages: 12 & up Time: 3:30 – 5:00 Instructors: K. Reese Tuition: $120
MONOLOGUES
Refine a character and work up a comic or dramatic monologue.
Students will work on individual pieces, but with the support of a group.
Occasional guest teachers will help students understand & explore the power of a good monologue.
This class is offered for Fall Session #2 only.
Ages: 12 & up Time: 3:30 – 5:00 Instructors: K. Reese Tuition: $120
The Growing Stage
13170 Central Avenue SE, Suite B #104
Albuquerque 87123
505288.1205
Godspell through August 1
Fridays & Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 4.
By Jean-Michael Tebelak, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, directed by Daryl Streeter.
Come join Desert Rose Playhouse for this wonderful musical performed by some VERY talented singers/actors!
The Desert Rose Playhouse
6921 Montgomery Blvd. NE
505.881-0503
Price:$15, $12 students/seniors and Albuquerque Theatre Guild members.
Moonlight and Magnolias- July 9-August 1
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2.
By Ron Hutchinson, directed by Wynn Rowell.
Moonlight and Magnolias is the imaginative retelling of the making of the screenplay Gone with the Wind.
What went on behind a producer’s closed doors in 1939 is cleverly reenacted by some of the Hippodrome’s most popular actors. The play introduces us to famous Hollywood producer David O. Selznick as he tries to find the right director and writer to fix the screenplay that has failure written all over it. With just days to spare, he calls in script doctor Ben Hecht to remedy what’s already passed through many hands, including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s. After firing popular Hollywood director George Cukor, Selznick swiftly offers the job to Victor Fleming before he loses any impatient stars. Fleming leaves the set of The Wizard of Oz to come to the rescue. Now, with the right people presumably in place, all is smooth sailing. Or is it?
Adobe Theater
9813 Fourth St. NW
505.898.9222
Price: $14, seniors/students $12.
Pippin – July 9 through August 1
Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, directed by Zane Barker.
Once upon a time, the young prince Pippin longed to discover the secret of true happiness and fulfillment. He sought it in the glories of battle; the temptations of the flesh; the intrigues of political power. In the end, he found it in the simple pleasures of home and family.
Nominated for 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, winning 5 Tonys, including Best Director and Choregraphy for Bob Fosse. It ran on Broadway for 1,944 performances.
Landmark Musicals at N4th Theatre
4904 N4th Street NW
(one block north of Griegos on the east side of the street)
505.798-9036
Price: $16, seniors/students: $14.
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