Words from behind the scenes at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. A glimpse into the day to day of producing world class theatre in Montgomery, Alabama.
In the current production of Cowgirls, three high-brow classical musicians get mistakenly hired to play the grand re-opening of Hiram Hall, a country saloon in Rexford, Kansas. Mickey and Mo, the two waitresses at the saloon have their heart set on performing at the event, but owner Jo Carlson is more interested in turning those classical chicks into country queens...
In this video Mickey and Mo audition for Jo with a little ditty called "Don't Call Me Trailer Trash." You can relate? Can't you?
Our new production of Cowgirls began previews this weekend and reviewer Michael Howley says "Talent Abounds"in Cowgirls and found "foot stompin' delight" in the show!
Talent abounds in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's production of "Cowgirls", directed by Karen Azenberg, who also directed & choreographed ASF's production of "West Side Story", and choreographed "A Christmas Carol: the Musical" and "Beehive".
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Not only do the six actresses act and sing their roles, they are also called on to play an assortment of musical instruments ranging from cello to mandolin and from piano to washtub in the two hour performance; and they demonstrate a variety of musical styles from classical to country. Impressive.
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Most of the play is an extended exposition, and it isn't till the final moments that they actually perform as the "Cowgirl Trio". But when they do, the event is a foot-stompin' delight -- partly because they have transformed into a really good country act, and partly because we have become invested in their lives.
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When Act I opens on Peter Hicks's two-level interior of Hiram Hall in Rexford, Kansas, one can almost smell the years of smoke and spilled beer, the brown wood aged just enough and the numerous photographs of country stars and old advertisements reach out to include the audience, so the external world that is never seen through its windows hardly matters. This is the world for the present.
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Individual personalities emerge as we watch the relationships grow, and by the end, most audience members will have chosen a favorite and will cheer the spunk and achievements of this excellent ensemble.
There's a new arts magazine in town! Well, in all of the state, really. Its called Arts in Alabama and its time has really come. The publishers visited ASF about a week before the Southern Writers' Project Festival and of course we invited them to check out the weekend and see what they thought.
They must have liked it because we have a fabulous write up on pages 46-49 of the first published issue. I'm sure they will be bringing some copies to your area soon, if you're in Alabama that is, but until then, and for all those not in Alabama, here's a link to their online version of the publication.
The magazine is really gorgeous and shows the diversity and very high quality of arts in Alabama. Enjoy!
And, if you've got a business, please consider supporting this important publication by advertising with them!
This week the Southern Writers' Project Festival of New Plays officially started with the arrival of the playwrights, directors, dramaturgs and actors who will be working together to get the four new plays that ASF has selected read for their concert readings this weekend.
We caught up with a couple of the playwrights and their dramaturgs to see how things were going after their first day on Tuesday.
Readings are just $10 each and a full schedule and details on the weekend are available at www.southernwritersproject.net Or you can get more info by calling 1.800.841.4273.
Last Friday night we celebrated the 446th Birthday of the Bard! We invited the community to come out for free cake and ice cream and performances by the Curtain Call Players, a group of experienced acting students from our camps and academies.
We estimate around 150 people attended this first-time event and we couldn't have been more pleased! Here are a few pictures from the party.
This AMAZING cake was donated by Liger's Bakery! THANK YOU!
ASF Producing Artistic Director Geoffrey Sherman and Education Director Greta Lambert with the Curtain Call Players!
The curtain Call Players in action!
A game of Shakespeare Pictionary (I think that's Falstaff!)
ICE CREAM & CAKE! ICE CREAM & CAKE!
A great time was had by all and you can mark April 23, 2011 for another Birthday Party for Shakespeare!
On Tuesday the Joy to Life Foundation, a hugely successful Breast Cancer Awareness group based in Montgomery, invited ASF to participate in a viral video project to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer.
You can see that the cast is not only well trained in classical theatre, but can also get pretty "unce, unce" on the dance floor too. If you like this video DONATE NOW!
We're a little late posting this review from Michael Howley at www.theatremontgomery.blogspot.com, but we hope you enjoy it anyway! You can still catch the few remaining performances of The Fall of the House this weekend Thurs - Sun.
Another Southern Writers' Project World Premiere opened this weekend in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Octagon Theatre. "The Fall of the House", a haunting two act dreamscape by Robert Ford, links the past and the present and analyzes the consequences of our choices.
An often puzzling script that nonetheless intrigues audiences, "The Fall of the House" is fortunate in its sheer literacy and its extraordinary performances, and anyone who is fascinated with figuring out a mystery is bound to get involved in its intricate plot.....
Our latest Ask an Actor question comes from Anonymous:
Q: What made you want to become an actor?
A: Honestly? "The Wizard of Oz." When I was three I used to dance around my house pretending to be Dorothy. At that time I also wanted a baby blue VW Bug with Ruby Slippers all over the hood. Needless to say that dream did not come to fruition. And I've yet to play Dorothy, but one year I did go as her for Halloween.
I grew up singing and dancing and started performing locally (in Pennsylvania, where I grew up) in my community and eventually professionally. When I was nine I worked at my first Equity theatre and I have been blessed in the work I've done since.
I never really wanted to do anything else. I guess that makes me lucky. I had a goal and I set my mind to it. I hope when I'm old I can look back and say I've contributed something to this world. I think being an actor has made me a better person - playing different human beings has opened my mind and kept me curious, yet respectful. I try not to judge others (though I do admit to observing people I think are interesting for character research!) and I let everything in my life be a learning experience to fuel my art. To any aspiring actors out there I'd say this - be open to the world around you for within it are all the things with which you'll need to play. Lauren Sowa pictured above in All's Well that Ends Well with Jordan Coughtry.
Ask an Actor is a new feature where you can ask an actor anything! Submit your questions here in the comments or on ASF's Facebook page or by direct messaging @AlabamaShakes on twitter. Questions are answered by ASF actor Lauren Sowa. You can see Lauren in the Hamlet, All's Well that Ends Well and Lettice & Lovage now through May 23. Keep an eye out for the next Ask an Actor post!
After two years in development through the Southern Writers' Project, Richard Aellen's provocative play "Nobody" is being given its World Premier in the Octagon Theatre at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. A nearly full house rose to its feet at the conclusion of Sunday's opening performance. Spilling out into the lobby for a reception, conversations were intense and candid as the audience grappled with the play's themes and challenges...just one of the things that makes live theatre exciting and important.
Set in the late 19th and early part of the 20th Century, "Nobody" traces the lives of two actual African-American vaudevillians, out of work and almost out of hope. Bert Williams [James Bowen] and George Walker [Sean Blake] meet in San Francisco and decide to team up and make their mark in the business. Williams is introspective and wants a career as a "serious" actor, playing Shakespearean roles; Walker is a ladies man and more brash, intending to make a lot of money by dazzling audiences with his quick wit. Neither is quite ready for the reality that faces them: they will only be considered for playing the stereotypical and degrading "Coon" roles; that is, until they decide to play in minstrel shows in burnt-cork Blackface, billing themselves as "Two Real Coons," a choice that leaves few alternatives from then on.
Pictured above left: James Bowen as Bert Williams. Right: James Bowen as Bert Williams, Erika LaVonn as Lottie Williams, Sean Blake as George Walker and Angela K. Thomas as Ada Overton Walker.
ASF repertory actress, and contributor to "Ask and Actor" on this blog, Lauren Sowa recently visited a local school room and shares this inspiring report!
"Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try! If you try, you can think up a GUFF going by."
I'm not quite sure what a Guff is, but if it's a creature that helps stir up the imagination of Alabama schoolchildren then I think there was one in Montgomery Friday. My fellow actor and roommate, Melanie and I went into the Highland Ave. Elementary School Friday to read a few Dr. Seuss books to the children as part of the Read Across America program. The kids were adorable and probably didn't know what to make of us with our silly voices and large gestures. Melanie read "Oh, the THINKS you can think!" with gusto and I ended up reading the teacher's choice: "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" - never heard of it? Me neither. Have you ever tried to sight read a Dr. Seuss book?!?! Not easy. About halfway through I realized I was working up a sweat - playing five or so different characters and warning the people of the Kingdom of Didd that large blobs of oobleck were raining from the sky! The book, in the end, teaches the importance of the simple and powerful words "I'm sorry." All in all, it was a hour well spent, sharing the joy of reading and the power of imagination with a small classroom full of the creative minds of the next generation. Now, back to Shakespeare!
Margaret Loesser Robinson from the Cast of Nobody shares her experiences in Montgomery while in rehearsals for the show.
I started my journey to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival under one week ago at LaGuardia airport. After having sat at my flight’s gate for about an hour, a man turned around, looked at me and pointed at me. I pointed back. We had found each other--somehow, you can just tell who amongst your fellow passengers is your fellow actor. Call it artistic profiling. And so began our journey--we flew into Atlanta, and were met by our wonderful company manager, Crystal, and met several other cast members before starting the drive to Montgomery. I’ve been ready to come to Montgomery for some time; I have held a long distance fondness for the south and things southern for some time now but have only made it as far down as Florida, and so I greeted the warm air, the hospitality, the accent, and the biscuits eagerly. One of my favorite things about being a regional theatre actor is getting to live in and experience new places--make a temporary home and try to take advantage of my free time to do some exploring. And free time is something I have in some abundance at the moment--I don’t make my way onto the stage until the second act in Nobody, so I’ve had the luxury of getting out and about in advance of our first official day off. Already, I’ve been to the Zelda Sayre and F. Scott Fitzgerald Museum in the beautiful Cloverdale Historic District. When I arrived, I was greeted by the man who has run the museum for the past five years and actually lives in the house itself (with his cat, named Zelda, of course) who invited me to sit down in the living room and chat before looking around; this is part of what I love already about the south. People take a little more time here, time to get to know one another. He actually offered to rent me an apartment in Zelda’s childhood home for 500 dollars a month when he found out I was a Zelda fan--an offer I seriously considered for a brief moment. As we parted ways, he remarked that as a “living historian,” he and I, as an actor, had a lot in common as people who keep the past alive. On the sun porch, there was a faded newspaper article about a play performed at ASF years ago called Zelda.
Already, I have taken a quick drive though downtown Montgomery just to get a lay of the land, have enjoyed Publix to no end, and am a fan of Zoe’s Kitchen in Eastchase. I also made my first visit to the Museum of Fine Art--I am sure to be back. I liked Café Mfor its name, and also for its food, and yet again for Jonas, who let me try the Brunswick Stew when he found out (yes, from my “accent”) that I wasn’t from the south and had never tried or heard of this delicacy. It was delicious and I felt indoctrinated in a way. I saw Jonas a couple of days later--he was working at an event before a performance of (the excellent) Harriet’s Return and he remembered my name! New York City, this is not.
As I continue to explore Montgomery and its environs, I am also hard at work finding out all there is to know about Eva Tanguay, the real life vaudevillian I play in Nobody. She was a real madcap, and tales of her backstage antics--including an arrest for sticking a stagehand with a hatpin--are wild. Here’s a link to a NYTimes article about the arrest. This clip of Bert Williams singing “Nobody” may also be of interest.
I’m looking forward to sharing more of our casts adventures--on stage and off…
Margaret Loesser Robinson recently arrived in Montgomery to play the role of Eva Tanguay in the world premiere of Nobody at ASF. This new musical is based on the true-life characters of Bert Williams and George Walker, two African-American vaudevillians who couldn't catch a break at the big-time until they did the unthinkable and performed in black face. By doing so, they broke racial barriers and paved the way for modern entertainers of all racial backgrounds. Margaret's character, Eva Tanguay is another real-life vaudeville performer who worked in the same entertainment community as Bert Williams and George Walker.
Our first ever Ask an Actor question comes from Rodney via Facebook:
Q: During public speaking I sometimes feel a little stage fright. Do you guys ever feel the same during a performance? If so, what are your secret methods of getting over it?
A: Stage fright is a common fear among people of all ages.
Personally, I haven't had a problem with stage fright. That being said, I am usually nervous before a performance (and sometimes rehearsal!) but I think of it as "good nerves," aka: anticipation or excitement. If you are feeling butterflies in your stomach before a public speaking engagement, my advice would be to close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, while imagining yourself to be successful. Try to channel your nerves into positive energy and use that energy to give you a little kick!
You may have heard the old "picture them naked" trick. Some people find this useful. I find it awkward. But if it works for you, then that's great! All you do is picture your audience without clothing, which I think is to make you feel less embarrassed and more empowered. The problem with this, for me, is that if I pictured 1000+ audience members without any clothes on, it would probably make me MORE embarrassed. Or break out into laughter. Neither of which would really be good for the play. But I digress.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to be utterly and completely prepared. Know what you are going to say. Know the information you have to get across. Practice, practice, practice. Ask if you can practice for your significant other, or a friend. Personally, I am always the most nervous when I know a family member is in the audience, or a friend, because their opinions are so important to me. If you can practice your speech or presentation for someone close to you, it might be easier when you get up in front of others.
Once you do get up there, just remember, your audience wants you to succeed. Crack a joke if you're feeling nervous, it will help to calm you and everyone else down. Then, just trust yourself!
Ask an Actor is a new feature where you can ask an actor anything! Submit your questions here in the comments or on ASF's Facebook page or by direct messaging @AlabamaShakes on twitter. Questions are answered by ASF actor Lauren Sowa. You can see Lauren in the upcoming productions of Hamlet and All's Well that Ends Well. Keep an eye out for the next Ask an Actor post!
Seven days into Black History Month, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is presenting "Harriet's Return", author and actress Karen Jones Meadows' stirring tribute to Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who went on to become a noted "conductor" for the Underground Railroad, a "General" under John Brown, another "Moses" and "Mother Harriet" to countless abused victims of slavery.
A tour-de-force two-and-a-half-hour performance by Ms. Jones Meadows tracks Tubman's life from childhood to old age, wherein she portrays some 30+ characters who intersect and often re-appear in Harriet's eventful life. Read more
We're starting a new feature on the ASF Blog: Ask an Actor! This is your opportunity to submit questions to be answered by a member of our acting company. Anything goes! Submit your questions here, on the ASF FaceBook page or on Twitter by direct messaging @AlabamaShakes.
Your questions will be answered by Lauren Sowa, a member of the repertory acting company. Lauren was most recently seen as Cochina in Ferdinand the Bull, and is also playing Diana in All's Well that Ends Well, among other roles in the Repertory Season.
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