Playhouse Struts, SNAP Parks It, and Witching Hour Monkeys Around
A thank you goes out to those readers that wrote Cold Cream in response to last week’s column. The clear response from everyone was that the OEA Awards are certainly enjoyable for all involved, but ideas for how to improve the experience were quite varied. One notable response was from local playwright Beaufield Barry.
“I love the OEAs and I think that to be taken more seriously they have to take themselves more seriously,” Barry said. When asked on how to improve awareness of the event for nominees, Barry replied, “(some thoughts are) personally contacting the nominees. A personalized phone call the same as most people get when they are up for something...A nominee luncheon or pre-party before the awards where everyone can hang out with like minded people and nominees from other genres and fields.”
Luckily, when it came to contacting individual nominees, a large amount of readers offered to contribute their databases of local theatre contacts to ensure that no nominee will go unaware of their honor next year!
If you missed your chance to see some talented ensembles perform at Brigit St. Brigit and Blue Barn theatres this past weekend for Long Day’s Journey and Behanding in Spokane, you have a few more weeks to check out those two great plays. Tickets seem to be selling fast for both so don’t end up ticketless in the last weekend, kicking yourself for your procrastination.
This week, three openings grace area stages with All Night Strut from Omaha Community Playhouse, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park from SNAP! Productions, and The Blue Barn’s Witching Hour present Lucy: In the Company of Animals.
Strut’s cast list has what appears to be an ensemble triple threat with Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek as the Narrator, vocalists that include Erika Hall and Camille Metoyer Moten among others, along with a great lineup of young dancers including Courtney Stein, Roderick Cotton, Aaron Ellis, and Colin Ferguson performing Roxanne Nielsen’s choreography. While Playhouse audience’s should be familiar with Stein and Cotton’s past playhouse performances, RED Theatre alums Ellis and Ferguson are ready to show bigger audiences their movement talents.
The Witching Hour’s latest work Lucy tells the story of a controversial 1960s experiment involving raising a chimpanzee as human. A few previews of the script provided a glimpse into the experiment that is at once fascinating and disturbing at the same time. If pulled-off properly, the show has a potential to be a memorable new work in the community.
Look next week for a take on Clybourne Park at SNAP!
Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com
posted at 03:22 pm
on Monday, February 25th, 2013
