Category Archives: Professional Theatre

Great “Gospel”


The much lauded "Gospel At Colonus" is on tour this summer.

Posted by Therracat 

 It may be one of the coldest places in the USA much of the year, but the temperature will soar this summer in Minnesota when “ The Gospel At Colonus” explodes into St. Paul’s Ordway Center the first week of August.  First produced in NYC in the early 1980s with a pre-Miss Daisy Morgan Freeman in the original cast, this durable  roof-raiser is a classic begat by a classic.  I could make this post short and sweet, telling you everything you need to know by simply writing, “Go. For God’s sake, go!”  but that might not suffice if you’re not familiar with the great “Gospel”.  Better to take a moment to give you a few of many reasons to spend your valuable time and entertainment dollars.  “Gospel At Colonus” is the Sophocles classic “Oedipus at Colonus” re-told in an African American church through the blues and rhythm of gospel music, to great rousing effect. This latest production, stopping in St. Paul for 6 days,  features the incomparable Blind Boys of Alabama, the aptly named Soul Stirrers and the glowing talent of one of  Georgia’s gems, powerhouse vocalist Bernardine Mitchell. I’ve worked with Bernardine several times and thanks to her talent, it wasn’t work.  I always felt lucky to be within listening distance when she was performing. Atlanta has long had a love affair with this divine diva. Go see “Gospel” and fall in love too.      

“ The Gospel At Colonus”  was conceived,  adapted and directed by writer/director, Lee Breuer. Breuer is an integral member of the ever-fine Mabou Mines, probably one of the most creative companies I’ve ever come across and certainly the most wildly inventive group of artists I’ve had the chance to work with. I was lucky enough to be  PR and Marketing Director at Theatrical Outfit when then interim Artistic Director Sharon Levy brought them to Atlanta to serve up “Shaggy Dog Animation” for both a small and appreciative and larger not-quite-ready-for-the-avant-garde-stuff-y’all, Deep South, public. It was one of the last stage plays RuPaul did before becoming a household name. In true fact, he might not have become a star in way he did without “Shaggy  Dog”, for it was during that happily creative cacophony that Sharon put Ru and the future songwriter and producer of “Supermodel of the World” ( Jimmy Harry) in the same room. They didn’t know each other previous, Ru having already gone to NYC and Jimmy having not yet left Minneapolis. Sharon brought them, all of us at The Outfit and a whole cast of true characters together for a memorable, wonderful time. “Shaggy Dog Animation” deserves its own separate post chronicling  the madness, magic and music that was the process and production. Stay tuned.    

Sharon soon left us behind and by no small coincidence  is also the producer of this current tour. She now heads her own  New York City-based production company, Dovetail, and continues to spread the gospel (no pun intended) of creativity and the promise of new works across the globe. She is  the woman I directly credit for a mantra I hold dear today and that is “Say yes to art”. Don’t worry if  your “yes” makes no sense in a logical world, say yes anyway and see where the spark takes you.  I can’t count how many times an artist would come to Sharon during the formative stages of a production and propose something that many theatre heads would have nixed, either for financial, time, or artistic constraints - or, as sometimes happens, reasons connected to ego. What mattered to Sharon was always the art – where it could go, what it could do, who it could touch.  She almost always said yes. She was many an artist’s best friend in this way.  Those were the early days of my career and I’m not sure I knew what a visionary she was then. I’m glad I know now. Thanks for the mantra, Sharon.    

 Okay…so back to the beauty of ”Gospel At Colonus”. The music that will have you on your feet is composed, arranged and directed by the wholly talented Bob Telson, probably best known for his Academy Award nominated score for “Bagdad Café“. He’s a multiple award  nominee (Grammy, Tony) and his musical landscape is vast, including classical, gospel, rock and roll, theatre and being band mates with artists as varied as Phillip Glass and Tito Puente. Telson’s gift for lifting music and audiences up is well showcased here. Step back non-believers, reviewers often gush about this musical, using words like “dazzling”, “special”, “brilliant”. Writer and critic Stephen Fried once wrote in Philadelphia magazine about how a friend entreated him to see ” The Gospel At Colonus”. “I can’t really explain what to you what it’s like,” his friend told him, “but if you don’t come up here and see it you are making a  terrible, terrible mistake.”  That was 1985. It still holds true today.    

    

 Don’t make a mistake.  See “Gospel” at the Ordway August 5- 11th or at the Edinburgh International Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 21-23.     

The Art of Protest


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead 

Actor/musician/artist Vincenzo Tortorici and pal Trickster support the arts in Georgia by joining fellow protestors on the Capitol steps.

 

 Posted by Therracat  

This week I did something I almost never do:  joined a protest line and marched to city hall (well, in this case, the Georgia Capitol) and demanded  lawmakers make a change. Or rather, change back a change they made.          

Let me explain.          

Late last week the hateful  news spread like wildfire through the arts community of the decision by Georgia lawmakers to dismantle the Georgia Council for the Arts, leaving us alone on the range, the only state without a statewide arts council. Embarrassingly, even with the substantial dollars that the arts and her artists bring to Georgia by way of what I call “commerce culture” and funds from the National Endowment For the Arts through the GCA, the House Appropriations Committee voted late last week to eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts budget for fiscal year 2011.  This move would directly affect artists, schools, businesses and organizations from the coast to the mountains and everywhere in between.          

I can go into a lot of reasons why that was a bad idea, even in these unsure economic times, but let me skip to the action part of the equation. Georgia’s artists, arts educators, writers, musicians, playwrights, actors, dancers, technicians, designers – you name the discipline – weren’t standing for it. My friend Keif, who was helping Malina  Rodriguez’s Dance Truck support the artists in the fray, called me early on Friday and with some amount of urgency in her voice asked me to get involved.  I immediately sent out a somewhat rushed press release to as many media outlets as I could reach before they left for the day on Friday. My hurried release pointed to a Facebook event page, started by artist  Ismail Ibn Connor, who invited – nay, demanded – that artists march through downtown Atlanta to the Capitol the following Monday to express their full displeasure about the decision. By early evening of the day he put the page up, some 600 artists and supporters had RSVP’d in the affirmative with hundreds more sending “maybe” as their answer, waiting to see if they could get out of work or other commitments. Sign-making parties were organized. For artists who some people  thought might not be good at math, they sure seemed to know the power of numbers.          

I hurriedly contacted several artists I  knew and asked for comments on the situation and happily tossed the following in the press release for good measure:          

“For current working artists in Georgia and for future artists in this state, this is a situation that cannot stand,” said John Jaramillo, an international dancer/performing artist and Arts in Education instructor who is part of the prestigious  Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts through Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre at Woodruff Arts Center. John is a full-blooded Native American from New Mexico who makes his home and much of his living working in the arts in Georgia and the SE. “I have traveled and performed all over the world. I could easily choose to live and work somewhere else. I chose Georgia for the opportunities the arts presented, the wonderful cultural artists I have met here, the arts in education in the schools and the superb teachers that support the arts. Atlanta is supposed to be the pride of the South. What sort of ‘jewel of the New South’ is without a state arts council?” He went on to say, “I come from a culture (the ancient Pueblo Indians of the Southwest) where our songs and stories and dances and art have never been allowed to die out no matter how dire the outside circumstances. I have seen for over a decade now how artists support and enrich their communities in Georgia. I hope Georgia will support her artists, too.”          

John Stephens ( Theatre Gael founder and Artistic Director of  Worldsong  and the Academy Theatre for Youth) had this to say:
After these many years, I am convinced that every child is an artist. It then becomes the responsibility of the citizen artist to do everything within their power to nurture that creative spirit for this coming generation. It is in the moment of creation that human beings are most alive, most sane, most connected, and most fulfilled. When we share our own unique artistic vision with others and encourage the emerging artistry of our children, we are, I believe, creating a future where the value of the arts and the inherent worth of the individual will no longer be an issue.”          

I agree with both of them.  Artists are citizens too. We pay taxes, buy a house in your neighbourhood, teach your children, bring visitors in from other parts of the country, create new work, bring fresh voices to old favourites, and yes, we also entertain, enrich and preserve culture. And on Monday, we marched. Georgia’s artists, per usual, did their job well and with usual aplomb. I was proud to be in their numbers. See below how the march shaped up that sunny afternoon:          

Artists in Georgia take to the streets.

 

March organizer Ismail Ibn Connor urges arts supporters to speak out to their elected officials.

 

Georgians for the arts and against dismantling the GCA gather on the Capitol steps.

 

Young Maggie Housworth makes her case for arts in Georgia.

 

A message for the governor of Georgia.

 

Facts on arts in Georgia.

 

Glass harpist Brien Engel beams his support for the GCA.

 

Nobody kicked her, but lawmakers should have been kicked for such a jello-headed decision to begin with.

 

Artists speak out, loud and proud.

 

And who doesn’t love a happy ending? See below.

MEDIA RELEASE
April 21, 2010

          

          

Contact: Jhai James
Public Information Officer
404.685.2 

          

          
 
 

 ATLANTA – The entire Senate has voted to approve the Appropriation Committee’s recommendation, which includes the $890,735 restored to Georgia Council for the Arts. This enables the agency to match its federal grant and retain regional funding that, combined, equals more than one-million dollars. 
 
     Georgia Council for the Arts Executive Director Susan Weiner communicated the agency’s gratitude : ”The entire arts industry of Georgia – from for-profit filmmakers and galleries, to nonprofit museums and performance groups, to arts education providers, and to our entrepreneurial artists – is deeply grateful.”
 
     One more hurdle remains before a final budget reaches the Governor: the Conference Committee, which is made up of an equal number of Representatives and Senators.  This Committee’s purpose is to reconcile the differences between their different budgets.
 
      Georgia Council for the Arts is the state agency that provides support for nonprofit arts organizations in Georgia. Established in 1965 as the Georgia Commission on the Arts, its mission is to encourage excellence in the arts, support the arts’ many forms of expression and create access to the arts for all Georgians by providing funding, leadership, programming and other services. Funding for Georgia Council for the Arts is provided by appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly, the National Endowment for the Arts and other public and private sources.
 
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Georgia Council for the Arts   260 14th Street, NW   Atlanta, Georgia 30318    404.685.2787