Solaris

Playwright:  Stanislaw Lem & A. Rhodes

Company:  COUNTER/weight Theatre Lab

Venue:  Cottonwood Center for the Arts, David Lord Theater, 427 W. Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs CO.

Running Time:  2 hours 10 minutes (includes 10 minute intermission) 

Date of Performance:  Sunday, April 3, 2016. 

“The situation isn’t subject to how we generally think about morality.”

Sartorius, Act 1, Solaris.

“The situation” mentioned above is a grave one indeed.  Things have gone horribly wrong on a manned space flight orbiting Solaris, and there seems to be no way to resolve the problems. Solaris creates a scenario that breaks down our understanding of morality and reality.  We do not know how to act in the circumstances in Solaris.

This is a crackerjack script, smart, profound, and frustratingly inconclusive.  The problems are complex:  What or who is God?  What is the difference, if any, between artificial intelligence and human intelligence?  Can humans have meaningful relationships with an intelligence that is not human?  How do we even know what is “real” and what is not?

The ultimate question in Solaris is whether an entity that can create an exact replica of a human is God.  If our creator created us, could he or she create infinite copies of us?  Solaris goes where few scripts would dare; defining God is arguably an impossible task. 

Solaris asks the big questions, while refusing to give us easy answers. 

The plot is neatly designed to raise these questions.  The space craft is exploring Solaris from above when things go haywire.  “Visitors” start appearing on the ship.  Of course, that’s not possible, but after ruling out delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and hysteria, the crew accepts that the “visitors” are in some sense real, and in every sense familiar.  Think of the one person in your life…a friend, a lover, a stranger, who would provoke your most deepest guilt.  That’s your visitor, and he or she will come to see you in your room at night.  That visitor will look like, talk like, and act exactly like that person from your past.

COUNTER/weight Theatre Lab quickly immerses us into this intense alternate universe.  Solaris is a two hour reality check that forces the audience to question our most basic beliefs and relationships.

Rachel Fey (Kris).

The spartan set is functional, if low tech.  This is not the flight deck from Star Trek, but it works just fine in the small space of the Cottonwood Center for the Arts theater.  As the show starts, Kris (Rachel Fey) arrives to find the crew in a shambles, barely able to function.  Neither Snow (a disoriented and disheveled Alexander Risk) nor Sartorius (Ethan Everhart) can describe what has gone wrong.

As Kris starts to slowly sort through the story, she gets her own visitor, her late husband Hari (Kevin Ashbey).  Fey and Ashbey carry most of the dramatic load in Solaris, tenderly reigniting their lost love even though the Kris knows her new Hari is an elaborate illusion.  

Chelsea Boucher (Gibarian).

Solaris is about big ideas.  While the story starts slowly and drags a bit at the outset, it picks up steam as we learn the gravity of the situation.  COUNTER/weight Theatre Lab demonstrates one doesn’t need special effects or gizmos to tell a profound story.  Director Ethan Everhart puts the big ideas on the stage, hoping they will stand on their own merits.  They do.  Solaris is thoughtful, provocative theater.

  

NOTES:

This show is suitable for teens and up.  There is ample free street parking at The Cottonwood Center for the Arts and in the lot across from the main entrance.

This show closes on April 17, 2016.

Photo Credit:  COUNTER/weight Theatre Lab

TICKETS HERE:

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director:  Ethan Everhart

Assistant Director/Board Operation:  Colton Cobal

Scenic Design/Costumes/Props/Makeup:  Chelsea Boucher & Felicia Kelly

Script Supervision:  Parker Hicks

CAST:

Kris:  Rachel Fey

Snow:  Alexander Risk

Gibarian:  Chelsea Boucher

Sartorius:  Ethan Everhart

The Visitor:  Felicia Kelly

Hari:  Kevin Ashbey

Peter and the Starcatcher

Peter and the Starcatcher

Playwright:  Rick Elice

Composer:  Wayne Barker

Original Novel:  Dave Barry/Ridley Pearson

Venue:  Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center,  SaGaJi Theatre, 30 W. Dale Street, Colorado Springs CO.

Running Time:  2 hours 40 minutes (includes 15 minute intermission) 

Date of Performance:  Friday, April 1, 2016. 

If there’s anything we know for sure about J. M. Barrie’s play Peter Pan, it’s that it never grows old.  Like its title character, it is as fresh today, in all it’s stage and film variations, as when it opened in 1904.  The latest proof that Barrie’s work continues to thrive is Peter and the Starcatcher (hereafter Peter), a prequel to Peter Pan, now showing at the Fine Arts Center (hereafter FAC).

Producing Peter is a herculean task; 12 local actors play more than 100 roles on a constantly shifting set.  That set, designed by Christopher L. Sheley, is part genius, part meticulous planning, and 100% hard work.  It’s probably the most complicated set ever for the FAC stage.  Take a close look at it when you take your seat.  The show starts with a massive wooden ship that dominates the entire stage.  It looks like real timber, because it is real timber, and that’s just the first of many elaborate set pieces.

Lighting Designer Jonathan Spencer also has a few tricks up his sleeve.  I’ve never seen what appears to be flexible rope strobe lighting, but Sheley lights up the sky with about a hundred linear feet of it.  Janson Fangio’s costumes are detailed and appealing, but never more so than at the beginning of Act 2.  Don’t be late after intermission; this cast in these costumes is a must see scene.

With such a large cast, a complicated set, several fights, dancing, and music, Director Joye Cook-Levy might wonder why she said “yes” to Peter.  We can be glad she did.   She weaves the characters, the props and the story into a magical experience.

There is an abundance of fun here.  In addition to a larger than life crocodile, there’s an entire scene in the second act with an ongoing pun fest about how Black Stache lost his hand.  It’s laugh out loud funny, and it ties in a character who we know will later become Captain Hook.

Each of the 12 actors creates vivid images of their characters.  Jordan Leigh as Black Stache is a compelling villain.  Adam Blancas as Mrs. Bumbrake is a hoot in drag.  Rebecca Myers as Molly serves as the only woman in the cast (well, except Blancas in drag), and is a both a Starcatcher and a strong counterbalance for the excessive testosterone in the room.  Levi Penley is the Boy who becomes Peter Pan, and he’s exactly the kind of kid we expected him to be.

Peter is very funny, but the youngsters may miss a lot of the laughs.  The show is recommended for ages 8 and up, but I think age 10 might be a better cutoff.  The set up in the first act develops slowly (watch for fidgeting here), with a big payoff in the second act.  But even the noisy climax may not engage the youngest; a mother seated near us had to wake up her child after the curtain call.  

Peter is marvelous entertainment done exceedingly well at FAC.  Even if you’re a grown up, you’ll still be enchanted by a Boy who, after 100 years, is still a Boy.

NOTES:

This show is suitable for ages 8-10 and up.  There is ample free street parking at The Fine Arts Center and in the lot across from the main entrance on W. Dale Street.

This show closes on April 24, 2016.

Photo Credit:  Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Jeff Kearney, TDC Photography.

TICKETS HERE:

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director: Joye Cook-Levy

Musical Staging & Movement:  Nathan Halvorson

Scenic Designer: Christopher L. Sheley

Lighting Designer:  Jonathan Spencer

Sound Designer:  Alex Ruhlin

Fight Director:  Benaiah Anderson

Projection Design:  Jacob Kenworthy/Brian Mallgrave

Costume Designer:  Janson Fangio

Hair & Makeup Designer:  Jonathan Eberhardt

Production Stage Manager:  Kaetlyn Springer

CAST:

Captain Scott:  Jonathan Andujar

Mrs. Bumbrake/Teacher:  Adam Blancas

Lord Aster:  Karl Brevik

Grempkin/Mack/Sanchez/Fighting Prawn:  Sammy Gleason

Prentiss:  Omid Destan Harrison

Alf:  David Hastings

Slank/Hawking Clam:  Michael Lee

Black Stache:  Jordan Leigh

Molly:  Rebecca Myers

Boy:  Levi Penley

Ted:  Kevin Pierce

Smee:  Andrew Wilkes

MUSICIANS:

Conductor/Keyboards:  Jerry McCauley II

Percussion:  Josh Berkhimer

The Ghosts of Us

Playwright:  Rebecca Gorman O’Neill

Company:  Athena Project

Venue:  The Byron Theater at the Newman Center, 2344 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver CO.

Running Time:  2 hours (includes 12 minute intermission) 

Date of Performance:  Saturday, April 2, 2016. 

The set up for Ghosts of Us is intriguing.  Four people spend 36 hours together in a cabin in the Rockies.  The purpose:  to comply with a prenuptial agreement between Emma (Regina Steffen) and Jackson (Kevin Lowry).  Before divorcing, the couple is required to meet and speak to each other (civilly, of course) about their past and future.  Jackson brings along a witness, Aiden (Benjamin Cowhick); Emma brings her attorney sister Sophia (Arlene Rapal).  

L-R:  Kevin Lowry (Jackson), Arlene Rapal (Sophia),
Benjamin Cowhick (Aiden), Regina Steffen (Emma).

It turns out, however, that the breakup is not the main attraction in the cabin.  While Jackson and Emma deal with their mutual distrust and lost love, Sophia and Aiden are there to forge new loves:  Sophia with Jackson and Aiden with Emma.  Both have long harbored feelings that can finally materialize as the relationship between Emma and Jackson disintegrates.

This is an emotional (as opposed to a sexual) love rectangle.  It has four sides, and it is inherently unstable.  

This premise is promising, and the characters go through some interesting antics making both the budding and the dying relationships real.  The tension between Lowry and Steffen is palpable; they are anxious to get through the weekend and finalize the breakup.  It’s not that they hate each other.  They don’t.  Like a lot of relationships, theirs died by a thousand cuts, none of which would be fatal by itself.  Rather, the cumulative effect of numerous small daily compromises dooms their marriage.

Aiden and Sophia are not neutral bystanders; both hope to forge new relationships from the ashes of the marriage.  Cowhick is a brooding, moody, shy Aiden; he has not recovered from his last relationship disaster that ended more than a year ago.  Rapel’s Sophia is a self confident, accomplished woman who takes what she wants, and that’s Jackson.  

The production is first class; Director Melissa McCarl has a talented cast that she has delicately coached to arouse the emotions of both budding relationships.  Katie Gruenhagen’s set design is functional and fully evokes the charm of a mountain cabin. 

Since this production is part of Athena Project, I’m going to deviate somewhat from my routine and address Rebecca Gorman O’Neill’s script in some detail.  O’Neill won the Athena new play award in 2015, and as a result got this full production in 2016. For that reason, I am issuing an official SPOILER ALERT.  Addressing the script requires revealing some details that I would otherwise avoid.  

Read on only if you don’t mind me spoiling the plot for Ghosts of Us.

The premise, described above, is excellent, and offers the playwright many options for telling a compelling story.  O’Neill has capably used her premise to tell such a story, but for some reason veers off the rails at the conclusion.

I think there are two reasons why Ghosts of Us left me unsatisfied:

1.  The script has some subtle references to The Seagull by Anton Chekov.  Ghosts of Us takes place near a lake.  Aiden wants to shoot a duck for Emma.  Ghosts of Us ends with a sudden gunshot offstage.  These elements are loosely drawn from The Seagull, but have little to do with the four sided relationship issues we care about.

2.  This is the spoiler.  Aiden commits suicide in the final scene when he realizes that he will never be with Emma.  It’s an abrupt, disconnected event.  The effect is to shift the focus from a broken marriage to a broken man in the last moments of the show.  I’m not fond of finding out what a play is about in the last minute of the performance.  It makes me feel like the preceding 1 hour and 59 minutes were a waste of my time.

Ironically, these two issues could be fixed with just a few adjustments.  The Chekov references are more confounding than apt.  Ghosts of Us does not need Chekov to be an interesting script.  Whether Aiden shoots a duck for Emma is a distraction; he’s a very sympathetic character with or without a dead duck.

As for the misdirection at the end, I can’t help but feel that that other three characters were left in the lurch (as was the audience), despite the richness of the story about them.

Aiden’s dramatic suicide is too unexpected.  Perhaps a final scene one year, or five years later would be an improvement.  Tell me what happens to these four characters after the weekend is over and some time has passed.  Perhaps Aiden is still a suicide victim, but his decision might be more deliberate than impulsive.  Have Emma, Sophia and Jackson moved on? Are they happy with the changes in their lives?  Finish the story we have started.  It’s a compelling, intelligent story that audiences care about.

Ghosts of Us has a lot of promise.  With some tweaks, it will be able to keep that promise.

NOTES:

This show is suitable for all ages.  

Parking can be difficult on the DU campus.  Athena Project is your friend for parking.  Read this:

Any tickets purchased in advance will include parking in The Newman Center parking garage is located 1 block south of the Newman Center (University & Wesley.)  If you do not pre-purchase you may be subject to special event parking fees depending on other events in the complex.  These fees range from $8-$20.  Street parking is available in the neighborhoods but beware of street parking needing permits.

Athena Project:  Plays in Progress (PIP).

Each play will get 2 workshop readings. Workshop level productions are designed with minimum sets, lights, sound, etc. and they also allow for an audience to give feedback. One play will be selected from this Series to be produced in the Athena Project Festival in March of 2017.

This show closes on April 10, 2016.

Photo Credit:  Athena Project, Broadway World, Brookelynn Bliss

TICKETS HERE:

CREATIVE TEAM:

Executive Producer: Angela Astle

Director:  Melissa McCarl

Dramaturg:  Nina Miller

Scenic Design: Katie Gruenhagen

Sound Design:  Stephen McDonald

Lighting Design:  Evan Mues

Costumes:  Kati Oltyan

Props:  Jean Schuman

Stage Manager:  Amelia Retureta

Assistant Stage Manager:  Sara Sachs

CAST:

Emma:  Regina Steffen

Jackson  Kevin Lowry

Sofia:  Arlene Rapal

Aidan:  Benjamin Cowhick

The Mountaintop

Playwright:  Katori Hall

Venue:  The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Black Box Theater, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada CO.

Running Time:  1 hour 40 minutes (no intermission) 

Date of Performance:  Thursday, March 31, 2016. 

At the outset, it’s important to note that The Mountaintop is historical fiction; that is, fiction based on historical events.  Katori Hall’s script is her speculation about what may have happened at the Lorraine Motel on April 3, 1968, the night before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

It is no coincidence that The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities has skillfully brought Dr. King back to life on their stage for the 48th anniversary of his death. The Mountaintop is named for the speech Dr. King gave on April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee.  His last words to the public were prophetic:

“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will.  And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over.  And I've seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”

As I write this, my thoughts are going back 48 years to the events in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel.  The pain of that loss is still heavy on my heart.

As The Mountaintop opens, we are in his room (306) at the Lorraine Motel, shortly after he delivered his speech.  He’s tired, needs a cigarette, and sends his colleague (Ralph Abernathy) to find some Pall Malls.  He’s annoyed; he calls the front desk but learns that the Lorraine has discontinued room service.  They send up a maid named Camae (Betty Hart) with coffee until Abernathy can return with the smokes.

Hall’s script then deviates from history, imagining what happens that last night of King’s life.  The result is at once creative, imaginative, and revealing.  She carefully shows us King’s flaws and fears.  Yes, King is preacher, an activist, and a powerful leader.  But before he’s any of those things, he’s a man.  Just a man.

King (Cedric Mays) has some secrets, some of which are the subject of an FBI investigation, and he’s a reluctant leader.  He knows his work is dangerous, and he fears he will a soft target for his critics.  He  has faced his mortality before, and he spoke of it on April 3:  

Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. 

And once that's punctured, your drowned in your own blood -- that's the end of you.

Cedric Mays (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and Betty Hart (Camae).  Photo credit:  Arvada Center, P. Switzer.

Cedric Mays is not afraid to take on a role that is literally historic.  Playing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is risky; if you do not do the man justice, it could be a colossal career killer.  Cedric Mays, however, is fearless, and his portrayal is true to both the man and the myth.  When he breaks into King’s oratorical delivery, he replicates King’s timber and cadence.  The effect is arresting; he becomes King for The Mountaintop.

Betty Hart is sassy, saucy, and a proud Camae; she may be a maid but she’s not a servant to anyone.  Camae has a street quality; she can’t help dropping F bombs on the Reverend.  Hart does it with conviction before remembering who she’s talking to; her apologies are as sincere as they are ineffective.  I can’t help but think that her character is probably somewhat autobiographical; Katori Hall may have modeled Camae after herself.

There is one point in the performance where Hall inserts a barely credible plot twist.  It’s jarring, unexpected, and yet entirely consistent with King’s life and his imminent death.  Saying more here would spoil the story, and I won’t do that.  I will, however, advise those who venture to The Mountaintop to suspend reality and accept this abrupt plot twist.  You’ll be glad you did.

Hall’s story is as spiritual as King was.  Her approach to King’s last night on earth is exactly what a man of the cloth would expect.  She forces King to accept the inevitable consequences of being “just a man,” as we all must.  

Heroes, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have flaws.  Even those on a pedestal of moral, racial and social justice have feet of clay.  (Daniel 2:31-33).  Whether that makes one less a hero is debatable.  Whether that makes one more human is not debatable.  It does.

This Arvada Center production is outstanding.  Grant Evenson’s sound design goes seamlessly from a whisper to a roar.  He repeatedly creates rolling thunder that seems so close that one wonders if lightning has hit the stage.  His soundtrack for the climax is breathtaking.  Seth Alison’s lighting design is capable and functional until that climax, at which time it becomes part of a 360 degree multimedia explosion.  

Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel.
Photo credit:  National Civil Rights Museum.

Brian Mallgrave’s scenic design is a beautiful replica of room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, and for the climactic scene, he transforms the stage into a supernatural setting that explodes with colors, lights, and sound.  The effect is stunning; Mallgrave somehow always finds a way to surprise us with his sets.  Jacob Kenworthy and Brian Mallgrave combine their talents on video projections to create a powerful and transformative climax.  They somehow give King and the audience a glimpse of the “promised land." It’s a frenetic, fantastic and immersive vision of the "promised land," and you will not soon forget it.

Director Gavin Mayer pulls out all the stops with The Mountaintop; the climax is a fitting immersive feast for the senses that pulls the threads of the story together.  Working with a great script, a marvelous cast, and the Arvada Center technical staff, Mayer tells a an unforgettable story that respects both King's humility and Katori's vision. 

The Mountaintop is fiction, but both the fiction and the history belongs to all of us.  Many of us bought into the myth to some extent, holding our hero(s) to an impossibly high standard.  Having feet of clay may tarnish a reputation, but it does not diminish the real accomplishments of a man like King.  He made a difference in a world that desperately needed change.  That so much change was generated by “just a man” merely makes those changes more remarkable.  As The Mountaintop reminds us, we are all capable of greatness despite our failures.  

NOTES:

This show is suitable for teens and up.  There is ample free street parking at The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities.

I will just note that in a theater with more than 200 seats, few were empty on a weeknight.  None of those seats, as far as I could tell, was occupied by an African American.

Photo credit:  Bill Wheeler

Full disclosure.  I’m old enough to remember King’s assassination.  It was the second in my experience (JFK being the first), and the cumulative effect was emotionally and physically disturbing to me.  In July of 2009, my late wife Linda and I visited the Lorraine Motel, which is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.  Having stood in that spot, looking into room 306, The Mountaintop brought back some painful memories from 1968 and from 2009.  While the memories are difficult, I am very grateful to the Arvada Center and to Katori Hall for the experience.  

We must remember those who came before us and did the dangerous work to make things better for all of us.

This show closes on April 17, 2016.

Photo Credit:  Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, P. Switzer photographer, National Civil Rights Museum, Bill Wheeler.

TICKETS HERE:

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director: Gavin Mayer

Scenic Designer: Brian Mallgrave

Lighting Designer:  Seth Alison

Sound Designer:  Grant Evenson

Projection Design:  Jacob Kenworthy/Brian Mallgrave

Costume Designer:  Chris Campbell

Wig Designer:  Megan O’Connor

Casting:  Wojcik/Seay Casting

Stage Manager:  Lisa Cook

CAST:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:  Cedric Mays

Camae:  Betty Hart