Beowulf hosts a few jazz gigs www.azstarnet.com ®: "Accent
Beowulf hosts a few jazz gigs
Tucson, Arizona Published: 05.20.2007"
Beowulf Alley Theatre has this cozy little space in Downtown Tucson. Perfect for plays ("Of Mice and Men" is playing there these days).
But it's also quite a cool spot for jazz, which may be why Beowulf is hosting a few jazz gigs these days, dubbing them "BeBop Meets Broadway."
At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, you can catch the smooth sounds of jazz singer Debbie Lun, who breathes life into torch songs and scat. She's performing with musician Tony Frank, who has played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Mantooth, Carl Saunders, Shirley Horn and Mike Vax; and keyboard player Lamont Arthur, who lists composer, arranger and producer among his accomplishments.
Beowulf Alley's at 11 S. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $25. Call 882-0555.
— Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star
Monday, May 21, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Steinbeck classic makes wonderful local theater | www.azstarnet.com ®
Steinbeck classic makes wonderful local theater www.azstarnet.com ®:
Steinbeck classic makes wonderful local theater
By Kathleen Allen
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 05.11.2007
Dreams blossom and shatter with such intense swiftness in John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" that one can get dizzy watching it.
But watch it you must. Beowulf Alley Theatre's production of the play about two farmworkers who long for a place of their own is a rich, nuanced piece that reminds us of the frailty, and cruelty, of human nature.
This is a powerful piece of theater, with poetic language, well-drawn characters, and wonderful foreshadowing of events without ever telescoping them. If you want to see a play that is exquisitely constructed, "Of Mice and Men" is it.
The Courtland Jones-designed set on the Beowulf stage evoked the dusty Salinas Valley and rickety shack that serves as home to migrant farmworkers. Russell Stagg's lighting conjured up the bright light of day and the moody hues of sunset. Jon Marbry's pristine sound made us see birds flying overhead and hear crickets talking to each other.
But it was the actors who really brought Steinbeck's work to painful, vivid life at a preview performance last Friday.
This production veered from most — a robust Terry Erbe played George, whom Steinbeck described as a slight man. Stephen Elton was the mildly retarded Lennie. Steinbeck envisioned this character to be large and lumbering; Elton is actually more slender than Erbe.
We've some advice: Get over the size issue quickly. While physically Steinbeck saw the two as an unlikely pair, Elton and Erbe were able to draw their characters so sharply that size did not matter.
Elton, at times, seemed a bit too bright for Lennie, but he captured the innocence of the character who loves to stroke soft things and longs to care for rabbits on the the farm he and George dream they will one day have.
Erbe's ability to get angry at Lennie for his naivete and still show his love was so well-rooted you never doubted his character.
Slim, the kind-hearted ranchhand, was given gentle life by Brian Wees, and Gregory Sweet was heavy with sorrow and loneliness as Candy, the one-handed ranch worker whose best friend and reason for living was his elderly dog.
This play is saturated with dreams denied and heartbreaking loneliness. It's kind of depressing, truth be told.
But it's also a rich tale of a friendship that goes so deep and true that hope survives.
Director Glen Coffman understood that and directed with a clean, knowing hand.
"Of Mice and Men" can shatter you. But it's also an exhilarating theatrical experience.
● Contact Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
Steinbeck classic makes wonderful local theater
By Kathleen Allen
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 05.11.2007
Dreams blossom and shatter with such intense swiftness in John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" that one can get dizzy watching it.
But watch it you must. Beowulf Alley Theatre's production of the play about two farmworkers who long for a place of their own is a rich, nuanced piece that reminds us of the frailty, and cruelty, of human nature.
This is a powerful piece of theater, with poetic language, well-drawn characters, and wonderful foreshadowing of events without ever telescoping them. If you want to see a play that is exquisitely constructed, "Of Mice and Men" is it.
The Courtland Jones-designed set on the Beowulf stage evoked the dusty Salinas Valley and rickety shack that serves as home to migrant farmworkers. Russell Stagg's lighting conjured up the bright light of day and the moody hues of sunset. Jon Marbry's pristine sound made us see birds flying overhead and hear crickets talking to each other.
But it was the actors who really brought Steinbeck's work to painful, vivid life at a preview performance last Friday.
This production veered from most — a robust Terry Erbe played George, whom Steinbeck described as a slight man. Stephen Elton was the mildly retarded Lennie. Steinbeck envisioned this character to be large and lumbering; Elton is actually more slender than Erbe.
We've some advice: Get over the size issue quickly. While physically Steinbeck saw the two as an unlikely pair, Elton and Erbe were able to draw their characters so sharply that size did not matter.
Elton, at times, seemed a bit too bright for Lennie, but he captured the innocence of the character who loves to stroke soft things and longs to care for rabbits on the the farm he and George dream they will one day have.
Erbe's ability to get angry at Lennie for his naivete and still show his love was so well-rooted you never doubted his character.
Slim, the kind-hearted ranchhand, was given gentle life by Brian Wees, and Gregory Sweet was heavy with sorrow and loneliness as Candy, the one-handed ranch worker whose best friend and reason for living was his elderly dog.
This play is saturated with dreams denied and heartbreaking loneliness. It's kind of depressing, truth be told.
But it's also a rich tale of a friendship that goes so deep and true that hope survives.
Director Glen Coffman understood that and directed with a clean, knowing hand.
"Of Mice and Men" can shatter you. But it's also an exhilarating theatrical experience.
● Contact Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Beowulf Alley scores big with 'Of Mice and Men' | www.tucsoncitizen.com ®
Beowulf Alley scores big with 'Of Mice and Men' www.tucsoncitizen.com ®:
Published: 05.10.2007
Beowulf Alley scores big with 'Of Mice and Men'
CHUCK GRAHAM
Tucson Citizen
What a season it's been for the Beowulf Alley Theatre Company. After setting a higher standard for local theater last January with the downtown company's atmospheric thriller "The Woman In Black," BATC followed with the well-received special stage effects of "Black Comedy" by Peter Shaffer.
Now we have an even more haunting production in John Steinbeck's Depression-era tale, "Of Mice and Men." Director Glen Coffman draws finely shaded performances from Terry Erbe and Stephen Elton as George and Lennie, a pair of migrant farmworkers in rural California, adrift and deprived of any chance to earn a decent wage doing physical labor. Their determination to be resourceful is a poignant reminder that government cannot be trusted to take care of its people.
Steinbeck was writing about poor families ripped apart in the 1930s when America's economy fell apart. Erbe's portrayal of the rough-mannered but good-hearted George is a compelling portrait of the kind of blue-collar guy we like to think built our country. Hardworking, honest and determined to keep everyone honest.
George's patience with the simple-minded Lennie proves George could have been a good family man. Instead, the misfortunes of this failed economy have turned George into a drifter who makes the man-child Lennie his family.
Elton amplifies the effect by playing on Lennie's almost infantile innocence, completely unaware in his gentleness that he has the physical strength of a giant. George and Lennie, always bickering like a married couple, share a kind of co-dependence in finding reasons to dream beyond their next paycheck working California's struggling farmlands.
The rest of the cast is equally strong, building together like a finely tuned ensemble, adding the story's elements of racism and ageism that ring even louder in our present time of civil rights awareness and of boomers nearing retirement.
grade: A
Published: 05.10.2007
Beowulf Alley scores big with 'Of Mice and Men'
CHUCK GRAHAM
Tucson Citizen
What a season it's been for the Beowulf Alley Theatre Company. After setting a higher standard for local theater last January with the downtown company's atmospheric thriller "The Woman In Black," BATC followed with the well-received special stage effects of "Black Comedy" by Peter Shaffer.
Now we have an even more haunting production in John Steinbeck's Depression-era tale, "Of Mice and Men." Director Glen Coffman draws finely shaded performances from Terry Erbe and Stephen Elton as George and Lennie, a pair of migrant farmworkers in rural California, adrift and deprived of any chance to earn a decent wage doing physical labor. Their determination to be resourceful is a poignant reminder that government cannot be trusted to take care of its people.
Steinbeck was writing about poor families ripped apart in the 1930s when America's economy fell apart. Erbe's portrayal of the rough-mannered but good-hearted George is a compelling portrait of the kind of blue-collar guy we like to think built our country. Hardworking, honest and determined to keep everyone honest.
George's patience with the simple-minded Lennie proves George could have been a good family man. Instead, the misfortunes of this failed economy have turned George into a drifter who makes the man-child Lennie his family.
Elton amplifies the effect by playing on Lennie's almost infantile innocence, completely unaware in his gentleness that he has the physical strength of a giant. George and Lennie, always bickering like a married couple, share a kind of co-dependence in finding reasons to dream beyond their next paycheck working California's struggling farmlands.
The rest of the cast is equally strong, building together like a finely tuned ensemble, adding the story's elements of racism and ageism that ring even louder in our present time of civil rights awareness and of boomers nearing retirement.
grade: A
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tucson Weekly : Arts : High Standards
Tucson Weekly : Arts : High Standards: "
PUBLISHED ON MAY 10, 2007:
High Standards
Beowulf Alley Theatre turns in an impeccable 'Of Mice and Men' production
By JAMES REEL
"...how well-cast this show is from top to bottom"
"The entire production has been assembled with similar quiet care. The acting tends to be subtle and anti-melodramatic, yet heartfelt; the pacing is deliberate, yet never feels pokey. All in all, Beowulf Alley does a fine job of rescuing Of Mice and Men from its low status as required reading in high school English."
"Terry Erbe as George and Stephen Elton as Lennie waste little time in establishing their uneasy fraternal bond onstage, and they also quickly set themselves apart from actors who have played their roles in film adaptations. Elton finds more in Lennie than just a big, retarded oaf; he's basically a 4-year-old, with a child's full range of emotional complexity. Erbe doesn't play George as a fast-talking operator; he's a somewhat rough, common man with common sense, and a little knot of decency that, to his surprise, has been bunching up inside him over the years. "
"The rest of the cast--including David Alexander Johnston, Tim McKiernan and the single-named Darwin--is as fine as the players already mentioned. My one small reservation concerns the good and versatile Amy Erbe as the woman whose actions precipitate the final tragedies; in the context of this production, I would have expected her to make more of her character's loneliness, even at her most flirtatious. "
"As usual at Beowulf Alley, the set design (Courtland Jones), sound (John Marbry), costuming (Kyle Schellinger) and lighting (Russell Stagg) meet high standards--the standards set by this production's acting and direction. "
PUBLISHED ON MAY 10, 2007:
High Standards
Beowulf Alley Theatre turns in an impeccable 'Of Mice and Men' production
By JAMES REEL
"...how well-cast this show is from top to bottom"
"The entire production has been assembled with similar quiet care. The acting tends to be subtle and anti-melodramatic, yet heartfelt; the pacing is deliberate, yet never feels pokey. All in all, Beowulf Alley does a fine job of rescuing Of Mice and Men from its low status as required reading in high school English."
"Terry Erbe as George and Stephen Elton as Lennie waste little time in establishing their uneasy fraternal bond onstage, and they also quickly set themselves apart from actors who have played their roles in film adaptations. Elton finds more in Lennie than just a big, retarded oaf; he's basically a 4-year-old, with a child's full range of emotional complexity. Erbe doesn't play George as a fast-talking operator; he's a somewhat rough, common man with common sense, and a little knot of decency that, to his surprise, has been bunching up inside him over the years. "
"The rest of the cast--including David Alexander Johnston, Tim McKiernan and the single-named Darwin--is as fine as the players already mentioned. My one small reservation concerns the good and versatile Amy Erbe as the woman whose actions precipitate the final tragedies; in the context of this production, I would have expected her to make more of her character's loneliness, even at her most flirtatious. "
"As usual at Beowulf Alley, the set design (Courtland Jones), sound (John Marbry), costuming (Kyle Schellinger) and lighting (Russell Stagg) meet high standards--the standards set by this production's acting and direction. "
Friday, May 04, 2007
Migrants' dreams of the '30s still relevant today | www.tucsoncitizen.com ®
Migrants' dreams of the '30s still relevant today
CHUCK GRAHAM
CHUCK GRAHAM
Tucson Citizen
Published: 05.03.2007
Published: 05.03.2007
While threats of global warming hint at turning the Southwest into another Oklahoma dust bowl, we can consider the Depression Era story of Lenny and George in John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men.' The two migrant workers following their dreams while hoping for a change in their luck are in California, just the next state over, believing one day they will have a place of their own where no one can tell them what to do.
Although the play's time period is the 1930s (the novella was published in 1937), its theme of rootless loneliness among homeless men is considered quite timely. In Tucson, especially, communities of migrant workers are as real as the freeways and air-conditioned high-rise office towers. Problems caused by low pay and callous bosses belong to everyone.
Beowulf Alley Theatre Company brings us this production, directed by Glen Coffman, with George played by Terry Erbe and Stephen Elton cast as the mentally slow Lenny. Elton is Beowulf Alley's founding artistic director.
Also taking roles are David Alexander Johnston, Amy Erbe, Greg Sweet, Tim McKiernan, Brian Wees, Jonathan Hicks, Nate Weisband and Darwin.
additional information
IF YOU GO
What: "Of Mice and Men," presented by Beowulf Alley Theatre Company
When: previews 7:30 p.m. today-Friday; opening 7:30 p.m. Saturday and continuing 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. Sundays through May 27; special fundraising performance and barbecue, 1:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave.
Price: $10 previews, $14 Thursdays, $16- $18 general admission, $65 performance and barbecue
Info: 622-4460, www.beowulfalley.org
IF YOU GO
What: "Of Mice and Men," presented by Beowulf Alley Theatre Company
When: previews 7:30 p.m. today-Friday; opening 7:30 p.m. Saturday and continuing 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 1:30 p.m. Sundays through May 27; special fundraising performance and barbecue, 1:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave.
Price: $10 previews, $14 Thursdays, $16- $18 general admission, $65 performance and barbecue
Info: 622-4460, www.beowulfalley.org
'Mice' is always compelling | www.azstarnet.com ®
'Mice' is always compelling
By Kathleen Allen
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Please don't call John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" an important piece of literature.
Yes, yes, we know: The story of itinerant farmworkers, the mentally challenged Lennie and his protector, George, is a classic. That's why Beowulf Alley Theatre is staging the play as its season closer.
But it's not ponderous, or dull. And that's what Beowulf's artistic director, Stephen Elton, is afraid people will think when it's called "important."
"When you hear a play is important, I think it's boring," said Elton, who plays Lennie, the big, lumbering, simple-minded half of the famous Lennie and George team.
Instead, Elton said, it's a play that you almost have to watch it's so compelling.
"I compare it to when you're flipping channels on a Saturday afternoon and you come across a movie you've seen before. You know the story, but still you have to watch it. 'Mice and Men' is that kind of play — you have to pay attention to it, even if you know it."
George and Lennie have a tight bond and a common dream: They want to save enough money to have their own little farm.
"It's the struggle of the everyday guys, Lennie and George, as they try to get the American dream," Elton said as he explained the pull of the play.
"The dream of freeing yourself of the bonds of employment and working for yourself. They just want to do their own thing."
Terry Erbe, who plays George, said that the weaving in of the dream ethic is what makes the story, published in 1937, so timeless.
"I think clutching at the American dream is still very much part of our lives," he said after a school day at Catalina Foothills High School, where he teaches drama.
"It's about wanting a little place, and making a better life. I think that's universal. And Steinbeck does it in a way that goes back to the storytelling roots that we have. There's something eloquent about the pictures he paints."
George is a character Erbe embraces, even as he struggles to learn a massive amount of dialogue.
"George has got a big heart," said Erbe. "I don't think he would take on the care and feeding of Lennie if he didn't. At the same time, it's frustrating for George because Lennie will never grow up. I think George is a man at odds with his surroundings."
As for Lennie, Elton was determined to play him as an innocent, rather than a man with mental retardation.
"He's an innocent, but his bubble is very small," said Elton. "He relies on George to tell him what to do. In life, when you run across somebody like Lennie, it may take you five or 10 minutes to know that something's wrong. I wanted to play Lennie like that."
Both men have a profound respect for the friendship of the characters, and for their dreams.
"What I take from the play, and what I hope the audience will take, is how the themes are so current — loneliness, wanting a friend and wanting the American dream," said Elton. "I think we can all relate to what George and Lennie are going through."
Preview
"Of Mice and Men."
• By: John Steinbeck.
• Director: Glen Coffman.
• Presented by: Beowulf Alley Theatre.
• When: Preview is 7:30 tonight; opening is 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Regular performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 1:30 p.m. Sundays through May 27.
• Where: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave.
• Tickets: Thursdays, $10; other performances, $18 (discounts if purchased at www.beowulfalley.org). The 1:30 p.m. Sunday performance is $65, which includes a barbecue, music, hobnobbing with the cast and crew, and the play.
• Information: 882-0555.
• Cast: Terry Erbe, Stephen Elton, David Alexander Johnston, Amy Erbe, Greg Sweet, Tim McKiernan, Brian Wees, Jonathan Hicks, Nate Weisband.
• Running time: About 21/2 hours, with one intermission.
• Look for: The review in next Friday's Accent.
"Of Mice and Men."
• By: John Steinbeck.
• Director: Glen Coffman.
• Presented by: Beowulf Alley Theatre.
• When: Preview is 7:30 tonight; opening is 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Regular performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 1:30 p.m. Sundays through May 27.
• Where: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave.
• Tickets: Thursdays, $10; other performances, $18 (discounts if purchased at www.beowulfalley.org). The 1:30 p.m. Sunday performance is $65, which includes a barbecue, music, hobnobbing with the cast and crew, and the play.
• Information: 882-0555.
• Cast: Terry Erbe, Stephen Elton, David Alexander Johnston, Amy Erbe, Greg Sweet, Tim McKiernan, Brian Wees, Jonathan Hicks, Nate Weisband.
• Running time: About 21/2 hours, with one intermission.
• Look for: The review in next Friday's Accent.
● Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
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