Beowulf Alley Theatre presents
Alley Cats Youth Theater
Join the Alley Cats! Our classes teach acting, performance, confidence and fun for ages 5-17. We create a play for our audience and also have time for fun and acting exercises. The classes culminate in a full stage production at Beowulf Alley Theatre.New classes start in 2012. Just two months away!
We offer after school, summer and weekend classes.
For more information contact alleycats@beowulfalley.org or call Michael at 520-977-5218.
Arizona Theatre Company & Beowulf Alley Theatre
'Lear' and 'God of Carnage' - worthy plays are complete opposites
But which one is better?
Oct 31, 2011
By Dave Irwin
TucsonSentinel.com
"Lear" is an abridged version of "King Lear," Shakespeare's complex tragedy of family and loyalty. It takes a certain amount of ego/hubris/cajones to edit Shakespeare, but only purists will object to director Michael Fenlason's thoughtful adaptation. Though he cuts a number of lines and several characters, Fenlason retains the language of the original text, including its blank verse cadence.
… the overall timing and interplay is excellent. In an effective re-write that highlights their evil, Goneril and Regan themselves blind the imprisoned Gloucester in a scene that demonstrates how creative choice, good stage blocking and a little fake blood can create a monstrous impact. Also, the final fight scene between Greengard and Guisinger as the Earl's sons was an outstanding display of stage combat skills and choreography.
Creatista/Scott Griessel
Jacob Brown as the Fool, Aaron Guisinger as Edgar, Breezy Giger as Kent and Bill Epstein as King Lear
Fenlason utilizes a young cast that draws heavily on the University of Arizona's outstanding theatre program. Four of the cast are current students or recent graduates, and Lear himself is played by University of Arizona English professor Bill Epstein in his seventh appearance on the BAT stage.
Particularly interesting were Alex Greengard as Edmond, the Earl's conniving bastard; Aaron Guisinger as Edgar, the Earl's legitimate son and rightful heir; Bree Boyd as Lear's haughty eldest daughter, Goneril; and Breezy Giger in a gender-bending performance as Lear's ubiquitous and loyal servent, the Earl of Kent.
Jacob Brown, as Lear's Fool, adds a comic note to the rage and mayhem, prancing and sing-songing his commentaries. Rounding out the cast are Kathleenn Cannon as youngest daughter Cordelia, Cody Davis as servant Oswald, Amy Loehrs as middle daughter, Regan, and Mark Klugheit as the Earl of Gloucester
Read the entire review here: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/103111_lear_god_carnage/lear-and-god-carnage-worthy-plays-are-complete-opposites/
"SHAKESPEARE'S LEAR" IS A KILLER
By Chuck Graham,
TucsonStage.com
"Bill Epstein, a professor of English at the University of Arizona, does the English department proud pouring his own soul into one of the greatest plays in English literature. By the final scene, you will feel as wrung out as the actor himself, stretched out across the stage."
Michael Fenlason is, clearly, fearless.
Come this weekend, when ghosts and goblins reign, he will be mounting "Lear," his take on Shakespeare's "King Lear," at Beowulf Alley Theatre.
It's a daunting and much-loved tragedy.
CREATISTA, SCOTT GRIESSEL / BEOWULF ALLEY
Beowulf Alley Theatre's "Lear" features Jacob Brown, left, as The Fool, Aaron Guisinger as Edgar, Bri Breezy Giger as Kent and Bill Epstein as King Lear.
Scary? Sure, says Fenlason.
"But there's a lot about it that's exciting," he says, clearly relishing the excitement more than the fear.
"I wanted to do something that's a little raw and a little classic," he says, explaining why he proposed this play to Beowulf.
And, he adds, the piece, more than 400 years old, resonates today.
"The play speaks to what's going on now - division, poverty, care of the elderly. It has a lot to say to our modern society. That's the wonderful thing about Shakespeare - he's forever fresh."
"Lear" is about the aging king who wants to divide his kingdom among his three daughters.
He asks each to tell him how deeply he is loved. Two, Goneril and Regan, flatter him to no end and they receive generous parcels of land. But the youngest, Cordelia, isn't going along with this heap-on-the-flattery approach. Instead she tells him the truth - that she loves him as a daughter should.
It enrages old King Lear, who cuts Cordelia out of her share of land. All of this, of course, leads to intense human suffering, awful tragedies and great lessons. It is brilliant and bleak.
And long - a norm with Shakespeare.
But today's audiences are less tolerant of long plays, and most contemporary Shakespeare productions have shortened scripts.
Fenlason says his script cuts were done carefully.
"We tried to find places where we could tell the story and keep the language," he says. "We kept it pretty tight."
Beowulf's "Lear" will be in modern dress and American accents.
"We're trying to make it natural so audiences can relate to it," Fenlason explains.
"I don't think anyone who loves Shakespeare will be angry with me."
If you go
• What: "Lear."
• Presented by: Beowulf Alley Theatre.
• By: William Shakespeare.
• Director: Michael Fenlason.
• When: Previews at 7:30 p.m. today and opens 7:30 p.m. Friday. Regular performances are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 20.
• Where: Beowulf Alley, 11 S. Sixth Ave.
• Tickets: $15 preview; regular performances $20 in advance, $23 by phone and day of performance.
• Reservations/information: www.beowulfalley.org or 622-4460.
• Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes.
• Cast: Bree Boyd, Jacob Brown, Kate Cannon, Cody Davis, Bill Epstein, Bri Breezy Giger, Alex Greengaard, Aaron Guisinger, Mark Klugheit and Amy Loehrs.
Beowulf Alley Theatre
A Call for Tech People
for Lear and A Cactus Christmas
Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 South 6th Avenue, Downtown between Broadway and Congress, is looking for the following positions for two separate productions through the end of the year.
For Lear by William Shakespeare, adapted and directed by Michael Fenlason, Beowulf Alley Theatre seeks a Lighting Designer. Run-throughs will begin in about a week, hang and focus during the week of October 17 with tech to follow beginning on October 22. Performances begin October 27th and continue through November 20th.
For A Cactus Christmas by John Vornholt, directed by Pat Timm, Beowulf Alley Theatre seeks a Lighting Designer, Props Coordinator and Sound Designer. Rehearsals will begin the last week of October, tech will begin on December 1 and performances are December 8th through December 24th.
Interested parties should contact Michael Fenlason at 520-977-5218.
OLD TIME RADIO THEATRE
Beowulf Alley Theatre
Performances for the Month of October, 2011
Beowulf Alley Theatre’s Old Time Radio Theatre Company will present classic productions and reproductions from the golden days of radio at the theatre, 11 South 6th Avenue (Downtown between Broadway and Congress). Performances in October will be Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on October 4, and October 18, 2011. Tickets purchased online at www.beowulfalley.org at least the day before a performance are $8.00. Tickets by phone or at the door are $10. Children 12 years and under are free. The box office phone number is (520) 882-0555.
October 4, 2011
MA PERKINS (1935)
Ma Perkins (sometimes called Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins) is an American radio soap opera which was heard on NBC from 1933 to 1949 and on CBS from 1942 to 1960. Between 1942 and 1949, the show was heard simultaneously on both networks. OXYDOL dropped its sponsorship in 1956. Ma Perkins began August 14, 1933 on WLW in Cincinnati. On December 4 of that year, it graduated to the NBC Red network. On NBC and CBS the series ran for a total of 7,065 episodes thru November 25, 1960. "America’s Mother of the Air" was portrayed by actress Virginia Wade who began the role at the age of 23 and never missed a performance during the program's 27-year run. Kindly, trusting widow, Ma Perkins, had a big heart and a great love of humanity. She always offered her homespun philosophy to troubled souls in need of advice.
SUSPENSE: Leiningen vs. the Ants (January 14, 1948)
Leiningen Versus the Ants is a classic short story published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire. The story centers on a scrappy, no-nonsense plantation owner called Leiningen (his first name is never mentioned in the story), and his stubborn refusal to abandon his plantation in the face of a seemingly unstoppable mass of army ants described as "an elemental—an act of God.”
The district commissioner (who narrates the radio adaptation in the first person) describes the threat Leiningen faces: "Ten miles long, two miles wide—ants, nothing but ants!” Additionally, each ant is approximately the size of a man's thumb and wants to consume any form of life that falls in its path. It is also mentioned that they can completely pick the flesh from a deer in six minutes.
This special encore presentation was presented at Beowulf Alley on December 31, 2009 to a sold-out audience. Amazing sound effects.
October 18, 2011
OZZIE & HARRIET: Haunted House
Ozzie Nelson & his orchestra gained national network radio exposure after appearing at a chance booking at the Glen Island Casino in the 30’s. Ozzie and his lead singer, Harriet Hilliard, married in October 8, 1938, during this series’ run, and realized working together in radio would keep them together more than continuing their musical careers separately. They became part of The Red Skelton Show, as performers and musicians. When Skelton was drafted in March 1944, Ozzie Nelson was prompted to create his own family situation comedy. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet launched on CBS on October 8, 1944, moving to NBC in October 1948, and making a late-season switch back to CBS in April 1949. The final years of the radio series were on ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from October 14, 1949 to June 18, 1954. In total 402 radio episodes were produced. In an arrangement that amplified the growing pains of American broadcasting, as radio "grew up" into television, the Nelsons' deal with ABC gave the network the option to move their program to television. The struggling network needed proven talent that was not about to defect to the more established and wealthier networks like CBS or NBC. In Haunted House, Ozzie tries to prove to his sons that there’s no such thing as ghosts.
MERCURY THEATRE: Dracula
The Mercury Theatre was founded in NYC in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the most notable and infamous radio broadcasts of all time, The War of the Worlds, broadcast on October 30, 1938. The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced live radio dramas in 1938–1940 and again briefly in 1946. The Mercury Theatre troupe included Carl Frank, Joseph Cotton, Martin Gabel, Vincent Price, Agnes Moorhead, Ray Collins, Hans Conreid, Paul Stewart, Will Geer, George Coulouris, Olive Stanton and Everett Horton. Other screen and television performers, like Betty Garrett, Anne Baxter and Judy Holliday also appeared in productions in smaller parts. This evening, we will present a Halloween special, the Classic tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Directed by Sheldon Metz, the OTRT Ensemble Company includes: Ryan Amstutz, Jon Benda, Denise Blum, Butch Bryant, Samantha Cormier, Gerri Courtney-Austein, Laura Davenport, Samuel DeJesus, Evan Engle, Bill Epstein, Sydney Flynn, Vince Flynn, Audrey Ann Gambach, Brian Scott Hale, Barbara Glover, Meagan Jones, Bill La Pointe, Elizabeth Leadon, Lois Lederman, Butch Lynn, Steve McKee, Charlie Middagh, Whitney Morton, Joan O’Dwyer, Robert Anthony Peters, Shannon Brooke Rzuildo, Mike Saxon, Ina Shivak, Pat Timm, Terry Thure, Jared Stokes, and John Vornholt.
Beowulf Alley’s Late Night Theatre presents
Cactus Pants Cowboy
The Comedy Collective
Late Night Theatre at Beowulf Alley, 11 South 6th Avenue, Downtown between Broadway and Congress, presents Cactus Pants Cowboy (formerly Grendel’s Mom). Performances are on Saturday, October 8 at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
For these special performances for Downtown 2nd Saturdays, a recommended donation to see each show is $5 at the door.
Cactus Pants Cowboy is Tucson’s own premiere comedy troupe featuring the comic stylings of
Evan Engle, Brian Hanson, Tara Kleinbrink, Eric and Scott O’Brien, Josh Parra and Tristyn Tucci. The troupe presents brand new material as well as classic sketches like Hobo Cop and I Love You, Sean Bean. This comedy group has adult themes and language, and may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
Cactus Pants Cowboy has performed previously under the name Grendel’s Mom but became distraught by the tenuous connection to Angelina Jolie and classic Old English literature. The performance lasts a little less than an hour. Is there any better way to celebrate a Saturday in Downtown Tucson than to laugh? Wait, we didn’t mean it like that… Come see Cactus Pants Cowboy!