Thursday, March 24, 2011

Fringe Fest events and performances schedule

Fringe Fest Opening Gala- Performance Art Extravaganza co-hosted by Parasol Project

March 23, 8PM at Old Town Artisans

Featuring performances by:

Heather Wodrich*Paco Velez*Denise Uyehara*Natalie Nguyen *Serena Tang*Sarah K. Smith*Jodi Netzer*Laura Milkins*Michele Ceballos Michot*Sean Madrid* Jamie J.*Luc Goodhart* Megan Amber Cox
with Parasol Project

Puppets Amongus
DJ Carl Hanni: spinning fresh tunes

Nightly live music and FRINGE conversation each night after Fringe. 

Details to be announced on website soon.

 

Closing Gala and Presentation of Best of Fringe Awards. 

Sunday March 27, 7pm-10pm

Location TBD

 

ALL TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED AT WWW.BROWNPAPERTICKETS.COM

 

Thurs. 3/24

Fri. 3/25

Sat. 3/26

Sun. 3/27

Venue #1: The Screening Room

 

Halloween in America

6:30pm

8:30pm

6:30pm

 

I Love You

(We're F*#ked)

8:30pm

6:30pm

8:30pm

 

Venue #2: Beowulf Alley Theatre

A Passion For Christ

6:30pm

8:15pm

6:30pm

3:15pm

Where There's Smoke

8:15pm

6:30pm

8:15pm

1:30pm

Halloween in America

 

 

 

11:45am

I Love You

(We're F*#ked)

 

 

 

5:00pm

Venue #3: Urban Tribe Collective

BLOWHOLE

6:30pm

8:15pm

6:30pm

3;15pm

White Girl

8:15pm

6:30pm

8:15pm

1:30pm

 

Venue Information:

Venue #1-    The Screening Room       

                        127 Congress St.               

Venue #2-    Beowulf Alley Theatre

                        11 South 6th Avenue        

Venue #3-    Urban Tribe Collective                           

                        657 W. St. Mary’s Rd., Unit C-12

                        Tucson, AZ 85701

 

 

ALL FESTIVAL VIP PASS AVAILABLE FOR $50 at

            www.brownpapertickets.com

 

Shows by Date/Time:

Thursday, March 24

Halloween in America @ The Screening Room- 6:30pm

A Passion For Christ @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 6:30pm

BLOWHOLE @ Urban Tribe Collective- 6:30pm

Where There’s Smoke @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 8:15pm

White Girl @ Urban Tribe Collective-8:15pm

I Love You (We’re F*#ked) @ The Screening Room- 8:30pm

 

Friday, March 25

I Love You (We’re F*#ked) @ The Screening Room- 6:30pm

Where There’s Smoke @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 6:30pm

White Girl @ Urban Tribe Collective- 6:30pm

A Passion For Christ @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 8:15pm

BLOWHOLE @ Urban Tribe Collective- 8:15pm

Halloween in America @ The Screening Room- 8:30pm

 

Saturday, March 26

Halloween in America @ The Screening Room- 6:30pm

A Passion For Christ @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 6:30pm

BLOWHOLE @ Urban Tribe Collective- 6:30pm

Where There’s Smoke @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 8:15pm

White Girl @ Urban Tribe Collective-8:15pm

I Love You (We’re F*#ked) @ The Screening Room- 8:30pm

 

Sunday, March 27

Halloween in America @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 11:45am

White Girl @ Urban Tribe Collective- 1:30pm

Where There’s Smoke @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 1:30pm

BLOWHOLE @ Urban Tribe Collective- 3:15pm

A Passion For Christ @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 3:15pm

I Love You (We’re F*#ked) @ Beowulf Alley Theatre- 5:00pm

 

Fringe doesn’t curate.  Fringe is different.  Fringe loves new work.  Fringe restores the artist’s creative influence.  Fringe doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg.  Fringe doesn’t tell you to eat your vegetables.  Fringe gives all the money back to the artist.  Fringe is a laboratory for ideas.  Fringe is the future of performance.  Fringe is community.  Fringe is awesome.

Our hope in bringing the Fringe to Tucson is to expand upon an already thriving theatrical community by promoting affordable opportunities for artists to craft original ideas while presenting a wider array of performance practices to the spectators.

For more information on the history and ideals of Fringe, please visit the United States Association of Fringe Festivals at http://www.fringefestivals.us/.

 

 

 

Contact:  Yasmine M. Jahanmir- 917-291-0693

Website: www.tucsonfringe.org 

Email: tucsonfringe@gmail.com

Twitter: @tucsonfringe

facebook:  facebook.com/tucsonfringe

 

Friday, March 18, 2011

Beowulf Alley Theatre presents FRONTING THE ORDER

FRONTING THE ORDER

 

A CO-PRODUCTION OF BEOWULF ALLEY THEATRE AND

 

WELLANGOODE PRODUCTIONS

 

 

FRONTING THE ORDER, a new play by Warren G. Bodow, will take the stage at Beowulf Alley Theatre on April 8, 2011 for eleven performances.

 

Directed by Sheldon Metz, who won recent acclaim for his work on THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE at Beowulf Alley, FRONTING THE ORDER runs five characters through a mill of deception, sexual innuendo, and class warfare.  Set in a diner in a small upstate New York town one summer evening in 1959, four encyclopedia salesmen prepare to canvass neighborhoods in Olean, New York, knocking on doors with a patently misleading pitch.  The play explores the relationships among the men, with the pretty but aging waitress, and with the changing world around them.  With wit and humor, the play reminds us that the ‘50s were far more turbulent than we remember or have been told.  Five local actors including Bill Epstein and Denise Blum are featured.

 

Playwright Warren G. Bodow has been a Tucson winter resident for the past five years.  A member of Tucson’s Old Pueblo Playwrights, two of his earlier plays received staged readings in Tucson before going on to showcase productions in New York City.  In between his college years at Syracuse University, he sold encyclopedias on the road and remembers those days as exciting and eye-opening.

 

Tickets for FRONTING THE ORDER are available on the Beowulf Alley Theatre website, www.beowulfalley.org , or by phone, 520-882-0555.  Beowulf Alley Theatre is downtown, at 11 S. 6th Avenue, near Congress.

 

Performance days, dates, times and prices are:

 

Evenings-

Friday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. - $15 – Preview

Saturday, April 9, 7:30 p.m. - $19 – Opening

Thursday - Saturday, April 14-16, 7:30 p.m. - $19

Wednesday-Saturday, April 20-23, 7:30 p.m. - $19

Matinees-

Sundays, April 10 & 17, 2:30 p.m. - $19

 

Run time is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.

Parking is available at street meters (no charge after 5 p.m. weekdays or any time on weekends), the County lot at the corner of Broadway and 6th Avenue (weekdays after 5 p.m. and all day Saturdays and Sundays) or, for a small fee at the parking garage at Pennington and Scott Avenues. Please see our website for directions.

 

Special note: April 9 is the Downtown 2nd Saturdays event, a lively, urban street festival. Plan to arrive a little early for dinner at a Downtown restaurant and stay after the play to experience the fun and vitality of our revitalized city.

 

 

 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Upcoming Auditions

Head! The Musical - Saturday and Sunday, March 19 and 20, 2-5 p.m.
For information, go to
headthemusical.com

The Hamlet Project (Ages 17-22) - FAQ Meeting on Saturday, March 26, 10 a.m. to noon
Auditions - Sunday, March 27, 7-9:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 2, 10 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Michael Fenlason,
michaelfenlason@aol.com

Beowulf Alley 2011-2012 Season Auditions - Saturday, April 16, 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Details to follow on approximately March 23. Please check our website for instructions.

 

Upcoming Events March-April

Who Said There's Nothing To Do Downtown?
Check out Beowulf Alley's
To Do List through April!

Check below for plays for adults and children, workshops for young adults, special events and audition information.

 

Bring Your Co-Workers, the Girls Who Lunch, your Moms, Dads and Grandparents for some lunchtime
arts and culture!

OUT TO LUNCH THEATRE

at Beowulf Alley Theatre

Presents

Beware the Ides of March

THE STARTER HOUSE

a play by Catfish Baruni

directed by Susan Arnold

Fridays, 12:15PM

March 18, and 25, 2011

Why sit in the break room, a noisy restaurant or stay at home alone? Start your weekend early with a little entertainment. For more information and to order tickets online, click HERE.

BYOLunch or order one from us created by our partner, Empire Pizza & Pub.

When purchased at least the day before: Play only, $6, with Lunch $13

When purchased at the door: Play only, $8

Groups of 10 or more receive $1 OFF online Play price.

Order online at www.beowulfalley.org or

by phone at (520) 882-0555

First hour at the Pennington Street (at Scott Ave) Garage is free.

 

 

Hey Kids! If you see a Leprechaun, it must be St. Patrick's Day! Final weekend for

 

Shenanigans

presented by

Active Imagination Theatre at Beowulf Alley Theatre

It's family-friendly, educational, interactive theatre for pre-school and elementary age children!

12:00 noon on March 19 & 20, 2011.

When a local farmer steals the leprechaun's bucket of gold, the leprechaun trades three wishes to get it back.

Ticket Prices are:

Online advance purchase at www.beowulfalley.org:

$5 children & $8 adults

At the door or by phone:

$5 children & $10 adults

3 and under in parents' laps always free.

Call the box office at (520) 882-0555 or e-mail boxoffice@beowulfalley.org for further information and to ask about our lively birthday parties or to schedule a visit to your child's day care, pre-school or elementary school. Prices are very reasonable for this exciting, educational event!

Click HERE to purchase tickets.

 

 

Tucson Fringe Festival

 

We are proud to participate in the inaugural Tucson Theater Fringe Festival, which will run from Wednesday evening, March 23 through Sunday evening March 27. There are a total of three venues presenting performances pieces. For information or to purchase tickets, please go to the Festival's website, www.tucsonfringe.org. Beowulf Alley is not a ticketing site for this event.

What is a Fringe Festival? The United States Association of Fringe Festivals says that generally, Fringes are:

  • Focused on the performing arts: Theater, dance, puppetry, spoken word and the like make up the Fringe core, but festivals often may include film and visual arts elements. Fringes don't have a focus on a single discipline or genre, but are a performing-arts smörgÃ¥sbord
  • Uncensored: No one gets too fussy about swears or nudity but squeaky-clean content isn't marginal or discouraged, either
  • Easy to participate in: Ticket prices are low for audiences and production fees are low for artists. Show selection varies from festival to festival but is generally quite open to participation by the gamut of amateurs to professionals
  • Festivals: They last from just a few days to a few weeks and involve boatloads of people at multiple venues
  • Original: Fringes feature a huge array of original material-sometimes by design, but usually because that's what Fringes naturally do well
  • Rapid-fire: Typically, tech is minimal and time is a factor at our festivals. Shows are often kept brief (Fringes most frequently have shows right around 60 minutes in length) and technical requirements kept simple (minor sets, streamlined cues, nothing elaborate)

It all started in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland, as an alternative festival that played concurrently with the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1948, Robert Kemp, a local journalist, gave it the name Fringe: "Round the fringe of official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before..." -- Wikipedia

Generally, however, all the festivals are committed to an open forum of expression that minimizes the financial risks for both artists and audiences. Fringes strive to keep application fees and ticket prices low so that more people can participate in the festivals.

 

The Hamlet Project
and
Shakespeare in the Park(ing Lot)

The Hamlet Project will host a FAQ Meet on Saturday morning March 26th at 10:30am at the theatre. Interested parties may also contact Michael directly at michaelfenlason@aol.com. Please use the subject line: The Hamlet Project

We are looking for Tucson's best young actors to audition for the roles of Hamlet and Ophelia. Winners will receive a cash prize and lead roles of the play in both a live performance and a digital media presence, as well as free participation in The Hamlet Project workshops.

The Hamlet Project Workshop will take actors through an intensive course of Shakespeare's work, language, history and performance. It is an acting workshop with the specific text of Shakespeare's play that will culminate in mid-summer performances and digital media internet events. Actors will learn stage technique as well as film acting. Each actor will perform live in front of an audience, whether in Hamlet, or in two supporting productions of Shakespeare in the Park(ing Lot) and Clown Romeo and Juliet.

Actors may audition for the Project through video post or individual audition at the theatre on Sunday, March 27th at 7:00PM and Saturday April 2nd from 10am to 2pm. The workshop space is limited.

WHEN: The Hamlet Project Workshops will begin in May with performances in June.

WHERE: Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S 6th Avenue in Downtown Tucson.

COST: Workshop cost is $99. Some scholarships are available. No actor should be deterred by the workshop cost. We will make every reasonable attempt to include serious students.

WHO: Actors between the ages of 17 and 22.

Michael Fenlason will conduct the workshops. Michael is a director, actor, playwright, acting teacher, content creator, filmmaker and composer who has studied and taught acting in London, Phoenix and San Francisco. He has directed at Raw Space in New York City and The Vanbrugh Theatre in London.

 

Coming in April...

Old Time Radio Theatre presents two evenings of its nostalgic radio episodes on April 5 and 19. The company of performers, in their vintage costumes, with their Foley sound equipment, re-enact the studio performances of yesteryear to entertain and delight you.

For more information, consult our website or call (520) 882-0555.

April 5 - The Bickersons: Easter,
Vic and Sade: Sade Thinks Baseball is Just a Game and
The Lone Ranger: A Doctor’s Story

April 19 - The Western - Episode 1: Lawless Brewster and
Arizona Rangers, Men of Danger - Episode 1: Mossman

 

 

 

FRONTING THE ORDER

A CO-PRODUCTION OF BEOWULF ALLEY THEATRE AND

WELLANGOODE PRODUCTIONS

 

FRONTING THE ORDER, a new play by Warren G. Bodow, will take the stage at the Beowulf Alley Theatre on April 8, 2011 for eleven performances.

 

 

Directed by Sheldon Metz, who won recent acclaim for his work on THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE at Beowulf Alley, FRONTING THE ORDER runs five characters through a mill of deception, sexual innuendo, and class warfare. Set in a diner in a small upstate New York town one summer evening in 1959, four encyclopedia salesmen prepare to canvass neighborhoods in Olean, New York, knocking on doors with a patently misleading pitch. The play explores the relationships among the men, with the pretty but aging waitress, and with the changing world around them. With wit and humor, the play reminds us that the ‘50s were far more turbulent than we remember or have been told. Five local actors including Bill Epstein and Denise Blum are featured.

 

 

Playwright Warren G. Bodow has been a Tucson winter resident for the past five years. A member of Tucson’s Old Pueblo Playwrights, two of his earlier plays received staged readings in Tucson before going on to showcase productions in New York City. In between his college years at Syracuse University, he sold encyclopedias on the road and remembers those days as exciting and eye-opening.

 

 

Tickets for FRONTING THE ORDER are available on the Beowulf Alley Theatre website, www.beowulfalley.org , or by phone, 520-882-0555. Beowulf Alley Theatre is downtown, at 11 S. 6th Avenue, near Congress.

 

 

Performance days, dates, times and prices are:

 

 

Evenings-

Friday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. - $15 – Preview

Saturday, April 9, 7:30 p.m. - $19 – Opening

Thursday - Saturday, April 14-16, 7:30 p.m. - $19

Wednesday-Saturday, April 20-23, 7:30 p.m. - $19

 

Matinees-

Sundays, April 10 & 17, 2:30 p.m. - $19

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Auditions:

 

Head! The Musical - Saturday and Sunday, March 19 and 20, 2-5 p.m.
For information, go to
headthemusical.com

The Hamlet Project (Ages 17-22) - FAQ Meeting on Saturday, March 26, 10 a.m. to noon
Auditions - Sunday, March 27, 7-9:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 2, 10 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Michael Fenlason,
michaelfenlason@aol.com

Beowulf Alley 2011-2012 Season Auditions - Saturday, April 16, 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Details to follow on approximately March 23. Please check our
website for instructions.

 

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

2011-2012 Main Stage Season of Plays

Announcing Beowulf Alley Theatre's

Provocative 2011-2012 Season of Plays

Beowulf Alley Theatre, at 11 South 6th Avenue, announces an entertaining, thought-provoking and challenging Main Stage Season of five plays for its seventh exciting year in Downtown Tucson.

 

 

 

Rough Crossing

by Oscar and Tony Award-winning Tom Stoppard

from an original play by Ferenc Molnar

Directed by Dave Sewell

September 8—October 2, 2011

 

 

Aboard the Italian Castle bound for New York are a quirky assemblage of show business egos, led by the writing team of Turai and Gal. Turai’s impossible mission: to somehow maneuver his partner, Gal, their neurotic composer, and two fading stars into cobbling together the next Broadway smash hit: The Cruise of the Dodo. His only prayer for success may well depend on the cabin steward with the unpronounceable name. Stoppard’s adaptation is no less than a retro-romp on the high seas!

 

“...(Stoppard) weaves an increasingly amazing pattern of verbal misunderstandings, eccentric character development, showbiz spectacle, and seagoing hazards, all of which come to occupy equal importance in the plot.” --London Times

 

 

Lear

by William Shakespeare

Adapted and Directed by Michael Fenlason

October 27—November 20, 2011

 

 

Lear’s decision to divide his kingdom among his three daughters ignites a firestorm of greed, betrayal, and murder. Cast out as patriarch, upended by pride and anger, Lear walks into the night with a madman and a fool. One of the greatest plays in world literature, Shakespeare’s tragedy strips away the trappings of society to reveal the unforgiving truth about the human condition: love and deceit, power and poverty, good and evil. This play’s special understanding of old age explains in part why this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps the most moving. Considered to be the ultimate Shakespearean tragedy, we bring you this contemporary adaptation of a classic work.

 

 

We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!

Adapted from 1997 Nobel Prize-winner, Dario Fo’s Can’t Pay! Won’t Pay!

Translated by Ron Jenkins

Directed by Susan Arnold

January 26-February 19, 2012

 

 

Dario Fo, one of Italy’s foremost playwrights, is a rarity-a Marxist with a sense of humor. This hilarious farce, a success Off-Broadway and across the U.S., is set in motion when a housewife comes home with groceries she has swiped as part of a spontaneous community action where 300 women did the same. In her effort to keep her secret from her husband, she hides some of the groceries under her best friend’s raincoat. Her husband and his friend, the accomplice’s husband, notice the bulge, of course, but they believe the explanation that the accomplice is pregnant! Hilarity is piled upon hilarity as the characters try to extricate themselves from the mess they have gotten into. Eventually, they all unite to support the spontaneous resistance to eviction in their housing project. This translation was prepared in consultation with Dario Fo and Franca Rhame in 1999 for its premiere at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA.

 

 

The work of a social reformer with a fractured funny bone . . . Mr. Fo’s manic farce should be obligatory viewing for anyone battling, i.e., succumbing to, the high cost of living.” – The New York Times

 

 

Radium Girls

by D.W. Gregory

Directed by Sheldon Metz

March 15-April 8, 2012

 

 

In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage—until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation, but with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. This story changed laws in the country regarding protection of employees. Written with warmth and humor, Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece. Nine actors portray more than 30 parts— friends, co-workers, lovers, relatives, attorneys, scientists, consumer advocates, and myriad interested bystanders. Radium Girls offers a “powerful” and “engrossing” theatrical experience, as well as, a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth, and the commercialization of science.

 

 

“a playwright with a talent to enlighten and provoke”

 

 

Sins of the Mother

by Israel Horovitz

Directed by Vince Flynn

May 3-27, 2012

 

 

Douggie returns to Gloucester after a long absence, wanting to learn more about his dead mother. He encounters a group of out-of-work stevedores whose knowledge of his mother’s past is as detailed as his is sketchy. As the past is dredged up, the depths of wounds it left are exposed and retribution is exacted. A powerful and compelling drama about revenge, forgiveness, and the comically human struggle to decipher which is which. This play contains strong language.

 

 

BEST NEW PLAY – The Independent Reviewers of New England Awards 2009

 

 

 

 

 

2011-2012 Season Subscriptions are on sale now by phone at (520) 882-0555 or on our website at www.beowulfalley.org. Subscribers who purchase their subscriptions by April 23, 2011 will receive one or two FREE tickets per subscription, depending on the type of subscription purchased, to be used for a regularly scheduled main stage performance in the season.

 

 

 

A sixth special event will be offered for the holiday season. 2011-2012 subscribers may purchase tickets at their single ticket price beginning September 1st. General public tickets will go on sale October 1st.

:

 

A Cactus Christmas

by John Vornholt

Directed by TBA

December 9—23, 2011

 

In the ghost town of Wishbone, AZ stands a run-down saloon called the Yellow Dog, a dusty, run-down place that hasn't been used for anything in a century or so. Two desert rats, Alice and Pete, have taken up residence in early October in the old saloon, declaring squatter’s rights. They’re searching for The Treasure Trove of the Lost Turk that Pete believes is in the old mine on the property. Visitors from the East Coast arrive quite unexpectedly. This is dad Jeffery’s year to pick the family vacation and he’s looking for a tour of ghost towns. The rest of the family members like the resort life. Pete drums up a plan to take advantage of the Easterners’ good fortune but somehow that darned ghost keeps interfering.

 

 

This original script has been written for Beowulf Alley as a family-friendly tale for the holiday season by Tucson’s own John Vornholt. Performances are limited but will be an entertaining evening for your out of town guests, too!

 

***

2011-2012 Season Subscriptions

Full Season 5-plays: $80.00

Flex Pass (4 your way): $72.00

Sunday Senior 60+ , Student, Military (ID required): $60.00

 

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Tucson Weekly: The Best of Tucson, News, and Everything That Matters

Tucson Weekly: The Best of Tucson, News, and Everything That Matters

Staff Pick

BEOWULF ALLEY THEATRE COMPANY

Beauty Queen of Leenane, about the malevolence of people leading hopeless lives in a small, Irish town,… More

@ Beowulf Alley Theatre Company Fridays-Sundays, 7:30 p.m. and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Continues through March 13 11 S. Sixth Ave.

Friday, March 04, 2011

'Beauty Queen' a compelling, disturbing comedy

'Beauty Queen' a compelling, disturbing comedy

'Beauty Queen' a compelling, disturbing comedy

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, March 4, 2011

Medea, step aside.

You ain't got nothin' on Mag, the mother in Martin McDonagh's "The Beauty Queen of Leenane."

Mag is mean, malicious, malignant. And in Beowulf Alley Theatre Company's production, which opened Saturday, Cynthia Jeffery made every vicious bone in Mag's body pop.

Like Jeffery, [Rhonda] Hallquist brought a vividness to her character. We knew her disgust, tasted her frustration, but we're horrified at her solution.

Jared Stokes did a fine job as Pato, Maureen's suitor. And Robert Anthony Peters is doing some of his best work in his role as Ray, Pato's brother.

... director Metz staged a production that presented the drama and the macabre without a heavy hand, kept the brogues on track, and showed a strong affection for and understanding of the work.

Read the entire review here: 'Beauty Queen' a compelling, disturbing comedy


Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Domestic Dysfunction | Review | Tucson Weekly


Domestic Dysfunction

The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Beowulf Alley Theatre
Tucson Weekly

Director Sheldon Metz has chosen an excellent cast and coaxed enthralling performances from them. Jeffery's performance as Mag is entirely free of mean-old-lady caricature. Every moment feels completely, repellently real. It takes courage to fully commit to such an unlikable character, and that integrity ultimately wins our sympathy, if not our love.
Robert Anthony Peters and Rhonda Hallquist in 

Beowulf Alley Theatre Company'sThe Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Hallquist wisely plays up Maureen's no-nonsense nature, leaving the sinister foreshadowing to others. Her warm, sympathetic energy lets us overlook her character's sometimes-cruel behavior. But once the gap between tone and conduct becomes too wide to ignore, we can look back and see how Hallquist planted the seeds of violence from the beginning.
Jared Stokes, as Maureen's gentleman caller, Pato, exudes enough compassion to shine in that toxic cottage. He's no saint—Pato's a bit handsy with the ladies—and Stokes paints a very human portrait of a man who's essentially good, but also weak.
Robert Anthony Peters rounds out the cast as Pato's brother, Ray. Ray is, in some ways, as blind to others' feelings as Mag is. But rather than adding to the gloom, Peters makes Ray's casual cruelty a comic, youthful counterpoint to the women's Pyrrhic warfare.

KUAT program featuring interview with Beth Dell, Managing Director

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

... the most remarkable performance of the city’s entire theater season ...

THIS "BEAUTY QUEEN" PACKS APUNCH

by Chuck Graham
Let the Show Begin
TucsonStage.com

There is bleakness and bite in the Irish humor of Martin McDonagh's "The Beauty Queen of Leenane," now playing downtown at Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave. As director, Sheldon Metz finds his laughs in the hapless lives of four Irish villagers who aren't having much success trying to muddle through the daily challenges of their shabby existence.

Maureen (Rhonda Hallquist) is a 40-year-old spinster desperate to break the cycle of despair, though she feels shackled by the irons of responsibility – most particularly caring for her cantankerous and manipulative mother. Sure there must be a streak of co-dependency involved in getting to this point, but when the play opens Maureen is already about to explode.

Cynthia Jeffery in the most remarkable performance of the city's entire theater season completely disappears into the role of Mag, which rhymes with hag, which is exactly who she is. Quarrelsome from dawn to dark, her face frozen in anger, her only purpose is to make others miserable.

chuck review

Yet, neither Metz nor Jeffery sees the personality of Mag as one-dimensional. She is an aging woman alone in the world, with no resources. She is frightened at the prospects of an empty house.

Of course her daughter Maureen needs a man. But the risk of letting Maureen get married and hoping for the best is more than Mag can manage.

We are given opportunity to understand that. Not that Mag is sympathetic, but we do appreciate what she is up against.

Of course Maureen also has a skeleton of consequence in her closet, or else she wouldn't be a spinster – not even in Leenane.

The men are young Ray (Robert Anthony Peters) and his older brother Pato (Jared Stokes). Their functions are to keep the plot moving, which they do with confidence and Irish bluster.

Once the tragically fierce relationship between Mag and Maureen is established, we meet Pato an awkward bachelor that Maureen sees as her last chance for happiness.

More laughs ensue when Pato comes for dinner, defenseless against Mag's attacks. But Pato does spend the night, so the race is on.

McDonagh is also a young playwright who lives the eagerness of young people itching to be on their own if they can just find a way to become independent. Ray is one of those grown-up children whose own frustration with village life makes him a time bomb of emotions.

Ray becomes the x-factor in this fragile relationship between Maureen and Pato. But even more powerful is the play's final resolution in the final scene, when we realize "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" isn't about the four people on stage. It is about all of us.

Performances continue through March 13 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, at Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 S. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $23, with discounts online and on certain nights. The Thursday, March 3, performance is a benefit for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Following the Sunday, March 6, matinee is a concert of Irish folk music by Scatter the Dust, which requires a separate ticket ($12 in advance, $15 at the door).

For details and reservations on all these events, go to www.beowulfalley.org