SOUNDS LIKE FUN

Theater enthusiasts/supporters John Grafton and Richard Worswick will be hosting the program ”A Brand New Bard” at their lovely Bath home May 15, featuring theater professor Stephen Skiles. The program is part of the University of Akron’s Arts-in-Residence spring 2008 series.

Skiles, who holds the Paul A. Daum professorship in theater, will talk about how Shakespeare sizzles in each generation’s pop culture, from Harry Potter to Tony Soprano today. Skiles studied at the Royal Shakespeare Institute and was a founding member and actor at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. He directed UA’s Twelfth Night, with a modern setting during New Orleans’ Mardi Gras.

Cost is $35 each. Call 330-972-5196 or e-mail cyndee@uakron.edu for reservations, which are limited.

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AUSPICIOUS NEW VENTURE
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My husband, friends and I were happy to celebrate with the Seans as they opened their new Cleveland theater with a lowkey gala April 19. The black-box space just a stone’s throw from Public Square was impressive, with a large outer lobby prominently featuring the art of Stow painter Todd V and plenty of room for gathering in the inner lobby.

The play This Is How It Goes, by Neil LaBute, was guest directed by Fred Sternfeld of Cleveland. The material was nowhere near as good as LaBute’s Fat Pig or Some Girls, both previously produced at BNC Akron. But the actors did the most they could with the script.

Especially enjoyable was Doug Kusak as the Man. This guy always has a delightfully devilish look on his face, which plays a large part in how he reins the audience in for what starts out as a tale of a high school crush that’s still burning years later.

The tone changes drastically as the play becomes an exploration of racism and gender roles (to a lesser extent). LaBute’s works aren’t shy about asking viewers ugly questions about our own ugly attitudes and prejudices: Be prepared for some nasty language, including the ”n” word.

This play’s too long to run without an intermission: I see no reason why Sternfeld couldn’t have inserted one before the tide changes in the story.

May’s great as the Man, Leighann Niles DeLorenzo is believable as the former cheerleader facing a marriage crisis and Michael May’s OK as Cody. The play continues through Saturday (May 10). See www.bnctheatre.com for more information.

I’m kinda scared to see BNC’s current Akron offering, Christopher Denham’s Cagelove. From what I’ve heard, it has one character forcing another to relive/retell her horrifying rape experience. Does this show shock for shock value alone? We’ll have to see.

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WORDS TO THE WISE
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I’ve been thinking about the sage Alice Walker — author of The Color Purple – since I heard her speak on a WVIZ/Ideastream special recently, televised at Playhouse Square in conjunction with the coming of the musical tour.

She talked about how the title of her book came about: The color purple is just as prevalent in nature as other colors.

”It’s just that we don’t see it,” she said. ”It’s just like the people in this book (eg. the oppressed Celie). They’re prevalent but you don’t see them.”

Her comments on The Color Purple were just a small part of Walker’s larger conversation with musical book writer Marsha Norman and a largely student audience. The deeply philosophical Walker spoke of our world being on the brink of ecological disaster, and said our species must deal with our self hatred, which we don’t talk about.

As a writer, I was especially interested to hear Walker say she has never suffered writer’s block.

”I don’t believe in stuckness, and you shouldn’t,” said Walker, encouraging the audience to accept that they’re meant to be doing something else if the words aren’t flowing.

Wallker called writing ”liberatory,” and described writing since she could crawl, when she scribbled with a twig in the margins of a Sears Roebuck catalog. She also spoke about how she relates to each character in her works.

”Novels are like dreams. When you dream, everybody in the dream is you,” she said.

The author’s latest project is transcribing 40 years of journals to see where that takes her.

I also liked her wish for youngsters that they ”be strong, bright, open and free.”

She stressed that her books are good for students: ”When you read my books, it’s like taking vitamins.”

Good stuff.