Showing posts with label Baton Rouge Little Theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baton Rouge Little Theater. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Theatre--Performance
The Baton Rouge Little Theater seems to be welcoming more and more performers from the Acadiana area. Barret Berard of New Iberia, who participated in quite a few IPAL productions and is now living in Baton Rouge, has been cast in the BRLT production of Born Yesterday, which opens on May 1st. Congratulations to Barret!
Theatre--Actor's Notes
Duncan Thistlethwaite will be opening in The Vertical Hour at the Baton Rouge Little Theatre this week. He wrote this note about his experiences with the show, parts of which appeared in The Times of Acadiana. Thanks to Duncan for sharing this with us, and break a leg!
Actors of a certain age develop an eagle eye for auditions which feature characters of a certain age, so when I got an audition emailer for the Baton Rouge Little Theater’s production of The Vertical Hour, my eye did its eagle thing: “Oliver – mid-fifties British physician.” Being verifiably ‘mid-fifties’ myself, I drove over the next day and read for Keith Dixon, the director of the play and BRLT’s Artistic Director. I was thrilled to get cast. The Vertical Hour is a fascinating piece, debuting on Broadway with Bill Nighy and Julienne Moore in the lead roles at a time when the invasion of Iraq and the resultant quagmire of mayhem and chaos were at the very forefront of the world’s political stage. On one level, it’s an exploration of the political, moral, and philosophical ideas surrounding the whole event, but one shouldn’t assume that the play is a screed for political diatribes or yet another blatant attack by the foes of the Bush administration. David Hare is much more subtle than that.
Yes, the play examines what happened in Iraq from several opposite polarities, but more important to the theater-goer are the characters who inhabit those polarites. The central dramatic line through the play is the relationships between those characters and not their political view-points. All the political yak-yak takes a back seat to what is happening between them personally, and what a bunch of interesting characters they are.
My character, Oliver Lucas is an English physician, a GP (general practitioner) who lives in the remote countryside on the Welsh border. I’d never done a British accent before, and my joy at being cast was immediately followed by near-panic as I realized I’d have to come up with a solid British accent. I began attacking that immediately, working with Paul Meier’s excellent Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen, and quicker than I thought, I found Oliver’s voice, surprising myself that he didn’t sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins (‘Allo Guv’nah!) or some over-the-top imitation of posh English aristocracy. Whew.
The script is demanding beyond accents. It is dense with ideas and high-stakes relationships. Oliver Lucas is wicked and sweet, smart and funny, kind and cruel, wounded and wounding, and all sorts of interesting things that are fun to play. I’ve never been presented with a character of his dimensions and depth. The play mainly focuses on the interplay between Oliver and Nadia Blye, his son’s American girlfriend who is an academic/journalist of high profile, much like CNN’s Christian Amonpour. They stand at their poles, fending with each other, using their political philosophies as a means to get at their personal truths. It’s a rich combination of things for an actor to play with: high stake personal relationships which are dismantled and rearranged through intense political discussions.
Keith Dixon is a nimble, accomplished director and has made the experience a joy from the get-go. Rehearsals are focused and business-like, yet fun and friendly at the same time. Part of the joy of being an actor is working through a script, refining moments and tweaking relationships, and Keith’s steady hand and clear view of what the play is about and who the characters are have made each session something I anticipate eagerly. The hour-plus commute to the theater out on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge isn’t even a minor hassle. It’s an asset really: a great opportunity to run lines (on the way there) and review what we just did (on the way back). I’m home before I know it.
Actors of a certain age develop an eagle eye for auditions which feature characters of a certain age, so when I got an audition emailer for the Baton Rouge Little Theater’s production of The Vertical Hour, my eye did its eagle thing: “Oliver – mid-fifties British physician.” Being verifiably ‘mid-fifties’ myself, I drove over the next day and read for Keith Dixon, the director of the play and BRLT’s Artistic Director. I was thrilled to get cast. The Vertical Hour is a fascinating piece, debuting on Broadway with Bill Nighy and Julienne Moore in the lead roles at a time when the invasion of Iraq and the resultant quagmire of mayhem and chaos were at the very forefront of the world’s political stage. On one level, it’s an exploration of the political, moral, and philosophical ideas surrounding the whole event, but one shouldn’t assume that the play is a screed for political diatribes or yet another blatant attack by the foes of the Bush administration. David Hare is much more subtle than that.
Yes, the play examines what happened in Iraq from several opposite polarities, but more important to the theater-goer are the characters who inhabit those polarites. The central dramatic line through the play is the relationships between those characters and not their political view-points. All the political yak-yak takes a back seat to what is happening between them personally, and what a bunch of interesting characters they are.
My character, Oliver Lucas is an English physician, a GP (general practitioner) who lives in the remote countryside on the Welsh border. I’d never done a British accent before, and my joy at being cast was immediately followed by near-panic as I realized I’d have to come up with a solid British accent. I began attacking that immediately, working with Paul Meier’s excellent Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen, and quicker than I thought, I found Oliver’s voice, surprising myself that he didn’t sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins (‘Allo Guv’nah!) or some over-the-top imitation of posh English aristocracy. Whew.
The script is demanding beyond accents. It is dense with ideas and high-stakes relationships. Oliver Lucas is wicked and sweet, smart and funny, kind and cruel, wounded and wounding, and all sorts of interesting things that are fun to play. I’ve never been presented with a character of his dimensions and depth. The play mainly focuses on the interplay between Oliver and Nadia Blye, his son’s American girlfriend who is an academic/journalist of high profile, much like CNN’s Christian Amonpour. They stand at their poles, fending with each other, using their political philosophies as a means to get at their personal truths. It’s a rich combination of things for an actor to play with: high stake personal relationships which are dismantled and rearranged through intense political discussions.
Keith Dixon is a nimble, accomplished director and has made the experience a joy from the get-go. Rehearsals are focused and business-like, yet fun and friendly at the same time. Part of the joy of being an actor is working through a script, refining moments and tweaking relationships, and Keith’s steady hand and clear view of what the play is about and who the characters are have made each session something I anticipate eagerly. The hour-plus commute to the theater out on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge isn’t even a minor hassle. It’s an asset really: a great opportunity to run lines (on the way there) and review what we just did (on the way back). I’m home before I know it.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Theatre--Performance
Two area locals have shows opening in the 2nd Stage Series at the Baton Rouge Little Theatre this week. The shows, Blood Knot and The Vertical Hour, will run in rep for two weeks (April 16th-26th). Kyle Lemaire (who directed The Last Five Years at Cite Des Arts) has directed Blood Knot for the BRLT, and Duncan Thistelthwaite (actor, director and set designer) is appearing in The Vertical Hour. The rep schedule is as follows:
April 16--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 17--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 18--The Vertical Hour (2:00 pm)
--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 19--Blood Knot (2:00 pm)
--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 21--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 22--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 23--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 24--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 25--Blood Knot (2:00 pm)
--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 26--The Vertical Hour (2:00 pm)
--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
For more information, or to reserve tickets, call BRLT at 225-924-6496 or on the web.
April 16--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 17--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 18--The Vertical Hour (2:00 pm)
--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 19--Blood Knot (2:00 pm)
--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 21--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 22--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 23--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 24--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
April 25--Blood Knot (2:00 pm)
--The Vertical Hour (7:30 pm)
April 26--The Vertical Hour (2:00 pm)
--Blood Knot (7:30 pm)
For more information, or to reserve tickets, call BRLT at 225-924-6496 or on the web.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Theatre--Performance
Duncan Thistlethwaite is a well-known local actor (as well as director and set designer) who is now appearing in a repertory performance at the Baton Rouge Little Theatre. Kyle LeMaire has also appeared in local productions (most notably the UL-Lafayette production of Into The Woods).
The Baton Rouge Little Theater 2008 - 2009 2nd Stage Series will be performed in repertory in April. The fall 2008 production of Blood Knot was postponed due to Hurricane Gustav. The Vertical Hour was already scheduled for April 2009.
"Putting the shows in rep gives us a unique opportunity to present two world-class plays in a short period of time. The plays will rotate performances in our 2nd Stage space beginning April 16, 2009," says BRLT Managing Artistic Director Keith Dixon.
Blood Knot
( written by Athol Fugard, directed by Kyle LeMaire)
(Opening night Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 7:30PM)
CAST
Ronald Coats Morris
Jarrod Smith Zach
One of Fugard's most powerful and poignant works, Blood Knot has received critical praise in Africa, Europe and America. The story follows a white and a black brother, born of the same woman. They live in a hovel, the white man as the black brother's servant. The white man cooks and the black man brings home the money. They are saving to buy a farm to which they hope to retire, but the dream is threatened by the desire for a romantic relationship for one of them. The solution is a lonely hearts club, and the response and picture they get will devolve brotherly love into humiliation as they await her visit - a visit which may never come.
The Vertical Hour
(written by David Hare, directed by Keith Dixon)
(Opening night: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 7:30PM)
CAST
Neil Bond Dennis
Drew Lomonica Arms Nadia
Duncan Thistlethwaite Oliver
Joel Sunsin Philip
Tonika Davis Terry
David Hare's new play, The Vertical Hour, is a thought-provoking exploration of how the political can sometimes intersect, collide with and ultimately dismantle the personal. In the play, Nadia and Phillip visit Phillip's father in the Welsh countryside, where the trio get into heated discussions about love, death, marriage, parenthood and the Iraq war. Brimming with cogent and fascinating arguments involving the current political situation, Hare fills his play with several of these ethical and philosophical quandaries that serve not only as dramatic conflict between the three main characters, but also metaphorically as the basis for several of the arguments politicians and intellectuals are having these days concerning the role that America and the West are playing in Iraq, the Middle East and beyond.
The productions are sponsored by WRKF 89.3FM and DOW Louisiana Federal Credit Union.
Performance Schedule:
Thursday, April 16th (7:30PM) Blood Knot
Friday, April 17th (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Saturday, April 18th (2PM) The Vertical Hour
(7:30PM) Blood Knot
Sunday, April 19th (2PM) Blood Knot
(7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Tuesday, April 21st (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
(Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, April 22nd (7:30PM) Blood Knot (
Post-show discussion)
Thursday, April 23rd (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Friday, April 24th (7:30PM) Blood Knot
Saturday, April 25th (2PM) Blood Knot
(7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Sunday, April 26th (2PM) The Vertical Hour
(7:30PM) Blood Knot
Call (225) 924-6296 for more information.
The Baton Rouge Little Theater 2008 - 2009 2nd Stage Series will be performed in repertory in April. The fall 2008 production of Blood Knot was postponed due to Hurricane Gustav. The Vertical Hour was already scheduled for April 2009.
"Putting the shows in rep gives us a unique opportunity to present two world-class plays in a short period of time. The plays will rotate performances in our 2nd Stage space beginning April 16, 2009," says BRLT Managing Artistic Director Keith Dixon.
Blood Knot
( written by Athol Fugard, directed by Kyle LeMaire)
(Opening night Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 7:30PM)
CAST
Ronald Coats Morris
Jarrod Smith Zach
One of Fugard's most powerful and poignant works, Blood Knot has received critical praise in Africa, Europe and America. The story follows a white and a black brother, born of the same woman. They live in a hovel, the white man as the black brother's servant. The white man cooks and the black man brings home the money. They are saving to buy a farm to which they hope to retire, but the dream is threatened by the desire for a romantic relationship for one of them. The solution is a lonely hearts club, and the response and picture they get will devolve brotherly love into humiliation as they await her visit - a visit which may never come.
The Vertical Hour
(written by David Hare, directed by Keith Dixon)
(Opening night: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 7:30PM)
CAST
Neil Bond Dennis
Drew Lomonica Arms Nadia
Duncan Thistlethwaite Oliver
Joel Sunsin Philip
Tonika Davis Terry
David Hare's new play, The Vertical Hour, is a thought-provoking exploration of how the political can sometimes intersect, collide with and ultimately dismantle the personal. In the play, Nadia and Phillip visit Phillip's father in the Welsh countryside, where the trio get into heated discussions about love, death, marriage, parenthood and the Iraq war. Brimming with cogent and fascinating arguments involving the current political situation, Hare fills his play with several of these ethical and philosophical quandaries that serve not only as dramatic conflict between the three main characters, but also metaphorically as the basis for several of the arguments politicians and intellectuals are having these days concerning the role that America and the West are playing in Iraq, the Middle East and beyond.
The productions are sponsored by WRKF 89.3FM and DOW Louisiana Federal Credit Union.
Performance Schedule:
Thursday, April 16th (7:30PM) Blood Knot
Friday, April 17th (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Saturday, April 18th (2PM) The Vertical Hour
(7:30PM) Blood Knot
Sunday, April 19th (2PM) Blood Knot
(7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Tuesday, April 21st (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
(Post-show discussion)
Wednesday, April 22nd (7:30PM) Blood Knot (
Post-show discussion)
Thursday, April 23rd (7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Friday, April 24th (7:30PM) Blood Knot
Saturday, April 25th (2PM) Blood Knot
(7:30PM) The Vertical Hour
Sunday, April 26th (2PM) The Vertical Hour
(7:30PM) Blood Knot
Call (225) 924-6296 for more information.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Theatre--Performance
Local actor and set designer Duncan Thistlethwaite has gotten a role in the Baton Rouge Little Theater's upcoming production of The Vertical Hour. Written by David Hare, this new play is a thought-provoking exploration of how the political can sometimes intersect, collide with and ultimately dismantle the personal. In the play, Nadia and Phillip visit Phillip's father in the Welsh countryside, where the trio get into heated discussions about love, death, marriage, parenthood and the Iraq war. Brimming with cogent and fascinating arguments involving the current political situation, Hare fills his play with several of these ethical and philosophical quandaries that serve not only as dramatic conflict between the three main characters, but also metaphorically as the basis for several of the arguments politicians and intellectuals are having these days concerning the role that America and the West are playing in Iraq, the Middle East and beyond.
CAST
Neil Bond as Dennis
Drew Lomonica Arms as Nadia
Duncan Thistlethwaite as Oliver
Joel Sunsin as Philip
Tonika Davis as Terry
The show will be directed by Keith Dixon. Set design for is by Chris Adams. Lighting design is by Emily Coley. Costumes are designed by Marcia Melius. Props are by Carole Cross and Kathy Dubin.
The Vertical Hour will run April 17th through the 26th on the BRLT's Second Stage. For more information about the production and/or tickets, please call the BRLT's box office at 225-924-6496.
CAST
Neil Bond as Dennis
Drew Lomonica Arms as Nadia
Duncan Thistlethwaite as Oliver
Joel Sunsin as Philip
Tonika Davis as Terry
The show will be directed by Keith Dixon. Set design for is by Chris Adams. Lighting design is by Emily Coley. Costumes are designed by Marcia Melius. Props are by Carole Cross and Kathy Dubin.
The Vertical Hour will run April 17th through the 26th on the BRLT's Second Stage. For more information about the production and/or tickets, please call the BRLT's box office at 225-924-6496.
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