Spotlight On...Calla Videt

Name: Calla Videt

Hometown: New York

Education: B.A. Physics and Theater, Harvard University

Favorite Credits: The Space Between (Loeb Mainstage, American Repertory Theater), One Arm and a Leg (HERE)

Why theater?: Theater lives in space. But theater also contains the potential to lift us away from the everyday space in which we live.

Tell us about My Machine is Powered By Clocks: My Machines is Powered By Clocks explores a world in which it is possible to traverse time, to edit or affect our past and our future. This is something we have all meditated upon, in some large or small way, and this project explores the meaning and repercussions of such a power.

What inspired you to directed My Machine is Powered By Clocks: I think being able to explore the immense poetry of time in a real-time theatrical space is a recurring obsession of mine. Finding the right narrative through which to explore the subject of time itself is a major and invigorating challenge.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: My two biggest inspirations are Simon McBurney and Pina Bausch. The work they create can be very different at times, and yet they speak to me in equally visceral ways. They tap into a sort of inexplicable emotional sincerity about relationships between people and the world they live in.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Sidi Larbi Cherkohoui; I am completely fascinated by his exploration of movement.

What shows have you recommended to your friends?: Anything by the British-based theatre company Complicite.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I kind of hope there is never a movie about myself. (Perhaps that could be the title…)

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Guilt is hardly pleasure-full, though I often shy away from revealing to people what’s playing on my ipod.

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: I wish I were smart enough to be a physicist.

What’s up next?: I’ll be getting my MBA/MFA at NYU this fall as a part of a dual degree in film and business.

Spotlight On...Corey Camperchioli

Name: Corey Camperchioli

Hometown: Bridgewater, New Jersey

Education: New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts

Select Credits: The History Boys (Posner, The Gallery Players); Tea and Sympathy (Tom Lee, American Theatre of Actors); Spring’s Awakening (Ernst, Roy Arias Theatre Center), lots of exhilarating new works, as well!

Why theater?: Someone thought I would make a great owl in my first grade play.  One HOOT and I was hooked.

Tell us about The Pride: It’s a stunning story that alternates between 1958 and 2008, specifically focusing on the differences between homosexuality in those two time periods.  I play Oliver, and it’s really a treat because I get to play Oliver in both time periods.  In 1958 he is involved in a secret, illegal affair with his best friend’s husband, and in 2008 he has just been broken up with because he is addicted to anonymous sex.  It jumps back and forth between these two time periods, exploring how far we’ve come in regards to human rights, but how we have oh so far to go.

What is it like being part of The Pride?: It really is a love fest.  It’s myself and three other brilliant actors:  David Lind, Laura Delhauer, and Nate Jensen.  David, myself, and our director Mark Gallagher all did The History Boys at The Gallery Players last winter and I’ve been itching to work with them again.  And Nate and Laura were two people whose work I’d seen around the city and really was in awe of- so to be able to work with people that I really respect and look up to is such a treat. 

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I like being part of theater that makes me feel small.  I was talking about this with my cast mate Laura the other day.  Working on The Pride makes me feel really small in a really good way.  As if I’m part of something way bigger than myself.  That inspires me.

Any roles you’re dying to play?: Max in Bent!  Ken in RED!  Billy in The Cripple of Inishmaan!

What’s your favorite showtune?: Anything Sondheim.  Or Finn.  They make me think.  And feel.

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Mark Rylance.  I've seen him in La Bete and Jerusalem and I CANNOT WAIT to see him as Olivia in Twelfth Night.

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: They did make a movie of my life.  It’s called "SHOWGIRLS".

What show have you recommended to your friends?: My good friend Zi Alikhan just put up a stunning production of Gross Indecency by Moises Kaufman.  I've been raving to all my friends about it.  I saw it very early on in my rehearsals for The Pride and it really blew me away how complementary the two pieces are to each other.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: The Real Housewives.  New Jersey.  Orange County.  Atlanta.  New York.  I’ll take ‘em all.

What’s up next?: Living the dream!  And by that I mean… auditioning.

For more on The Pride, visit http://thirdyearcollective.com

Neil Patrick Harris is Hedwig on Broadway in 2014

Are you ready for the first much anticipated musical of the season? Neil Patrick Harris will be returning to Broadway in the cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The much loved Tony Host is set to step into Hedwig's heels and take the wig out of the box in the Spring of 2014. The creative team, additional casting, and a theater will be announced at a later date? Who's excited to see Hedwig on Broadway?

Review: A Tail of a Tale

photo by Hunter Canning

We live in the digital age. And in this digital age comes new rules and traditions that seem to have shattered old ones. Such is the case in Christopher Oscar Peña’s a cautionary tail. The story follows Vivienne, a young Chinese girl, who decides to disobey the traditions her mother bestowed for a life of her own. Her choice leads to a tangled web of misfortunes that results in her darkest secrets revealed on the internet by her scorned brother.
On the surface Peña’s script is rich with thought provoking ideas but the execution is a bit muddied. There’s a lot going on. Tradition. Love. Cyber-bulling. Revenge. Etc. All of the themes are present but because there are so many, they all seem to equal each other out. The play jumps from realistic to fantasy at the drop of a hat. It’s seamless if the goal was to create a fairy tale like story, which I’m not sure was the intention. The second the mysterious Traveling Salesman offers deals with our characters, the play took a turn for the strange. For the most part, the play allows for three intertwining plot lines. Vivienne’s, Luke’s, and Tin’s. Vivienne and Luke have a connection. They’re siblings. Tin’s only connection to Vivienne and Luke is he speaks at her graduation. Besides the fact that actor also plays Tiger, the figure representing tradition, Tin’s story could be eliminated and the play would still make sense. The play is divided into three acts. Act I is the present action, Act II is the nightmare-like world Vivienne gets transported to, and Act III is the future. After all of the action and excitement of the first two acts, Act III lacks any amount of impact and punch. It only serves to show the consequences of Vivienne’s and Luke’s actions. Additionally odd is the casting choice of having The Traveling Salesman double up and play Jack, Vivienne’s boyfriend in the future. The Traveling Salesman is such an important character in the previous acts, the connection between the two characters was lost on me.
Despite the problems with the script, the performances were strong. Cleo Gray as Vivienne offered a multi-dimensional take a conflicted young woman. Tony Vo was strong as Luke, bringing heart to the determined young brother. His two sidekicks, Brandi and Koren, played by Madeleine Bundy and Bonnie Milligan, were great, but it was Milligan’s multi scene-stealing moments that kept things exciting. Stephen Stout gave an understated yet sublime performance as Kaelan. The ensemble as a whole was exciting to watch, offering a number of high-octane dance sequences.
Benjamin Kamine did a nice job directed what he was given. It’s not an easy piece of theater whatsoever. Jonathan Cottle’s lights and David Meyer’s set transformed the space into something outstanding. Especially for Act II.
a cautionary tail is a rough around the edges but deep down, maybe with some tweaks in the script, has the potential for a great night of theater.

theaterinthenow's Tony Picks!

Best Musical
Will Win: Matilda
Should Win: Kinky Boots

It’s an interesting year for the musicals. Unlike two years ago, there is no front runner (The Book of Mormon) but similar to last year, it seems to be a two horse race. It’s down to the musicals about a little girl not named Annie and a pair boots. Voters may be divided depending on their taste and loyalty, but British imports have walked away with many Tony’s in recent years, so expect another this go around.





Best Play
Will Win: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Should Win: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

It’s a rarity for a comedy to win Best Play but it’s almost certain the Christopher Durang play will easily walk away with the Tony. The Assembled Parties and Lucky Guy could have been in the running, but they’re likely to split voters allowing Vanya and Co. to be winners.

 

Best Revival of a Musical
Will Win: Pippin
Should Win: Pippin

There’s no question Pippin is the clear favorite. It’s the most nominated show for a reason. The circus spectacle bodes well for the Diane Paulus led musical, but it’s the outstanding cast of actors, many of whom will likely hear their name called, that lead this show to Glory.

 

Best Revival of a Play
Will Win: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Should Win: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

In a season of numerous revivals, this is another category that all depends on voter taste. But it’s really between The Trip to Bountiful and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? As long as voters weren’t turned off by the potential voter scandal, the much revered Virginia Woolf revival should come out on top.

Best Actor in a Musical
Will Win: Billy Porter (Kinky Boots)
Should Win: Billy Porter (Kinky Boots)

If ever there was a man who deserves his due, it’s Billy Porter. Not only does he knock the boots of off audiences night after night, he’s one of the hardest working people in the business. Bertie Carvel could give Porter a run if the voters decide to ride the Matilda train, but expect a heartfelt speech from Porter.








Best Actress in a Musical
Will Win: Patina Miller (Pippin)
Should Win: Patina Miller (Pippin)

It’s the night of Pippin. Patina Miller does a glorious job recreating a role originally performed by the legendary Ben Vereen and deserves much kudos as the Leading Player. Miller also is aided by fact that the other contenders’ productions will by largely forgotten.

Best Actor in a Play
Will Win: Tom Hanks (Lucky Guy)
Should Win: Tom Sturridge (Orphans)

This is very strange category mostly because nearly any of the men could win. Tony voters seem to take to Hollywood stars on Broadway and if they have any hopes for a Tom Hanks return, you have to award him for his work. But Tracy Letts, Nathan Lane, and David Hyde Pierce are previous winners and could sneak away with the trophy. Tom Sturridge, who took the spot away from powerhouse Alec Baldwin, gave a standout debut performance in the ill-fated Orphans revival.

Best Actress in a Play
Will Win: Cicely Tyson (The Trip to Bountiful)
Should Win: Laurie Metcalf (The Other Place)

Cicely Tyson wanted her trip to Bountiful and she got it. And she’ll likely be rewarded for it. This is almost a lifetime achievement award though. Kristine Nielsen has been rewarded for her scene-stealing performance and could be the dark-horse, but it’s Laurie Metcalf’s powerful performance that deserves credit.

Best Featured Actor in a Musical
Will Win: Terrence Mann (Pippin)
Should Win: Terrence Mann (Pippin)

But Mann is almost a lock because it’s Pippin Night at the Tony’s. Like his costar, and likely winner Andrea Martin, Mann shines in his single-song moment, but what it really comes down to is lack of competition.

Best Featured Actress in a Musical
Will Win: Andrea Martin (Pippin)
Should Win: Andrea Martin (Pippin)

To get a show-stopping standing ovation in the middle of Act I night after night, you should almost walk out of the theater thinking, “I’m getting a Tony.” And Martin will. Her high-flying turn as the never-aging grandma gives audiences something to cheer about in this season’s most buzzed about musical. But Keala Settle should get some recognition for her part in Hands on a Hardbody. To laugh for four minutes straight and then sing a song, a capella no less, deserves an award of its own.





Best Featured Actor in a Play
Will Win: Danny Burstein (Golden Boy)
Should Win: Danny Burstein (Golden Boy)

The Tony’s love Danny Burstein. And Danny Burstein should love them after he finally wins a Tony. Though he’s previously been nominated for his work in musicals, it’ll be his straight play performance that gets him the win. Though look for Richard Kind to be a potential buzzkill for Burstein.

 



Best Featured Actress in a Play
Will Win: Judith Light (The Assembled Parties)
Should Win: Condola Rashad (The Trip to Bountiful)

Judith Light will get her second straight Tony Award for the same category. Light’s win, though should be shared with the snubbed Jessica Hecht for their brilliant chemistry in The Assembled Parties. But for the second straight year in the same category, I’m rooting for Condola Rashad to win for her loveable performance.

Spotlight On...Shauna Kanter

photo by Troy Hahn

Name: Shauna Kanter

Hometown: NYC

Education: BFA Carnegie Mellon University and College at Purchase, graduate Studies Bristol Old Vic theatre School, Bristol, UK

Why theater?: Had no choice. It was the only thing I have ever been passionate about.

Tell us about Birds on a Wire?: Birds on a Wire is a play about those incredibly strong people who survived the Dust Bowl. It is also about a family that learns, in part, to forgive each other for the most heinous of sins.

What inspired you to create Birds on a Wire?: Barack Obama and his inspiration to honor communities and reading "The Worse Hard Times' by Timothy Egan

What kind of theater speaks to you?: Revolutionary new theatre that means something, that exists for a reason, to make the world, one tiny inch at a time, a better place. Not interested in vanity theatre, or safe theatre. 

What or who inspires you as an artist?: Peter Brook

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Anything produced by Complicite

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Pedicures

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be_____: A Lawyer

What’s up next?: Directing Master Class for The International Festival of the Voice, Phoencia, NY.

Spotlight On...Jordan Feltner

Name: Jordan Feltner

Hometown: Jefferson City, Tennessee

Education: American Academy of Dramatic Arts, T. Schreiber Studio

Select Credits: Balm in Gilead (Rake, T. Schreiber Studio); Love's Labour's Lost (Berowne, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot); A Midsummer Nights Dream (Lysander, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot); Bong Hits 4 Jesus (Drilling Company); Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio, Castle Shakespeare); Hamlet (Castle Shakespeare)

Why theater?: It's only natural for people to get up and tell stories. I just so happen to be one of those guys that is happiest when he's connecting with an audience.

Tell us about Birds on a Wire: I've described Bird's on a Wire to my friends as a "Texas Dustbowl Melodrama". Harlan Lane has fallen in love with Andrea Pearl, his older brothers wife while his brother, Shimon, was away working on a ranch. The day that the play stars, is the day Shimon comes home. This is just the start of a families story, lead by the hardened father Itzak who came to America at age three and walked all the way across the great plains and rested in Texas. When the wheat won't harvest due to the decade long dust bowl, money slips away faster than the fine soil which can find it's way through any crack or crevice. With no crops and no money, options become limited and the question of packing up and leaving bears down with great oppression.

What is it like being a part of Birds on a Wire?: Bird's is one of those shows that challenges you. Both the script, and cast. The other actors are so good, it pushes me to be my best just so I can keep up.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I think I am most inspired by Shakespeare's language. After I learn those words, they just roll out and vivid images come with them.

Any roles you’re dying to play?: Prince Hal Henry IV p1

What’s your favorite showtune?: Right now, "All I Ask of You, Reprise" Phantom of The Opera

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I'd love to book a role opposite Scarlet Johansson

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Well if I name it, I'm writing it, and I'd probably cast myself. I'd call it "Somebodies Gotta Give Me a Break"

What show have you recommended to your friends?: Orphans. One of my favorite plays since I read it for the first time at age 15. Sad that I wasn't in it, but truly enjoyed seeing it finally.

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Smoothies. I can't stop. I just can't stop.

What’s up next?: Too soon to know

Spotlight On...Renee Philippi

photo by Stefan Hagen

Name: Renee Philippi   

Hometown: Flint, Michigan

Education: University of Michigan–Flint (Class Valedictorian), City College/CUNY, Brooklyn College/CUNY. Education includes assistant directing with Frank Castorf, Deutsches Theater, East Berlin as well as Michael Rudman and Steven Berkoff, Public Theatre, NYC.

Favorite Credits: Co-Creator/Director/Writer, Bird Machine, presented May 2011 at the 14th Istanbul International Puppetry Festival & Bursa Ataturk Cultural Center, Bursa, Turkey, and September 2011 at PIERROT 2011, Stara Zagora & Small City Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Why theater?: As Nietzsche wrote in "The Birth of Tragedy" and this is loose quoting, “The best thing for man is not be born at all.  The second best thing is to die as soon as possible.  …Though through art, man can regain himself.”  I figure he meant women and men and that that was just too much for him to write out.

Tell us about Geppetto: Geppetto is light-hearted and funny, while at the same time, about the human condition and coming to terms with change and loss. Geppetto incorporates puppets and is presented by a solo performer and solo cellist.

What inspired you to write and direct Geppetto?: Inspiration for writing Geppetto came from “The Old Man and The Sea” and “Pinocchio” and self-questioning:  How do I become a better person when faced with great adversity and despair?  How do I become a “bigger” person and not smaller?  In directing, I was excited by the challenge of making a puppet with prosthetics have value and meaning and progress the story dramatically.

What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Poetic, visual, mythic – Ingmar Bergman wrote in his autobiography Laterna Magica, in describing what he did while his Father preached:  "I devoted my interest to the church’s mysterious world of low arches, thick walls, the smell of eternity, the colored sunlight quivering above the strangest vegetation of medieval paintings and carved figures on ceilings and walls. There was everything that one’s imagination could desire — angels, saints, dragons, prophets, devils, humans."  That kind of theatre! Ingmar Bergman, Peter Brook, William Kentridge, Thomas Mann, Jean-Michel Basquait, Pina Bausch and on and on….

If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Suzan-Lori Parks and Gerhard Richter

What shows have you recommended to your friends?: Fiona Shaw in Beckett’s Happy Days at BAM, Orson’s Shadow written by Austin Pendleton at Barrow Street Theatre, William Forsythe’s EIDOS : TELOS

Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: “Time is on Fire” is what it would be called.  Gosh, I am so bad about that kind of thing…I don’t know…Doris Day?

What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Candy

If you weren’t working in theater, you would be__________: To be President of General Motors was my childhood dream; note my hometown above.

What’s up next?: For Concrete Temple Theatre’s 10th Anniversary, I will be finishing two new plays to be presented in 2014: Alone in Triptych and Grey Canals Green. Both were begun as part of an artists’ residency at Dixon Place.  Both pieces stay true to Concrete Temple’s mission to create theatrical works that incorporate drama, dance, puppetry, music, and the visual arts, which focus on the individual's struggle for identity and society's struggle for cohesion. We like to think of our work as embodying visual narration, and these two new pieces will be no different; though, they will be more language driven than recent work. Alone in Triptych is a meditation on what it means to be alone and rape. How should we or how can we be with each other? Women and water are the subjects of Grey Green Canals: each being a metaphor for the other: flowing, connecting, giving life.  The piece contemplates water scarcity, declining feminism and the tension between conservation and regeneration. Linking boundaries of water to personal boundaries, we are creating a piece that focuses on mother and daughter relationships as juxtaposed against our and society’s stewardship of water. We are also in the very beginning stages of a new piece that will be created in three parts and struggles with romanticizing violence.

Spotlight On...Carlo Adinolfi

photo by Stefan Hagen

Name: Carlo Adinolfi

Hometown: Udine, Italy 1960, Wimbledon, London 1961-1962, Ealing, London 1962-1966, Orpington, Kent 1966-1979

Education: Warwick University, Studied Acting, Puppetry, Lighting and Set Design while working as Tech Director at Sarah Lawrence College.

Favorite Credits: Touring India and Sri Lanka with The Whale, Concrete Temple Theatre’s adaptation of "Moby Dick". 

Why Theatre?: I didn’t choose to be a theatre artist, it came about as an evolution. I was a dancer and I made a living at first as cabinetmaker, then as a Stage Carpenter, then as a Tech Director and Set Designer.  The dances I created incorporated voice, stagecraft and puppets. One could say they became more theatrical, but as Martha Graham said - ‘Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.’ All performance is theatre.

Tell us about Geppetto: The play is about resilience in the face of loss.  It is a funny and heartbreaking tale. Geppetto, the puppeteer, has recently lost his wife.  He is trying to carry on without her.  But, in one of his solo rehearsals, he accidentally breaks the legs of the show's hero puppet. Geppetto makes prostheses for the puppet from tools in his workshop.  The stubborn optimism of his puppet finally leads Geppetto to face his grief and the loss of his wife.

What inspired you to write and direct Geppetto: I’m the Co-Creator (with Renee Philippi), Designer, and Performer. The show sprung out of a meeting with a puppet company in Gorizia, Italy (near where I was born).  They were planning a festival called Puppet and Design. (They had previously organized Puppet and Becket, which looked to have been really fantastic from the materials they showed us.)  Over the next few months, I scribbled ideas down, none of which really fired me up, until I heard Terry Gross interview Hugh Herr on Fresh Air. Hugh is a rock climber, MIT engineer, and a double amputee. He was talking about his different prosthetics (he has 20+), and then he said 'I feel fortunate that I can always look forward to having better and better feet'. I found his statement both compelling and moving.

What kind of Theatre speaks to you?  What or who inspires you as an artist?: South African theatre artists have been a big inspiration. Woza Albert (by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema, and Barney Simon ) and The Island (by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona) for the sheer power of the performances and the impact of underlying messages speak to me.  I have been inspired by the ingenuity of Handspring Puppets’ work long before they created War Horse.  In addition, William Kentridge has greatly influenced my approach to the use of imagery in theatre.

If you could work with anyone you have yet to work with who would it be?: Bill Irwin

What shows have you recommended to your friends?: War Horse, Swamp Juice by Jeff Achtem, Firework Makers Daughter

Who would play you and what would movie be called?: Roberto Benigni -‘Mr. Crazy Hair’

Biggest Guilty pleasure?: Graphic novels

If you weren’t working in theater you would be_______?: Teaching mathematics and building a schooner.

What is up next?: Concrete Temple has been invited to perform our Bird Machine at the 2013 Puppet Festival rEvolution in August at Swathmore PA.  In November, Concrete Temple Theatre will be presenting Geppetto in Verona and Venice, and I will be performing in Italian!