Invisible Theatre News

2012-01-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

Amos' 'Comet' hits Invisible Theatre:
Patty Machelor Pmachelor@azstarnet.com | Posted: Thursday, January 12, 2012

This time around, Tucsonans can see Hollywood star and philanthropist John Amos perform his sometimes comical, sometimes heartbreaking one-man show, "Halley's Comet."

Amos, 72, has been taking "Halley's Comet" to theaters across the United States and abroad for nearly two decades.

This is his first Tucson performance, courtesy of Invisible Theatre.

The story is that of an 86-year-old man who returns to the same spot where he first watched Halley's Comet 75 years earlier, perched on his father's shoulders.

The two-hour play takes the audience from the turn of the century to modern times, as "Old Man" remembers and relives parts of his life, including his childhood dreams, the advent of fast food, the civil rights era and battle scenes in the Pacific.

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/amos-comet-hits-invisible-theatre/article_70bfb634-f7fd-5426-aaa3-34b2a74cc0e0.html#ixzz1jMMizWjg

IF YOU GO

• What: Halley's Comet, starring John Amos.

• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.

• When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: The Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd.

• Cost: $42.

• Reservations/information: 882-9721 or www.invisibletheatre.com

• What: K.C. Amos and John Amos discuss K.C. Amos' Montford Point Marines documentary, "Their Stories, Their Voices."

• When: 9:45 a.m. Friday.

• Where: Tucson High Magnet School, 400 N. Second Ave.

• Cost: Free.

• Reservations/information: Seating is limited. Call 882-9721 for reservations.

You might remember him as the adult-aged Kunta Kinte in the television mini-series, "Roots," or perhaps playing James Evans on the hit sitcom, "Good Times."

UNIQUELY DIFFERENT "CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION"

2011-11-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION:

UNIQUELY DIFFERENT "CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION"

By Chuck Graham, Tucsonstage.com

The mystery of communication is being explored quite inventively with Invisible Theatre's production of "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker, directed here by Betsy Kruse Craig. The play won an Obie in 2010 for Best New American Play.

To some extent, to fully enjoy "Circle Mirror Transformation" you have to be ready for something a little different.

Be assured, however, the effort will be well worth it, because this play will also stick in your head on the way home. Each of us could be asking "How much different would my life be today if I had just spoken out that one time, so long ago?"

The cast is excellent and well balanced. It's always fun to see McKasson back on stage, her eyes twinkling bright as ever. Henriksen, a veteran Los Angeles actor, makes an engaging Tucson debut. Petty, just starting her career upon the stage, keeps getting better and better. Long-time acting friends Hill and Wees are always solid professionals.

Read the entire review here: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION:

Impressive Performances | Review | Tucson Weekly

2011-11-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

Impressive Performances | Review | Tucson Weekly:

Impressive Performances

Invisible Theatre takes us inside an acting class

by Sherilyn Forrester , Tucson Weekly

Circle Mirror Transformation is a strange and intriguing play by Annie Baker. Under the direction of Betsy Kruse Craig, the Invisible Theatre offers us a solid rendering of the piece. (The title refers to another acting exercise.)

The five actors who portray the students embody them with enough thoughtfulness and depth that we get to know enough about them to care for them. Molly McKasson (absent too long from Tucson stages), James Henriksen, Brian Wees, Carrie Hill and Lucille Petty are a fine ensemble.

The production's design components are impressive. Special mention goes to sound designer Gail Fitzhugh, who realized that with so many scene changes, the music that leads us from one moment to another is really like another character. Fitzhugh has created this presence with just the right feel and effect.

Read the entire review here: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/impressive-performances/Content?oid=3177629

Molly McKasson and Lucille Petty in Circle Mirror Transformation at Invisible Theatre.

2011-11-13T06:08:00.000-08:00

Talent shines in play about acting | Invisible Theatre:

Talent shines in play about acting

“Circle Mirror Transformation” is billed as a comedy, but it's also a heady drama about the limits of self discovery

Posted Nov 5, 2011, 10:15 am

Dave Irwin

TucsonSentinel.com

Written by Annie Baker, “Circle Mirror Transformation” won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play and made a number of lists for top ten plays of 2009. It’s refreshingly unorthodox structure and setting - a rural classroom of actors playing non-actors who want to be actors - provides a meta-analysis on the nature of acting itself. It’s pure post-modern, but with a hint of quaint.

It must be said up front that portraying an amateur actor ironically requires considerable acting skill. Fortunately, this production has a balanced, talented cast that doesn’t overwhelm the intimate Invisible Theatre space. Director Betsy Kruse Craig keeps a subtle hand on the proceedings, letting the action simmer nervously until it explodes.

To call “Circle Mirror Transformation” a comedy, though probably better for marketing, is to miss more than half of its meaning. Watching five characters flay themselves to uncertain purpose is clearly tragedy. There are some laughs in particular moments, but overall, this is a cathartic work that says much about how we live our lives, questioning how truthful we are to ourselves and others.

Read the entire review here: Talent shines in play about acting | Invisible Theatre:

The cast of 'Circle Mirror Transformation' at Invisible Theatre. (Clockwise from upper right - Carrie Hill, James Henriksen, Lucille Petty, Brian Weez. Center - Molly McKasson

Talent shines in play about acting

2011-11-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

Talent shines in play about acting

“Circle Mirror Transformation” is billed as a comedy, but it's also a heady drama about the limits of self discovery

Posted Nov 5, 2011, 10:15 am

Dave Irwin

TucsonSentinel.com

In “Circle Mirror Transformation,” four small town wanna-be actors, eager to expand their horizons, start in a local community class with their instructor. Over six weeks, covered in 90 minutes of vignettes, they go through a series of enlightening and humiliating psychological exercises, guided by their teacher, Marty.

Written by Annie Baker, “Circle Mirror Transformation” won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play and made a number of lists for top ten plays of 2009.

Fortunately, this production has a balanced, talented cast that doesn’t overwhelm the intimate Invisible Theatre space. Director Betsy Kruse Craig keeps a subtle hand on the proceedings, letting the action simmer nervously until it explodes.

Photo: Tim Fuller

The cast of 'Circle Mirror Transformation' at Invisible Theatre. (Clockwise from upper right - Carrie Hill, James Henriksen, Lucille Petty, Brian Weez. Center - Molly McKasson

Read the full review here: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/110411_circlemirrortransformation/talent-shines-play-acting/

'Circle Mirror': Life, after all, is an acting game

2011-11-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

'Circle Mirror': Life, after all, is an acting game

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Sunday, November 6, 2011

"Circle Mirror Transformation," a gentle, well-done comedy that Invisible Theatre opened Tuesday.

All actors have got to start somewhere.

And unfortunately for many of them, that's in a basic acting class.

But this class exacts a transformation in these students as they go through the motions.

Of course, any class led by the teacher Marty (Molly McKasson) is bound to have an impact. McKasson infuses her with passion, generosity and compassion, and it's hard to refuse Marty her goofy games.

...good things can come in small packages. This production is a case in point.

TIM FULLER / COURTESY OF INVISIBLE THEATRE

Clockwise from bottom are Molly McKasson, Brian Wees, Carrie Hill, Lucille Petty and James Henriksen in "Circle Mirror Transformation," a small play overflowing with improvisational acting exercises. It opened Tuesday at the Invisible Theatre.

2011-10-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Take a peek inside the actors' studio
AZ Daily Star, "Circle Mirror Transformation" Preview:

No need to be insider to enjoy play focusing on accepting yourself

Take a peek inside the actors' studio

The play takes place in an acting class at a small community center in Vermont.

But don't let that scare you.

"People may think you have to be an insider" to get it, says Betsy Kruse Craig, who is directing the Annie Baker play.

"But it's so not about an acting class. It's about accepting who you are."

It's sort of a motley crew that has signed up for the class: a high schooler who longs to play Maria in "West Side Story"; a man struggling to get over a divorce; an actress who never made it in New York; and the husband of the woman teaching the class (at the urging of his wife, no doubt).

TIM FULLER / INVISIBLE THEATRE

"Circle Mirror Transformation" stars Molly McKasson, center, and, clockwise from McKasson, Brian Wees, Carrie Hill, Lucille Petty and James Henriksen.

...

"Circle Mirror Transformation" snagged an Obie Award, the annual Off-Broadway Theater Awards from the Village Voice, last year and it has been making the rounds at theater companies around the country since.

The script has received raves wherever it's played.

Theater review: 'In the Mood' romance, laughter and fun - Green Valley News: Local News

2011-09-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

'In the Mood' romance, laughter and fun

By Regina Ford Green Valley News
Thursday, September 15, 2011

Nothing lifts the spirit more (and doesn’t induce a hangover) than escaping with a bit of comic relief. That’s exactly what Invisible Theatre offers with its current stage production of “In the Mood.”

This light romantic comedy by Kathleen Clark is staged in a posh, high-rise Manhattan apartment. For anyone who has ever had the pleasure of meeting IT’s founder, you won’t at all be surprised at how bold the set for “In the Mood” is and really comes to life. Claassen, herself, is larger than life in her attire and her stage is just a vibrant. The woman knows color. Claassen forever turns heads. She and James Blair designed the set and transformed her intimate theatre into an incredible luxury NYC apartment — heavy on the black, white and red . It’s simply striking. The apartment even has a (sometimes) working elevator upstage center, which is intentional and part of the script. This is all good, but then again, so is the cast.

Sally (Polly Schiltz) foreground, attempts to help her friend Perri (Betsy Kruse Craig) and brother Nick (Bruce Morganti) with a surprise party but ends up adding to chaos in this romantic comedy by Kathleen Clark.

Read the entire review here: http://www.gvnews.com/news/local/theater-review-in-the-mood-romance-laughter-and-fun/article_317fe874-dff3-11e0-84c5-001cc4c03286.html

2011-09-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Arizona Daily Wildcat :: Acting profs set right tone
By JASON KRELL Published September 15, 2011

There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of the Invisible Theatre before, unless you’re a theater student at the UA. This is an egregious error. Sadly, many students fail to appreciate the benefits that theater can offer. Might I suggest spending a night seeing “In the Mood”?

Not only was it fun to see UA professors practicing what they preach in the classroom, but the show itself was phenomenal. It seems ridiculous not to find anything that could use improvement, but “In the Mood” really covered its bases.

Read the entire article here:

Arizona Daily Wildcat :: Acting profs set right tone

In the Mood Review

2011-09-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

CLEVER CONVERSATION "IN THE MOOD"

by Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com

With I.T.'s own Susan Claassen directing, "In the Mood" takes us back to those delicious times of words with bite. The director has found the perfect couple to portray the casual grace we associate with the art deco elegance of penthouse living. These two have so much chemistry together, they deserve to star in their own play.

...

Sleek and statuesque Betsy Kruse Craig swirls with the intensity of a self-made woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Equally affecting is Bruce Morganti, the cool one. He's the freshly pressed guy who acts like he couldn't care less, but beneath that nonchalant exterior he's always thinking two moves ahead of everyone else.

2011-09-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

'In the Mood' fast-paced fun with delicious dialogue, sets

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, September 9, 2011

There are many things remarkable about Invisible Theatre, but this one always astounds:

The big sets on the tiny stage.

Not big in size, but big in concept and execution. That stage is constantly being transformed in impressive ways.

And so it is with "In the Mood," which the company opened Wednesday.

...

This is a fast-paced comedy with delicious dialogue by Clark, seamless directing by Claassen, and actors who embrace the froth with a giddy sense of delight.

"In the Mood" will put you in the mood for some hearty laughter and good fun.

Jack Neubeck, as an actor hired to pretend he's a carpenter, and Polly Schlitz, as the pianist with a scheduling conflict, are among the stellar cast of Invisible Theatre's "In the Mood."

'In the Mood' ready, after many tweaks

2011-09-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

'In the Mood' ready, after many tweaks

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, September 2, 2011

A playwright's work is never done. At least that's true for Kathleen Clark, who wrote Invisible Theatre's season opener, "In the Mood."

The play had its premiere at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Mass., last month.

And still, Clark is tweaking it. And so is Susan Claassen, who is directing the comedy.

...

TIM FULLER / INVISIBLE THEATRE

Socialite Perri (Betsy Kruse Craig) is preparing a surprise party for her husband when her old beau Nick (Bruce Morganti) shows up in the romantic comedy "In the Mood."

"I think what happened at Berkshire was that our aim was to try to get the comedy working, and we achieved that goal," Clark said.

"But then some of the emotional world got lost, so Suz and I are putting back in some of the emotional world of the characters, and deepening it a bit. It's a play with a lot of comedy now, not a farce."

And a play that Claassen definitely wanted to stage.

She loves "the sparkling charm of the piece, and though it is reminiscent of a Philip Barry play, it had a contemporary feel to it," she said, referring to the playwright of many sophisticated comedies, including "The Philadelphia Story," during the first half of the last century.

Thank you Arizona Daily Star!

2011-09-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

IT is IN THE MOOD for a sparkling 41st Anniversary Season!

NEW PLAY AT INVISIBLE THEATRE ISNEW YORK BOUND

2011-09-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

In The Mood

NEW PLAY AT INVISIBLE THEATRE ISNEW YORK BOUND

By Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

"In the Mood" by Kathleen Clark has been a work in progress, and it may still be one. Clark isn't sure. Invisible Theatre's own Susan Claassen is directing the production of "In the Mood" that opens here Sept.7 to kick off the venerable company's 41^st season.

"In the Mood" is set in a very upscale penthouse apartment with its own private elevator. The story begins with a woman (Betsy Kruse Craig) planning a surprise birthday party for her husband (Kevin Black). When the elevator gets stuck with her unsuspecting husband inside, the dominoes begin to fall.

This high-rise tale turns on mistaken identities, infidelity, a stressed out marriage and love lost…then found. "In the Mood," is described as "a charming comedy that sings with witty repartee and sparkling humor."

Also in the cast are Jack Neubeck, Lori Hunt, Bruce Morganti and Polly (Bourke) Schlitz.

Clark will attend the opening night performance at Invisible Theatre on Sept. 7, then on Sept. 8 lead a post-show discussion describing how her play made that evolution from the page to the stage.

Read the entire Preview here:

In The Mood

The Morning Blend - Ann Hampton Callaway

2011-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.tucsonmorningblend.com/videos/123756184.html

Ann Hampton Callaway

Friday, Jun 24, 2011

“At Last” the Platinum Award-winning incomparable Ann Hampton Callaway will be back with IT in a not-to-be-missed evening and only Tucson appearance! She will touch your heart with her wit and magnificent musical artistry!

Invisible Theatre's Sizzling Summer Sounds 2011

Cabaret returns to Arizona Inn

2011-06-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Cabaret returns to Arizona Inn

NY SINGER BRINGS A COSMOPOLITAN FEEL TO IT EVENT

Cabaret returns to Arizona Inn

By Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, June 17, 2011

Invisible Theatre launches its 2011 Sizzling Summer Sounds cabaret concert series this week with two events - "High Standards" with a cast of popular Tucson performers and "An Evening With Ann Hampton Callaway" featuring the critically acclaimed New York cabaret singer.

PHOTO COURTESY OF INVISIBLE THEATRENew York cabaret singer Ann Hampton Callaway will perform as part of Invisible Theatre's Sizzling Summer Sounds.

"We wanted to be able to showcase world-class talent that lives here and comes in in a setting where people really listen to the music," Claassen said. "I like to say it's a cosmopolitan experience on Tucson time: Have dinner, a cabaret show and hang out with the artists in the lounge and still be home by 10."

Performances: "High Standards" featuring Jeffrey Haskell, Jack Neubeck and Katherine Byrnes at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; "An Evening With Ann Hampton Callaway" 8 p.m. Thursday, next Friday and June 25.

• Where: Arizona Inn, 2200 E. Elm St.

• Tickets: $35, $99 for three-event sampler by calling 882-9721. Discounts available.

• Details: www.invisibletheatre.com

• Et cetera: Sizzling Summer Sounds continues through mid-July.

Read the entire article here:

Cabaret returns to Arizona Inn

Pure Entertainment | Review | Tucson Weekly

2011-06-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Pure Entertainment | Review | Tucson Weekly

Invisible Theatre's Sizzling Summer Sounds series returns to the Arizona Inn

by Sherilyn Forrester

Over the next month, there are 10 different concerts slated, with most of them featuring multiple performances. Some will showcase the very best of Tucson's musical talent, and some will feature out-of-town headliners in an intimate, cabaret-like setting. After each performance, the audience will be able to mingle with the singers and musicians in the Audubon Lounge.

"This is such a special opportunity," says Claassen. "All these folks are so accessible, and they're all people you'd want to know."

Jack Neubeck will be featured in Sizzling Summer Sounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 21 and 22.

Neubeck, joined by Haskell and Katherine Byrnes, will be featured in the first offering, called "High Standards," on June 21 and 22. He can hardly contain his excitement about getting to perform "some of the greatest songs ever written." And having been instrumental in developing the "Sizzling" series, he's thrilled to see its return.

Read the full article here: Pure Entertainment | Review | Tucson Weekly

Sizzling Summer Sounds opens June 21!

2011-06-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sizzling Summer Sounds
(520) 882-9721 June 21-July 16!

Sizzling Summer Sounds

Ann Hampton Callaway will bring her mastery of multiple musical styles in for three performances, June 23-25. The award-winning composer/lyricist/singer/pianist/actress will not only sizzle, but with her full-hearted approach to making music, she is sure to smolder as well.

Although she now calls New York home, Callaway grew up in the Chicago area and says music was ever-present, so much so that it was "like breathing. I'm really grateful that I experimented with many different art forms, but I felt music was the most beautiful way to draw all the things I love and do into one field of endeavor."

Callaway says that she was particularly inspired by Carole King. "Whatever year Tapestry came out, I was walking around with my allowance and walked by the record store and saw the album. I had never heard of Carole King, but I was so intrigued by the album cover, I immediately bought it on a leap of faith. When I played it, it was an epiphany: 'This is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to write songs and sing songs from the heart like this incredible woman.'"
Years later, Callaway and King wrote a song together for Callaway's Slow album. "She didn't want to write the song until the day of the recording, and we worked from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to finish it. Then she stayed to hear me record her song 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' It was one of the greatest days of my life."
Callaway has also collaborated with Barbra Streisand. "I had written a peace anthem, and when I finished it, I just thought, 'This song belongs to Barbra Streisand.' It took seven years to get this song to her, and about 150 rewrites later, she recorded the song—10 years to the day that I wrote it." Streisand also sang Callaway's "At the Same Time" for Streisand's "millennium" concert. "So thanks to Barbra, I have two platinum records and one gold record and a lot of great memories. She was always honest, direct and sweet to me."

Having played several concerts in Tucson before—one with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra—Callaway says she's looking forward to the intimate setting at the Arizona Inn, where she and the audience "can really experience each other. The songs I choose to sing in my shows are so powerful, and I am willing to share who I am and put in all the heart and soul and imagination I can. A night with just me and an audience is a recipe for a lot of magic."

Faux Bard of 'Premier!' tickles | Invisible Theatre

2011-05-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Faux Bard of 'Premier!' tickles | Invisible Theatre

A fun script and one of Tucson's favorite actors

Posted May 5, 2011, 7:33 pm

Dave IrwinTucsonSentinel.com
The Invisible Theatre production of “Premier!” is billed as “a charming comedy.” And it certainly is. It also has just enough gravitas in its post-modern musings to make it a bit more than that without interfering with the laughs.
Read the entire review here: Faux Bard of 'Premier!' tickles

Premiere!

2011-05-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

ART IMITATES SHAKESPEARE IN"PREMIERE!"
by Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

Any actor will tell you light comedy is as difficult to pull off as heavy drama. To draw out those gentle laughs while maintaining a buoyant congeniality is to walk a tightrope high above the crowd, that little internal gyroscope spinning faster and faster -- all the while charming everyone with a warm and winning smile.

"Premiere!" ups the ante by also asking the actors to keep everyone's attention by talking about how there's no such thing as art.

Dallas Thomas generates a magnetic presence as Rebecca, the wife of grumpy albeit very successful playwright Gil Fryman (Robert Anthony Peters). She gets in some convincing mood changes as the ambitious woman who encourages her husband to pass off his work as Shakespeare's own. Then gets antsy when the high-falutin' scam looks like it might actually work.

Also making a big impression is Victoria McGee as Professor Justinia Hawkins, the Shakespeare expert who wears bright red-framed glasses and flaunts her superior literary knowledge.

Read the full review here: Premiere!

Tucson: Invisible Theatre Announces Auditions 2011-2012

2011-04-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

THE INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES AUDITIONS FOR

"CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION"

"Annie Baker's new play is absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny."

- New York Times

Invisible Theatre will hold auditions for the 2011-2012 Season on Monday, May 9, 2011 at 6:00 pm at the Invisible Theatre (1400 N. First Ave at Drachman).

Our 2011-2012 Season includes CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker. Performances are slated for November 2 – 20, 2011 and will be directed by Betsy Kruse Craig. Available roles include Marty (female, 50-60), Lauren (female 14-16), James (Male, 50-60) and Schultz (male, 45-50). Sides from the play will be available at the Invisible Theatre office.

We are also looking for actors for LOOK MA WE'RE DANCING by Janet Neipris and BAKERSFIELD MIST by Steven Sachs. Directors from these plays will set up individual callbacks.

Please bring a headshot and resume. Call (520) 882-9721 with your name and phone contact to confirm an audition slot. All actors are paid.

Painting the Town Red

2011-04-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

Painting the Town Red

INVISIBLE THEATRE STOPS THE WORLD WITH ITS 40^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

By Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

Wow!! What an amazing show! The Invisible Theatre's 40th anniversary "Retro-Spectacular Cabaret" called Painting the Town Red! made that word "Spectacular" feel even bigger. The red and black stage setting at the Berger Performing Arts Center was glowing with magic.

There was so much heart, so much sincerity, so much to celebrate in the 40 years that Invisible Theatre grew from, literally, a handful of college kids putting on shows to an organization that successfully presented performances by some of the most talented people in show business.

Taking breaks from their complicated schedules to make personal appearances that meant so much to them as individuals were Ken Page, Kathleen Chalfant, Amanda McBroom and Michele Brourman. Each of them poured their prodigious talents into the time they had onstage, giving all of themselves to the moment.

This was exciting theater, to be sure. Topping off the program was a special performance by the Pastime Players touring company, a group that has always been very dear to the Invisible Theatre staff led by artistic director Susan Claassen.

The first half of the program belonged to IT's own remarkable talents, combining looks back at some of the happy company's best -known personalities in their youth and then delivering zippy songs to enhance the memory.

Claassen and her longtime buddy Molly McKasson did a bit of their Mols and Suz improve comedy routine to get the ball rolling. Lisa Otey took her place at the gleaming black grand piano, Rob Boone played trombone and a bit of piano, Pete Swan did most of the drumming while Cory Boone took over for the rock 'n' roll parts.

Jack Neubeck, Betsy Kruse Craig and Liz McMahon added their songs and memories, enhanced with special guest appearances by Mary Baker, Nancy Davis Booth, Jeffrey Haskell, Stuart Moulton doing his Carol Channing tribute and Robert Shaw sounding more like Elvis than ever.

And of course it wouldn't be IT if the show wasn't littered with bales of puns in the process.

Amanda McBroom - Tucson Morning Blend

2011-04-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

Amanda McBroom - Tucson Morning Blend

Amanda McBroom

Friday, Apr 8, 2011

Amanda McBroom has been called "the greatest cabaret performer of her generation, an urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match." Her name first came to the attention of the music public when Bette Midler's version of Amanda's song "The Rose" hit number one all over the world in 1979. But it was Amanda's performance of her own song on the Golden Globes (she won), Grammys (she didn't) and The Tonight Show that launched her career as a singer as well as songwriter.

Go here to view the video: Amanda McBroom - Tucson Morning Blend

Ken Page, Kathleen Chalfant, Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform at Invisible Theatre Gala - Playbill.com

2011-03-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

Ken Page, Kathleen Chalfant, Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform at Invisible Theatre Gala - Playbill.com

Ken Page, Kathleen Chalfant, Ann Hampton Callaway to Perform at Invisible Theatre Gala

By Adam Hetrick
Playbill.com
31 Mar 2011

Tony Award winner Ken Page and Tony nominees Kathleen Chalfant and Ann Hampton Callaway will be part of Painting the Town Red, a gala concert event for Arizona's Invisible Theatre.

Presented April 9 and 10 on the campus of the AZ School for the Deaf and Blind in Tucson, the concerts will highlight the Invisible Theatre's 40-year history. The evening is conceived, directed and written by Susan Claassen.

In addition to Page (Cats), Chalfant (W;t, Angels in America) and Callaway (Swing), appearances will be made by Golden Globe winner Amanda McBroom, Mary Baker, Nancy Davis Booth, Betsy Kruse Craig, Jeffrey Haskell, Carrie Hill, Liz McMahon, Larry "Lucinda Holiday" Moore, Jack Neubeck, Stuart "Carol Channing" Moulton, Robert Shaw as “Elvis” and the Pastime Players. Lisa Otey will musical direct.

"Longevity Awards" will also be presented to Jetti Ames, Gail Fitzhugh, Roberto Guajardo and Maryann Trombino, who have been involved with the company since its founding 40 years ago.

The April 9 show will take place at 8 PM, while the April 10 show will be at 3 PM. Callaway will only appear April 10.

For tickets phone (520) 882-9721. Visit InvisibleTheatre.

Screening at Loft of 'The Birds'

2011-03-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

Screening at Loft of 'The Birds'

AWARD-WINNING STAR OF HITCHCOCK'S FILM WILL SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AT SUNDAY'S EVENT
Screening at Loft of 'The Birds'"

Phil Villarreal Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com | Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011

ILL DOW PHOTOGRAPHY

Tippi Hedren won a Golden Globe for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963).

Tippi Hedren will be in Tucson this weekend for a screening of "The Birds" at The Loft Cinema. Proceeds from the screening benefit the Invisible Theatre, the Loft and Hedren's Roar Foundation, which protects exotic cats. All proceeds from an autograph session before and after the screening benefit Roar.

Another chance to see Tippi Hedren in Tucson

Tippi Hedren also will attend Saturday's sold-out performance of "A Conversation with Edith Head," at the Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. Susan Claassen stars as the Hollywood costume-design diva, whose long and illustrious career included designing Hedren's wardrobe in "The Birds." Hedren and Head became close friends, Claassen said.

Read the full article here: Screening at Loft of 'The Birds'

Arizona Public Media | KUAZ | A Conversation with Edith Head

2011-02-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Arizona Public Media | KUAZ | A Conversation with Edith Head

A Conversation with Edith Head
Story By Mark McLemore

February 24, 2011

Listen to the interview:

Download as MP3

Click here to read the article: Arizona Public Media | KUAZ | A Conversation with Edith Head

Autism and American Culture

2011-02-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

Autism and American Culture | Review | Tucson Weekly

Autism and American Culture

by Nathan Christensen

In Invisible Theatre's latest production, a young woman with physical limitations and antisocial behavior has become a strain on her family, but a gifted teacher is helping her to communicate through her hands.

Director Susan Claassen keeps the play moving at an energetic clip. She has skillfully led her actors through emotional hairpin turns, from ecstasy to agony and back.

James Blair, Betsy Kruse Craig and Rachel Lacy in Miracles.

Blair and Craig offer passionate performances that aren't afraid to cut to their characters' inner pain. Blair is equally convincing when he's desperate to claim a real relationship with his daughter and when he rails against false hopes. Craig gradually exposes Kate's hunger for validation as a teacher. Each is discomfortingly eager to find fulfillment in Eve's new ability.

Read the entire review here: Autism and American Culture | Review | Tucson Weekly

UA grad shines in ‘Miracles’ - Arizona Daily Wildcat - WildLife

2011-02-05T09:46:00.000-08:00

UA grad shines in ‘Miracles’ - Arizona Daily Wildcat - WildLife

UA grad shines in ‘Miracles’

By Brandon Specktor

Published: Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Invisible Theatre always does an impressive job of building convincing worlds in limited spaces.

But the draw of "Miracles" is undoubtedly the acting. As Tom, James Blair (also the play's technical director) tingles with subdued angst and anger. Betsy Kruse Craig plays Kate Kingsley with the dual respect and bursting zeal of a truly caring teacher. But Rachel Lacy steals the show as Eve.

Lacy, who graduated from the UA last December with degrees in theater and French, takes on the autistic Eve with stunning conviction. She bobs her upper body in tune with a cosmic groove that only she can hear. She raps her head with contorted fingers, and caresses her flopping ponytail while reminiscing about horse's manes. Adopted mannerisms seem a part of her DNA.

Read the entire review here: UA grad shines in ‘Miracles’ - Arizona Daily Wildcat - WildLife

Miracles

2011-02-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

Miracles

"MIRACLES" MAKES US BELIEVE

by Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

As director, Susan Claassen keeps the developments clean and clear...

The play becomes a pinball machine of psychology, as the rolling metal ball makes lots of noise setting off one bright light after another in swirls of chaotic colors. Each of the actors by turn keeps raising the score a little higher.

Blair's acting is solid as the lawyer accustomed to making his points and winning his cases. We feel his frustration entering Eve's world where the logic is more slippery.

Craig gives an impressive performance as the therapist who shapes Eve's environment in her own favor. She makes us appreciate how much of a teacher's world really is illusion.

But it is Lacy who gives "Miracles" its center. She is totally committed to the role of Eve. Rolling her eyes, twisting her fingers, extending her arms at odd angles, we begin to see her through our own attitudes about autism. The experience is a very special kind of theater.

Read the full review here: Miracles

Invisible Theatre's 'Miracles' will make a believer of you

2011-02-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Invisible Theatre's 'Miracles' will make a believer of you

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

Rachel Lacy tackles the show's most difficult role, that of Eve, with grace and honesty. She must be incoherent and reactionary one moment, and lucid and eloquent the next (the play switches from reality into the dreams of the adults - Eve always is lucid in those dreams). Lacy makes us believe that the fantasy Eve is just as real as the autistic Eve, and she does this without ever resorting to caricature.

Betsy Kruse Craig's turn as Kate is beautifully colored - which is surprising given that Higgins made her pretty one-note. Craig was completely invested in this character, which made the audience invested as well.

James Blair cuts a fine figure as Eve's concerned Dad, who is initially seduced by the thought that his daughter is a thinking person with dreams, hopes. While he had the look and demeanor, Blair had a hard time showing an interior life. That robbed the play of some of the tension it needed.

Read the entire review here: Invisible Theatre's 'Miracles' will make a believer of you

'Miracles' gives voice to struggles of autism

2011-01-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

'Miracles' gives voice to struggles of autism

INVISIBLE THEATER WILL STAGE THIS WORK IN PROGRESS NEXT WEEK

'Miracles' gives voice to struggles of autism

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, January 28, 2011

Higgins first penned "Miracles" in 1997. Though he's made some changes since then, he hasn't turned his attention to the script for some time.

Enter Susan Claassen, director of the IT production.

She liked the play; she wanted changes.

"It's about faith, and how much can we effect change by believing in something," she says.

"Can we evolve to the point where we can accept people for who they are rather than who we want them to be?"

-----

Read the entire preview here: 'Miracles' gives voice to struggles of autism

Respect for the Craft | Review | Tucson Weekly

2011-01-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Respect for the Craft | Review | Tucson Weekly

Respect for the Craft

Invisible Theatre celebrates four full decades of Tucson productions

by Sherilyn Forrester

Tucson's Invisible Theatre has something that few theaters anywhere can claim: a full four-decade history.

In 1971, with a controversial war dividing the country, baby boomers coming of age and a cultural revolution well underway, grassroots theaters were springing up all around the country, in the belief that young, new voices could change the world.

Most of those groups, underfunded and lacking experienced leadership, sputtered and died. But in Tucson, the Invisible Theatre—born to produce original plays developed by company members—is celebrating its 40th birthday.

According to managing artistic director Susan Claassen, who has a 36-year history with the group, the theater was established in 1971 as a playwrights' theater, but financial challenges resulted in several members of the group leaving Tucson for what they hoped would be greener pastures. Claassen became the artistic director "by default," she laughs. "I was willing to learn about the business side of theater. Maybe I just had the longest attention span."

With Claassen at the helm, the group moved to its current location, at the corner of First Avenue and Drachman Street, in 1976. "It was a big commitment, because it we had to bring it up to code to be able to use it as a performance space." The theater has 80 seats and a tiny stage—roughly 20 by 24 feet. The current staff includes associate artistic director James Blair and associate producer Cathy Johnson.

IT did all original material until 1980. That year, Gail Fitzhugh, who has been an integral part of the group since 1979, directedUncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein. "We had to go before the board of directors to explain why we should do a copyrighted play, which meant we would have to pay royalties," Fitzhugh says.

Playwright Janet Neipris, an internationally recognized playwright on the faculty of Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, has had a relationship with IT for 30 years.

"There is no place in this country I would rather work than the Invisible Theatre," she says in an e-mail. "Why? Because there is no other regional theater I've worked at where the level of professionalism was so high, the degree of welcome and warmth so abounding.

"2 ACROSS" SPELLS SMART HUMOR

2010-11-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

2 Across

"2 ACROSS" SPELLS SMART HUMOR

By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com

Invisible Theatre has a tasty morsel in "2 Across" by Jerry Mayer, directed by Gail Fitzhugh.

Even though we pretty much always know where this train ride is taking us, the ride is still a lot of fun.

We enjoy "2 Across" because there are funny jokes told by people with substantial personalities.

Read the entire review here: http://tucsonstage.com/LINKS/IT_Reviews/2_Across/2_across.html

3-letter word starting with 'f'

2010-11-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

3-letter word starting with 'f'

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, November 12, 2010

Director Gail Fitzhugh has delivered a well-timed, tightly focused production of this Jerry Mayer script. It bops along nicely, with so many laugh lines that there's hardly time to breathe between them.

It helps that the actors in this two-person cast know what they are doing. Maedell Dixon and David Alexander Johnston slid into their characters with ease.

If you're up for an evening of comedy, get on board. This lightweight play is serious fun.

Read the entire review here: http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/article_580f99fc-aa1f-5e3f-b384-72cc73292c61.html

Review of "2 Across" at Invisible Theatre, Tucson, AZ

Crosswords offer clues to life in '2 Across'

2010-11-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Crosswords offer clues to life in '2 Across': "

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, November 5

[Playwright] Mayer, now 79 and retired from his last studio job as executive producer on 'The Facts of Life,' went after writing plays with the same gusto with which he had pursued television writing.
His play '2 Across' opens at Invisible Theatre next week. It is one of eight plays he has written and had produced; he's working on his ninth.

"2 Across" is about a man and a woman who meet on a subway train at 4 a.m. (Mayer took a trip to San Francisco and hopped a BART train at that hour to make sure it is plausible that two people could be alone on the train at that time - it was).

They are both working on crosswords - she is focused and precise, he is the opposite. When the crossword becomes too much for him, he turns to the sports page. She takes him to task, and a ride that sees deep changes in both of them begins.

On the face of it, it's a comedy. But Mayer strives for something more than a laugh.

TIM FULLER / COURTESY OF INVISIBLE THEATRE

Janet (Maedell Dixon) does crossword puzzles in pen while Josh (David Alexander Johnston) uses a pencil

Read the entire preview here: http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/article_708f91b3-01f7-5422-ba08-d0c8fa670680.html

A Conversation with Susan Claassen About Edith Head

2010-09-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

A Conversation with Susan Claassen About Edith Head

Servings of Nostalgia | Review | Tucson Weekly

2010-09-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

Servings of Nostalgia | Review | Tucson Weekly

Servings of Nostalgia

Two fine plays take Tucsonans back in time

by Nathan ChristensenTucson Weekly
The Invisible Theatre is dishing up Moonlight and Magnolias as the first production of its 40th anniversary season, and the flavor is light, sweet and frothy, with a little bit of kick. The play is about three brilliant men colliding in a small room as they work to create something monumental—and the production itself offers three talented men colliding on a small stage as they create a high-energy evening of theater.Terry Erbe, Dwayne Palmer and Roberto Guajardo inMoonlight and Magnolias.Read the entire review at: Servings of Nostalgia | Review | Tucson Weekly

Moonlight and Magnolias

2010-09-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Moonlight and Magnolias

GOLDEN THEATER SET IN A GOLDEN AGE

By Chuck Graham

Let the Show Begin

TucsonStage.com

"Moonlight and Magnolias" now at Invisible Theatre is the perfect play-going experience, full of emotional conflict, comedy and truth. Betsy Kruse Craig adds to the fun as director by keeping the pace at neck-snapping speed, zipping punch lines back and forth across the stage until it feels like you're watching one of those Chinese world championship ping-pong matches.

For Dwayne Palmer, "Moonlight and Magnolias" is his finest performance yet.

Giving away nothing in energy or alacrity, veteran actors Roberto Guajardo as garrulous writer Ben Hecht and Terry Erbe as arrogant director Victor Fleming are happy to push their own roles to equally emotional extremes.

Getting laughs with her rigid propriety is Victoria McGee playing Selznick's obedient secretary.

Read the full review at Moonlight and Magnolias.

Rewrite of 'Gone With the Wind' churns out fun

2010-09-17T11:06:00.001-07:00

Rewrite of 'Gone With the Wind' churns out fun

Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, September 17, 2010

Director Betsy Kruse Craig's ramped up the humor with dialogue delivered in rapid fire and physical exchanges by Palmer and Erbe as they acted out the scenes for Guajardo's on-the-verge-of-bumbling Hecht.

Palmer brought to his impression of Scarlett O'Hara a deliciously funny feminism and exaggerated Southern twang while Erbe delivered an over-the-top Melanie in the throes of childbirth.

Hecht is a hard character to nail, but Guajardo convincingly conveyed him in all his shades

With delicious physical gestures and fabulously funny facial expressions, Victoria McGee's Miss Poppenghul was a delight.

Read the entire review at Rewrite of 'Gone With the Wind' churns out fun

PHOTO BY TIM FULLER / COURTESY INVISIBLE THEATREDwayne Palmer (with book), Terry Erbe and Roberto Guajardo in Invisible Theatre's "Moonlight and Magnolias."

Moonlight and Magnolias

'Gone With the Wind' tempest blows again

2010-09-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

'Gone With the Wind' tempest blows again

Jackie Tran For The Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, September 10, 2010

Who knew the Academy Award-winning "Gone With the Wind" was nearly gone with the wind.

Three weeks after filming began on the 1939 movie version of Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel, producer David O. Selznick screeched production to a halt, fired the great director George Cukor, then stopped production on "The Wizard of Oz" so that its director, Victor Fleming, could direct "Gone With the Wind." Then Selznick hired ace scriptwriter Ben Hecht (about the 13th to work on it), put him in a room with himself and Fleming, and set a deadline: Five days and a new script.

What happened in those five days is the subject of Ron Hutchinson's comedy "Moonlight and Magnolias," which Invisible Theatre opens next week.

Read the entire preview in the Arizona Daily Star, click: 'Gone With the Wind' tempest blows again

'Empty Plate' surprisingly satisfying

2010-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

'Empty Plate' surprisingly satisfying

Invisible Theatre closes 39th season with powerful play

Posted May 3, 2010, 9:55 am

Dave IrwinTucsonSentinel.com

At first glance, the premise of "An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf "might seem unsubstantial. However, this last production of the Invisible Theatre’s 39th season provides belly laughs, a dollop of irony and even some bittersweet emotional moments of truth.

Photo credit: Tim Fuller

The cast. (seated) Roberto Guajardo; (left to right) Sean Dupont, Cynthia Jeffery, David Johnston, Carrie Hill and Brad Kula

“AN EMPTY PLATE” IS TASTY FARE AT INVISIBLE THEATRE

2010-04-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

“AN EMPTY PLATE” IS TASTY FARE AT INVISIBLE THEATRE

by Chuck Graham

Tucsonstage.com

Let the Show Begin

Hold the food puns for a minute and let’s be serious. Roberto Guajardo gives another wonderful over-the-top performance at Invisible Theatre in “An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf.” What a season he is having. From the multiple characters in “Leaving Iowa” last autumn to the crazily colorful Pancho Villa last winter, to the suicidal gourmet in the recently-opened black comedy “Empty Plate.”

There hasn’t been a time that I can remember in Tucson theater when a local actor gave three exceptional performances in one season.

As for “Empty Plate,” this quirky play by Michael Hollinger almost defies description. There’s food, of course, and descriptions of gourmet dishes that would make a menu writer’s jaw drop in awe.

Succulent adjectives of every texture and flavor lace the script as the chef and maitre d’ extol the scintillating virtues of each new offering from the world class kitchen of the Café du Grand Boeuf.

But there is also suicide. Guajardo plays Victor the severely depressed billionaire who plans to end it all slowly and with contemplation by starving to death while dictating the story of his life to the waiter Antoine (Brad Kula), dutifully sitting at the next table with note pad and pencil.

In this metaphorical world, Victor owns a tiny restaurant with three tables and one customer – himself. No one else may dine here at the Cafe du Grand Boeuf.

Staffing the ultra-exclusive establishment are the chef Gaston (David Alexander Johnston), the maitre‘d Claude (Sean Dupont) and the waiter Mimi (Carrie Hill).

According to Victor’s instructions the staff must be ready at all times to serve any dish Victor requests.

Could there ever be such an elaborate dining arrangement for any billionaire any where? Probably not, but it does sort of sound like something Howard Hughes would do.

But with the four staffers having such cushy jobs, it is easy to imagine their panic one evening when a moribund Victor announces he is going to commit suicide. These desperate employees run through all the stages of grief ranging from anger to acceptance.

At Claude’s insistence the staff will prepare a glorious seven course meal in the kitchen, but they won’t serve it to Victor. Instead, these vigilant loyalists will bring out an empty plate, and then describe the epicurean creation that would be on the plate if Victor wasn’t so determined to commit suicide.

Victor, of course, must agree to savor every word. Reluctantly, he agrees…which sets the play in motion. A play about death must, of course, also be a play about life. And for life to continue there must be food.

So far, so good. Hollinger the playwright loves word play as well as the overblown literary striving so often associated with the menus that accompany such elegant dining. The word play is fun for the actors as well as the audience.

There are also a number of quotable lines worthy of becoming bumper stickers. “Appetite is hunger combined with hope” says one.

Victor made his money in journalism, which does date the play a bit (it was written in the 1990s and set in Paris in 1961). So think of“Empty Plate” as a historical drama linking journalism, Hemingway, the lack of literary imagination in writing obituaries, the pageantry of bull fights and many wonderful descriptions of food.

Underneath the deathly humor is an insistence on the powerful drive to survive and thrive. Even though Victor sees no reason to live any longer, those around him see lots of reasons to keep on living.

Performances of “An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf” continues at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, to May 16 at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. Tickets are $22-$25 general admission; rush tickets one hour before curtain (when available). For reservations and details, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

'Empty Plate' full of rich theater fare

2010-04-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

'Empty Plate' full of rich theater fare

IT'S LATEST PLAY DISHES UP TALE OF A MISERABLE LIFE

'Empty Plate' full of rich theater fare

Cathalena E. Burch Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, April 30, 2010

Warning: Don't come to see Invisible Theatre's production of "An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf" on an empty stomach.

You'll torture yourself as plate by plate of French dishes is described in a saliva-inducing feast of adjectives and adverbs.

Descriptions are all you will get; the real food is left in the kitchen in this one-act play by Michael Hollinger and all we see are empty plates served to Monsieur Victor (Roberto Guajardo), the millionaire proprietor of the finest restaurant in the world whose only diner is himself.

Victor's devoted staff - the stammering new-kid-in-the-dining room Antoine (Brad Kula), the gastronomically sadistic waiter Claude (Sean Dupont), his unhappy wife/waitress Mimi (Carrie Hill) and chef Gaston (David Alexander Johnston) - are determined to dissuade him from his wish to die of starvation in his restaurant.

Throughout the 90-minute production, admirably directed by Samantha K. Wyer, the staff delivers empty dish after empty dish of savory, sweet, scrumptious culinary masterpieces that would break down a monk's resolve.

review

"An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf" presented by Invisible Theatre. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays, through May 16 at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. 882-9721.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@com or 573-4642.

'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

2010-04-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

COMEDY WILL SERVE A LARGE SIDE DISH OF DRAMA
'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010

Michael Hollinger isn't a gourmand, a millionaire or a big Hemingway fan. But Victor, the main character in Hollinger's play, "An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf," is each of those.

"An Empty Plate," which Invisible Theatre will open next week, is a comedy laced with drama about a very rich man (Victor), who quotes Hemingway often and has an exquisite restaurant in Paris that is open 24/7 and serves only him.

And he's decided to kill himself by starving to death. That stresses Victor's staff of a chef and waiters to no end - their purpose to life is to serve him. What will they do if they no longer can do that?

It is Hollinger's first play - one he wrote as an antidote to a too-structured film class.

TIM FULLER / INVISIBLE THEATRECynthia Jeffery and Roberto Guajardo in Invisible Theatre's production of "An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf," about a rich man with a restaurant that serves only him. Yet he's decided to starve himself.

Pastime Players reflect many talents

2010-04-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Pastime Players reflect many talents

DOCUMENTARY CAPTURES SPECIAL PERFORMERS

M. Scot Skinner Skinner@azstarnet.com | Posted: Thursday, April 15, 2010

A fascinating documentary about the Pastime Players, a Tucson troupe that showcases the abilities of people with developmental disabilities, is one of 18 feature films selected for the 2010 Arizona International Film Festival.

"Such Good Friends" goes behind the scenes with the inspiring ensemble, which took its name from the street within the Amphitheater school district, where the Pastime Players originated 25 years ago.

Under the constant and energetic guidance of Susan Claassen, Gail Fitzhugh and other professionals from Tucson's Invisible Theatre, the players have rehearsed and performed at Catalina High Magnet School since 1990.

You can see "Such Good Friends," a film by Claassen and Cyndee Wing, at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Crossroads theater on East Grant Road.

Although the documentary was first screened at the Loft Cinema a year ago, Claassen and Wing continued sharpening and shaping the film, and they consider Saturday's screening to be the premiere. Admission is $6.

The remarkably effective film, which includes footage of the performers and interviews with several sets of parents and caregivers, also was selected for next month's inaugural Black Hills Film Festival, to be held in the shadow of Mount Rushmore.

Photo: THE INVISIBLE THEATRE, Verl Foley of the Pastime Players will be portraying the White Rabbit in the "Alice in Wonderland" portion of Monday's "The Me Inside of Me.

2010-2911 Season Auditions

2010-03-11T19:54:00.001-08:00

THE INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES

COMPANY AUDITIONS FOR MEN AND WOMEN

IN PRODUCTIONS FOR ITS 2010-2011

40^th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

The Invisible Theatre will hold auditions for their 2010-2011 Season on Saturday, March 27, 2010 beginning at 3:30 PM. Auditions will be held at the Invisible Theatre (1400 N. First Avenue at Drachman).

Parts are available for men and women, ages 14 – 60's.

Please call the Invisible Theatre (520-884-0672) with your name and phone contact to sign up for an audition time. All actors are compensated.

Actors must bring a recent headshot and resume. Those new to the theatre are asked to perform a 2 minute contemporary monologue.

PORTRAYING THE MANY SIDES OF ALBERT EINSTEIN

2010-03-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

TucsonStage.com

PORTRAYING THE MANY SIDES OF ALBERT EINSTEIN

by Chuck Graham

“For some actors, every once in awhile, there comes along a role that fits like a shoe. You don’t know why,” said Ed Metzger, a career professional actor who was a student of Lee Strasberg.

Metzger is speaking of the role he created for himself, doing a one-man show as Albert Einstein. The performance is so realistic even members of Einstein’s own family have come backstage to applaud Metzger. The first time that happened was 1978, when Metzger debuted “Albert Einstein: The Practical Bohemian” in Los Angeles.

On Thursday, March 11, Metzger opens a four-show run of “Einstein” at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

“When I get on the stage as Einstein, it’s like we become one,” the actor continued. “Doing other roles, I always have to work at getting it right, but not with Einstein. Somehow it always clicks.

“You feel it, but you don’t know why. It’s a melding. Maybe I picked him, or he picked me, I don’t know."

Whatever, for more than 30 years Metzger has enjoyed success coast to coast portraying the world’s most beloved physicist. After Metzger’s successful opening in Los Angeles, he played the role off-Broadway. Enjoying these performances so much, he began to look for other bookings.

“That’s when I started thinking of all the cities between New York and Los Angeles. I found out it wasn’t a vast wasteland out there after all,” Metzger added with a chuckle brightening his Brooklyn accent.

Even on the telephone, when Metzger begins talking about Einstein a more intimate familiarity slips into his voice. One of his favorite quotes from the scientist’s mischievous side: “How does anybody know I’m a genius when they don’t understand my work?”

The Theory of Relativity is what most people associate with Einstein. But in this hyper-concerned era of political correctness and pumped up sensitivity, whenever Metzger talks to audiences he discovers Einstein taking a lot of flak from students for inventing the atomic bomb and dropping a couple of them on Japan.

That level of ignorance gets Metzger more than a little livid.

“Einstein always had good relations with the Japanese, and they still value him. He was even put on one of their stamps.

“But Einstein went crazy when he learned Hitler first discovered how to split the atom,” Metzger continued. “That was in 1939. That convinced Einstein to encourage the start of the Manhattan Project.”

Metzger is proud of having the opportunity to set students straight on several such historical fine points.

While he values Einstein’s contributions as both a scientist and a “relative pacifist,” the portrayal doesn’t put Einstein on a pedestal. It includes many aspects of the man’s personality. Such as Einstein’s fondness for women.

So…um…when Einstein was in his 50s, did he party with Marilyn Monroe when she was a Hollywood starlet?

“I knew that question would come up,” laughed Metzger. “It always does.”

“When I first did the show back in Los Angeles in 1978 and his relatives came backstage, they told me Einstein was a great womanizer. So I asked them, ‘Was it true he was a friend of Marilyn Monroe when she was an engenue?’ but they refused to answer.

“Since then I have never been able to confirm it. All I can say is I hope it’s true,” Metzger laughed. His voice had that special tone one guy would use when talking about his best friend.

“Albert Einstein: The Practical Bohemian” opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11, at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March12-13, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 14. Tickets are $30, discounts for groups of 10 or more. Half-price tickets on sale 30 minutes before each performance, when available. For details and reservations, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

Families in Conflict | Review | Tucson Weekly

2010-02-25T04:04:00.000-08:00

Families in Conflict | Review | Tucson Weekly:

Families in Conflict

IT's 'Kisses' exudes humanity, while LTW's 'Wife' delivers hilarity

by Nathan Christensen

Iron Kisses is an odd title for the play currently running at Invisible Theatre. It penetrates the complexities of family dynamics, but does so with warmth and humanity rather than a cutting edge.

The show begins with actor Dwayne Palmer alone on stage, sitting in a plain wooden chair and speaking to the audience in gentle tones. He pulls a drawing by a child out of a box and explains that the yellow lines emanating from the figure's head are not strands of hair, but rays of happiness.

Then comes an unexpected moment of confusion: Palmer says that he's the child's mother. It almost seems like a mistake, but the picture is signed to Mommy.

Carrie Hill and Dwayne Palmer in Iron Kisses.

Just as you try to work out some La Cage aux Folles scenario in your head, Palmer transforms from Mommy to Daddy. He sits back, changes his posture, deepens his voice and alters his speech patterns—and suddenly, we meet the child's father.

It's a wonderful moment of theatricality—a transformation that could never work on film. And the fluid portrayal of gender illustrates the play's point almost as well as any of the dialogue. Playwright James Still suggests that gay marriage—a major theme in the play—is not about "issues" or "controversy," but simply about human relationships. Throughout, Still focuses on the complexities of his characters rather than drawing lines in the sand. The mother and father Palmer plays in the first scene are parents to Barbara and Billy, and Billy has just sent them an invitation: He is marrying his boyfriend in San Francisco.

Billy's parents are an old-fashioned, church-going, Midwestern couple. While they don't approve of homosexuality, they do love their son, and their concerns are treated with great compassion. They are struggling to find balance in a world that seems to have changed around them.

Actress Carrie Hill steps into the dual role of Mother and Father in the second scene, picking up the story with the parents' return from Billy's wedding. Certain mannerisms and speech patterns carry over, but Hill's Mother seems more agitated and sarcastic than Palmer's, and her Father is less aloof.

That's partly because the actors each have a distinct stage presence. Hill, for one, has a bright, charismatic energy that informs her characters. But the two actors' portrayals also depend on which sibling is at the center of each scene.

While the first scene deals with Billy, the second focuses on his sister, Barbara. After marrying young and having two children, Barbara now faces divorce. Conversations with her mother always end in argument, so she turns to her brother for support. Hill and Palmer transition into playing the sister and brother, and in the final scene, they're onstage together as the siblings, exhibiting a wonderful intimacy that paints a lifetime of shared experience.

Director Gail Fitzhugh has guided her actors to create moving, nuanced performances with plenty of charm and humor. The title may be Iron Kisses, but the outcome for the audience is a compassionate smile and a warm heart.

Invisible Theatre

Tue., Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays, 7:30 p.m., Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. and Sundays, 3 p.m. Continues through March 7

'Iron Kisses' warmly embraces parents, kids who love each other

2010-02-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

'Iron Kisses' warmly embraces parents, kids who love each other

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010

Dysfunctional families have made for some juicy theatrics - from "Medea" to "Next to Normal," we have families falling apart and deep in crisis.

So it's kind of a relief to see "Iron Kisses," Invisible Theatre's latest offering.

The James Still comic drama is a family-centric play that looks on the four members - parents, son, daughter - with humor and compassion. And they are our parents, our children, our next-door neighbors.

The parents struggle with a son who is gay - a fact of life that is foreign to them. But they love him, and while his lifestyle confuses them, it doesn't change their love.

The daughter is in an unhappy marriage, and the parents struggle with that, too - they just want their children to be happy.

And those children find humor in their parents, see them as set in their ways at times, exasperating, but they never doubt that they are loved by them.

Grief is part of the picture. So is joy, anger, regrets.

Whoa, normalcy. How weird is that?

Unfortunately, normalcy doesn't necessarily make for profound theater, and "Iron Kisses," while sweet and honest, doesn't uncover new territory or explore the depths of family life or feelings.

But that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

Gail Fitzhugh has directed this play with restraint, never allowing it to slip into cliché or schmaltzville. And she had a lot of help from her two-person cast, Dwayne Palmer and Carrie Hill.

Still's conceit is a tough one: The actors portray both parents and children, each slipping quickly from one character to another and back again. Palmer and Hill managed to keep the characters clear with just a shift of a brow, a movement of the legs, or a softening of the voice. It was clear who was who within minutes into the 90-minute, one-act play. There are hefty monologues and long stretches where the actors are on stage alone, and Palmer and Hill never faltered.

This is a slight play, with an ending that fails to satisfy.

But it's also a warm embrace to parents who love their children and children who love them back.

Review

"Iron Kisses"

• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.

• Playwright: James Still.

• Director: Gail Fitzhugh.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays, through March 7.

• Where: Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

• Tickets: $22 to $25.

• Reservations and information: 882-9721.

• Cast: Carrie Hill and Dwayne Palmer.

• Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.

Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.

Theatre1

2010-02-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

THRICE AS NICE: TWO ACTORS PLAY THREE CHARACTERS EACH IN “IRON KISSES”
by Chuck Graham
tucsonstage.com

What is gender exactly? What does it matter? What does it really mean, aside from the biological differences in plumbing? Underneath the socially approved manners and dress for men and women, are we all the same?

Playwright James Still kind of says we are in “Iron Kisses,” a one-act of domestic drama designed to contrast and compare the emotional differences of one loving family in a small Midwestern town. His play is set on two actors.

The new Invisible Theatre production casts Carrie Hill and Dwayne Palmer. In lengthy monologues, each plays both parents. Then as the tension escalates, Hill becomes Barbara and Palmer becomes Billy, the grown children of those two parents, reflecting on their home lives and sibling loyalties.

It is a daring theatrical manipulation, which these actors make work beautifully. With direction by Gail Fitzhugh, we see traditional parent roles transform from authoritarian figures into a pair of caring people finding their own paths to understanding their son’s homosexual lifestyle.

In the opening scene, Palmer sits on a chair talking sweetly about Bill. Then we realize the character talking is Bill’s mother. With only the briefest pause, Palmer’s body language becomes more rigid and his voice more brusque. Now he is speaking as Bill’s father.

This back-and-forth monologue flips several times between mother and father, as each goes further into their desire to support their son even as they disapprove of homosexuality. What we get in the audience is a fascinating perspective about the nature of love – that between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, between the grown children and those they will choose in life to be their own lovers.

This is theater poetry at its finest. The language is clear and natural, but the impact is mystical and indefinable, just as poetry’s impact can be mystical and indefinable. Even though we can’t precisely describe the feeling, each of us can feel it in our own way.

We feel their struggle deepen when Hill takes the stage alone to play both the mother and father who recall other memories of their children. The mother responds to the genuine love she sees between Bill and Michael, when the young couple is invited to dinner.

Mother remembers them secretly holding hands under the table, exactly what any shy heterosexual couple would do during a visit with parents. It is the ordinariness of these memories that holds the most power, dramatizing again how we are so similar.

“Iron Kisses” does step the drama up a notch with Palmer and Hill onstage together. While Bill feels guilty about being gay and tries to overcompensate by being the perfect doting son, Barbara becomes the adolescent rebel.

Although the subject matter may be inflammatory, the language is as natural and unpretentious as macaroni and cheese for dinner. Hill and Palmer have an equally natural chemistry onstage.

We can believe they are brother and sister, competing for their parents’ attention but also defending each other against the rest of the world.

There is plenty of humor in the dialogue, though the play becomes a bittersweet experience as we watch this family – unique by definition – discover it isn’t the differences but the similarities that will keep them together. Without any preaching, we are also reminded the differences aren’t really all that different, anyway.

Performances continue at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, to March 7 at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. Tickets are $22 Wednesdays-Thursdays, $25 Fridays-Sundays. For details and reservations, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

'Iron Kisses' delves into family dynamics

2010-02-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

'Iron Kisses' delves into family dynamics

Just 2 actors and 4 characters will cover a lot of domestic ground

'Iron Kisses' delves into family dynamics

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, February 12, 2010 12:00 am

Family. Just the word conjures up images of conflict and comfort. Love that is intense and unconditional.

It's a subject that has long occupied playwright James Still, author of plays for adults and children, television programs for children, and of "Iron Kisses," which Invisible Theatre will open next week.

"Mysteries of family, issues of forgiveness," he said, talking by phone from his Seattle home.

"I've been writing long enough to realize that in many ways, I've always been writing about the dynamics of family."

"Iron Kisses" has all the elements of a normal family: the parents confounded by their adult children, and the children by their parents. Turmoil, arguments, love, pain and a unique relationship between siblings.

" 'Iron Kisses' is one of those plays I'm glad I wrote because I would have been envious of whomever had," said Still, who has been writing professionally for half of his 50 years.

"As a writer, I admire the craft in this play. I admire the seemingly simplicity. Yet it manages to go so deep. In this play, I am more focused on all the things that are powerful in it, rather than the flaws."

"Iron Kisses" has a compelling structure: Just two actors and four characters: the mom, the dad, the gay son who is about to marry his partner, and the daughter on the verge of a divorce.

PHOTOS BY TIM FULLER / INVISIBLE THEATRE Dwayne Palmer and Carrie Hill in Invisible Theatre's "Iron Kisses."
The subject of family has long occupied playwright James Still.

The actors switch characters in an instant. But don't worry about catching on.

"Within three to five minutes, the audience gets what's going on," Still said.

And while it opens with the parents struggling with their son's impending marriage to a man, there's more to it than that.

"It's about so much more than a gay character," Still said. "It's about the idea of marriage. How marriage is imperfect and challenging."

Still aimed to treat the parents fairly, giving a fuller, truer picture of the family.

"It would be easy to write a play about this particular family," he said. "The mom and dad are a little baffled by their gay son and are remorseful about him. The braver choice for me was how to write those parents with compassion rather than judgment. It's often rewarded to bash people who don't share our point of view."

That approach led him to the subject of forgiveness in the story.

"I was interested in, 'How do you forgive people who have quite a different view from your own?' " he said.

The play, said director Gail Fitzhugh, "has a very universal feel. It has everything to do with family, parents, siblings."

But don't expect a drama that's devoid of humor, she added.

"It walks the line carefully. There is humor in the relationships, and there's some sadness and some secrets. It's rich in that way."

If you go

• "Iron Kisses"

• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.

• Playwright: James Still.

• Director: Gail Fitzhugh.

• When: Previews at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; opens 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; regular performances are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays, through March 7.

• Where: Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

• Tickets: $16 for preview; $22 to $25 for regular performances.

• Reservations and information: 882-9721.

• Cast: Carrie Hill and Dwayne Palmer.

• Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.

Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.

All in the Family | Review | Tucson Weekly

2010-01-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

All in the Family | Review | Tucson Weekly:

The great Lynn Redgrave explores her mother's 'Romeo and Juliet' obsession
by Sherilyn Forrester

Lynn Redgrave

What's in a name?' inquires Romeo in the Bard's famed tale of doomed love.

The answer, if the name happens to be Redgrave: Quite a bit, actually.

The family Redgrave is chock full of actors, awards and genuine fame borne from an impressive body of work spanning five generations. And if your name is Lynn Redgrave, you're also a skilled and passionate storyteller.

Lynn Redgrave, sponsored by the Invisible Theatre, is bringing her most recent venture to town for two performances. Rachel and Juliet, a one-woman show, is a tribute to her mother, Rachel Kempson, a highly respected actress, though she was not as storied as her husband, Sir Michael Redgrave. According to Lynn Redgrave, Kempson had a lifelong fascination with the role of Juliet, and would launch into passages from Romeo and Juliet throughout her life. She died in 2003, a few days before her 93rd birthday.

Redgrave, in a phone interview from her home in Connecticut, says Rachel and Juliet is still in development. She first workshopped it with an audience in June 2008 at Manhattan's Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. Then last spring, it ran for five performances at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., the location where she launched her career as a playwright.

'In 1991, the Folger had asked me to come and give an evening of readings, and I got to thinking what it might be like to actually write down something, give it form,' she says. 'So I set to work on a one-act play using Shakespeare's words to take the scenes from my life to another plane—a play about my father and my search for him.

'I didn't tell anyone about this, even the Folger. It was just an experiment. I had never considered myself a playwright.'

This experiment went on to become Shakespeare for My Father, which in 1993 embarked on a 30-city tour and ended up at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway. (She also performed Shakespeare for My Father in Tucson in 1996 at the Temple of Music and Art.)

The show received a Tony nomination and won Redgrave numerous other nominations and awards, both for acting and writing.

'I just was obsessed with my father when I began this process. I wanted reconciliation,' she explains. 'I did all these shows for all these years, and then suddenly one day, I felt it had happened: I was at peace with our relationship. And I didn't need to perform this anymore. So I haven't.'

So is Rachel and Juliet an attempt to come to grips with issues with her mother?

'Oh, no, no. I had a perfectly lovely relationship with my mother,' she responds. 'This piece is entirely different.'

Susan Claassen of the Invisible Theatre directed Redgrave when Chamber Music PLUS brought her to town in 2003.

'Lynn is a remarkable person as well as a fabulous performer,' Claassen says. 'She is so willing to be open and honest. And she is an exquisite writer. She creates vivid pictures, and she pays so much attention to the musicality of language.'

As a youngster, Redgrave says, she had no urge to pursue the 'family business.' Instead, she wanted to be a professional equestrian. 'I had been riding since I was 5, and I simply loved it and had actually been offered a position.'

So what changed her mind?

'I went to see a very young, 22-year-old-Peter Hall-directed production of Twelfth Night. I saw it 17 times. That was it. I knew this was for me. It affected me so profoundly. I even call my home Illyria, and I have a dog named Viola.'

She debuted in A Midsummer Night's Dream at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1962. In 1963, she appeared in the movie Tom Jones; in 1966, she starred in Georgy Girl, for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress; she was also nominated for an Academy Award. Later this year, she will be inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Although she authored her autobiography, This Is Living, in 1991, playwriting efforts are a fairly recent addition to her professional output. Besides Shakespeare for My Father, she has written The Mandrake Root and Nightingale. The focus of her work is usually her family—and she does not hold back or sanitize.

Nonetheless, members of her famous family have never been critical of her work, she says. 'They have always been totally supportive. Really, all playwrights write about their families—Neil Simon, Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams. I certainly don't put myself in their class, but we write about what we know and what we care about.

'In Rachel and Juliet, I had the benefit of mother's own words published in her memoir. In some of the pieces, like Nightingale, I had to imagine so much. But every word in Rachel and Juliet is true.'

So why was her mother so obsessed with Juliet, anyway?

'Oh,' she demurs, 'I can't tell you. You have to come see the show.'

***
Rachel and Juliet

Presented by the Invisible Theatre

8 p.m., next Saturday, Jan. 16; 3 p.m., next Sunday, Jan. 17

Berger Performing Arts Center

1200 W. Speedway Blvd.

$42

882-9721;

www.invisibletheatre.com

Redgrave to Perform Rachel and Juliet in Arizona - Playbill.com

2010-01-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

Redgrave to Perform Rachel and Juliet in Arizona - Playbill.com

By Andrew Gans
05 Jan 2010

Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
photo by Joan Marcus

Lynn Redgrave
photo by Joan Marcus

Lynn Redgrave, most recently seen in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of her solo show Nightingale, will bring her new one-woman evening, Rachel and Juliet, to Arizona's Invisible Theatre later this month.

Performances at the Tucson venue are scheduled for Jan. 16 at 8 PM and Jan. 17 at 3 PM.

In Rachel and Juliet, Redgrave, according to press notes, 'pays tribute to her mother, actress Rachel Kempson, whose love affair with the role of Juliet and search for her own Romeo lasted her entire life. Interweaving remembrances, Ms. Kempson’s own words and passages from Shakespeare, Ms. Redgrave has created an unforgettable companion piece to her Tony Award-nominated Shakespeare For My Father (which traces her relationship with her father, the late Michael Redgrave).'

Redgrave is also the author of The Mandrake Root.

Redgrave is a 2006 Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Play (The Constant Wife), a 1993 Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Play (Shakespeare for My Father, which she wrote) and a 1976 Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a Play (Mrs. Warren's Professsion).

She is a two-time Academy Award nominee (1999, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 'Gods and Monsters' and 1967 Best Actress in a Leading Role for 'Georgy Girl').

Rachel and Juliet will be performed at The Berger Performing Arts Center (1200 W. Speedway Blvd., Tucson). Tickets are priced at $42 and are available by calling (520) 882-9721.

For more information visit www.invisibletheatre.com.

LYNN REDGRAVE ONSTAGE IN 'RACHEL AND JULIET'

2010-01-03T07:03:00.000-08:00

Theatre1: LYNN REDGRAVE ONSTAGE IN 'RACHEL AND JULIET'

by Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

The attraction of family holds Lynn Redgrave in its iron grip. She has always been fascinated by parent-child relationships, wanting to explore just how strong those bonds can be and how the experience of living these roles for a lifetime will shape the people who play the parts that strengthen the bonds that shape the people...

Being the third sibling in one of the theater world’s most distinguished families gives Lynn Redgrave plenty to work with. She comes to Tucson Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 16-17, to present another of her one-woman shows, “Rachel and Juliet,” about her mother, the actress Rachel Kempson. Both performances are presented by the Invisible Theatre in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd.

Although everyone agreed Kempson was quite talented, the best known of Lynn’s family members are her distinguished father Michael Redgrave and her sister Vanessa. Lynn and Vanessa's elder brother, Corin, performs mostly on the English stage.

Lynn recently told the Washington Post her mother was a funny and perceptive woman, but was also afflicted with self-doubt.

'She (Kempson) suffered from her lack of security, making room for my father's career,' said Lynn. Perhaps being so selfless herself led Kempson to identify so strongly with the romantic idealism of young Juliet. In her early 20s in the 1930s, Kempson made a famous debut playing Juliet at Stratford-upon-Avon. Throughout her life she returned to Shakespeare's most famous ingenue for inspiration,

'Even in her 80's she would perform pieces of Juliet,' said Lynn. At age 90, Kempson recited one of Juliet's speeches at the wedding for one of Lynn's three children.

As Lynn grew up in the family of England’s most revered Shakespearian actor, the girl always wondered where she stood on the list of subjects that were most important to her dad. Lynn always knew she wasn’t number one.

Those bittersweet experiences were recalled in writing and performing the Tony Award-nominanted “Shakespeare For My Father” in the 1990s, her onstage accounting of that lifetime relationship, described by theater critics as both “poignant and painful.”

Lynn agrees writing that play, and her other family plays, has had therapeutic value.She also wrote “The Mandrake Root,” only loosely based on her mother, and “Nightingale,” a work that's largely fiction inspired by her maternal grandmother Beatrice Kempson.

“I don’t know if I’m the family historian, but I’ve always had a steel-trap memory. I remember stuff,” said Lynn cheerily, on the phone from her Connecticut home. “I’ve just always had that.

“I think of my mind being like a magpie’s nest, the way magpies keep shiny objects in their nests. There are all these moments I’ve stolen from my childhood and stored away, then they suddenly pop out.

“I can be really surprised at what pops out. Sometimes I’ll ask my sister Vanessa about something from our childhood and she won’t remember it at all.

“Rachel and Juliet” has become the companion piece to 'Shakespeare for My Father,' Lynn’s tribute to her mom -- a talented woman who many felt could have had a more prominent theater career if she hadn’t been content to let her husband hold forth at center stage, instead. Interwoven into the play are Lynn's remembrances, Kempson’s own words (“The play is totally based on fact.”) and passages from Shakespeare.

Invisible Theatre brings Lynn Redgrave with her one-woman play 'Rachel and Juliet' to the Berger Performing Arts Center for performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17. All tickets for both performances are $42, with discounts for groups of 10 or more. For details and reservations, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

RANDY ROBERTS ARRIVES LARGER THAN LIFE

2009-12-12T04:26:00.000-08:00

RANDY ROBERTS ARRIVES LARGER THAN LIFE
by Chuck Graham
tucsonstage.com

The always cheerful Winter Wonderland Holiday Cabaret at the Invisible Theatre kicks it up a notch this weekend, Dec. 11-13, with the return of Randy Roberts from his home base in Key West after a five-year absence from IT's own cabaret scene. Roberts was here in 2004 with his trunks of elaborate costumes and a wig collection that would make Marie Antoinette envious.

'You don't have to go to Caesar's Palace to see Cher,' says Roberts with so much enthusiasm you have to believe him. When he dips backstage after rehearsal at IT's cozy's mid-town theater and brings out a shimmery, silvery, slinky and fringe-y gown that catches every spark of light in the theater, that word 'glamor' also leaps in.

When he adds the black stiletto platform shoes with seven-inch heels, all bets are off. Your opinion of the real Cher won't matter.

Roberts will be lighting up the stage with his way larger than life presence for three shows at the Winter Wonderland festival, presenting his impressions of Bette Midler and Cher, of course, as well as several other show biz icons with big hair wearing other sparkling gowns he won't talk about. He doesn't want to spoil the surprise.

But a quick online word search for 'Randy Roberts' brings up a couple of Roberts' own YouTube-and-so-forth sites containing more than 20 videos of the performer in action (and costume).

'There will be no lip snyching here,' guarantees Susan Claassen, the Winter Wonderland impresario and IT's artistic director.

Both Roberts and Claassen stress the family friendliness of Roberts' shows. The spectacle is what he loves about these women, and the songs they sing.

'I'm a singing actor who can be funny,' Roberts says. 'I can look out and see everyone of all ages in the audience. People bring their grandkids, and their grandparents.'

After a full 20-year career performing as other people in glitzy venues from Las Vegas to Manhattan, Roberts is also developing a stage persona as himself.

'I always say 'Cher brings them in, Randy brings them back',' the performer adds with a smile.

Along with being himself onstage as an entertainer, Roberts will also include a casual segment where he dishes with Claassen about his life backstage and in the spotlight. He'll be letting down his hair, in more ways than one. Now that is something the real Cher would never do.

This Winter Wonderland Holiday Cabaret continues next week at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. Here is the schedule:

Dec. 11-12, 8 p.m.; Dec. 13, 3 p.m. - Randy Roberts Live! Coming straight from Key West! A world renowned female illusionist recreates the magic of Cher, Bette Midler, and others.

Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m. - The Boone Family meets the “Craig Sistahs” when trombonist Rob Boone, harpist Christine Vivona, and their sons Jesse and Corey share the stage with Betty Craig and Betsy Kruse Craig.

Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m. - Armen Dirtadian, Daniel “Sly” Slipetsky and special guest Michelle Brourman present Broadway favorites, American standards, original compositions and all that jazz!

Dec. 19, 8 p.m. - Original Wildcat Jass Band! Traditional New Orleans and Chicago jazz.

Dec. 19, 2 p.m. - “Kiddy Kabaret” With Suz Claassen, Betsy Kruse Craig and the Boone Family! Music, fun and stories for the whole family!! Tickets $10.00.

Tickets for all the shows (except 'Kiddy Kabaret') are: $22 general admission! 3 Event Sampler $60, 5 Show Holiday Special $ 100. For details and reservations (520) 882- 9721 or www.invisibletheatre.com.

"“RUNT OF THE LITTER” IS A HAUNTING (AND RIVETING) TALE OF TRIUMPH

2009-12-12T04:21:00.001-08:00

"“RUNT OF THE LITTER” IS A HAUNTING (AND RIVETING) TALE OF TRIUMPH
by Chuck Graham
tucsonstage.com

If Invisible Theatre never does anything else, the idealistic company will be forever treasured for bringing us Bo Eason in his one-man show, “Runt of the Litter.” Everyone who saw Eason’s performance in a pair of shows last weekend can consider themselves blessed in Tucson theater circles.

This was one of the most powerful, intense, touching and compelling experiences seen on a local stage in decades. It is impossible to overstate the emotional power Eason created all by himself working in the spotlight of the Berger Performing Arts Center.

Using just a few props and some sound effects, the former professional football player took us from his memories of being an awe-struck 9-year-old determined to get his working class father’s attention, to the following years of discipline that turned him into the terrifyingly driven safety on defense for the Houston Oilers. Determined to make up in psychological force what he lacked in physical size, Eason lived to throw himself in harm’s way on the football field at every opportunity.

All because, as he was growing up, Eason’s older brother Tony was the gifted athlete who took his talent for granted. Tony got the lion’s share of their father’s attention, too.

Tony Eason would go on to become starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. Bo Eason also made it to the NFL, playing safety for the Houston Oilers.

But “Runt of the Litter” isn’t about playing football…exactly…or working hard for your dreams. There is football and hard work in it, and some telling scenes about the eccentric nature of men who play pro ball, as well as the violence contained within their sport.

The play is really about how having focused determination can be a valuable quality, but if carried to extremes that determination becomes a poisonous obsession. In the case of professional football, it can turn overachieving athletes into wild-eyed animals consumed by their own voracious appetites.

You don’t think a sweet little 9-year-old kid who adores his big brother and lives for his dad can make that twisted transformation? Eason has seen it happen first hand. He knows that feeling inside and out. He also has the artistic talent to tell the story in a way so compelling, so convincing, it will stick in your head forever.

Just ask someone who saw Bo Eason in “Runt of the Litter” this weekend. Then ask Invisible Theater to bring the show back to Tucson for a much longer run.

"“RUNT OF THE LITTER” IS A HAUNTING (AND RIVETING) TALE OF TRIUMPH

2009-12-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

"“RUNT OF THE LITTER” IS A HAUNTING (AND RIVETING) TALE OF TRIUMPH

If Invisible Theatre never does anything else, the idealistic company will be forever treasured for bringing us Bo Eason in his one-man show, “Runt of the Litter.” Everyone who saw Eason’s performance in a pair of shows last weekend can consider themselves blessed in Tucson theater circles.

This was one of the most powerful, intense, touching and compelling experiences seen on a local stage in decades. It is impossible to overstate the emotional power Eason created all by himself working in the spotlight of the Berger Performing Arts Center.

Using just a few props and some sound effects, the former professional football player took us from his memories of being an awe-struck 9-year-old determined to get his working class father’s attention, to the following years of discipline that turned him into the terrifyingly driven safety on defense for the Houston Oilers. Determined to make up in psychological force what he lacked in physical size, Eason lived to throw himself in harm’s way on the football field at every opportunity.

All because, as he was growing up, Eason’s older brother Tony was the gifted athlete who took his talent for granted. Tony got the lion’s share of their father’s attention, too.

Tony Eason would go on to become starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. Bo Eason also made it to the NFL, playing safety for the Houston Oilers.

But “Runt of the Litter” isn’t about playing football…exactly…or working hard for your dreams. There is football and hard work in it, and some telling scenes about the eccentric nature of men who play pro ball, as well as the violence contained within their sport.

The play is really about how having focused determination can be a valuable quality, but if carried to extremes that determination becomes a poisonous obsession. In the case of professional football, it can turn overachieving athletes into wild-eyed animals consumed by their own voracious appetites.

You don’t think a sweet little 9-year-old kid who adores his big brother and lives for his dad can make that twisted transformation? Eason has seen it happen first hand. He knows that feeling inside and out. He also has the artistic talent to tell the story in a way so compelling, so convincing, it will stick in your head forever.

Just ask someone who saw Bo Eason in “Runt of the Litter” this weekend. Then ask Invisible Theater to bring the show back to Tucson for a much longer run.

BO EASON PUTS PRO FOOTBALL ONSTAGE

2009-12-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

BO EASON PUTS PRO FOOTBALL ONSTAGE

by Chuck Graham
Tucsonstage.com

We love stories of triumph, and former professional football player Bo Eason has a good one. The younger, smaller brother of New England Patriots quarterback Tony Eson, Bo is the personification of sibling rivalry carried to the max.

Invisible Theatre brings us the whole story, told by Bo himself in a semi-autobiographical tale he calls "Runt of the Litter." As the title implies, Bo was the one who always had to try harder. Man, did he ever One reviewer of this off-Broadway stage hit compared Bo and Tony to Cain and Able.

Developed as a one-man show, Eason recounts his life as a continuous challenge to win his father's affection by being as good as his larger and more talented brother. For dramatic purposes, Bo sets the story on a character named Jack Henry who plays safety for the Houston Oilers.

Jack is preparing for the defining game of his life, the conference championship that will decide which team goes to the Super bowl. Opposing the Oilers are the New England Patriots, quarterbacked by Jack's older brother Charlie.

The reality is, back in the 1980s Bo did play safety for the Houston Oilers and Tony was the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. But the brothers never played against each other in the playoffs. That's the drama part.

The emotional pay-off in "Runt of the Litter," though, is not about who wins the game but -- as the old saying goes -- how the game is played. From childhood, Bo dedicated himself to the pursuit of a career in pro football.

He had no choice. On notebook paper, little boy Bo drew up his 20-year plan to get to the pros. Then the focused lad diligently followed that plan as he grew older, getting up daily at 5 a.m., catching 1,000 passes every day, enlisting his mother's help and never taking any football coach's "No" as the final answer.

Bo's insight into the personalities of other pro football players is in there, too. They love the war zone of the playing field, Bo observes, and they feel bothered by the "peace time" of those hours spent in civilian clothes.

"Runt of the Litter" promises to be more than just another story of conflict with a happy ending. Those guys you see on TV on game day are not robots in football gear. After the game, out of the locker room, they need someplace to go. They can't just hang around the football stadium.

Bo Eason takes us into this life, growing up on sports magazines, fighting back pain, flying on the wings of triumph, breaking the death grip of adversity. It's all on stage, the real conflicts in a game everyone plays 24/7. The game of life.

Performances of "Runt of the Litter," presented by Invisible Theatre, are at the Berger Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd., on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $42, group discounts are available. Because of the adult language among those football players, the IT staff is recommending this play for ages 12 and older.

A post-show reception with Bo Eason, and a chance to get your photo taken with him, will be held at Pastiche Modern Eatery, 3025 N. Campbell Ave., after the Dec. 5 performance. Tickets for this gathering, which includes refreshments, are $20. Reservations for the reception are made with Phyllis at IT, 520-882-9721.

Eason's 'Runt' tackles football as metaphor | www.azstarnet.com ®

2009-12-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Eason's 'Runt' tackles football as metaphor | www.azstarnet.com ®

Published: 12.04.2009

Eason's 'Runt' tackles football as metaphor

One-man show dramatizes ex-pro player's plan for life

By Alexa Miller

FOR THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Bo Eason anxiously waits in the dark before he whips into action.

A familiar rush of adrenalin pumps through his veins. He feels the crowd's anticipation.

"I can hear the crowd, I can feel their vibrations," said Eason, a former Houston Oiler safety.

"I feel like I'm in the Astrodome again, waiting to be introduced to 65,000 fans."

Bo Eason brings his one-man show, Runt of the Litter, to the Old Pueblo. Photo courtesy of Invisible Theatre.

But this is theater, not football. The scene is backstage, waiting to make his entrance for his one-man show, "Runt of the Litter." Invisible Theatre brings the production to Tucson this weekend.

The cue music starts, the lights go on and Eason takes his first step in recounting, play-by-play, his journey to becoming a professional football player.

"Whether it's a sport or a play, I get a thrill from live performance. You can't stop to go back and redo something," said Eason. "That ambivalent feeling makes me nervous, but I rise to the occasion."

Written by Eason, "Runt" is a semi-autobiographical account of a dedicated man who was always told he wasn't good enough to play football.

He fell into the shadow of his gifted older brother, Tony. With determination and a crayon in hand, 9-year-old Eason drew out a 20-year plan that, if strictly followed, would lead the way to a professional football career.

"When the play starts, you are in the last hour of the 20-year plan, and it's all about to come true," said Eason. "Catch is, I have to destroy my brother to make it happen."

Tony played for the New England Patriots and in 1987, the brothers' teams were slated to play each other. Eason was the Oiler's safety, and his brother was the Patriot's quarterback, two positions that compete directly.

"Fate would have it that the game never happened, but over a decade later I was still haunted by it," said Eason. "I always wondered what could have happened."

Choosing to channel his curiosities through live theater, Eason's "Runt" delves into his dreams, ambitions, sibling rivalries and family loyalties, but with a little added drama.

"It's universal in its themes," said Eason. "The more personal you make it the more universal it becomes."

Through his story-telling, Eason looks to inspire.

"Kids will come up to me after the show and say, 'Wow, my parents need to see this,' and parents will come up and say, 'Wow, my kid needs to see this'," said Eason.

"Runt" also inspired the yet-to-be-released movie of the same name directed by Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile"), as well as the "21 Day Runt Program," where children learn how to visualize and work toward their goals by creating a plan.

"The program has the kids do exactly what I did when I was 9, declare a dream, draw it and write it down," said Eason. "So the story relates right to them."

If you go

"Runt of the Litter"

• Presented by: The Invisible Theatre.

• Written/performed by: Bo Eason.

• Director: Larry Moss

• When: 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: The Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.

• Tickets: $42; Rush tickets are half-price half-hour before curtain; based on availability.

• Reservations/information: 882-9721.

• Running time: 2 hours, with one intermission

Alexa Miller is a University of Arizona student who is apprenticing at the Star. Contact her at 573-4128 or at starapprentice@azstarnet.com.

LOVE COMES TO ALL AGES IN "SOUTHERN COMFORTS"

2009-11-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

LOVE COMES TO ALL AGES IN "SOUTHERN COMFORTS"

At Invisible Theatre
LOVE COMES TO ALL AGES IN "SOUTHERN COMFORTS"

by Chuck Graham
TucsonStage.com

If you think the dating game is complicated for young people, consider the dimensions of effort required to maneuver around decades of past experience -- plus respecting the feelings of grandchildren as well as children, maybe stepchildren, and all the other baggage of life while falling in love at age 72 or older. Even if both members of this new coupling have only had one husband or wife before, expectations can get pretty tangled.

That's the premise of "Southern Comforts" by Kathleen Clark, just opened at Invisible Theatre. This gentle romantic comedy tweaks the emotions in unexpected directions as two strangers deep into their senior years meet sweetly over a televised baseball game. She stops by his northern New Jersey home to ask for a contribution to charity. He's watching baseball. She loves baseball.

Determined not to seem interested in each other, but wanted to know more about each other, they are wary to begin that euphoric slide into cohabitation. So their mating dance has a different pace. The sexual revolution may have changed the rules of the game for those just starting out in life, but fidelity often has a heavier consequence for people in their seventies.

Tucson favorites Maedell Dixon and Douglas Mitchell play the roles of Amanda and Gus -- people raised to be responsible and reliable in a different generation. Under the direction of Harold Dixon, these two find each other in a totally believable glide though the stages of compatibility to their ultimate destination.

Outgoing Amanda, with genteel southern manners, hides her caution behind graceful conversation. Grumpy Gus, a retired stonemason with flinty features, cuts right through those flowery gestures with his no-nonsense New England attitude. He's all about being practical. His romantic side has been left withering for decades.

Yet, Amanda sees Gus with his broad shoulders and thick fingers as just the sort of man who could become the steadfast anchor she needs to survive in such a harsh land. Unsentimental Gus compares Amanda to a good cup of coffee. "You keep me awake," he explains earnestly.

Within the context of this play, such compliments draw recognition as well as laughter. Throughout the evening of their banter (there are no other cast members )couples in the audience are always looking at each other, poking each other, nodding in agreement, seeing themselves in the give-and-take of Amanda and Gus.

Considering the number of second and third marriages being consummated these days, a lot of traditional expectations have pretty much gone out the window. Traditionally, the guy gets to pick the stereo system and the gal gets to pic...basically, everything else. But if both people have similar interests, such as reading, and have accumulated huge libraries of books you can appreciate the difficulty. Even a killer stereo doesn't have the cachet it used to.

"Southern Comforts" has a scene like that. Gus prefers a spare amount of furnishings in his home, he values empty space because a man needs room to move around. Amanda has 12 of those floor-to-ceiling cases full of books. And a big sofa, some chairs, lots of pictures and knick-knacks for the walls. She likes things cozy.

A more touching moment arrives in their conversations about funeral plots and headstones. Gus just assumed he'd be buried next to his first wife. Amanda is horrified. Gus protests because, after all, he already owns the plot. Well, you can see how this kind of discussion can get pretty complicated.

Reassurance is what this play provides, just as its title implies. Love and marriage are always scary at any age, and in our youth-dominated culture there is some resistance to even think about older people enjoying fresh new love at all. But they do, the online stories in Facebook are full of evidence. This play is set in 1996, a digital update could come along any minute.

Performances of "Southern Comforts" by Kathleen Clark continue at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays (no performance Thanksgiving Day), 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, to Nov. 29. Tickets are $22-$25, with group discounts. For details and reservations, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

'Southern Comforts' seductively charming | www.azstarnet.com ®

2009-11-06T09:24:00.000-08:00

'Southern Comforts' seductively charming | www.azstarnet.com ®

Published: 11.06.2009

'Southern Comforts' seductively charming

By Kathleen Allen

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The North and South are at it again.

It's not quite a civil war in Kathleen Clark's "Southern Comforts," which Invisible Theatre opens next week.

But it is a bit of a war between two septuagenarians, she from the South — Tennessee — he from the North — New Jersey.

They fall in love, but it ain't easy.

Amanda (Maedell Dixon) and Gus (Douglas Mitchell) star in the Invisible Theatre's production of "Southern Comforts," a romantic comedy.
Tim Fuller / Courtesy of Invisible Theatre

"Southerners are a little bit more spirited," Clark explained in a phone interview from her New Jersey home. "Northerners are a bit more staid."

Clark knows what she's talking about — her family is a big mixture of people from both parts of the country.

The Northerners love that partying but are a bit perplexed by it.

"There's a little bit of that New England Yankee thing going on with them," she said. "That is not how they party."

The dichotomy between the two served Clark well with her love story.

Amanda is visiting her daughter in New Jersey when she meets Gus. They are both widowed, and romance is not on either's agenda.

He is stubborn, austere, set in his ways. She is gregarious, social and set in her ways.

Naturally, love steps in.

Clark knew the difference in geographical and cultural backgrounds would make for good comedy.

But she was concerned about the acceptance of a play that's a romance about two people in their 70s.

"I know they are older," Clark said, "but I feel that we all have these bumps in the road — old and young."

It seems her instinct was right:

"Sincere, warm and filled with poignant longing," Entertainment Weekly said when the play made its New York City off-Broadway debut.

The New York Times called it "delightful" and "sneakily sexy."

And Susan Claassen, Invisible Theatre's artistic director, said she was seduced by the play of opposites in "Southern Comforts."

"The potential of the relationships was so interesting to me — the cultural differences, and the quirky personality differences," she said.

"As the playwright said, when it comes to love, the hardest part isn't loving, but learning how to live with the person. That is what this plays shows us."

if you go

• "Southern Comforts"

• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.

• Playwright: Kathleen Clark.

• Director: Harold Dixon.

• Where: Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

• When: Preview 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; opening 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Regular shows are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays (no show Nov. 26); 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 29.

• Tickets: Preview $16, regular performances $22-$25. Half-price rush-hour tickets available one-half hour before curtain; subject to availability.

• Reservations/information: 882-9721.

• Cast: Maedell Dixon and Douglas Mitchell.

• Running time: 2 hours with one intermission.

Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128

All content copyright © 1999-2009 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited.

www.azstarnet.com ® | Straight from the Art

2009-09-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

www.azstarnet.com ® | Straight from the Art: "

Tim Clue popped into town ...
09/21/2009 10:18 AM
Kathleen Allen

Sunday to catch a performance of the play he and his partner Spike Manton penned, “Leaving Iowa.” The comedy is currently at Invisible Theatre in a production starring Roberto Guajardo (full disclosure here: he’s my husband and I think he’s brilliant), Terry Erbe, David Johnston, Lori Hunt, Victoria McGee and Susan Kovitz. In this picture, Clue’s the one seated second from left.
[Tim Clue (second from left, seated), with cast crew, etc, of Leaving Iowa.]

Clue and the cast and crew popped into Pastiche after the show, and he gushed about the Susan Claassen-directed production, insisting it was one of the better ones he had seen of it.

It is quite funny. And not just because my husband’s in it. Claassen used a restrained hand in directing a play that could have been over-the-top sentimental. Instead, it hits much harder because it is so much more subtle and heart-felt.

Clue, an actor, comedian, screen writer and playwright, hopes to see this play transfer to the big screen. He meets next month with actor Jeff Daniels, who founded the Purple Rose Theatre – the company to first stage “Leaving Iowa.”

Just think … you can say you saw it here first.

Back

IT's 'Leaving Iowa' is a poignant and hilarious take on family trips | www.azstarnet.com ®

2009-09-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

IT's 'Leaving Iowa' is a poignant and hilarious take on family trips | www.azstarnet.com ®:
Accent

IT's 'Leaving Iowa' is a poignant and hilarious take on family trips
By Cathalena E. Burch
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.18.2009

Don Browning is on a mission.

He needs to spread his father's ashes at his grandparents' Iowa home.

Problem is, the home is gone, replaced by a grocery store.

It just doesn't seem right to leave Dad in aisle 7, next to the kitty litter.

From left, Mom (Victoria McGee), Dad (David Johnston), Don (Roberto Guajardo) and Sis (Susan Kovitz) study the Iowa map to plan their next "exotic" trip in Invisible Theatre's "Leaving Iowa."
Tim Fuller / Courtesy of Invisible Theatre

So Don's predictable mission becomes a major adventure along the endlessly bucolic landscape of Iowa, where adventures are as hard to come by as steep hills.

Along the way, he recounts boyhood road trips with his history-obsessed, side-tripping father as he tries to find the most suitable resting place.

That's the premise of Tim Clue and Spike Manton's "Leaving Iowa," a poignantly touching and belly-bustingly funny story of family dynamics that Invisible Theatre is staging to open its 39th season.

The story is told through seamlessly executed flashbacks that take us along with the Brownings on their "unpredictable" family vacations to exotic locales like Hannibal, Mo. The trips are always predictable: Dad drags them along to see historic markers and Civil War re-enactments, and Mom gets swooped up in a traveling Amish flea market.

The stage is simply set with boxes that the actors roll around to create different scenes — the family car, a counter at the diner, a hotel counter, an auto shop and a bar.

There's a serious risk here for the time-traveling to trip up the audience. But clever lighting and impeccably timed interruptions — Mom, Dad and Sis freeze in their tracks as Don flips midscene to current day — kept the action on track.

"Leaving Iowa" also could easily slip into sappy sentimentality, but director Susan Claassen, IT's longtime managing artistic director, was happily restrained. She allowed the mushy moments — like when Don breaks down in an out-of-the-way diner and weeps over the missed opportunity to attend his father's funeral — to evolve organically.

Don's diner outburst was the play's most dramatic moment. Most of the other action left Wednesday's nearly sold-out opening-night audience laughing like they were watching home movies from their own lives.

The humor in the hands of this cast never felt forced. David Johnston's father figure is the oblivious nerd, obsessed with passing every recreational vehicle on the highway and taking his family on history-seeking adventures that play out more like a dentist visit than a vacation.

Victoria McGee as Mom is sublimely understated, the perfect June Cleaver wannabe. On the rare occasions she raises her voice, everyone snaps to attention.

Roberto Guajardo brings a well-timed sense of humor to Don as he narrates the family's vacation slide show with deliciously funny asides, and Susan Kovitz is richly annoying as the pestering little sister. The two together are pricelessly true-to-life, particularly in the scene where Sis convinces Daddy that Don smacked her with his copy of Mark Twain short stories. Truth is she thumped him.

(Don't be embarrassed if you whisper to your neighbor, "That's my kids" or "That was me and my sister." It's easy to see yourself in these characters.)

But the runaway scene stealers throughout the production were Terry Erbe and Lori Hunt, who play at least a half-dozen characters — from the Brownings' grandparents to the car mechanic and his John Wayne-impersonating sidekick; diner cook and annoyingly chatty waitress; and hotel clerk and flirtatious hotel guest.

Erbe and Hunt deliciously exaggerated every back-road stereotype, from the hillbilly drawl to the bumbling, dumbstruck demeanor that defined most of those characters. Never once, though, did it come off as gratuitous or forced.

Review

"Leaving Iowa"

• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.

• Playwrights: Tim Clue and Spike Manton.

• Director: Susan Claassen.

• When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 4.

• Where: Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

• Tickets: $22-$25, with rush tickets available for half-price a half-hour before curtain, if available.

• Information/reservations: 882-9721.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at 573-4642 or cburch@azstarnet.com

THEATRE

2009-09-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

THEATRE:
"LOTS OF LAUGHS AND SOME BITTERSWEET MOMENTS AT INVISIBLE THEATRE
By Chuck Graham

Leaving Iowa” is one of those plays that means so much more than its plot. To simply outline the action would be a disservice to the playwrights Tim Clue and Spike Manton.

Invisible Theatre opens its 39th season with a touching production of “Leaving Iowa” directed by IT’s artistic director Susan Claassen. The central figure is Don, given a rangy performance by Roberto Guajardo. He is the person to whom everything happens, and also the person who must provide a bit of narration from time to time.

Thanks to a supporting cast of five who pile on layers of family-type comedy, the whole thing moves along quite nicely. It is sort of a road play, in that most of the action takes place in a car. But it is more significantly a memory play, as Don spends most of his stage time trying to resolve a difficult relationship with his father (played with insight by David Alexander Johnston).

Don’s dad is one of those Greatest Generation fathers who believed in the value of strong silent leadership. Be wise but show no emotion. Discipline the children with a firm but fair hand. Always remember, father knows best.LEAVING IOWA invisible theatre.jpg

It is the “fair” part that bothers Don. He never believed his father was playing fair. Dad always liked Don’s sister (Susan Kovitz) best. Don and his sister were unforgiving siblings who couldn’t stop playing personal power games long after they were grown up.

Don’s mom (Victoria McGee) was from the same era, valuing politeness and letting father lead until it was absolutely necessary for her to step in and take control.

The normal-to-a-fault family takes pride in its self-image of Midwestern stability in an upstanding rural community. Iowans always value a steady ship and feel suspicious of imagination.

Don loves imagination. He grew up to find success as a columnist for a big Boston newspaper and considers his family rather…provincial. He didn’t go back home for any of the family’s milestone events. He was always too busy.

As the play opens, Don is back at the family home in Iowa, feeling guilty. He wants to make peace with the memory of his father, dead now for three years. But Don doesn’t know how.

“Leaving Iowa” then bounces back and forth between recreations of long-ago family vacations in the car, and Don’s present day ruminations wishing he could apologize to his dad so they could finally be friends. This bittersweet blend develops moments that are quite affecting.

Guajardo’s work is quite remarkable, getting laughs by acting like a little kid one minute and holding the audience in complete empathetic silence the next. To be sure the play is a comedy, filled with genuine laughter over so many ridiculous things that can happen on family vacations. There is a lot to laugh at.

The poignant parts aren’t nearly so numerous, but they are very powerful.

Adding more humor are Terry Erbe and Lori Hunt playing all the different characters you might meet on the road back in the days before the Interstate highway system turned car travel into such a monotonous experience. There are the folksy farmers, the ditzy truck stop waitresses, the sullen auto mechanics, the sleazy motel clerks, all those opportunists sucking what life they could from the naïve families who somehow believed life on the open road would bring them closer together.

“Leaving Iowa” plays at Invisible theatre, 1400 N. First Ave., Wednesdays through Sundays to Oct 4. Tickets are $22 and $25. For details, 882-9721, or visit www.invisibletheatre.com

'Leaving Home' takes you back | www.azstarnet.com ®

2009-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

'Leaving Home' takes you back | www.azstarnet.com ®: "Quantcast

Accent

'Leaving Home' takes you back

By Kathleen Allen

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.11.2009

Frustration can be a powerful motivator. It's what got Tim Clue and his writing partner, Spike Manton, to put fingers to keyboard and come up with 'Leaving Iowa,' which Invisible Theatre opens next week.
'We were tired of not getting our calls picked up by our literary agent,' said Clue, speaking by phone from his Chicago home.

The cast of 'Leaving Iowa' includes, front row, Victoria McGee and David Johnston and, back row, Roberto Guajardo and Susan Kovitz.
Tim Fuller / Courtesy of Invisible Theatre

The two had written screenplays together, were comedians and had tackled other writing projects. Still, that agent was elusive.

Maybe a play would do the trick.

Theater was a new venture for them when they sat down to brainstorm a play about family vacations and coming to grips with life, love and death.
The two, friends since college, thought of 'the tortured trips of our past,' said Clue.
'We both shared that time-capsule experience of road trips where the destination is not nearly as memorable as the trips,' he said.

And they pulled from other memories growing up.

'My father was a bigger-than-life persona,' said Clue.

'He ran a tavern in a small town and was known for kicking people out. We wanted to do an homage to that generation, the greatest generation. … There was a beauty and simplicity to their own sense of purpose. Only in retrospect can you be almost awestruck by someone's purpose, someone's mission. And his mission, as a low-middle-class, small-town, non-college-educated man, was to make sure our life was better than his life. I thought to myself, how can we construct a play that honors him?

'And I wanted to honor father/son relationships where very little was spoken — it was a relationship of acts and deeds, not of psychobabble.'

'Leaving Iowa' is a raucous little comedy with characters that smack of 'that's my mom' and 'hey, my sister and I did that.'

It's about a son who returns home to bring his father's ashes to his requested resting place. As he drives, ashes next to him, he strikes up conversations with his dad and recalls family vacations to obscure, history-heavy, only-dad-would-love places.

'How many of us have a quintessential memory of something that our father or mother did on one of those trips?' said Clue, adding that voicing those memories often makes for emotion-laden moments.
Not that this play is a tear-jerker. It isn't, but there are soft, poignant moments that break up the story fat with one-liners and ridiculous but oh-so-familiar situations.

'I hope,' said Clue, 'that the play is a playful celebration of the profoundly simple.'
Oh, and that agent? Since Michigan's Purple Rose Theatre Company premiered the play in 2004, it's been staged by theaters around the country. Their agent takes their calls now.

If you go
'Leaving Iowa'
• Presented by: Invisible Theatre.
• Playwrights: Tim Clue and Spike Manton.
• Director: Susan Claassen.
• When: Preview at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; opening 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Regular performances 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 4.
• Where: Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.
• Tickets: $16-$25, with rush tickets available for half-price a half-hour before curtain, if available.
• Information/reservations: 882-9721.
• Cast: Terry Erbe, Roberto Guajardo, Lori Hunt, David Johnston, Susan Kovitz and Victoria McGee.
• Running time: 2 hours, with one intermission.
Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at 573-4128 or kallen@azstarnet.com

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