Page 42 - the NOISE October 2015

A MODERN CLASSIC
Kei-Amber Johnson (Kate) and Glenn Hansen (Mike), share a tense scene during the dress rehearsal of Good People at Theatrikos.
NIGHTMARE IN FLAGSTAFF
STORY BY CLAIR ANNA ROSE
In 2011, a striking new play called Good People appeared on Broadway. It was an instant success. David Lindsay- Abaire’s contemporary drama took home the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award for best play of the year and was nominated by the Tony Awards for the same honor. In her Tony acceptance speech for best leading actress, Frances McDormand called it “an American classic, with a classic American hero.”
Four years later, Good People now graces the stage of Flagstaff’s Doris Harper-White Community playhouse, in Theatrikos’ latest production, introducing local audiences to the story of a working class mother that might just become a permanent fixture in the world of theater.
Good People shows the struggle of Margie, a woman trying to hold down a job at a south Boston dollar store while caring for her adult, special-needs daughter. After getting fired at the opening of the play, Margie reaches out to her ex-boyfriend Mikey, who is by this time a doctor and living a much more comfortable life than she can hope to. It is through the difficult, but sometimes humorous interactions of Margie, Mikey and his new wife Kate that most of the narrative unfolds.
Over the course of the production, the audience is forced to confront interesting questions about class, race (Kate is black), choice and chance that first time directors Adrienne Bischoff and Paul Kulpinski believe will have people talking long after the curtain drops.
Ms. Bischoff has been working with Theatrikos for three years, appearing in seven productions during that time. Eventually, a coworker suggested that she try her hand at directing, but the task seemed daunting. After some encouragement, she decided to give it a try, but only if she could find some help. That help came in the form of Mr. Kulpinski.
Mr. Kulpinski was already a veteran of Theatrikos when he met Ms. Bischoff, having worked in various capacities (tech, lighting, acting) from 1992-2001. As the afterglow of Good People’s New York debut crept into 2012, Mr. Kulpinski was just leaving an 11-year stint as a board member of the Flagstaff Unified School District and returning to the community theater he loved. He had some interest in directing but, like Ms. Bischoff, was intimidated by the scale and responsibility of a main stage production like Good People.
It was the script that finally sold them on the project, anditisthequalityofthewritingthatwonGoodPeopleso
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STORY BY J. KENDALL PERKINSON PHOTOS BY GEAN SHANKS
much national praise. John LaBarbera, who plays Margie’s boss, says that this is partly due to its contemporary setting, allowing dialogue to flow naturally and convincingly. “It’s incredibly conversational and totally real. It’s modern, which makes it fun, from an acting perspective. You don’t have to reach back and think how the characters would think and feel about something,” Mr. Barbera said.
Mr. Barbera has been enjoying a newfound success in the performing arts since moving to Flagstaff two years ago. This year alone he has appeared in the Theatrikos production of Much Ado About Nothing, authored a winning play at the Northern Arizona Playwriting Showcase, and been cast in two others performed at the event.
Vicki Thompson, who plays Margie herself, is a Theatrikos veteran who appeared in productions from 2001-2005, then spent nearly a decade in Seattle. Good People will be her comeback show after returning to be near her own family, and she is excited about the opportunity. “I think people will leave discussing a lot of different topics like people who don’t have money and the choices that they make, or never get to make. There’s talk about class, life events that can keep people back and resentment because of that,” Ms. Thompson said.
The role of class stratification seems to be an important part of the audience experience. In one of the few negative reviews of Good People on Broadway, Wall Street
Journal critic Harry Teachout primarily took issue with what he viewed as the politics of the play saying, “In Mr. Lindsay- Abaire’s America, success is purely a matter of luck, and virtue inheres solely in those who are luckless. So what if Mikey worked hard? Why should anybody deserve any credit for working hard?”
This criticism seems to suggest that Good People was written as entitlement propaganda, but co-director Ms. Bischoff believes the story is much more nuanced, consisting of “ambiguous moral characters” who are real and complex. “It’s a very poignant, moving story that has a lot of tenderness, sadness and anger in it, but not at the expense of being morose or cloying. The dialogue is just some of the best I’ve ever read,” she said.
Regardless of how audiences feel about the events in Good People, they are certain to discover a fascinating confluence of actors and directors that will bring to life one of the most talked about plays of the past decade. Theatrikos.com
What is scary to you? The stuff of horror movies, the myths and legends of bygone times, even the news reports on television can make the hair on our arms and backs of the
necks raise. But what things that terrify us are appropriate for the stage? Where do you draw the line?
Circus Bacchus pushes the limits of that question again on Friday, October 30 at the Orpheum Theater with Nightmare on Aspen Street Part II. “Evil Mastermind” of Circus Bacchus, Esther Smith, relates the gruesome details of last year’s show to me. “I want people to be genuinely frightened. But what is O.K to be entertainment or art?” she asks.
The Cyr Wheel performance by Eric Susak will take place at the start of the show ... by the end the stage will be covered in too much fake blood for that act to be safe.
Besides staging some scenes made to be gruesome and scary, Circus Bacchus also incorporates humor into the theme of the show with a Lyra (aerial hoop) act featuring stripping Zombies, a ginger werewolf showcasing feats of strength and an aerial pole routine to Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang,” by dancer Beth Blake with a gaping bullet hole wound ... a reminder here that this isn’t a family friendly showcase.
Ms. Blake is new to Circus Bacchus. She first performed with the group in A Midsummer Night’s Circus this July. “I was one of Titania’s fairies and got to do a solo act with pole and a partner acro piece with Chad Willhite,” she tells me. “I have since performed with them in the September 11 show and the Cornucopia Festival. From the moment I got involved with the circus I knew I was with family.”
Four years ago Ms. Blake became interested in pole and began to watch videos of performers. “I got my first pole in the beginning of 2013 and put it up smack dab in the middle of my living room,” she recalls. From then on she taught herself to pole by watching videos on youtube, and video recording herself to see what she was doing and how she could improve. “From the moment I put that pole up I knew it was going to be a lifelong hobby that I will always love. I call pole my second love, next to my boyfriend. What has really made me the happiest in my pole journey is the dancing. Being able to express my dancer side of lyrical, jazz, ballet, and acro, I believe is what lets people see that there is much, much more to pole than the average stigma of stripping or sexiness. Granted, I can put on a sensual song and feel sexy, but being able to express a story through movement on an inanimate object is phenomenal to me — silencing my mind and just letting my soul shine through my movements.”
I ask Ms. Blake to tell me a bit about the piece she is preparing for Nightmare on Aspen Street. “My piece for Nightmare on Aspen is going to be a mix of classical dance, expressive movement, and gory images,” she reveals. “I chose a musical number that tells a story that I get to portray through pole dance. It will be a piece about falling in love, pain, death, and the afterlife. Expressed through a soft white dress, a scarred woman, a zombie and a pole, of course.”
Regarding the art form of aerial pole, Ms. Blake says, “I would like the readers to know that pole is a misunderstood aerial art that can reach out to anyone, whether you’re male, female, no athletic background, no dance background, tall, short, thin, or heavy. Whether one wants to just do tricks, dance, or just to feel sexy within your own skin. I truly feel blessed to be a instructor at Flagstaff Aerial Arts and get to perform and be a part of so much amazing talent with Circus Bacchus.”
| Got the scoop on upcoming theater, dance, performance art or comedy coming to Northern AZ? Let us know. editor@thenoise.us
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24 • OCTOBER 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us