Homer Tribune » Theater

‘Chicken Every Sunday’ offers tasty adventure

Newsroom — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:25:25 +0000

• 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday at Mariner Theatre

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - “Chicken” cast members run through a dress rehearsal Monday night in preparation for this weekend’s performance.

A cast comprising 21 students from the musical “Into the Woods,” as well as Drama, Debate and Forensics team members, will put on the play, “Chicken Every Sunday” on Friday and Saturday at the Mariner Theatre.
Based on the novel by Rosemary Taylor, the play is described as a “bucolic farce” set in the early 1900s.
Emily Blachman (Homer’s Adi Davis) has converted her mansion into a boarding house so that the Blachmans, “will have a roof over their heads and something to eat,” said Director Amy Christianson, Homer High School DDF coach and band director.
“As she suspects, the day will come when her imaginative husband Jim (Jonas Noomah) overextends himself in his enterprises,” Christianson explained. “He is president of the trolley line, of a bank, and of a laundry business, but is always broke and borrowing money for new investments.”
Mrs. Blachman’s boarders include a schoolteacher (Brittney Bordner); a mysterious can-opener salesman (Drew Turner); a widow who dresses extravagantly, walks on her toes for health and beauty and spends two hours a day in the house’s only bathroom (Shyana Parr); an aged mining prospector (Owen Duffy); a former vaudeville star who yodels (Cassie Burkhardt); and the wife of a wholesale grocer (Lauren Cashman) who makes her son (Shaefer Nielson) write poetry.
The play’s action deals with Jim trying to find a sucker for another one of his enterprises. The effort of the reluctant poet and a boy from Boston (Matthew Meyer) to win the hand of the eldest Blachman daughter (Sabina Karwowski), add to the general chaos that occurs in the Blachman’s house.
Assistant Director Casey Parrett has acted in high school plays and for Pier One Theatre, as well as DDF. He will also be holding Youth Theatre Camps at Pier One this summer.
Tickets to the performance will be available at the door, and are $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students.

Master classes, performance by Thodos Dance Chicago

Newsroom — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:12:58 +0000

• Dance classes Friday and Saturday followed by public performance 7 p.m. Saturday at Mariner Theatre
Tribune Staff

Photo provided - Critical accolades describe Thodos Dance Chicago as breathtaking athletic and powerfully beautiful. Performance is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Mariner Theatre.

Thodos Dance Chicago, an internationally acclaimed dance company featured in a PBS special, comes to Homer this weekend to share expertise as a rare treat for dancers and audiences.
Workshops Friday and Saturday are followed by a full scale performance at 7 p.m. at the Mariner Theatre.
As they perform their vibrant choreography, Thodos Dance Chicago has been described as breathtakingly athletic and powerfully beautiful.
Audiences are in for a delightful performance from a level of skillful dancers that normally do not venture far from the large metropolitan areas.
“This is a really big deal to bring this dance company to Homer,” said Gail Edgerly, executive director of the Homer Council on the Arts.
Funding help came from WESTAF and the Rasmuson Foundation through the Harper Arts Touring Fund, and the Helen Walker Performing Arts Fund, a program of the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation, both foundation grants administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
This performance was also made possible with generous support of Ocean Shores Motel and Cosmic Kitchen.
“This ensemble of well-rounded artists who teach, choreograph, and perform brings contemporary dance to a wider audience with an appealing style incorporating a variety of dance forms created and performed with an innovative flair,” according to reviews. “The Company’s highly unique mission of inspiring expression through dance education, dance creation, and dance performance has established Thodos Dance Chicago as an innovative presence in American contemporary dance.”
Reaching young minds through dance education is vital to Thodos Dance Chicago. As a teaching company, members hold BAs and MFAs in dance, and teach at the elementary, high school and university levels. TDC is in residence at The Menomonee Club for Boys and Girls where it teaches daily classes and operates a Youth Ensemble.
Thodos Dance Chicago also offers a robust dance fitness curriculum for adults through partnership the Chicago Sport and Social Club and hosts a week-long intensive program every August geared to advanced, pre-professional and professional dancers.
Tickets are on sale at the door, at the Homer Bookstore and at HCOA at www.homerart.org.

After-school youth theatre skills training slated

Newsroom — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:45:19 +0000

By Randi Somers
Homer Tribune

The Homer Council on the Arts and Pier One Theatre are collaborating to hold after-school youth theatre training courses this school season.
A 12-week program called “TheatreShakes” will start September 7, with instruction being held Wednesdays at Homer Council on the Arts. The goal of this program is to develop basic theatre skills and perform a short version of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” with Brenda Dolma directing. No experience is required and any experience level is welcomed, according to a press release. The focus is on middle school age students but any interested child may register. A minimum of 12 students is required for TheatreShakes.
They are also offering ArtQuest starting October 4 at the Boys and Girls Club and October 6 at HCOA Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Then in the spring, a Musical Theatre Program is offered, expanding the course to include that genre. “Annie” will be performed by participants in this course.
All sessions will be held at Homer Council on the Arts Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Theatre Shakes runs through November 19 and Musical Theatre runs February 1 through May 2012.
Cost for each is $150 but if both are booked by September 7 the price is $200 for the two courses.
Contact Gail Edgerly at HCOA to register: 235-4288 or by e-mail: hcoa@homerart.org

Oleanna opens at Pier One this weekend

Newsroom — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:18:36 +0000

By Randi Somers
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Randi Somers - Ruby Quarton as abused student Carol, accuses her professor, John, played by Marc Oliver, who also directs Oleanna.

Marc Oliver directs and costars with Ruby Quarton in an intense two-character play, Oleanna, opening Saturday.
Written by David Mamet, the play dramatizes a power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students who accuses him of sexual exploitation and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being awarded tenure.
As in many of these types of conflict, it’s a case of ‘he said, she said’ and sorting out the truth.
The play’s title refers to a 19th-century escapist vision of utopia. Oleanna was a utopian community founded by Norwegian violinist Ole Bull and his wife Anna, thus “Oleanna.” This agricultural community failed because the land it had bought was rocky and infertile and the settlers had to return to Norway. The reference to the failed utopian dream becomes evident as the play unfolds.
The professor, John, is described as “a smug, pompous, insufferable man who unconsciously abuses his power over academic lives.“ One critic describes female lead, Carol, as, “Mamet’s (the playwright) most fully realized female character, … a mousy, confused cipher” whose failure to comprehend concepts and precepts presented in John’s class motivates her appeal for personal instruction which subsequently leads to charges of sexual harrassment. Written a year after the notorious Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, Mamet’s dramatization was seen in its time as “an impassioned response” to that incident.
In act one, the pair is locked in an office where, depending on one’s point of view, an act of sexual harassment does or does not occur. In Act II, the antagonists, a young university professor and an undergraduate student, return to the scene of the alleged crime to try to settle their case without benefit of counsel, surrogates or, at times, common sense.
The final resolution of the intricacies of the plot, which raises the drama’s stakes still higher, is likely to provoke considerable discussion among viewers.
In his review for The Guardian, Michael Billington writes, “There can be no tougher or more unflinching play than Oleanna. The ending is, brilliantly, the last twist of the knife. The last line seems to me the perfect summation of the play. It’s dramatic ice.”
Without giving away the ending, sufiice it to say, nobody is perfect.
Both young actors have been involved in theater most of their lives and Oliver is studying theater at Southern Oregon University in Ashland which is noted for its dramatic productions.
Oleanna will be staged July 22 through 24 and 28 through the 31. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:15 p.m. and Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are general admission $12, with discounts available including $2 coupon in the Pier One ad in this paper. Advance tickets are available at The Bookstore and Etude Studios and reservations must be made by calling 235-7333.

Rent as a dramatic love story

Newsroom — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:17:35 +0000

By Colleen Mcdougal
The curtain goes up on a stage. Three young men stand center stage; Mark, a filmmaker, Roger, a songwriter and Collins, the philosopher. This is the musical Rent . The history behind the show, the play itself, the cast and behind the scenes are all important parts of this love story.
In the first few minutes of the production, Lance Petersen talked about the show. Rent is a Broadway musical that opened on April 29, 1996. It’s based on an opera called La Boheme, written by Puccini which opened in 1896. The title Rent, means the monthly payment to a land lord and the payment made to friends of caring and helping. A rent in a piece of cloth, Mr. Peterson also said, was a tear or rip symbolizing the isolation that comes when living with AIDS. Rent portrays the city and the HIV/AIDS epidemic and a group of friends battling this fatal disease. It is about “a group of people who have a lot of problems… and through one woman, Angel… they learn just too live for today,” said Kate Spence, 18, who plays Maureen.
The cast is all high school students who participate in their school theatre, choir and band programs. Justice Sky, 16, tells future high schoolers how to manage time and extracurricular activities like theatre: “I recommend not signing up for more than one thing at a time, but definitely do sign up and do after school stuff.” Justice was the only student allowed to be in the orchestra. He played bass guitar. William Conner, 17, is a tech manager. He does lighting and helps out at getting things going. I asked him what takes the most time and he said, picking up little tweaks, if someone forgot a prop and other little problems. He has been doing theatre for 2-3 years. The other main characters are Jody Gaines as Roger, Alder Fletcher as Mark, Drew Simpson as Gordon, John Hannan as Collins , Ben Handley as Benny , Wendy Hones as Mimi, Kirsten Swanson as Angel, Kate Spence as Maureen and Lauren Cashman as Joanne.
The music in Rent makes the whole play come alive, the colorful characters and costumes make it fun to watch. The deep morals such as, live for today, love for today as Ms. Spence, mentioned are touching. The dancing (choreographed by Breezy and Jill Berryman) is fluid and well done. A dramatic love story filled with loss, friendship and lessons learned, Rent!

Colleen Mcdougal is a junior high student who recently attended and reviewed “Rent.” She is earning a Girl Scout badge by completing this requirement

Concert Choir ‘Rent’ engages on uneasy, uplifting themes

Newsroom — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:00:22 +0000

• Powerful, rock opera also provides message of choosing community over isolation
By Alida Dunning
Homer Tribune

Homer High’s Concert Choir presents the rock opera “Rent,” in three shows this weekend, the story of impoverished artists and musicians living in New York’s Lower East Side.
The presentation is based on Puccini’s opera, “La bohème.” Roger, played by Jody Gaines, is reeling from his girlfriend’s suicide, and is HIV positive. He wants to write “one great song” before he dies.
Mimi, played by Wendy Jones, is a dancer struggling with AIDS and drug addiction. Many of the characters are HIV positive and lead unconventional lifestyles.
Choir Director Mark Robinson said although the show deals with difficult, controversial subjects, its messages are very uplifting.
“I think the number one misconception is that it’s a dark and negative show. It’s a really lovely show. It has a really powerful, positive message about choosing love over fear. Choosing community over isolation. Choosing kindness, even when things may be dark and difficult. Choosing to engage in life, and kids can relate to that,” he said.
The script is a school production version. Robinson said he and Stage Director Lance Petersen have further adapted the show to fit the Homer choir.
“We do like a show that’s brisk, and sticks to the point, and gets the point across in a scene and moves on and doesn’t dilly-dally. Part of that’s necessary because we have a cast of a hundred people. No broadway show’s designed for that,” Robinson said. “We have to make some accommodations in a lot of respects, to make it work for our kids. I like to pick shows where there are lots of big cast scenes, lots of places where I can put everybody on the stage and get them moving and dancing and singing and be engaged.”
Certain “racy” scenes were cut to keep the show appropriate for high school. “That doesn’t mean that some of the subject matter is without controversy, but I really believe if people come with any kind of open heart, or open mind, they’ll see it for what it is, which is a very uplifting an positive show. The racy elements, they’re gone. AIDS is aids. Drug addiction is drug addiction. Those things may cause some people to be concerned, but I think they’re handled in a positive sort of way,” he said.
“Rent” has a meaty and meaningful story line unlike entertaining shows without that much of a point to them which tends to engage kids more. But their choir director sees that students want to think and talk about important things.
“I think people are going to be blown away. You put 100 good singers on the stage, and they’re all good singers, and it’s pretty awesome. I hope people go away from this inspired and impressed by Homer’s kids, and that there are conversations at the dinner table afterwards. I had a parent talk to me about that specifically; ‘It gives me a chance to talk to my son about some of the things that I believe,’” said Robinson.
Show times are Friday 7:30 p.m., and Saturday at 3 and 7:30 p.m., at Homer Mariner Theater. Tickets are $12 at the Homer Bookstore, 235-7496, and Etude Studio, 235-7579, and at the door.

Pier One brings 1 man to 2-act play

Newsroom — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:39:28 +0000

By Randi Somers
Homer Tribune
Things have gone very bad for Arthur.
His wife, Esther, has run off with his friend. And, while Arthur is able to weather the crisis — thanks to the small community library he runs — his library is becoming obsolete.
And libraries are in Arthur’s blood. His father ran one before him, using the organizational decimal system that his great-grandfather Melville Dewey invented.
After the library is closes, Arthur decides life isn’t worth living any more. Throughout the first act, he contemplates methods of killing himself, seeking guidance — as any good librarian would be — from a reference book. And, despite its dark subject matter, the play has a wry, comedic tone that punctuates Arthur’s rejection of each suicide method.
Besides explaining to his imaginary audience of loyal library patrons why no suicide method really appeals to him, Arthur rails against the computers and Internet that have rendered his library passé. He reminisces about camping outings as he gives glimpses of his childhood that help the loyal listening library patrons to understand his psyche. He worries about a glitch he anticipates when he enters heaven.
In the second act, Arthur imagines Esther’s life following her short-lived relationship with her new boyfriend — before she chose to drown herself. And, in order to fully empathize with Esther, Arthur must shed his librarian garb and don her attire.
Besides being the sole performer, Tom Atkinson produces and directs “Arthur and Esther.” It is, he says, simultaneously the smallest and the largest show he’s ever done. It’s the smallest because he’s the only cast member, and the biggest because — he’s the only cast member. Onstage, he carries the weight throughout the whole performance.
Atkinson said he was called to take on this challenge. After seeing Taylor Hanes perform “Arthur and Esther” in Wasilla in 2008, Atkinson said he fell in love with the script and wanted to perform it himself. His show has played in Anchorage, with plans to take it further on the road to places like Hope, Juneau — and even as far as Washington State.
Atkinson said the play — in some ways — is about him; a childless man, familiar with loss, who craves order in his work, life and the wider world.
It is a story of one man’s unorthodox attempt to reconcile the ghosts of the past with the promise of the future.

Arthur and Esther
When: Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 13 & 14, 8:15 p.m.
Where: Pier One Theatre
Tickets: $14 general admission, $13 students/seniors, $12 Raven’s Club

Homer’s production turns 21: Magic year for Nutcracker Ballet

Newsroom — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:12:11 +0000

It takes a town and more than 2 decades to keep the beloved script moving
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
When the curtain opens on this year’s Nutcracker Ballet, young Clara, played by Alyssa VanLiere, isn’t alone in her daydreams. Her younger brother, Fritz, played by Flynn Bloom, is marching with tin soldiers and generally annoying his highly imaginative, angelic sister.
In this 21st year of the Homer production of the Nutcracker Ballet, the plot changes slightly – as it has in most other years. However, one detail remains the same: it takes dozens of talented and committed Homer youth to stage this production. Many of them are seasoned actors and dancers by now, who have been devoted to this timeless classic since they were in elementary school.
The Nutcracker Ballet, already 109 years old, takes on new breadth each year by keeping the script in movement, said Director Jill Berryman. It’s not too much to detract from Alexandre Dumas’ original adaptation of the story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” by E.T.A. Hoffman, but it’s enough to keep it fresh.
“It’s like that saying, ‘it kind of depends on making the pie’ – you see the kids and see where their abilities are, and then you go from there,” Berryman said. “We come together a lot with the costumes. There’s a lot going into deciding which new country we will visit this year.”
Berryman – working with local young people she has often known since they first learned the Nutcracker nuances of being mice and lambs – has been doing this all 21 years of the production in Homer.
In fact, she’s who started it all.

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - Rhoslynn Jennings leaps in her performance during the Nutcracker Ballet dress rehearsal on Monday night at Homer High School.

The musical stays fresh for her every year by “changing it out,” she said. “The kids grow up and change. It’s really nice to have them in different roles,” she said. “(And) we picked up tunes (this year) from Paris Boulevard – a style of music you hear when you stroll down the boulevard in Paris.”
Homer High School seniors Rhoslyn Jennings and Morgan Edminster will be performing for their 10th year straight.
“They’ve been with this since they were in the second grade, and have just really risen to the top,” Berryman said.
Another long-standing performer is Willy Dunne, who takes the stage as Uncle Drosselmeyer in this year’s production. Dunne, a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, first started in the production with his daughter, Jenny, when she was five or six years old. Now she is a sophomore at the University of Washington.
“I’ve watched a couple of generations grow up with the Nutcracker,” Dunne said. “We first saw it in 1989 when Jenny was just a baby. When she was a few years old, she dreamed of being in it, and started out as a mouse. Then she progressed to a lamb, and a jester, and one year she was an oriental dancer.”

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - Jesters and monkeys fill the stage as part of the 21st-annual production of Homer's Nutcracker.

This year, as an “empty-nester,” Dunne said he has especially enjoyed the interactions with the Nutcracker children. In his role as uncle, he allows the full-blown child within to emerge.
“I feel like I am just a big kid myself. I hope I never grow up,” Dunne said. “I always thought of (Uncle Drosselmeyer) as a mysterious uncle who really connects with the children and doesn’t interact with the adults much. He’s about the fun and mystery of Christmas.”
Dunne agreed that each Nutcracker ends up being different from the last by adding new twists.
“Jill is really good at throwing in new things so that it’s never stale,” he said. “Each year, you see new energy from different kids. She is always open to suggestions from them, and open to the creative process.”
While hesitant to give too much of this year’s play away, Dunne hinted that Uncle Drosselmeyer leaves Austria and goes to America this time to learn musical traditions from people in Appalachia.
Even productions in New York or other major American cities have nothing over the local production. The Homeric ballet is lit by professional lighting artist Mandy Ringer, who said she can compare it to other Nutcracker performances she has worked on.

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - A juggling jester livens things up during the dream sequence of the Nutcracker.

“She runs four theaters in New York City,” Berryman said. “A friend sent her to us and she fell in love with Homer and all of us. We have hand-painted murals by these artists, and she was telling me that there was this one production (of the Nutcracker) that had card board trees” in New York.
It apparently takes the whole town to produce the Nutcracker. About 75 people are actors or dancers, 12 of those adults. Another 25 people provide technical assistance and do backstage work. It takes those who act, or dance, and those that can feed them. Berryman said the tired, hungry rehearsers were fed duck soup the other night and homemade bread from Two Sisters Bakery, one of the faithful who keep showing up with sustenance so the show can go on.

‘Thank You Dance’ comes to Homer

Newsroom — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:09:30 +0000

Que’Ana Bar at Clam Gulch inspires a contemporary dance performance

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Photo provided - Emily Johnson explores issues of displacement through a series of theatre pieces entitled “The Thank You Bar.” The pieces feature Johnson in contemporary dance, and will be performed at the Bunnell Street Gallery Oct. 16, 17 and 18.

On the Sterling Highway, near Clam Gulch, an old-fashioned bar made of logs carries a Yup’ik name that’s spelled wrong; mostly to help people pronounce it correctly: Que’Ana Bar.
It means “thank you,” and is the place resting fitfully in the memory of a young woman who visited her grandparents there for many years.
As Emily Johnson grew up, she attended Thanksgivings and Sunday dinners there, and helped process salmon from the family’s nearby setnetting site. In these activities, Johnson was influenced by her Yup’ik grandmother, Hannah Laraux Stormo, who was born in the Kuskokwim region.
“Going to Grandma’s house was going to the Que’Ana Bar,” Johnson said. “It holds so many of my memories. It had one of those big, old jukeboxes that had all this country music. That is the soundtrack to my memories. In a dream, you get pieces and parts and feelings that are larger than life.”
Johnson, now 33, lives in Minneapolis and runs a dance theatre called Catalyst. She has produced a theatre piece called, “The Thank You Bar,” which explores layers of memory and themes of displacement. She is traveling to Homer to perform it Oct. 16-17. This week, the show – as well as the exhibit, “This is Displacement” – are at Out North Theatre in Anchorage.

Photo provided

Being far from home, away from her family and not able to pursue her Native customs gave Johnson plenty of fodder for thoughts about being displaced.
“There are emotional repercussions in displacement, whether it’s from the self or imposed by an outside force,” Johnson said Thursday.
“I think of it as something that every creature knows something about. When we build something or walk somewhere else, we are always creating displacement.”
Though Johnson loves to come home and spends twice yearly visits with her family, Minneapolis is where she can do her performance work.
And, she enjoys the urban setting.
“It’s a strongly supportive city for contemporary dance and experimental theatre,” she explained. “And my husband is a musician.”
Johnson said she may be able to move back to Alaska if she can find a way to continue her work here, adding that she misses her family, “ … and the land itself.”
Johnson’s parents and two brothers live with their families in Sterling, Soldotna and Kenai. Sometimes she brings her entire dance company home with her.
“I have a very supportive family,” Johnson said. “In 2004, we came here and rehearsed in my parents’ yard. We sort of made up this residency program, and my family was cooking dinners while we rehearsed.”
According to Johnson, her Grandma Hannah will be at her opening night in Anchorage. It will be the first time she has seen the show.
“The Thank You Bar” is a piece designed for a small, intimate audience, which is why Bunnell provides such a “great venue.”
Johnson resists describing the narrative, saying she wants people to experience it fresh.
“The dancing happens all around you – the dancing encompasses the architecture of the building,” she explained. “We’re used to looking at these places we build as if it is an end to our vision. We stop thinking of what used to be here, what was here before we came and what will it be like in the future. We get stuck in our architecture as being a solid thing.”
Johnson performs in the context of four separate stories about growing up at the Que’Ana Bar. She said the purpose of the performance is to – for one hour – “think about where they live in a different way perhaps; a way they haven’t thought of before.”
Her costume includes a beaded headpiece created by another displaced Yup’ik woman, Karen Beaver of Bethel. Beaver now lives in North Dakota, but is coming home for the show.
“I just love it that we are creating these expanding circles of people,” Johnson said.
While there are some opportunities to learn the Yup’ik language far from home, Johnson said it is not easy to do it that way. She made tapes of her grandmother’s talk and uses books, foreshadowing a possible theme of language in the displacement process as her next focus.
“As I learn more about the Yup’ik world view through language, themes of displacement come out – albeit in an abstracted way – in The Thank You Bar,” she said.

Cyrano’s brings ‘The Big One’ to Homer

Newsroom — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:29:23 +0000

Play about oil spill explores people involved in massive tragedy

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Photo by Jamie Lang - Rick Barreras plays Captain Joe Hazelwood in the play, “The Big One” to be performed this weekend in Homer.

A lot of people misattribute the reason for why the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill happened.
“It wasn’t really simply because Captain Hazelwood was drunk or because Exxon officials were bastards,” said playwright Dick Reichman. “There is much more to it than that; there’s more mystery to it. You have to try to delve into the industry’s need to cut corners and pursue profits to find the larger understanding.”
“The Big One: A Chronicle of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill,” is a two-hour play written by Reichman that travels to Homer this weekend for a performance that promises good history and good theatre. The Cyrano’s Theatre troupe of 10 actors with all their props arrive in Homer to perform the play, hosted by Pier One Theatre’s Lance Petersen. So far, the show has played to full houses at Cyrano’s in Anchorage since opening Sept. 11.
Sandy Harper, director at Cyrano’s, said audiences linger for discussions following the play.
While the idea of producing a play on the spill didn’t sound like a good theatre bet at first, Reichman said he wanted to write it anyway as an exploration into the complexity of corporate versus human values.
“The play is the opener for a conversation they (audiences) have wanted to have, and this presented on opportunity for them to do it,” Reichman said. “It explores the question of whether a for-profit operation can keep us safe if it is always cutting costs and concerned about profits.”
The play is commemorative on two levels: Cyrano’s Theatre is focusing on the 50th anniversary of statehood in a series of plays produced this season, and it was written as part of the 20th anniversary of the spill. Playwright Reichman had moved to Valdez in 1987 and was working as a bartender at the time of the spill. He worked on a clean-up crew following the spill. Then, he moved on to public radio shortly after that, “and spent the next 10 years talking about it.”
The play begins on the night of the spill, set on the giant oil tanker run aground on Bligh Reef. Dialogue and acted scenes are regularly accompanied by short narratives explaining court findings, science or curiosities, like the fact that, unlike other ships, tankers tend to be referred to as “he.”
“Despite the fact that we know how this ends,” wrote reviewer Mike Dunham, “from start to finish, the theatricality is tautly dramatic, even melodramatic; on the other hand, any accurate depiction of the spill must reflect the extreme emotions and frantic horror that spread as people realized the scope of the problem.”
Characters depicted in the play include Rick Barreras as Captain Joe Hazelwood, Steven Hunt as Exxon shipping head Frank Iarossi, Nava Sarracino as activist fisherperson Riki Ott and Erika Johnson as Dottie – a party girl who takes on the unhealthy job of cleaning beaches because she needs the money.
Reichman explores the psyches of these individuals and, to a lesser extent, the secondary characters, and reveals them not as evil, but as limited, Dunham wrote.
“Mistakes sneak up on them, they see the future and are helpless to stop it, they try to direct actions without having full knowledge of ramifications or options, they walk in the dark the way most of us do most of the time. The audience does not forgive, but may discover a little sympathy.”
Reichman said he is looking forward to Homer’s reception of his play. A discussion likely will follow as an opportunity for patrons to impart some of their own perceptions and experiences.