Theatre – Page 7 – Ted Mills

Hitting the Road – ‘Becky’s New Car’ opens at SBCC’s Jurkowitz

April 19, 2013November 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Leslie Gangl Howe, left, as Becky and Martin Bell as Walter Leslie Gangl Howe as Becky Bec Crop photos — Leslie Gangl Howe, left, as Becky and Martin Bell as Walter
Leslie Gangl Howe as Becky
Bec Crop photos

Actors break the fourth wall when they talk to the audience. But what is it called when a character not only talks, but invites audience members up on stage to help them pack a suitcase or pick out an outfit? Director Katie Laris calls it her new play at the Jurkowitz Theatre on the SBCC campus, a warm comedy called “Becky’s New Car”, which opens in previews this coming Wednesday.

Steven Dietz’s 2009 comedy borrows from the familiar mid-life crisis trope and presents it with a rare female perspective.

Head to Head – Freud and Lewis face off in DIJO’s new production

April 19, 2013November 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Up until his death from jaw cancer, Sigmund Freud continued to see patients in his Hampstead, London home, having moved there from Vienna as the Nazis closed in. There is no reason to believe that he had ever heard of C.S. Lewis, author of the “Chronicles of Narnia” book series and atheist-turned-Christian convert, let alone invite him for a chat. But in the form of a what-if, Mark St. Germain’s “Freud’s Last Session” has these two influential writers and thinkers of the 20th century and chew the God-existing cud. Winner of the Off Broadway Alliance Award for best play in 2011, it has now be picked up and produced by DIJO Productions, and opens Saturday at Carpinteria’s Plaza Theater.

Behind the cigar and convincing beard stands actor Ed Giron, DIJO’s resident lead and go-to historical character actor. On the other side of the desk, playing C.S. Lewis, is Justin Stark. The actors haven’t sparred one-on-one since DIJO’s production of “Frost/Nixon,” and they’re loving it.

Same Room, Many Years – Circle Bar B kicks off season with ‘Return Engagements’

April 12, 2013November 15, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Actor Brian Harwell has gone from strength to strength, from bit parts in SBCC productions when he first started acting to comfortably playing leads at the Ensemble Theater and elsewhere. He’s even earned a few awards. But now he’s taking on his first big directing job, opening Circle Bar B’s new season with “Return Engagements,” a tale of three couples, which premieres tonight.

“Every once in a while the opportunity comes along to direct,” he says. “It’s good to see the other side of the equation. And when I come out of it I feel that I’ve re-armed my own acting chops.”

Nonna-Generians – Play talks about older victims of broken homes

April 12, 2013November 15, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

It’s an issue that rarely gets discussed when visitation rights are brought up between parents, but there’s a lot of heartbreak regardless. What happens to the grandparents when a grandchild is moved across the country? Do the grandparents have any rights themselves?

Dr. Arthur Kornhaber, now in his early 80s, has been writing on the subject for many years now, with books such as “Grandparents/Grandchildren: The Vital Connection” and “Between Parents and Grandparents.” He’s also been carrying around a play about these same issues, called “Nonna,” which made its way into the hands of Richard Kuhlman, director at Ojai Youth Entertainers Studio. Dr. Kornhaber finally gets his wish tonight as “Nonna” premieres for a three-week run.

Grieving from New York City : Ensemble presents Joan Didion’s play about death

April 10, 2013November 15, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Linda Purl DAVID BAZEMORE PHOTO — Linda Purl
DAVID BAZEMORE PHOTO

Here are the facts: One day in 2003, author Joan Didion sat down for dinner with her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne. After some small talk he keeled over dead from a heart attack. This happened while their daughter, Quintana, was in the hospital in a coma from septic shock. Two years later, she too died.

More facts: Ms. Didion’s memoir of that time, “The Year of Magical Thinking,” was released to great critical acclaim, placing it in the company of other noted writing on grief. After her daughter passed away, she adapted, lengthened, and changed the book into a one-woman show for Broadway, where it starred Vanessa Redgrave. And now Ensemble Theater Company, with Linda Purl starring and Jenny Sullivan directing, opened this last weekend.

The Prophet Motive – SENGA brings the first part of Aeschylus’ ‘The Oresteia’ to Ojai Valley Grange

April 5, 2013November 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Chorus includes, from left, Chad Parker, George Miller and Jennifer Brown. They are performing a comedic slapstick routine in fear of reprisal as they hear Agamemnon being murdered King Agamemnon (Ronald Rezac) triumphantly addresses the Greeks on his return from the Trojan war while Queen Clytemnestra (Natasha Zavala) plots her revenge for his sacrifice oftheir daughter ten years before Dean Zatkowsky photos — The Chorus includes, from left, Chad Parker, George Miller and Jennifer Brown. They are performing a comedic slapstick routine in fear of reprisal as they hear Agamemnon being murdered
King Agamemnon (Ronald Rezac) triumphantly addresses the Greeks on his return from the Trojan war while Queen Clytemnestra (Natasha Zavala) plots her revenge for his sacrifice oftheir daughter ten years before
Dean Zatkowsky photos

It was “The Reality of the Unreal,” a looming, seven-foot tall sculpture of Oedipus by M.B. Hanrahan, that gave Francisca Beach, artistic director of SENGA Classic Stage Company, the impetus to mount ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus’ trilogy known as “The Oresteia.” Part one, “Agamemnon,” is being premiered tonight under the title “The Curse of the House of Atreus.”

Through a “stroke of luck and generosity” on the sculptor’s part, the large piece Ms. Beach saw now dominates the stage at the Ojai Valley Grange.

Year Staring Death in the Face : LINDA PURL PLAYS JOAN DIDION IN ENSEMBLE’S ONE-WOMAN SHOW

March 29, 2013November 17, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Director Jenny Sullivan, left, and Linda Purl David Bazemore photo — Director Jenny Sullivan, left, and Linda Purl
David Bazemore photo

When Joan Didion’s book “The Year of Magical Thinking” debuted in 2005, it gained accolades as one of the finest contemporary books about the grieving process. Written in 88 days, Ms. Didion took on a time of double tragedy: the sudden death of her husband John Gregory Dunne from cardiac arrest, and the long illness of their daughter, who passed away just as Ms. Didion finished the manuscript.

Two years later, with David Hare directing and Vanessa Redgrave starring, “The Year of Magical Thinking” made its way to Broadway with Ms. Didion’s own adaptation of the book into a play. Five years and many accolades later, our Ensemble Theater Company, with Jenny Sullivan directing and Linda Purl starring, bring Ms. Didion’s one-woman play to Santa Barbara.

Sometimes a Bad Notion…Polly Frost’s one-woman show explores great ‘Bad’ Decisions

February 22, 2013December 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

As writer and performer Polly Frost tells it, helicopter parents — those very worried people who dote on their children up to and through college — would never have approved of some of the people she met growing up. There was the riding instructor who, despite being influential and great in her job, also knocked back whiskey and smoked in front of her young charges. There was the 22-year-old lover who seduced her 16-year-old self, but because he threw some Johann Sebastian Bach onto his turntable while they made out, he started Ms. Frost’s lifelong love of classical music.

“Who do you actually learn the most from?” Ms. Frost rhetorically asks. “It’s not the so-called ‘good role models.’ They only show you their success and not the problems getting there. The people who really gave me wisdom about life were very imperfect and let me see their mistakes.”

All in the Rhyming

February 16, 2013December 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Currently, a very silly rap track about thrift store shopping holds the number one place in the pop charts. The newsworthiness of this event centers on its indie stature — breaking into a corporate dominated chart through new media means. But the other story — and why Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop” got passed around Facebook and Twitter — is how we all still love the humor and thrill of rhyming, especially when it makes us laugh.

This thought bubbled up while watching Ensemble Theatre’s latest production, “The Liar” at the Alhecama this last Sunday. David Ives updating of Pierre Corneille’s Restoration farce has kept its iambic pentameter and its rhyming scheme, and earns so many of its belly laughs with rhymes.

Still Loving the Loveline – Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla dish out advice on tour once again

February 15, 2013December 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Dr. Drew Pinsky - Hollywood Publicity photo Adam Carolla - Courtesy Photo — Dr. Drew Pinsky – Hollywood Publicity photo
Adam Carolla – Courtesy Photo

Dr. Drew Pinsky has said goodbye to his family, tended to his pet German shepherd and jumped in his car to commute to a shared studio where he and Adam Carolla are going to revamp, for a few episodes at least, their show “Loveline.” From 1995 to 2005, they co-hosted this syndicated call-in radio show — then a short-lived television version — dispensing love and sex advice to listeners. Dr. Drew played straight man to wiseacre Mr. Carolla. Despite numerous replacements for Mr. Carolla, the pairing remains the classic one, and the duo return to Santa Barbara this Saturday for an evening at the Lobero.

“The evening will be very similar to the last time,” Dr. Pinsky says, referring to a 2000 visit to UCSB’s Event Center. “But we have a lot more stories to tell now. People are interested in how we got here, how we got back together, what new observations we have. But the core is interaction with the audience. We never know where it’s going to go.”