Tales from the Writers' Room: 7 Year Itch

Cedar Rapids - "SPT continues it's "Seven" theme with its next Tales from the Writers' Room, entitled 7-Year Itch, February 20 and 21 at 8pm at CSPS

Red Is a Work of Art

By James E. Trainor III
Photo courtesy Fourth Room Theatre

L-R: Richard Glockner, Matthew James

Cedar Rapids - There's a small print of an old Rothko hanging near the circulation desk in the library at West High. Whenever I walk past it, I find myself trying to imagine what the students think of it. Do they feel drawn in, madly curious about who the man was and what he meant by this? Or do they merely give it a cursory glance while Facebook loads, and then go back to their phones? To me, the carefully arranged rectangles of color seem out of place, archaic, desperately alone, in need of perhaps a paragraph of text off to the side explaining, giving them context. I often feel this way with the Abstract Expressionists: I feel left out, like I missed the joke, like I'm not smart or sensitive enough to "get" it. It makes me wonder: are we losing something irreplaceable when a great master dies and his work begins to fade? Or are the next Rothkos wandering the halls of our high schools this very moment, thinking in movements and forms we can't even dream of?

In John Logan's Red, which deals with the death and birth of art movements, we have Rothko resurrected to explain his work to us. In Fourth Room's production, directed by Angie Toomsen, Rothko (Richard Glockner) sets his assistant Ken (Matthew James) center stage and explains to him how the paintings work. It's through James' character work that we see the effect of Rothko's paintings and his pontifications; Ken, bored and irritated at the onset, grows first tense, then excited, then chatty and enthusiastic as the master describes his masterpiece. Through Glockner's work we see that Rothko is equally excited; as he ages and watches the world outgrow him, he desperately needs someone to understand why art matters. This theme of the passing of the torch, and the push and pull of different generations, is very prevalent in Red, and some careful relationship work from Glockner and James makes it effective here.

SPT's Nightcap Draws the Evening Down Slowly

by Genevieve Heinrich

Cedar Rapids - The current season of SPT Theatre's Tales from The Writers' Room winds to a close this weekend and, appropriately to the theme (Food for Thought) they are ending on a Nightcap. Like all SPT shows, the crowd and the performers were full of energy last night, with that welcoming, familial vibe that always makes the theater space at CSPS Hall feel more like a living room. The evening began with a clever twist: audience participation. Every person in attendance was given a slip of paper with two questions, and teased with the promise that some of the responses would be used later in the show.

This scheme is a tangible representation of what SPT does best - engaging their audiences, making them feel like a valuable part of the action. Their venue at CSPS is a key component of this, as well. In their time there, the intimate feel has only deepened, helped along by CSPS' own close-knit atmosphere. Even the volunteers wax poetic about the joys of being part of that community! It's the sort of collaborative match that artists long for.

Tales from the Writers' Room: Nightcap

Cedar Rapids - How can it be the end of another Tales From the Writers' Room season already??? Come on up for a final nip from our menu on Friday, May 30th and Saturday, May 31st 8:00 p.m. at CSPS.

Catherine Blades comes back from New York to join new guest Alex Doser for our last show of this season. A little last tipple from the Writers' Room decanter, a last sip of our comic aperitif, a last quaff of music, always with a twist of something surprising. Let our Nightcap warm you for this last morsel from Food for Thought. All your favorites will be back including Jason Alberty, Doug Ellott, Akwi Niji, Jane Pini, Mary Sullivan and Adam Witte. Special musical guest Billy Heller will be there along with the rest of the band; Greg Kanz, Dave Ollinger and Gerard Estella.

Tales from the Writer's Room: Dessert

Cedar Rapids - "Yummmm. Dessert!

Three Special Guests come to play with our food for this weekend’s show and one of them might just do some live art!

Join us this weekend, April 4th and 5th, as Mel Andringa, Meg Merckens and Chris Okishi help create mayhem and magic among the regular cast of characters.

Musical Guests include Matt Brooks, Greg Kanz, Dave Ollinger and will feature our own fabulous Janelle Lauer!

Dogs of Rwanda Both Personally and Universally Compelling

Sean Christopher Lewis

Cedar Rapids - The people of Rwanda have a very homespun way of dealing with crime and punishment, despite the many brutal atrocities that occurred during the 1994 genocide. They meet, in a large open space, victim and accused, for the Gacaca, literally: "the short grass where we all gather as a village." And then they tell the story. The accused air their misdeeds before the public, who they are, and who they killed, and how. The simple, bold act of speaking the truth out aloud, more than jail sentences or reparations, becomes an important step towards giving closure to this war-torn community. David (Sean Christopher Lewis, who also wrote the piece) knows about this custom, just as he knows first hand about some of the terrible things that happened that spring. He's even written a book about them. But his book hasn't given him the closure he desperately needs, because it doesn't tell the truth, not the real, messy truth about what happened, and he knows it. So he has a story to tell us. His own short grass is a small black box theatre, his court a video camera and a few rows of strangers in chairs. Dogs of Rwanda is a story of guilt, forgiveness, and the healing power of owning your own past. It plays this weekend at CSPS.

Dogs of Rwanda Opens January 17

Cedar Rapids - Working Group Theatre would like to invite you to Dogs of Rwanda, the newest solo piece from Artistic Director Sean Christopher Lewis. Originally developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference (with Conan O'Brien and Mad Men Star Aaron Staton) it now comes to CSPS/Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids.

Dogs of Rwanda tells the story of David, an American writer who can not forget what he saw as a young missionary in Rwanda 20 years ago. He writes a book on his experiences and he’s thrust back into the spring of 1994 and his fateful meeting with a young boy on the run from genocide. That boy’s name was God’s Blessing. In 2013, David now sits in a hotel room in Rwanda, traversing time, literature, memory and regret to make sense of what he’s seen and done. Hopefully he can forgive himself for what he could and could not do for God’s Blessing.

Dogs of Rwanda plays January 17th and 18th at 8pm at CSPS. Tickets available here.


Source: WGT press release

Soup and Salad Whets the Appetite

by Genevieve Heinrich

Cedar Rapids - There's a special place in my heart reserved for taxidermied mice arranged in endearingly human situations. Although they're afforded only a throw-away Stevie Wonder joke (you'll just have to see it), the "dead art" (audience groan) of taxidermy in general features heavily in this most recent installment of SPT Theatre's "Tales from The Writers' Room." Not quite what I was expecting when I sat down to enjoy Soups and Salads, the latest serving in the company's "Food for thought" season... but then, the unexpected is somewhat de rigueur for SPT's eclectic mishmash of artists. The only constant is the quality, and last night's crew, with a record number of guests - including a guest writer (Aaron Murphy)! - did not disappoint.

The Hinterlands Ensemble Comes to CSPS

Cedar Rapids - "Detroit’s edge-walking Hinterlands Ensemble presents The Circuit, an ecstatic variety show, a high-octane take on the uniquely American entertainment phenomenon known as vaudeville. Think the Marx Brothers meets David Lynch meets the New Dance Show meets Bikini Kill meets something you’ve never heard of. The Circuit has dance acts (including the Detroit-style dance called Jit, which is rarely seen outside the Motor City), music acts, experimental percussion acts and much more. The show features a stellar lineup of Detroit-based performance artists, including Hardcore Detroit’s Haleem (Stringz) Rasul, PuppetArt’s Torri Lynn Frances, and sonic explorer Jon Brumit, all first-year Knight Arts Challenge Detroit winners.

Fri Oct 25 - Sat Oct 26 2013 - 8:00 pm
CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids, 319-364-1580, www.legionarts.org
$15 advance -- $18 door -- Students $5 at the door

August Is Blistering

By James E. Trainor III

Cedar Rapids - Anyone who thinks the American theatre has lost its momentum has yet to encounter Tracy Letts. His August: Osage County sizzles with biting wit, bold observations, and shocking twists. Urban Theatre Project's production of this powerful play opens this weekend, and the company's passionate acting, careful direction, and clever set design do the piece justice.

Rust is an Elegantly Human Take on Big Issues

By James E. Trainor III

Cedar Rapids - In 2008, General Motors closed a metal-stamping plant in Wyoming, Michigan, resulting in the loss of 1,500 jobs. The plant had been a major force in the city for decades, and the effects of its closing were wide-reaching. Austin Bunn, a professor and playwright, went to Wyoming to get the personal stories of those affected by the change. His play Rust, co-written with Sean Christopher Lewis, opens at CSPS this weekend. It is a creative and moving piece of documentary theatre, which not only tells very human stories but asks huge questions: how and why is America's economy changing so drastically? What does it mean if we lose the capacity to work with our hands—to really make things? Can people adapt, or has GM effectively killed the city it helped build?

Bunn conducted hundreds of interviews while developing Rust, and his compassion and curiosity show in the writing. The structure of Rust is fast-paced and mercurial, as the piece shifts from the perspective of Bunn himself (played by Matthew James), to video clips and snippets from interviews spoken by the actors of the ensemble (Martin Andrews, Jennifer Fawcett, K. Michael Moore, Luis Sierra, and Jessica Wilson), to the personal story of two displaced workers who grew close while enduring a four-hour commute together.

James' portrayal of Bunn is engaging. The story begins with a bit of nostalgic dreaminess, romanticizing the American worker, and we get to watch his character grow as he comes to better understand how complex a problem he is dealing with. His curiosity and concern drive the play forward. He starts by reminiscing about watching his father build cars: "I had watched it come apart, and I was supposed to know how to build it back up." Bunn, a somewhat naive academic, seems determined to make up for his inadequacy at the top of the play. He drives into blue-collar neighborhoods with his corduroy and his Japanese car, comically uncomfortable but determined to press on. It's as if he can figure out what broke the country, and that knowledge will empower him to put all the parts back together again. Of course, nothing's that simple.

It's becoming increasingly clear that, as Bunn's colleague says, we're no longer concerned with how things are made, but how they're bought. American manufacturing, for a variety of reasons, has all but left the country. Whether you blame corporate greed or market forces is really a matter of your perspective—from the outside the economy is a complicated engine that even experts disagree on. Bunn is looking for the engine that drives the thing—the American dream—the idea that hard work will always be rewarded. "I always thought the American dream was a linear thing," he says, "each generation getting closer to prosperity. Turns out it's more of a squiggly line." It's something he has to come to terms with: America's once mighty factories for metalworking are not as immortal as they seem; rust is inevitable. Bunn manages to find optimism in this, showing those who adapt and better themselves, but there are also some moving stories of loss.

One story of struggle is that of Hank, a union rep who was in the dark about the close, and who is thrown together with a co-worker as they share a mind-boggling four-hour drive to their new job in Reno, Illinois. Scenes from their story are interspersed with interviews, short but intensely dramatic: we see the shock and fear when they learn the plant is closing, the long car ride where she learns to "build capacity" between rest stops, the cheap hotel where Hank pines for the deck he is building at home. Andrews and Wilson work well together in these roles, building very real characters very quickly and loading the scenes with romantic tension. It's a very desperate relationship -- these two are pushed into a corner by forces much bigger than themselves, and they grab onto the only human contact available. When Fawcett appears as Hank's wife, her civil, graceful rage seems the only natural response.

It's of course impossible to tell all the stories of the loss of 1,500 jobs in one night, but Rust is very effective at making a theatrical collage of people's statements and feelings. There are a wide range of reactions: some are mad at GM, some are mad at the Union. Some are more philosophical, realizing that they had it pretty good to have such a great job, back in the days when the American car industry truly was great. There are some very colorful characters: Sierra plays a suicidal homeless man who reminds Bunn that "someone else is holding the end of this rope," Andrews an excitable tinkerer who has gone to college and learned to build computers instead of cars, Moore a migrant worker who cares less about the big picture and more about how to provide for his son, Wilson a life-long GM loyalist who has decided to take a risk and start a bike shop. This last is very striking: Wilson rides in on a bike and grabs the audience's attention, recreating the tough and optimistic proprietor of Bad X Sports. "Life is 10% what comes at you, and 90% how you react," she remarks.

All of this is held together by the direction of Sean Christopher Lewis; Angie Toomsen co-directs. The two are able to focus a wide variety of subject matter into a collage of very human stories, and their skill in guiding these incredible actors comes through in the effective way the numerous transitions are handled. Lewis also designs the sound, which does a great job of creating the emotional landscape of this piece. The set is simple but quite intriguing: most of the piece is played on the floor of CSPS's auditorium, which is covered with folding chairs, ladders, benches, and in general a great deal of metal. This is used to create the atmosphere of a busy factory in its heyday: banging, shouting, and excitement; fast-paced, energetic work. The setup is ingenious in its creativity and reminds us that all Americans, not just those in the manufacturing industry, show a determined energy when faced with a problem. One woman interviewed remarked: "I don't know how you're going to show all of this." Working Group found a way.

Rust plays Friday, Aug 31, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Sep 1, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Sep 2, 7 p.m. at CSPS Hall, 1103 Third SE, Cedar Rapids. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

SPT Returns to CSPS

Cedar Rapids - SPT's "Tales from the Writer's Room" series opens its fifth season on September 14, with David Combs, David Morton, and Nicolette Coiner-Winn as guest artists, Matt Brooks and Ron DeWitte as musical guests. Episode 1 runs September 14 - 15 at 8:00 at CSPS - 1103 3rd St SE in Cedar Rapids. Tickets are $20 online, $25 at the door.

Rust Opens August 31

Cedar Rapids - In a special Labor Day weekend engagement, Legion Arts presents the Iowa premiere of Rust, a documentary play highlighting the everyday heroism of working men and women. Shows are Friday, Aug. 31, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Sep. 1, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Sep. 2, 7 p.m. at CSPS Hall, 1103 Third SE, Cedar Rapids. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

The play is based on hundreds of interviews Iowa City’s Working Group Theatre and playwright/ethnographer Austin Bunn conducted with workers who lost their jobs when General Motors closed a metal-stamping plant in Wyoming, Michigan. Over 1,500 people were laid off and the factory was razed to the ground.

Rust is a moving and sometimes humorous chronicle of Bunn and company’s voyage of discovery as they struggle to tell the stories of “GM gypsies” on their eighth transfer, tool-and-die third shifters watching their skills become obsolete, and the corporate “ax men” who select which plants will close. Along the way, audiences get an intimate understanding of the experience of job loss, the history of the “Rust Belt”, and just what happens to the people who make things in a country where fewer and fewer things are made.

“We’re excited to present this important new work over Labor Day weekend,” Legion Art executive director F. John Herbert said. “The play really humanizes the transformations that are taking place in American manufacturing and the human costs of those changes. At the same time, audiences will be inspired by the play’s portrayal of the utter resilience and spirit of the American working person. This is an uplifting story.”

“Rust shines,” the Grand Rapids Press wrote of the sold-out world premiere. “This show highlights the determination, loyalty, sacrifice and the everyday heroism of working men and women.”

A Q&A audience talk-back will follow each performance.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.legionarts.org until 5 pm the day of the show, or from the CSPS Box Office, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids, 319-364-1580.

Reading of Primrose and Wells

Cedar Rapids - On Sunday, August 26th, CSPS will host a reading of Mary Sullivan's new play Primrose and Wells. There is no charge for the reading. The reading begins at 7:00; CSPS is located at 1103 3rd St SE in Cedar Rapids.

Brilliant Traces Opens June 8

Picture by Ilan Kelman
Urban Theatre Project -
This weekend UTP will present Brilliant Traces by Cindy Lou Johnson. The play takes place in an isolated cabin in Alaska, where Rosannah has found herself after fleeing her marriage and ending up snowbound with Henry. Erica Jo Hoye directs.

Brilliant Traces runs June 8 & 9 and 14 - 16 at 7:30 p.m. at CSPS. Tickets are $10; call 319.431.2110 or email boxoffice@urbantheaterproject.org.

Sandglass Theatre in Residency at CSPS

The Vermont-based Sandglass Theatre is visiting Iowa this week, and they're making CSPS their temporary home. The week will include workshops, a panel discussion, and performances of All Weather Ballads.

"All Weather Ballads is a little like a folk music concert inside a puppet show. The unconventional drama follows one couple, from childhood to old age, as they face the elements of rural Vermont… stuck in the mud, lost in the aroma of harvest fruit, and reflected in the frozen membrane of an icy lake. All Weather Ballads was written for adults but is suitable for ages 12 and up." Performances are Thursday, May 24 at 7:00 and Friday, May 25 at 8:00, at CSPS. Tickets are $14 ($17 at the door).

The company will also be presenting workshops at Eulenspiegel Theatre (Tuesday, May 22 from 6:30 - 8:30) and CSPS (Wednesday, May 23 from 6:30 - 8:30). Registration is $14, which includes admission to a performance of All Weather Ballads (Space is limited to 18 participants).

On Sunday, May 27 at 2:00, company founders Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass will lead a panel discussion on the social effects of severe weather.

Legion Arts presents this residency in partnership with the National Performance Network. The National Performance Network is a multi-state group of cultural organizers and artists facilitating the practice and public experience of the performing arts in the United States.

SPT opens new show tonight

Cedar Rapids - SPT Theatre presents another installment of its Writers Room series tonight and Saturday. Guest artists are Alisabeth Von Presley and Mike Wilhelm. Musical guests are Ron DeWitte, Dave Nanke and Dave Ollinger. This installment is entitled Trivial Pursuit, to continue the Games People Play theme of their season.

December 2nd & 3rd
at CSPS - 1103 3rd St. SE
8:00 p.m.
(note new location & time)

Tickets are $20 when purchased on line at Legions Arts. Tickets are $25 at the performance.

For a review of their first show of the season, go here.

SPT Finds a New Home at CSPS

Cedar Rapids - CSPS has reopened in Cedar Rapids, complete with gallery, bar, and some blackbox space downstairs. The renovated space was opened to the public this fall, and it's great to see this cornerstone of cultural life revived. The upstairs performance space will be home to, among others, SPT Theatre, who open their new season on Friday with "Games People Play."



SPT's season "explores life's twists and turns through the lens of popular board games." The first installment, Twister, will feature guest artists Scott Humeston, Ron DeWitte, Greg Kanz and Dave Ollinger. It runs October 28th and 29th at 8pm at CSPS, 1103 3rd St in Cedar Rapids. Tickets are $25 at the door, $20 here.

A Review of Rocky Horror

By Sarah Jarmon

CSPS - Rocky Horror is the kind of cult classic that die hard followers can feel comfortable coming home to, so it seemed an odd choice to start the show off with an unfamiliar, albeit hauntingly beautiful, rendition of “Science Fiction.” And while Meghan Donohue, this production’s Magenta, was more than equal to the task, belting the sliding notes of this revised piece with chilling grace, it nevertheless started the show off with a shaky equilibrium that never quite settled into comfortable territory.

The simplistic set worked well for this production, giving the actors opportunities to act as set pieces and props while providing levels and interesting stage pictures, which they did admirably. The most notable example of this was the transition from “Over at the Frankenstein Place” to Brad and Janet’s entry into the castle. When the lights cut out for the song there were audible gasps. Flashlights created both the storm and a wickedly appropriate convention for lighting Brad and Janet’s journey to the castle door where the phantoms, who formed the castle wall, rotated en mass to show the switch from outdoors to indoors. It was easily the most visually exciting section of the play. They set up this convention with the audience well, but regrettably underutilized it.

The sold-out house was comprised of more than a few Rocky Horror “virgins,” perhaps due to the slightly questionable casting of more than a few minors. But the large crowd on Thursday night was oddly subdued for a Rocky audience. There were some technical aspects that may have been the cause of this hush. The cast and crew were allowed only two days, of their already tight production schedule of twenty-three, to rehearse in the performance space. This manifested itself in a helter-skelter spattering of lighting issues and microphone complications. The most regrettable of which rendered all of what I’m sure was a wonderful rendition “Sweet Transvestite” entirely inaudible.

But when we couldn’t hear everything, we certainly had plenty to look at. The costumes blazed with the vibrant pizazz we in the Cedar Rapids arts community have come to almost unconsciously associate with Alisabeth Caraway. Oversexed pastels practically dripped off the phantoms, while Frank, Magenta, and Riff Raff were adorned in the more typical black leather and red lace Rocky fans the world over will instantly recognize.

The largest problem with this Rocky seemed to be character development. Janet started out with more worldly qualities than perhaps wise. She never quite came off as innocent and seemed all too willing to sex up Frank which made “Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch me” less about giving in and more about going all out, which actually made me feel really sorry for Brad. The chorus themselves never really gave Ryan Foizey, or Frank ‘N’ Furter, the cowed and lustful respect Frank is due. That lack of reverence coupled with the choice to sodomize Eddie with a giant dildo gun, as opposed to murdering him with a chainsaw, muddied the story. Frank, whose Ziggy Stardust make-up and soulful vocal quality should have stood out above all else, was shunted aside in favor of Abby Pederson as a valley-girl version of Columbia, who was pretty consistently falling out of whatever top she was in.

Meghan Donohue and Rob Merritt stood out as the most believable characters. As Magenta, Megan went with classically sardonic and slightly bored, while Rob opted for an unusually nerdy thus understandably jealous Riff Raff. The duo were spot on and delightfully alien in contrast with the human phantoms whose in your face sexuality seemed slightly distasteful by comparison.

This performance did showcase the extremely ardent work that was put into this Rocky. Given a few more days and a bit more attention to the development of the plot this piece would have matured into a great show. The outstanding vocal talent and diversity of this group of actors made this a visually appealing wonderfully outrageous Rocky Horror to be remembered.

Rocky Horror in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids

CSPS and Riff Raff Theatre - Black leather corset: Check. Fishnet stockings: Check. Transvestites from another planet: Check.

Halloween 2009 offers you two different opportunities to experience Rocky Horror. From October 29 through the 31st, CSPS in Cedar Rapids hosts the return of the all-local stage version of the famous midnight cult flick. And on Halloween night at midnight, Riff Raff Theater is proud to bring that famous midnight cult flick back to life once again at the Englert in Iowa City. Both shows promise lots of audience interaction. For information about the CSPS show, go here. For information about the Riff Raff show, go here.