Year-End Wrap-Up!

As the year draws to a close, we at the Iowa Theatre Blog have gotten to reminiscing about the past 12 months. We're sure you have, too! So, we invited our reviewers to talk to us about their "best of" choices for 2014. It was a fun process: usually, we restrict what our reviewers can comment on. No one can review a show that a company they're affiliated with has produced, for example. Here, though, we gave them free reign to talk about what caught their attention, what moved them, what huge successes they saw in Corridor theatre in the year 2014. We hope you're as excited as we are to read the results! Also, we'd LOVE to hear what YOU think on the matter! Sound off in the comments here, or on FB, or Twitter... or just start the conversation at your favorite NYE party :-D What excited YOU about local theatre in 2014? What gave you hope for 2015? Read our reviewers' thoughts after the jump...

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.

Cat Clings on By Its Claws

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Emily McKnight

Rachel Korach Howell and Aaron Weiner

Iowa City - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is one of Tennessee Williams's most iconic plays. Set on a southern plantation in the middle of the 20th century, it tells the story of Brick (Aaron Weiner), who drinks to avoid his family, his past, and his conflicted sexual identity. His sexually frustrated wife Maggie (Rachel Korach Howell) must keep his head above water as his squabbling family threatens to disinherit him. It is a whirlwind of a drama, delivered in three powerful acts, and it is a challenge for any community theatre. Iowa City Community Theatre's production of Cat (directed by Brett Borden) manages to stay on the roof - thanks mainly to the acting chops of Weiner and Howell.

Red an Intriguing Mix of Heady and Visceral

Jim Van Valen and Christopher Peltier

By James E. Trainor III
Photo By Bob Goodfellow

Iowa City - Upon walking into Riverside during its current production of John Logan's Red, one is first struck by how the stage looks like a working art studio (set design by Kevin Dudley). Strike that: it is a working art studio. During the course of the one-act play, the actors have a lot of stage business centered around painting: mixing paint, putting together canvases, priming, cleaning. I mention this because Red is a lofty play, full of big ideas, and it would be easy to get lost in the cerebral realm of talking about art. So much the better that the actors have this great set to play with, so they can get their hands dirty with the messy, gut-wrenching business of making art.

Red tells the story of the Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko (Jim Van Valen) and his young assistant Ken (Christopher Peltier). Rothko is at the height of his fame, but he is losing patience with the commercial art world; the action of the plot has him struggling to create a mural for the newly-build Four Seasons restaurant. Van Valen's Rothko is soulful and intriguing; he really transforms into this man who, though a giant in his own time, was more and more an artifact in the swiftly-changing New York of the late 1950's. Van Valen's passion and nuance as Rothko comes to realize his time has passed is part of what makes this piece so effective.

Trubblesume Tymes a Frolicking Evening

Iowa City - Combined Efforts' summer shows would not be what they are without the beautiful location that is the Country Camp, a small farm at the edge of Iowa City that is an ideal setting for promenade theatre. Nature blessed the company of Trubblesume Tymes at the Faire with a beautiful breezy night tonight, not too hot and not too cold, the perfect weather to appreciate a nice night in the country with the fun set pieces that make up Tymes. Equally important are the people themselves; at Combined Efforts everyone is included, and this cast has a very warm feeling, welcoming the crowd in, singing and making jokes, brimming with the fun of performing. The people and the place combine to make Tymes something halfway between community theatre and a local Renaissance Fair.

Treat Yourself to Riverside's Othello

Kelly Gibson, Tim Budd, Daver Morrison

By James E. Trainor III
Photo by Bob Goodfellow

There's no pleasure quite so simple and magical as sitting in the park by the river on a lovely summer night, where a cool breeze cuts the heat and the sun slowly recedes to reveal a beautiful night sky. Such a night in the park would be refreshing enough without a company of skilled actors performing an Elizabethan bedtime story for the crowd. This weekend, the beautiful language of Shakespeare's Othello combined with a beautiful night to make magic happen, reminding one why we still do outdoor Shakespeare after all these years. Sometimes, when the company does its work and the stars are aligned, art and nature coincide, and magic happens. Such is the case with this production, due partly to the incredible piece of literature that is the text, but owing no small sum to Theodore Swetz's focused directorial eye and Tim Budd's captivating performance as Iago.

Complete Works Brings Out the Bard's Bawd

Spencer D. Christensen, John William Watkins, Christopher Peltier

By James E. Trainor III
Photo By Bob Goodfellow

Iowa City - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] is a loving send-up of our culture's most beloved playwright, penned by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. With a text updated from its original 1987 production to keep its humor current, three actors (Spencer D. Christensen, Christopher Peltier, and John William Watkins) slam through the entire Shakespearean canon in roughly two hours, with plenty of bawdy humor, hilarious sight gags, and amusing misinterpretations along the way. The show is playing now in Lower City Park, under the direction of Ron Clark.

God of Carnage Delightfully Vicious

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Len Struttmann

Chad Canfield, Deborah Maynard, D. Allan Boettger, and Stephanie Corkran.

Cedar Rapids - The setting is a comfortable middle-class living room, a space which is not afraid of advertising its culture: there are curious paintings on the wall, inviting picture books on the modest coffee table, some lovely tulips downstage. It has an aura of being a bastion of civilization. And why shouldn't it? This is, after all, where Veronica (Stephanie Corkran) and Michael (D. Allan Boettger) have invited Allan (Chad Canfield) and Annette (Deborah Maynard) to calmly work out a dispute between their children. It seems Allan and Annette's son decided to clobber Veronica and Michael's son with a stick, knocking out two of his teeth. Tensions are understandably high, but these are educated adults, so they're going to rise above it, for the sake of their children and in the name of all western civilization.

Only it's not that easy. Yazmina Reza's God of Carnage (tr. Christopher Hampton), which is an admittedly cynical satire of liberal hypocrisy while also being an absolutely hilarious situation piece, does a great job of digging beneath the airs we put on and questioning why adults so often act like children when confronted with someone they despise. For all her political correctness and her attempts at civility, Veronica holds a thinly veiled disdain for Allan and Annette, and when she stoops to give them parenting advice and is rebuked, she becomes involved in a scene that reveals the shaky foundation of her marriage and causes her to question her very values.

Jesus Is Cool: Strong on Style, Short on Storytelling

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Jackie Jensen at ICPixx

Coralville - Near the end of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas sings: "If you'd come today, you would have reached a whole nation, Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication." For City Circle's production, director Elizabeth Tracey takes this quote as her jumping-off point. What we see is a Superstar that is unapologetically modern: excited young people swarming Jesus snapping pictures, police in full riot gear, Caiaphas and his smarmy cronies in business meetings. The result is a concept which, while faithfully executed by cast and crew, fits the text like a second-hand suit, landing solidly in places, but hanging loose and awkwardly in others.

The cast is great. Rob Merrit's Judas is heartfelt and well thought-out, he has endless energy, and plays well with the score. Esack Grueskin's Jesus is quite charismatic, with a very soulful voice, and he holds forth with a surprising subtle wisdom when correcting his followers. Hannah Loeb has a wonderful voice, and her Mary carries the emotional scenes with tension and grace. The ensemble holds solid throughout the piece, working well with each other and finding lots of effective little moments.

Riverside's Walking the Wire "Merges" Apt Acting and Deft Directing

By James E. Trainor III

Iowa City - The word "merge" can have a lot of connotations. One imagines driving, certainly, but also two things combining, coalescing, becoming a new thing, maybe a company, a family, a partnership. It's a very rich word to wrap a theme around, so it's understandable that Riverside Theatre's annual monologue show, Walking the Wire: Merge has such a wide variety of offerings.

The show, directed by Jody Hovland, consists of twelve stories presented by seven actors. It runs through March 9th.

ICCT Breathes Life and Laughter Into Wilder's Classic The Matchmaker

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Paul VanDorpe

Howard Meadows, Catherine Shook, Lindsay Vincent,
Nicole DeSalle (foreground)

Iowa City - It's been nearly fifty years since Thorton Wilder's The Matchmaker first graced our stages, and though the play does show its age, it's also very clear why it has had such a long life. Wilder uses a very curious structure, which seems a bit quaint in our fast-paced times but works quite well: while the content of the plot is very much that of a farce, he stops the traditional breakneck pace of such a comedy to reflect on the action and the themes with short monologues directed to the audience. These are moments that Wilder uses to philosophize, and are full of some of his quotable platitudes (Take the line "Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow." Classic). These could be easily be stumbling blocks to a company, as they stop the action dead, but in the hands of director Rachael Lindhart they're refreshing breaths of air that invigorate the characters and invest us in the story. It's this careful attention to style and pace that makes ICCT's production of The Matchmaker such a charming evening of theatre.

My Sister Compelling, Intelligent, and Full of Grace

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Janet Schlapkohl

Elizabeth Hinckler as Matilde;
Emily Hinckler as Magda.

Davenport - It's 1934. We're in a small, poor apartment in Berlin. Two sisters live here, trying to live out their dreams on the threshold of the coming nightmare. Magda (Emily Hinckler) is the actress; charming, confident, "the talk of Berlin." She comes home from the cabaret every night to care for her sister, sharing the glow from a great night's performance. Matilde (Elizabeth Hinckler) has cerebral palsy, and is confined to the home. It is difficult for her to move and speak with the ease and grace of her pretty sister, but it is obvious she is the brains of the operation. Matilde writes the jokes for her sister's act, and though she must miss the show, every night, Magda performs a special reprise before resting her weary head.

The only problem is, Matilde's material is getting more and more political, and the cabarets are coming under greater scrutiny as Hitler consolidates his power. What starts off as urbane joking about lesbians in pantsuits becomes nervous dialogue about the party's policy on "incurable" genetic disorders, which, given Matilde's condition, hits dangerously close to home. It is in this dark and dreadful period of history that Janet Schlapkohl's new drama plays out, a story which, for all its terror and tragedy, has a good deal of warmth and humor. My Sister does as wonderful a job portraying the courage of the human spirit as it does the perils of mindless conformity.

Spamalot a Silly, Silly Production

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Von Presley Studios

Megan Anderson as The Lady of the Lake

Cedar Rapids - Of the many musicals based on movies that have been trotted out on stage in the last couple decades, Spamalot is one of the best adaptations. There are a couple reasons for this: first, Eric Idle, who wrote the book and lyrics (and worked with John Du Prez on the music), has gobs of experience recycling old jokes for new audiences. Second, the source material isn't really a narrative film with a steady plotline like The Producers or even Young Frankenstein; it's a collection of sketches loosely based around the King Arthur legend that ultimately goes nowhere (if you recall, they don't ever find the Holy Grail in the Grail film; the most famous project from everyone's favorite comic anarchists ends with the police arresting Arthur's crew, including the camera operator). As such, it's ripe for ripping apart and stitching together in a new form: a larger-than-life Broadway musical, where everyone's favorite skits and gags can mingle with some brand-new material that is just as hilarious.

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.

The Emperor's New Clothes Is Great Family Fun

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Jackie Jensen at ICPixx

Kim Qual, Ali Heath, Greg Kilberger, Carl Brown

Iowa City - ICCT's lobby is decorated in the holiday spirit, and there's even a wreath onstage, but the current show isn't the typical Christmas story rotation. In a refreshing move, David Foxton's The Emperor's New Clothes, or Five Beans for Jack, directed by Krista Neumann, is a mashup of two classic children's tales, complete with audience participation, silly dialogue, physical comedy, and yes, maybe a carol or two.

The story begins with a fumbling Town Crier (Kim Qual) who, along with his somewhat more keen daughter Abigail (Makayla Phillips), stumbles upon a trio of tricksters who are new in town. Sly (Carl Brown), Wily (Nicole DeSalle), and Meanie (Helena Brown-Rodriguez) are passing off counterfeit money, picking pockets, and seem very eager to meet the gullible Emperor (Trent Yoder). When they hear there's going to be a parade every Friday, they ingratiate themselves and begin to come up with more and more expenses, including a robe made out of a fabric so delicate it's invisible. In the meantime, they are able to trick Jack (Kirk Saylor) with a pouch of magic beans, much to the chagrin of his angry mother (Ariane Parkes-Perret).

Chore Boots Celebrates the Midwestern Farmer

By James E. Trainor III
Photo courtesy Riverside Theatre

Janet Schlapkohl

Iowa City - "Pay attention. Watch it. Get back."

Janet Schlapkohl, in her new play Coming of Age in Chore Boots, weaves those three concise phrases throughout the piece to reflect on what she learned growing up in the rural Midwest. The piece celebrates the farmer: the pragmatic survivor with the courage to weather the harsh Iowa winters and the tenacity to awake at dawn to do the work than needs to be done. It also tells the story of a girl growing up in this culture, at a time when the world around her was undergoing great upheaval.

Gruesome Playground Injuries Lovingly Tended

By James E. Trainor III
Photos by Elisabeth Ross

Nate Sullivan and Becca Anderson

Iowa City - Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuires is a very dark two-hander that, despite its morbid subject matter, holds a lot of laughter and life. It tells the story of Kayleen (Becca Anderson) and Doug (Nate Sullivan), two messed-up kids who can't stop hurting themselves. Doug is reckless, a daredevil, always upping the stakes, trying any stupid stunt to get close to Kayleen. Kayleen, cautious, afraid of intimacy, pushes Doug away, calling him "retarded" and "freak," though she can't deny the strange hold he has on her. They meet at the age of eight, in the nurse's office at St. Margret Mary's Elementary School. Kayleen has a stomachache. Doug just rode his bike off the roof. They're immediately drawn to one another, and as the narrative jumps forward and backward over the next thirty years and they show off their various physical and emotional scars, a love story unfolds that is unusual, grisly, and strangely intimate.

The production is largely successful, due to Joseph's evocative writing, director Chuck Dufano's minimalist staging, and the extremely committed acting of Anderson and Sullivan. Joseph brings considerable craft to bear in telling the story of these two damaged misfits, knowing when to go for the laughs, when to go for the heartstrings, and when to reveal just a little bit more to raise the stakes. Dufano gets the nuances of the tone and guides the actors through it elegantly. Anderson and Sullivan are great at building character, and are deeply committed scene partners.

Jake's Women Is (and Are) Delightful

By James E. Trainor III

Cedar Rapids - Jake (Philip Schramp) loves women, and women love Jake. And why not? He's witty, charming, and sexy. They even tell him so. Of course, then mainly tell him so when he's having imaginary conversations with them in his own head, but so what? Everyone needs a hobby.

Jake's Women is Neil Simon's comedy about a neurotic writer who can't deal with the women in his life on their own terms. TCR's production, directed by Scott Humeston, opens in the Grandon Studio this weekend. With a sharp look, masterful direction, and a hilarious cast, the show strikes a good balance between relentless comedy and heartfelt reflection.

Romeo and Juliet: ICCT's "Two Hours' Traffic" Experiences Delays

by James E. Trainor III

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. It's right there in the title, if you use the old-fashioned stylings: "The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet." Heck, the Prologue tells you right at the beginning that the title characters are going to die (sorry, spoilers). Still, for all the weeping and wailing and shedding of blood, the piece doesn't really fit in with the "great tragedies" of the later period. It has none of the brooding introspection of Hamlet, none of the pervasive horror of Macbeth or the diabolic machinations of Othello. Next to the bitter social satire of King Lear, it might as well be a stand-up comedy act. No, Romeo and Juliet is a younger, lighter Shakespeare, and it's the one I usually point young people to when they complain of how boring and hard Shakespeare is. Sure, it's a tragedy, but it's perhaps the sexiest, funniest, most vibrant and vicious tragedy written in the last five hundred years.

So when it's not held lightly by a production company, it tends to suffer. ICCT's production, directed by Gavin Conkling, runs a plodding three hours, and while it retains much of the joy and humor of the text, much of it feels like a grim death march, pushing slowly on to the inevitable conclusion. The design choices and some of the cutting and blocking took away a lot of the text's intrinsic vitality. Nevertheless, it's a chance to see some great actors at work.

Birth Witches a Labor of Love

By James E. Trainor III
Photo courtesy Cornell College

Women, if I've done my math right, were giving birth for at least a few generations before the advent of modern medicine, for all its comforting smiling doctors with expensive degrees in shiny new hospitals. So it makes you wonder what all the itemized, billable fuss is about, when this is something midwives took care of simply and practically for centuries before men decided to stick their noses in. Jennifer Fawcett's satire Birth Witches examines this question by bringing us back to the early 17th century, a very fascinating time in England's history, and pitting a Doctor (Tim Budd) who has invented a new tool for extracting a baby against young Meg (Dorothy Jolly), who wants to be a midwife just like her dear old grandmother (Jody Hovland).

Fawcett's script is very insightful, with a lot of humor and humanity to balance out its moments of heartbreak and horror. Riverside's production, directed by Leda Hoffmann, does the piece justice. It is well-cast, well-directed, and well-designed; the versatility of the set (by Paul Sannerud) and the Chorus allow the company the flexibility to straddle the line between outrageous lampoon and thoughtful, character-driven exploration.

We start right with the gritty but necessary business of the play's subject matter: a childbirth, this one gone wrong. Lots of screaming, bloody sheets, general panic. Midwives are trying to soothe a woman in great pain. We find out that her husband, a Doctor, has been testing his new apparatus, a sort of primitive forceps: "when it still wouldn't come," one of the women reports, "he used the hook." The mother dies; the baby is alive but horribly scarred. The father, a scientist at heart, will improve his device but in the meantime he needs a scapegoat... and wasn't the old midwife seen mumbling a curse before the mother started having pains?