by Janet Schlapkohl
Davenport - QC Theatre Workshop is a young theatre company to watch. Under the artistic direction of Tyson Danner, the company is rapidly establishing itself as a local powerhouse.
QC’s home is a charming square brick building on the National Registry of Historic Properties. It is a former elementary school and QC performances are in the gymnasium, transformed into a perfect black-box theatre, with audience comfort, intimacy, acoustics, and lighting all superbly accounted for.
The company uses a unique concept for ticketing. After each performance audience members pay what they feel the experience was worth.
The result is a successful theatre company. This is due in equal measure to their committed artistic vision and the obvious talent of their theatrical team.
Last night’s production of True West featured Jeremy Mahr in the role of Austin, and Mike Schulz as Lee. For this production of True West, the roles of Lee and Austin have been determined by a coin toss.
Tyler Reinert’s scenic design was spot-on for color, line and the appliances of an immediately familiar dated ranch house kitchen. Jess Fialko’s lighting offers the welcoming warmth of a kitchen contrasted with chilling tones for scene changes and evening. Bret Churchill found perfect country and western songs for interludes. Sounds of yapping coyotes and crickets suggested the West.
Tyson Danner’s directing was fast paced and vigorous. His actors played very well to an audience seated on three sides.
A vintage aluminum dining table with a typewriter is center. Austin is seated at this table typing, when his brother Lee strides in, wobbling just enough in his cowboy boots to make us question his authenticity. This question of authenticity, of sincerity, trust, jealousy, love and hate carry the audience through the performance. Mahr and Schulz listen to each other and respond with both nuanced facial expression and violent physical explosion. The result is a compelling portrayal of sibling rivalry, family pain and loss. The audience laughed and gasped aloud.
Saul Kimmer, played by Brent Tubbs with a gleam in his eye and sweet smile is perfect as a Hollywood producer. Brent does not overplay the sleaze, which makes us find reasons to believe in Lee.
Mom, played by Susan Perrin-Sallak appears only in the final moments. Yet her exhausted confusion, irrelevant conversation and denial of reality explains so much about the family.
While this show closed on Sunday, you definitely will want to check out the next production of QC Theatre Workshop.
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Showing posts with label True West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label True West. Show all posts
Monday, June 2, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
True West Opens May 16
Davenport - For the first time ever in the Quad Cities,
the toss of a coin will determine the cast of a show!
Jeremy Mahr and Mike Schulz are ready to play both lead roles in this thrilling Sam Shepard comedy. Just minutes before curtain, an audience member will toss a coin to determine that performance's casting! Join us for opening weekend and you just might be the lucky audience member that tosses the coin!
Ticket information here.
Source: QC Workshop Newsletter
Jeremy Mahr and Mike Schulz are ready to play both lead roles in this thrilling Sam Shepard comedy. Just minutes before curtain, an audience member will toss a coin to determine that performance's casting! Join us for opening weekend and you just might be the lucky audience member that tosses the coin!
Ticket information here.
Source: QC Workshop Newsletter
Sunday, September 9, 2012
True West Illuminates Script with Amazing Physical Work
By James E. Trainor III; photo by Bob Goodfellow.
Iowa City - True West is Sam Shepard's explosive drama about sibling rivalry taken to absurd lengths. It tells the story of two brothers: Austin (Tim Budd), a would-be screenwriter, and Lee (Sean Christopher Lewis), a petty thief. Austin is plantsitting for their mother in L.A. while she visits Alaska, and taking this opportunity to work on his screenplay. Lee shows up unannounced and, with his roguish charm, commences to hustle his way into Austin's life. Within twenty-four hours of his arrival, he has Austin's producer in the palm of his hand, and convinces him to produce his idea -- a real, true-to-life western -- rather than Austin's predictable love story.
Trouble is, Lee can't write -- he can't even spell. He needs Austin to write the script for him. The frustrated Austin is reluctant, but there's something enchanting in the reversal of roles -- he has long wished to ditch his suburban life and head off into the desert in search of adventure. Of course, he doesn't have what it takes to survive any more than Lee has a screenwriter in him. The two brothers spend the entire play circling each other, like dangerous animals, but with a very human depth to their jealousy and need.
Sean Christopher Lewis is charming, and frighteningly authentic, as the drifter Lee. His physical work creates an easy-going but competent cat burglar, someone usually slovenly but capable of stealth. He is intimidating but also a great deal of fun. Lewis has captured a striking duality in Lee. There's a boyishness about him that is endearing -- a certain creative drive and restless energy that Austin seems to lack -- but the flip side of that is a petulant, destructive, manipulative nature. The composite is a fascinating character that is gleefully horrifying to watch. At the same time, Lee is ultimately sympathetic because it seems his every action is motivated by compassion for his poor, alcoholic father.
Austin, played with precision and passion by Tim Budd, seems to have written their father off completely. He's certainly not happy to see Lee, as Budd's acting choices make quite clear. His constant sizing up of his scene partner, and his timid nature, even when he's clearly frustrated, speaks volumes about how dangerous Lee really is. When Austin finally comes undone, drunkenly crooning and insisting on making a huge plate of toast for breakfast, Budd's skill as an actor really shines. He's found just the right level of comic exaggeration to keep the situation ridiculous and entertaining while still being scary and sad.
Budd and Lewis play off of each other well, ribbing each other as brothers would, and when they get physical there is a real sense of how much unresolved tension there is in this relationship. They say a great deal silently that enriches Shepard's already magnificent script. They also both understand the way these two's identities intertwine: they're both similarly lost, both restless seekers, whether they're in search of a good story or a place to call home. Their destinies are wrapped up together, just like in plot of a bad western, as Lee points out at the end of the first act: "The one that's chasing, he don't know where the other one's taking him. And the one that's being chased -- he don't know where he's going." Lee can scare Austin into submission and prod him into action, but he has no idea what he'll set in motion. Neither brother has a plan, and what's going to be unleashed when all this pent-up hostility explodes is something they can only discover together.
Ron Clark's direction guides these skilled actors to just the right tone and pace for this piece. Particularly effective is starting with a silent moment, as Budd sits timidly at the typewriter, and Lewis looms larger-than-life in the kitchen. We know instantly which brother is which, and the nonverbal interaction makes the tension that much thicker when they finally do speak. He also understands how to make the most of the comic moments in this play while still painting the dramatic picture very clearly.
Jason Tipsword's fight choreography helps flesh out the physical relationship between these two brothers, as things gradually escalate from nudges to pushes to full-on fratricidal fury. The moments of violence are exciting and visceral and fit right in with the general destruction that happens in the final scenes.
The set, by Shawn Ketchum Johnson, is realistic and functional; scene changes take place smoothly and create the feel of chaos very effectively. One of the most memorable things about True West is how the two brothers tear apart their mother's house as they find it more and more difficult to contain their rage. A word of warning to those planning to sit in the front row: this play uses a more old-fashioned method of 3D than modern movies. Don't be surprised if a typewriter key or phone receiver comes flying at you!
The play is an American classic, almost Greek in its simplicity and emotional scale, but very modern with its wild flights of fancy. Many consider it the peak of Shepard's brilliance, and it's definitely a play that challenges and rewards actors. Riverside Theatre has done an excellent job of bringing this engaging script to life.
True West runs through September 30, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:00. Tickets are $15-28.
 | ||||
| Sean Christopher Lewis (l) and Tim Budd in True West |
Trouble is, Lee can't write -- he can't even spell. He needs Austin to write the script for him. The frustrated Austin is reluctant, but there's something enchanting in the reversal of roles -- he has long wished to ditch his suburban life and head off into the desert in search of adventure. Of course, he doesn't have what it takes to survive any more than Lee has a screenwriter in him. The two brothers spend the entire play circling each other, like dangerous animals, but with a very human depth to their jealousy and need.
Sean Christopher Lewis is charming, and frighteningly authentic, as the drifter Lee. His physical work creates an easy-going but competent cat burglar, someone usually slovenly but capable of stealth. He is intimidating but also a great deal of fun. Lewis has captured a striking duality in Lee. There's a boyishness about him that is endearing -- a certain creative drive and restless energy that Austin seems to lack -- but the flip side of that is a petulant, destructive, manipulative nature. The composite is a fascinating character that is gleefully horrifying to watch. At the same time, Lee is ultimately sympathetic because it seems his every action is motivated by compassion for his poor, alcoholic father.
Austin, played with precision and passion by Tim Budd, seems to have written their father off completely. He's certainly not happy to see Lee, as Budd's acting choices make quite clear. His constant sizing up of his scene partner, and his timid nature, even when he's clearly frustrated, speaks volumes about how dangerous Lee really is. When Austin finally comes undone, drunkenly crooning and insisting on making a huge plate of toast for breakfast, Budd's skill as an actor really shines. He's found just the right level of comic exaggeration to keep the situation ridiculous and entertaining while still being scary and sad.
Budd and Lewis play off of each other well, ribbing each other as brothers would, and when they get physical there is a real sense of how much unresolved tension there is in this relationship. They say a great deal silently that enriches Shepard's already magnificent script. They also both understand the way these two's identities intertwine: they're both similarly lost, both restless seekers, whether they're in search of a good story or a place to call home. Their destinies are wrapped up together, just like in plot of a bad western, as Lee points out at the end of the first act: "The one that's chasing, he don't know where the other one's taking him. And the one that's being chased -- he don't know where he's going." Lee can scare Austin into submission and prod him into action, but he has no idea what he'll set in motion. Neither brother has a plan, and what's going to be unleashed when all this pent-up hostility explodes is something they can only discover together.
Ron Clark's direction guides these skilled actors to just the right tone and pace for this piece. Particularly effective is starting with a silent moment, as Budd sits timidly at the typewriter, and Lewis looms larger-than-life in the kitchen. We know instantly which brother is which, and the nonverbal interaction makes the tension that much thicker when they finally do speak. He also understands how to make the most of the comic moments in this play while still painting the dramatic picture very clearly.
Jason Tipsword's fight choreography helps flesh out the physical relationship between these two brothers, as things gradually escalate from nudges to pushes to full-on fratricidal fury. The moments of violence are exciting and visceral and fit right in with the general destruction that happens in the final scenes.
The set, by Shawn Ketchum Johnson, is realistic and functional; scene changes take place smoothly and create the feel of chaos very effectively. One of the most memorable things about True West is how the two brothers tear apart their mother's house as they find it more and more difficult to contain their rage. A word of warning to those planning to sit in the front row: this play uses a more old-fashioned method of 3D than modern movies. Don't be surprised if a typewriter key or phone receiver comes flying at you!
The play is an American classic, almost Greek in its simplicity and emotional scale, but very modern with its wild flights of fancy. Many consider it the peak of Shepard's brilliance, and it's definitely a play that challenges and rewards actors. Riverside Theatre has done an excellent job of bringing this engaging script to life.
True West runs through September 30, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:00. Tickets are $15-28.
Friday, August 24, 2012
True West Opens September 7
 |
| Pictured (L-R): Sean Christopher Lewis as Lee and Tim Budd as Austin in Riverside Theatre's True West. Photo by Bob Goodfellow. |
True West is about two brothers with a score to settle. Austin, an ambitious Hollywood screenwriter working on a potential million-dollar movie project and Lee, a desert drifter and a thief with a compulsion for six-packs and toasters, are reunited at their mother’s home while she is away and a struggle for dominance ensues. “True West is sibling rivalry on steroids,” said director Ron Clark. “The two brothers could not be more different. They both despise and envy each other, which I think is always the foundation of sibling rivalry.”
True West is considered to be a modern American classic and Shepard is revered as one of the greatest living playwrights of our time.
True West features Iowa City actors Tim Budd as Austin and Sean Christopher Lewis as Lee. Scot West of Chicago returns to Riverside as Saul Kimmer and Riverside Theatre Artistic Director Jody Hovland rounds out the cast as Mom.
“They’re the A-Team that brings the play to life,” Clark said. “It demands virtroso acting that can plumb the mysteries of the relationships. The turnabouts come fast and furious; the action is explosive.”
True West also features scenic design by Shawn Ketchum Johnson, lighting design by Courtney Schmitz Watson, costume design by Osean Perez, and sound design by Drew Bielinski. Jason Tipsword choreographs the fight work.
Since the scenic design includes numerous toasters, Riverside Theatre is seeking donations of two-slot, old-school toasters (working and non-working) for the production. Donated toasters will not be returned. Toasters may be dropped off at the Box Office at 213 N. Gilbert St, Noon - 4 p.m., Monday – Friday.
Tickets for True West, September 7 – September 30, are $15-$28 with discounts available for those over 60, those under 30, and youth. $15 students rush tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis 20-minutes before curtain. Tickets are available by phone at (319) 338-7672, online or in person at the Riverside Theatre Box Office, located at 213 N. Gilbert St., Iowa City, IA.
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