Check Out April Events at CCPA

Coralville - You might want to check out these upcoming events at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

UI School of Music presents The RivalsApril 9-12

UI School of Music presents this story of misguided deceptions between several sets of lovers and would-be lovers, with deceptions unraveling into hopeless tangles before resolving with a classic comic-opera ending. With music and libretto by Kirke Mechem, The Rivals was an instant hit when it premiered at Skylight Opera in 2011.
Tickets ($5-$20) are available through the Hancher Box Office.

Free Opera Performances

Coralville - UI School of Music Opera Scenes Program at the CCPA

On Saturday, December 6 at 8pm, The UI School of Music presents an evening of performances from Don Giovanni, HMS Pinafore, Der Rosenkavalier, The Coronation of Poppea, Les Pecheurs de Perles, and A Little Night Music. Free and open to the public.


Source: CCPA press release

Love. Sex. Shoes. at the Englert

Iowa City - "Love. Sex. Shoes.

Because even love requires the right footwear.

A selection of performance essays from Suzanne Cody’s MFA Thesis for the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, featuring the brilliant actor stylings of Genevieve Heinrich, Krista Neumann, and the creator, Suzanne Cody. Lots of love, lots of sex, lots of shoes—also lots of adult language and LOTS of partial nudity.

FREE TO THE PUBLIC
ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY!
Join us to send this new work off into the world!

I mean, it’s FREE. Also, you can buy all the booze. ALSO, there’s a lot of swearing and partial nudity. You really can’t go wrong!"

Love. Sex. Shoes. Englert stage on April 12 at 7:30pm.


Source: director Rachel Korach Howell

MFA Director Projects at UI

Iowa City - "For the most varied subject matter this December, check out the University of Iowa Theatre Arts Department. During the first two weekends of the month, the MFA Directing students will be presenting their first productions at the university. If their inaugural selections are any indication, the Corridor can look forward to provocative, involved work from this class in upcoming years. The plays will include:

Desire Caught by the Tale by Pablo Picasso. Yes, THAT Pablo Picasso. It turns out that he was much less popular as a playwright than as a painter. His foray into farce has been performed rarely since it premiered in 1944.

Pvt. Wars by James McLure. A drama about three soldiers recovering in a hospital during the Vietnam War, the play premiered as a one-act at the Humana Festival in Louisville, Ky. before McLure expanded it into its current two-act version.

Fur by Migdalia Cruz. In a twisted apocalyptic update of Beauty and the Beast, a love triangle develops between a pet shop owner, a furry woman and an animal trapper.

The Playwright, written and directed by Mario El Caponi Mendoza. In this original work, a San Francisco playwright’s life unravels against a backdrop of economic crisis.

Performances run Dec. 12-14 in UI’s Theatre B. For more information on specific show times, visit theatre.uiowa.edu."

Source: Little Village

MFA Film Student Seeks Actors

Iowa City - "Looking for lead actors for an MFA thesis film Solace directed by Kasia Plazinska. Solace tells a story of a family of three, the father, mother and a young daughter, who lead their life in a house located in a distant, as if suspended in time, landscape. The prairie breaths in its own rhythm just like the family does. The daughter is an explorer of the landscape. She wanders around its confined infinity and observes the life of nature. But what seemingly seems like an innocent act of child's curiosity leads to girl's liminal change which disrupts the harmonious life of the family.

Lead roles are:
The father (age: 28 – 45)
The mother (age: 25 – 45)
The daughter (age: 5 – 12)

The shooting will take place August 16 - August 25.

About the filmmaker:
I am a University of Iowa MFA film production student from Poland. I have worked with actors both in film and theater. My films have played at international and local film festivals. My portfolio can be found at https://vimeo.com/67152093

Contact (email preferable):
email: katarzyna-plazinska@uiowa.edu
cell phone: 319-621-9269"

(Source: Kasia Plazinska)

The Aurora Project Opens May 11

Iowa City - Local director Rachel Korach Howell brings an intriguing new science fiction play to the stage as part of the University of Iowa New Play Festival 2013 production cycle. The Aurora Project runs Saturday May 11 for just two performances. Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for U of I students. Information on the rest of the festival offerings can be found here.  Read on for more about The Aurora Project:





"Don't miss The Aurora Project by Bella Poynton!

Summary:
Somewhere in the darkness, Constantine, an intelligent design, searches for a cure for Nora, his human companion. Infected by an alien race, Nora lays frozen as she and Constantine, travel through great spans of time and space.

Run time: 95 minutes

Audition for Iowa Playwrights Workshop -- Mold

Iowa City - "Iowa Playwrights Workshop member seeks an actress to premiere a role in Mold, a one-act play that performs Feb. 21-24th through University of Iowa Theater Arts Department’s gallery season. Rehearsals will begin between Jan. 18th- 21st. Auditions will be at the UI Theater Building (200 North Riverside Drive) in room 170 from 6 pm to 9 pm on Friday, Nov. 30th. The role is for Gert, an off-kilter, spunky 65-year-old cleaning woman who is physically falling apart. Mold is best described as horror/dark comedy. It's about a girl who escapes a bad relationship by moving to Madison, Wisconsin for med school and ends up at war with her abusive apartment. We are interested in anybody who can play an older woman.

More info:
Gert, 65. Foul-mouthed, jowl-faced. She wears dirty mismatched socks with sandals and yellow latex gloves.

Synopsis:
Jess has serious problems. Her apartment is dirty. Very dirty. And Gert, the decrepit cleaning woman, is not helping. Also, Jess has to deal with Rick, the repairman who breaks things. If only Jess could get her bathroom sparkling clean, she might be able to finally talk to her laundromat crush, Trevor. But as her failed attempts to clean her apartment lead to increasingly violent impulses, she is forced to confront her own psychic dirt.

There’s no compensation, but this will be a fun experience and the opportunity to premiere a role. It’s being directed by Katarzyna Plazinska, a film/theater director from Poland."

(source: Deborah Yarchun -- contact Deborah.Yarchun@gmail.com for more information)

UI Gallery Series -- Memoire: A Meditation

Iowa City - "After a brutal storm all but destroys his childhood home, a man returns from the city to help his sister restore the place. And to find--something. What, exactly, they can’t be sure. Meanwhile, a woman moves into a beach house with a widow and her infant daughter. Through the memories they share, the characters come to realize and accept their place in the worlds of both the past and the present."

Written by Micah Ariel James
Directed by Rachel Korach Howell
Assistant Director - Joshua Raheim
Stage Manager - Regan Loula

Cast:
Jaret Morlan
Molly Elizabeth Brown
Sarah Jarmon
Morris Hill
Ashley Sorenson

Times:
Thursday, November 29th – 8 PM
Friday, November 30th – 8 PM
Saturday, December 1st – 8 PM
Sunday, December 2nd – 2 PM

Location:
University of Iowa Theatre Building, Theatre B

Ticket Prices:
Free for University of Iowa students with a valid university ID
$5 for non-students

(Source: Rachel Korach Howell)

University Seeks Actors for New Play Festival

The University of Iowa is looking for two actors for Collective Amnesia by Janet Schlapkohl. Auditions are March 3rd & 4th and the show will be performed on May 5th.

Roles:

1) Dr. ZWEIFEL, MD. PhD Male 60’s -90’s German. A diligent scientist and caring mentor to Judith.

2) JUDITH JONSON, PHD; Female 50’s Caucasion. An ambitious and conflicted scientist, grieving for and striving to understand her mentor.

If interested, contact leeann-yeckley@uiowa.edu to set up an audition.

What Are You Doing This Weekend?

There's a wide variety of theatre in the Corridor this weekend, from old classics to brand-new works, with a little holiday (or rather, anti-holiday) flavor thrown in as well.

Here's the rundown:

@Riverside
Guys on Ice continues its run at Riverside. It's an ice-fishing musical about two pals trying to land a cable fishing show. The show starts at 7:30 (2 on Sunday); tickets Here.

@The Ox Yoke Inn
Murder Rides again is Old Creamery's whodunnit with food, held at the Ox Yoke Inn. The show begins at 6; call the Ox Yoke at 1.800.233.3441 for tickets.

@TCR
Theatre Cedar Rapids continues with the hilarious Oscar Wilde play The Importance of Being Earnest on the mainstage, while down in the basement, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde tells a darker tale of Oscar Wilde's persecution by a court that was highly suspicious of his work and his lifestyle. Earnest is on the mainstage Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 (Sunday at 2:30); Gross Indecency is in the Grandon at 7:30 Friday & Saturday. Tickets here.

@PS1
3 Brothers' Men Misbehaving is a series of bad-boy monologues that is stomping up the Corridor from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City this weekend. They'll be at Public Space One (129 E. Washington St) at 7:30 (2 on Sunday); call 319.621.0024 for tickets.

Also in Public Space on this weekend is Mud, a University of Iowa Theatre Honors Project. The play is written by Maria Irene Fornes and directed by Maria Vorhis. From the Facebook page:

"Mae is learning to read. When not at school, she irons all day and takes care of Lloyd. Mae meets Henry, and desiring his brilliant mind, invites him to live with them. Tensions in the house grow and Mae must choose between the world she inhabits and the world she craves."

The cost is free, and the time is 8 starting Thursday (tonight), and Friday. For Saturday and Sunday, the show will move to the University of Iowa Theatre Building, room 172.

@UI
While you're in the Theatre Building to see Mud, why not pop into the Next Room? Yes, the University is doing Sarah Ruhl's hit adult comedy In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play. It's an examination of the history of the vibrator, which was originally invented by Victorian doctors to cure "hysteria" in women. Ruhl's play is a bold and funny look at the sexual politics of the Victorian Age and the fear of feminine sexuality. It's at 8pm Friday and Saturday (no Sunday) in E. C. Mabie Theatre. Tickets through Hancher.

@Gilbert St. Piano Lounge
The sexy and funny In the Next Room must be the perfect show for Valentine's Day. But what if you can't stand Valentine's Day? Well, the perfect show for you might be Fourth Room's Anti-Valentine's Day Cabaret, F*CK LOVE!!! From Fourth Room's press release:

"Fourth Room Theatre presents an evening of piano and song dedicated to the misery, insanity, heartbreak, betrayal, boredom, loss, grief, unrequited passion, obsession, creepiness and sadism that comprise the dark side of Hallmark's favorite holiday.

F*ck Love features songs by C.Lo Green, George Michael, Stephen Sondheim, Adele, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Burt Bacharach, Weird All Yankovic, Leonard Cohen, Chess the Musical and many others."

The show begins at 8pm. Cost is a $5 donation at the door, which goes to help fund Fourth Room's next season.

@The UU
Dreamwell continues its "Here I Stand" season with Sans Merci by Joanna Adams. It's the story of a staunchly conservative woman's encounter with her daughter's lesbian lover. The girl has recently died tragically, and as the details unfold, the two very different survivors must find some common ground. Plays Friday & Saturday at 7:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Society. Tickets here.

@Coe College
Last but not least, the Acting Company is bringing a production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors to Coe College. The production, directed by Ian Belknap, is a ridiculous romp playing off confusion and mistaken identity, centered around two pairs of long-lost twins. Plays Sunday at 3pm; call Coe's box office at 319.399.8600 for tickets.

So what are you waiting for? Plenty of options this weekend, so you've got no excuse. Grab your date, your twin, your imaginary brother, or your anti-Valentine's-Day anger, and get out to the theatre!

Actors needed for staged reading of ‘Invisible Man’

Iowa City - Union and non-union actors are being sought for a staged reading of a new adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s seminal novel Invisible Man. An honorarium of $100 will be paid to each cast member. The book won the National Book Award in 1953. Oren Jacoby has adapted the novel for the stage, and director Christopher McElroen is preparing for the world premiere of the play, set for early 2012 in Chicago, with an extended residency at the University of Iowa. The staged reading is part of that residency.

Auditions will take place on Monday, November 7 at 6 p.m. in Shambaugh Auditorium, located in the UI Main Library. The reading will be performed on Saturday, December 3 at 7 p.m. in Shambaugh Auditorium.

Those who are cast must be able to attend the majority of rehearsals. Rehearsal dates and times are:

November 28, 1-6 p.m.
November 29, 1-6 p.m.
November 30, 11-3:30 p.m.
December 1, 3-8 p.m.
December 2, 11-4 p.m.
December 3, 4-7 p.m., with public reading to begin at 7 p.m.

McElroen is seeking: Three African American males ranging in age from mid-20s to late-50s; two Caucasian males ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-50s; two African American females ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-40s; and one Caucasian female ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-30s.

Actors are asked to prepare a two-minute monologue of their choosing. Those with questions may contact Hancher Executive Director Chuck Swanson at 319-335-1133.

Kid actors needed for UI play

Iowa City - One of the the University of Iowa's New Play Festival's shows, Proficient by Jess Foster, needs to cast children. They are having a casting session for First Graders through Fourth Graders on Wednesday March 23 from 5:30-8 pm at the University's Theatre Building. For questions please contact Kristin Kurz at kristinp.kurz@gmail.com or 732-865-5987.

A description of the show follows:

Ms. Delaney teaches first grade in a worn-out school district that can barely afford books. When an innovative educational program is presented to her with added financial incentives for the school, she jumps at the chance. However, she soon realizes that the program is turning her students into robotic test-taking machines. Ms. Delaney attempts to find her way out of the program and back to the old way of education only to find that she’s more deeply ensnared than she realized. In a world of No Child Left Behind and consistent government cuts to education, Proficient forces us to contemplate the dirty underbelly of America’s educational system, and asks the vital question: is what we are doing really serving our children?

There will be some language in the presence of the children on stage, such as "hell" and "shit".

Icky nominations announced

Every year, the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA) celebrates innovation in arts programming with an evening of awards and entertainment. Called the "Ickys", one of the categories is related to this blog: Theatre Programming. The nominations for innovative theatre programming for 2010 are:

Dreamwell Theatre – A Taboo Bijou
Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Theatre – Another Serving of Slices of Life
SPT Theatre Company – The Writer’s Room Series
Theatre Cedar Rapids – Rent
University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts (in partnership with Hancher) – Eye Piece

The programming is varied. TCR's production of Rent was hailed as amazing all over the corridor and even impressed Anthony Rapp, the actor who originated the role of Mark on Broadway. While this blog does not cover University Theatre productions and therefore did not review Eye Piece, an original work by Rinde Eckert, word on the street was that it was an powerful show. Two theatres were honored for original work. Another Serving of Slices of Life was a series of original short plays by local writers. The Writer's Room is a series of original skits around a common theme set to music. We've applauded their efforts for a while now on this blog and are thrilled that they received this recognition. A common theme was key to Dreamwell's nomination as well. For 2010, they presented five plays that created a year long community conversation by asking "What does it mean to be 'taboo' and how do we recognize and confront taboo subjects and situations?"

Theaters also represented in a couple of other awards as well. City Circle Acting Company of Coralville (in partnership with The Iowa Children’s Museum) was nominated in the Children's Programming category for Once on This Island.For Educational Programming, there's a showdown in Amana as Iowa Theatre Artists was nominated for Remain True and The Old Creamery Theatre Company was nominated for Camp Creamery: Little Red Riding Hood. For the Collaborative Award between ICCA members, Theatre Cedar Rapids with the Cedar Rapids Community School District was nominated for Spotlight on Schools. The nominees for the other collaborative award - between an ICCA member and a non-member - includes two theaters: Old Creamery Theatre Company with the Clear Creek Amana Community School District for the 2010 Old Creamery Studio Series and Theatre Cedar Rapids with Ryan Companies and OPN Architects for the Iowa Theater Grand Reopening.

ICCA, a group of over 150 arts and cultural organizations in the Eastern Iowa Corridor of Linn, Johnson and the nine adjacent counties, will present its 5th Annual Meeting and Excellence in Innovation Honors on Monday, January 31, 2011 from 6:30-9:00 p.m. at The Englert Theatre in Iowa City. The Emmy-like event, well known in the Corridor as The Ickys, will feature live performances by artists and organizations celebrating special milestone anniversaries as well as the announcement of the recipients of the 2011 Icky Honors. All ICCA partners, associates, and community members are invited to attend.

For a complete list of all nominations, go here.

Iowa Summer Rep auditions coming up

UI - The Iowa Summer Rep, the professional theatre company in residence at the University of Iowa, is seeking Equity and Non-Equity actors for its 2010 season. Auditions will be held February 20-21. For more information and to reserve an audition spot, please visit this website.

Paid Improvisational Acting Opportunity

UI - We received this notice of a paid acting gig. Check it out!

Professors Jay Christensen-Szalanski and Lon Moeller of the College of Business are making another collection of ten videos for a digital book on management. They will pay $75 per hour for acting talent, provide prominent listing of the talent in the book credits, and provide talent with a digital of the video. Filming will occur in April and early May. If you are interested please read the following and contact Jay-Christensen-Szalanski@uiowa.edu.

Pay = $75 for one hour per actor/actress to a maximum of three people per scene. You will be paid in cash at the time of the filming.

Task: Portray a problem that you or someone you know experienced in any business setting (see examples below). Talent will be responsible for developing a rough script of the scene. We will help you develop the characters during the filming session. Improvisation skills are important since the dialogue will be mostly improvised not memorized. We are interested in conveying a candid “news” feel rather than a staged Hollywood feel. Typical scenes will be about 4 minutes long. Filming usually consists of 3 takes that are completed in one enjoyable hour. We prefer that you arrange for the other talent in your scene. However, let us know if you have an idea for a scene and need a partner, or if you want to act in someone else’s scene. Depending upon the scene we can arrange for the setting to film in. However, we will pay an additional $30 if you can arrange for your own setting.

Some sample scene ideas:

Supervising a problem employee (e.g. lazy, unfriendly, obnoxious, gossipy).

Working with a problem co-worker or someone who just doesn’t fit in.

Working for an undesirable or unappreciative boss.

Encountering a difficult customer.

Encountering a useless bureaucrat.

Complaining to an employee about a flawed product or service that they provided you, the customer.

Summer rep auditions

UI - Iowa Summer Rep is holding auditions February 21-22. All acting positions are paid. This year, they are feauturing the plays of Sarah Ruhl, specifically Clean House and Dead Man's Cell Phone. More information can be found here.

Weekend Theatre roundup

Tomorrow night No Shame returns in a new location due to that crazy flood we had over the summer.

And also opening tomorrow night, Stones in His Pockets at Riverside. And be sure to check back for a review of the opening night performance.

No Shame Theatre will go on!

UI - No Shame Theatre will return this fall despite the fact that the University of Iowa's Theatre Building is still closed due to flooding. They have a new home in Public Space One at 115 E. Washington Street. The first show will be Friday, September 5th. The cost is still just a dollar.

"Now that No Shame is downtown, you can see the show and still go out with your friends after!" says one unnamed No Shame organizer. "Or better yet, you can perform in the show and go out with your friends after!"

The concept of No Shame is they provide a space for 15 short theatrical pieces every Friday night at 11 pm. You never know what you will get. Sometimes it's a bunch of crap. And sometimes it's earth shatteringly brilliant. Most times, it's somewhere in between.

Many local theatre artists spent time presenting their work at No Shame, including this writer. My wife and I still every once in a while reference a No Shame piece from way back when, perhaps shouting "Hey, you kids, get off of my lawn!" or "He's waiting for Godot... to leave." And then there was Naked Cops, a police skit that completely ignored the fact that every actor was naked. What guts those people had to be naked on stage with, well, completely average bodies. Of course, I'm old. The skits I'm referencing are from 1993. But it remains a great theatre tradition that began in Iowa City in 1986 and has spread across the country.

The rules of No Shame:

-Pieces must be original.
-Pieces must not damage the space or its occupants.
-Pieces MUST be five minutes or LESS.

For a history of No Shame Theatre, go here.

I recommend you check it out if you've never been. In fact, I am thinking I might stop by next Friday to see what craziness the kids are up to these days.

--Matt Falduto

Weekend roundup

Two very different shows open this weekend - Grand Rounds: Experiencing Cancer and ICCT's Man with a Load of Mischief. Check 'em out! The article about the Grand Rounds show is here and the ICCT show is here.

Paying Acting Gig

UI - Professors Lon Moeller and Jay Christensen-Szalanski of the College of Business are making a digital book on conflict management. It will include several short video and audio segments that will be used in the book either as exercises for the reader to evaluate or to exemplify the text.

They are looking for actors and actresses for both types of segments. They will pay $40 for one video hour per actor/actress and $15 for one audio hour per actor/actress. They will also list the talents’ names in the acting/voice credits in their book. If you are interested please read the following and contact Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu.

Video Segments. Filming will start in 10 days and end in late May. The acting talent can portray any conflict situation from the list below. You create the scene but the entire sequence needs to be 20-90 seconds long. We are interesting in capturing examples of “everyday” conflict in which at least one of the individuals is very emotional (e.g. guilty, angry, frustrated, defensive, fearful, etc). It will be a single-camera shot that focuses on facial gestures and voice. We are seeking segments that will have more of an impromptu “news” feel than a rehearsed dramatic production.

Each segment will include an additional 15-30 seconds of narration (recorded later by the book’s narrator) to set the scene and give background information. We will be bringing minimal equipment and thus the location you use can be as small as a dorm room or of a single person on a phone. Alternatively, we can select a location in Iowa City. We expect that set-up and time for 3-4 takes will all be completed within 90 minutes with talent being paid for a minimum of one hour. Please send a 1-2 sentence description of the proposed scene to Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu, who will respond within 24 hours. Talent may only appear in one video segment but may also participate in the audio segments listed below.

Conflict Topics For Video Segments

• • employee vs. supervisor
• • patient vs. health care provider
• • customer vs. store employee
• • co-workers
• • family members
• • roommates
• • union representative vs. manager
• • teacher vs. parent of a student
• • emotional person is not saying what is really bothering her/him
• • listener misunderstands what is really bothering the emotional person.

Audio Segments (no memorization) - In two weeks the authors will be circulating an additional list of short scripts (5-15 lines). They are seeking people with expressive voices that can effectively convey different strong emotions. No memorization is required. The entire session will last one hour and will occur on campus. We provide the recording equipment. Pay is $15 for one hour. Participants in the video segments are also eligible to participate in this activity. If you would like to receive a list of parts when they are available please contact Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu.