Is It That Time Already?

by James E. Trainor III

It's that time again, as the 00s roll over to the 10s, to take stock. What Cedar Rapids shows really stand out as memorable over the last ten years? Why? And what's this whole theatre thing all about, anyway?

Of course this list is highly subjective, and I'm sure to have missed some pretty amazing productions (according to what I've been told, for example, Moving Home is something I should not have missed), but here is my personal top five favorite shows in Cedar Rapids, 2000-2009:

5) Urinetown - Kirkwood Community College

Since I went back to school for a big chunk of the 00s, I saw a lot of college shows. It's always good to see growing artists honing their craft, and Kirkwood's faculty helps give the shows a real professional feel.

Urinetown is a satirical musical by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis. It tells the story of a community under the oppression of a brutal 20-year drought, and the "pay-to-pee" plan instituted by the Urine Good Company, which owns all the public toilets. Done in a fourth-wall demolishing Brechtian style, it serves as a hilarious send up of Marxist politics, the excesses of corporate greed, and the form of musical theatre itself.

Kirkwood's music program is very good, and the students shined in this production. Jillian Noah (whose soulful voice is known to fans of Funk 101) played Hope, the disastrously optimistic daughter of Caldwell B. Cladwell, the villainous head of the Urine Good Company, brilliantly acted by Ryan Westwood. Alex Chapman played Bobby Strong, the naive, headstrong boy who takes a stand and dares to "pee for free." Other notable performances included Colin Rail as Officer Lockstock, Molly Pratt as Little Sally, and Sheila Wagner as Penelope Pennywise.

The design of the show created a wonderful environment. Doug Anderson's lighting design created the dark, cynical atmosphere of this story, and his set gave the cast plenty of room for this rather large show. Annie Noah's costumes reinforced the themes quite well; when the poor people stood up to the rich in the end of the first act, it looked like something lifted directly from an old propaganda poster. All in all, a hilarious and thought-provoking piece.

4) Cosi - Theatre Cedar Rapids

Of all the diverse shows I've seen at TCR in the past ten years, the fun and outrageous Cosi is actually the one that makes me the most sentimental. I think it was the clash of the idealistic protagonist with the grim realities of mental illness that drew me into the piece. It's based on playwright Louis Nowra's own experience in 1971, when he was hired to direct Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial By Jury at a mental institution. In Cosi, the play has been changed to Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, but the time and task are the same. Lewis (played passionately and honestly by Gareth Strope), the protagonist, at first clinging to his baby-boomer idealism, discovers real, practical, messy humanity in these people, and in the process reaches a deeper understanding of what it means to make a difference in the world.

As I recall, there was nothing fancy in this show; it was just good storytelling. Richard Barker's direction was unencumbered and straightforward, and the energetic performances of Jason Alberty, Marty Norton, David McCauley and David E. Hein were delightfully funny while still getting the message across. This charming production is one of my fondest recent memories of TCR.

3) A Number - Stage Left Productions.

Stage Left was a short-lived but energetic project, charged with bringing affordable and thought-provoking theatre to the Cedar Rapids area. Many of their productions were a little raw around the edges, but Caryl Churchill's A Number stood out as being carefully planned and artfully produced. Steven Marc Weiss and Steve Wunderlich performed in this two-hander, and Josh Beadle directed.

Churchill has a knack for dropping the audience directly into an intense emotional moment without needing to spend a lot of time on backstory. What can be pieced together about the plot of A Number is this: Salter at some point cloned his son, in order to make up for his catastrophic failure as a father the first time around. However, he got more than he bargained for, and as the show opens we learn that there are an unspecified number of clones walking around.

The plot may sound a little far-fetched, but the play is really about universal emotional issues: the problems of fatherhood and the difficulty of putting one's finger on personal identity. Weiss and Wunderlich did a lot of work on Churchill's extremely challenging text in order to bring it to Cedar Rapids, at the Paul Engle Center for Neighborhood Arts. The small, three-quarter round set was very effective in setting an intimate mood for this piece.

A Number was one of the most professional and effective shows of the short-lived Stage Left Productions, and my personal favorite.

2) Pillowman - Urban Theater Project

UTP shows are few and far between, but they have enough of an effect on the community that the company deserves a mention here. The brainchild of Leslie Charipar, the Urban Theatre Project strives to bring Cedar Rapids, in the words of its website, "its own brand of visceral, messy, in-your-face theater in non-theatrical settings all over the city."

Martin McDonagh's Pillowman was directed by Jason Alberty, who took over as Artistic Director when Charipar was succeeded Richard Barker at Theatre Cedar Rapids. The production took place in the empty space above Blend, which contributed a lot to its toned-down, minimalist approach.

McDonagh's play is a mix of gritty realism and Orwellian fantasy. Katurian is an writer of horror stories who is being interrogated by the police in an unspecified totalitarian state. The police believe the subject matter in his stories, most of which deal with children being gruesomely murdered, connects him to a recent string of disappearances. We soon learn the truth, but not before we are introduced to the macabre background stories of Katurian, his brother Michael, and the two detectives.

This is dark comedy at its finest, and Jason Alberty certainly stepped up to the task here. I think the best thing about this production was that everything was hemmed in; the set was simple and functional, and nearly all of the extras were replaced by some rather chilling animation shorts (produced by Paul Huenemann and Right Purdy Productions).

Most significantly, the performances themselves were minimalistic. One expects outrageous flights of fancy from Jason Alberty, but the humor here was rather small and subtle. Jim Kropa, who played Katurian, was intensely committed throughout the piece. Only for brief moments did he seem to get lost in his head; for most of the time he was entirely present, acting moment to moment. Scott Humeston, who played Tupolski, was subtle and never over-performed. His approach to the material was simple and his objective work was clear, and the result was that his wry sense of humor really showed through. On the other end of the spectrum, Alex Williams was a delight. A terrifying delight, to be sure, but there was something magnetic about his portrayal of the psychotically violent Ariel. Though his approach was a lot more dynamic than the others, every bit of physical work was well thought-out and full of dramatic purpose.

I really enjoyed this show. A great script, a great cast, and skillful direction made it one of my favorites.

1) The Crucible - Classics at Brucemore

There's something about the right show at the right time that reminds us why we do theatre. The Crucible, Arthur Miller's masterful indictment of McCarthy-era politics, was the perfect selection for the summer of 2002, when the civil-rights abuses of the PATRIOT Act were fresh in our minds.

Perhaps choosing the right play would have been enough, but this production, director by Jim Kern, made such a lasting impression on me for two reasons. First, they made excellent use of the Brucemore grounds, which is not always suited to a lot of shows that are produced there. I was particularly struck by the way the show started. There was no announcement or curtain speech; rather, the girls ran off to play at witchcraft in the woods, drawing the audience's attention offstage, and Parris ran off to catch them at it. Other scenes made simple and effective use of what really can be a magical playing space.

Second, the acting was simply superb. Everyone involved seems to understand the stakes in the story, and everyone was honest, passionate and committed. In particular, David McCauley was frightening as the ruthless Deputy Governor Danforth, and Rip Russell was strong and noble as the complex John Proctor. His stand against authority was particularly reassuring at the time, at the beginning of the Bush years, as it served to remind me that I was not alone in being troubled by the aggressive stance being taken by the newly authoritarian government. Dramatizing a resistance to injustice gives us a feeling of control over our own destiny.

And perhaps that's what theatre is for: to look at issues that are too complex be covered in a sound byte. To show us not only our opponents' follies, but our own. To act out our struggles, both small and large, right now, in front of us, using real people and physical props. It's an incredible philosophical exercise, to sit safely in the cover of darkness, while we take a stand against the oppressive state by proxy.

Or are crushed underneath its heel, if only our stories can be saved. Or question our fathers, or heal the sick, or lead a hopeless revolution with an optimistic song. All of these shows, in different ways, reminded me why I love the theatre, and how lucky I am to have such a variety of quality theatre here at home.

Of course, I've left a lot out. Congratulations to the successes of all Cedar Rapids theaters, big and small, and good luck in the next ten years. I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring.

(For some thoughts about theatre in the Iowa City area, check out Matt Falduto's piece here.)