Copious Notes

Warren Hammack, the longtime artistic director of Horse Cave Theatre, will be at the Kentucky Book Fair Saturday in Frankfort to support a new book of plays that premiered at the theatre during his tenure.

World Premiers from Horse Cave Theatre compiles 14 scripts from writers including Sallie Bingham, Billy Edd Wheeler and Liz Bussey Fentress, who co-edited the book with Hammack. From 9:30 until 11 a.m. Saturday, Hammack, Fentress and other actors will present cuts from plays featured in the anthology in the Glass Room of the Capitol Plaza Hotel, adjacent to the Book Fair. They will then be at the fair, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to sign books and talk to visitors.

During his years at Horse Cave, now Kentucky Repertory Theatre, Hammack established a tradition of presenting new works from Kentucky authors, some of which were filmed and presented on KET, through a project called Kentucky Voices. The anthology, published by Motes Books of Louisville, includes a preface from Hammack, an afterword from Fentress and notes from the playwrights about their shows and the productions of them.

Tom Eblen writes about the Book Fair and Kentucky’s literary tradition.

Mark O'Connor rehearses with University of Kentucky graduate student Jessica Miskelly and the UK Symphpny Orchestra on Oct. 28, 2009. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

It’s a typical rehearsal two days before a concert.

The University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra is on the stage in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall with conductor John Nardolillo stopping occasionally to tweak parts, but mostly letting the music flow.

Centerstage two violinists trade increasingly virtuosic, knee bending phrases, somewhat reminiscent of a  little Peach State fiddle duel Charlie Daniels once sang about.

This is where things become less typical.

O'Connor and cellist Geoffrey Hershberger rehearse O'Connor's "Double Concerto for Violin and Cello."

One of the violinists is UK graduate student Jessica Miskelly. The other is Mark O’Connor, a classical music star who has distinguished himself by successfully bridging traditional classical music and American folk. He’s currently in the midst of a short residency at UK which will culminate in a Friday night concert featuring O’Connor, several of his compositions, the UK Choirs and several students sharing his spotlight.

“I’ve been doing more residencies the last couple of years at institutions,” O’Connor said in his dressing room, a few minutes before Wednesday’s rehearsal began. “Every time I show up at performances around the country, there’s all kinds of questions about, ‘Where’s this music going?’ and what your background is. There’s always some kind of educational component to it, so I just decided to expand that.”

In addition to UK, O’Connor works with students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts and the UK String Project, a primary school program, this week.

O’Connor has done his mini-residencies at prestigious schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the University of California, Los Angeles.

But he wanted to come to Kentucky.

In part, it was because of a growing relationship between O’Connor and the orchestra, which included another visit several years ago and a performance in February with the UK Symphony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Our Lincoln production.

“John Nardolillo has put a great emphasis on performance and getting the material ready,” O’Connor said, referring the UK Symphony’s director. “It’s just fantastic to see and hear . . . It’s going to be a darned good show for the audience.”

This visit also brings O’Connor close to Appalachia, a region he is strongly identified with thanks to his own music and several celebrated albums of Appalachian music with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer.

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Studio Players is soliciting play proposals from potential directors for its 2010-11 season.

Director Gary McCormick proposed "The Unexpected Guest" -- starring Graeme Hart and Lisa Welch -- which opened Studio Players' current season.

For several years, the theater in the Carriage House on Bell Court has programmed seasons by selecting plays from director proposals.

Hopefuls may submit as many as three scripts for consideration, and directors are encouraged to put together a mix of styles and genres. The theater generally programs two comedies, a drama/mystery/thriller, a classic or period piece, and one lesser-known piece. Musicals will be considered too, primarily as summer selections.

Submissions should include the title, author, publisher, number and gender of characters, and a brief synopsis of each play. Director résumés are optional. Send submissions by e-mail to Scott Turner at scotthalvorsenturner@gmail.com, or by mail to 110 Kelly Avenue, Georgetown, Ky. 40324.

Lexington Philharmonic music director Scott Terrell conducts a combined rehearsal of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras' symphony orchestra and the Philharmonic Oct. 19. CKYO director Kayoko Dan stands at the back of the orchestra, in a black blouse. Photos by Matt Goins.

When I moved to Lexington in 1998, one thing that immediately struck me about the ­local arts scene was the prominence of children and organizations geared toward children.

The Lexington Children’s Theatre’s shows rated the same sort of attention as productions at Actors Guild of Lexington and other area stages.

The Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras’ events and personnel moves were prominent news. There were two institutions - the Explorium (then, the Lexington Children’s Museum) and the Living Arts and Science Center - geared toward children’s arts, particularly visual arts.

The School for Creative and Performing Arts had a prominent place in town, but there were stage, art and music programs at other schools also producing talented graduates who went on to arts careers.

Children’s Health magazine recently ranked Lexington No. 6 on its list of the 100 best places to raise a family. The criteria included crime and safety, education, economics, housing, cultural attractions and health.

I’d be willing to bet that if someone wanted to rank best places to be an artsy kid, Lexington would rate high on that list, too. By virtue of what is offered, we tell our children that the arts are something to do and be respected for doing.

Students Madelyn Nelson, left, Sara Arthur-Paratley, and Mary Rollins-Mathews rehearsed with the Lexington Ballet on Monday in preparation for Youth Arts Day.

The Lexington Philharmonic, the Horse Capitol of the World’s flagship arts organization, will celebrate young artists with its Youth Arts Day family concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Singletary Center for the Arts. It will include young singers from SCAPA, Fayette County Public Schools and the School of the Lexington Ballet.

The prominence of youth-oriented groups here is quite a bit more than other communities that I have lived in or observed. Over the nearly 12 years since I arrived, it has become clear that a big reason for that is quality.

Take the Children’s Theatre: In a town that has struggled with the concept of professional theater for adults, the Lexington Children’s Theatre has established itself with its own building on Short Street and a professional staff, including actors. What’s more, Larry and Vivian Snipes have developed a national reputation for the theater by being a venue that presents and creates new work. And the primary beneficiaries are kids.

And it really wasn’t terribly surprising that when the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras went looking for a new music director at the same time that the Lexington Philharmonic was trying to fill a similar job, it ended up attracting and hiring Kayoko Dan, also a candidate for the Philharmonic post.

CKYO has graduated numerous professional musicians, including Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Nathan Cole and hard-to-categorize cello soloist Ben Sollee.

Outside of groups directly geared toward kids, Lexington arts groups have been generous to kids.
Look at Paragon Music Theatre, which routinely loads the stage with kids, including Hello Dolly! this weekend, and even makes a place for them in its cabaret shows.

During years without a professional company, the Lexington Ballet featured its students in productions, and it and Kentucky Ballet Theatre, which has always had a pro troupe, always find ways to present students. Former Ballet Theatre dancer Adalhi Aranda Corn saw such value in Central Kentucky’s young artists she left and formed Bluegrass Youth Ballet and eventually built CulturArte, an arts facility that acommodates a variety of disciplines.

Possibly one of the biggest statements about valuing student artists was when the Lexington Singers’ ­Children’s Chorus was invited to perform in the Our Lincoln performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington in February.

And now LexArts has formed a Youth Arts Council to help focus young artists in the area.

Clarinetists Andrew Burton, 14, left, of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras and Mike Acord of the Philharmonic rehearsed together Monday.

Full disclosure: My children have participated in some of these groups, and one is in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, although not the ensemble performing Sunday with the Lexington Philharmonic.

In addition, I’ve gotten to know many other kids who participate in groups. Maybe the most important thing these groups engender is enthusiasm for the arts they are participating in. I hear spirited discussions about play rehearsal and genuine interest in Bach sonatas.

Like anything, Lexington’s youth arts scene isn’t perfect. I remain baffled, for instance, why SCAPA does not have a theater of its own. Then again, SCAPA regularly solves that problem by putting its kids on stages usually graced by adults and pros.

It occurred to me as I left a CKYO rehearsal last week with my daughter that by virtue of her participation in the orchestra, she’s on the University of Kentucky campus every week. Most of us didn’t get used to being on a college campus until we had enrolled.

That’s just one of many ways that through our youth arts, regardless of whether the students pursue arts careers, by supporting such substantial programs, we’re preparing our kids for the rest of their lives.

The managing director of Actors Guild of Lexington, Kimberly Shaw, is leaving the theater to become the stage manager of a production that will tour Europe through 2010.

Kimberly Shaw. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Her departure leaves the embattled troupe with its top two management posts vacant and only one full-time employee remaining.

Although her departure comes at the end of a summer that saw the theater tumble into financial turmoil, the Lexington native says her resignation is not because of Actors Guild’s troubles.

“I had a meeting with the board’s executive committee Friday afternoon that was very productive and we were excited about some of the plans we were making,” said Shaw, who came to the theater in Sept. 2008 and had previously worked for the theater at Princeton University, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the New York International Fringe festival. “Then, out of the blue, I got this offer and it was personally and financially hard to turn down.”

Shaw said she is joining a show called India. It is a production of Franco Dragone Entertainment, which has produced shows such as Celine Dion in Las Vegas.

“It’s a sad loss for AGL,” said board president Jennifer Miller. “But I cannot say enough good things about Kim, and we could not possibly resent her for taking this amazing opportunity.”

With Shaw’s leaving and the departure of artistic director Richard St. Peter in August, Actors Guild now has only one full-time staffer left: associate artistic director Eric Ryan Seale.

Actors Guild produced a season-opening production — the Rodgers and Hart revue Beguiled Again, which closed earlier this month — but the theater has not announced any further productions.

Miller said the theater will be making some announcements about its future, including upcoming productions, soon.

Shaw said she is confident “the theater is poised to make it.

“The board is ready to answer the tough questions. It’s been a rough summer for AGL, but through that process, people have come on board and the staff is committed to work.”

Jack Parrish (right) discusses a scene with actor Walter May during rehearsals for Actors Guild of Lexington's 2004 production of Yasmina Reza's "Art." Herald-Leader file photo by David Stephenson.

Click here to sign an online guest book for Mr. Parrish.

Jack Parrish, a mostly Richmond, Va.-based actor and director who spent the last few years of his life enriching the Central Kentucky theater scene, died Thursday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56.

Mr. Parrish was born in Richmond and got into theater while he was in high school. His theater and film career included the roles of Brad Garrick on Another World and Brian Collier on All My Children, as well as stage work in New York and regional stages around the country, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In 2004, Actors Guild of Lexington’s then-new artistic director Richard St. Peter hired Mr. Parrish to direct the first production under his watch: Yasmina Reza’s play Art.

Mr. Parrish eventually moved to Central Kentucky, where he directed the drama department at Kentucky State University in Frankfort and continued to be active in area theater.

“Watching him act was like watching a master class in the craft,” said Tim X. Davis, Mr. Parrish’s predecessor at KSU and one of the actors in that 2004 production of Art. “I was proud to have Jack take my place at Kentucky State and continue to improve upon the program we had built there. His colleagues and students from KSU, many of whom I’m still in contact with, have nothing but the most positive things to say about him and his work. His work onstage here in Lexington, brief though it was, was simply stunning.”

Mr. Parrish’s roles in Lexington included Polonius and the Gravedigger in Actors Guild’s 2007 production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He was set to take center stage as Falstaff in Actors Guild’s summer 2008 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor for Shakespeare at Equus Run but had to bow out because of his cancer treatments.

“It breaks my heart that the community never got to see his Falstaff … as it would have blown people out of their seats,” said Davis, who now directs the theater and film program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

Mr. Parrish eventually returned to Richmond with his wife, Kathy Ann Parrish. He was in hospice care when he died.

“I feel like I have lost a family member and one of my best friends all rolled into one,” said St. Peter, who resigned his post at Actors Guild in August. “He was an extraordinary actor, a brilliant interpreter of Shakespeare, a terrific director and a true ‘man of the theater.’”

George Foreman, director of the Norton Center for the Arts, shown standing in the middle of Newlin Hall in August, as the theater was undergoing a rennovation, including replacing all the seats. Photo by Rich Copley | staff.

George Foreman, the impresario who made the Norton Center for the Arts an unlikely cultural hotspot, will leave at the end of this year to become the new director of the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center.

“I’m really excited, flattered and honored,” Foreman said, when reached at his office. “They have some wonderful things going on down there and I hope to build on that.”

The University of Georgia’s president is former Centre College President Michael F. Adams.

“It is a nice set of circumstances,” Foreman said of the prospect of working for Adams again. “I welcome the opportunity to renew that association.”

Foreman said Adams did not pursue him for the position but that Adams’ presence did pique his interest in the opportunity at a time when, “I wasn’t looking for a job.”

At Georgia, Foreman will oversee a concert hall, which is often featured on the public radio program Performance Today, recital hall, fine arts theater and the university chapel.

“I always think the best thing I have done in my career I haven’t done yet,” Foreman said, “and the best thing to happen for the Norton Center hasn’t happened yet.”

If that’s the case, over the last 26 years, Foreman has given himself and his successor tough acts to follow.

Since arriving at the Norton Center in 1983, Foreman brought a who’s who of classical music and popular entertainment stars – from Mikhail Baryshnikov to Dolly Parton – to the cultural complex at Centre College, a school with around 1,200 students in Danville, a town with a population of just over 15,000. For many acts that rolled through the Norton Center’s Newlin Hall and Weisiger Theatre, Danville was the smallest town they played.

In addition to entertainers, the Norton Center hosted the Vice-presidential candidates debate between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat Joe Lieberman in 2000.

Reflecting on his tenure, Foreman zeroed in on the March performance by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the March 2001 performance of Morton Feldman’s 6-hour-long Second String Quartet by The Flux Quartet as highlights.

“I remember reading about that being done in New York, and I thought, the next place that should happen is Centre College,” said Foreman, who recalled students bringing a couch from the theater’s props department and plopping it in front of the stage for the quarter day performance. Similarly, he delighted that 500 Centre students – “nearly half the student population” – saw the New York Philharmonic.

“My first few years, I got to know the woman this center was named after,” Foreman said of Jane Morton Norton, a Louisville philanthropist. “I hope I have in some way been able to realize her vision of what she wanted this place to be.”

Most recently, Foreman oversaw a $3 million renovation of the Norton Center that will debut later this week with a season-opening presentation of a touring production of Camelot.

Foreman is also the founder of the Great American Brass Band Festival, an event that draws tens-of-thousands of visitors to Danville each year, and the Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass, which brings members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill Memorial Day weekend.

A press release from Centre said a national search for a new director for the Norton Center will commence immediately. Milton Reigelman, who has held many posts at Centre, including acting president, will serve as acting director of the center and Debra Hoskins will be the assistant director.

Would you like to have your film shown at the Kentucky Theatre over and over? 2007 photo by Janet Worne.

Several interesting film opportunities floated across the culture desk late last week:

What’s your policy?: How would you tell people to silence their cell phones and pagers and take their trash to the nearest receptacle? The films movie theaters use to convey these little housekeeping items are called policy trailers, and LexArts is sponsoring a contest to make a new policy trailer for the Kentucky Theatre.

The competition is open to any filmmaker 18 or older. There’s a $1,000 award for the winner, but the real prize will probably be having your film converted to 35mm and shown before every feature at the Kentucky Theatre. News of the contest reminded me of seeing some contest-winner policy trailers at the Toronto International Film Festival that were amusing, inventive, and a lot more fun than cheesy music or Front Row Joe.

Proposal submissions, including script and storyboard, must be sent to LexArts postmarked no later than Oct. 30. The winning film is expected to begin showing in January. Click here for complete information and forms.

Do-ers profile: The Lexington Film League is also looking for short films, these about people doing interesting things in their communities around Kentucky. The contest is open to filmmakers and non-filmmakers. Submissions should be no more than five-minutes in length and are due by Jan. 15. Click here for complete submission details. The contest is in conjunction with Make Yourself Necessary.

Larry Barnes. Photo courtesy of Transylvania University.

Barnes scores: This isn’t a contest, but it is a chance to hear the work of a Transylvania University artist on a film at the Kentucky. Transy music professor Larry Barnes scored the documentary Euphoria, which will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12. Tickets will be $6 general admission, $5 students. The documentary by Lee Boot, is described as an out-of-the-box art and science film that asks, is the American Dream working?

Barnes composed the score after the film had already been completed and won a gold medal at the Houston Film Festival. Boot had heard Barnes’ work and asked him to compose a score. CDs of the score and DVDs of the film will be available at the screening.

Musicians in the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Singers and UK Chorale settle onto the stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the Our Lincoln performance Feb. 2, 2009. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

The presentation of Our Lincoln at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in February was undeniably a big deal for Kentucky arts and humanities.

Artists who live and work here were presented on one of the nation’s most ­prestigious stages along with hometown kids who have made good and a few international stars, such as violinist Mark O’Connor. A production conceived and produced in Central Kentucky went to an international arts showplace and acquitted itself admirably.

I sat with a Washington cameraman who went on at length about how great the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra is. It was one of numerous anecdotes about seasoned Washington arts observers who were impressed with Our Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln played by Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg, left, and Henry Clay played by George MGee of Georgetown put the finishing touches on their costumes outside the entrance to the Kennedy Center.

But it is understandable that this might be lost on people who weren’t among the 1,463 people who saw the ­performance, given while the state was in the throes of an ice storm. ­Overseeing recovery ­efforts forced Gov. Steve Beshear to cancel his plans to attend.

But now Beshear and anyone else who would like to see the show can catch it in Michael Breeding’s PBS-quality DVD, which has just been released.

After raising the money to get the program to ­Washington, the Kentucky Humanities Council had to go back to the well for an ­additional $6,500 to produce the DVD, with the total costs to be recouped through sales.

What we can now see is that Breeding and his crew captured the proceedings in stunning detail, with shots that take the viewer onto the stage with the performers and also relay the grandeur of the occasion.

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Joanna Jerome is Julia and Aubin Munn is Laura in Crish Barth's "Hill Cattle," part of the Midway Festival of Plays. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Woodford County may be a bedroom community of Lexington, but this weekend it is a hotbed of local theater.

Continuing in Versailles is The Woodford Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest, which got high marks from the H-L’s own Candace Chaney. Over in Midway, the Thoroughbred Theatre is opening the inaugural Midway Festival of Plays, a lineup of seven 10-minute plays.

Dara Jade Tiller, shown backstage at Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2008, is in the Woodford Theatre's production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Photo by David Perry | Herald-Leader.

The 10-minute format has its roots in Kentucky at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, though we rarely get to see the format around here. In a nice little piece of synergy, Earnest features Dara Jade Tiller, a former Acting Apprentice at Actors Theatre who performed in the 2008 Humana Festival.

The whole Woodford theatrical weekend shows nice synergy in the area theater scene. Both productions are creations of Woodford Countians, but have drawn plenty of interest from the Lexington theater community and others.

So, if you’re looking for an excuse to take a little drive out through horse country this weekend, here it is.