Copious Notes

The University of Kentucky Theatre presents the final weekend of Andrew Kimbrough’s production of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” which will offer a new spin on how you view Guignol Theatre productions. Literally, Tony Hardin’s set faces the back stage of the Guignol with three rows of seats along the back wall. The primary set consists of an living room where Nora Helmer (Alys Dickerson) watches her idyllic world fall apart in what is widely considered the first feminist play. The set, which includes a jagged wall to peek into the office of Nora’s husband Torvald’s (Chris Floyd) office and an exterior wall that flies in for some scenes and a trapdoor staircase through which characters enter and exit. Nelson Fields costumes complete the Victorian look in the production that also stars Brian Sprague as Nils Krogstad, Abby Sheridan as Kristine Linde and Jeremy Gillett as Dr. Rank.

Studio Players gets the holiday theater season going with a different take on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The theater presents a minimalist production of Tom Mula’s “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol,” which supposes Scrooge’s redemption was Marley’s ticket out of an eternity in chains. Photos by Rich Copley | staff.

Read more about “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol.”

It’s only November, but Balagula Theatre can already lay claim to an award-winning season. The company, based at Natasha’s Bistro and Bar, took its productions of Samuel Beckett’s Play and Not I to Morehead State University for the community theater festival at the Kentucky Theatre Association’s annual conference, and it came home with several of the top prizes.

They included:

Ryan Case shown in Samuel Beckett's "Play." He won best actor at the Kentucky Theatre Association's community theatre festival for the performance and best director for "Not I." Photo by Rich Copley.

Best performance: “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” performed by the Balagula Theatre Company

Outstanding director: Ryan Case and Natasha Williams, “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” Balagula Theatre

Outstanding actor: Ryan Case, “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” Balagula Theatre

Excellence in lighting design: Gareth Evans, “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” Balagula Theatre

Excellence in scenic design: Gareth Evans, “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” Balagula Theatre

The remainder of the community theater festival award winners were:

1st Runner Up for best performance: “Overtones,” performed by Shelby County Community Theatre

Outstanding actress: Lynn McReynolds Chenault, “Overtones,” Shelby County Community Theatre

Outstanding supporting actor: Cody Anderson, “Little Women,” Artists Collaborative Theatre, Elkhorn City

Outstanding supporting actress: Teresa Myers, “One Freaky Afternoon in the Office Lunchroom,” Village Players, Fort Thomas

Outstanding ensemble: “Overtones,” Shelby County Community Theatre

Excellence in costume design: “Little Women,” Artists Collaborative Theatre

Outstanding technical crew: “Little Women,” Artists Collaborative Theatre

Excellence in stage management: Peggy Kenney, “One Freaky Afternoon in the Office Lunchroom,” Village Players

Spirit award: “Little Women,” performed by Artists Collaborative Theatre

The Lexington area was also distinguished in KTA’s inaugural Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Competition, where Danville’s Elizabeth Orndorff  won the top prize for “Aidan’s Gift” and Lexington’s Walter May was second runner up with “Gone Astray.” First runner up was “Bernice Sizemore’s 70th Birthday” by Nancy Gall-Clayton of Louisville.

In the High School festival, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s production of William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” was first runner up. The winner was Owensboro High School’s “Almost, Maine” and the second runner up was Bardstown High School’s “Zoo Story.”

For their wins, Balagula Theatre, Shelby County Community Theatre, Owensboro High School and Dunbar High will participate in the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s play competitions when the annual regional theater event comes to Lexington March 3-7.

Alex Parker as Sweeney Todd and Brittny Congleton as Mrs. Lovett sing "A Little Priest," from "Sweeney Todd" at UKMOO rehearsal Wednesday night. Photos by Rich Copley.

Brittny Congleton loves Stephen Sondheim’s music but has always been told that college students are too young to sing it.

“They’ll say, ‘Until you’ve had two divorces and suffered through alcoholism, how can you ­possibly understand Sondheim?” says ­Congleton, 22, a Transylvania University graduate.

Lexington attorney Pamela Perlman is Joanne singing "The Ladies Who Lunch" from "Company."

But there she was in the ­rehearsal room at UK’s Schmidt ­Vocal Arts Center, devouring “A Little Priest,” the number from Sweeney Todd in which Congleton as murderous Mrs. Lovett and Alex Parker as the “Demon Barber from Fleet Street” joke about all the people they have cooked into their pies.

“‘Sweeney’ is wonderful because you are exposed to Sondheim’s manic genius,” Congleton says. “He wrote this terrifying music about a demon barber, but it’s still so ­honest - it’s really scary, but based on incredible truth.”

Congleton and Parker’s ­performance will be part of “An ­Evening With Stephen Sondheim,” on Thursday at UK’s Memorial Hall.

It is the second production of the UK Musical and Operetta ­Organization, or UKMOO, which debuted with a Valentine’s-themed show at Natasha’s Bistro & Bar on a snowy night in February 2008.

The group’s formation ­exemplified one of the ­beauties of college: students using their skills to make opportunities for themselves.

The two ­opportunities that ­UKMOO forged were presenting musical theater and operetta, something that neither UK Theatre nor UK Opera Theatre do on a regular basis, and giving ­undergraduates more opportunities to perform.

“The main focus of the group is undergraduates and people from the ­community,” says Patrick Joel Martin, 22, a senior from ­Louisville. “Most of the leads in the ­opera productions are ­graduate students.”

The original plan for UKMOO’s second act was a full production of “Company,” Sondheim’s Tony Award-­winning drama revolving around a man on his 35th birthday and his group of married friends and girlfriends.

Martin, who’s directing Thursday’s show, had studied “Company” through the ­summer and had some ideal casting lined up, ­including UK student Adam VonAlmen as commitment-phobic Bobby and ­Lexington attorney Pamela ­Perlman as acerbic, oft-married Joanne.

Clayton Burchell sings "Nothing's Gonna Harm You" from "Sweeney Todd" with pianist David Erem.

But it became clear, Martin says, that because of classes and other performance demands, some key players wouldn’t have enough time to devote to a full-fledged “Company.” So, on the advice of faculty advisers Everett ­McCorvey and Margo Buchanan, they changed the production to a Sondheim ­revue. The audience will get a taste “Company”: ­VonAlmen and ­Perlman will perform their ­characters’ big numbers - ­”Being Alive” and “The ­Ladies Who Lunch,” respectively - as part of the show.

“Sondheim isn’t performed much around here,” Martin says. “The thing I like about this is it gives people a look at the breadth of his work.

“Some composers, like Mozart, you hear something and immediately recognize that’s Mozart. But there are things people have heard in this show and said, ‘I didn’t know Sondheim wrote that.’”

Sondheim has his fans in the cast, but the show has been an introduction to the Broadway legend for a few cast members, including Parker, who plays Sweeney.

“He has interesting ­melodies that start in one place and then don’t go where you expect them to go,” he says. “It’s been a real growing experience.”

In addition to “Company” and “Sweeney,” Thursday’s show will include numbers from “Into the Woods,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sunday in the Park With George” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Next, Martin says, ­UKMOO will dip into the ­operetta pool with a Gilbert and Sullivan revue during the spring semester.

Timothy Hull, seen here with Allie Darden in the On the Verge production of "Another Part of the Forest" in May, will star as the Elf in Actors Guild of Lexington's production of "The SantaLand Diaries." Photo by Rich Copley.

Yes, Kentucky, there will be a Christmas production by Actors Guild of Lexington.

The troubled theater’s next show will be a site-specific staging of David Sedaris’ The SantaLand Diaries at the site of the former Portabella Restaurant on Locust Hill Drive. It will run Dec. 10 to 20.

The show comes in the wake of a stormy summer and uncertain fall for the theater, whose funding from LexArts was eliminated and whose top two directors resigned. LexArts cut the funding, which had been about $70,000 in recent years, saying it had concerns about the fiscal management and overall viability of the theater, Lexington’s only semi-professional stage troupe for adults.

The SantaLand Diaries is Actors Guild’s first production since Beguiled Again, a Rodgers and Hart musical revue that had a two-weekend run at the Downtown Arts Center in early fall. The season schedule that Actors Guild announced last spring was to include David Hare’s The Vertical Hour and, for the holidays, a one-man version of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Associate artistic director Eric Seale, currently the theater’s only paid staff member, said SantaLand is a signal that AGL will continue presenting shows.

“If people are wondering, ‘Is there an AGL?,’ Yes, there’s an AGL,” Seale said. “If they are wondering, ‘Are they putting on shows?,’ Yes, we’re putting on shows.”

He said the theater is not ready to announce any productions after SantaLand.

A site-specific production is staged in a venue that relates to the subject matter. It’s not a new concept and has been popular in Lexington in the past year. On the Verge Productions presented Lillian Hellman’s family dramas The Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest in historic homes downtown.

SantaLand, a one-person show about a man who plays an elf in the Christmas display at Macy’s, will be presented in the vacant retail space formerly occupied by Portabella, next to the Kroger at Richmond Road and Man o’ War Boulevard.

It will star Tim Hull, an emerging Lexington actor who recently was in Another Part of the Forest. Co-directors will be Seale and Leif Erickson Rigney, an actor last seen in Studio Players’ production of The Unexpected Guest.

AGL previously staged SantaLand in 2004 at the Downtown Arts Center.

Seale said the site-specific nature of this fall’s production was an aesthetic decision inspired by ideas he had heard at theater conferences. He said AGL explored several retail-space options before settling on the old Portabella location.

The play, based on Sedaris’ 1992 essay, looks at how people try to find holiday happiness in retail experiences, including visiting a department-store Santa. Seale said the Portabella site will be done up like a mall-Santa display to make the show “an experience.”

Seale said he expects tickets to go on sale early next week through Actors Guild’s Web site, www.actorsguildoflexington.org, or by calling 1-866-811-4111.

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.

Pete Sears and Vanessa Becker as Mr. and Mrs. Martin in Balagula Theatre's "The Bald Soprano." Photo by Eugene Williams.

Warhorses need not apply on the Lexington Theatre scene this weekend. Bluegrass Community and Technical College and Balagula Theatre both offer up offbeat offerings this weekend, one homegrown and one from across the pond.

BCTC’s Theatre Program opens Jane Martin’s Middle Aged White Guys Thursday night, so we’ll start with them. The play, which premiered at the 1994 Humana Festival of New American Plays, centers on three brothers who gather every decade at a garbage dump to toast the memory of the woman one of them married and the other two had flings with. They eventually drove her to drive herself off a cliff, but with a little help from the Almighty, she’ll have her revenge. The play runs through Saturday at the Talon Winery and Vineyards.

Balagula Theatre opens French-Romanian author Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano Sunday at Natasha’s Bistro and Bar for a two-week run. The play presents two couples, the Smiths and the Martins having a visit that slips down a slope from normalcy to complete non-sequiturs. Directed by Natasha Williams, it is the second in Balagula’s season of existentialist, absurdiust plays. Natasha’s is arranging a special menu to compliment the play.

Edwin Schiff stars as Frank-N-Furter in Berea College Theatre Labaratory's "The Rocky Horror Show." Photos by Aaron Gilmour | Berea College.

Fans of Rocky Horror have two ways to see the show this Halloween weekend which as Mr. Tunis reminds us, is an hour longer on Halloween night.

The kids at the Berea College Theatre Laboratory are presenting The Rocky Horror Show, the original 1973 Richard O’Brien musical that started it all. Like it’s cinematic incarnation — we’ll get to that in a few sentences — audience participation is encouraged, and members of the Berea audience will actually receive participation bags with things like confetti for the audience to throw. Please do remember there are live people playing Dr. Frank and company, so don’t try to go and upstage them like you do at the movie. Tonight and Saturday, the students will put up two shows nightly at 8 and midnight at Berea’s McGaw Theatre. Tickets are $5-$10 and can be reserved by calling (859) 985-3300 from 1-5 p.m. Friday and one hour prior to curtain. Berea students get in free, but must present a valid Berea ID.

Anyone know if Transylvania University ever did Rocky Horror? Seems like it would be a lot of fun there.

Of course, the annual party at the Kentucky Theatre reconvenes at midnight tonight and Saturday for 1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf and all the rest. Feel free to try to upstage Curry — just try. According to the Kentucky’s blog, Lexington ranked Numero Tres (I am probably phrasing that as competently as Chad Ochocinco says 85) behind only Chicago and San Francisco in Rocky Horror Halloween attendence last year.

So, there it is: Live from Berea or on film in Lexington. But really, there should be time to get from Berea after the 8 p.m. show to Lexington for the midnight movie. I mean, if you’re not going to Time Warp twice on Halloween weekend, when are you going to Time Warp twice.

Don’t forget: The Thriller dance marches through Downtown Lexington again, tonight.

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.