Catching up - Theater stuff
Mar. 28th, 2011 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feliciakwI have much to catch you all up on, so here's my brief attempt.
On March 12, the theatre foundation for which I work held a fundraiser concert: Paul Reisler & 1,000 Questions, at one of the local reception halls. It. Was. Amazing. The quartet was pretty phenomenal. They're classified as "modern folk" music, but it's really kind of hard to pin down. There was a little bit of everything in there. Howard Levy, a world renown harmonica player, did things with a harmonica that I didn't even know you could do with a harmonica (not that I know that much--or anything at all, really). Including making it sound like a bagpipe, complete with underlying drone. I joked that he must be making his lungs work independently. At one point during the concert, he gave a brief history of the harmonica, about the genres it's used in (blues, for example), and ending with the fact that the harmonica originated in that bluesiest of countries--Germany.
Paul Reisler has a thing he does called Kid Pan Alley. He works with groups of kids from all over the country and teaches them about writing songs. A lot of the songs the group sang were Kid Pan Alley songs, songs for which the topic was chosen by the kids, written by the kids, mentored and directed by Paul, and then recorded or performed as full scale, instrumented music. It was very cool.
The whole group was very fun and funny (Joe Craven was amazing on the fiddle and percussion and very funny, and Amy Speace is lovely, with a lovely voice), and the audience had a really great time. It was standing room only. \o/ It's also nice to know that some of the average joe locals are finally getting a clue. One good ol' boy was very excited about the concert, came up to me, shook my hand, introduced himself, and told me how great it was that we were doing this. Then he asked me if this is the kind of stuff we'd be doing when the theater is open. I confirmed that it was. I kinda wanted to ask, "What rock have you been living under? Of course this is the kind of stuff we're going to be presenting. That's kind of the whole point." But it was great to see some support from the average people in town and not just the upperclass philanthropists.
Then on March 19 (one week later), StageWorks, which is the community theater group Geo and I have been involved in getting started, had a production of five one-act original faerie tales (or adaptations of traditional tales). Geo stepped in at the very last minute to fill one of the roles. He also acted as MC, as he was kind of the producer/coordinator of the production. Turnout was far, far better than we'd anticipated. Again it was standing room only in the parish hall we were using. It was very well received and was a lot of fun for all involved.
So that just goes to show, I think, that people want this stuff in Culpeper. It's just freakin' hard to find people who are willing to participate and take on the organizational roles.
In the meantime, my brain is being eaten up by the Good Friday play I'm directing/performing in.
On March 12, the theatre foundation for which I work held a fundraiser concert: Paul Reisler & 1,000 Questions, at one of the local reception halls. It. Was. Amazing. The quartet was pretty phenomenal. They're classified as "modern folk" music, but it's really kind of hard to pin down. There was a little bit of everything in there. Howard Levy, a world renown harmonica player, did things with a harmonica that I didn't even know you could do with a harmonica (not that I know that much--or anything at all, really). Including making it sound like a bagpipe, complete with underlying drone. I joked that he must be making his lungs work independently. At one point during the concert, he gave a brief history of the harmonica, about the genres it's used in (blues, for example), and ending with the fact that the harmonica originated in that bluesiest of countries--Germany.
Paul Reisler has a thing he does called Kid Pan Alley. He works with groups of kids from all over the country and teaches them about writing songs. A lot of the songs the group sang were Kid Pan Alley songs, songs for which the topic was chosen by the kids, written by the kids, mentored and directed by Paul, and then recorded or performed as full scale, instrumented music. It was very cool.
The whole group was very fun and funny (Joe Craven was amazing on the fiddle and percussion and very funny, and Amy Speace is lovely, with a lovely voice), and the audience had a really great time. It was standing room only. \o/ It's also nice to know that some of the average joe locals are finally getting a clue. One good ol' boy was very excited about the concert, came up to me, shook my hand, introduced himself, and told me how great it was that we were doing this. Then he asked me if this is the kind of stuff we'd be doing when the theater is open. I confirmed that it was. I kinda wanted to ask, "What rock have you been living under? Of course this is the kind of stuff we're going to be presenting. That's kind of the whole point." But it was great to see some support from the average people in town and not just the upperclass philanthropists.
Then on March 19 (one week later), StageWorks, which is the community theater group Geo and I have been involved in getting started, had a production of five one-act original faerie tales (or adaptations of traditional tales). Geo stepped in at the very last minute to fill one of the roles. He also acted as MC, as he was kind of the producer/coordinator of the production. Turnout was far, far better than we'd anticipated. Again it was standing room only in the parish hall we were using. It was very well received and was a lot of fun for all involved.
So that just goes to show, I think, that people want this stuff in Culpeper. It's just freakin' hard to find people who are willing to participate and take on the organizational roles.
In the meantime, my brain is being eaten up by the Good Friday play I'm directing/performing in.