Archive for June, 2008
Bakersfield Californian
Camille Gavin: Mountain Shakespeare Fest on the rise
by CAMILLE GAVIN, contributing columnist
e-mail: gavinarts@aol.com | Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 10:42 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jun 25 2008 10:42 AM
Some local residents may be surprised to learn, as I was, that a budding Shakespeare festival awaits them at the top of the
Grapevine and that it’s now in its third season. A few years ago I wrote a few lines about live theater performances in the Frazier
Park area but had no idea it’s grown into what is now called the Mountain Shakespeare Festival.
True, the festival is still in its formative stages, with performances on weekends only from July 5 to 27, outdoors at Pine
Mountain Club.
Even so, Peter Kjenaas, the artistic director, thinks it has the potential to become an attraction equal to that of the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore., which draws people from all over the country during its 10-month season. The director
is no stranger to Ashland, having spent three seasons there playing lead roles. He’s also got solid professional credits, with
memberships in the Dramatists Guild, Screen Actors Guild, and Actors Equity Association.
Kjenaas believes Frazier Park itself could well be the biggest draw for a festival, given the beauty of its natural environment and
its location, only an hour’s drive from either Bakersfield or the northernmost communities of Los Angeles.
“We’re trying to get folks to see it as a great weekend getaway, a place where the whole family can have fun and breathe clean
air,” said Kjenaas, who has lived in the area for the past eight years. He and his wife, actress-teacher Michelle Morain, are the
parents of two children.
“We had been living this theatrical lifestyle — 15 days here, 15 days there — and we realized we couldn’t do that anymore,” he
said. “So we moved here in 2000, then we adopted twins from Bolivia, a boy and a girl.”
Many of those in the festival’s company live in the mountain community, including a number of Frazier Park High School
students. As for the more experienced actors, several involved in this summer’s productions — “Comedy of Errors” and “You
Can’t Take it With You” on alternating weekends — will be familiar to Bakersfield theatergoers.
One is Bob Kempf, who is directing “Comedy of Errors.” He has been involved with Bakersfield College’s Kern Shakespeare
Festival and has acted in and directed productions at other local venues.
Among the actors appearing are Roger Mathey, former manager of Spotlight Theatre; Don McClure, who played the lead role in
BC’s “Hamlet”; and Joe Mitchell, who was in the cast of “You Can’t Take it With You.” That show, written by George S. Kaufman
and Moss Hart, just finished a three-week run at Spotlight, and was directed by Kempf. Kjenaas, however, will direct the
Mountain Shakespeare Festival’s production of the play, which opens July 11.
Coupling an Elizabethan play with a 20th century comedy may seem a bit odd. But, says Kjenaas, they are linked by a common
thread.
“They are both about the uniting of very different worlds and the coming together of different walks of life,” he said.
Both, he added, have enjoyed a rich and successful production history.
Performances are on a thrust stage that has been added to the gazebo at Pine Mountain Club. Chair seating is provided.
June 28th, 2008
Hi all,
Also, this wonderful write up from Holly Van Houten on “You Can’t Take It With You.”
Before you read it, however, I would like to say that of all the plays I have had a hand in directing, perhaps 20 or so, I believe that the writing in this play truly ranks among the best. The characters are so vivid, so clear and so funny!
We were working on the big “J-Men” scene and roughly 18 actors end up o stage by the end, there is an explosion, singing drunk, hey, everything you could want and I realized that unlike most plays every single one of the 18 characters we quite distinct! Usually, when you have that many characters on stage at least half of them are “holding as spear” so to speak, they provide a very useful function to focus energy and attention, but rarely do all the characters on stage “cast a shadow.”
Remarkable.
Read on…
Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s “You Can’t Take it With You,” is a delightful combination of escapist comedy and thought-provoking commentary on issues relevant, not only to its own period (1930s America), but to every one in every age. The main focus of the play is the love affair of Alice and Tony, but in negotiating the stark differences between their families, the play manages to engage controversial political issues relevant during The Great Depression, such as FDR’s “New Deal” policies, free speech, the recent levying of an “income” tax, communism and the fall of Russian royalty. But, the play goes even further by delving into the broader philosophical notions of happiness and prosperity. The play, at its heart, makes an attempt to reconcile the tension between two competing versions of the American Dream. The Kirby family represents a version of the American Dream, which tells us that in America, if we work hard, we can gain wealth and prosperity. Anyone, regardless of class, can pull themselves up by their boot straps and achieve not just financial stability, but financial success. We see this portrayed not only in Mr. Kirby’s philosophy, but in the eager attempts of the Grand Duchess Olga Katrina and her family to get ahead in the New York department store workforce. On the other hand, Grandpa Vanderhoff and family represent that part of the American Dream that harkens back to the Declaration of Independence: the pursuit of happiness. According to Grandpa, to be happy, we must be independent: free to do what we like… and for Grandpa, that means playing darts, collecting snakes, attending random commencement addresses, but most of all enjoying his family and his time. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, both versions of the American Dream were coming under heavy questioning. Businesses were failing despite hard work and those who equated happiness with material wealth were desperately in need of Hart and Kaufman’s theatrical realignment of their priorities. The genius of this play is its ability to engage such important issues in a way that is both light-hearted and illuminating. Through farce, satire and just good old belly laughs, “You Can’t Take It With You,” is a play that speaks, not only to its own generation, but timelessly to issues that continue to touch us all. The play has been an enormous success, with a run of 837 performances on Broadway and successful revivals in 1965 and 1983. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 and the 1938 film version won the Academy Award. It well deserves its status as a truly “American” classic.
June 27th, 2008
Hi there,
Check out this great write up by Holly Van Houten on Comedy of Errors.
“The Comedy of Errors” is likely Shakespeare’s first comedy and at 1800 lines is definitely his shortest. While the errors and confusion of mistaken identity created by long lost twins create much of the comedy, the overarching theme of reunion brings everything right in the end. Although details about Shakespeare’s life are all too scarce, we do know that his own twins (Hamnet and Judith) were born in 1585 and that by 1589 he was separated from his wife for much of the time as he pursued his theatrical career in London. It is hardly surprising then that Shakespeare should explore these ideas in “The Comedy of Errors” which was written between 1589 and 1594. Shakespeare’s primary source for “Comedy of Errors” was Plautus “Manaechmi” which similarly has a set of twins, both with the same name. But Shakespeare makes fundamental changes that give his own version of this story greater depth and take it far beyond mere farce. First of all, Shakespeare multiplies both the confusion and the laughs by doubling the twins and adding a pair of sisters. In doing so, Shakespeare provides a wife for Antipholus of Ephesus, freeing him to explore ideas about marriage and fidelity. He also changes the setting of the play to Ephesus, adding to the marital emphasis by harkening back to St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians and the marital admonitions contained therein. Luciana’s prim advice to her sister echoes St. Paul’s words: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands.” The “dark” side of Ephesus is also prominent in St. Paul’s experience of the town as documented in the Acts of the Apostles, where he encounters witchcraft, sorcery and evil spirits. It is this reputation that Antipholus of Syracuse references when he contemplates Ephesus and its “Dark-working sorcerers” and “Soul-killing” witches. This also adds a dimension to Antipholus of Syracuse that is nowhere to be found in Plautus’ earlier play. When Antipholus of Syracuse is mistaken for his brother, he assumes he is dreaming or bewitched and begins to questions his own identity and sanity. Antipholus of Ephesus on the other hand, rightly assumes others are making “errors” and are either crazy or lying, never questioning his own identity or the possibility of witchcraft. Hilariously, it’s Antipholus of Ephesus on whom Dr. Pinch attempts to perform the exorcism. Lastly, Shakespeare increases the tension by adding a dark frame to his comedy, opening and closing it with the impending death sentence of Egeon. As the day wears on, the characters remind us with their references to the passing time, 12:00, 2:00, 5:00, that Egeon’s day of reprieve is moving along quickly. Antipholus of Syracuse may believe he’s losing his mind, but the audience knows that if the growing disorder does not resolve itself quickly, his father Egeon will literally lose his head. At the end though, Shakespeare’s emphasis shifts to a theme of reunion as Egeon reunites with Emilia, both sets of twins meet, and each Antipholus finds his mate. So even in this first comedy, Shakespeare provides us with his characteristic fare: food for thought and a frolicking good time.
June 27th, 2008
It’s amazing that audiences seem to understand Shakespeare’s enigmatic dialog when the performers often don’t even know what they’re saying without consulting the drama turd.
(Affectionate nickname for Holly Van Houten, MSF’s resident dramaturge. She’s one of those people who spends a lifetime figuring out what nuggets of wisdom the Bard buried beneath the archaic language.)
Maybe, as director Peter Kjennas believes, people don’t need to fully understand the dialog to know what’s going on in a Shakespeare comedy. Maybe the action and general tone fully communicates its deeper meanings.
Another thing that bothers some folks about Shakespeare is the tendency for many actors to attempt to use British accents when performing his work that mostly come off sounding foppishly foolish.
It’s quite annoying to hear American actors using bad British accents while playing Italians who presumably should really have Italian accents.
Apparently, American actors fail to consider that the reason Shakespeare’s works have been played so much and so well with British accents is because they were mostly played by real British actors talking and reacting normally in their own voice who would not attempt to use a cheesy sounding foreign accent.
I believe Americans playing Italians or other foreigners in a British play ought not try to emulate Gielgud or Olivier and just talk as naturally and realistically as they can in their own voices - within the bounds of the imaginary circumstances, of course.
British actors playing Nazis, for example don’t try to use bad German accents either.
But American actors portraying Germans seem somehow compelled to affect some bad accent they heard in old WWll movies.
The problem - especially with Shakespeare - is that actors often spend so much time crafting what mostly end up being poor caricatures that they overlook the opportunity to find real reactive moments and lose the opportunity for meaningful communication with their fellow actors. And that, of course, generally results in pedestrian performances which would probably greatly disturb the Bard were he still around.
I hope that one day we can present an updated version of a Shakespeare work which will be understood by modern audiences and still knock the proverbial socks off even the purists.
June 22nd, 2008
Yes, Shannon, I too recall the first time I felt the power of the Michelle “spurn.” We were doing school tour for the Oregon Shakespeare Fest and she gave me “that look.” Ouch!
Glad that rehearsals are going well. And isn’t it fun being beaten for art?!
Peter
June 22nd, 2008
Welcome to our third season of summer theatre in our mountain community. The 2008 offering of the Mountain Shakespeare Festival ushers in three firsts for our growing company: It is our first season doing a non-Shakespearean play as we present the depression era comedy, “You Can’t Take It With You;” it is our first season in the Pine Mountain Club Gazebo adding lights and a full stage setting; and our first season of rotating repertory.
Rotating rep, as it is called, puts two full productions into alternating performances which makes it possible for an audience member to spend a relatively short time in town and see a lot of theatre. It also offers the rare delight for the audience to see actors portray widely different roles in the two plays. We have, for instance, an actress playing the quirky Mrs. Penny Sycamore - a happily married playwright/painter in “You Can’t Take it With You” - and Adriana - a very unhappily married aristocrat in Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.” Penny is in love and loves life. Adriana deals with a wayward husband, so she thinks, and jealousy on a grand scale.
These two plays, so different in so many ways, have a thread the links them. They are both about the uniting of very different worlds and the coming together of different walks of life. In “You Can’ Take It With You” it is the meeting of opposing views of what constitutes the “American Way,” and in “The Comedy of Errors” it is the reunion of long lost siblings who find, in each other’s worlds, a better understanding of self. Both of these classics are considered among the most highly successful comedies in our language and have enjoyed a rich and successful production history.
To say that producing these gems is a challenge for our young company would be an understatement. It is a challenge for the actors, the directors, crew, volunteers and our resources. But this is our mission: to provide a truly professional theatre experience that will entice both our local audience and regional neighbors to “Stay, and breathe awhile” and it can’t be done without some “perspiration,” as the character Kolenkov so aptly states in “You Can’t Take It With You.”
So, relax, breathe the clean air and enjoy these two comedy classics, we’ll take care of the perspiration.
Peter Kjenaas
Artistic Director
June 20th, 2008
Welcome! Blog away! Let’s keep it clean and focused on interesting stuff and the process of creating the Festival and expanding it. About Shakespeare, acting, directing, promotions, etc.
Don’t be critical of others.
PK
June 20th, 2008
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
June 20th, 2008
