ASF: "Kudzu Calling"

Another "World Premiere" opened recently on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Octagon stage for a very limited run: it closes on June 8. -- Donnetta Lavinia Grays's Kudzu Calling was commissioned by ASF after its generation during 2018's "State of the South Tour" whose goal was to investigate the South's complex and complicated identity. Her response is: a "Black, queer, and faith-filled" identity that all find their way into her play as it makes its debut appropriately during "Pride Month".

Her ensemble of six actors, directed by Kevin R. Free, traverse Riw Rakkulchon's multi-leveled abstract set  to tell the story of a Wanderer [Kanoa Sims] in her quest for "belonging" in a South that has heretofore placed many obstacles in her way; she is met by five spirit-guides, all named simply as trees that have deep roots in the South, and who will show her by their experiences that ultimately she can have the strength to celebrate her identity and be accepted, as well as to invite audiences to acknowledge and accept any and all of their fellows.

Told in a series of poetic monologues and short scenes that are enhanced by many music genres and the accompanying dance movements of the cast, Ms. Grays reflects ntozake shange's 1976 "choreopoem" for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf that recounts in poetry, music, and dance the oppression of Black women in a racist and sexist society, only this time "queerness" and "Southernness" and "spirituality" complete her equation. 

It is a tight ensemble; Aisha De Haas, Terrance Henderson, Nafeesa Monroe, Terrence Williams, Jr., and Achille Vann Ricca support Ms. Sims and one another confidently and with a noticeable sincerity and commitment to Ms. Grays's scripted intentions. -- There is a fluidity in their expressive movements and vocal clarity that brings home the message: that everyone can find a home in the South.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "Time Stands Still"

April was a whirlwind month of varied theatrical productions across the River Region; and then along comes May with the Cloverdale Playhouse's compelling offering of Time Stands Still by award-winning playwright Donald Margulies. 

"Compelling" for several reasons: (1) Margulies's densely layered script that prompts his characters to confront a moral dilemma while trying to cement their relationships; (2) challenging the four ensemble actors to deliver rapid-fire and often overlapping dialogue with naturalistic conviction; (3) confidently allowing some long silences to drive home its themes; (4) inviting audiences to share the on-stage conflicts and difficult choices so they might continue talking about them once the curtain comes down.

Success on all counts.

Sarah [Laela G. Bunn] is a photojournalist who covers wartime atrocities. When she and her foreign correspondent partner James [Michael Buchanan] return Stateside so she can recuperate from an on-the-job injury, they soon learn that the ordinary life they both aspire to comes with a lot of complications they little suspected.

On the arrival of their friend and editor Richard [Chris Paulk] and his much younger girlfriend Mandy [Caroline Adams], everyone's perspective changes, as they must all confront difficult choices that test their individual philosophies that are often at odds with ones held by partners who matter the most.

Directed  by Christopher Roquemore on J. Scott Grinstead's Bohemian Brooklyn apartment set, serious issues find a counterpoint with humorous moments that relieve the tension momentarily. Mr. Roquemore finds an enviable balance as he guides his cast through the nuances of their characters.

Change can be difficult. These are essentially good people who struggle with making moral choices without hurting others. They are physically and/or emotionally bruised by the horrors of war captured in Sarah's photo images that leave their mark on everyone involved. Uncertain of which course to follow, and often too quick to underestimate one another or assume that they know what is best, the angst is palpable.

Come to Time Stands Still to be touched by the strong performances and subject matter, and perhaps to learn a bit about yourself.

ASF: "We Shall Someday"

In a limited run that ends this weekend in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Octagon theatre, We Shall Someday is a powerful and inspiring jazz-infused foray into the lives of three generations of an African-American family as they faced their commitment to combatting racism, exercising what John Lewis referred to as "Good Trouble", and challenging audiences to continue the route to justice.

Performed and mostly sung by a quartet of impressive actors/singers, their story tracks a time span starting in 1961, as Julius "Jules" Tate, Sr. [John Edwards], a man whose servility to white people has kept him "safe", hesitantly joins the Freedom Riders as he comes to realize that his integrity depends on making difficult choices; all at a cost to his family and his own life.

The second section focuses on Julius, Sr.'s daughter Ruby [Danyel Fulton], some years later in 1988, outraged when she visits her teenaged son in hospital after he was severely assaulted, reminding her of her father's death when she was a child.

Part three gives attention to Julius, Sr.'s grandson and Ruby's son Julius "Jay" Tate, II [Cole Thompson] in 1992 shortly after Rodney King was beaten. Following in his father's and mother's footsteps, "Jay" laments: "Ain't nobody done nothin bad enough to be beaten like that", and Ruby's maternal instincts philosophically comment that "it coulda been you" to her son.

Throughout, this trio is abetted by Jake Lowenthal, the sole white actor who plays a number of supporting roles as a sounding-board or a catalyst to the action.

Stunning visual projections of archival pictures give substantial impact to the words and lyrics, and music director Joel Jones conducts a small offstage jazz orchestra that creates a period and tense atmosphere to carry the play's strong messages.

There is a Coda at the end, where all four actors stand together to encourage all of us to fight injustice so that no one is left behind. Certainly an important message today.

Pike Road: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

Director James Keith Posey is presenting another family friendly musical with the Pike Road Theatre Company. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming [yes, the "James Bond" Ian Fleming] is based on a popular film, and with a catchy musical score and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, Mr. Posey is abetted by Kim Isbell's clever choreography, Jordan Hollett's intricate scenic designs [including a remarkable car], and Emily Blossom's vibrant costumes. It's an enjoyable evening's entertainment.

Though the recorded musical score and the actors voices are over amplified and need to achieve a better balance for vocal clarity, the story and themes are clear. And they are a fine ensemble of adult and youth actors.

Caractacus Potts [an earnest Kevin Morton] lets his children Jeremy [Lucas Damato] and Jemima [London White]  play in an antique racecar the has seen better days, though it was once a famous Grand Prix winner. With times being hard, the garage owner sells the car for spare parts; so the Potts family -- including Grandpa [Lee Bridges is a delight], and new-to-the-scene and Potts's love-interest Truly Scrumptious [Kaylee Baker in fine voice and demeanor]  -- set out to get it back...no easy task.

It winds up with greedily entitled Baron Bomburst [Sam Wallace] and Baroness Bomburst [Rachel Pickering], who provide a hilarious double-act with their posturing. -- And two clumsy and a bit dimwitted spies [Tanner Parrish and Nick Swartz] get in the way frequently in their bumbling fashion.

While on their quest, they are hindered by the Child Catcher [Travis Clark might frighten any little ones in the audience], and aided by the Toymaker [Jason Isbell] who with Grandpa's intervention sets everything on a smooth path to return the car to the Potts family, and also free a lot of children from captivity.

Of course, the title tune takes center-stage; and other memorable renditions of "Truly Scrumptious", "Hushabye Mountain", "Chu-Chi Face", "Posh", "Me Ol' Bamboo", and "Teamwork" carry the plot and develop character relationships.

And the theme of family bonds that triumph over all provides a healing balm. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang hits all the right notes.

Wetumpka Depot: "Unnecessary Farce"

With much of the world in such disarray at the moment, the Wetumpka Depot is offering a welcome antidote in their laugh-a-minute comic riot, Unnecessary Farce. Written by Paul Slade Smith [who has played Scrooge at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival], and with Jackie Viskup directing its frenetic mayhem, this two-hour farce had its small opening night audience in tis thrall.

It has all the markings of a traditional farce: a convoluted plot, broad stock characters, witty dialogue, fast action, sexual dalliances with characters found literally with their pants down, lots of slamming doors [there are eight of them here], physical pratfalls, split-second comic timing, a Scottish kilt-wearing hit-man, and an ensemble of actors who deliver the goods...much to the audience's delight.

Kristy Meanor's finely detailed set design -- two adjoining mirror-image hotel rooms, with doors leading to a hallway, closets, bathrooms, and connecting the rooms -- and Ryan Sozzi's effective costumes, contribute to the comfort exhibited by the cast and the director.

The plot: two inept police officers and their female decoy attempt to entrap the local mayor who they believe embezzled $16-million, and set up surveillance in an adjoining hotel room; but what they capture on-tape could either provide the concrete evidence they need, or compromise several unexpected and embarrassing romantic encounters. Add to this mix an intrepid bodyguard for the mayor, the mayor's wife, and the aforementioned Scottish hit-man, and the raucousness builds with each moment.

And what a fine ensemble cast of veteran and neophyte actors it is. Henri Cheramie, Cole Hamric, Amy "Rebecca" May, Ethan Montgomery, Scott Rouse, Leanna Wallace, and Bethany Warman earn every laugh with their uninhibited portrayals that are abetted by Adrian Lee Bush's intimacy and fight choreography. 

How it all turns out might test credibility, but that's not important. Go for the laughs, go for the unexpected, go for the energy, go for the release of our everyday tensions, and enjoy the ride.

ASF: "Hamlet"

An uncut production of Hamlet, Shakespeare's longest play, would last over four hours in performance, so virtually every modern production is significantly edited, even though Kenneth Branagh's film purports to render a complete text...so director Brian McEleney's two-and-a-half-hour production at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is no exception. Though one could debate the merits of specific editing choices here, McEleney retains most of the plot details as well as the famous soliloquies. He also gender-switches a number of roles -- Polonius, Rosencrantz, Horatio, Osric are here played by women -- and again, one could argue the success of such casting. 

It is staged on the same multi-leveled set as Ken Ludwig's Sherwood, and features the Sherwood actors in Hamlet's supporting roles. -- The acting cohort can be found all over the height-width-depth of the Festival stage as well as various locations throughout the "house", often shouting their dialogue over the vast distances between them... choices that alienate the audience, but are better balanced in the more intimate scenes.

Written at the turn of the 17th Century, the ASF production signals its curious updating to a 1930s setting with Alexa Behm's lush costumes, and a snippet of Marlene Dietrich's anthem "Falling In Love Again" at a cocktail party surrounding a baby grand piano located center stage. The hosts are the new Danish King Claudius [Stephen Thorne] and his bride Gertrude [Kanoa Sims], the widow of the recently deceased King Hamlet. Their regal stature is undeniable.

The King's chief counsellor Polonius [Greta Lambert] asks permission for her son Laertes [Alfredo Antillon] to leave the court and return to France, later offering parental advice to him while her daughter Ophelia [Jihan Haddad] -- Hamlet's love interest -- lectures her brother on his behavior. There is some curious modernizing vocabulary in her speech [for example: "husbandry" is changed to "thriftiness"; it keeps the meter but sacrifices the gravitas of the words]. This domestic scene shows a family dynamic familiar to everyone.

Clearly, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark": not only is the Norwegian army a nearby threat, but the former king's Ghost [Christopher Gerson] appears to his son Hamlet [Grant Chapman], accuses Claudius of murdering him, and charges Hamlet to exact revenge. Hamlet swears to secrecy his best friend Horatio [Han Van Sciver] and the guards who witnessed the apparition, and says he will feign madness by putting on an "antic disposition" in order to pursue the Ghost's charge to him. Mr. Chapman's energy is admirable, though it could be reined-in to earn audience empathy sooner than he does. 

With the arrival of friends Rosencrantz [Shelley Fort] and Guildenstern [Tobias Wilson], called by the King to discover the cause of Hamlet's strange behavior, things come to a head. Polonius thinks Hamlet's madness is love-sickness for Ophelia, but can't be sure. And Hamlet sets out to trap his uncle by having some traveling players enact a scene similar to his father's murder. 

The plan works: Claudius shows his guilt, Gertrude chastises her son, Hamlet kills Polonius by mistake, Ophelia goes mad from grief and dies [Ms. Haddad's mad scenes elicit our pity], Hamlet is sent to England but discovers a plot to have him killed and returns to Denmark, Laertes returns to avenge his mother's death, and a fencing challenge between Hamlet and Laertes ends in many deaths, leaving only Horatio to tell the whole story to the world.

Elizabethan audiences are known to have gone to the theatre "to hear a play", whereas modern audiences go "to see a play"; and it is a treat to our collective ears that most of Shakespeare's text is delivered with confidence and clarity that communicate meaning, intention, character, plot, and emotion all at once; listen attentively to the poetic nuances especially from Ms. Lambert, Mr. Gerson, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Thorne, and Ms. Sims that communicate levels of meaning to the words; and watch their physical comfort as they use minimal and controlled movement that can rivet our attention by staying still.

WOBT: "Junie B. Jones Toothless Wonder"

Junie B. Jones, the central character in a series of children's books by Barbara Park, has been a controversial figure since her creation. An outspokenly rude, entitled, narcissistic, manipulative child shown from early childhood through the First Grade, she is nonetheless a popular character.

And in Allison Gregory's stage adaptation of Junie B. Jones Toothless Wonder, currently on offer at Prattville's Way Off Broadway Theatre, she more than lives up to the hype in Katie Register's unabashed characterization. Taking center stage for its hour and a half duration, audiences either love her or hate her -- and perhaps that's the point.

In a nutshell: Junie B. Jones draws all attention to herself, whether it's about her loose tooth, her friendships [and enemies] among her peers, her position in her family, or her not getting an invitation to a classmate's birthday party. How she handles matters is questionable, and audiences are eager to see her responses and whether any life lessons can be learned.

Director Melissa Strickland's able cast [most of them playing both children and adults], create recognizable characters through broad physical and personality traits that give them individuality. Elizabeth Bowles, Bre Gentry, Chace Harris, Lynn Parker, Josh Register, Tori Ward, and Gavin Winn comprise the ensemble supporting Ms. Register. -- They're especially adept at mimicking childlike innocence and honesty.

Lessons about sharing and caring for others, and being open to learning how to be a better person, are ones both grown-ups and children could benefit from.

Though scene changes could be more efficient, the time passes quickly due to the energetic actors on stage, whose commitment to their roles and to the storytelling are excellent.