Showing posts with label Eric Seale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eric Seale. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2012

After a short intermission...

So...

As many of you may know I've had what is undeniably a rough few months. Some highlights were a quite nasty car accident and a break in at my home (my actual home, not the theatre). There were other personal trials as well, which while devastating to me, are probably of little interest to the theatre going community.

It's been less than fun. 

On the bright side I manged to stay alive and positive enough to open AGL's 29th season. NOVEMBER by David Mamet, directed by Bo List. And despite being regulated to moving around with a cane I still managed to accomplish some meaningful work on the show including on the set.

Audiences seemed to really love the performance of despicable President Charles Smith as provided by Lexington staple Joe Gatton, and during a vicious year of politics we all seemed to cross the aisle enough to agree it's a good thing neither presidential candidate is anything as bad as NOVEMBER'S protagonist.

But after striking the oval office I realized that after quite a long time, I really needed a few days off. I won't bore anyone with my vacation slides, frankly my 3 day semi unplanned vacation was pretty boring. I was never more than an hour and half from Lexington, and the most recreational thing I did was go to the movies.

I returned to Lexington in time to attend a lovely party thrown for me by the AGL staff and board, members of the theatre community, and some just generally wonderful people. 

They just wanted me to know that they appreciated me.

And it's a funny thing, but sometimes that's all you need. We get bogged down in this crazy art life, and sometimes when it gets really tough, it's nice to know people actually notice what you do. Especially your peers, the people that you respect and admire.

I am very grateful for all the people who continue to prop me up. Life and art without them simply wouldn't be the joy that it is.

Now that I've been sappy, I'll wipe the tear from eye and let you know about some actual theatre events!

BCTC's dept of theatre is coming to AGL Nov 29th - Dec 8th with IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE by James Rodgers, directed by my favorite X-Man, Tim Davis. We always enjoy opening our doors to other groups, and BCTC and AGL have had a great relationship the last few years. Find out more info on the show here.

After that there will be a special presentation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL RADIO SHOW presented with the students of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Dec 3rd. Two shows, one at 2pm and the other at 7:30pm, admission is free.

Other than that AGL's holiday season will be filled to the breaking point working on our first show of 2013, tony award winner RED by John Logan. It's a big show, and an incredibly important show to AGL as we continue to move forward so we have a ton of work to do over what normal people call the winter break.

Looks like it'll be awhile before I get another couple of vacation days, but honestly who needs a vacation when you love what you do as much as I do?

Cheers,
Eric Seale


Friday, October 28, 2011

Theatre Critics vs. Vampires - ST. NICHOLAS at AGL

AGL's St. Nicholas poster
There really are not enough good things I can say about St. Nicholas playing this weekend at Actors Guild, but here are some main bullet points:

1. The playwright. Conor McPherson is an exceptional storyteller. I first saw McPherson's The Weir on Broadway in 1999. It was a life changing experience. A play, that on the surface, seems to be a mere collection of stories that evolves throughout the evening into a complex and haunting piece of theatre. Serious and deep, but still immensely funny. It was one of the best nights I've ever had in a theatre, and it sent me on a search for more scripts and more stories as good as it was. Obviously many of those great scripts were penned by McPherson as well. Shinning City, The Seafarer (being produced by AGL Dec. 1st-11th directed by Anthony Haigh of Centre College) and St. Nicholas where our hero is that scourge of the performing arts: The Critic.

2. The actor. Jerome Davis, who joins us from his post as artistic director of Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raligh, NC nails it in his perfectly presented performance of the down and out critic facing off with the undead. Jerome is the brother of Tim "X" Davis who run BCTC's theatre program, and it was Tim who first let me know that his brother was interested in tackling the show again after a successful run at Burning Coal. It took only one phone conversation to know that St. Nicholas would be the show launching AGL's second year of second stage programing. The BETA Stage program that we have created at AGL is focused on both looking into new and under produced works, but also into creative collaborations with other arts groups. (Previously we partnered with BCTC for last April's production of The Rocky Horror Show.) So I was particularly thrilled to have an opportunity to partner with such a fantastic organization as Burning Coal, and to have Jerome join us in the Bluegrass for some haunting and hilarious Halloween fun.

and...

From the Burning Coal production. © The Right Image, Inc
3. The space. As many of you know I often mention how we walked into The South Elkhorn Village on Jan. 5th, and opened AGL's new performance space there on the 13th. There was so much work to do it was mind boggling to think about. Demolition, construction, painting, electrics...the list goes on and on. And with every show we've tried to improve and grow the space, and what we can do with it. More detailed sets and technical magic tricks like with End Days,  ambitious staging such as the revolve in Breathing Corpses. But something I've wanted to do since day one was play with the audience seating. I've imagined that each show might have it's own unique seating, but this far we've had one set of risers, and that's been that. The titles so far haven't allowed us the chance to break out of the audience riser configuration, and while that might seem unimportant, from a storytelling standpoint it can be everything. St. Nicholas is so intimate, the audience and storyteller must be clearly in the room together. There is no barrier other than experience. He is watching you as you watch him. So for the first time we're trying out a three quarter arrangement at South Elkhorn and I'm very excited about it. Seeing the audience surround the performer, and then watching what that performer does with it, well that's part of what makes live performing arts so much fun.

And did I mention the THEATRE CRITIC VS. VAMPIRES storyline? Did I? Well frankly, I don't think I can say it enough.

Actors Guild of Lexington & Burning Coal Theatre Company present
St. Nicholas by Conor McPherson
Originally directed for Burning Coal by Randolph Curtis Rand
Starring Jerome Davis*
Oct. 28-30 (LIMITED ENGAGEMENT)
Tix: 1.866.811.4111 or www.actors-guild.org
(There will be a special talk back for the audience after the performance on the 30th)

St. Nicholas contains adult language-viewer discretion advised

This show is not to be missed. Great theatre performed by a great actor, and all with some extra bite for the hoilday...(couldn't help myself).

Cheers,
Eric Seale


*Indicates Actor is a member of Actors Equity Association, The union of professional actors in the United States