SEPTEMBER 2014 - JANUARY 2015 www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-4382 LIGHTS OUT Director David Ira Goldstein returns for Wait Until Dark THE WRITERS’ STUDIO Inside the Festival of New Theatre DRESSED FOR SUCCESS Meet Costume Designer Devon Painter STIRRING UP A HORNETS’ NEST Hot Topics. Your Community. Your Voice. HABIT FORMING “Sister” Colleen Moore has a brand new Catechism WHO IS SCROOGE? Examining the iconic Christmas character LEARN DISCOVER CONNECT DO
Transcript
SEPTEMBER 2014 - JANUARY 2015 www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-4382
LIGHTS OUTDirector David Ira Goldstein returns for Wait Until Dark
THE WRITERS’ STUDIOInside the Festival of New Theatre
DRESSED FOR SUCCESSMeet Costume Designer Devon Painter
STIRRING UP A HORNETS’ NESTHot Topics. Your Community. Your Voice.
HABIT FORMING“Sister” Colleen Moore has a brand new Catechism
WHO IS SCROOGE?Examining the iconic Christmas character
LEARNDISCOVER CONNECT DO
People
OCT 21 - NOV 16
BROADWAY HIT
NOV 4 - NOV 30
COMEDY FAVORITE
JAN 13 - FEB 15
FAMILY MUSICAL
NOV 26 - DEC 27
HOLIDAY CLASSIC
DO SOMETHING
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-4382
FUN!
DO GEVA
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Patrons and artists are at the core of Geva Theatre Center, and this fall there are many ways for you to connect with and enjoy the work of the country’s top professional theatre artists. Whether you are a long-time patron or new to the theatre, you can create a customized and entertaining journey that will fill you with joy, surprise, curiosity, excitement and pride in the quality of professional theatre made right here in Rochester.
Geva is most known for its stage productions. This fall, we kick off our 42nd Season of making great theatre with the Rochester community with the classic stage thriller, Wait Until Dark. You can then sample “theatrical tapas” in the Rochester Fringe Festival, which takes over the Fielding Nextstage with exceptional offerings of dance, theatre, magic, family shows and comedy. During the Festival of New Theatre, meet and join with playwrights working on their newest plays during two weeks of free play readings and discussions. This fall, you’ll also find one of best and most produced contemporary plays, Good People; a hilarious exploration of the catechism and the sacraments of marriage and last rights in ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3; and a chance to make special holiday memories at A Christmas Carol, Rochester’s holiday tradition.
In addition to seeing great theatre, you can learn how theatre is made, connect with friends new and old, or find a platform to speak your mind in one of the many community engagement programs. Go behind-the-scenes to explore backstage or the creative process. Network with other theatre lovers or have a special night out with yours.
From new friendships and lifelong romances to lasting memories of happiness and wonder for youth and adults, Geva Theatre Center is here for you to nurture relationships, expand horizons and create unique experiences. There is something for everyone, so we encourage you to do something dramatic: Do Geva. Explore your theatre, home grown.
Tom ParrishExecutive Director
Mark CuddyArtistic Director
Reservation Required
Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
Geva Theatre Center is more than just a venue for live entertainment. In addition to over 450 performances each year, Geva offers many other ways that you can connect with artists and your community. Throughout this guide, we’ve highlighted some upcoming events, grouped them with other offerings that might interest you, and noted some of the key aspects with a icon key like the one you see below. As always, if you have any questions about an event, you can get more information at www.GevaTheatre.org, or by calling the Box Office at (585) 232-4382. We’d love for you to discover a new way to engage with your theatre!
Mark Cuddy
Tom Parrish
Festival oF New theatre
Step into the writers’ studio and be part of the creative process.
october 20- November 2
Free, but reservations are required
Wait Until Dark is a classic thriller, but many people are probably more familiar with the film starring Audrey Hepburn than they are with the play. Has that impacted your vision for the production?
DIG: I have been careful not to watch the film more than once, and that was several months before rehearsals. It is a very fine film, but after all, it came out in 1967, and I find that many people have a vague recollection at most. Over the last six months, as I told people I was doing the play, the response was generally, “Oh, that’s the one with Audrey Hepburn as the blind girl.” Unless someone has watched it recently, they don’t really remember the details or the surprises. Plus, we are doing a brand new adaptation that will have some surprises even for those who know the film or original play intimately. It is the same situations and characters, but beat by beat and line by line it is a different animal.
Do you find that your approach to directing a thriller is different from your approach to other kinds of dramas?
DIG: There are certain universals that are important to me as a director no matter what the material: drama, comedy,
musical, classic. The key for me is always honesty. Audiences can smell untrue acting a mile away no matter how far-fetched or unrealistic the action of the play. That is what distinguishes the theatre from all other media like movies or TV. The actors are living, complex people in the room with us. It is the basis of the theatrical experience and what draws me into a theatrical event even over spectacle or other elements. Those six people onstage in Wait Until Dark aren’t CGI, they are breathing with us in the room. Whether I am directing The Kite Runner or The Pajama Game, I always talk to the company about honesty in the acting. But there are different aspects to thrillers and mysteries that have to come to the fore. You must be absolutely committed to clarity of story-telling, you have to be patient with exposition and not short-change the set-up, and you can’t let the action go slack in the end.
This play, even when you’re reading the script, is full of danger and suspense. You find yourself wanting to yell at the characters, to warn them. Do you have a sense about why we like suspense-filled plays and movies?
CostuME skEtChEs by DEsigNER MaRCia DixCy JoRy
Director David Ira Goldstein returns to direct Wait Until Dark after having directed the premiere of A Marvelous Party at Geva in 2005. He is the Artistic Director of Arizona Theatre Company in Phoenix and Tuscon.More of this interview can be found at www.gevajournal.wordpress.com.
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-43823
DIG: Thrillers get a bad rap. The bestseller list is always full of them. Yet they aren’t often considered literary in the same way that classic mysteries have gained critical respect. They don’t often get to Broadway, yet when they do, it is usually for a nice long run. Whenever we do one at Arizona Theatre Company, which is too infrequently, audiences flock to them. They do tend to get more critical respect in the movies, but that is certainly due in large part to the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock. As I have been working on Wait Until Dark, I am struck again and again by how Hitchcockian it is – and Hitchcock actually made the film of Frederick Knott’s other major play Dial M for Murder. A woman in peril (Susan), the sudden importance of a mundane prop (the refrigerator), the use of a McGuffin (the doll…!) are all Hitchcockian tropes that work on us in a psychologically insinuating way. And a good scare also has a physiological pay-off – we actually release adrenalin into our systems which gives us a physical jolt.
Get the inside scoop on the creation of live theatre, and engage directly with the playwrights, directors, designers, actors and technicians who make the art you see onstage.HOW THEATRE IS MADE
LEARN
THE AUTHOR’S VOICEGet to know Women in Jeopardy! playwright Wendy Macleod, her
work and inspirations. To get involved contact theDevelopment Department
MEET AND GREETMeet the cast and director
on their first day of rehearsal.
For donors of $100+ October 24 at 7pm
Donate now at www.GevaTheatre.org Reserve at www.GevaTheatre.org (585) 420-2049
TECH TALKWatch director, designers & actors
work onstage before opening.
January 19, 6pm-8pmNo reservations required
MAGIC IN THE MAKINGTake a tour and ask questions at Geva’s annual open house.
FREE
PROLOGUEMeet an actor and hear a lively,
informative pre-show talk.
Prologue starts 1 hour before each Mainstage show
FREE
Following the Second and Fourth Sunday Matinees
SUNDAY SALONDiscuss the play with the cast
after select performances.
Reservation Required
Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
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A suspenseful game of cat and mouse unfolds in one of the greatest thrillers written for the stage.
SEPTEMBER 9 - OCTOBER 5
By Frederick Knott | Adapted by Jeffrey HatcherDirected by David Ira Goldstein
Supported by
www.GevaTheatre.org More info: www.GevaTheatre.org More info: www.GevaTheatre.org
14/15 WILSON MAINSTAGE SERIES
Identify 20 Rochesterians of varied ages, races and socio-economic standings. These people will become a part of the process of creating theatre right here in Rochester through observing the rehearsal and production process, and conversations with the artistic team. This year’s Cohort Club runs December 19 through February 28.
Who are we looking for? A high school kid next to a soccer mom, next to a donor, next to someone who has never been before, next to a member of the local orchestra. Ideally, this group looks like Rochester.
The Cohort Club, a nationally recognized innovative program entering its third year, is hoping you’ll be a part of taking it to the next level this December. Receive unprecedented access to the artistic process of the Geva productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Women in Jeopardy! – and access to learning opportunities (chats with staff, tours, behind-the-scenes events, etc).
And now, you’re wondering, “Great, so how do I get in?” If you’re interested in being one of the twenty, just email Director of Artistic Engagement Sean Daniels ([email protected]) with a short paragraph about why you are interested in such a project – do you think you have the time to commit to be part of the process? We can’t wait to hear from you!
You’ll be welcome at all rehearsals, technical rehearsals, previews and opening night. Each member of the club receives daily rehearsal and performance reports.
You’ll have scheduled opportunities to chat with the director, playwrights (when possible), designers and actors, to gain a deeper level of understanding.
You’ll have a scheduled time to watch us add in the technical elements - first time with the set, adding in lights, costumes and special effects - and meet the many local artists who build our sets, make our costumes and keep the place running.
We’ll find a few post-rehearsal nights for everyone to go for drinks to allow for conversation amongst artists and audiences outside the rehearsal room.
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-43825
You agree to attend a pre-rehearsal event at the theatre, where the process will be explained and any and all questions answered. Snacks will be eaten, drinks imbibed, friends will be made.
You agree to read the scripts in advance of the projects.
You agree to attend at least 2 rehearsals a week when we are in rehearsal. The length of time you spend at each is up to you. We’ll send you a schedule in advance and a daily email with the following day’s schedule on it.
You agree to journal about your experience in whatever medium you find the most exciting (blog, pen and paper, twitter, facebook), and then repost your writing on Geva’s blog, gevajournal.wordpress.com, or e-mail it to us so that we can repost it on the gevajournal.
YOUR PART
OUR PART
Browse through all the offerings and pick the very best one. Realize you have an hour to kill and see what’s playing right then. Wander around downtown and check out some outdoor performances. Anything goes.
The other great thing about Fringe is there’s almost nothing to lose! The top ticket price is only $16, with most shows costing less than that – or nothing at all – so there’s not much money on the line. And with most shows only lasting about an hour, you’re not investing much of your time, either. (Unless you get hooked and buy a Fringe Fanatic pass, and spend the rest of the festival rushing from show to show – which really wouldn’t be so bad.)
One more great thing about this Fringe in particular is how the shows are selected. Geva’s Fringe shows were selected by the same staff that puts together the Mainstage and Nextstage series each season. Many of the applications received were for shows that weren’t completely written, choreographed or composed yet. Still, the strongest ones stood out thanks to their compelling ideas, talented performers and artists with great track records.
Eventually, out of over 125 applications, Geva picked the eleven shows – and one art installation – that we were the most excited to see. It’s an eclectic bunch that includes dance, clowning, instrumental music, improv, sand art, video, magic and, yes, some acting. But even when they don’t use words, these artists have stories to tell. And we think they’re going to be pretty cool.
With over 380 performances of 180 different shows crammed into just 10 days, the Rochester Fringe Festival can be overwhelming. How do you choose what to see from that daunting list of options, many of which are so new – or so, well, fringe-y – that you’ve never heard of them before?
Biodance performing Merged II
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 27
For complete listings, descriptions and tickets, visit www.RochesterFringe.com
A Little Business at the Big Top 9/18 - 9/21
The Little Vikings ROC the Fringe 9/18 - 9/27
Geva Comedy Improv 9/19 - 9/27
Merged II 9/20 - 9/24
BIODANCE 9/24 - 9/27
Diaghilesque 9/24 - 9/27
The Scientists 9/25 - 9/27
Sand Mandalas 9/18 - 9/27
Amazing Magic Joe 9/20 - 9/21
The Tales of Custard the Dragon 9/20 - 9/21
INTREPID 9/20
01 X 9/19 - 9/20
THE FRINGE at gEVa
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The great thing about Fringe is you can’t possibly see everything. You will miss something great. You can’t help it, so the pressure’s off! Your decisions can be as methodical or as haphazard as you want.
F.O.N.T. AT A GLANCE
Each time I talk with a playwright or participate in a workshop of a new play, or even hear a play read aloud in a staged reading, I am reminded of what I learned the first time I spoke with a living writer:
playwrights are fierce artists, worthy of our deepest respect. You see, sharing your writing with others, your vision of the world through a collection of characters you have created, is an intimate, scary, beautiful experiment.
Every play or musical you see onstage has been through a creation process – plays don’t just spring to life, like Athena from her father’s head, fully formed. They begin as an idea, the spark of a story, in the mind of a writer. Even those great classic plays were considered “new plays” once upon a time. And yet, the writer is the artist that audiences see the least, and often know the least about.
The Festival of New Theatre is your opportunity to change that. Geva invites you into the writers’ studio for two weeks, as playwrights hear their words in front of an audience, sometimes for the first time. Geva presents “concert readings” of plays – professional actors reading plays at music stands – followed by a conversation with the playwright. Sometimes the writer will be interested in an audience’s reaction to a specific question, sometimes they just need to watch as an audience responds to the play, but their work as a writer cannot be complete until an audience is in the room with the work, responding to the actors as they speak the writers’ words.
When you get a glimpse of the process of making theatre, when you know who the artists are that make the work onstage, you get a clearer picture of who “Geva” really is. And when Geva’s staff and artists get to know our audiences, when we work together, laugh together, maybe even cry together, we create community. And when we have a community, we all belong in the room together, making and talking about art.
Join us this October as we make new theatre together.
From Jenni Werner Literary Director andResident Dramaturg
your invitation to the Writers’ studio
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-43827
7pmOct 24 Author’s Voice: Wendy MacLeod
3pmOct 25 Young Writers Showcase
3pmOct 26 Young Writers Showcase
7pmOct 26 Rochester “Bake-Off”
7pmOct 27 Project ROC
7pmOct 28 Amid Purpleheart
7pmOct 29 Far From the Trees
7pmNov 1 The Cell
7pmNov 2 Son House Stories
7pmOct 20 Katherine’s Colored Lieutenant
Geva’s New Works programming is made possible with support from The Shubert Foundation, the Mary S. Mulligan Trust, Jack & Barbara Kraushaar, Don & Janet Charles, the Dramatists Guild and Geva Annual Fund donors.
Nora Cole and Geva Theatre Center are participants in the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowships, funded by the William & Eva Fox Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group.
The Son House Project is supported in part by:
Katherine’s Colored Lieutenantis supported in part by:
Geva’s Literary and Theatre programs are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Check out something you’ve never seen before. It might just be the next big thing – and if it is, you saw it here first!SOMETHING NEW
DISCOVER
THE FRINGE AT GEVAThis 10-day festival features
diverse performances in the Nextstage.
September 18-27
OCTOBER 27, 7pmProject ROCWe’re looking for your stories, your tales about Rochester, about what makes life here unique. Sean Daniels and Jenni Werner will curate the responses we receive into a new event called Project ROC. Submit your story online at www.GevaTheatre.org.
OCTOBER 28, 7pmAmid Purpleheart by Victor LesniewskiDerrick reluctantly returns to his Minnesota hometown to check on his father, whose illustrious NFL career may have left him with progressive brain degeneration. But in order to evaluate his father’s memory, Derrick has to confront the past he’s been trying to forget.
OCTOBER 29, 7pmFar From the Trees by Christina GormanAn Oregon widower spends his days unearthing the forest of petrified trees he’s discovered on his land. But a botany student arrives with unimaginable news: the beloved trees are priceless. All the family has to do is sell. Why then can’t they let go?
NOV 1, 7pm | Regional Writers ShowcaseThe Cell by Maria BrandtLisa and Harry launch an affair while following the trail of a twenty-year-old environmental crime. In the process, they both must decide whether or not it’s possible to let go of the past and—even more important—to change the future.
NOV 2, 7pm Son House Stories Geva has commissioned a play based on the life of Son House, often referred to as the Father of the Delta Blues. Join us for the launch of this thrilling new project, and celebrate the life and impact of this tremendous musician.
OCTOBER 20, 7pmKatherine’s Colored Lieutenant by Nora Cole A work-in-progress reading of the play that Geva will premiere in February 2015. The personal and moving love story of Nora Cole’s aunt and uncle: a Louisville schoolteacher and a Tuskegee airman. The reading will be followed by a conversation with the playwright and a light reception.
OCTOBER 26, 7pmRochester “Bake-Off”Geva challenges five writers to create a new work in three days inspired by Rochester. The pieces, which could be scenes, songs, monologues, etc., will be read after a light reception.
OCTOBER 24, 7pmThe Author’s Voice: Wendy MacLeodJoin playwright Wendy MacLeod (Women in Jeopardy!) in a conversation about her work. Join us for an evening of art and laughter! The conversation will be followed by an informal reception.
OCTOBER 25 - 26, 3pmYoung Writers ShowcaseThe young writers who participate gain a greater understanding of the process of moving a play from page to stage in a collaborative process. Join us as we celebrate these young artists and see how their plays have changed since their first reading.
SUNDAY SALONDiscuss the play with the cast
after select performances.
Follows Second and Fourth Sunday Matinees
Reservation Required
Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
8
Tickets at www.RochesterFringe.com
FESTIVAL OF NEW THEATRE
Step into the writers’ studio and be part of the creative process.
October 20 - November 2
FREE
Free, but reservations are required More info: www.GevaTheatre.org
DARK | Wait until Dark ACC | a Christmas CarolGOOD | good People SHOP | Little shop of horrorsFONT | Festival of New theatre GCI | geva Comedy improvLNC3 | Late Nite Catechism 3 JEP | Women in Jeopardy! Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
10
SEP 2014 - JAN 2015
You’ve designed the costumes for quite a few productions here at Geva. Do you have a favorite?
DP: If I had to pick one, I would have to say I enjoyed Sweeney Todd, mainly because that was my introduction to working with the talented artisans at Geva. It has become such a true friendship and a mutually respectful, energetic and inventive collaboration. So much so, I’ve designed costumes for both Five Course Love and A Christmas Carol that I did not even know how to build myself! I knew, though, that the Geva Costume Shop would have ideas about how to build them to get the desired effect. It’s an amazing experience when the design of a costume goes beyond my own imagination!
What is guiding your decisions about the costumes for Good People?
DP: My initial thoughts about Good People have to do with how to strip away artifice - how do you visually strip a character down to his/her most raw form? Is there a way to really do that?
Does a play like Good People have any special requirements, as you approach your design? Would you say that contemporary plays are harder or easier to design than a play set in a historic period?
DP: Contemporary plays are challenging in that the collaboration with the actor becomes even more present. Everyone has tastes about what people look like in their own economic environment, and cultures across our country have similarities and distinctions that I need to make visible and present.
Good People has been produced on Broadway and at
theatres all over the country. In fact, in the last two years, it is one of America’s most produced plays. What makes the play so popular?
DP: It is popular because it’s a surprising play and raises interesting questions. We go through this world thinking we know the answers to why things work or don’t; who are “good people,” who aren’t--then we discover that the answers to those questions aren’t clear at all, and people who seem “good” may or may not have our interests or well-being in mind and may not be “good” after all....and isn’t that relative, anyway? Is good for one person always good for another? Hard questions--no easy answers. This play is a great example of that.
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-438211
Good People marks the fifth Geva production for Costume Designer Devon Painter. Devon shares her take on working at Geva and creating a look for the characters in this funny and moving drama.
A South Boston woman risks what little she has left in this Broadway hit about class, culture and luck.
OCTOBER 21 - NOVEMBER 16
By David Lindsay-AbaireDirected by Mark Cuddy
14/15 WILSON MAINSTAGE SERIES
Supported by
Attending the theatre can be a great opportunity to share an experience with friends or make new ones. Meet, mix and mingle!WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
CONNECT
Second Thursday of each ESL Mainstage Series production
OUT AT GEVAMingle with the LGBTQ community
in a pre-show reception.
Third Sunday matinee of each ESL Mainstage Series production
SUNDAY SENIOR SOCIALStay after the show for a dessert
reception just for seniors.
First Thursday of each ESL Mainstage Series production
YoPro NIGHTParty with other Young Professionals
at a special pre-show reception.
Become a Business Member for as little as $500
BUSINESS MEMBER NIGHTNetwork with other business
members at a local eatery.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYSMilitary families enjoy a free
performance of A Christmas Carol.
DIRECTOR’S FORUM LUNCHGet to know the actors while
enjoying lunch on stage.
Make a donation of $1,500+ to join
FREE
December 27, 2014
CONNECT WITH GEVA on social media for special offers, behind-the-scenes access, artist profiles, and other exclusive insights!
Tickets: (585) 232-4382
STAGE DOOR PROJECTRush-Henrietta students
perform their own Little Shop of Horrors in the Mainstage.
February 10, 2015
students perform almost, Maine during the 2009 stage Door Project
Reservation Required
Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
12
Mention “YoPro” when you call.
For more information, call (585) 420-2011 For more information, call (585) 420-2013
Mention “Out at Geva” when you call.
For tickets, call (585) 232-4382
Mention “Senior Social” when you call.
“Like” Geva Theatre Center for actor and artist profiles, special offers, links to reviews and more!
Keep up with @gevatheatre and connect to the Rochester theatre community.
Get a backstage pass and exclusive look at Geva behind-the-scenes.
In-depth insights on the rehearsal process, and the artists who make everything happen.
FACEBOOKfacebook.com/gevatheatrecenter
TWITTERtwitter.com/gevatheatre
INSTAGRAMinstagram.com/gevatheatrecenter
GEVA BLOGgevajournal.wordpress.com
As an answer to this need, Geva created The Hornets’ Nest – a series of play
readings which are springboards for conversation. Three times a year,
you can attend the Nextstage, listen to a play reading, consider the questions it raises, and share your responses with other members of the community. A few people with experience central to the play’s topics serve as “instigators,” to help provoke conversation. The conversation, however,
is really among audience members. We want to hear
your thoughts on the issues.
This season’s Hornets’ Nest returns November 10 with a reading of Carter
Lewis’ play, Hit-Story. In the play, Harry suffers from bouts of “furies,” his name for
an uncontrollable arm flailing so forceful and unpredictable that he has moved permanently into a
boxing ring. Is it a disease of rage, or is it a cure for a country in decline? How do we combat the fear, cynicism and anger that are the typical responses to news today? How do we mend the political divides an election cycle typically results in?
“Because I am a white woman, I’ve never walked in the shoes of a black man, or an Asian person, or a Jewish person. But through the theatre I can experience that in some fashion – maybe not the same way, maybe not identically – but I CAN experience it, and through those experiences I can change. I think it’s so important that we have theatre that allows us to walk in someone else’s shoes.”
Several years ago, Geva’s production of Doubt, a play by John Patrick Shanley, caused an amazing reaction from audience members. Geva produced the play in 2007, and the film hit the silver screen the following year. After select performances, Geva staff gave the audience an opportunity to discuss the play, and found that it was next to impossible to end the conversation. There was a hunger to talk about the experience of seeing the play, and about the issues and feelings it raised.
Director of Education/Artist in Residence Skip Greer and former Literary Manager Marge Betley recognized a need. “It was clear to us that our audience was hungry to talk about current ethical and political topics—and move beyond the spin of entrenched positions—and that theatre was the perfect venue for such conversation,” Betley said, in an interview in American Theatre magazine.
Retired Judge Marilyn O’Connor, following a Hornets’ Nest reading
Join us November 10 at 7pm for a reading of Hit-Story and engage in a critical dialogue about our world today.
Hot Topics. Your Community. Your Voice.
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-438213
Leadership support for the Hornet’s Nest is provided by Jack and Barbara Kraushaar, the Mary S. Mulligan Charitable Trust and the Shubert Foundation.
YOUR MINDSPEAK
PRODUCER’S CIRCLEDINNER
Dine and converse with America’s top artists
THE HORNETS’ NESTDebate polarizing questions
raised by a play reading.
November 10, 7pmJanuary 12, 7pm
FREE
For donors of $5,000+
GEVA COMEDY IMPROVInspire a story and laugh
out loud as it comes to life!
Tickets are $10
Reservation Required
Free Event Donor Exclusive
Discussion
FREE
Nextstage Performance
Mainstage Performance
14
Free, but reservations are required Donate now at www.GevaTheatre.org www.GevaComedyImprov.org
Since 2003, Geva Comedy Improv has developed a reputation for producing hilarious and innovative on-the-fly theatre that leaves audiences sometimes crying, often salivating, and always entertained. If there’s a limit to how silly things can get at a GCI show, we haven’t seen it. The troupe boasts an aggressively vibrant cast of local actors and a warmly inviting atmosphere that is a cross between a rock concert, sporting event, and a neighborhood party about to be busted by the cops.
Show formats feature a variety of improv styles, ranging from energetic short-form sketches to daring full-length improvised plays. Check the GCI web page before your visit to see what type of show awaits, and prepare for an evening of madcap fun, as your suggestions are turned inside out and upside down to create hilarious instant theatre.
Now in their 12th Season, the dashing lads and lasses of GCI will stop at nothing to bring their brand of irreverent and contagious
comedy to all citizens of Western NY. Wherever there is sorrow, sadness, and soul-crushing office jobs, GCI will be there - quick with wit and heavy with humor to bring joy through the science of funny make-em-ups. The tickets are cheap, but the laughter is priceless.
What’s it like, after having been schooled by nuns to now play a nun onstage?
Colleen Moore: Oh, I take huge inspiration from my knowledge of the nuns. And everybody I know who went to Catholic school has one nun that they adored, and one nun that just scared the daylights out of them – sometimes more than one. And had they told me, back when I was at St. Mary’s Academy that I would be playing a nun for a living, I would have rolled around on the ground laughing, saying “never in a million years! It would not happen!” I could never have imagined this. And yet, in many ways, it is a perfect fit. Because I have always known I was going to be an actor. Always, always, always.
So you grew up going to shows…
CM: Ever since I was young – theatre, ballet, theatre, ballet. I took a little dance, but I had to be in the theatre. I’m a character actor. I’ve known that forever. I’m almost six feet tall. I have a fairly deep voice, although it’s even deeper now and as the show goes on I will turn into more of a bass baritone…because I’m working all these muscles a lot. And when I get a day off, it’s all about vocal rest. But I’ve been doing character acting forever – from Davy Crockett to the Jolly Green Giant! (laughter) and I admit to it!
Can you tell me about your nuns? Who did you adore? Who scared you to death?
CM: I adored Sister Mary Baptiste who taught
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-438215
This November, Colleen Moore returns as Sister, in the third installment of the Late Nite Catechism series. Literary Director Jenni Werner spoke with her about her Catholic school upbringing,and how that impacts her performance.
realized what we were doing she burst out laughing. I always loved her for that.
So, what’s the best part about performing?
CM: Oh, man. When you get a house full of people laughing. It’s just the best. It’s a tonic. It’s the best ambrosia in the world. You just think, “Wow…I made all those people laugh!” It’s my job. I’ve done dramatic roles, but comedy…It requires a balancing act.
Colleen Moore returns as ‘Sister’ in this hilarious new lesson on the Sacraments of Marriage and Last Rites.
LATE NITE CATECHISM 3
NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 30
By Maripat Donovan
16
me Latin for two years at St. Mary’s Academy in Alexandria, VA. She was tall, thin, gaunt and ancient, and I think she appreciated me. She knew the constellations well and could pick out three leaf clovers from her height. Also at St. Mary’s, Sister Dorothy Ann was a presence. She did scare me a bit. She could look at me, and I felt like she could see right through me and I’d cry.
On the spot. She was a wise and loving woman.
Where does Sister fall in that continuum for you?
CM: My Sister doesn’t fall there with those two Sisters as much as this
other nun whose name I don’t recall but I do see her face. She
caught me and one of my best friends spitting out the
girls’ bathroom window at St. Mary’s one day. We
were enjoying sending loud hockers out the
window at the girls below. She came
up behind us as we were spitting
and when she Supported by
Colleen Moore | Photos by Entertainment Events
Geva’s A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition in
Rochester, and the Geva staff is filled with the Christmas spirit as
soon as rehearsals begin each year! We think about Scrooge
at the end of the show, and are filled with warmth. But that’s not how the story begins – Scrooge’s transformation over the course of the play is large and complex. We asked
some members of the creative team to talk about what makes
Scrooge so fascinating.
Adapter and Director Mark Cuddy “Charles Dickens wrote a number of indelible characters, but Scrooge! He is someone who will last and last and last, because there’s always a part of Scrooge in everybody. He is a character so seemingly apart from the human race, but that people really love; you really do want to be in the theatre with him.Thinking about Scrooge at the center of this
story, I had to ask why, what was it that caused him to shut the world away, and for me, it was abandonment
– which is very Dickensian, actually. When he gets sent away to school, he just never recovers, and clearly he had a tough relationship with his father, with family. That scar was there, and I think he was always trying to compensate for that, to over-compensate, perhaps. So he moved
toward achieving importance and stature, very much like you hear about some of those who lived through the Great Depression: he became focused on making money, the safety
Guy Paul and Megan Mueller | Photos by Ken Huth
www.GevaTheatre.org | (585) 232-438217
have even less personal time than ever before. I think in many ways Scrooge is living like that at the beginning of the story; he has allowed his work to completely replace any personal connections.”
Composer and Lyricist Gregg Coffin“The heart of this story is in the reclamation of a man’s life, self-induced, on Christmas Eve. A man removes himself from his own life and from the lives of everyone around him. He becomes ‘secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster.’ And after the course of one night’s passing, he re-enters the land of the living with real vigor.”
of having it. He was determined to never go through that again, never feel vulnerable, but be in charge and in control. But of course you can’t control your heart.”
Scenic Designer Adam Koch“As Mark astutely pointed out from the get-go, there is no surprise or satisfaction in A Christmas Carol if we the audience are just watching an (inexplicably) greedy cantankerous gentleman be grouchy all evening. We are all, no doubt, (for better and sometimes worse) the sum total of our own bizarre and deeply personal life experiences. Ebenezer, who of course wasn’t born a “humbug” as a newborn infant, has, as a result of intense traumatic abandonment and emotional neglect from his father, loss of his first young love, and gradual obsession with financial earthly gain, literally become a half-dead man walking amongst the living.”
Lighting Designer Paul Hackenmueller“Scrooge has been ‘nickel and dime-ing’ his life, controlling and counting rather than connecting. He’s missing the emotional part of life. I actually think so many of us can fall into that today without realizing it. We’re working all the time: it’s like we get on the treadmill and just go as fast as we can. You can think of all the technology and devices we have to get things done faster, and how the result is that people seem to
The sparkling classic returns, full of spectacular magic, heartwarming music and holiday tradition.
NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 27
By Charles Dickens | Adapted and directed by Mark Cuddy Music and Lyrics by Gregg Coffin
