DROPS & DRAMA II-- Theatre du Mississippi

cast: Lauren Berlin-Burns & Julie Frederickson
voice overs: Jacob Bell, Michael Rubke, Lucinda Rogers, Jennice butler, Amy Malcom, Christopher Thompson, Eva Nelson, Max Wojtanowicz, Kylie Edmonds
narration written by: Kathy Peterson

A unique presentation of one of the most complete and historic collections of hand-painted scenic drops, designed by Thomas G. Moses, in the Midwest.

1) Roman Ruins Scene: Julius Caeser by William Shakespeare, I,ii (4 drops)
2) Ocean Scene: Moby Dick, Chapter 1, by herman Melville (4 drops)
3) Medieval Camp Scene: The Once & Future King by T.H. White (4 drops)
4) Summer garden Scene: Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolfe (4 drops)
5) Hell Scene: The Divine Comedy: Part I by Dante Alighieri (4 drops)
6) English Manor Scene: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3 drops)
7) Treasure Room Scene: Ali Baba from 1001 Arabian Nights (3 drops)

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The presentation is done in a very amateur way, but the flats themselves are most certainly worth seeing. Having someone pretend to be Thomas Moses and/or his assistant is a nice idea, but having it be two high school aged girls just didn't work. However, since they were only segues in to the next set of drops, it didn't really matter.

The drops themselves are quite remarkable. Beautifully painted, in such a way that we could see that some care and great craftsmanship went in to their painting. The fact that they are still in a condition that can be flown and shown in a theatre testifies to the Masonic Temple's preservation skills.

Part of the remarkable-ness of these drops is not just the actual painting skills and the detail in which they were painted (which was quite remarkable) but the number of drops. These paintings were done at a time when the scenic elements called for more than a simple backdrop, and hence there were legs and teasers that were done to match the elegant backdrop.

Most impressive was the "Hell Scene" for The Divine Comedy, Part I. As the narration mentioned, Moses used a very new technique (perhaps his own design) of including bits of crimped tin foil among the paint so that it would reflect the lights, and would change the appearance slightly as the lights changed. Remarkable!

Worth attending next season as well!

TWELFTH NIGHT -- Great River Shakespeare Festival

Great River Shakespeare Festival
script: William Shakespeare
dir: Alec Wild
cast: Erik Paulson, Christopher Gerson, Rob Eigenbrod, Brian Frederick, Shanara Gabrielle, Jack Sanderson, Michael Fitzpatrick, Carla Noack, Marcus Truschinski, Laura Coover, Doug Scolz-Carlson, Kim Martin-Cotten, Jonathan Gillard Daly, Jacques Roy, Jason Michael Spelbring
set design: Takeshi Kata
costume design: Rosemary Ingham
light design: Kenton Yeager
composer: Josh Horvath
sound design: C. Andrew Mayer

A shipwreck separates brother and sister twins, each thinking that the other has perished. The sister, Viola, disguises herself as a man to gain employment, and falls in love with her boss, while the woman her boss loves falls for Viola (posed as the man). A comedy.

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I'd seen this play only from a variety of videos, and was never very interested in it. This production, however, was quite outstanding.

The play flowed well, with constant movement on its very fluid-looking set. There were no gaps between scenes.

Director, Alec Wild, caught the humor of the play quite well, and this is where I feel that other productions I have seen have fallen flat. They key, in my opinion, is the role of Feste, the fool. While we certainly have to see that he really is smarter than most of the people on the stage, we also have to see that he knows his role as the fool, otherwise he comes across as arrogant and not at all funny. This was well played by Doug Scholz-Carlson.

The stakes that each character had set for him/herself, were appropriately high, and by letting us see and know these stakes, we appreciated the humor more and saw the love that they had for one another. This idea of setting the stakes high is essential for good theatre.

While I liked the basic set, I felt that the placement of a lone tree was quite odd and actually made a statement about solitariness that seemed inappropriate. I think that I personally would have placed the tree off to the side where it could be used, but would have left the stage feeling much more open.

A wonderful production.