Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Setting the Stage: A Journey to Making Macbeth


This week we open our 4th Annual Shakespeare in Ford Heritage Park performance, and year four seemed like a good time to do something completely different.  After three successful Shakespeare performances and two successful main stage plays, it felt like time to up the ante, so to speak, and bring audiences something they haven't seen from us before.  That meant picking the right show, the right actors, and making the right changes.  We're never fans of making change for the sake of changing, and each decision that brought us to the culmination of Macbeth had to be the right one.

There is a lot of Shakespeare out there, and any acting troupe runs the risk of competing with the same show being done by someone else each year.  We also have the added challenge of working outdoors, which is both exciting and sometimes difficult.  It is, for example, difficult to do a balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet without the ability to create a balcony.  That thought propelled us forward, forced to wonder if set dictates too many acting choices, and if it was even necessary in some cases.  Could a show stand alone with minimal props and set?  Now, there was an exciting challenge.  So we decided, whatever we did, we were doing it without a set.  But what show didn't depend on the set to propel the story?  What show did we want to do with the freedom of open space to use as we wished?  What would we do with so much space?  One word.  Combat.  Yet another way we could shake things up.  For all of our performances, we have never been able to do combat, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to find a show where we could showcase some combat skills that we haven't necessarily been known for in the past.  All of these choices, and probably a hundred more, led us to settle on Macbeth. 

As with any show selection, the choices that lead to the show also lead to a million other choices.  Costumes, props, set pieces, actors.  Every moving part has to come together to work as one, and we are a small theater company.  We have a small pool of actors, a small collection of props, and most importantly, a small budget.  We needed to make more choices, and they had to be good ones.  One of our first choices, given our small pool of actors who auditioned, was to bend the gender roles for several characters.  Bending those genders meant picking the right Macbeth, who would compliment those gender changes rather than highlight them as strange.  We chose to bend strong leadership roles and give them to women, who we knew would portray them as nobly and as filled with strength as any male counterpart.  We created women warriors.  We gave female characters a strength they do not often get to find in Shakespeare plays.  We chose a Macbeth who was strong, physically intimidating, but easily swayed by the guiding hand of his wife.  We chose a Lady Macbeth who was not simply evil, but cunning.  We took our actors and pushed them out of their comfort zones and asked them to play roles that were challenging, but we hoped were also rewarding.

Part of those casting choices also came down to who we wanted to see in combat, and who we wanted to cheer for to be the victor, or to see defeated, in each fight.  Much of this was on the shoulders of the actors to create the character, but a fight is a character in itself.  It is nuanced.  It requires skill.  It takes as much from an actor emotionally as a fit of crying on stage.  A fight done well is a fight remembered.  That meant partnering with the right fight choreographer, and we were fortunate enough to be put in touch with Maestro Christopher Barbeau of Ringstar Studio who expertly guided our inexperienced actors into honed fight performers.  The entire process was exciting to witness, and it's hard to say whether we've seen our actors have so much fun learning a new skill.  

Costuming began anew with this show, creating full dresses for Lady Macbeth, entire kilt ensembles for each actor, building each character and each scene through color and texture, which we hadn't had an opportunity to do before now.  We really got to step it up with some of our choices, and our production manager remarked this week that this may be the most individual costume pieces any one actor has been assigned in the history of the company.  Plus, who doesn't love a good kilt?

In the end, we've gone down quite a path that has led us to this, our end product.  It has been challenging, exhausting, exciting and rewarding all at once.  We hope that when we open on Thursday, audiences see something they weren't expecting, particularly from our tiny theater troupe performing in a park in Ypsilanti.  We hope that we've been successful in our attempt to make this show something more than audiences have seen from us in the past, and that our efforts to impress have led to an enjoyable experience for both actors and audience members alike.  Most importantly, we hope you come out to see the show, and tell us what you think!  We do this for you, our community.  We hope you enjoy it.

Monday, July 21, 2014

What's on Stage - July 20th Edition

This week's calendar of live performances!

Professional Theatre:


Stratford Theatre Festival continues its season in full swing with several productions beginning this week.

Crazy for You continues its run through October 12th.  Performances run throughout the week, with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis: Sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a derelict theatre, banker Bobby Child falls for its owner’s daughter, Polly Baker. Can he reconcile the demands of duty and love – and his own dreams of dancing? “I Got Rhythm,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” are just some of the gems in this dynamic musical’s dazzling score.


Alice Through the Looking-Glass opens on April 30th and runs through October 12th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Climbing through her living-room mirror, Alice enters a world of wonders populated by such fantastical characters as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter – and the fearsome Jabberwock. Children and adults alike will be delighted by this spectacular journey into the topsy-turvy realm of the dreaming mind.

King Lear opens on May 6th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis:  An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king – and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.


Man of la Mancha opens May 8th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Awaiting trial by the Inquisition, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes is assailed by his fellow prisoners, who try to seize the manuscript of his masterpiece, Don Quixote. His inspired response: a challenge to join him in staging his stirring tale of Quixote’s obsessive quest to attain an impossible dream.


A Midsummer Night's Dream opened May 31st and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Threatened with death if she marries against her father’s wishes, Hermia elopes with her lover, Lysander, pursued by rival suitor Demetrius and his spurned admirer, Helena. In the enchanted woods, love’s lunacy reaches its giddiest heights – both for the bewildered couples and for an aspiring actor transformed into the unlikely consort of a fairy queen.

Midsummer Night's Dream: A Chamber Play opens July 11th and runs through September 24th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Two couples become gods, animals, demons, monsters, children, playthings and, finally, gradually, compassionate, honest, loving adults. Across one intense night of confusion, delusion, repression, permission, forgiveness and release, Shakespeare’s masterpiece moves right into the open heart of our multiple selves and conflicted identities – the only thing that we know for certain in this life is that, along with the climate, we are changing.

King John opened May 28th and runs through September 20th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: War is the inevitable result when the King of France demands that John relinquish his crown in favour of his nephew, the young Prince Arthur. Excommunication, attempted atrocity, rebellion and assassination all contribute to a political and personal turmoil that finds devastating expression in an anguished mother’s grief for her son.

Mother Courage and Her Children opened May 30th and runs through September 21st with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: As the Thirty Years’ War swirls around her, Mother Courage scrapes together a living for herself and her three children by selling provisions to Protestant and Catholic combatants alike. But as she hauls her wagon across the battlefields of Europe, she discovers that the very chaos that sustains her will eventually cost her everything she holds most dear.

Hay Fever opened on May 28th and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Stage star Judith Bliss, her novelist husband and their two grown children have each invited houseguests for the weekend. But as the Blisses indulge their artistic eccentricities in a hilarious whirlwind of flirtation and histrionics, the guests begin to wonder if they’ve landed in a madhouse – and if they can survive the weekend with their own wits intact. 

Festival Friday Chats begins in the month of June, giving patrons an ability to peer inside the playbill and participate in chats revolving around the shows being performed this season.

Stratford's Food for Thought series kicks off this week with discussions on various shows that can be enjoyed along with brunch or lunch.

Stratford's Peer into the Playbill discussion series with directors begins this week, with varying times available throughout the summer season. 

Stratford's Night Music series, which allows you to hear music in the evenings at different venues around the festival kicks off on May 4th

For ticket info, dates and times, and full show details, please visit the Stratford website


The Purple Rose Theatre begins their production of The Last Romance on June 12th, running through August 30th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: A crush can make anyone feel young again – even a widower named Ralph. On an ordinary day in a routine life, Ralph decides to take a different path on his daily walk – one that leads him to an unexpected second chance at love. Despite the misgivings of family and the initial reluctance of Carol, the object of his affections, Ralph embarks on the trip of a lifetime and regains a happiness that seemed all but lost. The Last Romance is a heart-warming comedy about the transformative power of love.

The Encore Theater begins their production of Carousel on July 10th, running through August 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, the swaggering, carefree carnival barker, Billy Bigelow, captivates and marries the naive millworker, Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent 'up there.' Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day fifteen years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills in both the child and her mother a sense of hope and dignity is a dramatic testimony to the power of love. It's easy to understand why, of all the shows they created, CAROUSEL was Rodgers & Hammerstein's personal favorite.

Community Theater:

That Theatre Co. opens their production of Macbeth on July 24th, running through the 27th at 6:30 p.m. nightly.  Performances are held in Ford Heritage Park with free admission, though donations are appreciated.

Synopsis: In Medieval Scotland, Macbeth, thane of Glamis and Captain within King Duncan's army has his fate set before him after an encounter with three witches, who set forth a prophecy that he shall be King of Scotland.  This prophecy sets in motion a series of events that propel Macbeth to the throne, as well as to his own demise, bringing forth the question, do is our destiny set for us, or is it our choices that determine who we are destined to become?

The Carriage House Theatre begins their production of Homesteaders  on July 24th, running through the 27th with additional performances July 31st through August 2nd with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis:  Brothers Neal and Jack have built a life of independence as small-boat fishermen in the Alaskan wilderness. With Jack’s fiance Edra, they eke out a living in a small cabin fifty miles from the nearest town, where they make everything they need and are beholden to no one. When Neal brings home a young woman to be his deck hand and companion, she embraces their unusual lifestyle as an opportunity to break with her former life. But as each of them struggle to leave their pasts behind, they have to face whether it’s possible to make a fresh start. Featuring Nathan Corliss, Laura McLaren, Margaret Remboski, Adam Weakley, and Jamie Weeder.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

What's on Stage - July 13th Edition

This week's calendar of live performances!

Professional Theatre:


Stratford Theatre Festival continues its season in full swing with several productions beginning this week.

Crazy for You continues its run through October 12th.  Performances run throughout the week, with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis: Sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a derelict theatre, banker Bobby Child falls for its owner’s daughter, Polly Baker. Can he reconcile the demands of duty and love – and his own dreams of dancing? “I Got Rhythm,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” are just some of the gems in this dynamic musical’s dazzling score.


Alice Through the Looking-Glass opens on April 30th and runs through October 12th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Climbing through her living-room mirror, Alice enters a world of wonders populated by such fantastical characters as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter – and the fearsome Jabberwock. Children and adults alike will be delighted by this spectacular journey into the topsy-turvy realm of the dreaming mind.

King Lear opens on May 6th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis:  An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king – and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.


Man of la Mancha opens May 8th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Awaiting trial by the Inquisition, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes is assailed by his fellow prisoners, who try to seize the manuscript of his masterpiece, Don Quixote. His inspired response: a challenge to join him in staging his stirring tale of Quixote’s obsessive quest to attain an impossible dream.


A Midsummer Night's Dream opened May 31st and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Threatened with death if she marries against her father’s wishes, Hermia elopes with her lover, Lysander, pursued by rival suitor Demetrius and his spurned admirer, Helena. In the enchanted woods, love’s lunacy reaches its giddiest heights – both for the bewildered couples and for an aspiring actor transformed into the unlikely consort of a fairy queen.

Midsummer Night's Dream: A Chamber Play opens July 11th and runs through September 24th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Two couples become gods, animals, demons, monsters, children, playthings and, finally, gradually, compassionate, honest, loving adults. Across one intense night of confusion, delusion, repression, permission, forgiveness and release, Shakespeare’s masterpiece moves right into the open heart of our multiple selves and conflicted identities – the only thing that we know for certain in this life is that, along with the climate, we are changing.

King John opened May 28th and runs through September 20th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: War is the inevitable result when the King of France demands that John relinquish his crown in favour of his nephew, the young Prince Arthur. Excommunication, attempted atrocity, rebellion and assassination all contribute to a political and personal turmoil that finds devastating expression in an anguished mother’s grief for her son.

Mother Courage and Her Children opened May 30th and runs through September 21st with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: As the Thirty Years’ War swirls around her, Mother Courage scrapes together a living for herself and her three children by selling provisions to Protestant and Catholic combatants alike. But as she hauls her wagon across the battlefields of Europe, she discovers that the very chaos that sustains her will eventually cost her everything she holds most dear.

Hay Fever opened on May 28th and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Stage star Judith Bliss, her novelist husband and their two grown children have each invited houseguests for the weekend. But as the Blisses indulge their artistic eccentricities in a hilarious whirlwind of flirtation and histrionics, the guests begin to wonder if they’ve landed in a madhouse – and if they can survive the weekend with their own wits intact. 

Festival Friday Chats begins in the month of June, giving patrons an ability to peer inside the playbill and participate in chats revolving around the shows being performed this season.

Stratford's Food for Thought series kicks off this week with discussions on various shows that can be enjoyed along with brunch or lunch.

Stratford's Peer into the Playbill discussion series with directors begins this week, with varying times available throughout the summer season. 

Stratford's Night Music series, which allows you to hear music in the evenings at different venues around the festival kicks off on May 4th

For ticket info, dates and times, and full show details, please visit the Stratford website


The Purple Rose Theatre begins their production of The Last Romance on June 12th, running through August 30th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: A crush can make anyone feel young again – even a widower named Ralph. On an ordinary day in a routine life, Ralph decides to take a different path on his daily walk – one that leads him to an unexpected second chance at love. Despite the misgivings of family and the initial reluctance of Carol, the object of his affections, Ralph embarks on the trip of a lifetime and regains a happiness that seemed all but lost. The Last Romance is a heart-warming comedy about the transformative power of love.

The Encore Theater begins their production of Carousel on July 10th, running through August 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, the swaggering, carefree carnival barker, Billy Bigelow, captivates and marries the naive millworker, Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent 'up there.' Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day fifteen years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills in both the child and her mother a sense of hope and dignity is a dramatic testimony to the power of love. It's easy to understand why, of all the shows they created, CAROUSEL was Rodgers & Hammerstein's personal favorite.

College Theatre:

Central Michigan University opens its production of Murder by Natural Causes on June 25th with additional performances on June 28th and July 11th.

Synopsis: A greedy wife’s “fool-proof” plan to murder her husband, a famous psychic, puts the ultimate test to his abilities in this wildly clever, edge-of-the-seat thriller. Twists and turns abound through the final scene!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

What's on Stage - July 6th Edition

This week's calendar of live performances!

Professional Theatre:


Stratford Theatre Festival continues its season in full swing with several productions beginning this week.

Crazy for You continues its run through October 12th.  Performances run throughout the week, with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis: Sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a derelict theatre, banker Bobby Child falls for its owner’s daughter, Polly Baker. Can he reconcile the demands of duty and love – and his own dreams of dancing? “I Got Rhythm,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” are just some of the gems in this dynamic musical’s dazzling score.


Alice Through the Looking-Glass opens on April 30th and runs through October 12th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Climbing through her living-room mirror, Alice enters a world of wonders populated by such fantastical characters as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter – and the fearsome Jabberwock. Children and adults alike will be delighted by this spectacular journey into the topsy-turvy realm of the dreaming mind.

King Lear opens on May 6th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis:  An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king – and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.


Man of la Mancha opens May 8th and runs through October 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.


Synopsis:  Awaiting trial by the Inquisition, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes is assailed by his fellow prisoners, who try to seize the manuscript of his masterpiece, Don Quixote. His inspired response: a challenge to join him in staging his stirring tale of Quixote’s obsessive quest to attain an impossible dream.


A Midsummer Night's Dream opened May 31st and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Threatened with death if she marries against her father’s wishes, Hermia elopes with her lover, Lysander, pursued by rival suitor Demetrius and his spurned admirer, Helena. In the enchanted woods, love’s lunacy reaches its giddiest heights – both for the bewildered couples and for an aspiring actor transformed into the unlikely consort of a fairy queen.

Midsummer Night's Dream: A Chamber Play opens July 11th and runs through September 24th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Two couples become gods, animals, demons, monsters, children, playthings and, finally, gradually, compassionate, honest, loving adults. Across one intense night of confusion, delusion, repression, permission, forgiveness and release, Shakespeare’s masterpiece moves right into the open heart of our multiple selves and conflicted identities – the only thing that we know for certain in this life is that, along with the climate, we are changing.

King John opened May 28th and runs through September 20th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: War is the inevitable result when the King of France demands that John relinquish his crown in favour of his nephew, the young Prince Arthur. Excommunication, attempted atrocity, rebellion and assassination all contribute to a political and personal turmoil that finds devastating expression in an anguished mother’s grief for her son.

Mother Courage and Her Children opened May 30th and runs through September 21st with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: As the Thirty Years’ War swirls around her, Mother Courage scrapes together a living for herself and her three children by selling provisions to Protestant and Catholic combatants alike. But as she hauls her wagon across the battlefields of Europe, she discovers that the very chaos that sustains her will eventually cost her everything she holds most dear.

Hay Fever opened on May 28th and runs through October 11th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: Stage star Judith Bliss, her novelist husband and their two grown children have each invited houseguests for the weekend. But as the Blisses indulge their artistic eccentricities in a hilarious whirlwind of flirtation and histrionics, the guests begin to wonder if they’ve landed in a madhouse – and if they can survive the weekend with their own wits intact. 

Festival Friday Chats begins in the month of June, giving patrons an ability to peer inside the playbill and participate in chats revolving around the shows being performed this season.

Stratford's Food for Thought series kicks off this week with discussions on various shows that can be enjoyed along with brunch or lunch.

Stratford's Peer into the Playbill discussion series with directors begins this week, with varying times available throughout the summer season. 

Stratford's Night Music series, which allows you to hear music in the evenings at different venues around the festival kicks off on May 4th

For ticket info, dates and times, and full show details, please visit the Stratford website


The Purple Rose Theatre begins their production of The Last Romance on June 12th, running through August 30th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: A crush can make anyone feel young again – even a widower named Ralph. On an ordinary day in a routine life, Ralph decides to take a different path on his daily walk – one that leads him to an unexpected second chance at love. Despite the misgivings of family and the initial reluctance of Carol, the object of his affections, Ralph embarks on the trip of a lifetime and regains a happiness that seemed all but lost. The Last Romance is a heart-warming comedy about the transformative power of love.

The Encore Theater begins their production of Carousel on July 10th, running through August 10th with evening and matinee tickets available.

Synopsis: In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, the swaggering, carefree carnival barker, Billy Bigelow, captivates and marries the naive millworker, Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent 'up there.' Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day fifteen years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills in both the child and her mother a sense of hope and dignity is a dramatic testimony to the power of love. It's easy to understand why, of all the shows they created, CAROUSEL was Rodgers & Hammerstein's personal favorite.

College Theatre:

Central Michigan University opens its production of Murder by Natural Causes on June 25th with additional performances on June 28th and July 11th.

Synopsis: A greedy wife’s “fool-proof” plan to murder her husband, a famous psychic, puts the ultimate test to his abilities in this wildly clever, edge-of-the-seat thriller. Twists and turns abound through the final scene!

Community Theatre:

Spotlight Players open their production of Aladdin and his Wonderful, Magical Lamp running from July 10th through the 13th.

Synopsis: Aladdin and His Wonderful, Magical Lamp travels through time to the ancient streets of Shammar in Old Arabia. Aladdin, our mischievous and charming hero, is lured into a mysterious cave by the villainous Jammal and his evil sister, Halima, to obtain a magical lamp that will bring Jammal untold wealth and power. And to make matters worse, Aladdin and his trusty monkey, Alakazam, are on the run from the royal executioner, Chop-Chop, who protects Princess Jasmine, her mother – Queen Sultana — and her father, the Sultan. When Aladdin and Jasmine have a chance meeting in the crowded marketplace, it’s love at first sight and Aladdin vows to one day marry the princess. Pursuing his true love, he’s also juggling to keep the peace with his weary mother, sister and angry merchants, all of whom are tired of Aladdin’s antics. And as Aladdin gets embroiled in Jammal’s scheming, we’re introduced to not one, but three powerful genies, and a fire-breathing dragon as well as a bevy of colorful characters who assemble in this fast-paced, high-energy main stage musical.