Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Shaw and Barry and Barter and Spinach!
So - the myth, the legend, the told-tale is that when Barter Theatre produced Shaw's plays, and offered to pay his royalties the traditional way(with a cured Virginia ham!), Shaw protested his vegetarianism and received his royalties in pounds of fresh spinach!!! Well, right now, he'd be eating fresh greens, if he was alive, because we are producing his Nobel Prize-winning ST.JOAN on our Barter Theatre stage right now, and it is pretty terrific! A lovely NYC -based young actress named Stephanie Fieger is playing Joan and she is wonderful, fresh, well-trained (go NYU Grad!) and resourceful...i like her so much. Rick Rose has designed a glorious set, one of the most impressive I've seen on this stage, and the Barter Acting Company does well with this tough material. To conceive of this: you can see these same actors onstage romping gleefully in our production of PETER PAN (also directed by Rick Rose), then see them shoulder the Shavian language and ideas and the gravity of his ideas and passions...well it's pretty darned impressive, i have to say. So, all who read this blog: COME ON DOWN TO BARTER! WE are rockin' and rollin' some good theater!
Another joyous thing to report: Nick Piper and I represented Barter on Bob Feagins' cable show called Chamber Zone yesterday morning and it was so much fun! It was a thoroughly rain-soaked day, but the Barter Cafe (which served as the studio for the entire 30-minute episode's shooting) was a cozy place to be, as the wet soft light poured through the wall of windows....a comfortable place to be...and Bob , and his funny, smart co-host Laura Steel (gosh, I do hope that's her name..i think she's wonderful...) are so easy to be with...Nick and I had fun...hope we did the Barter some actual good...i do know we had fun! And Bob and Laura make some terrific repartee and have such easy tvQ-chemistry...truly funny co-hosts and so easy with each other on camera...a good time. Interesting how Bob Feagins has played such a strong role in our lives - Peter's and mine - since we have been coming down to Barter...and from the very first Kingsport Chamber of Commerce Dinner we all created the entertainment for together, there's been an interesting symbiosis between Bob, Kingsport, Barter and its people. Something good afoot in all this.....always glad to see and work with that nice man!
I could write and write and write about what's going on here at Barter Theatre, in every area, every department...but suffice it to say: it is stunning how much work gets done both on and off the stages where the plays are seen by the public...and yet, i walk out of my house in the morning (one of the most brilliant houses ever rented anywhere by anybody ever!) and see the mountains looming in the near distance...i drive to work and i see those same mountains smiling at me, even on a cloudy day, and saying softly (under their stony breath) : OKAY, go to work in that office of yours, but remember: we are here waiting for you, even if you don't take alunch break...come to us soon.....!
Which is what Peter and I did Sunday,after the pre-show Director's Roundtable on Shaw and the JOAn opening curtain...we drove into the nearest mountains and simply stared at all that was around us! We simply got in our Escape (perfect ,right?) and drove and drove...it was sublime! Some valuable time with this dear man I am married to....plus time to talk about EVITA , and his upcoming role as Che...and talk, we did!
I'm just about getting excited now about directing EVITA...spent some great time with the first act of it today...it's a very passionate thing , this EVITA....and ,since I've never seen it or read it or listened to it very much (unlike most of the world, that seems on an intimate basis with this show ...everyone seems to have done at least one production of it in highschool or college...not me) anyway: I am discovering it for the first time! I feel fortunate to be doing so now. We are going to have an absolute ball doing this show: i can guarantee it!
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