Archive for (Aside)
The Proof is in the acting
Posted by: | CommentsTater Patch Players’ upcoming presentation, Proof, takes the troupe to an amazing new level of dramatic productions. This Pulitzer Prizewinning play sizzles with emotion and passion. There is the love and anger between a young woman and her brilliant-but-insane father. The possibility of love between her and a young mathematician that was taught by that same father. The strands of love between sisters that are often tangled. All these topics bubble up in the current production. Added to the acting challenges is the difficulty of performing a play in the round. The audience is on every side of you. They are privy to every breath you take, every line you say. All these factors weigh on the minds of the cast. I was delighted recently to sit in a on a rehearsal and then to interview the four cast members and learn more about their theatrical journey.
Playing the young man, Hal, is an actor familiar to most Tater Patch fans, Daniel Picklesimer. Daniel said that this is a very difficult character for him. Daniel finds Hal to be very different from himself. He sees Hal as a totally honest person, but one who pursues answers “almost to a fault”. Hal is in danger of inadvertently hurting those who might care about him in his single-minded pursuit. Daniel says “I want to tell Hal ‘stop it!’ because he is so intense in his pursuit of the answer”. Daniel says the acting requirements of this character are very subtle that he is working constantly to master those nuances and to better understand and portray Hal.
The character he interacts with the most in Proof is Catherine, the mathematician’s daughter who fears for her sanity. She is introverted, depressive, and almost hostile to those around her in an attempt to shield herself and those she cares about from the demons of madness that she fears. This large and challenging role is being played by a virtual newcomer to the Tater Patch stage. Alecia Moore is originally from North Carolina. She went to a school with no theater program, but found a summer program for the arts allowed her to learn about acting, improvisation, stage combat and other theater skills. She participated in it every summer, first as a student and then as a teacher. When she moved to Jasper, she came to know Linda Robertson, who’s been making costumes for Tater Patch for a number of years. Alecia became her “number one helper” and didn’t set foot on stage until a replacement was needed for one of the many Nazi dancers in last summer’s The Producers. She stepped in and did a fine job, but then stepped backstage again. She was excited and challenged when Director Stanley O’Kelley called her to offer her the role of Catherine. “I relate to the angry small child in Catherine”, Alecia explained. She is very comfortable in this large role with scenes ranging from deep depression to romantic interludes, to anger at what she sees as a betrayal. When asked what she plans to do for her next Tater Patch Players part she said “I’ll be helping Linda with costumes for Guys and Dolls”. Alecia is an all-round trouper indeed.
Part of the character Catherine’s interactions during the play are with her sister, Claire, played by Marena Leonard. Claire is an organized, busy professional woman who has built a life and career in New York. When she comes home, during a time of family trouble, the usual sibling rivalries become much more tense. Marena played multiple parts in L’il Abner, and appeared most recently in Almost, Maine. While most of her roles have been comic, she is enjoying playing Claire. Marena says “It’s like a grownup version of ‘playing pretend’.” The subject and content of the play, as she says, are not suitable for kids. However she feels the play will have great impact and appeal to an older audience. “They will enjoy it because they will be able to relate to it better than a younger person” she says, citing some of the varying emotions that run throughout the show. Marena says math, which is the underlying theme of the play, is not her strong subject and that she prefers the written word. She is making the written words of playwright David Auburn come to life in this show.
The fourth member of the cast is Jason Boskey. Jason’s only role with Tater Patch was in Almost, Maine. He has appeared at the Blue Ridge Community Theater in several plays and has appeared in the short film A Touch of Darkness. He is a self-described “accounting sherpa”. He explains that a sherpa is a Tibetan native who helps the mountaineers who climb the Himalayas. He has has worked for many years in accounting and now acts as a helper and a guide in business and personal finances and taxes. He hopes, however, that his future will lie in writing for the stage and screen. As he enjoys his first serious stage role, Jason plays a different type of sherpa — guiding his daughter, Catherine through her dread that she will become as insane as he has. Jason says ”My role is to help my daughter with the fear she has that she will turn out like me.”
Tater Patch Players encourage you to see this moving play. Performances will be at the Pickens Chamber of Commerce on June 3,4,5, 6 and are sponsored by Community Bank of Pickens County. This is one piece of great theater that you will not want to miss.
End of Season reflection….
Posted by: | CommentsWinding down another season, we look back wistfully on some really good and very diverse shows. From Steel Magnolias, through The Producers and Dracula, our troupe has once againbrought you a variety of shows in a variety of venues. Gypsies still, we continue searching for a place to call home. Despite this, there is a robust schedule of four very different and challenging productions in Tater Patch’s 2010 future. Come, celebrate Christmas, or the solstice, or whatever you call that dark-of-the-year holiday, with us on December 11 at our annual Wassail. Let’s all wish for a wonderful next season and a place to call our own, while we sing and laugh together. Many thanks go out from all of us to all of our members, fans, and friends. We couldn’t do it without our Tater Patch family!
THE PRODUCERS, JULY 2009
CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF THE PRODUCERS PERFORMANCE
A Word from the Tater Patch Players President
Posted by: | CommentsMarch 28, 2009 – An article on community theater by Tater Patch Players president Robert Countryman
Show by Show – How Community Theater Gets By
(as published in the May 28 Pickens County Progress)
Thanks to Tater Patch Players’ audience for the outstanding and supportive crowds at Steel Magnolias. After the show several people asked if Tater Patch had gotten a lot closer to its fund-raising goals because it put on a successful show. Just to make it clearer for friends and fans of Tater Patch, the “business” end of Community Theater doesn’t work that way. We put on shows and expect that each show will pay for itself and the start-up costs for the next show. We are not in the business of raising money. That’s why the current fundraising campaign had been mentioned so often in the news and on our website (www. taterpatchplayers.org). Fundraising for a building is a separate part of the group’s operations. As a matter of fact, the troupe is a Not For Profit organization – what is known as a 501 (c) (3) under IRS rules. So it is not trying to make a profit from its shows. We just want to be a part of the community by putting on good shows and hopefully, providing other benefits. And that is why, when the decision to make a major expenditure is made, a special fundraising effort has to happen, and the funds raised have to be set aside specially until the goal is reached. That is what is happening in Tater Patch’s drive to buy a performance space.
Every production by any community theater involves some pretty standard things that must be paid for. Royalties are fees paid to who ever owns the rights to the play, music, musical or whatever the troupe performs. Often, for big musicals, the scripts and scores are not sold, but must be rented. For “regular” plays, scripts are bought. Sometimes, in the case of a Shakespearean play, or something written and donated by a supporter, all the cost is in the photocopying. But this is the exception, not the rule.
As it now stands with Tater Patch, a location must be obtained for each performance. Once there is a permanent home, that facility will still require some ongoing payments for the normal things we all pay – mortgage loan perhaps, insurance, property taxes, utilities. The attraction of a permanent home is that we will be able to schedule as much rehearsal time on the actual stage we perform on, and decide our own available performance dates. Right now, a lot of the rehearsals are done in offices, stores, borrowed space, and barns – wherever generous friends welcome the Tater Patchers. As a rule, though, the more rehearsal that happens on the actual set, the better the show will be. Tater Patch aims to bring the best shows possible to its audiences. The locations where we perform are never free. There is always a rent amount to be paid for the venue. And often, there is a limit to the amount of rehearsal time that is available in that venue. In some locations, the stage must literally be built from the ground up. The lights and other equipment must be hung. Scenery, makeup mirrors, costume racks, props, and sometimes even chairs must all be brought in and put in place. And after the last show, usually that same day, it must all be taken down, hauled away, and put away or returned to whoever loaned it. And Tater Patch Players have been doing this for 32 years while still bringing quality performances to their fans and supporters.
This article is not meant to be a litany of complaints, just of an explanation of some “business as usual” for community theater groups. Tater Patch does a masterful job of finding venues it can afford and that will be suitable, to one degree or another, for a performance. We spend an enormous amount of time juggling schedules and planning to make this work. But available and suitable performance spaces are becoming scarcer and will continue to be more expensive to rent. But we keep on because the performers and crew love theater and love putting on shows for you.
The Board of Directors and many Tater Patch members are committed to bringing both quality shows and other entertaining and beneficial programs to our community. There has been a desire for more activities for kids and we want to expand our youth program. There have been requests for dinner theater, which was attempted and faced many cost- and venue-related issues. The group still wants to address this request. Members have expressed an interest in having classic movie festivals, Renaissance-festival events, teaching film-making and theatrical makeup; the list goes on and on. We are, first and foremost, a creative bunch.
This is the goal of your Tater Patch Players. Part of our mission statement reads: “We will promote and foster drama, live theater, and the performing arts in Pickens County. We will entertain and enrich our audiences. We will promote a creative environment”. And that, in a nutshell, is what our drive to have four permanent walls around us, is about. This will not come from the revenues of plays. Before they are even received, those are already committed to putting on the next play, and the one after that. Our home will come from the support of Tater Patch’s community and people who care about the quality of life that a strong performing arts group can contribute.
May 27,2009 — THE PRODUCERS – Nan’s update
Dance rehearsals and singing rehearsals are well underway. Above are some pictures of the first run through of the opening dance number. ChoreographerDenver Clark puts the ensemble through a variety of steps. The people of Shubert Alley are waiting to hear from the King of Broadway!
The Producers has won more Tony Awards than any other Broadway musical. The first community theater production of the show was last fall so we’re proud to be one of the leaders in community theater by bringing the show to Pickens County on July 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 at the PHS Auditorium. Show times are 7:30 PM except for July 12 which is a 2:00 PM matinee.
March 25, 2009 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATES
Tater Patch Players welcomes new Board of Directors member Jan O’Kelley. Jan appeared in our last Bistro production, The Booger Holler Opry, in the jug band. She is a fine singer and guitarist. During the current fundraising campaign she has been a well-spring of ideas and effort. I couldn’t have put together the Auction Gala without her encouragement, help and support. So welcome aboard the Board!
Also, current Board member Mike Robertson steps into the recently vacated position of Vice-President. We’ve already given him a huge list of “to-do” items and he’s hard at work for Tater Patch.
The Play Selection Committee is busily reading its assigned plays and writing synopses and recommendations. We hope, when we get our new home, to present a large and varied assortment of shows to you, our audience.
A Note About This Category
Posted by: | CommentsIn theater parlance an “aside” is lines spoken by an actor to the audience. In a script, anything in (parentheses) is directions to the actor, not lines. So when an actor, reading his script, sees: (Aside) Ah ha! The plot thickens! — he says it to the audience, not to the other actors in the scene. So our (aside) is just a way for some of the Tater Patchers to talk to you, our audience. So look for these random thoughts from your Tater Patch Board members from time to time ….
