REVIEW: Exit, Pursued by a Bear - Trustus Side Door Theatre

January 18 – 27

Written by Lauren Gunderson

Directed by Ginny Ives 

(Trigger warning – this script tackles the issue of domestic violence.)

Exit, Pursued by a Bear is Trustus’ Side Door’s current offering. Nan has finally had it with her husband Kyle’s physical and emotional abuse, and paybacks are hell. Assisted by her forever “ride or die” bestie, Simon and her new friend, a stripper named Sweetheart, Nan hatches a plan to teach Kyle the lesson of his life. Kyle comes home, tosses back a drink, and passes out in his favorite chair. Nan enters and proceeds to duct-tape him to said chair. When he comes to, he is made to watch Nan, Simon and Sweetheart act out scenes from a marriage – his marriage to Nan. Nan lets him know from the start that the “final act” is to cover the room with honey and venison (acquired through Kyle’s illegal hunting techniques), then leave Kyle to be devoured by bears.

I love bears. Always have. Dancing Bear on Captain Kangaroo, and Pooh Bear. Smokey the Bear. Yogi Bear and Booboo. Paddington. The list of cute, adorable bears goes on and on. B-HP’s mascot was a bear. (Go Bars!!!). Real bears, on the other hand, are not particularly cute and adorable. Shakespeare used a bear quite cleverly in A Winter’s Tale  - from whence cometh the title at hand. (Duh.) As a recovering Baptist, I will remind you that God sent bears to devour the small children who mocked the prophet Elisha (2nd Kings 2:23 – 24). Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend learned the hard way that bears are not our friends. I digress…

Kyle is sore afraid. As the evening progresses, he beseeches Nan not to follow through with her plan. He begs, he pleads, he coerces. He pulls out all the tricks that charming, attractive, magnetic abusers have up their sleeves, and  many times Nan very nearly succumbs to his charms. Simon and Sweetheart are there to make sure she doesn’t.

The “who are theys” in this production are Liza Hunter as Nan, Isabella Stenz as Sweetheart, and Bryent Taylor Marshall as Kyle. Clint Poston, a veteran of numerous Trustus productions, rounds out the cast as Simon. All four of these actors inhabit their characters with passion, humor, doubt, and determination. Some of the action in this play is ridiculous, absurd and over the top, but Ginny Ives’ direction, combined with the skills of each of these actors, creates very believable characters. We know these people. We, at least I, grew up with these people. Sweet, timid Nan; macho, violent, angry Kyle, “I’m gonna be an actress!” Sweetheart; and loyal, brave, and fearless Simon. Lord love all these people who grew up in the rural South. Bless their hearts, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. It ain’t easy bein’ weird. Especially when it’s the Kyles of the world who are considered “normal.”

Hunter’s Nan is the human version of a bunny rabbit. Sweet and fluffy and you just want to smoosh her widdle cheeks together and boop her nose! And then you realize this bunny has teeth. She moves from floofy bunny to Monty Python bunny with precision.

Isabella Stenz is so refreshing as Sweetheart, the stripper whose ambition is to be a real actress. She stays committed at every moment. Take a second to watch her when she isn’t the focus of the action.

Clint Poston is the cheerleading bestie we all want. From high camp to deadly serious, Poston’s Simon is  the best sidekick ever. And the boy got some stems. Just saying. 

Bryent Taylor-Marshall as the utterly horrid Kyle. Argh! He is an awful, reprehensible, hot-tempered card-carrying NRA member (wait, no. He’s too cheap to pay the dues), Fox-watching abusive redneck. And he is so cute and sweet and apologetic and coercive. I wanted to release him from his duct tape shackles, but I also wanted to bash his head against rocks.

I anticipated a “Misery” moment. Not gonna tell ya.

Dewey Scott-Wiley’s set is true. I know that trailer. The rutted driveway leading from the tar and gravel road up to the front porch. (We don’t see it, but we know it’s there). The deer head mounted on the wall. The hideous recliner. Absolutely evocative of rural upstate Georgia. (And South Carolina).

Sound and lighting design fit this production perfectly. The use of projections for scene changes and some narration is excellent.

A fun evening. Nothing but Bonfires.

Housekeeping: The show runs right at 90 minutes without intermission. Plan accordingly. The Side Door is an “intimate” space, so watch your feet so as not to trip up the actors. Get there early as the space fills up quickly. Beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks are available for purchase.

Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. so don’t be late. There’s no sneaking into this space. Tickets are $22.50 - $25.00.

If you or someone you love is a victim of physical or emotional violence, please don’t suffer in silence. The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 800-799-7233. Sistercare’ s 24-hour crisis line is 803-765-9428. The Women’s Shelter can be reached at 803-779-4709. And yes, there is help for men who are victims. Oliver Gospel Mission at 803-254-6470, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and the SC Department of Social Services are available to you. The play is funny. The issue is not.

REVIEW: COMPOSURE at Trustus Theatre, Written and Directed by Jason Stokes

“Composure brings to light major issues that, after one-hundred and nineteen years, are still prevalent today. Fact versus interpretation of fact, truth versus bias, opinion-based reporting, righteous versus self-righteous, and the checks and balances between the press and the government…” - Jason Stokes, Playwright

Pictured Clint Poston as James Tillman (left) and Jon Whit McClinton as N. G. Gonzales (right)

It’s been a long time coming for Jason Stokes, writer and director of the play Composure, which premiered Thursday night at Trustus Theatre. The inkling of the idea for presenting this story was born almost 20 years ago when Stokes first learned about this particularly sordid excerpt from South Carolina history that, in 1903, finds a white supremacist lieutenant governor, James Tillman, murdering in broad daylight N.G. Gonzales, journalist and co-founder of The State Newspaper, then walking away a free man. Stokes first developed the story as a screenplay before transforming it for the stage. It was scheduled to be premiered pre-Covid in cooperation with Chad Henderson, former artistic director of Trustus, along with Charlie Finesilver’s original production of House Calls, which premieres August 18th.

A larger story to be told than the one incident of the murder, Stokes does an impressive job of integrating the lead-up and aftermath of the shooting and trial into two acts. In fact, the structure of the play is highly sophisticated as the events and dialogue jump logically across place and time in order to explain not just most efficiently and dramatically the events, but the contributing causes of the events that took place.

The cast is, for the most part, stellar, with some of the finest actors Columbia has to offer on the stage in support of their colleague. It was a treat to see such accomplished actors as Hunter Boyle in the commanding role of Pitchfork Ben Tillman, Stan Gardner as attorney Patrick Nelson, G. Scott Wild as attorney William Thurmond, Kevin Bush as journalist J.A. Hoyt, and Terrance Henderson as Ambrose Gonzales, brother to murder victim N.G. Gonzales. Libby Campbell Turner displayed remarkable theatrical chops in her multiple cross-gendered roles as C.J. Terrel and additional characters, often changing characters on a dime just by adjusting the fit of her tie and her own composure. Her facial features and posture reminded the audience that she is a cast of characters unto herself. And Katie Leitner, as the long-suffering wife of the murderer, displayed a grace and elegance even when called upon to deliver the rare mellow-dramatic line. It was great, too, seeing Nate Herring back on the Trustus stage as George Lagare.

We were surprised, however, by some of the casting decisions.

With powerhouse artists like Bush, Wild, and Gardner on board, why were some of the most demanding roles assigned to some of the weaker actors on the team? As James Tillman, Clint Poston, though a fine supporting actor, was saddled with an incredibly challenging role, a role that seems made for the likes of G. Scott Wild who could so easily slide into the character of the blustery and entitled white Southern fascist Tillman must have been. Poston doesn’t seem to have a handle on how deluded and despicable Tillman was, sometimes coming off as somewhat sympathetic and misunderstood.

And while Brandon Martin at times rises to the level of contemptibility of future SC Governor and Senator Coleman Blease, a man who embraced white supremacy and lynching and violently opposed miscegenation, his physical appearance, posture, and contemporary hairstyle, as well as his time spent on stage when not speaking, make it difficult to believe him as the robust character of Cole Blease. Stan Gardner, on the other hand, would have soared in this role. (Since writing this, we have learned that Mr. Martin joined the cast at a late date to take the place of Stann Gwynn, an artist inordinately well suited to take on the role of Cole Blease. Jasper wishes the best both to Mr. Martin as he acclimates to the role and to Mr. Gwynn as he fully recovers from his medical procedure.)

But the most poorly cast actor, in a slate of otherwise excellent theatrical artists, was Jon Whit McClinton in the critical role of N.G. Gonzales. While McClinton was able to manage the side-role of judge most of the time, though he did break character and snicker at his own mistake at one point, he was out of his element among the artists with whom he shared the stage. The particularly jarring reality is that McClinton played opposite Terrance Henderson as Ambrose Gonzales in the majority of his scenes. Henderson’s stage presence, professionalism, and experience would have delivered a far more serious, and certainly less giddy, character than McClinton was able to provide.

We’re not sure whether Stokes conceptualized the set or if this was the singular purview of veteran scenic designer Danny Harrington, whose work has been a gift to most if not all theatre stages in the Columbia area, but the set for Composure, though problematic for the actors in places (Damn those pipes!), is a work of art itself. A play as complex as Composure could have required a multitude of scene changes. But Harrington’s innovative design—and the flexibility of the actors—allows for one large multi-use set that presents as something quite beautiful from the audience.

With a cast this size costuming can be a financial challenge and for the most part costume designer Andie Nicks does a fine job and, in some cases—like Katie Leitner’s elegant black and white skirted pants ensemble—an exceptional job. If financially possible, more consistency of style would be appreciated, too, particularly when it comes to pleats and cuffs for the gentlemen’s pants, hats vs. no hats, and the standard three button coat of the turn of the 20th century. And a good fit, no matter what the wardrobe, is ideal. Similarly, standardized hairstyles for men invite no comparison whereas the juxtaposition of a contemporary style, like that of Mr. Martin’s, stands out and begs notice, disrupting the flow of the play.

While kicking off the sound and lights posed a problem on Friday night, which Stokes managed with grace and humor, the lighting design by Teddy Palmer was helpful in guiding the audience’s attention to a stage in which, at times, as many as three scenes moved from frozen to active in a matter of seconds. In the best of all possible worlds (and budgets!) more intense spotlights would have been available, but in this world, this lighting worked fine. Background sounds by Jason Stokes were appropriate and complementary, with music added in places to enhance the setting but not overwhelm it.

Overall, it was a delight to see the vision of local multi-talented theatre artist and writer Jason Stokes become a reality. This play and its production are important to this community and beyond for a number of reasons.

Kudos to interim artistic director Dewey Scott-Wiley for following through on this project, begun by Stokes and Henderson, which could have fallen by the wayside once Covid forced its delay. We see far too little new stage work from an abundance of literary artists in SC and Columbia in particular. But local theatre and literary artists will continue to produce new art if given the opportunity to see it come to fruition, as Composure has. South Carolina and South Carolina playwrights have fascinating—and sometimes barely believable—stories to share, such as this story and that of Dr Ian Gale in next week’s premiere of House Calls: The Strange Tale of Dr. Gale.

Sadly, we are not as far removed from the issues and behavior depicted in Composure as we would like to think—we’re simply better at subterfuge. As Stokes writes in his playbill notes, “Composure brings to light major issues that, after one-hundred and nineteen years, are still prevalent today. Fact versus interpretation of fact, truth versus bias, opinion-based reporting, righteous versus self-righteous, and the checks and balances between the press and the government. Both are vital to American existence, both must keep careful watch on the other; but when these powerful forces become more self-aggrandizing entities than protectors of the people they serve, the American existence is lost.”

The question now is What’s next for Composure? Without question, the play should live on, possibly with a shorter first act, possibly continuing the model of more actors performing multiple roles to condense the cast. Some degree of workshopping might be helpful, but not a lot. This project strikes us as a good candidate for festivals. It’s a fascinating story that despite the passage of more than a hundred years still resonates and begs the same questions today that it did in 1903.

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Composure, a new play written and directed by Jason Stokes.

The Jasper Project

REVIEW: Trustus Theatre's The Thanksgiving Play - by Patrick Michael Kelly

“Watching the show feels as close to an evening on Lady Street as possible - you can almost smell the Cromer’s popcorn.”

Trustus bills The Thanksgiving Play as “a woke comedy” and that’s apropos. Larissa FastHorse’s play follows four white people - Logan, Jaxton, Caden, and Alicia - in their attempt to creatively devise a culturally sensitive play about the First Thanksgiving for Native American Heritage Month. They stumble over many obstacles - mainly themselves and each other - on their quest to craft an engaging, equitable educational show and ultimately arrive at the simplest of conclusions that less is indeed more. 

FastHorse wastes no time establishing tone; we know what we’re in for from the jump. The play begins with a Thanksgiving rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” complete with Indian, Pilgrim, and turkey costumes, and choreography that the cast performs with full commitment. These surreal interludes - snippets from the play that might come from the group’s endeavor - recur throughout and serve to break up the realistic scenes with blasts of musical comedy. It’s a pleasing combination. 

Consumer culture, linguistic cliches, gender bias, social media, “upcycling”, vegans, etc. - all are placed on the altar or chopping block, whichever metaphor you’d prefer, and while this play’s glut of contemporary issues could feel tiresome, they are integrated perfectly with the story. Most effective are discussions about the fantasy of a “post-racial” society and what it means to be an ally, and a lovely scene between Alicia and Logan concerning the values of sex and beauty, the dangers of their commodification, and the value of their power. FastHorse tackles big issues head-on and lays out all the angles, but rather than smashing you over the head, she builds them in tactfully. 

FastHorse also skewers the craft and politics of theater expertly. Often, plays about making plays come off as obnoxious and cliquish, but The Thanksgiving Play manages to poke fun at devising, improv, warm-ups, and the like without alienating non-thespians. Furthermore, she squeezes in some terrific commentary about casting issues that plague the industry, from the well-past-timely death of so-called colorblind casting to the usual excuses of producers and directors about how hard it is to find ethnic actors to fill roles appropriately. At one point, Alicia mentions that she’s “maybe part-Spanish” so she should get to play all the Spanish roles because “it’s a drop thing.” We cringe, but it’s real. 

Kayla Cahill Machado is solid as Logan, the embattled high school drama teacher who needs this project to succeed - there’s grant money on the line and a professional actor in the room. Machado drives much of the action of the play and juggles empowering everyone with keeping the project on the rails. We feel her pain. 

Patrick Dodds brings his usual charm and affability to Jaxton, the yoga practitioner and “professional” actor. Jaxton’s heart is in the right place, but his desire to do right by everyone all the time gets in his way of being effective. Dodds’s Jaxton comes off a little too young and dumb at times, but the actor’s passion and vulnerability easily make up for it. 

Clint Poston as Caden is winning from his first entrance. He nails Caden’s enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge and drives the pace in much needed moments. Caden wants so badly to be useful and to have his hard-won authority recognized, and Poston channels his desperation with a sweetness that cuts through his pretension. 

Brittany Hammock plays Alicia (pronounced uh-LEE-see-ya, because of course it is), the self-centered actress with a “super-flexible” look to a tee. Her enthusiastic cluelessness and well-intentioned cynicism both give the group fits and inspire them to rethink their way of being. Hammock steals many scenes with her dry delivery.

Director Abigail McNeely has done a nice job making an ensemble out of her performers while allowing them to play to their strengths. The scenes are dynamic and flow nicely; McNeely clearly knows the story and where the most important parts are and highlights them to great success. The production suffers at times from pacing issues, particularly in the early going, but the actors find their footing as the action builds. The inventive staging and exciting feel of the interludes is a testament to the director’s expansive vision. 

It is a treat to see a true box set. Many contemporary plays are filmic in that they employ shorter scenes and multiple locations, making realism an impossibility. Film does realism better than theater, but a realistic stage production is still a satisfying endeavor for artists and audiences alike. FastHorse’s employment of a single location - outside of the musical interruptions - allows for the production team to create a fully inhabited world onstage. Scenic Designer Sam Hetler is up to the task; his set feels just like an American high school drama classroom. The attention to detail provides lots of little surprises for us to find, like old Columbia theater posters on the back wall and a masquerade-themed bulletin board urging us to “put your mask on.” Clever. 

Curtis Smoak’s lighting is cheery with just the right touch of industrial, mimicking the unpleasant wash of public fluorescents while warmly supporting the actors and the space they inhabit. The choice to forgo lighting shifts when two characters are having a private conversation in a public space is confusing; the helpful theatrical convention of separating the groups with light to assist the audience’s understanding should apply, even in a realistic piece like this. During the interludes, the lights shift dramatically to make the performers pop along with the musical numbers, giving it a bit of a rock cabaret vibe.

The recording of this production is well done. The shots and the sound are both clear and we get the feel of watching a play live and in person magnified through the camera’s eye and microphones. That said, shot selection is often static in the scenes and much more dynamic in the interludes, and the editing needs to split the difference more. More often than not, the scenes are played out in a wide shot with close-ups and two-shots few and far between. This might have been an attempt to preserve the piece as a play as much as possible, but if you’re going to make a film, make a film. 

That being said, it’s hard not to notice that the element that gives live theater its power is sorely missing here. As if comedy weren’t hard enough already, taking away the audience puts the performers in a tougher spot, and they respond by pushing in moments where the support of laughter or other audible reactions would otherwise buoy them. Trustus deserves applause for making theater - and polished theater at that - safely, but the interplay between actor and audience is what makes theater...well, theater. 

In its first attempt at producing a fully mounted show for home consumption, Trustus delivers a quality product and should be commended for adapting to these trying times. Watching the show feels as close to an evening on Lady Street as possible - you can almost smell the Cromer’s popcorn. Format-associated growing pains aside, The Thanksgiving Play is well worth your time and your donation and should inspire some spirited conversation at your virtual Turkey Day dinner table.

Patrick Michael Kelly is the theatre editor for Jasper Magazine.

CORONA TIMES - Trustus Theatre Melds Formats to Bring Us The Thanksgiving Play: A Talk with Director Abigail McNeely

“It’s a satire about white wokeness and the assumptions that we have always been taught about the Native American experience that we have accepted as fact, and how complex and impossible it is to create something that represents an oppressed group when that group isn’t even in the room. … Now, it’s one of the top ten most-produced plays in America and it fits in at Trustus perfectly. It’s modern, it’s challenging, it makes you laugh and then it makes you cringe that you just laughed…”

Abigail McNeely, director - The Thanksgiving Play

Abigail McNeely, director, The Thanksgiving Play at Trustus Theatre

As quarantine precautions continue to impact the opportunities for performing arts institutions to gather artists and audiences safely together, problem-solving and creative solutions are more highly valued than ever.

With a theatre that has been physically dark since March, Columbia’s beloved Trustus Theatre has offered a number of alternative events including a virtual play festival last month that brought us new plays with small casts live streamed three weekends in a row.

This week, the organization, under the watchful eye of Producing Artistic Director Chad Henderson, is raising the bar even higher with a brand new play being offered as a pay-for-view event—The Thanksgiving Play, a comedy by Larissa Fasthorse.

Jasper talked with Abigail McNeely who, in addition to directing The Thanksgiving Play, is also on staff at Trustus Theatre. We’re sharing this interview with you.

JASPER: First, tell us about your position at Trustus Theatre, how long you’ve been there, and what you do.

MCNEELY: I am the Administrative Assistant of Production and I started in May 2020. I do a lot of different things! I work closely with Chad, the Producing Artistic Director, and our technical staff, as well as our wonderful donors. When we return to live production, I’ll be working with production teams as well. A big part of my job over the last few months has been working on our Trustus LIVE series, which included filming, editing, and streaming video for our audiences at home. I was so excited to take on the challenge of taking the Trustus experience online and I’ve learned a lot. I’m really proud of the streaming work that we’ve done and it has all been leading up to The Thanksgiving Play, a production that combines both our practical live theatre skills and our virtual skills.

JASPER: And I know you graduated from USC – when was that and what was your major?

MCNEELY: I graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. While there, I received the Helen Hayes Undergraduate scholarship and worked with Green Room Productions, the entirely student-run theatre production group, and was a member of TOAST Improv.

JASPER: Talk for just a minute about some of the plays you’ve been in or directed and maybe choose one or two favorites.

MCNEELY: There are so many! I’ve been doing theatre since high school and each project feels like it teaches me something new. Some highlights:

·        Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which marked my fifth musical here at Trustus (and unfortunately closed in after just two performances due to COVID – but we’ll be back!). I love working with Chad on musicals. It’s like you stepped into a music video. It’s a blast.

·        A Bright New Boise by Samuel D. Hunter which I directed my senior year of college with some of my very close friends through Green Room. Hunter is one of my favorite playwrights. Funny and dark and full of heart.

·        A Christmas Miracle at the Richland Fashion Mall, written by The Mothers, Trustus’ resident comedy group that I am proudly a member of. I was honored to get to direct our very first full-length play that was a love letter to some of our favorite Columbia things.

Patrick Dodds and Kayla Cahill Machado

JASPER: Now, let’s hear about the Thanksgiving Play – who wrote it and what should viewers expect from the content of the play?

MCNEELY: The Thanksgiving Play is written by Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation). The show is about four people coming together to try and create a politically correct, culturally-sensitive play about Thanksgiving during Native American Heritage Month. Those four people all happen to be white, not a single Indigenous voice in the room. It’s a satire about white wokeness and the assumptions that we have always been taught about the Native American experience that we have accepted as fact, and how complex and impossible it is to create something that represents an oppressed group when that group isn’t even in the room. FastHorse wrote this play to explore these issues with only white people in the cast in response to being told that her other plays couldn’t be produced for lack of Indigenous actors. Now, it’s one of the top ten most-produced plays in America and it fits in at Trustus perfectly. It’s modern, it’s challenging, it makes you laugh and then it makes you cringe that you just laughed… it’s what I think of when I think about “a Trustus show.”

JASPER: Who will we get to see performing?

MCNEELY: Four really wonderful actors from the Trustus company – Kayla Cahill Machado (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Brittany Hammock (A Streetcar Named Desire and the Jasper Theatre Artist of the Year recipient for 2019), Patrick Dodds (Sweat), and Clint Poston (Marjorie Prime). We knew we wanted to stay within the Trustus family for this show and these four actors were my first choice. I’ve had the pleasure of watching and working with each of them multiple times and I appreciate their dedication and their willingness to try new things. Getting them all in to the same cast was a dream.

JASPER: And now, the obvious, how exactly will we get to see this play?

MCNEELY: The Thanksgiving Play is Trustus’ very first virtual on-demand show. After a month of quarantine and testing, we brought our cast and crew in to film the show to then stream online. It’s similar to renting a movie off of Amazon – you pay for an access code that is good any time between November 11-21, and once you begin watching it, you have 48 hours to finish it. Tickets can be purchased online at trustus.org and any questions can go to our Box Office Manager, Brandon Martin (boxoffice@trustus.org). He was instrumental in creating our online experience and ensuring it still felt like Trustus even from the comfort of your couch.

 

It’s similar to renting a movie off of Amazon – you pay for an access code that is good any time between November 11-21, and once you begin watching it, you have 48 hours to finish it. Tickets can be purchased online at trustus.org

JASPER: As the director, tell us about some of the challenges you encountered in putting this play together and how you problem-solved them.

MCNEELY: We started the process completely online, rehearsing over Zoom. The first few days of a rehearsal process are vital in building ensemble and getting the show up on its feet to block, so having to do so online was challenging, but thankfully, the cast took to it easily.

After two weeks of virtual rehearsal, we started in-person rehearsals. It was a breath of fresh air to have people back in the theatre again. We were masked when not on stage, lots of hand sanitizer, weekly testing… Above all, we had to do this safely. It means nothing to bring theatre back if it’s done haphazardly. While we were in the space, we ran the show and added costumes and props just like any normal rehearsal process. It felt good to be back in the rhythm of things. After another two weeks, we filmed the entire show over Halloween weekend. It was a whirlwind process. The staff worked so hard to make it happen. It was exciting to get to work with my team on a production together.

Brittany Hammock

JASPER: Assuming we haven’t seen the play yet, key us in to one of your favorite or funniest parts to look forward to.

MCNEELY: One of the most fun things about the show is that it’s a play with music, so in between each of the scenes with the group creating the play, we get a glimpse at some of the outdated Thanksgiving songs and pageants that have been performed over and over again. FastHorse wrote these based on real songs she came across while writing the play, and they are perfectly campy in their performance and cringey in their content. There’s also a scene involving a head. That’s all I have to say about that.

JASPER: Is there anyone whose praises you’d like to take this opportunity to sing?

So many people! The time we spent rehearsing online gave us ample time to discuss characters and intentions and engage in conversations about some of the tougher topics. We had discussions with Eva Foussat, an Indigenous member for the Trustus board, and Terrance Henderson, Trustus company member and the chair of our Equity Task Force. I’m so thankful for their time. It was essential to have POC voices at the table when we discussed this play. Otherwise, we would’ve been doing exactly what the play tells us not to do: talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Perform radical wokeness without working with or listening to BIPOC. 

I’d also love to shout out the musicians we worked with on the show. We asked Greg Apple to create the transition music you’ll hear between scenes, and what he and Chad came up with is so fun: tribal beats that morph into jazzy tunes. It reminds me a lot of Vince Guaraldi’s score for the Peanuts specials, perfect for the holidays. Then, we reached out to two of my favorite musicians to fill in the music for the rest of the show. Chris Cockrell, Trustus company Emeritus member, scored scenes 1, 3, and 7 and Daniel Machado, whose wife Kayla plays Logan in the show, scored scene 5 and the credits. Daniel also stepped up to the plate as a camera operator and sound mixer for the entire show. He’s helped so much.   

I’ve never felt this way about collaboration before. I am so lucky to have worked with so many different artists in such a short, loud time and created something we can all be proud of.

JASPER: And what’s next for you and Trustus?

Coming up on November 21st, we’re hosting three awesome bands in the alleyway outside of the theatre for Rock the Block – a fun(d)raiser for Trustus Theatre! Brandy and the Butcher, Les Merry Chevaliers, and E.Z. Shakes are playing, Scott Hall’s got the food, and we’ll be pouring drinks. It’s going to be so much fun. Info can be found online at https://trustus.org/event/rock-the-block/. After that, we’ll be installing new air filtration systems to hopefully return to live performance soon. Stay tuned!

Jason Stokes Talks About Tail! Spin! Opening Friday Night at Trustus Theatre

It's easy for a performing arts organization, be it theatre, dance, or music-based, to stick with the safe bet. Fill the seats by offering shows your audience has become accustomed to. Go to the same old pool, season after season, and keep it all familiar so your organization can pay the rent. And as long as your audience never leaves the city limits they may not realize that one of the responsibilities of an arts organization is to nurture the cultural literacy of its audience by offering new works. Works that challenge or discomfit. Works that take chances. Works that go out on a limb and take the audience with them as they shakily find their balance, but ultimately enjoy the view. While too many organizations in Columbia adhere to this boring, stagnating, audience-offending policy -- and we'll be writing more about this soon -- at least, and thank whoever the god of the performing arts is for this, we have Trustus Theatre.

Yes, Trustus has some familiar fun coming up this season (Walter Graham plays the alien transvestite Frank N. Furter in the delicious Rocky Horror Picture Show, for example). But at the same time, Trustus never fails to continue to take chances. Be it via the Trustus Playwright's Festival which last month gave us Anatomy of a Hug, one of the oddest little, top-notch shows we've seen in a while -- fresh, brand new, exciting; or via shows like the one opening Friday night on the Cohn Side Door Stage -- Tail! Spin! 

Directed by Jason Stokes,  Tail! Spin! stars Stann Gwynn, Kevin Bush, Clint Poston, Joseph Eisenreich, and Ellen Rodillo-Fowler. We asked Stokes to tell us a bit about where the story came from and how he plans to bring it to the stage. Find his comments below and plan to come out to check out this fascinating and funny piece of political theatre. It's new and different, and it should be perfect for the political season.  - CB

Directing Tail! Spin! by Jason Stokes 

Tail! Spin! chronicles the real life political scandals of Larry Craig, Anthony Weiner, Mark Foley and Mark Sanford using their own texts, emails, Facebook messages, IM’s, and interviews. Using their own public and private words to tell the story in my opinion changes this show from being just a strict “by the numbers” bio-play, into a dramedy version of reality. The show hinges on each person’s scandal, but at its core, the show really details the toll their  actions take on them, their families, and political careers while bringing them face to face with who they really are thanks in no small part the modern-day twenty-four hour media coverage.  Some of the men are unable, or unwilling, to accept this new self-revelation.

From the beginning, the most difficult task of directing this piece was finding the right balance between the acts of these men and their humorous attempts to spin the details to a more favorable outcome. It’s my opinion that in order to get to the US Senate, House or Governor’s mansion you must possess a certain amount of intelligence … even if the intelligence comes from a team; the individual must be smart enough to adhere to the sound advice of others.  But the politicians focused on in this play react like children with their hands caught in the proverbial cookie jar after their sexual indiscretions are discovered. And their mindset becomes “If I don’t admit anything, then nobody will know.”  As is so often the case with political scandal, the denial becomes worse than the act.

We find ourselves in a polarizing political and social climate at present. Compromise is a dirty word, if you’re a republican then the democrats have no validity in their thoughts or policies; and if you’re a democrat, the republicans have lost their minds and their party is a mess with no real hope of salvation and thus should be completely cast aside (Yes, I’m generalizing, but find any two members of either party and ask them to agree on something, anything).  Which is why this show comes to Columbia at the absolute right time. While the subject matter can be shocking and their attempt to keep it quiet should be laughed at, hopefully, the audience will see these men as flawed human beings who made really, really bad decisions that when pieced together the way the playwright has, prove quite hilarious. And maybe for a few moments, we can all be Americans enjoying a night of entertainment together, as one people, the way we should be. To quote Dennis Miller however... "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."

Jason Stokes first appeared at Trustus as Adam in 2002’s The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.  Other Trustus roles include Roger in Rent, Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show, Luke in Next Fall. Other shows in the Columbia area include The Full Monty, Sleuth, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In January of this year he held a reading of his new screenplay Composure, detailing the murder of N.G. Gonzales by SC Lieutenant Gov. James Tillman, in the Trustus Side Door.  He has also written, produced and directed four films, the most recent film  blocked was featured in the 2nd Act Film Festival, presented by The Jasper Project. 

Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean: Jason Stokes Premiers Original Historical Screenplay, Composure - by Haley Sprankle

 

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Columbia where we lay our scene...

The year is 1903. The Tillman family, headed by the Lieutenant Governor for the State of South Carolina, and the Gonzales family, headed by the founder of The State newspaper, are in a known feud. This ancient grudge (that began in the 1880s) broke to new mutiny as Lieutenant Governor James H. Tillman murders NG Gonzales.

That’s where local actor, filmmaker, and screenwriter Jason Stokes’ story begins.

“I first heard about this story at my ‘real’ work (Media Director for the South Carolina Bar) in 2000 during a presentation on the subject by Donnie Myers. I was fascinated by the story in part because of the sensational nature of the crime, but the more I began to research the story I realized that there was much more to it than just a murder and a murder trial,” Stokes explains.  “The Tillmans and The Gonzaleses were two powerful families in the city of Columbia who did not like each other for various reasons. This feud began in the late 1880’s and continued even after the events of January 15, 1903. During that time one side wielded power and opinion in the public press while the other side railed against the Gonzaleses and The State newspaper with every stump speech.”

This Saturday, Stokes presents an original screenplay titled Composure based on this rich piece of Columbia’s history. His cast includes such luminary local talent such as Paul Kaufmann, Eric Bultman, Stann Gwynn, Terrance Henderson, Hunter Boyle, Clint Poston, Katie Leitner, Stan Gardner, G. Scott Wild, Libby Campbell, Kevin Bush, Jonathan Jackson, Nate Herring, and Kendrick Marion.

“I’ve been very fortunate not only to have these talented actors lend their craft to this project but they are also valued friends and colleagues. I promise to anyone in attendance, if the story doesn’t impress you the talent certainly will,” Stokes says.

While Stokes is certainly no stranger to the Columbia arts community, having been seen in productions ranging from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to Rent, not many know that he is a writer.

“I began writing just after my father passed away in 1989. My mother gave me a notebook to write down memories of my father when I had them but, being an adolescent, as I started writing down a memory or story it would veer away from facts to whatever fiction my mind was dreaming up at the time. So I’ve been writing for the last 27 years (to varying degrees of success),” Stokes said.

After writing about 30 screenplays, some of which have television spec scripts pitched to shows such as The West Wing and Castle, Stokes has developed his own style and writing process.

“Each screenplay is different, but they all seem to start before I really know where they are going. For example, I’ll write a scene that I either have no idea what it’s trying to say in a grand scheme, or I don’t know where it belongs in the story I’m thinking about,” Stokes delineates. “Composure was no different. The surface story was there but to make it interesting and make it build to something that makes people think was the challenge. This being a historical piece I just kept doing more and more research to see if I could find anything new to add to the layers, which took time. I worked off-and-on on the screenplay for about three years, and it wasn’t until I decided to begin with the murder and then bounce back and forth in time during the trial, to add the ‘why’ of the murder, that made it really exciting for me to want to write it.”

Being an actor himself adds a particularly interesting dynamic to Stokes’ work and process, as well.

“As an actor, it’s always a blessing to work on a well written piece of work, Tennessee Williams, Terrance McNally, Jonathan Larson, you want to chew on it as long as you can because really good, juicy dialogue and lyrics don’t come around all the time. So when I write I like to think of the story and dialogue in the vein; Would this be something I would want to sink my teeth into as an actor and rejoice in the fact that I GET to say these lines and tell this story?” Stokes adds.

Don’t miss the two hours’ traffic of the Trustus Side Door Theatre this Saturday, January 16 for free! Doors and bar open at 6:30 with the performance beginning at 7:30.

“Opinion reporting is nothing new, as evident by this story, but with the advent of technology and polarizing news outlets only compounding the divisive nature and climate I think we find ourselves in today, this is a true story that still has relevance and meaning,” Stokes says. “No one story, one person, one political ideology can be measured strictly in absolutes. If the audience can be entertained and enlightened in some way through the events of these gentlemen, then maybe the cast and I will have offered a different perspective in which to view our own world.”

New Trustus Playwrights' Festival Winning Play Premiering on the 14th

 

Trustus Theatre is bringing a world premiere to the Midlands as Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich’s Big City comes to the Thigpen Main Stage. This winner of the Trustus Playwrights’ Festival will have a limited run from August 14 - 22, 2015. Audiences can also meet winning NYC playwright Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich when she visits Columbia and attends opening weekend.

The Trustus Playwrights’ Festival is a national competition that is held annually. Last season over 500 submissions made their way to Trustus Literary Manager Sarah Hammond in NYC, and Artistic Director Dewey Scott-Wiley and Hammond chose Big City as the winning play. The show is receiving its first professional production on Trustus’ Thigpen Main Stage this summer under the direction of Scott-Wiley.

Big City is a modern tale about 21st Century relationships and communication, Big City introduces audiences to Jane and Joe. These friends have been living with each other for a while and are "just roommates," except for Friday nights and the occasional Sunday morning. Now he's drowning in urban angst and wants a deeper commitment  -- a baby! -- but Jane says no. Deep down, are they really in love? Or is it just the narrowing of options and fear of being alone that comes from being closer to 30 than 20. Anything can happen over a meal of Chinese takeout and muscle relaxants, especially when unexpected guests invade the small apartment they call home.

Big City playwright Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich is a NYC playwright. Her work has been produced/developed in NYC at Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Roundabout, Rattlestick, Women’s Project, EST, New Georges, AracaWorks, Urban Stages, and many others. “Life these days seems to move at a faster, scarier, and more absurd pace than it used to,” said Blumenthal-Ehrlich. “Wifi and cell phones mean our work follows us wherever we go. Twitter and Facebook bring a false sense of friendship and intimacy. Not to mention that the world is scarier since 9/11 and ISIS. The irony is that in an era of heightened fears and isolation, we need each other more than ever. This can make for some oddball and heartrending hookups. That’s the back story of Big City, a quirky high-stakes comedy about Jane and Joe, engaged in an escalating conflict over their life as not-so-platonic urban roommates.”

Big City boasts a cast entirely comprised of Trustus Ensemble Members. EG Engle plays Jane and Clint Poston plays Joe. Catherine Hunsinger and Jason Stokes play Sandy and Bill – two characters who enter in the second act and bring even more chaos to this apartment nestled in the Big Apple.

Trustus Theatre’s Big City opens on the Thigpen Main Stage on Friday, August 14^th at 8:00pm and runs through August 22^nd, 2015. Showtimes for Big City are 7:30pm on Thursdays, 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 3:00pm on Sundays. Tickets for musicals are $30.00 for adults, $28.00 for military and seniors, and $20.00 for students. Half-price Student Rush-Tickets are available 15 minutes prior to curtain. Patrons are encouraged to reserve early at www.trustus.org as the show has a limited run.

Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady St. and on Pulaski St. The Main Stage entrance is located on the Publix side of the building.

For more information or reservations call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all show information and season information.

"By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" - a review of the new show at Trustus

Trustus Theatre's new production of Lynne Nottage's play By The Way, Meet Vera Stark tackles an odd paradox from early Hollywood: talented actors of color were finding professional success on screen in mainstream films that starred white performers, but most commonly were cast as maids, slaves, "mammies," and other stereotypical roles. Hattie McDaniel, for example, broke the color barrier when she won the Oscar, but still she played a servant, not a teacher, mother, or romantic lead. Employing a dizzying array of narrative and dramatic techniques, Nottage traces the career of the fictional Vera Stark (Michelle Jacobs), an aspiring African-American actress in the early '30's who works by day as a maid for the frivolous Gloria Mitchell (Katie Mixon), a Mary Pickford-like starlet famed as "America's Little Sweetie Pie." Advance press material notwithstanding, Vera Stark is neither a screwball comedy (although it is sometimes funny, if perhaps not hilarious) nor a riff on Gone With the Wind (although Mixon sometimes channels the breathless drawls of Vivian Leigh and Olivia de Havilland.)  Gloria is desperate to land the lead in The Belle of New Orleans, a weepy film melodrama that draws from classics like Camille and Dion Boucicault's The Octaroon. That term, by the way, turns up frequently: it's a 19th-century term for a person with one-eighth black heritage, who would still have been classified as a slave. (A mixed-race friend of mine once laughingly used that term to describe herself, and later a co-worker asked "What did you say you were again?  A Macaroon?")

Vera, clearly a close friend, confidante and sister-figure for her scatterbrained employer, wants a shot at playing the “Belle's” maid, an actual dramatic role with lines beyond "Yes, ma'am." In moments that define the play's central issues, Vera and roommate Lottie (Annette Dees Grevious) discuss the inherent irony of Vera's situation; these conversations, and scenes where Vera flirts with ambitious, driven jazz musician Leroy (an earnest and smooth Jabar Hankins) could be excerpts from a good August Wilson drama set in the 1930's. Strangely, however, different scenes and different characters in the first act are written in drastically, sometimes jarringly different styles. When Jacobs and Grevious banter with Janell Bryant (as their saucy friend Anna Mae, who intends to find stardom via affairs with white producers and directors who think she's Brazilian) the mood lightens, and the laughs come fast and furious, in the vein of socially-conscious comedies from the '70's like Good Times.  Hollywood types turn up: Bobby Bloom as a no-nonsense producer who could be from a realistic 1940's drama, and Clint Poston as an idealistic director, clearly an Otto Preminger figure, but as broadly comic as if Franz Liebkind's accent and Roger DeBris's flamboyance were taken from The Producers and morphed into a single character.  Bloom's studio exec, by the way, could easily have been one-note, and played by an older man, simply a quasher of any projects that won't sell at the box office. The youthful Bloom gives a remarkably three-dimensional performance, proving that there are no small roles, only small actors.  With the simplest of tools - suspenders instead of a belt, hair parted a certain way, a cigar held like Bogart, wire-rimmed glasses, assertive body language - he perfectly conveys an Irving Thalberg-like visionary, who wants to give audiences a brief escape from the grim realities of the Depression.

Mixon, meanwhile, dives into the role of the vodka-fueled Gloria with as much gleeful abandon as she dove into that quiche a few months ago in the Side Door Theatre, flamboyantly vamping like Lydia Languish or other 17th and 18th-century heroines of classic farce. When all these characters are on stage together, the show comes closest to capturing the spirit of a vintage screen comedy, a la Golddiggers of 1933, or How to Marry a Millionaire, with Grevious taking the older, more cynical Lauren Bacall role, Jacobs becoming sweet Betty Grable, and Bryant as the luscious but clueless Marilyn Monroe.  But if these references to obscure shows and characters you may not be familiar with are becoming a little annoying, that to some extent is my point. The author clearly intended this mash-up of genres, and each cast member does just fine, but at times the effect is confusing, as if disparate characters from separate plays all found themselves on stage together.

The storytelling chaos coalesces into something different entirely, however, as Act Two becomes a retelling of, reflection on, and subtle satire of the themes we saw in Act One. Three modern scholars (Grevious, Bryant, and Wela Mbusi) debate the legacy and sociological impact of Stark's life, as we see first a "clip" from The Belle of New Orleans, featuring Gloria, Vera, Lottie, and even "Brazilian Spitfire Anna Fernandez" (i.e. Anna Mae) in the roles that defined their careers, followed by a clip from a 1970's Merv Griffin-style talk show, where we see the older Vera and Gloria reunite. Here director Dewey Scott-Wiley brilliantly captures the differing levels of narrative: we the audience are watching a contemporary academic forum, whose participants are in turn watching a 40-year-old TV clip (acted out live by the performers from within a framed portal;) the talk show guests are in turn watching a film clip from 40 years earlier, the very movie that the characters were obsessing over live on stage in the first act.  Confused?  It actually makes perfect sense, and is a superb payoff to the confusion of Act One. Vera has become a parody of herself, much like the aging Josephine Baker or Eartha Kitt, and we learn that she ended her life soon after this TV appearance, dying young like Dorothy Dandridge, who likewise struggled for mainstream roles in Hollywood.  Leroy turns up as a bitter and defiant Charlie Parker-style burnout, excellently embodied as an older man by Hankins, while Gloria has naturally become a beloved screen goddess of yesteryear.  Scott-Wiley's inventive staging places the live action of the 70's clips behind scrims, eliminating the need for any significant make-up effects, while the 1930's movie was actually filmed in black-and-white by Jason Steelman, and directed by Scott-Wiley.  While it is supposed to be a parody of the era and its cinematic and acting conventions to some extent, the movie-within-the-play is actually pretty decent, with some nice angles, and plenty of attractive shadows, beams of light, and shades of gray.  Bloom doubles as the talk show host, and again manages to create an entirely different character, saying volumes with his pained expression as his interview/reunion devolves into a catfight.

Scott-Wiley doubles as scenic designer, and the art deco-influenced set is serviceable, but looks unfinished. The scrim effects are outstanding in the second act, but really should have been covered up by paintings, tapestry, anything, in the first act. Portions of the stage become particular locales (Vera's apartment, the exterior of the studio, etc.) but little is done to give any sense of change, and the actors' blocking within these smaller areas sometimes seems cramped and constrained. Costumes by Amy Brower expertly define varying eras; a number of characters wear striking creations from La-Ti-Da Jewelry Designs, which are also featured on display in the theatre's bar/gallery area.

Nottage has won just about every award imaginable: Pulitzer, Obie, Guggenheim, even a MacArthur "Genius" grant, but I don't think any were for this play.  The show is enjoyable enough, but never entirely decides what it wants to say, or what kind of play it wants to be. It's never a complete laugh-fest, nor do the more serious moments delve particularly deeply into material ripe for exploration. I also fear that some of the structural madness and much of the very broad comedy in the first act may turn off patrons who expect more from Trustus.  To them I say that the second act is the pay-off, and it's worth the wait. Remember - the venue is called "Trust Us" for a reason.

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark runs through Saturday, May 18th on the Thigpen Main Stage at Trustus.  Information can be found, and tickets may be purchased online at www.trustus.org , or call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 PM at 803-254-9732.  And you can read James Harley's review of the production at Onstage Columbia and at the Free Times.

~ August Krickel