Theatre SC Opens Charming Chekhov Classic Three Sisters November 15

Theatre South Carolina  will present the Chekhov classic Three Sisters at the University of SC’s historic Longstreet Theatre November 15 – 23.

Show times for Three Sisters are 8pm Wednesdays-Fridays, 7pm Saturdays and 3pm on the first Sunday.  There is an additional half-price late night performance on the final Saturday, November 23.  Tickets for the production are $12 for students, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military personnel and seniors 60+, and $18 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 803-777-2551 or by visiting the Longstreet Theatre box office, which is open Monday-Friday, 12:30pm-5:30pm, beginning Friday, November 8. Longstreet Theatre is located at 1300 Greene St.

A vibrantly modern story, the titular characters in Three Sisters, first performed in 1901, live together in their family home, settled in a provincial Russian town.  They feel trapped by their conventional existence, however, and long to return to the sophisticated world of Moscow, which they were forced to leave years before.   Anton Chekhov's poignant story is at once full of charm and anguish as the sisters are haunted by an impending future beyond their control and recollections of a happier past that keep them from truly living in the present.

University theatre professor Steven Pearson is directing the play, which he describes as “a breath of fresh air” and emblematic of Chekhov’s timeless appeal.   “Chekhov’s plays have lasted because they’re about the human condition,” he says.  “His work has a big heart for humanity and is loving about the difficulties of being alive and the magnificence that can exist in small events.”

Pearson has extensive experience with the work of Chekhov, both as a director and scholar.  Additionally, three of his original works (Balance, Gravity, and Flight, produced through his company Pacific Performance Project/east) are billed as “riffs” on themes present in Chekhov’s works, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters.

The director says he is working to bring Chekhov’s intended sense of lightness to the play, which is commonly produced with a more somber tone.  “Chekhov’s approach to things is not much different than, say, Charlie Chaplin’s approach,” Pearson says. “In [Chaplin’s] City Lights, for instance, The Tramp will get to a place that’s almost sentimental, where there is feeling and sadness and so on, and then – poof! – he gets water thrown in his face and we laugh.  Chekhov actually uses that structure a lot.  It gets kind of sad and then there’s something wacky that happens, just like in real life.  There’s essentially a very human, smiling person that is watching this comedy of us going through our lives.”

All eight of the theatre program’s Master of Fine Arts in Acting candidates will appear in the production, including, as the sisters, Melissa Reed (Olga), Kate Dzvonik  (Masha) and Laurie Roberts (Irina).  Several professional guest actors will also appear in the production, including two longtime favorites of Theatre SC stages, Bob Hungerford (Chebutykin) and recently retired professor Richard Jennings (Ferapont/Anfisa).  NYC-based actor/director Michael Place will take the role of Solyony.

A mix of period-realism and impressionism makes up the production’s scenic design, created by MFA scenic design candidate Meredith Hart.  Guest artist Andy Smith, a Seattle-based professional lighting designer, will enhance the design’s impressionistic elements with evocative lighting textures.  Detailed, period-specific costuming is being created by MFA costume design candidate Vera DuBose.  Director Steven Pearson will also double as the show’s sound designer.

Pearson sums up the emotional resonance of the show by pointing to Chekhov’s mastery at portraying the reality of living.

“It's not like we go through our lives and suddenly something magnificent happens and that's the only meaning there is,” he explains.  “Real life is much bigger than that, and we have to get sensitive to what's going around us.  It's a magical thing to be alive, even the difficult parts, and I think that Chekov got his finger on that.”

For more information about Three Sisters or the theatre program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush by phone at 803-777-9353 or via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.

27th Annual Chili Cook-Off in Five Points Sizzles This Saturday, Nov. 9th!

There's an art to creating the perfect batch of chili.  Jasper, being the Word on Columbia Arts, after all, naturally has an interest, not just in the chili itself, but also in the music featured at the 27th Annual Chili Cook-Off in Five Points, and of course in Camp Kemo and The Hope Center, which benefit from the day's proceeds.

You read that correctly - this really is the 27th annual event, which was started by Group Therapy, and continues in and around that block of Greene Street near the Five Points Post Office, just one block over from Columbia's 19th Annual Blues Festival which takes place the same day. (Meaning that as a child of the new millenium, you can indeed have it all.)   This year the Five Points Association promises all sorts of upgrades to make the day all the more enjoyable, including more music, an expanded event area, additional food and beverage options, and more attractions for families (including those little festival attendees.)

First, there's a new entrance, at the intersection of Santee and Pavillion - that's just the back side (closer to the park and the post office) so as not to cause traffic jams on Harden Street. As you enter, you can grab a program, which includes a festival map, the entertainment line-up, details on the chefs, and some sidewalk sale info.  And indeed, there is decidedly more room to move around in this year, as the "festival footprint" will cover the 2100 and 2200 blocks of Greene Street, AND the 700 and 800 blocks of Pavillion Avenue!  Which sounds good to us - Jasper loves togetherness and all, but a little elbow room is nice too.

The event goes from 11 AM to 6 PM, and is of course free, and open to the public. Live music starts around 11:30 or so, with four, count 'em four bands playing throughout the day.  Here's the roster:

11:30 am - 12:30 pm - The Other Brothers

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Bossman

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Atlas Road Crew

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Calvin and Friends

Meanwhile, the focal point of the day is of course the chili competition - and sampling all that the competitors have to offer. Beginning at 1 PM, in exchange for a donation, attendees can taste and enjoy chili from an estimated 50 or more competing teams.   All proceeds from the event will go to Camp Kemo and The Hope Center, including sales from chili, beer and merchandise.  All entries will be samples by a panel of judges, with awards going for:  Overall Best Chili, Best Vegetarian, Best Edible Hot, Overall Best Set-Up, Best Bar/Restaurant and Best Fundraising.

New this year will be more choices for beer - mmmmmm....beer - in a Gourmet Beer Garden, and even some non-chili food items, courtesy of the Pawley’s Front Porch Food Truck. Other highlights of the festival include the Little Peppers' Place in the 800 block of Pavillion Street, a children's area, free and open to all ages, featuring a bounce house, a 15-foot mega slide, the Ladder 9 fire truck, face painting, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and more.   In conjunction with the Chili Cook-Off, a number of Five Points shops and retailers will be offering sales and specials all day long during the Annual Fall Sidewalk Sale.   Also look for the official “Merch” tent for brand new 2013 Chili Cook-Off men's and ladies tees, aprons and koozies.  All proceeds from the sale of merchandise also go to Camp Kemo and The Hope Center.

Camp Kemo is a weeklong summer camp for patients with cancer, ages 5-18, and their siblings.  Staffed by Palmetto Health physicians, nurses and volunteers, Camp Kemo allows campers to swim, boat, hike and be kids.  The fun times at Camp Kemo lay important groundwork for future treatment as participants learn to trust, respect and relate to one another.  Camp Kemo is completely funded by community donations.  The Hope Center assists people with disabilities in meeting their needs, pursuing their dreams and achieving their goals; their goal is also to minimize the occurrence and reduce severity of disabilities through prevention.  The event is presented by the Five Points Association, a non-profit organization whose principle task is ensuring that Five Points stays an integral and important part of the city of Columbia. For more information on the vent, visit www.FivePointsColumbia.com. or the event page on Facebook.

~ August Krickel

USC Dance Commemorates Desegregation with Ailey II Performance

As the University of South Carolina planned events to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of desegregation at the school, USC Dance Director Susan Anderson searched for a way to help commemorate the monumental time in history. What she came up with was the perfect gift from the dance community of Columbia to the rest of the city – a show put on by Ailey II, the second company of acclaimed dancer Alvin Ailey’s main company. Although the year of observance may be nearing its end, this program is still highly anticipated and will be held at the Koger Center on November 6^th at 7 p.m. While Ailey II may primarily be known as a performing company, it is just as much a group that centers itself on outreach. Each year the ensemble travels nationally and internationally – performing in different cities and reaching out to the communities. The members of the company focus on educating others about the significance of Alvin Ailey during his time through the shows they put on, as well as the dance training and community programs they provide.

“He was performing right after desegregation, at a time when you didn’t see very many African American ballet or contemporary dancers,” said Mindy Chester, USC dance conservatory instructor and assistant director to Anderson on this project. Because of this, the pieces in the program often have historical significance.

USC Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance Thaddeus Davis has a personal connection to Alvin Ailey’s company, having done a residency at Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Center. Anderson worked with Davis to connect with the company and plan the show.

On the same day as the show, there will be three separate master classes taught by different Ailey II company members. One is solely for dance majors at the university, while the other two are open to middle and high school dancers from Richland County I schools.

Chester emphasizes how awesome of an opportunity the master classes are for all of those who get to participate. But the classes are particularly impressive for the younger students who are likely beginning to learn about Ailey from their dance instructors and now have the chance to take class from members of the company he created.

Tickets for the show are still available and can be purchased at the Koger box office (803-777-5112) or online at capitaltickets.com.

The program’s lead sponsor is Morgan Stanley.

By Deborah Swearingen

Up Close & Personal with Jennifer Moody Sanchez of Venus in Fur -- The Hot Trustus Play with a Feminist Angle

Jasper sat down with Jennifer Moody Sanchez who is starring opposite Bobby Bloom in the new Trustus play, Venus in Fur, opening on Friday, November 8th.  We're sharing just a bit of our conversation.

Jasper:  Jennifer, you’re starring, along with Bobby Bloom, in Venus in Fur opening on November 8^th at Trustus Theatre. Jasper had the opportunity to read playwright David Ives’ script, and it wasn’t until the end that we had any idea where the play was going. We don’t want to suggest any spoilers, but how do you keep suggestions or hints or clues to the ending of a play like Venus in Fur from the audience as the play moves along? Or do you?

Jennifer: We toyed around in rehearsals with the idea that let's leave these little "clues" for the audience to feed off of. Clearly in the script, Thomas is catching my character, Vanda, in all of her lies. When he calls her on it, she changes the subject and manipulates the conversation. She is always one step ahead of him. She's a master manipulator. I think we all know at least one person like that!

Jasper:  All of the promotional material, and the poster itself which depicts a young woman dressed in a merry widow and holding a riding crop, suggests that the play is pretty racy. Is it racy?

Jennifer: Yes, it's racy and erotic but more importantly it's about men and women and the power struggles that go along with that. There are issues that deal with role playing and sexual politics but it's also a sort of backstage comedy. There's tons of humor in the play, especially about the world of working in the theatre.

Jasper: Venus in Fur isn’t exactly a play within a play, but it is about a play within a play – how difficult is it for you to be an actor who is acting like an actor who is acting like an actor? There’s a lot of switching of parts – do you use an accent?

Jennifer: This is an actors’ dream role! My wonderful director, Jim O'Connor and I sat down and counted about 14 different roles I'm supposed to play … not two. There are so many layers to this role and unexpected turns. I'm still finding them! She takes not only Thomas on this wild ride but the audience is locked in the room with her on a 90 minute journey. It's such a juicy role and it's been the most challenging roles I've ever played, but also the most rewarding. I use a mid Atlantic dialect with the help of my fabulous vocal coach, Erica Tobolski.

Jasper: Early in the play your character Vanda, in talking about the play that is the subject of this play, refers to the play as “basically S&M.” Is Venus in Fur about S&M or does Venus in Fur possibly use S&M as a vehicle for a larger question?

Jennifer: Venus in Fur is a play about an aspiring theatre director/playwright who adapted a famous erotic novel called Venus in Furs. In the novel, just like the play, the balance of power shifts as my character, Vanda establishes total power over Thomas. It does deal with the idea of people "getting off" with this type of pain=pleasure but more importantly the larger question is basically: "Be careful what you wish for." Vanda takes Thomas into his own play and then teaches him about the power of his own words!

Jasper: Vanda, in her role as Dunayev, also says that “in our society, a woman’s only power is through men. Her character is her lack of character. She’s a blank, to be filled in by creatures who at heart despise her.” This is a pretty accurate take on how misogyny works to socially construct reality. Was playing this part, and saying lines like this, liberating for you as an actor or as a woman or as either?

Jennifer: One of my favorite parts in the play is when I give this women's empowerment monologue. As a woman and as a new mother, I feel like this is the entire point of the play. When I am saying these words I feel like I'm levitating! It really is mind blowing to think that a MAN wrote this play. David Ives wrote a complex, brilliantly structured play about sexual politics and the power of women! God love him!

Jasper: Given that the definition of feminism is the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, would you say that Venus in Fur is a feminist play? Why or why not?

Jennifer: Absolutely. Without a doubt. This character comes into a man's world and he thinks that she is not right for the part. She's vulgar, classless, and everything that he doesn't want in his play. But she ends up being brilliant! She changes his script and he goes along for the ride. She takes total control over him and teaches him that women are not objects or play things. She shows him the power of a woman.

Jasper:  Is there anything you’d like to talk about that I didn’t ask you about – What?

Jennifer: This is the first time this production has been produced in Columbia, SC. I'm so honored to be a part of this history. After leaving LA in December, I knew exactly where I wanted to perform: Trustus Theatre. Trustus is on the verge of cutting edge theatre and I'm so happy to be a part of the company.

SC First Novel Prize -- Hit This Up, Soda City Writers!

Sharing this news from our friends at Hub City Press and The Humanities Council of SC and the SC Arts Commission -- Heads up, Soda City Writers The South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and The Humanities CouncilSC announce a call for submissions for the biennial South Carolina First Novel Prize. Guidelines, eligibilty requirements and the application are available at www.SouthCarolinaArts.com. The application deadline is March 3, 2014.

The competition judge is Ben Fountain of Dallas, Texas, who won the National Book Critics Circle book prize in 2012 for Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. His other honors include the PEN/Hemmingway Award, a Pushcart Prize, two O. Henry Awards, two Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Awards and a Whiting Writers Award.

The winning author will receive a book contract with Hub City Press, an award-winning independent press in Spartanburg, S.C. The winner will receive a $1,000 advance against royalties, and Hub City will publish at least 1,500 copies of the book.

The First Novel Prize provides significant promotion, including an invitation from The Humanities CouncilSC to appear and sign books at the 2015 South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia.

Susan Tekulve of Spartanburg was winner of the 2012 competition. Her book, In the Garden of Stone, was published in May 2013 and was nationally reviewed by such publications as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal. Additionally, Tekulve has toured bookstores throughout the Southeast and participated, or will participate, on panels at the Southern Book Festival, the South Carolina Book Festival and the High Country Festival of the Book.

Matt Matthews of Greer was the winner of the 2010 competition. His book, Mercy Creek, was published in 2011. Brian Ray of Columbia was the winner of the inaugural novel competition. His book, Through the Pale Door, was published by Hub City in June 2009. Both books have been widely and favorably reviewed across the Southeast.

The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer/Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC is a founding partner.

For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.

Grammy Award winning Parker Quartet returns in November

 

The USC School of Music announces the continued residency of the Parker Quartet November 19 – 25, 2013.

During the November residency week the internationally acclaimed Grammy Award-winning string quartet will offer two public concerts, a public master class, chamber music coachings, seminars, and outreach programs to public schools in Columbia and Charleston. Dr. Robert Jesselson, Carolina Distinguished Professor, will be joining them on cello to play the famous Schubert Cello Quintet during a free recital on Sunday, November 24.

Recently named the Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence at Harvard University, the renowned Parker Quartet includes members Daniel Chong and Ying Xue, violin; Jessica Bodner, viola; and Kee-Hyun Kim, cello.  

The Boston Globe praised the Quartet’s “pinpoint precision and spectacular sense of urgency.” The New York Times hailed them as “something extraordinary.” The Quartet began touring on the international circuit after winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons. In 2012 the Parker Quartet was the recipient of a Chamber Music America commissioning grant, enabling the ensemble to commission and premiere Capriccio, an hour-length work by American composer Jeremy Gill. Performance highlights from recent seasons include appearances at Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Library of Congress, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Monte Carlo Spring Festival, Seoul Arts Center, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele in Germany, and San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico.

The residency will resume in 2014 with a return of the Quartet in March and October 2014. Among the March programs and outreach, the Quartet will coach eight high school quartets during a special Chamber Music Day at the USC School of Music. Area high school students will get a unique opportunity to work with the world-renowned Parker Quartet through mentoring, intensive coachings and master classes, leading to a performance and competition that evening.

Donors to USC Chamber Music (minimum donation of $50 per person) can attend the Nov. 19 Champagne Reception, the November 19 concert at no charge, and a private reception with the artists on Nov. 24. Call Teah Weiss at 803-777-4006 for more information.

Chamber Residency Concerts and Events:

Tuesday, November 19, 6:00 p.m.

Donors’ Champagne Reception Sponsored by Friends of the USC School of Music.

Tuesday, November 19, 7:30 p.m. Chamber Innovista: Parker Quartet Concert School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201) Program: Schubert “Quartettsatz”; Adès “Arcadiana”; Beethoven Op.127 Adults $15; senior citizens and students $5. Capitol Tickets: www.capitoltickets.com, Koger Box Office, or 803-251-2222.

Sunday, November 24, 5:00 p.m. Parker Quartet Recital FREE USC cello professor, Robert Jesselson, joins the Parker Quartet for this concert. Program: Mendelssohn Op.44 No. 1 D Major; Schubert Cello Quintet School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201)

Sunday, November 24 (following the concert) Meet the members of the Parker Quartet at a private reception. For donors to USC Chamber Music. Call Teah Weiss at 803-777-4006 for more information.

Chamber Residency Coaching and Master Classes: Coaching and master classes are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, November 20

1:25 – USC chamber groups coaching

School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201)

Friday, November 22                            

7:30 - Master Class School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201)

Saturday, November 23                      

2:00 – 4:00 Coaching USC chamber groups

School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201)

Monday, November 25                        

1:10 - Individual instrument master classes for violin, viola and cello.

School of Music building

Chamber Residency Outreach:

Wednesday, November 20

Outreach to Columbia public schools: Chapin High School and Blythewood High School

Thursday, November 21    

Outreach to Charleston School of the Arts

Saturday, November 23                      

10:00 “Informance” for Suzuki at USC and USC String Project children

School of Music Recital Hall (813 Assembly Street Columbia, S.C. 29201)

For more information contact Ellen Woodoff at ewoodoff@mozart.sc.edu

www.sc.edu/music

Grant Show, in town to play Dracula for the Columbia City Ballet, talks with Jasper (pt. 2)

 

In Part 1 of our interview with Grant Show, he discussed the challenges of taking on a dance role as the titular Count in Dracula: Ballet With a Bite, presented by the Columbia City Ballet this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 24-26 at the Koger Center.  Discussion now turns to his career, and how a role in community theatre long ago led to a career as an actor.

Jasper:  I take it you're on a break now, since you have a new series (Devious Maids, on Lifetime.)  Congratulations - how's that going?

Grant Show:  Thank you.  It's going great.  We finished our season real strong.  We started out OK, and had this really nice build, as far as the audience, which I think is a really good sign.  I think the show is really great - I never really had any doubts about it.

Jasper:  So it's officially coming back for another season?

Show:  Oh yeah, definitely.  We go back to work in January.  It'll be back on the air I think the beginning of April.  We're starting earlier this year than last year. Last year was a summer show, and this year it's going to be more of a spring show, in 2014. The cast has been pared down quite a bit, but it was massive, that cast. It had like 18 members, and I think we’re down to 12, which is a big cast anyway.  They've told us a little about what's going to happen next year. I'm excited about it.    My character Spence, and Rosie, who are sort of star-crossed lovers throughout, are broken up in the end, and it takes Spence down a really bad path. He ends up becoming a hot mess. (laughs) I'm looking forward to it.  That was the way it was described to me: he's a hot mess. (laughs more)

Jasper:  You're often described as "television star Grant Show," or "Grant Show from Melrose Place," or from your new series...but you actually began as a stage actor.

Show: Well yeah, I had done a lot of stage.

Jasper: You studied theatre in college, at UCLA.

Show:  Well yeah. My first real job (as Rick Hyde, on Ryan's Hope) was a television job, and then I did a lot of back and forth, gosh, for ten years maybe.  And then once I got Melrose Place, once you're on a show, it's really hard to do theatre.  After I left Melrose Place, for the next three or four years I did a bunch more theatre (including Wit on Broadway, and The Glass Menagerie, as the Gentleman Caller, with Elizabeth Ashley at The Alley Theatre in Houston)  and then I moved out to California, and it's very difficult to do both. Your agents don't want you to do theatre.  There’s no money in it. They don't believe the long term, about how it develops you as an actor, as an artist.  They just don't get it.  They don't see any advantage in doing theatre.  They're not doing it, but for us, it's fun.

Jasper: You actually took a break from television after your first series, and went off to London to study at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) - what was going through your mind at that point?

Show:  I knew that what I was doing, on a daytime soap, wasn't what I wanted to do.  And I also knew that I wasn’t really that good of an actor yet. There was something they were doing over there, and I wanted to go see what they were doing.  I don't even know how much I learned, but it was fun.  I had a good time.  It was like a year of summer camp for actors.

Jasper: Similar to your undergrad experience?

Show:  No, more intense.  A lot more intense. We worked every day, seven or eight hours a day, for nine months.  I couldn't have not learned something - I had to learn something.  What, I couldn’t tell you.  But it was great.  If you have the opportunity...I knew I wanted to do it for at least a year before my contract was up. So I saved up my money, I was young, I was 27, so let's go have fun.  And I did.

Jasper:  Did you always plan on being an actor?

Show:  No.  I was going to be a pilot.  I had planned on flying for the Air Force. But we were poor, and I was in a public school, and you're not going to get into the Air Force Academy out of a public school, so the only real private education I could get was at a parochial, or religious, school.  Very early into being there, I realized I didn't like people telling me what to do. So I left there, and quit that whole plan.  I was well on the way - Eagle Scout, Senator's letter of recommendation... there's a whole bunch of steps you have to have.  I had gotten it all stacked up already, but I just needed to get the right education.  I realized "Yeah, not for me - the military's not gonna do it for me."  So I kind of goofed off for a long time.  I did some plays in high school, just as something to do.  I was a couple of years out of high school, not knowing what I wanted to do, and I did a community theatre play, and I was like "You know?  If they'll pay me to do this, I like this."

Jasper:  What was the show?

Show: Oh, it was some musical revue.  And I don't sing. It was just something that somebody put together, it wasn't a big thing.

Jasper: But you enjoyed it enough, to pursue that as a career?

Show:  Oh yeah. And I've been very, very, very, very blessed.

Jasper:  Do you know what ran on cable not too long ago?  Ice (a made-for-tv natural disaster movie that ran on ABC in the summer of 2000, about Californians struggling to escape and survive a sudden Ice Age.)

Show:  Oh my godddddd.

Jasper:  You know, one of your co-stars in that movie was also a famous screen Dracula -  Udo Keir, who was Andy Warhol's Dracula.

Show:   Yes, yeah I know that. God, they missed the boat on that (Ice.)  That could have been a good, good, fun movie. I just think that....it was okay....

Jasper:  It was actually pretty good.

Show:  It was okay.

Jasper:  The story was actually...

Show:  It was okaaaaay.

Jasper:    Just done on a miniscule budget, but a pretty cool idea.

Show:    It just missed. You never get any time on those things. You get it, and you've got a couple of weeks, maybe, at most,  and they fly you up, and then you start working on it, and it's just work work work work.  And after we're all done, I'm like "Aaaah, god, we could have done this, we could have done that..." I  had all these thoughts in my head about what we could have done.   It's nature of the beast.

Jasper:  We're also fans of Burn Notice, and big Bruce Campbell fans. Any stories about working on that series?

Show: Aw, he's great. (thinks) Nothing all that crazy happened. I loved it.  You know, Jeffrey (Donovan, the star) and I tested opposite each other for that role that Jeffrey ended up doing, so it was probably going to be between me and him. And when they asked me to come in and do a few episodes, I was like "No, I'm not going to come in and play a co-star to someone I read opposite!  I'm not going to be his supporting actor.  They were like "Why don't you read the script, and see?"  And it wasn't just a supporting actor to him, it was a pretty big character, and I had a lot of fun doing it.  I just love those guys. Matt Nix, the creator - he's great. He's terrific.  I talked to him about his whole writing process, and he was really super-supportive, and ready to talk - he's just a good dude.

Jasper:  Apart from your new series, which isn't even new any more, do you have anything else in the works?

Show:  No, that's it.  Katherine and I bought a house on the Marina peninsula that is 90-some years old, that hasn't been touched in 40 years. We're remodeling that, so that's kind of nice.  But I go back to work in two months. So there's not really enough time for anything.

Jasper:  So nothing on the side?

Show:  This.  This is it right now.

Jasper:  Have you visited Columbia before?

Show:  No.  I've played golf in Greenville.  Columbia is great though. I haven't really seen much of it. I've seen from the hotel to the studio, and from the studio...to the hotel.  That's all I've seen.  I keep waiting for someone to give me some barbecue. I love me some pork.  But I'm just so busy - this is really kind of a lot, this is (laughing) kind of ridiculous trying to get me ready to do this in four days. So that's all I'm doing. So then I get home, and I'm in my room, doing the steps, and it's not the newest building in the world.  So the floors are all wood, and all creaking around, and I'm sure the person below is like "Yaaaaaa - damn you!  Stop it!  What are you doing up there?"

Jasper:  Thinking about arts now in the broadest sense - what do you see as the role of the arts, and acting, and drama, from a societal viewpoint?

Show:  In the biggest, broadest sense, it's just a sort of visceral understanding that no man is an island, that we're all in this together.  In a real broad sense, that's it - we're all here together.

Jasper:  What do you see happening in the future with the performing arts, especially at the local level, with local playhouses, local ballets, local opera companies that are struggling in the current economy?

Show:  It feels like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm not in it that much, though, I'm not in the trenches. I mean I know you guys just lost a ballet company (in Charleston.) But maybe that's an opportunity.  I believe it's an opportunity for William. He's definitely going to pick up the slack there.  I think it's unfortunate that it's the first place (arts) that money is taken away from, but it's a fact of life. Live theatre, or ballet, if they can't survive because no one's going to see them, then maybe they're not relevant anymore.  I believe they are. And I believe they will.

Jasper:  Finally, what are some favorite roles you have played?

Show:  Both of them are in television shows.  I did a series, gosh, almost ten years ago now, called Point Pleasant.   Marti Noxon (an executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, and consulting producer on Glee and Mad Men) was the producer.   I played this guy who had sold his soul to the Devil.  He was basically the Devil's Pope. It was all supernatural crap, and he was just really fun.  The guy could do anything. He didn't give a crap about anybody.  He was a true villain, and that was really fun to play. And then the opposite side of the spectrum, the character I played in Swingtown, Tom Decker - he just wanted to make sure that everybody knew they were invited to the party.  He was the guy that says "you're good enough, you're pretty enough, and damn it, people like you.  Come on in - let's have sex!"  He was really fun, to just be free to just be welcoming to everyone, and your  whole goal is to try to make everybody else feel good about themselves. That was really fun.

Jasper:  And is there any role that you've always wanted to play?

Show:  (without hesitation) Yeah - James Bond!  I think I was born in the wrong area (i.e. America), and I missed my boat on that one.  But what guy doesn't want to play James Bond?

~ August Krickel

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Columbia City Ballet presents Dracula: Ballet with A Bite at the Koger Center, running from Thursday, Oct. 24 - Saturday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Capitol Tickets, online at www.capitoltickets.com, or by calling (803) 251-2222. University students are encouraged to take advantage of special discount student pricing on Thursday, Oct. 24: all tickets are $10 with a valid student ID.

Sudden Cardiac Death Syndrome: It is as Bad as it Sounds — Part two of An essay in two parts by Bentz Kirby

"So, when I feel disturbed about the deficiencies in my brain I remind myself that most do not survive this event and those who do are often in a vegetative state.  Indeed I am fortunate." -- Bentz Kirby

For part one of this essay read here.

(Continued from Monday, October 21, 2013)  May has filled me in on these events to the extent she can and how these events lead up to my survival.  I have no complete memory of the time after I pulled the car over until I awoke on Sunday.  Based upon her report and the fact I am alive, I am convinced that several miracles did occur. The first miracle is one I have already mentioned -- that I chose to take a different route than I originally planned. This placed me in the right place and right time to have the people who did assist me to be present.  Also, it was only a ten minute trip to St. Francis, the hospital in Greenville with the best heart surgeons.  If I had been in Pumpkintown on the way to Table Rock most likely the people necessary to resuscitate me would not have been available.   Second, May realized that EMS was not going to arrive quickly enough and got out of the car and starting waiving her arms.  A number of people stopped to assist.  Fortunately at least two men stopped who knew how administer CPR. At some time, the Easley Police arrived and they took over the CPR compressions.  This kept my blood circulating and oxygen going to my brain for the time I completely was gone.  Third, an off duty EMS technician with an AED machine arrived. If you do not know what an AED is it is a portable Automated External Defibrillator.  It is something that should be in all public areas and schools to be available in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. The paramedic was able to direct those providing CPR and to apply the machine to me three times.

Fourth, I may owe some gratitude to ESPN and the Clemson Athletic Director as Clemson played their game that week on Thursday night on ESPN.  Had it been the usual Saturday afternoon game, traffic in Easley would have been at a standstill.  Most likely neither the paramedic nor the EMS ambulance would have been able to fight the football traffic and arrive in time to assist me and to get my heart beating again.  It is difficult for me to appreciate Clemson, but in this instance I am at least glad they played their game on Thursday.

Fifth, I consider the fact that it was only ten minutes to the hospital once my sinus rhythm had been restored.  My cousins had come from the family reunion to meet May at the hospital and they reported that no one was in the Emergency Room at St. Francis.  The Emergency Room was empty, even though it was a Saturday afternoon.  Additionally two of their surgeons were available and I was immediately wheeled into the operating room.  I take this as a miracle since two of their top heart surgeons were waiting for me when they brought me in.

May is a little fuzzy on the details as she was understandably upset during this time.   However she does recall the police and the ambulance with the paramedics arriving.  Among other things, May reports they applied an AED and administered Epinephrine to stimulate my heart.  She does not recall how long all of this took.  During this time period, she realized the EMS personnel were not going to take me to the hospital if I was not revived with a steady pulse.

Additionally her thoughts at this time were that I needed to breathe and that she was not ready for me to be gone.  As May said, “We had not discussed anything about this” before that moment.  Really though, do people sit down and discuss their death that often?  She also remembers that the police moved her away from me so that the paramedics could work on me.

According to the hospital notes, this all transpired in about seven to ten minutes.  To you, this may not seem like a series of miracles but it does to me.  Especially since I am here writing this for you to read.

After I had begun my recovery, May began to research SCDS.  Neither of us had heard of it before.  May found a site where people who were survivors post narratives about their experience with Sudden Cardiac Death.  The survival rate for this SCDS is around two percent (2%) so if it happens to you, the odds are against survival. Interestingly I have been told the best place to have this event is in a hospital with a defibrillator machine present.  I read many of the stories on the site May found and one thing is clear, almost all of my fellow survivors experienced a series of fortunate events which contributed to their survival.

As stated above, when I regained consciousness I awoke to find tubes down my throat and in all my extremities. I found my arms and legs had been restrained.  Additionally my chest had a number of burns on it from the AED machines. My breast bone also felt extremely painful from the CPR and would continue to hurt for months later.  From the little I do recall, I was very confused and could not talk or communicate.  I later came to understand that this was from damage to the language side to my brain.  I am still recovering and it is estimated it will take me about two years to fully recover.

Once my sinus rhythm had been restored, the EMS took me to St Francis in Greenville, SC.  Unlike the movies, they would not allow May to ride in the ambulance with me.  In fact, the Police initially would not let her leave the scene because she was so upset.

My cardiologist told me that my brain would not have survived had it not been for the persons who administered CPR and the paramedic with the AED machine.  This kept enough oxygen in my blood to prevent complete decimation of my brain.  So, when I feel disturbed about the deficiencies in my brain I remind myself that most do not survive this event and those who do are often in a vegetative state.  Indeed I am fortunate.

I also want to tell you that if you know of anyone in the hospital for a health reason and you can visit them, please do.  It makes a real difference.  My first moment of joy was waking up to see May’s beautiful face and to know I was still with her.  It is a lonely feeling to have a serious illness and be stuck in a hospital bed.  The presence of a friend makes a true difference to the person who is ill.  Fortunately, I got to see everyone but one person who came by to see me.  And, even though my memory is clouded by the sedatives, I recall all the visits by everyone.  Especially my two friends from Thomasville (GA) High School who proved that 40 years does not necessarily break the bonds of friendship.  I am convinced that one of the things that truly is worthy of taking from the Bible is Matthew 25 where Jesus instructs us to “visit the sick”.  We do need each other and you are more important than you realize.

Also, a symptom of the post-traumatic shock from this event is the anxiety I feel about the effect of this event on May and my daughter Anna.  I cannot imagine how it must feel to watch someone you care about suddenly drop dead.  My brother died from cancer, but we had a lot of time to prepare for that experience.  I just hope they are coping with their feelings.

There is much more to this story and I hope to write more about my experience in the future.  Before closing, I am constrained to say a word about the subject most people seem curious about, “what it is like after you die.”  I get many questions, even almost a year later like -- “What did you see? Did you see a bright light? Did you see a tunnel of light?  Did you feel the presence of an angel? A dead relative?”  Well it is difficult to recall what went on in my brain during the time in question.  The most I can say I recall is being in a room with four doors and a presence asking me which door I was going to choose.  My response was that I am not going through any door as I was going back to be with my wife, May.  Regardless of what science tells us about the chemical effects the process of dying has on us as humans, I am convinced that if I did not feel so attached to May, that I would have chosen to leave the earth.  How is that for co-dependence?  But, I was determined to get back to her.  To the extent I had a choice, I am sure I made the correct choice.

As a result of the lack of oxygen I have significant damage to my brain, especially the speech center.  However, my situation is greatly improved and I find that writing and singing are two activities which help my recovery.  (Although writing this has taken about 10 times more than it would have previously.)  As a result of my situation and in appreciation for all of those who helped me in my time of need, I would like to promote a benefit to purchase some AED machines to be placed where they are needed.  Unfortunately, I need to conserve my energy to heal and cannot organize such an event at this time.  However, if there are any among you would like to promote such a benefit, I will be happy to assist your endeavor.

For more information contact http://associationdatabase.com/aws/SCAA/pt/sp/survivors

Sudden Cardiac Death Syndrome: It is as Bad as it Sounds -- An essay in two parts by Bentz Kirby

 

Part 1

On October 27, 2012, I went through some unexpected changes when I experienced an event known as Sudden Cardiac Death Syndrome (SCDS or Sudden Cardiac Arrest). It is as bad as it sounds!. I have had difficulty dealing with the psychological effects from this event, so I am writing this blog in hopes it will assist me in my recovery and my understanding of what happened, and is happening, to me.  Due to my post traumatic stress it has been difficult to arrive at a point I can begin to allow the numerous emotions and thoughts percolating in my body to begin to surface.  That is to say, I have difficulty dealing with both thoughts in my brain and the feelings in my heart and body.  I am not sure how to allow them to come to be fully actualized so that I can deal with them in a healthy way.  It has taken a long time for me to begin to open myself to letting the feelings out, but I have finally begun the process through counseling and this blog.

Saturday October 27, 2012, was a beautiful day and my wife May, daughter Anna and I had traveled to a family reunion in Travelers Rest.  It was for my father’s family.  The reunion had been very pleasant experience.  My relatives had enjoyed the barbecue and the green bean casserole I had prepared.  We had enjoyed both the company and the wonderful food they prepared.  At my insistence, we decided to visit my brother’s memorial stone in Westminster, South Carolina.  We were in the upstate and Westminster is a good ways from Columbia so it seemed like the thing to do.

My brother died on September 11, 2009, after a long struggle with Stage IV lung cancer. His body was cremated and his remembrance marker is located by a beautiful stream at Ramsey Creek Preserve in Westminster.  I have not visited the site since the date when we scattered a portion of his ashes in the small stream and I did not make it there on that day.  My plan was to sit at his memorial, remember the good times we had, and play him his favorite song, Black Muddy River.

I certainly did not have any foreshadowing I was about to drop dead in a few moments.  Still when we left the reunion, I made a decision which likely saved my life.  Table Rock is one of my favorite places in the world and I travel to it or by it any time I am able to drive that way.  While a detour by Table Rock is often substantially out of our way, I love to take a side trip there despite longer drive. I figured it was best not to tell May how much time this detour would add to the trip.  She does not like spontaneous departures from our planned trip.  From there we would be able to catch Highway 8/11 across the upstate and enjoy a scenic ride across the foothills of South Carolina.  As I prepared to pull out of the church parking lot, the voice I call intuition told me not to go that way.  For a change, I listened to the intuitive message.  I decided to abandon those plans.   Reviewing the map, I decided to travel the quickest route from Traveler’s Rest to Westminster.  That route was through my old home town, Easley, and I figured we could detour by my old home on Pope Field Road.  This would satisfy my desire to detour and it would take less time. My seemingly random intuitive thought was we could go to Table Rock on a different day.  For some reason, I felt like I needed to get to Westminster by the quickest route.  This decision saved my life.

October 27, 2012, was the date of the Carolina versus Tennessee football game. As usual when we are traveling during a Gamecock game, I found a station to tune in to the broadcast. Unfortunately, I tuned in at almost the exact time Marcus Lattimore’s knee was blown out by a Tennessee defender.  My reaction was anger and dismay as I was sure it was done intentionally.  (I have no love for the Tennessee football team even without the injury to Marcus Lattimore.  Orange makes me sick to my stomach.)  In any event, the game was very tight and I was disturbed as it looked like Carolina might blow the game.  As we approached Easley, my long standing love/hate relationship with Gamecock athletic teams was moving towards the hate end of the spectrum.  Fortunately May was asleep and did not have to hear my ranting at Todd Ellis and Tommy Suggs.

Suddenly I began to feel light headed and faint.  Initially this did not alarm me because it was not unusual for me to feel faint both due to my high blood pressure and the numerous medications which I take for this condition.  However, this time the feeling did not dissipate.  It began to wash over me in waves and I remember thinking this must be more serious than I thought. I had no previous recollection of the feeling lasting this long.  My initial thought was I needed to see if this dizziness was going to stop.  I did not want to go to a doctor in the middle of this trip.  So, I drove on for a few moments.  It now seems odd to recall that my last thought before I went into cardiac arrest was trying to decide if I could gut this out or if I needed to go to the doctor.  Well, the answer was obvious, just not to me in that moment.

After realizing this was more serious than I thought, I decided to pull over to the side of the road and ask May to take me to the hospital or an emergency care facility.  I have a vague recollection of her waking up and asking me what was going on.  In my mind, I said, “I do not feel well and you need to take me to the hospital or a Doctor’s Care.”  However, she says I actually said, “Something is wrong with my eyeballs” and I then drifted off into indecipherable mumbling.  At that point, I slumped over and my heart stopped and I was dead.  May was in the process of calling 911 as I collapsed and my head fell over on my chest. She was understandably anxious and alarmed.  Rather than continue the 20 questions with the 911 operator she dropped the phone and got out of the car waving her arms.  Fortunately, a number of people stopped their cars to help.

At least two men were attempting to help May figure out what to do until the EMS could arrive.  First they had to determine how to position me.  One man wanted to lay the car seat down and the other wanted to get me out and lay me down on the ground.  May sided with the “get him out of the car guy”.  Once they had gotten me from the car May noticed that not only was I non-responsive, I also had voided my bladder.  This is not a good sign.  At some time during this process a woman who came up and told May she was an off duty paramedic.  She took control of the situation and began directing the two men on the CPR.  She cut my shirt and jeans off.  (She cut off my shirt from the College World Series where Carolina won back to back baseball championships.  I was not real happy about this when I was awake and realized the shirt was ruined.  However, but I am attempting to understand that it was necessary.  I still have the shirt in my closet.)  She used the AED machine she had in her car on me about three times to attempt to help me regain sinus rhythm.  During this time, the EMS ambulance and the Easley police arrived.

I do have some hazy memories of these moments.  The strongest is recalling the odd feeling of anxiety and foreboding I had just before I drifted out of consciousness.  It seemed as if I was in a nightmare designed by Kafka.   My recollection is how I felt completely alien and as if I had gone insane and lost control of my body.  I have no recollection of thinking I was dying, which I was. I do recall voices off in the distance which sounded like they were in an echo chamber.  I was attempting to talk to these people but I recall I finally gave up and drifted off into the unconscious.

The next day I awoke in the hospital with tubes and wires in and about my entire body.  My arms and legs were also restrained.  May informed me that I had been combative once I was resuscitated and I was restrained to protect me and any of the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals working on me.  It is difficult to describe the surrealistic feeling I had at that time.  I do recall bits and pieces of the Paramedics and Police talking about and discussing me even though I cannot recall the exact conversations.  I also have some fleeting memories of hearing me being moved inside the hospital and some of the ambient noise in the hallways of the hospital. These memories are from the time period after my heart beat had been restored.  I also have memories of drifting in and out of awareness while I was being discussed at the hospital.  I could not understand any of the discussions, I just knew they were talking about me.  It was a frightening moment and I am sure that my inability to communicate and to understand had a lot to do with my combativeness.  I simply did not like all these strange people touching me and sticking, probing, taping, and holding me without my permission or understanding.

I do not recall what happened throughout Saturday afternoon and night. I awoke Sunday in a dream-like state with my memory virtually wiped clean.  My pressing thought was not about my health or even where I was or what happened.  May was there with me so I felt I was in a safe place.  Her presence was reassuring and I felt as if nothing had happened.  It did not occur to me what had transpired and that I had been gone from this planet.  I felt like everything was fine and only wondered why I was in the hospital  The most pressing question I had was not what happened to me, but was “who won the game, Carolina or Tennessee.”  That is right; I wanted to know who won the game more than I wanted to know what had transpired.  It seems like I would have been interested in knowing where I was and what had happened, but I just wanted to know the result of the game.

I could not talk due to the tubes down my throat, so I asked May for a paper and pen.  My arms were restrained and I was under anesthesia as well, so I could not write well. The first thing I attempted to write out in my chicken scratch hand writing was “Who won the game?”  I was happy to hear that Carolina had beaten Tennessee.  Once the tubes were out and I could talk, I repeatedly asked the nurses for the score because I could not retain the information.  Eventually they got smart and wrote it on the blackboard so I could remind myself of the score without their assistance.  Other than that, I felt safe because May was with me and I knew that I was alive.

Check back tomorrow for part 2 of Bentz's personal essay.

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"This creature, this man, this person, this thing" - Actor Grant Show talks about playing Dracula for the Columbia City Ballet (pt. 1)

I very nearly miss actor Grant Show as I arrive at Drip on Main to talk about his upcoming role in the Columbia City Ballet's Dracula:  Ballet With a Bite. Dressed casually in workout clothes, looking down at his smartphone, he could be any young urban Main Street or Vista professional, stopping off for coffee after a jog or a visit to the gym, and not a visiting star from Hollywood on a break from rehearsal.  His publicity photo as Dracula doesn't do him justice.  He's the leanest, wiriest, tannest, fittest guy you can imagine, looking not much older than his character Jake Hanson did from 1992-1997 in the popular Fox series Melrose Place.   Since then, he's starred in a number of series (Point Pleasant, Swingtown, Accidentally on Purpose) cable television movies (Sex and the Single Mom, Natalee Holloway) and feature films (last year's The Possession) and has had recurring roles in series like Big Love, Burn Notice, and Private Practice.  Currently one of the stars of Lifetime's hit Devious Maids, which will return for a second season next spring, Show will portray the the blood-sucking Transylvanian Count in three performances this coming Thursday October 24 through Saturday October 26, at 7:30 PM at the Koger Center.   He shared some thoughts about this production, and his career this past Friday afternoon, the day before the production opened out of town in Savannah.

Jasper:  How did you first become involved with Dracula?

Grant Show:   Because William Starrett is pretty persuasive, as I'm sure everyone in Columbia already knows.  My wife, Katherine LaNasa (currently seen as Lizzie Ambrose on A & E's Longmire)  was a dancer. She danced with William in Europe. She stopped dancing professionally when she was in her 20's - she danced from when she was about 16 to about 26.  So I've known William for a couple of years now; William came out for our wedding.

Jasper:  You're a newlywed, correct?  Congratulations!

Show:  A year.  We're just past newlyweds now.  Thanks!   Katherine and William are doing a reality show, not in the sense of a "Housewives" reality show - it's more of  docu-reality show, what a documentary used to really be, about the Company.  So we've been a lot more in touch with him in the last couple of months.  They shot it a long time ago, and they're in the middle of making a deal on that.  I'm not a dancer, I've never been.  In my movement class at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) they called me "the Lorry Driver."  This is a Herculean effort, to try to get me to a place where there is any grace - but that's kind of why I wanted to do it.  I think (William) likes bringing in actors too - he's really terrific.

Jasper:  He's played Dracula himself, he's had dancers in the lead, and he's had actors play the role, so he's done it both ways.

Show:  He's a really creative guy, and creativity is really spurred on by disparate input.  His creativity is sparked when something new comes along, and having to deal with my limitations makes him more creative. Myself as well, me coming in here and trying to figure out what I can do and can't do. And then pushing the limits of what I can do.

Jasper:  Have you surprised yourself?

Show:  I don't know if I'm doing it well yet, but I'm doing way more than I thought I would.   I'm doing lifts!  I didn't think I was going to be dancing at all.  I thought I was just going to come in, (shifting into a Bela Lugosi-style voice) "and be Dracula!" and then kind of sweep out.  But he's got me in full-on numbers, quite a bit - a lot more than I thought.  I'm doing a lot of lifts. When they suggested it to me, I was like "You guys are nuts!  I'm going to take this part and just...walk across the stage?   People study for years before they do that!"  But the girls are so good;  everyone there is so good, that they're making me look better than I am.  And I'm having a lot of fun.  I am, I'm having a great time, just a lot of fun.  The weirdest thing is: I've seen one ballet in my life.  It's not my thing, or it wasn't.  The emotion that comes over me  most often now during rehearsal - not when I'm working, but when I'm waiting to work - is (that) I'm jealous of these people.  I'm very jealous.   I will never have anywhere near the grace that these that guys have.  Even if I decided now that I wanted to, it's too late. I've missed that boat.  And I'm a little bit jealous of these guys, if not a lot jealous of these guys. They're incredibly athletic and graceful and artistic, all at the same time, something I will never have.

Jasper:  How challenging is it to do an acting role with lots of movement, but no dialogue?

Show:  It's different.  They're not putting any pressure on me, so there's no fear, I don't have any fear here.  Not yet.  Maybe I will before the curtain goes up tomorrow.  The first three days I was just learning where I was supposed to be standing on the stage.  I got here Monday night.  So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday... maybe a little bit Thursday afternoon, I started to act, but  there's really been no acting, it's just been "What do I do next, what do I do next? "  and listening to the music.  The cues are very different. There are some visual, but mostly, it's auditory cues, so re-training myself for that, that's difficult, and today was really the first time that I was able to go "What kind of choices am I going to be making?"  And of the choices I've already made for this character, for this creature, this man, this person, this thing, can I incorporate them, will they work?  It is challenging. And I don't have a lot of time  to do it.

Jasper:  That's not bad for three days.

Show:  I feel OK , considering. Unfortunately people in the audience aren't going to know that there's a "considering"  They come to see a show.  They don't come to see a show with a caveat of "Oh, well he's only had this much time."  They just want to see a good show.  One thing that is very challenging is, that if you're in a scene in a play, or a tv show, or a movie, or whatever, you can do that scene, with whoever you're working with;  it generally doesn't have more than two or three people at the most. You can do it again, do it again, do it again.  You can try different things, and keep trying.  But (here) you've got the entire company. If I want to work on one little moment, you've got to get the entire company together, you've got to cue the music up, you've got to move into it, so you really only get two or three shots at it in a day, in a whole day.  So that's really difficult and challenging - it's new.

Jasper:  You said "this character, this creature, this man, this person, this thing." So which is it?  How are you approaching the role?

Show:  Well you have to play it as a person, as a man.  The closest thing that I'm kind of, playing with, is that he's really kind of a sexual predator.  But there's also some things that are child-like about him, that maybe a sexual predator has as well, so that's kind of what I'm playing with.  Are you (the audience) going to see any of this?  I have no idea.  These are just thoughts in my head.

In Part 2, Grant Show discusses his current series Devious Maids, how he broke into acting then took a break to develop his craft, as well as favorite roles, roles he was very nearly cast in, and roles he would love to play.   Columbia City Ballet presents Dracula: Ballet with A Bite at the Koger Center, running from Thursday, Oct. 24 - Saturday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased at Capitol Tickets, online at www.capitoltickets.com, or by calling (803) 251-2222. University students are encouraged to take advantage of special discount student pricing on Thursday, Oct. 24: all tickets are $10 with a valid student ID.

~ August Krickel

About Columbia Dance & this JUNK show on Friday night

Jasper loves dance -- and really, why wouldn't he? Dance is a physical interpretation of ideas, expressions, and emotions that run the gamut from joy to sorrow, piety to provocation, intrigue to explanation, and more. Whether executed by highly trained artists who emphasize technique and the curriculum and pedagogy under which they formed their world view about what dance should be, or the hapless and random movements of a toddler trying to find her first groove in the middle of a street concert, witnessing dance can be a transformative experience. The experience of dancing for oneself can border on the religious.

As we've said before, Columbia is in no short supply of dance.  Ballet companies, both professional and civic, abound. Local universities offer impressive dance departments with internationally known instructors. Smaller companies directed by unusually talented and experienced professionals -- like Caroline Lewis-Jones, Terrance Henderson, and Miriam Barbosa -- pop up throughout the season with fascinating shows, although these tend to be sparsely attended due to lack of funding for promotion. Erin Bolshakov down at Vista Studios has created an entire sub-culture around her art form.

Clearly, Columbia is a dancing city. We've had world class dancers come from our midst to grace the great dance stages throughout the world. Many of the dancers who have made Columbia their home have done so after dancing on some of those stages.

And yet, ...

For some reason we seem to lack the concomitant energy and verve that one might expect from the kind of dance city that we live in.

Why is that?

This is a question Jasper will be asking of you, our dancers, our artistic directors, our dance audiences, our sympathetic artists from other disciplines over the next few months.

Where are we going as a dance center? Are we going anywhere? If we aren't as dynamic as we should be, from where does our stasis come?

In the meantime, we invite you to engage with a dance company touring through our midst that is anything BUT static. JUNK.

Check it out at Harbison Theatre on Friday night.

Here's a little something about Junk.

~~~

After selling out multiple shows in its first signature season including contemporary dance masters Pilobolus, Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College is bringing the Philadelphia-based dance troupe, Brian Sanders’ JUNK, to Columbia. The company will perform the show Patio Plastico Plus on October 18 at 7:30 p.m. Note: this engagement is one night only.

Far from traditional, the troupe uses found objects from pogo sticks to plastic jugs to create an onstage world that straddles contemporary dance and theater.

Sanders, formerly of the MOMIX company of dancer-illusionists, is known for creating athletic dance pieces that are in turn intense and moving, then light and comical.

“Last year, audiences LOVED Pilobolus. I did, too!,” says Director of Theatre Operations, Katie Fox. “The athleticism and storytelling held us all transfixed.” She continues, “For some, it was their first experience with live contemporary dance.”

JUNK has been jumping over boundaries, setting a new path in modern dance performance since it was founded in Philadelphia, Pa. in1997. The clever and creative repurposing of found objects presents an array of choreographic obstacles to be used and manipulated. Dancers perform with props as if they were animated partners, presenting technique that is both physically beautiful and witty.

Says Fox, “This show is so clever! Waiting for the preview show to begin in New York, we heard what sounded like ducks quacking backstage. When the dancers emerged, they danced an entire piece with ‘quacking’ two-liter bottles strapped to their feet!”

Patio Plastico Plus is a show of seven pieces performed in two, 40-minute segments with a 15-minute intermission. The segments, illuminated by dazzling light and rhythmic, mood-shifting music, are performed in quick, powerful bursts with little to no pauses.

This performance will leave a smile on the faces of both the new and the experienced dance fan. Tickets for Patio Plastico Plus are $30 and can be purchased at www.HarbisonTheatre.org.

Win tickets to see Chris Mann + other goodies by joining the Jasper Guild TODAY!

Jasper is having a Guild Drive and everybody wins!

Join the Jasper Guild by noon on Saturday, October 19th -- at any level -- and be entered to win the following:

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• TWO TICKETS to see The Voice star Chris Mann in concert at the Newberry Opera House on Sunday, Oct. 20th at 3 PM

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• TWO TICKETS to Columbia City Ballet's presentation of Dracula  (with new music & choreography starring TV's Grant Show as Dracula)

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• A 2013 2nd Act Film Festival DVD film collection & new MFP publication Jasper presents The 2nd Act Film Festival Screenplays, edited by Wade Sellers and Cindi Boiter

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• A copy of The Limelight:  A Compendium of Contemporary Columbia Artists, volume 1 (MFP, 2013)

And since

EVERYBODY WINS

all new guild members will receive one of Jasper's limited edition backpacks and two Jasper coozies, all sporting Jasper's brand new banner & logo, designed by Jasper art director, W. Heyward Sims.

Here's all you do:

Copy and paste the form below, complete it,* and send it to Jasper's friendly operations manager Annie at

Annie@JasperColumbia.com

Drawing will be held on Saturday, October 19th at noon and winners will be notified no later than 3 pm on Saturday.

And remember -- EVERYBODY WINS!

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Jasper Guild Membership Form    

One of the best bits about working on Jasper Magazine is the support we get from our community. You’ve been gracious and generous with your words of encouragement — and it means the world to us. We’d like to offer you the opportunity to become even more involved — the chance to open up the next issue of Jasper and be able to say out loud, 

“I helped make this happen and here’s my name to prove it!”

You’re invited to become a member of

THE JASPER GUILD

Apprentice – 1 year delivery of Jasper Magazine to your home & your name listed in Jasper Magazine for 1 year $50

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Journeyman –the above + your name in print in LARGE LETTERS $100

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Master – all the above + a non-transferable laminated Econobar PASS good for 1 year

(DRINK FREE ALL YEAR!) $250

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 “But I’m just a starving artist myself,” you say?

Artist Peer - Practicing artists in dance, theatre, music, visual arts, film, & literary arts are invited to join The Jasper Guild at a reduced rate & see your name in Jasper Magazine for 1 year $25

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Jasper Guild Application

Please complete all of the info requested below.

Name ________________________________

Address ______________________________

City & zip _____________________________

Email ________________________________

Phone _______________________________

Level of commitment ____________________

How would you like your name to appear in Jasper? (Please Print)

__________________________________________________

Do you want Jasper mailed to your home? 

yes, please           or           no, thank you 

Credit card # ______________________________

Expiration date _________Security code ________________

Zip code _________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please print and send the above form to:

Annie@JasperColumbia.com

*don't forget your cc #

On behalf of all of us at Jasper --Thank You!

Project 63 at USC's McKissick Museum - by Deborah Swearingen

In the midst of the 50^th anniversary of 1963, the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum has teamed up with the city of Columbia mayor’s office to present Defying the Quiet: Photography of the Civil Rights Movement. The display is part of an initiative called Project 63, which aims to create a more complete record of the civil rights movement, particularly in Columbia. Typically, the civil rights movement is centered on events that took place in Alabama and Mississippi, but the project is working to add more to what is already known about the movement here in Columbia.

The photographs in the exhibit were taken primarily by three photographers: Cecil Williams, a professional African-American photographer; David Wallace, a local Caucasian business owner of the time who was interested in what was going on; and The State newspaper. Museum exhibitions curator Ed Puchner hopes that when the photographs are displayed, the variation in perspective of the three photographers will be evident. He also says that it will be interesting to see how the photographs taken by the newspaper were used to shape social movements.

Social change was certainly prevalent throughout the ‘60s, and the photography combines personal involvement in the civil rights movement with personal emotion. Photographical documentation of Henrie Monteith Treadwell, the first African-American to be admitted into the University of South Carolina, is included in the exhibition.

The photographs in the exhibit will be separated by event. As most have never before been seen, the museum will have a place for those who visit to identify anyone they may know in the pictures.

Among numerous other clips, film footage of marches for freedom, speeches by Gov. Hollings (SC governor 1959-1963), and interviews with those involved in the movement will be cycled through.

“We like the idea of there being a lot of different voices,” Puchner said.

Defying the Quiet will officially open October 18^th and will stay open until January 17^th. It is located on the second floor of the McKissick Museum in the South gallery and is free to the public. On October 22^nd, there will be a gallery opening reception from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. where Cecil Williams will be signing books. All are invited to attend.

To learn more about Project 63, visit http://columbiasc63.com/index.html.

- By Deborah Swearingen, Jasper intern

The Space on Which You Stand: Photo Exhibit memorializes the old Ward One Community of Columbia -- by Jackie Mohan, Jasper intern

 

Today in Columbia, at the corner of Blossom and Main, stands the Honors Residence Hall, South Carolina Honors College students bustling about inside its sunny yellow walls, laughing in the dining hall, playing Frisbee in the courtyard.  It is hard to imagine that the land where that building now stands was once home to a much different community dating back to the Reconstruction era, the Ward One community.  When urban renewal swept the region in the 50s and 60s, the physical community was virtually destroyed.  This past June, University of South Carolina student Sarah Koslov began to rediscover the Ward One community, past and present, and help remedy this situation.

“We wanted to make an exhibit about social change,” Koslov, student curator of the exhibit, explained about her work with the Honors College.  As she explored ideas, Dr. Ed Munn Sanchez, Associate Dean of the Honors College, recommended that she talk to Dr. Bobby J. Donaldson, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, who works with a community called Ward One.  This led Koslov to the current historical Ward One Organization of Columbia, an association for the residents from the original Ward One community founded by Beatrice Richardson in 1991.

“The Ward One Organization still strives to have a presence and a name,” Koslov said.  Since the Ward One Organization is comprised mainly of residents from the original community, many of the members are getting older.  Just weeks ago, the organization lost one of its unofficial historians and most beloved members, Ms. Agnes Perez.  Because of this, Koslov said, “There is a sense of urgency in trying to get a permanent legacy established.”

In her research, Koslov contacted numerous people connected to Ward One.  Two Honors College students, Paige Fennell and Ashley Nichole Bouknight, had previously done Honors theses related to the community, so their work served as a basis for her exhibit.  She gathered information and, most importantly, photographs of Ward One residents from the past theses, Dr. Donaldson, and Ward One Organization members, especially its President, Mattie Anderson-Roberson, former resident of Ward One and the first woman in South Carolina to receive an athletic scholarship to further her education.

“There was an industry aspect to Ward One … but this exhibit is more about the people and personality of Ward One,” Koslov explained.  Her final project is a historical photo exhibit, The Space on Which You Stand, with five sections: People, Neighborhood, School, Church, and Ward One Today.  Each section features a text panel with historical information and photographs of the old Ward, focusing on its people and the close-knit community they built.  Ward One was an impoverished community but, as one resident recalled, “We were poor.  We just didn’t know it.”  The photos and panels are hung by cords in a hanging system that Koslov installed when she designed the new, reusable exhibit space.

“This is just a small effort to increase public awareness of Ward One,” Koslov said.  “It is a project very near and dear to my heart.”

The exhibit opens Wednesday, October 23, at 4:00 pm in the Honors Residence Hall room B110 with a reception following.  The exhibit is free and open to the public and located in USC’s Honors Residence Hall, located at 1215 Blossom Street, on the first floor.  The exhibit will be up through the rest of this semester.  For more information about the event, email Sarah Koslov at Koslov@email.sc.edu or visit: artsandsciences.sc.edu/opening-space-which-you-stand-photo-exhibition.

Part of the historical Ward One Organization’s efforts to raise public awareness included the addition of a website for Ward One, designed by Honors College graduate Jade McDuffie for USC’s Discovery Day in 2012.  To learn more about Ward One, visit: wardone.wix.com/wardone.

“Ward One is no longer a physical community,” Koslov said.  “It is a community based on nostalgia and memory.”  However, the community is as strong as ever.  Their quest to raise awareness and remembrance continues as the Ward One Organization’s mantra declares, “We are not done with the old Ward One … Gone, but not forgotten."

-- Jackie Mohan, Jasper intern

Columbia Jewish Book Festival -- a Book Fest for Everyone!

 

Columbia is not only a writers' town, it's a readers' town, too. And Jasper is always delighted to hear of interesting and engaging literary events.

For example, The Columbia Jewish Book Festival coming up on Sunday, October 20th through the 25th. Award winning author Mary Glickman is this year’s featured presenter. The festival also features film screenings, workshops, and children's activities and is open to all.

The Festival kicks off Sunday, October 20 with a screening of Shalom Sesame's "Mitzvah on the Street" followed by a showing of a film adaptation of Mitch Albom's novel "Have a Little Faith" at 3 pm.

Monday, October 21 features keynote speaker Mary Glickman at 8 pm. Mary is a South Carolina resident and her first novel, Home in the Morning, is in development for film by Jim Kohlberg, director of The Music Never Stopped (Sundance 2011). Her second novel, One More River, was a Finalist for the 2011 National Jewish Book Award in Fiction. She will be available to sign books after her talk.

A workshop about writing and publishing children's books is scheduled for 7 pm on Tuesday, October 22. This workshop will be led by Elaine Schiller August and Ronit Elk, both published children's authors. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions and any of their own manuscripts.

All events are free for JCC members; a donation of $5 is requested of non-members. The book marketplace is open to all. The Columbia Jewish book festival is supported by The Columbia Jewish Federation, The Jewish Cultural Arts Committee, The Kligman Fund for the Jewish Cultural Arts, the Katie & Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center, and Thou Shalt Read.

Festival events will be held at The Katie & Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center  at 306 Flora Drive, in Columbia. For more information go to www.jcccolumbia.org.

Symphony Review: The South Carolina Philharmonic's Premiere of Joan Tower's "Red Maple"

“I don’t do movements.” This blunt statement by Joan Tower belies the expansive seventeen minutes of Red Maple, her most recent work. Scored for solo bassoon and orchestral strings, the piece eschews splashy colors, heavy-handed percussion, and fanfarish settings, and comes across as an understated, even restrained, work. Allowing the bassoon to “shine,” as Tower puts it, is her primary concern. Commissioned by the South Carolina Philharmonic and the virtuoso bassoonist Peter Kolkay, Red Maple premiered on October 4, 2013, at the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, SC. Also on the program were a few war-horses – Tchaikovsky 4 and the “Triumphal March” from Verdi’s Aida that certainly offset the general quiet and initial nigh-solemnity of Red Maple.

Peter Kolkay is one of the few among bassoon superstars (let that phrase reverberate for a minute) able to fill a concert hall while maintaining a luscious, mellifluous sound. In this respect, Red Maple succeeds wildly. The work opens with a descending three-note chromatic motif and an extended, languorous, almost-plaintive solo in a fairly high register – perhaps a reach back in time to the inner movement of Gordon Jacob’s bassoon concerto or the slower passages of Taafe Zwilich’s concerto. Kolkay’s robust, confident, and energetic performance carried the work – and if there was any doubt about Kolkay’s aptness for luminosity in lyricism, let it be laid to rest here and now.

The string orchestra accompaniment in Red Maple was alternately stately and buoyant, and well-played under Nakahara’s baton – yet, simultaneously, the scoring of the work seemed almost risk-averse. There were very few moments of percussiveness or novelty in timbre; retrospectively, the accompaniment plays it safer than what Tower normally brings listeners in large-form works. Very rare indeed is a string harmonic in Red Maple, and very rarely is the full potential of color between the strings, or between bassoon and strings, realized and exploited. Technical moments favored the soloist, of course, but even some of the flashier writing for the bassoon seemed restrained, delicate: in essence, everyone performed purely idiomatically, and this instilled in some listeners the idea that, perhaps, Tower had some tentativeness about the ensemble or the work in general. The strings remain in safe and comfortable ranges; other special effects are totally absent, from both soloist and strings. Granted, concerns of orchestration are paramount when composing for a bassoon and an ensemble, but the approach here is conservative at the peril of potentiality.

This is not to say, however, that the work was lacking: rather, Red Maple has a slow burn that gently draws listeners in and engages imaginations as it unfurls. The formal scope of the work, is an interesting conceit and clever play on the concerto form: just as autumn rushes in and sets forth a sense of urgency, so too does Red Maple, with an acceleration of contrasting ideas. The extended solo gives way to stilled string writing; from this slowness emerges faster sections, and these temporal variations alternate, each alternating section appearing to shorten in duration as the work moves toward its terminus. Tower works in three separate cadenzas and touches upon classical expositional ideas, and along the way there is a great deal of vivacity, with multiple gigue-like sections and rhythmically propulsive passages. An urgency-at-the-coda, last-breaths-of-Fall idea permeates the bassoon solo, as well: as the work progresses, the level of technical skill in the bassoon increases, departing with a flurry of smoldering flourishes that summarily test the mettle of the soloist. Kolkay blazes through these sections with vigor and aplomb.

Rare is the orchestra and the music director that takes a chance on a new premiere – let alone for a bassoon concerto. The South Carolina Philharmonic, music director Morihiko Nakahara, and bassoonist Peter Kolkay should be celebrated for employing Tower to create a new work, along with a consortium of other ensembles. Tower, likewise, should be thanked and saluted for taking up the challenge, especially for a premiere in a sleepy (yet culturally alive) town in the Deep and Dirty South. Red Maple will surely go into leaf as time wears on as Kolkay reprises his stellar performance beyond Columbia, SC. - Tom Dempster

USC Department of Theatre and Dance's Lab Theatre Brings Unique & Exciting Season - by Joanna Savold, Jasper intern

USC’s Department of Theatre and Dance is always striving to provide unique and challenging performances, and the department’s Lab Theatre – set in the intimate “black box” theatre space on 1400 Wheat St. – has a lineup this fall that is no exception.

 ~~~

This weekend the Lab will be presenting Yellowman. The Dael Orlandersmith play revolves around the romance of Alma and Eugene, two youths who grew up in rural South Carolina. USC undergraduate students Brandon Byrd and Raven Massey will be portraying the lighter-skinned Eugene and the darker-toned Alma, respectively. The characters will, through Orlandersmith’s poetic lines, confront the internalized racism and discrimination in their community and themselves. But these issues are not confined to the performance; Director Patti Walker is sure the play will compel the audience to look inward as well and – in realizing harbored prejudices – enable real change.

The department admits that the simple act of staging a production that requires African American cast and characters is a vitally important step towards giving students representation in the artistic community. Walker also chose to alter the number of cast members in the play, in a conscious effort to give more African American actors opportunities through the Lab production. The originally two person cast now counts in at ten, with eight talented undergrads besides Byrd and Massey who will play characters in the protagonists’ community: Tiffany Failey, John Floyd, Jalissa Fulton, Natasha Kanunaido, Eldren Keys,Jon Whit McClinton, Tiera Smith and Olander Wilson.

Yellowman will open October 10 and run through to Oct 13, showing nightly at 8 pm. Tickets are $5 at the door, and seating is first-come, first-serve, so get there early for the best spots in the house.

 ~~~

This isn’t all the Lab Theatre has to offer this year; on November 22 and 24, students from across campus will be performing original acts created in the time-starved intensity of a play festival. Under the supervision of Robyn Hunt, this unique project will follow in the improvised footsteps of other play festivals, such as Paula Vogel’s creation at Brown University and the Sandbox One-Act Play (SOAP) Festival in Seattle. Within a week before the first performance night, interested students will ‘draw’ or be randomly assigned roles in the performances; actors, directors, stage managers, and playwrights will all be determined by chance. And then the fun begins. Participants will have only a short window of time to create a script, set a scene, and rehearse before finally performing their original shorts for a live audience. After the Friday night performance, they’ll do it again! A host of brand new acts will accompany the second night of the festival, offering audiences two unique nights with new plays by students each night.

Hunt says the goal of the festival is to create “brand new theatre,” to have performances that are completely fresh and different from what theatre-goers have experienced before. Like the festival’s title, whose words all ears took captive, the acts will capture the audience in the excitement of something just invented. Hunt looks forward to seeing students collaborate on the project, which is open to USC students of any major, grad and undergrad.

whose words all ears took captive will also be $5 at the door and is scheduled to start at 8 pm on November 22 and 24. Neither will be a night to miss!

For more information on the Lab's productions or USC's theatre program, visit the Department of Theatre and Dance's website: http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/thea/

-- Joanna Savold, Jasper Intern

Jasper's Two Cents on TwoSense

The Southern Exposure New Music Series kicks off its 2013-2014 concert season on Friday, October 11, with a 7:30 PM concert featuring the cello/piano duo TwoSense. A lineage of performances tracing its route through Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Barbican, and Bang on a Can All-Stars, cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Lisa Moore will perform a concert of new and contemporary works by composers Martin Bresnick and Kate Moore, and two premieres of works by Jack Perla and Paul Dresher. The program spans from mercurial, angular pieces to jazz and world-music-inspired eclecticisms, all to be revealed by a duo of performers with wildly positive critical acclaim.

Before the evening’s concert, TwoSense will give a variety of talks and masterclasses, including a discussion of commissioning and performing new works from 1:10-2:00 PM in the USC School of Music Recital Hall (as a composer, I approve this message), and the composer Martin Bresnick will be giving a masterclass and composition talk from 2:30-4 PM, also in the USC School of Music Recital Hall. In addition, area artist Adrian Rhodes will have visual artwork on display in the gallery at the USC School of Music prior to the main event.

The concert and the events are part of the Opera-Tunity Foundation’s Celebration of Women Artists. All events are open to the public and free.

-Tom Dempster

Meet the 2nd Act Filmmakers - Pt. 4

It's finally Film Festival Week!

I know this because I saw Jasper film editor and director of The 2nd Act Film Festival on television this morning telling Mr. Anderson Burns and the world the world that it was so.

Accompanying Wade was the talented Ebony Wilson who is not only one of The 2nd Act Filmmakers but who also just so happens to be celebrating her birthday today.

Here's a screen shot of Ebony from her film The Meeting that she'll be premiering Thursday night along with films from nine additional juried filmmakers --

And here are the remaining filmmakers whose work you'll be seeing on Thursday night! (Previous blog posts have featured the rest of Jasper's 2nd Act Film Fest squad.)

Our Kickstarter campaign is complete -- and we made it! Thanks so much to all of you who contributed to this project. It means a lot to all of us involved.

Keep in mind that seating is limited so you may want to both get your ticket in advance  AND get to the theatre when the doors open at 6:30.

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Meet the 2nd Act Filmmakers - pt. 3

 

It's not too late to support The 2nd Act Film Festival Kickstarter campaign if you submit your pledge by Sunday night!

Advance Tickets are available via Eventbrite!