Ordinaries at the Revolution Advances to Final Review!

This morning I learned that “Ordinaries at the Revolution” has advanced to final consideration for the 2012 Women Playwrights International Conference in Stockholm this summer.

Stay tuned for news of a New York reading of the final draft!

Ordinaries at the Revolution: Update

Synopsis:

The first act of the drama opens in late 1972, a few months before the U.S. Supreme Court affirms the Roe v. Wade decision. A college senior, Tamar McCabe, confronts the realities of the women’s movement as Gloria Steinem visits her campus. While she has a good job working for Leonard Quattro, the editor of  an eponymous literary quarterly, The Quattro Review, a glass ceiling is all too visible as she thinks about her future. Tamar feels ready to move on to
graduate school, but when the charismatic Professor Mesmer Khalid joins the faculty and The Review, her evolving relationship with him compels her to reexamine many of her assumptions about her sexual identity, her future plans, her culture, and her individual role in the world. Mesmer Khalid carries his own secrets, too, and his life circumstances have left him with unshakable beliefs about his own identity. By the close of Act I, Tamar must make a choice.  Their newly discovered differences, which include everything from religion to beliefs about women’s role in society, prove too difficult to reconcile when Tamar considers her options, which forms a new political reality around her.

In Act II, set in 1993, Tamar, and Mesmer have to confront the unintended consequences of her decision from twenty years ago. This biological family will have to confront its secrets. Destiny has one more card to play beyond the social reality.

The play focuses on themes of individual rights and responsibility toward biological destiny, and  feminism 1973-1993. The implications of these themes are revealed through the experiences of ordinary people in the time of social revolution. Ignorance can prove tragic even when no one is to blame for the limits of knowledge. Human genetics prove even more powerful than law, or love, or reasonable people.

Art in Jersey City–June 3 save the date

Laurie Riccadonna, a wonderful painter and teacher, is having a show in Jersey City on June 3. Here’s a link to a

description of her work. Definitely worth a trip!

Find out more about “The White Room” opening at Cedar Lake June 22-26

Here’s a link to a video describing the development of Jennifer Muller’s “The White Room.” The story is told from the perspective of the dancers and the choreographer and offers fascinating insights. After you’ve seen it, go to the website and buy tickets for a performance: http://www.jmtw.org

Jennifer Muller | The Works was formed in New York 1974. For a sneak preview of their hot new season, think about attending the gala launch on Monday, May 23.  Keep The Works in Motion.

Erin Woodward Directs Tim Rice & Elton John’s Aida

It’s that high school music season again. Wonderful production at Washington Irving High School and Chelsea TE last night.

Look for photos at this link: artvalueseducation.

Go see a student production. You’ll remember what it feels like to have hope.

Across the Ages Dance

We’ll be doing a location shoot for the documentary during the first week in May. Early scenes of the dancers suggest an exciting collaboration of dancers and choreographers. This is a no-limit project! Preview clips to follow.

Do Your Thing: The Rover Soho

Please check out my new article on Rani Welch and The Rover Soho at Suite101.

New Documentary Project–Across the Ages Dance Project

Howards Frog Productions is currently working on a film documentary for Across the Ages Dance Project.
You can find them on Facebook. (Click “Facebook” at left for the link!)

Eliza Mallouk and Marcie Mitler are producing this exciting, multigenerational evening of work by New England Choreographers Audra Carabetta, Joan Green, Daniel McCusker, Catherine Wagner, and Melody Ruffin Ward. Across The Ages Dance Project is pleased to announce their first annual concert June 17th & 18th, 2011 at Green Street Studios in Cambridge MA.

From the ATAD Mission Statement:

“Across The Ages Dance Project’s Mission is to produce a concert emphasizing an inter-generational ensemble of dances featuring five unique choreographers.

We believe in the rich life experience of this mixed population, which includes dancers of all ages, and wish to create this opportunity for dancers and choreographers to come together and share their art with the larger community.

Our intention is to create one successful concert and in so doing, enhance the possibility of future concerts with an inter-generational theme.”

Howards Frog completed interviews with the principals in October, and we will be filming rehearsals and the performances to assemble a record of the project and create a festival quality film documenting the process.

Watch this space for more details!

Remembering The Triangle Fire

If you’ve forgotten why collective bargaining is important to people’s health and safety, you might consider attending a new production honoring the 100th anniversary of this horrific event. John Seabrook of The New Yorker visited a rehearsal and filed a great article on the efforts of Elizabeth Swados, Cecilia Rubino, Paula Finn, and Rachel Roche-Bronfman. The production opens March 23 and runs through March 27.
Link to The New Yorker Article.
Link to the production website for “From the Fire.”
Link to the production blog.

Howards Frog resumes blogging thanks to a meeting with Twain’s Jumping Frog

We’ve been on a little hiatus here to take care of business, but we’re out and about looking for excellent artistry, so here’s something you should know about.

On December 5, to coinciding happily with its own Mark Twain exhibit honoring the recent publication of The Autobiography of Mark Twain Vol. 1, the Morgan Library offered a young people’s play, “Mark Twain: Timeless Humor,” written, adapted, and directed by Cecilia Rubino. Designed for middle and high school students, this exceptional performance used simple technology and stage props to evoke the lively world of the great American humorist and social critic. Projections of a steamboat coupled with an audible whistle, images of the winding Mississippi, and photographs all reinforced the sounds, speech, and actions of Twain’s America.

The brief presentation covered a lot of literary territory through entertaining representations of Mark Twain (Ashton Crosby, who donned aprons and other costume details to play other minor characters); Tom, Jim, and others (Cary Hite), and Huck Finn and other characters (Carl Howell). The actors engaged the audience between tales; their onstage transformations helped to bring to life the great scope of Twain’s writings—from “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” through Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Rubino has made excellent and witty selections to convey the take-home messages of this author. Did I mention the sword fight? The choreography is believable and compelling, and this and other moments helped the younger audience members to remain alert and happy. You can feel your imagination working while you watch.

While the play is uplifting, Rubino does not sugar-coat the missteps in Twain’s life, including such details as his misguided investment in the Paige Compositor typesetting machine, which nearly bankrupted the family. For educators, there are good program notes, explaining key concepts, such as “abolitionist,” and literary terms including “autobiography” and “humorist.” For tech-savvy families, it’s a leap back in time—What’s a typesetter?—and the adventure of Twain’s life holds up well in this theatrical overview. Don’t despair if your school missed it—Lincoln Center will feature it again twice next year. Kudos to the Morgan and to Rubino, who continues to combine quality literacy instruction with exciting theatricals.