South Bend Civic Theatre Blog

I was asked this morning what the age appropriateness would be for “The 39 Steps”, so I thought I would share my response. No foul language, no exposed flesh, moves at a good pace, lots of visual humor… but the humor is based in a spoof of the style and therefore will lose most young kids. By the time your child is old enough to find humor in wit and irony, then he/she will love “The 39 Steps” – “Emerging” teenagers to grandparents will love it – younger than that and they won’t “get it”.

And you certainly don’t need to know Hitchcock films to enjoy this comedy, but it would add a bit of fun to the experience, so don’t miss your chance to see the original Hitchcock film, The 39 Steps, in our Studio Theatre this Saturday at 8 PM. Popcorn & soft drinks included in the ticket price of $5. Be sure to call Tracie, though – tickets are limited – 234-1112.

Tami

I just watched a rehearsal of “The 39 Steps” Monday night (Feb. 13) and this show is going to be terrific! As the first theatre in the region to get rights to this recent Broadway hit, we knew we had an opportunity to wow the audiences… Take a first-rate script – add Richard Baxter directing and four superb comic actors (Aaron Nichols, Matthew Bell, Mark Moriarty, Abbey Frick) and you are in for a treat.

Hundreds of thousands of people laughed their way through one of the longest Broadway runs of a non-musical ever experienced, and they certainly had not all seen the original Hitchcock film that inspired the spoof. But just imagine how much more fun they would have had if the memory of the film had been fresh. That’s why I asked Scot and Tracie to put together a little showing of the film in our Studio Theatre a few weeks before the show. This is going to be a blast! Join us Saturday February 25 at 8 PM for a great movie, free popcorn, and a whole lot of fun!  Tickets for the film are just $5 and inlcude popcorn and a soft drink – call the box office at 574-234-1112.

And reserve your seats for “The 39 Steps” quickly – based on what I experienced at rehearsal, this show will be amazingly good from the first performance on.  Be ready for thrills, laughs, and the joy of theatre at its wonderfully wacky best!

Tami Ramaker, Executive Director

I first fell in love with “Madwoman of Chaillot” when I was in college – (my French was still good enough to read part of it in the original, too… that really was a long time ago!) I read everything Giraudoux wrote next, fell in love with “Ondine”, too, then came back to “Chaillot”. I re-read it a year ago, just to see whether it had aged like fine wine… or instead, like bad food in a forgotten wastebasket. Discovered that not only did the unique characters still hold up, but that the story is arguably more relevant today than it was when it was written in the 1940s.

I put the script down, and was filled with a yearning. A yearning to believe that the message was true. That it was possible. As an individual, that I could meet the play’s challenge… that I could change the world from my tiny vantage point, to restore it to the fragile world of the poetic, the lovely, the loved.

French sensibilities about language are not often translated well, but Valency has captured the lyricism and humor really well. And the characters. The four madwomen are all endearing. Their street friends are equally endearing. The final message… that even the slightest of us can overpower evil, and thus, preserve the world for the pure of heart… is heartbreakingly hopeful, and a message we need now more than perhaps ever before.

I have the luxury of working with a cast of full-hearted actors, who have been good to the story and good to each other. Seventeen is a huge cast, and we have everyone from young children to older actors – first-timers to long-time veterans, so it would have been easy for them not to ‘gel’, but they have indeed gelled. In the telling of a sweet story.

The madwomen, particularly the first three, constantly relive the favorite moments of their youth, when the possibility of true love hung in the balance. As I watch, I feel the tug I felt the first time I read it, when I longed to know whether that purity was possible. I long to believe it still can.

So, as we prepare this charming story for you, I hope you choose to join us to hear the story of the “Madwoman of Chaillot”, all of her friends, and the evil-doers that they confront, and finally, happily, condemn.

-          Tami Ramaker, Exec Director

So what is a professional director with credits ranging from New York to Chicago doing in South Bend?  “It’s good for me to go back to the roots of theatre” says Ron OJ Parson explaining his decision to direct ‘Blue’ for SBCT.  Being at a community theatre gives him an opportunity to “give back.”  For Ron, the connection is personal, “I came up and started out as a kid doing shows in Buffalo, NY community theatre.”

Tami Ramaker, South Bend Civic Theatre’s Executive Director, on the motivation for presenting ‘Blue,’ “I began thinking about this project when one of our board members gently encouraged me to think about producing a script that was not a 60s/70s story about blacks as the downtrodden rising up – instead a story that would show successful blacks simply living their lives, African-Americans who had transcended race as the basis for a negative, stereotyped experience.”

Tami adds, “so in discovering the perfect script in ‘Blue’ then I knew adding a special guest director would be the right move. Give the actors and audience an African-American director who is a polished, successful professional. Hiring a professional guest director from Chicago would help put community attention on the show and help elevate attendance to justify a long Mainstage run.”

Tami and Ron established a connection several years ago at Portland Stage Company when Ron was brought in to direct an August Wilson play and Tami was on staff.  Out of that experience grew an opportunity that became an offer for Ron to come to SBCT.

What attracted Ron to ‘Blue’ was “the natural, real humor without being fake or stereotypical.”  He also liked that the play “showed another side, a different angle to African-American life” than is typically presented on stage.  For Ron, the play “is about youth and the positive effect of freedom and independence.”  He was also drawn to what he terms the play’s “Twilight Zone” features.  As a story told in memory by the adult Reuben, his presence hovers around his younger self, revisiting moments from his past.  Another “ethereal” presence is that of the enigmatic jazz singer Blue Williams, whose songs (by Grammy winner Nona Hendryx) serve to inspire and comment on the characters’ actions.  “Blue is Peggy’s drug, her escape from her problems.  The music pulls us into the mind of the central character and gives the tone of the time.”

Working with a volunteer cast means a slightly different way of working for Ron.  “I have to instruct a little more.  I like to let them discover versus telling them.  As an actor, I like to direct the way I like to be directed.”  Ron feels for the actors it is “good to get a different approach and add another element.”  As example, Ron points out a moment where the young actor Ian Coates came up with an idea that sparked Ron, “I hope this will be a theatre experience that will live with him, knowing that an idea he had became part of the show.”  What makes community theatre so unique is the volunteerism, the idea of theatre “made by them, for them.”  He is impressed by SBCT’s ambitions and goal of quality theatre “look at the list of high quality plays on the season.  You can do shows all about the love of theatre here.”

Ron has high hopes for ‘Blue,’ “it should open up theatre to a wide variety of audience.”  For Ron, “every play is a love story” and ‘Blue’ is a showcase for love of theatre.