6-8-07
Another Company Bites the Dust
Uma Productions quietly circulated an e-mail last month stating that the 6-year-old company would “discontinue producing for the foreseeable future” when its production of Orange Lemon Egg Canary closed on May 18th. No specific reasons were given, although the e-mail also announced a May 19th fundraiser to “fill the financial gap remaining.”
Uma was founded in 2001 by artistic director Mikhael Tara Garver, Kim Kelly and Jim Hornor and grew to have eight core members and 15 associate artists. Famous for its environmental productions, most of which were produced at Chopin Theatre, Uma staged eight shows. Unlike many non-Equity theatres, in which company members have non-theatrical day gigs, most Uma company members held day gigs with well-established theatres such as Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf and Writers’ Theatre. Those responsibilities, plus the fact that Garver is leaving to enter the directing MFA program at Columbia University (under Anne Bogart), may have influenced the decision to suspend operations. It’s worth noting that the announcement did not specifically say that Uma Productions was going out of business permanently.
Steppenwolf publicist William Nedved also is returning to the diploma mill. He’s sent word that June 15 will be his last day on the job, as he’s been accepted into the graduate Film and Television Writing program at the University of Southern California’s world-class School of Cinema. He probably wants to move west in time to work on his tan before the fall semester begins, and I don’t blame him. Long ago, I was accepted into the very same writing program but never began graduate work because of a nasty little business called the Vietnam War. Had I attended USC, I would have been in the same class as Steven Spielberg, and I do not doubt that today I’d be very rich and spending my days doing excellent blow in my Malibu beach house. Or, perhaps, I merely would have shot someone like Phil Spector. In any case, Mr. Nedved has been a professional pleasure and PerformInk wishes him well. Former Steppenwolf publicist Cathy Taylor, who recently opened her own PR firm, returns to the Halsted Street trenches for the nonce to handle Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County opening July 7.
Eclipse Theatre Company also has announced a major changing of the guard, as both artistic director Anish Jethmalani and managing director Thomas Jones are stepping down. Both are 10-year veterans of the Eclipse ensemble, and have served in their posts since 2002. Eclipse is self-run by its 14-person ensemble of actors and directors, from among whom Nathaniel Swift has been named the new artistic director and Kevin Scott the new managing director. They will take over at the beginning of the 2008 season. Jethmalani and Jones both will remain active with Eclipse as ensemble members, and in behind-the-scenes production work. No specific reasons for the change were given, but we suspect it simply was time to let others in the ensemble enjoy the burdens of leadership. Also, Jethmalani’s recent engagement to costume designer and long-time squeeze Michelle Tesdall may have had something to do with his decision, and we’re certainly glad Ms. Tesdall has decided to make an honest man of Mr. Jethmalani.
A rare behind-the-scenes film documentary about Broadway is at the Music Box Theatre for a too-short run of just one week, June 8-14 (extension possible). ShowBusiness: the Road to Broadway, produced by Dori Bernstein, goes backstage during the 2003-2004 season to follow four musicals from casting through rehearsals through opening night through the Tony Awards. The four shows are Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, or Change. The first two became hits and won Tonys while the second two disappeared without a trace, despite the involvement of such glitterati as Boy George, Rosie O’Donnell and Tony Kushner, all of whom appear in the film along with Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lithgow, Kristen Chenoweth, Tonya Pinkins, Cyndi Lauper, Alan Cumming and others.
Actor/playwright John Green continues to be busy and in demand. His play, Mentor, will be fully staged at Manhattan’s Cherry Lane Theatre as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival in July. Meanwhile, his Jeff award-winning play, The Liquid Moon, will be produced at The Bloomington Playwright Center next spring.
What do Chicago authors, directors and designers Mara Blumenfeld, Lydia Diamond (who’s just received a commission from the McCarter Theatre), TJ Gerkens, Javon Johnson, Patricia Kane, Jack McGaw, Carlos Murillo, Dan Ostling, Ron OJ Parson, Andre Pluess, Eric Rosen, Sandy Shinner, Ben Sussman, Jessica Thebus and Mary Zimmerman all have in common? They all are represented by Bret Adams, Ltd., a New York agency that once upon a time represented only writers but has expanded to handle directors, designers and composers as well (one new client is Josh Schmidt, composer of The Adding Machine at Next Theatre). The six-person staff of Bret Adams quietly and cleverly has cherry-picked some of Chicago’s best talent, plus such former Chicagoans as hot playwright Sarah Ruhl.
The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) and Around the Coyote have announced the line-up for Chicago HER-RAH 2007, which they modestly subtitle A Festival of The World’s Best Women Playwrights and Their New Plays. The June 21-24 event will be held at the Around the Coyote Gallery Arts Complex (1935-1/2 W. North Ave.). Of the 17 authors, 14 are from the United States, which doesn’t mean that they are not the world’s best women playwrights, but does suggest a bias for English-speaking authors, although there are writers from Mongolia, Romania and South Africa as well. Midwesterners on the festival bill are Carolyn Nur Wistrand (Flint, MI), Madelyn Sergel (Gurnee, IL) and Marie Kohler (Milwaukee, WI).
HER-RAH has been put together by Jill Elaine Hughes, Katie Jones and Cynthia Castiglione, all of whom are experienced theatre veterans. They appear, however, to have reinvented the wheel for this festival, seeking submissions for this project essentially in a vacuum. There are any number of Chicago theatre companies and women artists (men, too, for that matter) who have dealt for years with playwrights from around the world, who have contacts with a wide network of foreign authors, agents and sources for works in translation. For example, individuals such as Beatta Pilch (Trap Door), Patrizia Accera (Premiere Theatre) and/or Natasha Djukic (T.U.T.A.) might have been able to nominate scripts or make contacts on behalf of the ICWP; or solicitations might have been extended through, say, the International Theatre Institute, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas or the European Theatre Convention.
Any festival is a complex business to put together and Mss. Hughes, Jones and Castiglione have accomplished a great deal. With all the people who’d be happy and eager to help them, one hopes they will expand their working partnerships in future years to help make HER-RAH larger and more profoundly global.