KORI BARKLEY
Staff Writer
Fredonia’s Theatre and Dance Department, commonly known as TADA, is gearing up for its 2014-15 Walter Gloor Mainstage season with productions full of laughter, controversy and potentially even a few tears. This season, TADA will bring five major productions to the Fredonia campus.
Without really intending to, the department has selected a season of plays that is something of a “50th Anniversary of the 60s,” according to Department Chair and Artistic Director of TADA Tom Loughlin. Three of the productions are united with the theme of the 1960s and issues that defined that era.
The first production of the season, William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is one of the three. The play will be directed Loughlin. Though clearly not written during the 20th century, Loughlin plans to adapt Shakespeare’s play to be set in the 1960s on Ohio University campus in Athens, Ohio and surrounding woodlands.
“Basically it will be a production that will echo the ‘Summer of Love’ of 1968,” Loughlin said. “I think there are several parallels to the themes of the play and the kind of youthful madness that took place at that time.”
The production will be held in Bartlett Theatre Oct. 17-19 and 23-25.
The second production to occur in December is a sort of a “play within a play.”
Inspired by “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the beloved American holiday classic, Joe Landry’s “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play” is a staged version of actors acting out the movie version for a radio audience. The production has only five actors who perform as the 48 characters in the original, made possible with the help of vocal differentiation and sound effects.
“It’s more like listening entertainment,” director Marc de la Concha, adjunct professor and 2005 graduate of Fredonia’s Musical Theatre Department, explained. “Though there is some physicality to it, it’s more up to the audience to imagine what is actually going on, as you would listening to a radio show.”
The radio play will debut just in time for the holiday season in Bartlett Theatre on Dec. 5-7 and 11-13 and audiences in Jamestown can hear the production broadcast live on a local Jamestown radio station.
Lanford Wilson’s “Balm in Gilead,” is another production to be presented by the Theatre Department.
The play was written in 1965, but will be set in the present, at an all-night coffee shop on New York City’s Upper Broadway. “Balm in Gilead” tells the story of two young people who try to escape the turmoil of life, but are instead swallowed by it.
“It’s not exactly a feel-good play, but it is a reflection of our times,” professor of theatre and director of the play, Dr. James Ivey, said. “The struggle goes on and on. Some audience members will like it, some won’t. You won’t be able to leave without a visceral reaction.”
There have not been any production meetings thus far, but Ivey hinted at some interesting and challenging concepts for set designs. “We will blow the audience’s minds open,” he said.
“Balm in Gilead” will be held in Bartlett Theatre February 27 through March 1 and March 5-7.
Directed by Jessica Hillman-McCord, “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot, will premiere on the Marvel stage for an interactive, “be-in” theatrical event.
Performed internationally, “Hair” centers around a group of young hippies in the 1960s and tells the story of their fight for anti Vietnam-war and a peace, love, hippie lifestyle, as well as generational conflicts.
Professors of theatre say that the show is important to musical theater history. “Hair” is considered to be the pioneering rock musical and brought rock music to Broadway in a way that hadn’t been seen before. There are 40 songs in the musical that span all sorts of rock styles from the 60s as well as later styles.
“I’ve wanted to do this show for a long time,” explained Hillman-McCord, associate professor of theatre and dance. “I love the music and think it still has something powerful to say. The hippie movement is over, but what they were fighting for — peace, not war — is still incredibly relevant today.”
While it is an accurate portrait of the time period, “Hair” caused much controversy in the 60s. Potential audience members should be aware that the musical is for adult audiences, as some scenes involve nudity, sex, drugs and other indecencies.
On April 10-12 and 16-18, “Hair” will be presented in Marvel Theatre.
To end the season, the Fredonia Dance Ensemble will host seven performances in one sitting. “We have three guest artists and four faculty members choreographing seven signature pieces,” Helen Myers, professor and director of the Dance program, explained.
Among the guest artists are Rosy Simus, Minneapolis based contemporary dance choreographer with a Native American heritage, who will create a new work of dance theater with video projection; Jon Lehrer, director of the Buffalo based LehrerDance company, who will create one of his signature, high energy, jazz pieces; and Kerry Ring, dance faculty at University at Buffalo, who will create an “architectural” ballet piece involving a large ballet bar that dancers will tip and climb on, simulating a jungle gym.
Terry Beck, Samantha Kenney, Galey Summerton and Helen Myers, who are Fredonia’s faculty choreographers, will also create dance numbers. Beck will create a piece of dance theater with original music; Kenney will create a high energy, modern dance piece; Summerton will create a comedic dance piece; and Myers will create a piece to ancient, 12th century music, performed by Fredonia’s Chamber Choir.
The event will be held in Marvel Theatre on May 1-3.
“The shows encompass a huge range from Shakespearean comedy to the dark drama of ‘Balm in Gilead,’” said Cameron Caulfield, a senior BFA theatrical design and production major. “We are still early on in the academic year, but this year promises to be an exciting one for sure. As a department, we keep doing bigger and better shows in every aspect, and this year is no exception!”
Tickets for the performances can be purchased at the Campus Ticket Office or online at http://www.fredonia.edu/tickets/Performing_Arts.asp.