Here is a sample of the talk-back segment from “Steady,” produced by Ryan Hope Travis. The clip will give you a sense of awareness for the many flexible, organic adventures involved in community theater. Also check out the golden-voiced solo by actor Kamani Grate.
Posts Tagged ‘Theater’
Thinking Big, Acting Small
Monday, February 23rd, 2015Dispatches from the Frontier of Community Theater
Sunday, February 22nd, 2015
Alena Cerro (left) and Kamani Grate act out a semi-dream sequence scene in “Steady” (a play conceived by Ryan Hope Travis and inspired by the March from Selma to Montgomery). The show was held Saturday at Art Rage Gallery on Hawley Avenue.
As a director, Ryan Travis is prolific. He has conceived and directed numerous productions since we interviewed him a few years ago.
Ryan’s pace is frenetic, but the quality of the work never suffers. The actor/director/professor knows how to explore and present timely topics with the right dusting of theatrical polish. His latest offering is “Steady,” an hour-long, song-dialogue-dance-dramatization of the past, present and future of Civil Rights, with a particular emphasis on the 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery.
There were two shows for “Steady” over the weekend at The Art Rage Gallery. What made the Art Rage production unique was the poignant visual reminder of the Selma adorning the walls, thanks to the compelling documentary photographs of Matt Herron. Having photos of Dr. King, John Lewis, Doris Wilson, and others as part of the set design provided inspiration for the audience as well as the actors.
“Steady” has its next showing at Onondaga Community College on Monday.
Herron’s images will be on display at Art Rage until the end of March.
Ryan Hope Travis (left) and the multi-talented cast of “Steady” at The Art Rage Gallery.
Throwback Thursday: Masterpiece Theater
Thursday, February 19th, 2015
August Wilson (left) with Bill Roland during Wilson’s visit to Syracuse University in 2003.
American Masters on PBS will be airing a program about August Wilson tomorrow. Wilson wrote 10 masterpieces (aka plays) about each decade of a 20th Century Pittsburgh neighborhood called the Hill District. We were fortunate to meet him during his visit to Syracuse, and he was very generous with his time and shared his work process.
Here is a Q+A session about Wilson in NYC that gets to the essence of his genius.
And speaking of throwbacks, special shout out also to Frank Vick for helping us develop an audacious appreciation for theater back in the day.
Theater in the Moment
Thursday, October 30th, 2014
Director, actor and producer Ryan Hope Travis spoke about his new play Drafters, a parable at yesterday’s Vera House Report to the Community event. He called his creative approach “Applied theater.”
We congratulate Ryan Travis, the theater professional who continues to stage and curate great plays around the tenor of our times. His latest offering is “Drafters, a parable,” which uses local actors to create awareness about domestic violence from a perspective of prevention.
“Drafters…” has two more shows this week. Bob Brophy and former councilor Charles Anderson performed a brief excerpt during yesterday’s Vera House event.
Here’s an interview we did with Travis last year.
Liturgical Color
Monday, August 11th, 2014
Dancers with the Syracuse City Ballet wore their summer blues at Shakespeare in the Park (Twelfth Night) over the weekend.
Oblige Your Thirst
Friday, June 27th, 2014
Frackenstein: Taking comedy/drama to the streets (and to new heights)
First, we’d like to thank Anna Phillips for reminding us about the Fringe Festival here in town this weekend. We attended the 2013 festival and saw Anna act out her show ‘Spatial Profiling.’
Fringe seems to be great place catch some innovative art presentations.
Last night we experienced ‘Frackenstein, which was presented along the Connective Corridor, at the Syracuse Stage patio. The one act show envisions a totally fracked future mixing elements of Cirque du Soleil and Mad Max’s Road Warrior, with a small pinch of Laurel and Hardy slapstick.
Frackenstein features Mr. Sticks (played by Steve, who must have been a gymnast in a past life) and Splendito (played by the uber flexible Freddy). The duo provides just enough shock value to keep the audience, and those strolling along East Genesee Street, guessing.
We would have loved to see this type of event take place during SU Homecoming or an ACC Game Day Weekend when it would have just freaked out visitors (in a good way).
Frackenstein will play for the next two nights. If you are in the neighborhood stop by and check it out. You just may become part of the show.
Theater of the Here and Now: Splendito (played by Freddy) and Mr. Sticks (played by Steve) occupied an open air stage on Syracuse Stage’s patio for about an hour on Thursday as part of the 2014 Syracuse Fringe Festival.
Critical Conversations
Saturday, May 31st, 2014
The cast of “Doors” (Debra Richardson, Jalayla Finster, Sheena E. Solomon and Sharleen Starks) along with advocates Loren Cunningham, Jennifer Nadler, George Kilpatrick and The PRPAC’s Karin Franklin-King participated in a talk-back session at CNY Jazz Central following the world premiere of the play.
Doors, which was written by Vanessa Johnson and directed by PRPAC’s Ryan Hope Travis, will run for two more shows on Saturday. The play is an emotional exploration of a group of ladies dealing with sexual assault in a family context.
Jennifer Nadler is an abuse survivor and attended the show. She also participated in the talk-back session and thanked the cast because Doors paralleled her own truth journey.
Throwback Thursday: Syracuse’s VW
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Singer/Actor Vanessa Williams at a fashion show produced by Syracuse University in NYC (circa 2011)
Is it us or does everyone take Vanessa Williams’ vocal ability for granted?
Verbal Acuity in American Characters
Wednesday, March 26th, 2014
Actress, playwright, artist Anna Deavere Smith on stage at Hendricks Chapel.
Anna Deavere Smith breathed life into several characters during her lecture/performance at Syracuse University on Tuesday afternoon. She almost perfectly embodied the conversational cadence and idioms of former Gov. Anne Richards, Rep. John Lewis and theologian Peter Gomes for about an hour.
Maybe her most impressive role was portraying prisoner Paulette Jenkins for a piece called “Mirror to her Mouth”. This sobering tale, filled with domestic violence, murder and regret, moved the crowd toward an almost religious silence.
A Life of Layers
Saturday, March 8th, 2014
Actor Jose Miguel Hernandez appeared in the theatrical memoir "From Cuba to the Cuse" Wednesday night at Syracuse University. Hernandez also performed the play at last year's Fringe Festival at CFAC.