Posts Tagged ‘Timothy Bond’
RIP BD
Thursday, April 16th, 2020Loss Column
Monday, May 18th, 2015We got word that two artistic figures will be departing: Ryan Hope Travis and Tim Bond. It’s always hard to see good people leave,but we were glad we got to meet them and experience the fruits of their artistic labor.
We wish them both good luck and continued success.
Light Fantastic
Tuesday, February 4th, 2014We’ve heard great reviews and word-of-mouth praise for “The Whipping Man.” The play was directed by Timothy Bond and written by Matthew Lopez. Here’s an interview Bond did with Kenny Dees last week.
Following Friday night’s performance Lemon Elefant, everyone’s favorite go to band for the Connective Corridor, played a gig in the Syracuse Stage lobby.
Being Brian Dennehy
Saturday, October 5th, 2013Seasoned actor Brian Dennehy, whose son attends Syracuse University, was a special guest for the Friday night portion of Orange Central. He was joined in conversation and an occasional gut-busting laugh by Syracuse Stage’s Timothy Bond.
The event was held at the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium (Newhouse complex).
During the hour-long program, Dennehy gave numerous anecdotes about writers Jimmy Breslin and Frank McCourt, as well as actors Kevin Kline and Zero Mostel.
He discuseed his numerous roles in film, television and his first love, regional theater. “What happens in the theater can only happen in the theater,” he said.
Dennehy, whose career spans five decades, also gave a reading, told some jokes, and even sang during a musical interlude with pianist Jeff Sawyer (an SU grad).
Stage Conversation
Wednesday, February 13th, 2013Here’s part two of the Tim Bond interview from last week.
Pivot Play
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
Syracuse Stage Producing Artistic Director Timothy Bond talks about the impact of writer August Wilson, specifically Two Trains Running, which is playing this month at the theater. Syracuse Stage has run seven of Wilson’s ten plays that chronicle African American life in each decade of the 20th Century.
Bond, who is the director for Two Trains, said Wilson’s plays are “poetic blues operas.”
The Book of August
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011When it comes to an accurate portrait of African American life, site August Wilson’s cycle of plays examining the 20th century is a gift that keeps on giving.
This month Syracuse Stage produced Wilson’s Radio Golf.
Radio, set in 1990s Pittsburgh, revolves around Harmond Wilks (played by Richard Brooks) as he attempts to redevelop a blighted Pittsburgh neighborhood and parlay that venture into a run for mayor. At the climax of the play the audience is left with a sense that change is coming, but not without a struggle, or a fight.
A “Talk Back” forum was held by the stage and the actors talked about the genius of Wilson and how his work always fosters further examination.
Leland Gantt (Radio’s Sterling) said that the actors were on a journey to excavate the truth in Wilson’s work (the last he produced before he passed in 2005).
During a celebration of August Wilson’s work at Syracuse University in 2006, Dramaturg Kyle Bass, said it best: “Wilson gave us back to us.”
Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Radio’s Elder Joseph Barlow), who appeared in Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Syracuse Stage in 2009, described interpreting Wilson’s work on stage like eavesdropping on a conversation or peering thru a peephole at a family discussion. He said Wilson was able to avoid stereotypes by being true to the characters. “You know the truth when you hear it,” he said.
Higher Learning at the Blackboard Jungle
Monday, October 11th, 2010I finally got a chance to see the production of No Child… (written by Nilaja Sun) at Syracuse Stage on Saturday. The one-act play features Rochester-native Reenah L. Golden, an actor, poet, activist and educator as the sole performer of nearly 20 characters in a play within a play set in a New York City school.
The direction by Timothy Bond, which featured a photo montage of various Syracuse School district locations, and the post show dialogue with the audience, made for a wonderful theater experience.
A September conversation August would have enjoyed
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Syracuse Stage Producing Artistic Director Timothy Bond began a series of discussions around the August Wilson play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which opened the season. On September 21, I attended a post show forum on the use of the N-word during the play. The forum featured Actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd (standing) along with media personality George Kilpatrick (center) and professor Dr. Adam Banks. Byrd told the crowd of about 50 that he was not offended by the use of the N-word during the play because it was part of the dialogue that showed a true portrait of the world of the featured characters (circa 1920s). Wilson’s work gave those characters, and their world, recognition and worth, Byrd said. Banks added that the word as well as the use of the N-word must be framed within the proper historical and cultural context.