TheatreAddict.com - Bakersfield Drama Blog

My name is Shawn Rader, I play "Alan Seymour," the son of the richest man in town. I am boyfriend of "Madge Owens" and she pretty much cheats on me with my friend "Hal Carter."

"Picnic is a really fun show and everyone in the cast is great! The director, Genia Owens, does an excellent job at making us teenagers feel comfortable on stage. Please come see the show! The show is a drama but our director made it more comedic but kept the important dramatic parts. Please support West High Drama!"

by Sarah Downey

"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our despair, against our own will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." --Aeschylus, Greek tragic poet

"Cleansed" closes this week. i don't even know what to say about it. this show is a personal experience for everyone who watches it but also for each of us who've been involved in the production of it. i'm not going to speak for anyone else in this. i just need to speak for me.

i am going to miss grace. i'm sad that the show is coming to an end and i'll have to say goodbye to her. through her, mysteries in my own past have been made clear. i know more about myself because i was able to become someone else and it will be hard to let her go.

this show did not go the way i expected it to. it changed the way i view a lot of things, from those deep, dark things i don't want to go into, to the way i relate to my fellow cast members. i suppose at the beginning i liked all of them well enough although, i didn't really know any of them very well. i assumed that being part of this cast would bring us closer, maybe? i don't know. i have become close with denise but, in all actuality, i feel more self conscious around the boys now than i ever did before. i'm sure it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the show. given time, i'll get over it. it just wasn't what i expected.

nothing about "Cleansed" is as i expected it would be.

this is, without any doubt, the single best piece of theatre i have ever had the honor of performing in. i am so proud of it and i think that is why it is so painful that it will be over soon. i can't imagine how things would have been different if i had not wanted to be grace so badly. i wouldn't want to imagine it. i really love this piece.

Aeschylus said that wisdom comes "to us by the awful grace of God." sarah kane's writing is raw and open, absolutely brutal and, in the brutality, beautiful...and in the beauty is the wisdom. it may take time to see it or you may never see it. i don't know. what i do know is that she showed me something about myself that is at once awful and lovely and i will never be the same.

i'll miss you grace.

Quite frankly, "Cleansed" is the most disturbing and affecting piece of theatre I have ever seen. I have not observed other plays that have such an affect on their audience as this play has. After the show, the audience walks around awkwardly. Should I shake the actor's hand? Tell him or her "good job?" No. I feel sick. I don't want to touch anyone. They'll understand.

Cleansed Interview

TheatreAddict.com: In your director's notes you talk briefly about being introduced to Sarah Kane's work and feeling compelled to bring it to the stage. Can you tell us a little more about your experience and why it was so meaningful to you?

Roger Mathey: One of my favorite underappreciated playwrights is Tom Eyen who wrote "The White Whore and the Bit Player". Most of my theatre life has been my attempts to show the darkers side of life in the hopes that the audience (and myself) will learn something from someone else's pain and strive to grow from that pain. And I was called on this by Jeremiah Heitman who then gave me a book of Sarah Kane's plays. When I read the works of Sarah Kane, I felt I had found another playwright speaking to me about their pain in the most graphic way they could. I tend (as do many theatre denizens) to use theatre as a sort of therapy... it is my tool to help me cope with the worls. When I write or direct or act, I am realising some of my pain for all to see. I found this from Sarah Kane... and her pain seemed infinitely more than most people I know. To the point that they weren't therapy enough for her to release her pain. She found another way. That is a way I cannot take. I've tried once and it didn't stick. I relate on many levels to Sarah Kane's pain and in doing so I found it a blessing to be able to release some of my own through her work. I, too, need to be cleansed of my own darkness every now and then and with the dark feelings I have had of late, this therapy was overdue.

TA: Out of the many amazing plays and other works in SK's repertoire, why did you choose "Cleansed"?

RM: Many of them I felt I couldn't do justice to. And with "Cleansed" I found her speaking of a subject that I feel strongly about...love. She is an amazing writer who asks a lot out of the people who will do her work. It's not just a play. It's art.

TA: I feel blessed that this art was brought into my life by this experience, I'm sure you and others feel the same. Is there any chance you might pitch another script by Kane at the Empty Space or direct another of her shows in the future?

RM: I don't know. Anything is possible. I like many of her works and when I feel the need to speak out again through her words and know that I can do them the justice they deserve with the right people who will show them the respect they have earned, then maybe I will do more Sarah Kane works.

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Once you have digested "Cleansed", here is some suggested reading for you.

Cleansed @ Arcola Theatre, London

Cleansed by George Hunka

Suicide Art? She's better than that -Mark Ravenhill

Ladies and Gentlemen, family entertainment is back in Bakersfield with a vengeance. On Friday I took my first trip out to The Gaslight Melodrama for their production of "The Rookie." They didn't miss one detail of that melodrama experience Bakersfield has come to love. I sat down with my beer and popcorn as the show began. The audience was welcomed, smokers were invited to "take their butts outside," and the host squirmed when only one person responded to "Any baseball fans here today?" We were then presented with a silly baseball farce, poking fun at sports movies and other pop culture targets. Serious baseball flics like "A League of Their Own" finally realized their comic potential when they were turned into glamorous over-acting by the Gaslight cast. My favorite moments in the show included: Jay Stodder singing "Dream The Impossible Dream" to the rookie in true melodrama style, Garrett Marhsall and Christie Maturo turning up the dramatic pauses and emotional turns in a lover's quarrel, and of course ALL of the funny faces and physical comedy by Greg Ramsdell & Mike Prince as they played around representing the cute but retarded Bakersfield Bovines.

After "The Rookie" we were treated to "Let's Eat," a vaudeville musical review all about the joys of food. Where else but the melodrama would you see dancing hambergers, a poem about a hot-dog, and a chef singing "Bella Note" as Lady & The Tramp slurp spaghetti. The cast was at their best in these short sketches and song & dance numbers. To my delight, every scene featured great singing and comedy. Every scene was fun and entertaining, and some were excellent, such as the one featuring Ramsdell as a demented waiter. Two "Veggie Tales" songs were featured. The Gaslight certainly knows how to play to their audience. They could do nothing but Veggie songs and I would come to see the show over and over.

The evening in its entirety was very fun and lively. It could have been better with more enthusiastic crowd...I could easily see the house being brought down at the Gaslight with this show if the audience was more boisterous (drunk). The noisiest audience member was an eleven year-old boy seated at a table next to us. He had the idea...he kept trying to yell out randomly at the actors but was stifled by his embarassed mother. Silly mother, the gaslight isn't for grown-ups. The next time I go you can bet I'll be prepared to act up. They have a lot of great shows coming up so I'm sure I will. The next one, opening May 26th, is a silly telling of The Three Musketeers. The movie adaptations are all so serious, even the one that has Chris O'Donnell as D'Artagnan. Come on, Chris O'Donnell? Later in the season I am also looking forward to "Pirates of the Old Kern River." I directed Peter Pan last year and I still hang out with my pirates regularly. I can't wait to go see that show with a big group of skallywags.

"The Rookie" plays through May 20th at The Gaslight Melodrama, checkout the theatre calendar for showtimes. I have pictures of the show and interviews with the cast to share with you as always so be sure to check those out. Here are the links:

"The Rookie" & "Let's Eat" Picture Gallery

Bakersfield Theatre Radio Episode 6 - chat with the cast of "The Rookie" at the Gaslight

The best theatre tends to catch you off guard, I always say. By that standard, "The Underpants," playing in April at The Spotlight Theatre, is the best. I saw the panties this weekend and despite years spent cringing at awkward community theatre comedies, laughed my ass off. I was pleasantly surprised by several elements of this absurd Steve Martin adaptation, but mostly the witty writing and the pleasantly unexpected ways the cast brought it to life.

I have to be honest, I spent the first 10 minutes of the show very worried. Is the audience going to warm up to this and laugh? Is this premise really going to entertain me for two hours? One memorably shocking laugh line was missed by the audience just a few minutes in. Louise, played by Denise Hembree, is being coaxed into considering an affair by nosy neighbor Gertrude (Tracy Herda). She objects, saying "But I'm married." Gertrude responds "So was Catherine the Great and she had sex with a horse!" My mouth dropped open and I was ready to witness an explosion of laughter as the rest of the audience heard what I heard. But there was none. I cringed. Oh no. This isn't going to work! Then, there is the plot, which seems familiar. It is the same fodder as many other "situation comedies" either on the stage or on TV. In fact, it sounds like something that would be funny and shocking in 1911 when it was Carl Sternheim's Die Hose. But can it be funny today?

Thankfully, the fun of the "The Underpants" is not in a watching a brilliant comedic plot unfold, it is in the brilliance of Steve Martin's comic style. A small town scandal erupts when a woman drops her bloomers in public. So what? It sounds like mediocre comedy at best and begs the question: Will this really be that funny? Then it hits me. I remember listening to a RECORD of Steve Martin, during which he entertains a crowd of thousands for hours with nothing more than his silly self and perhaps some baloons and funny glasses. He blends intelligent humor with physical comedy and random nuttyness, and in doing so makes outright sillyness into brilliant entertainment. This is what happens in "The Underpants." The writing is great, but the kicker is that the actors are so in tune with it that they even make seemingly colorless lines like "I am here" into rich humor. (This, if I remember correctly, is what Versati says upon his entrance).

At the core of the story are Theo & Louise Maske, an average german couple played by Denise Hembree & Jason Monroe. Their lives are disrupted when the fallout of "the panty scandal" brings two absurd men into their home. Jeremiah Heitman is Versati, a flirty Italian poet. He reminds me of a bit of Pepé Le Pew, the lustful loony toons skunk. He reminded my friend, however, of Fez from "That 70's Show." Combine those two and you'll have Versati, who brings Louise to the brink of sexual desire only to run off and write about it instead of...well you know. Then, we have Benjamin Cohen, played by John Wells. To put it blunty, he is a stereotypical hypochondriac jew. Cohen is a reluctant peeping tom who's myriad of issues compell him to stick around so that Versati can't "have" Louise. Wells' is exceptional at creating laughter from Cohen's neuroses. The highlight of the show is a full five minutes of physical comedy during which Wells owns the stage. Jason Monroe's performance as Theo Maske is also worth mentioning. His portrayal of Maske as the husband who is beyond oblivious is spot on and at times explosively funny.

As you may have gathered, the characters in "The Underpants" are all wonderfully absurd. How else would underlying themes of anti-semitism and adultery flow so freely in a comedy? Martin's ableness at varied humor takes a thin premise and weaves it into a delightful show for actors and audiences alike.

Take it from someone who has seen too many mediocre community theatre comedies. This one is a gem that should be enjoyed over and over again.

Check out the Underpants Gallery for picures from the show. There are a lot of great comedic moments in the show and we managed to capture a few of them on camera, as you'll see. Also, make sure to tune in to episode 5 of the podcast for a brief interview with director Bob Kemf as well as actors Jason Monroe & John Wells. The show plays at The Spotlight Theatre through April 29th so make sure to go see it!

This Saturday I had the pleasure of experiencing Side Show at the Empty Space. This haunting musical explores the dark side of human nature against the backdrop of a family of circus freaks.
Jennifer Wells & Amy Hall are Daisy and Violet Hilton, a pair of charming sisters chasing their dreams in depression-era America. They share everything (emotions, birthdays, etc) but are by their own claim "nothing alike." Their bodies just happen to be connected at waist. This complicates their lives, as you might expect, especially when they find themselves stuck as a living attraction at a rural side-show.

Although they seem to have found a sort of family living with the "freaks," the girls have no chance of living a normal life or experiencing anything of the outside world. The opportunity to escape seems like a blessing when the twins trade the life of a side show freak for a life in the spotlight as a cutesy vaudeville novelty act. The dream of fame and fortune quickly turns into a nightmare, though - they're still treated like freaks. A normal life filled with love and "what everyone wants" seems sadly out of reach. For anyone who has ever felt like a freak, the plight of Daisy & Violet is an all too relatable tragedy.

Side Show, although quite dark and tragic, is extremely colorful and moving. The audience follows the twins story through musical moments that are magical, captivating, funny, and dark. The cast is alive with passion, the story is told with lots of finesse and energy, and the entire experience is invogorating & quite beautiful to behold. The show is - by my account - a sheer spectacle that you will enjoy from beginning to end.

I had the opportunity to sit down with the cast after their exhausting opening weekend and found the family of actors behind the show to be just as captivating as the group of "freaks" they portrayed. This weekend was a perfect example of why I started theatreaddict.com. I saw an amazing show and now I have the chance to share my experience with Bakersfield, in the hopes that Bakersfield will see the show and support the incredible projects that are being taken on by local theatre groups.

Check out all the pictures from the show in the theatreaddict.com gallery.

Listen to Episode 4 of the theatreaddict.com podcast. I'll take you backstage at the Empty Space for exclusive interviews with A.S. Ashley (creator of "The Freak Show"), comments from audience members at intermission, and a really fun/interesting interview with the fantastic cast of Side Show. The cast answers such probing questions as "what is a freak?" and talks about the link between being a close-knit group of misfit circus freaks and being a cast of supportive, misfit theatre geeks.

Bakersfield often seems to be a bit suffocating for local artists, full of rednecks and mind-numbing normalcy. The independent films loved by Oscar and Sundance don't play at our theaters. Teens complain that they literally live in the "armpit of the state." Fortunately for those of us who need more than shopping at Wal-Mart and going to church, there is a seedy-underbelly to Bakersfield that is the growing arts community. This force was in full display this weekend in the form of "The Freak Show."

"The Freak Show" is a group art show at The Empty Space which exhibits pieces in a variety of formats such as paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, and many that refuse to be categorized. The connecting theme is that everything on display is somewhat freaky, disturbing, or odd. There are also entertainers on hand such as belly dancers, percussionists, and local bands giving performances for all to enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised that "The Freak Show" was not just a show but a place, an atmosphere, and a gathering of local arts folks (or art-f***s as curator A.S. Ashley lovingly refers to them).

I had a wonderful time on Saturday mingling with artsy people while local band SoulAjar played on stage. There was something unmistakenly bohemian in the air, which is rare in this conservative wasteland. I was also impressed and quite taken by the quality and variety of art on display. Much of it was kinky and disturbing, but what surprised me was the quality and unmistakable talent that many pieces displayed.

I know that gas prices are high right now so I'm going to take it upon myself to transport you to the freak show right now for a free peek at the crazy fun. This magic transportation will require a fast internet connection, unless you are very patient.

To take this journey right now, simply point your browsersto the Freak Show Gallery, and listen to Episode 4 of "Bakersfield Theatre Radio." Listen to the podcast and you'll be taken right into the madness as show curator A.S. Ashely and I talk about the show, local art, and wander around commenting on some of the pieces.

Enjoy yourself, and check out the Freak Show yourself this weekend.

There are two kick-ass shows opening tomorrow at the Empty Space & Spotlight Theatre. I invite you to join me in experiencing them and watch for featured content in the next two weeks. This weekend I'm taking in SIDE SHOW along with the demented art-fest "THE FREAK SHOW" at the Empty Space. Then, next weekend I'll be at Spotlight enjoying "THE UNDERPANTS," a comic treat written by Steve Martin.

Watch TheatreAddict.com for reviews, pictures, and podcasts chock full of local theatre craziness. And for pete's sake, get off your butt and go see these shows, people. If you don't support cool stuff in Bakersfield then it will be YOUR fault that Bakersfield sucks. And you don't want that on your shoulders, do you?

Reviews, pics, & interviews will posted on the next 2 Mondays so keep your eyes peeled, my dears.

I knew when I passed up the chance to see "Nine" at the Spotlight Theatre I would regret it. Now, thanks to these lovely photos sent in by Keely, I do!

Bakersfield missed out on a fantastic show in March at the Empty Space. Pterodactyls was wonderfully bizarre, superbly dark & disturbing, and personally the best show I have seen all year.

The play tells the story of the Duncan family which slips slowly into darkness & ultimately, extinction. They live, die, and are gone forever, just like any species of dinosaurs that once roamed the earth. We cannot know for sure how or why the species of flying reptiles called Pterodactyls died out, but after watching the show you may have some idea of what happened to the Duncans.

This concept, I suppose, is offered as a general outline for the story by the author. It is a framing of the show, but not the show itself. What the show is, if I am to go by my impression of Bob Kempf's directors notes, is an experimentation regarding the darker side of absurd comedic characters. Take as an example any silly comedy in which the serious ramifications of the characters' behaviors & history are ignored. Then, latch onto the dark possibilities behind them. Probably confusing, I know, so let me illustrate. What if we took the hapless goof Elwood P. Dowd from "Harvey" and dug into him a little more. What if we found that all of his silly behavior masked serious problems. Say, he and his sister had a lifelong incestuous relationship and that is why she loved him so much. Elwood had a homosexual affair with his drinking buddy who was killed in WWII, and replaces him with a giant pink rabbit. He and Harvy have a sexual relationship, but Elwood has to get drunk and beat himself near death each night to enjoy it. All of this comes out in the first act, and by the end of the show all of the characters have met some sort of tormented, painful & embarassing death and at the end of the show everyone is dead, like a f---ed up Shakespearean tragedy. Fun, yes?

Call him demented, but it seems director Bob Kempf found this idea sort of sexy and romantic. Call me demented as well, but it was, and I loved this show.

The first half of Pterodactyls starts churning your stomach pretty quickly. No not turning, churning. As in twisting into knots. The playwrite offers up this family of equally absurd and superficial characters. In fact, I was very worried for the first twenty minutes of the play because all of the characters were so silly and non-real. But then comes the one-two punch. Lots of big belly laughs keep coming, the actors are over-the-top and ridiculous (in a good way). Mom, played by Kimberly M. Chin, is out of touch with reality and parades around like a valley girl on steroids. Sis, played by Sarah Taylor, represses everything so much she can't even remember her brother who left when she was 10, and confronts him with a knife (or a letter opener, I think it was). Older brother, played by Jeremiah Heitman, giggles about dinosaurs and inexplicably digs one up from the backyard. Finally comes Jason Monroe who has shaved his head into male pattern baldness as Dad, who smoke a pipe, wears a light-blue suit, and is a nutty charicature of every father character depicted in entertainment history. Doug Cheeseman rouns out the cast as sis's fiance who throws out random movie references and ends up wearing a french maid's outfit for more of the show.

So the audience is roaring with laughter, and then every once in a while something dark and disturbing is thrown in that quiets everything down for a second. Then back to laughing. Then, more frequently, darkness that is hardly funny. The two keep mixing and darkness keeps increasing until you feel you are on some kind of screwed up merry-go-round. You feel disturbed, though still chuckling at all of the antics. This brings you to intermission.

From there, the play enters its own domain. The first act builds things up to a fervor and the second half of the show is all glorious crescendo as the concept plays itself out. The author, director, and wonderful cast of actors play the audience like a well tuned instrument. By the end of the night, you have witnessed a mind-altering, shocking, touching piece of great theatre.

And that is just about all there is to say. I wish more of Bakersfield had seen this show. I was dissapointed that we, the audience for the final show, only filled up about 1/3 of the space. Despite this, it was fantastic and I think the actors really appreciated us because we really appreciated the performance. We gave them a deserved standing ovation and that was the end of Pterodactyls. Poof. Extinct.

See all of the pictures in the gallery here. Listen to my short interview with the cast in Episode 3 of the Podcast.

Bakersfield Community Theatre's April production tells the well-known story of that red-haired, wide-eyed orphan girl who has charmed her way into the hearts of millions. No, not Annie, but Anne (with an "E"). Anne Shirley, played with boundless energy by Vanessa Vaughan, is a different kind of inspiring orphan, however. She has the bright spirit and big imagination of other well-known characters such as Oliver Twist or Annie Warbucks, but her realism makes her more relatable and lovable.

Anne comes to the small town of Avonlea at the request of Matthew & Marilla Cuthbert, a brother and sister with no children of their own. Unfortunately, it would seem she is exactly the opposite of what they want. The Cuthberts are looking for a strong, growing boy to help them with the chores on their farm. Instead, they get Anne: a loud, emotional, sassy, unpredictable teenager who asks lots of questions and has a "genuis for getting into trouble." They keep her on a "trial basis" but of course even her bad habits are endearing and they grow to love her as if she is their own.

Before watching the play I knew almost nothing of "Green Gables", except that it is classic literature and popular reading for young women. As the play progressed I was enthralled and instantly saw the appeal. Anne is absolutely captivating and her story draws you in from beginning to end. After living her life unwanted from age zero to twelve, at age thirteen she seems to be born again as soon as she steps off the train into her new life. Her zest for being alive and appreciation at finding love in her new family is infectious and irresistable. I found myself seeing the universal appeal in the story. Who among us has not felt like Anne, thrust into a new world, alone and at odds with your surroundings, yet determined to live to the fullest.

The play itself was impressive, especially for youth theatre which often times can be hit-and-miss in overall quality. Louise Hallberg & Larry Elman brought Anne's adopted parents to life with great emotional depth. I was touched by the quiet joy Elman displayed as Cuthbert is discovering his love for a daughter he never knew he wanted. Louise Hallberg's performance as Marilla is sweetly honest as she transforms throughout the play. Marilla seems so annoyed at Anne and harshly rejects her early in the story, but comes to love her in such a way that it is clearly meaningful to her. Perhaps Louise drew upon her experience with her own grandkids, who are also in the show. Other actors in the play, especially the children and young teens, were also very impressive. The dramatic antics of Amelia England & Adam Weeks stood out as they played Anne's school chums. Katherine Scott was adorable as Anne's best friend. Severel teens who played adult roles in the play were also impressive; namely Ben & Jenna LeJune who played teachers, and Simone Wheat as Mrs. Barry. Oh, and I can't forget Joy Wheat, who was delightful as the nosy neighbor throughout the show.

The only major fault I saw was a tendency for some of the characters to rush their lines in a few areas of the play. There are a few scenes in "Green Gables" in which some off-stage event is told of through a conversation between two characters. Of course, we saw the show before it opened so this could just be a cases of the jitters and could have been gone by the time "Anne" opened to regular audiences. All in all, the show was very good. Even the staging of the show and the lights and sound, which can be awkward at the community theatre level, were very good and clearly well-thought out.

One of my favorite aspects of youth theatre is to see young talent shining and encouraged, and this is a positive constant for BCT youth theatre. In addition to supporting this effort, I was treated to a very good show, directed with panache by Brenda Keele. Great job to everyone involved.

I recorded a short interview with Vanessa Vaughan which was to be included in my next podcast, but unfortunately I had difficulties with my recorder and it didn't make it. If you want to experience her bubbly "Anne" you'll just have to go see the show for yourself.

Anne of Green Gables has one more weekend with 4 performances. See the theatre calendar for times. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children.

For all of the pictures from the show, click here.

Two days of walking around Disneyland and California Adventure have left me with sore feet and the lack of willpower to go anywhere or do anything. So, I'll be posting the reviews and new podcast tomorrow. Pterodactyls was incredible, and Anne of Green Gables was a real charmer. I'll be posting my reviews and pictures on Monday. Now, if you'll exuse me, I've got to get back to vegetating on the couch for the rest of the day watching the Discovery Channel and Food Network with the wife.