One of my great joys is teaching movement.
After strength and control, my curriculum focuses on helping students fully inhabit their bodies. On this foundation students then learn to listen to, and with, their bodies. Finally the students advance to using their bodies as expressive instruments.
The class in the video below spent four hours in my movement studio learning my exercises. After learning the song in their musical theatre class we took 90 minutes to build and rehearse this piece which was then performed for this recording immediately after.
Showing posts with label musical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musical. Show all posts
Springer ‘cuts loose’ with No Shame Theater debut
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| No Shame Columbus - founded by Jens Rasmussen |
Magic, music, dance and drama, even stand-up comedy or acrobatics - you might see all this and more in one night of No Shame Theater, said Jens Rasmussen, director of No Shame Theater, which debuts in Columbus Friday at the Springer Opera House.
"You don't know what you're going to get," he said. "It has this stability and this complete wild card kind of feel."
Created in 1986 and now a nationwide movement, No Shame gives a twist to the traditional talent show or open mic night.
For the artists, it's first come, first served, and the pieces, which must be original and no longer than five minutes, are not censored or reviewed in advance, Rasmussen said. That leaves audience members with the chance of seeing everything from performance poetry to juggling.
"I was just blown away by it," Rasmussen said. "It was so exciting and such a broad range of people came in. When you go to No Shame, you're going to see something that no one has ever seen before. It's shameless; it's risk taking. Even if the art is not polished, the spirit of it is just so engaging. That's really at the core what No Shame is."
Ashley Laughter, campaign coordinator for the Springer, said she is excited about opening night.
"It's like an adventure," she said. "Come with an open mind. Come prepared to be shocked - but in a good way."
Laughter said the unique form of entertainment will help the Springer cater to a younger audience and will be particularly good for Soldiers, since it's a weekly event with no sign-up necessary.
"We always try to get Soldiers involved here at the Springer, but it's hard for a Soldier to make a commitment to a show because it can be time-consuming," said Laughter, wife of a Sand Hill drill sergeant. "But this is ‘bring what you got and do it one night.' I think No Shame is going to offer the Columbus area something brand new. All the works are original, which is something you just don't get to see as often as people should."
"You don't know what you're going to get," he said. "It has this stability and this complete wild card kind of feel."
Created in 1986 and now a nationwide movement, No Shame gives a twist to the traditional talent show or open mic night.
For the artists, it's first come, first served, and the pieces, which must be original and no longer than five minutes, are not censored or reviewed in advance, Rasmussen said. That leaves audience members with the chance of seeing everything from performance poetry to juggling.
"I was just blown away by it," Rasmussen said. "It was so exciting and such a broad range of people came in. When you go to No Shame, you're going to see something that no one has ever seen before. It's shameless; it's risk taking. Even if the art is not polished, the spirit of it is just so engaging. That's really at the core what No Shame is."
Ashley Laughter, campaign coordinator for the Springer, said she is excited about opening night.
"It's like an adventure," she said. "Come with an open mind. Come prepared to be shocked - but in a good way."
Laughter said the unique form of entertainment will help the Springer cater to a younger audience and will be particularly good for Soldiers, since it's a weekly event with no sign-up necessary.
"We always try to get Soldiers involved here at the Springer, but it's hard for a Soldier to make a commitment to a show because it can be time-consuming," said Laughter, wife of a Sand Hill drill sergeant. "But this is ‘bring what you got and do it one night.' I think No Shame is going to offer the Columbus area something brand new. All the works are original, which is something you just don't get to see as often as people should."
Laughter said she plans to perform with a burlesque dance group - "kind of reminiscent of the vaudeville era."
She will be joined by other local talent, including Becky Macy, an actor in the Springer's current production of Footloose and wife of an Infantry Mortar Leader Course instructor on post.
Macy said participating in No Shame will appeal to people of diverse backgrounds.
"It's less pressure. You don't have to audition. It's an outlet for your own creativity," she said. "I just think it can be inspiring … everybody has something to put out there."
To "cast themselves," people 18 and older should show up at 10 p.m. at the Springer, Rasmussen said. The first 15 in line get to perform.
The show starts at 10:30 p.m., lasts roughly 90 minutes and costs $5 per person, performers and attendees alike.
"It's a small investment, and it's going to be a really welcoming, laid back, enjoyable group … a great place to meet people, to make new friends, to talk about new ideas," Rasmussen said. "It's about fearlessness; it's about putting yourself out there and not censoring. It's about cutting loose — individual expression. There's no limits."
The Springer saloon will be open during the show. For more information, call the Springer at 706-324-5714. For more about No Shame Theatre, visit www.noshame.org.
She will be joined by other local talent, including Becky Macy, an actor in the Springer's current production of Footloose and wife of an Infantry Mortar Leader Course instructor on post.
Macy said participating in No Shame will appeal to people of diverse backgrounds.
"It's less pressure. You don't have to audition. It's an outlet for your own creativity," she said. "I just think it can be inspiring … everybody has something to put out there."
To "cast themselves," people 18 and older should show up at 10 p.m. at the Springer, Rasmussen said. The first 15 in line get to perform.
The show starts at 10:30 p.m., lasts roughly 90 minutes and costs $5 per person, performers and attendees alike.
"It's a small investment, and it's going to be a really welcoming, laid back, enjoyable group … a great place to meet people, to make new friends, to talk about new ideas," Rasmussen said. "It's about fearlessness; it's about putting yourself out there and not censoring. It's about cutting loose — individual expression. There's no limits."
The Springer saloon will be open during the show. For more information, call the Springer at 706-324-5714. For more about No Shame Theatre, visit www.noshame.org.
By Cheryl Rodewig / The Bayonet
Rasmussen Brings New Works to Springer Theatre
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| No Shame Columbus Founder, Jens Rasmussen with Paul Pierce |
When Jens Rasmussen told him about the No Shame Theater concept, Paul thought it was a great idea. Not only to get people in the seats, but to get people on stage.
Jens has become a favorite on the Springer stage and off it. Before he even began acting at the Springer, he was teaching in the Springer Theater Academy. Once he hit the stage, people couldn’t get enough of this talented man.
Jens is the director of Columbus’ No Shame Theater.
It’s an easy concept. It happens every Friday at 10 p.m., starting Sept. 25.
At exactly 10 p.m., you sign up to do something — sing, dance, tell jokes, do a monologue, whatever.
There are three rules: Everything you do must be original. You have five minutes, no more. You cannot break any laws.
“Or yourself or the theater,” Paul said.
Only 15 people will be allowed on stage on any given Friday. So it would be good to show up and get in line earlier than 10 p.m. if you want your chance to get on stage.
There’s a rumor that a local dancer wants to do a burlesque act for her five-minute time slot.
When I said her name, Paul looked at me and said, “Has she talked to you about it?”
No, but from another venture she mentioned a couple of years ago, she would be my first guess. And I was correct!
There’s one other rule: You have to be 18 or older to get in.
A cash bar will be available in the Springer Saloon.
I’m thinking that’s going to be way too small, because I think it will be an alternative for people who want to go out but don’t want to go to a bar on a Friday night.
Paul’s hoping someone like my colleague Tim Chitwood would do some social commentary on current events. Tim would be great! He’s got this wry sense of humor and a wonderful way of writing. Paul really wants writers involved.
Playwrights would be able to come in with a scene and ask if anyone would like to read the scene. That’s if the playwright’s not an actor, of course.
Jens went to see the Chattahoochee Shakespeare Co.’s production of “Goobers!” and was so impressed with Alyssa Farmer’s songs that he’s hoping she’ll do five minutes of her original songs.
And the No Shame part comes in because with an audience of actors, you’ll find nothing but encouragement.
I know because I’ve done shows and I know I can’t sing, dance or act, but everyone made me feel welcome.
So for $5, it’s a lot cheaper than going to a movie. You’re going to have fun, too.
'Big River' sets adventures of Huck Finn to music at Springer
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| Jens Rasmussen as the Duke in Big River |
Springer Opera House Artistic Director Paul Pierce is well aware of the controversy around Mark Twain’s classic tales of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. And so are cast members of the musical “Big River” which is based on Twain’s book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The production comes to the Springer stage tonight.
Much of the controversy surrounds the use of derogatory and offensive terms used to refer to Jim, the slave that Huck befriends. Jim is a runaway slave who joins Huck on his adventures.
“You have to remember this is not Mark Twain talking,” Pierce said about the language.
“This is Huckleberry Finn. Twain takes an ignorant child and plops him on a raft with a runaway slave.”
Jens Rasmussen, who plays several roles in the musical, admits some of the language is “a little rough.” But he hopes the audience takes the derogatory terms in the context in which they were written.
And 20 years ago, when Pierce was entering his first full season at the Springer, “Big River” was the season opener. Pierce had already faced controversy when he consolidated various boards of directors and hired professional actors.
When the late Madison Rivers Jackson, who was hired to play the role of Jim, arrived in Columbus, he was met with picketers in front of the theater.
Eventually, the protesters came around, many of them reappearing on the Springer stage. Pierce became a fixture in Columbus theater. And Jackson went from being a pariah to a well-loved regular on the stage before his death in 1996.
It’s different this time
Pierce is 20 years older, and he’s viewing the work differently now than he did that first year.
“It’s almost like I’m looking at it for the first time,” he said.
“Jens and I have been reading ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ during rehearsal. Some of the stuff we’re struck with is how faithful it is to the book. And how Roger Miller’s music amplifies the script.
“I’m in awe of the script. Day after day, I see multiple layers,” Pierce said. “That’s what I don’t remember. I see it very differently this time. What’s become clear to me is how enduring this literature is.”
In the end, Pierce says “Big River” is a boy’s adventure.
He’s also struck by how “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has become an allegory for America, including the “horror of our history and all of the wonder and the beauty of our history.”
The audience will learn about the Civil War, the relationship between a young boy and girl, a slave and a boy, water and land, right and wrong, light and dark and society vs. individualism.
A new Jim ... and Huck
Keith Patrick McCoy, originally from Portsmouth, Va., met with Pierce and associate artistic director Ron Anderson at a national theater audition in Memphis.
He’s done the role of Jim twice before. In fact, he loves the part so much that he actually seeks out the role.
“I always approach it differently,” McCoy said.
The first time, in 2003, he played Jim as a victim. In 2007, he played him as a rebel. This time, he blends the two approaches.
And he says there’s always a different director and a different Huck.
He really likes the chemistry between his character and Mike Morin’s Huck.
Morin, from Marietta, graduated last year from Shorter College in Rome. He met the Springer staff at the Southeastern Theater Conference auditions in Charlotte last year.
It was his first big audition and it was the final one of the day.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better ending,” he said.
“I saw three Hucks that day,” Pierce said. “It was clear Mike was Huck.”
The Duke and the King
One of the characters Rasmussen plays is the Duke, a conman.
“It’s great fun,” he said. “The Duke and the King (played by Brian Pecci) are the most fascinating characters. It’s so interesting that you never find out about their pasts. You only know what Huck knows.”
But he said what people do know is that Missouri was part of the Western Territories and a lot of people moved west to reinvent themselves.
“It’s a great American story,” he said.
Rasmussen slyly said many people may recognize the Duke and the King from the movie, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”
“These guys are the original dirty rotten scoundrels.”
By Sandra Okamoto - sokamoto@ledger-enquirer.com --
The imaginative ‘Peter Pan’ returns!
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| Rasmussen as Smee |
Summer McCusker, who just graduated from Columbus State University with a degree in theater performance, is happy to be tiny enough to play Peter Pan.
In past Springer Opera House productions, she’s played JoJo in “Seussical” and 12-year-old Frankie in “The Member of the Wedding.” Now she can add ”Peter Pan” to her resume.
McCusker loves children’s theater so much that right after the holidays and the end of run of “Peter Pan,” she’ll be touring for three months with the National Theater for Children of Minnesota, the largest children’s theater in the United States.
It was her first tour as a CSU student in “The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi” that made her fall in love with children’s theater.
“My forte is in children’s theater,” she said. “I toured with ‘The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi’ and that’s when I found my niche.”
Playing Peter Pan has been one of McCusker’s dreams since she was a little girl growing up in Miami. “I used to play Peter Pan when I was a kid,” she said. “I am an only child, so I had to play by myself.”
To “fly,” the Springer had to hire Flying by Foy, the riggers that invented the system that allows actors to fly across the stage. This company is the only one licensed to fly actors for “Peter Pan.”
“Jason White from Flying by Foy was just great,” said director and Springer artistic director Paul Pierce. “He brought some new flying tricks. I wasn’t prepared for anything new. We will have some real ‘wows!’.”
McCusker adds: “Peter Pan has a few tricks up his sleeve.”
It’s been seven years since the Springer last produced “Peter Pan.”
Last time, Pierce used high school and college students as the Lost Boys. This year, he’s using Springer Theater Academy students.
“The Lost Boys are significantly younger,” he said. “They are a handful because they are real boys.”
Kimberly Faith Hickman, who currently is the assistant to the producing artistic director at the Springer, is the associate director and choreographer for the production.
“Kimberly has really put her mark on this show,” Pierce said. Because he was directing “Why, Baby, Why,” he couldn’t be at the first few weeks of rehearsal. Hickman took over that role while he was in Foley Hall.
“She just started directing the play,” Pierce said. “She brought a unique and very special touch to the show.”
“You’ll love the pirates’ choreography,” said Jens Rasmussen, who is playing Smee.
Rasmussen just finished a production of the drama “Doubt,” in Virginia. He did the role of Father Flynn, who is accused of molesting a boy, at the Springer last season.
“I’m playing Smee,” Rasmussen said. “It’s very silly. It’s great because I just did ‘Doubt’ again. This is a nice change.”
Another pirate, Cecco, played by Adam Archer, loves the play. “It’s so much fun,” he said. “It’s nice to do some character work.”
Rasmussen said the pirates are so over the top that they can get away with a lot. For handsome Adam Clough, who is mostly cast as the leading man in musicals, he’s loving the time as Capt. Hook.
“I do a lot of leading man stuff,” Clough said. “So it’s nice to be bad for a while. It’s so good to be bad. I’m really enjoying myself.”
Pierce is pleased to find an exceptional comic actor under Clough’s good looks, he said.
Besides McCusker, Heather Willis as Wendy, Dustin Dawson as John and Jacob Lowery as Michael, all fly.
“I really liked it,” Willis said. “The first thing I asked was if I get to fly.”
Even though “Peter Pan” is a children’s story that’s been read to millions of children around the world, there is a little controversy, especially in the way the Indians are portrayed.
“You have to remember that this is a story told through the eyes of privileged English children,” Pierce said. “So this is what 19th century English children thought pirates and Indians were like.”
Pierce is aware that the depiction is “an unpolitically correct” element. But he didn’t want to shy away from it.
“We stereotype fairies, too,” he said with a laugh.
And during the holidays, he wanted to present something familiar and something fun.
“For 138 years, the Springer has been doing shows through wars, bank panics, the Depression. Stage entertainment goes on. You can sit in a dark, windowless room and let the outside world disappear for a few hours.”
BY SANDRA OKAMOTO
from an original article appearing in the Ledger-Inquirer
Carousel, A Classic Musical
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| Jens Rasmussen as Jigger |
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II called "Carousel" their favorite collaboration. Time magazine called it the best musical of the 20th century.
The Springer Opera House presented it in 1977, and 31 years later, it's back on the 137-year-old stage.
"I've always been a big fan of 'Carousel,' " said Paul Pierce, the Springer's artistic director and director of "Carousel." "It is so unlike the musicals of the period. There are the star-crossed lovers and the exotic locale. But what makes this something unusual, something exotic are the whalers, clambake culture, the carnies. And there's a taboo -- domestic violence that's hauled out of the shadows and put on center stage."
Don't worry about bringing the kids.
" 'Carousel' is certainly not 'about' domestic violence but the show does show a passionate -- and sometimes volatile -- love relationship between two star-crossed lovers," Pierce said. "There are hints that the central male character, Billy Bigalow (played by Adam Clough), has hit his wife, Julie (Tala Al-Khudhairi) at times but none of that is ever shown onstage."
Pierce said it is not a "neat and tidy" musical in that respect.
And because of that, Pierce has invited representatives of Hope Harbour, the Columbus Alliance for Battered Women's shelter. Hope Harbour volunteers will be at every performance with literature and information about their services.
There will also be talk-back sessions after three of the performances (Saturday and March 8-9) where Pierce, cast members and Hope Harbour volunteers will talk about the issues of abuse raised by the musical.
But Pierce doesn't want the serious subject matter to turn off musical fans. Songs like "If I Loved You," "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" have become classics.
"It is easy to understand and it is easy to enjoy," Pierce said.
" 'Carousel' is a very watchable show," Clough said. "The relationships in the show make it timeless. They are human relationships; real relationships."
One relationship features the worldly, well-traveled guy (Billy) and the local girl (Julie) who has never been anywhere, Pierce said.
Julie, Al-Khudhairi said, is a young woman who works in a mill and lives in a mill boarding house with other women workers, including Carrie, played by Kimberly Hickman.
"She's pretty complex," Al-Khudhairi said. "She's intrigued by Billy. She's ready for a change and wants to see what else is available."
The play is set in the 1870s when mills often controlled their workers' lives. After a grueling day at the mill, workers went home to apartments or houses owned by the mill and shared by several workers.
Young men and women sometimes left their parents homes to live at mill-owned boarding houses. Pierce said poverty may have played a role in this or parents stayed close to farms with young children and older children went to work in the city.
"Carrie is spunky," Hickman said. "Jigger (played by Jens Rasmussen) tries to get mixed up with me. But I stand up to him because I have a fiance."
Carrie and Jigger offer comic relief in the musical.
Clough and Tom Bruett, who plays "Carnival Boy," have both done "Carousel" before. Bruett was in the ensemble, and Clough played Jigger, the bad-boy carny.
So what's the difference between Billy and Jigger?
"Jigger is a bad guy," Clough explained. "Billy is a bad guy with a conscience. It's hard to explain. It is a complicated relationship. The difference between Jigger and Billy is Billy falls in love. Other than that, they are extremely similar people. But Billy explored much more in depth."
Rasmussen said Jigger is "dangerous and comical at the same time."
He points out to his attempted relationship with Carrie and the more dangerous one with Mrs. Mullin (played by Rebecca McGraw), who owns the carnival.
"Yet another complicated relationship," Rasmussen said.
Bruett said he really can't compare productions because the last time he did "Carousel," it was in a community theater, and he says the Springer is a professional one. "This is much more professional," he said.
BY SANDRA OKAMOTO -
Springer Gets the Royal Treatment
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| Jens Rasmussen in The King and I |
Quick! What's the first thing you think of when someone says "The King and I"?
A bald-headed, bare-chested Yul Brynner in M.C. Hammer pants? You wouldn't be alone.
That's what Steve Valentini has to face at every performance of the Springer Opera House's production of the beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.
He's shaved his head, but that's about it.
Valentini has done this show once before at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 1984, but this is the first time he's playing King Mongkut.
"I'm going to try not to be Yul Brynner," he said. "I'm doing the shaved head and all that because I'm bald."
Musical theater fans likely associate Brynner, who portrayed the king on Broadway and in the 1956 film, with King Mongkut.
So much so that Debbie Anderson, who is playing Anna Leonowens, says people come up to her all time asking, "Who's playing Yul Brynner?"
Director Paul Pierce says the image of Brynner is so strong that he could not ignore it. But he told Valentini not to mimic it, either.
A strong woman
To get ready for the role of Anna, Anderson read the book, "Anna and the King of Siam," the book written from Anna Leonowens' diaries and published in 1944.
"She was a much stronger woman in the play," Anderson said. "In the book, she gains strength. I was happy I read the book."
Anderson also did online research and discovered that Leonowens moved to Canada after she left Thailand and did women's suffrage work. Her son later moved to Australia and then back to Thailand because he was friends with Chululongkorn, the King's son.
"I like Anna," Anderson said. "She was a strong woman in a time when women were not taught to be strong." Anderson said she stood up to her father, who wanted her to marry a diplomat. Instead, she married an Army captain.
Growing up in India, Leonowens found out first-hand about slavery and why she thought it was so wrong.
"The King and I" deals with a lot of issues that are not the usual topics of musical comedies written in the 1950s, including slavery, women's rights, race, class and death.
Laughing because she's played such diverse characters as Mona in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and this one, Anderson said, "Mona's a fighter and so is Anna."
Jens Rasmussen studied Asian theater and says that came in handy in his role as Kralahome.
Rasmussen says this is not a historical piece, but rather inspired by historic events.
This is the second play that Rasmussen has done with a lot of children in the cast. He was in "A Christmas Carol" last year.
"The kids are great," he said. "I'm very impressed with the kids."
All the children are students in the Springer Theater Academy. All of them were double-cast because of the daytime school performances.
A 'fiery' role
Theresa Garcia, a freshman at LaGrange College, is taking a break from school to play Tuptim, one of the King's wives, in her first major Mainstage role at the Springer.
"It's a love story and it's interesting in that it's so desperate," she said. "I guess the thing about Tuptim is that she's very fiery, extremely passionate and stands up to the King."
Drew Stark is making his Springer debut, and plays Tuptim's love interest, Lun Tha.
Pierce said the King had more than 100 wives and 67 children.
"What I remember is that besides the wives, there are 3,000 other women in the household to support the lives of the harem."
And all the workers -- the carpenters, masons, guards, chefs -- were all women.
Stark wrote his thesis on Richard Rodgers while at William & Mary.
In this play, a lot of controversial issues were addressed, and along with "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel," "The King and I" changed the face of Broadway, Stark said.
Capturing an era
Springer costumer Sandra London made costumes that are not historically based, she said. Instead, she went with a color palette that will recall the look of Siamese clothing of that era.
BY SANDRA OKAMOTO
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