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Chautauquan brings ‘Trio’ of monologues to Fletcher Hall

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Chautauqua resident David Zinman is an aspiring playwright at 81 years old, and he has debuted his plays on the Institution’s grounds annually for the past 10 years.

“It’s almost impossible to explain how wonderful that feels: sitting in the dark listening to people say your words and other people sitting and enjoying it,” Zinman said. “Writing is a lonely experience, and playwriting gives you immediate feedback.”

Zinman will again see his work performed at Chautauqua when he debuts staged readings of three monologues, WHIMPs, Bedtime Story and Love Insurance, in one event: Trio at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Fletcher Music Hall.

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CTC welcomes new age of maturity with announcement of 2013 line-up

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The 29th season of Chautauqua Theater Company closed last Friday with Bratton Late Night, marking the 52nd performance in 56 days.

The season bubbled with unknowns. Vivienne Benesch became sole artistic director; Sarah Clare Corporandy stepped into the role of managing director; and Fifty Ways, the season’s second full production, offered the first-ever CTC world premiere on the Chautauqua grounds.

As the highest-grossing CTC season yet and with The Philadelphia Story marking the highest-paid capacity of any one show in CTC history, the 29th year has been a smash hit for CTC.

“I am incredibly proud of this season,” Benesch said. “It has been a truly remarkable season.”

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Moafi waits off stage for her cue during technical rehearsal for As You Like It on Aug. 8. The cast did not finish rehearsing until midnight.

Becoming Rosalind: Moafi brings alignment of body, self to acting work

August 18, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The day after opening night of Chautauqua Theater Company’s As You Like It, Sepideh Moafi, who portrays protagonist Rosalind, prepares herself for the next performance with yoga on the stage of Bratton Theater. With lights dimmed and the theater cleared, she works, breathing deeply.

It helps her clear her mind, stay open and move into her body. Moafi works out six days a week.

Moafi emanates determination. When not exercising, she runs lines or analyzes the script. Operatically trained conservatory actor Moafi functions best when focused and in tune with herself.

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Bratton Late Night Cabaret weds irreverence with talent in final CTC performance

August 17, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Ranging from slam poetry and drum performances to songs and skits, Chautauqua Theater Company’s one-night-only Bratton Late Night Cabaret is always a surprise. All 14 conservatory actors perform together for the last time on one stage.

Bratton Late Night debuts at 10:30 p.m. tonight in Bratton Theater, and it is CTC’s final event of the season. The whole show is thrown together betwixt rehearsals for the final production, As You Like It, which closes at 4 p.m. today in Bratton Theater.

Directing fellow Sash Bischoff, the conservatory actors and the four design fellows organize the entire show. All of the senior staff is kept in the dark about the events of the evening, so each year lends itself to new surprises.

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Alexander Technique restores body to natural self

August 16, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

I’ve always been taught to sit up straight, pull my shoulders back and keep my chin up. Today, I’ve been informed those adages of my childhood are nothing more than myths.

The human spine is curved and one should not force it to stand or sit pin straight. Instead, one should learn to help the body resume its natural posture — inherent since birth — that gives the body the length and width it deserves tension-free, said Gwen Ellison, a teacher and practitioner of the Alexander Technique for the past 28 years.

Ellison, who has a studio for the Alexander Technique in New York City, teaches Alexander Technique classes to the conservatory actors of Chautauqua Theater Company. The students meet with her one-on-one in the mornings before rehearsals, and they learn the Alexander Technique: how to move in a way that releases tension in the body and allows the body to move in a more efficient manner by breathing and directional thinking.

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Orlando (Leicester Landon) wrestles with Charles (Stephen Spencer) in the bar, The Orchard, which serves as the court in Chautauqua Theater Company’s production of As You Like It. Photo by Michelle Kanaar.

Savage’s set transforms, mimicking tone, time of CTC’s ‘As You Like It’

August 15, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The trees that dapple the stage and the taxidermy that lines the walls help the 1930s-era bar dissolve into the Forest of Arden in Chautauqua Theater Company’s As You Like It.

“We wanted to create a space that had qualities of both interior and exterior. So we could — with one gesture — go from the court to the forest, but not have one disappear completely,” said set designer Lee Savage.

As You Like It, which shows at 2:15 and 8 p.m. today in Bratton Theater and runs through Aug. 17, is set in two distinct locations: a court and a forest. But the twist on the Shakespeare classic sets the entire show in the 1930s and puts the court in a bar called The Orchard.

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Dracula storms stage of Bratton Theater in late-night radio play

August 14, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

The eerie noises of Transylvania, mingled with sounds from Miller Bell Tower and the Chautauqua Belle, will float from Bratton Theater, transporting audience members into the surreal world of Dracula’s castle.

A 30-minute radio play adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be performed just once at 11:30 p.m. tonight in Bratton Theater. Artistic Associate Sarah Hartmann adapted the play for radio and will direct Chautauqua Theater Company’s Dracula, which stars conservatory actors and staff members.

The live event will be recorded by WRFA-LP radio in Jamestown and available online after the production.

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De la Fuente embraces roots in presenting ‘Hold These Truths’

August 13, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 2 Comments

In the wake of events such as the Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee this past week by a white supremacist, the story of United States-run Japanese internment camps from World War II is especially pertinent.

“In many ways, it feels like we are exactly back at that same time. We are just as if not more afraid than we have ever been as a nation,” said Joel de la Fuente.

De la Fuente portrays Gordon Hirabayashi in a one-man play called Hold These Truths, which is based on the true story of a second-generation Japanese-American who refused to enter the internment camps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The play debuts for one night only as part of Chautauqua Theater Company’s Chau-Talk-One series at 7 p.m. tonight in Bratton Theater.

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