Audience Magazine - June 2020

A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.

magazine

JUNE 2020

PNC BROADWAY IN LOUISVILLE Broadway at Home Page 7 | ACTORS THEATRE Virtual season lineup Page 8 LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA Reflections on the Festival of American Music Page 16 | KENTUCKY PERFORMING ARTS A historic timeline of KPA venues Page 24 | LOUISVILLE BALLET New season takes dance to the next stage Page 32 | KENTUCKY OPERA Bringing Enemies to stage, and its Louisville connection Page 40 | KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE A memoir through the eyes of actor Monte Priddy Page 44 | FUND FOR THE ARTS Behind the scenes of the 2019 Awards in the Arts. Page 52

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OUR FAVORITE MEMORIES History does not belong to us; we belong to it.”

- philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer

With so much uncertainty still facing us due to COVID-19, the short-term future of the performing arts is also largely unknown. For groups in Louisville and around the world, that uncertainty has meant the cancellation or altering of plans for the upcoming seasons, or delaying programming decisions until 2021 and beyond.

One thing is certain, however. The performing arts in Louisville have a legacy that cannot be denied. And, we believe the depth of that legacy will allow the groups to come out stronger than ever before. In this issue of Audience Magazine, we are taking a look back with our arts groups — at past theater and musical performances, as well as cultural and institutional history. We hope you enjoy reading all the different perspectives from veteran performers, the creatives behind the scenes and longtime supporters.

Thank you to our advertisers, who make it possible for us to publish this magazine at no charge to you.

Amy Higgs Managing Editor

This issue also comes to you during a tumultuous time in our community and our country — one where a history of racial injustice persists. We are heartbroken and outraged over the recent acts of violence against the black community in Minneapolis, Louisville and across the country. We mourn with the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and all who are affected by horrific and senseless acts of racial injustice. Audience Magazine condemns all forms of racism and violence. And we remain committed to inclusion, tolerance and respect for all people.

We agree with Pandora Production’s Artistic Director Michael Drury on page 56, who says that the performing arts are a mirror for what’s happening in our society.

We look forward to seeing the beauty and inspiration that will no doubt be reflected from the current turmoil. We’re already starting to see local storytellers give voice to our community’s pain. It’s clear that the theater will continue to be a much-needed source of healing for all of us.

At Audience, we are committed to providing a platform for Louisville’s performing arts groups for as long as stages remain dark. If you have suggestions or ideas for stories you would like to see in future issues, send us a message at ahiggs@theaudiencegroup.com.

Until the curtain rises again,

G. Douglas Dreisbach Publisher

– The Audience Group

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TABLE of CONTENTS JUNE 2020

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24

PNC BROADWAY AT HOME

A PIECE OF HISTORY

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8

VIRTUAL SEASON

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REWIND AND REFLECT

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VIRTUAL REALITY

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ENEMIES

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A LOOK BACK

A U D I E N C E

AWARDS IN THE ARS

M A G A Z I N E

A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.

PUBLISHER

The Audience Group, Inc. G. Douglas Dreisbach MANAGING EDITOR

Amy Higgs CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Rhonda Mefford SALES & MARKETING

G. Douglas Dreisbach CONTRIBUTORS

PNC Broadway in Louisville Actors Theatre Louisville Orchestra Kentucky Performing Arts Louisville Ballet Kentucky Opera Kentucky Shakespeare Fund for the Arts

To read current and previous Audience playbills and performance guides, go to issuu.com/audience502.

On the Cover: An acrobat from Cirque Louis performed at the 2019 Awards in the Arts.

Photo by Bill Wine.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Jeaneen Barnhart This month’s spotlight is on Jeaneen Barnhart, a Louisville transplant whose expressive equine and figurative drawings have been exhibited in notable galleries from Lexington to New York City, and graced the sets of HBO’s Entourage and ABC’s Body of Proof. She recently was licensed to create an ongoing collection of powerful drawings depicting 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, the most recognizable name in Thoroughbred racing.

Read more about Jeaneen on page 64.

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GOT AN ARTICLE IDEA? Audience Magazine is a platform for the arts in Louisville. If you have an article idea or something you think we should cover, email ahiggs@theaudiencegroup.com © Copyright 2020. The Audience Group, Inc. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.

Audience® Magazine is published by The Audience Group, Inc. 136 St. Matthews Avenue #300 Louisville, KY 40207 502.212.5177 | Audience502.com 5

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PNC BROADWAY AT HOME Stages may be dark across the country, but we invite you to revisit some of Broadway's most iconic performances online, as well as new versions of old favorites. Check out the videos below!

 West End Men sing “Defying Gravity”

 West End stars unite for a performance of “You Raise Me Up”

 Hamilton releases tribute in honor of Juneteenth

 Watch the Hamilton film trailer, coming to Disney+ July 3!

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THE 2020-21 BROWN-FORMAN SERIES WILL BE PRESENTED THROUGH ACTORS THEATRE DIRECT A U D I E N C E

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ctors Theatre of Louisville and Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming proudly announce the lineup of 2020-21 virtual programming, presented through Actors Theatre Direct, the company’s multi-channel, transmedia approach to storytelling.

“My sole purpose in speaking and writing is not that I entertain you,” Hannah says.

“I am writing to shake a nation.”

In the coming months, Actors Theatre will roll out flexible tiered subscription packages for on-demand access to the season’s projects. For each announced title, virtual single tickets will come on sale on a rolling schedule and will feature pay-what-you-can pricing levels and opportunities to engage with supplemental artistic content throughout the season.

By engaging in this new work as subscribers and ticket buyers, sharing it with others, and providing feedback, audiences will play a critical role in supporting the team of artists and staff at Actors Theatre.

The season launched on June 12 with Fix It, Black Girl by Hannah L. Drake, a Louisville-based and nationally-recognized poet, author and blogger. The performance was an original curation of spoken word poetry, essay and song performed by Drake and other Louisville artists that celebrated resilience and the power generated by collective action. “My sole purpose in speaking and writing is not that I entertain you,” Hannah says.

“I am writing to shake a nation.”

VIDEO: Fix it Black Girl, by Hannah Drake

FALL 2020

COVID-CLASSICS: A COLLECTION OF ONE-ACT PLAYS FOR THE AGE OF QUARANTINE

THE KEEP GOING SONG

This vibrant assortment of short plays brings together tales from trailblazing writers whose creative experiments redefined the possibilities of theatre in moments of seismic change.

Reimagining works by master dramatists Anton Chekhov, Luigi Pirandello, August Strindberg, and surrealist writer Guillaume Apollinaire, this lively, eclectic collection reaches into the past and finds surprising echoes in the present.

Created and performed by The Bengsons

FALL 2020

Indie-folk duo Abigail and Shaun Bengson (Where the Mountain Meets the Sea) return to Actors Theatre with this intimate evening of storytelling through song. In the darkest times, people have long found solace in the sound of their shared voices around a small light, and The Bengsons humbly invite you to come lean into the small glow of your phones and computers as they explore living fully even in moments of fear, choosing to love fiercely, and cultivating joy as a form of personal activism.

WHERE DID WE SIT ON THE BUS?

Other works in the 2020-21 Brown-Forman Series are: FALL 2020

A C T O R S

By Brian Quijada & directed by Matt Dickson During a third-grade lesson on Rosa Parks, a Latinx child wonders: “Where did my people sit on the bus?” Infused with an energetic mix of rap, hip-hop, and spoken word, this one-person show captures the experience of growing up in an immigrant family, searching for a place in American history and finding identity in making art.

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Andy Warhol: Revelation July 5 – November 29

New Hours

Discover another side of the Pop artist of Campbell’s soup can fame. Andy Warhol: Revelation is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine Warhol’s complex Catholic faith in relation to his artistic production.

Advanced ticket purchase strongly encouraged and face masks required.

Andy Warhol: Revelation is organized by the Andy Warhol Museum.

Andy Warhol The Last Supper, 1986 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. 1998.1.2126 © 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Presented by:

Additional support from: Christina Lee Brown The Paradis Family LG&E and KU Foundation DDW, The Color House Land Rover of Louisville Contemporary exhibition support provided by: Augusta and Gill Holland Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily Exhibition season support provided by: Dav Fam Art Fund Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein Paul and Deborah Chellgren Debra and Ronald Murphy Eleanor Bingham Miller

Media support from:

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Friday 3 – 8 Saturday & Sunday 10 – 5

speedmuseum.org

FALL 2020

frank, poignant look at Bombeck’s ambition to define herself beyond the roles of wife and mother — while still embracing how these “ordinary” things can bring extraordinary joy.

FIFTH THIRD BANK'S DRACULA: A RADIO PLAY Inspired by Orson Welles and John Houseman’s radio adaptation of the novel by Bram Stoker; new adaptation by Hannah Rae Montgomery and Jenni Page-White; executive producer Dan Gediman; directed Robert Barry Fleming

WINTER 2020

Join the hunt for the world's most infamous vampire! Inspired by master of suspense Orson Welles’s innovative broadcast, this electrifying listening experience comes to bloodsucking life with the talents of Actors Theatre’s creative team, in collaboration with award-winning radio professionals. Tune in for a spinechilling trip to Transylvania that you won’t soon forget!

Romeo and Juliet, the children of sworn enemies, dare to imagine a world where hearts are not ruled by hatred. Featuring a cast that reflects a multiplicity of racial, ethnic and gender identities, this passion-filled interpretation explores the entrenched divisions that animate contemporary American culture — and the tragic cost of intolerance.

WINTER 2020

SPRING 2020

FIFTH THIRD BANK'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A RADIO PLAY

THE 45TH HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS

Based on the novella by Charles Dickens Adapted by Amy Wegener; executive producer Dan Gediman; directed by Robert Barry Fleming This holiday season, Actors Theatre brings Dickens’s tale of redemption, connection, and generosity into your home for the whole family to enjoy. This spirited listening experience, brought to life by our creative team in collaboration with awardwinning radio professionals, is infused with all the hearty laughs and abundant good cheer that make this story a cherished Christmas classic.

WINTER 2020

ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT’S END

By Allison Engel and Margaret Engel With wisecracking charm, iconic humorist Erma Bombeck takes us through her journey from homemaker, to popular syndicated columnist, to feminist crusader and more. Starring Louisvillebased performer Jessica Wortham, this one-woman show is a A C T O R S

ROMEO AND JULIET

By William Shakespeare; directed by Robert Barry Fleming

Full lineup to be announced at a later date.

SPRING 2020

ALI SUMMIT

By Idris Goodwin; directed by Robert Barry Fleming Part of the 45th Humana Festival of New American Plays In 1967, world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali met with a group of the top black athletes in the country, who questioned him about his conscientious objection to serving in the Vietnam War. In this new play with deep local roots, acclaimed playwright and poet Idris Goodwin explores a defining moment in the story of a Louisville icon, collaborating with Actors Theatre to catalyze a dynamic communitybuilding initiative.

For more information about these performances and more, visit actorstheatre.org.

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...marking the final communication of the abolition of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

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THE STORY OF JUNETEENTH

by Tim Lawson

Louisville was born along the banks of the Ohio River – a busy waterway, allowing the city to establish itself as a bustling riverport. Where the 85-acre Waterfront Park now proudly stands, the city’s true birth took place in the very spot where the community still gathers and assembles.

Today, Waterfront Park is a bustling central location for community events, concerts, activities, and celebrations.

Waterfront Park is proud to host an annual Juneteenth celebration, marking the final communication of the abolition of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The Juneteenth holiday emerged and has a storied history of its own, including local annual celebration events at Waterfront Park in recent years.

This year, however, there will be no formal public celebration due to the COVID-19 crisis. But Waterfront Park has partnered with a prominent local artist and one of the nation’s most celebrated regional theaters to present Juneteenth in a very modern, accessible and educational way.

Along with artist Jecorey 1200 Arthur and Actors Theatre of Louisville, Waterfront Park is presenting a seven-part series of digital episodes currently airing each Friday on WAVE Country and online at here.

The series will address the impact of the Civil War, President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, neoslavery, a former slave’s perspective of the holiday, the history

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of the emergence of Juneteenth, and examine what the celebration means in the context of modern times. Episodes will feature artistic performances, as well as educational content that captures the celebratory nature of the historical Juneteenth holiday. The Juneteenth Jubilee video series will consist of seven 15-minute episodes.

Episode 1, “WAR,” aired on Friday, June 19. It shared the story behind events on April 12, 1861, when Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, and black soldiers were turned away from fighting.

“As our nation has faced recent uprisings in protest of the public health crisis of systemic racism, we are grateful for the opportunity to partner and contribute to such a worthy enterprise as this project,” says Robert Barry Fleming, Executive Artistic Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville. “The importance and necessity of recognizing Juneteenth as a seminal North American holiday that celebrates the extraordinary contributions of black cultural, political, and social action, now more than ever, seems intuitively legible, and we are grateful to reflect that in our theatre making with these compelling stories.”

The Juneteenth Jubilee series has been made possible by support from Louisville Metro Council, the Black Community Development Corp., Papa Johns, Manna Inc., the Rajon Rondo Foundation, and Mayor Greg Fischer, WAVE 3 News, and 1200 LLC. For more information about the Juneteenth Jubilee musical drama series, please visit the event page here.

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SUPER SUPPORTER

SPOTLIGHT ON

CAROLINE MARTINSON

by Charlotte Stephens

Caroline Martinson has been an avid supporter of Actors Theatre since its founding. She is a devoted audience member and volunteer, working with and as president of the Actors Associates.

“The arts help me to get in touch with how I feel about myself and my world,” she says. “Theatre gives me a window into a situation, whether familiar or foreign to my experience, and challenges me to decide how I feel about it.”

Actors Theatre of Louisville: Could you tell the story of how you became involved with Actors Theatre?

Caroline Martinson: I have been attending Actors Theatre performances since its inception in the 1960s on Fourth Street. My college boyfriend and I found Actors to be a great date night. As young professionals, that same boyfriend and I married and continued to attend Actors’ performances, no matter where they were located.

In the mid-70s, a friend of mine invited me to a wine and cheese event at her home where Actors administrators and performers helped me understand that it took a lot of money and creative work to make the magic happen on the stage.

From that event until today, I have been a volunteer Actors Associate — whether offering small time commitments or dedicating much more.

As an Associate, I have been able to read and respond to plays submitted to the New Voices program, pick up visiting theatre professionals at the airport and 14

get them to their next stop in Louisville, take visiting theatre professionals to the grocery once a week, be a part of a team that provides meals for cast and crew between matinee and evening performances, support members of the Professional Training Company each year, represent the volunteers in a non-voting capacity to the Actors Theatre Board of Directors, and welcome theatre-goers to the Associates Gift Shop. While in-person volunteering is not happening, I can still offer the theatre my help by calling, writing, and supporting Actors Theatre with financial donations beyond my season subscription.

ATL: What’s your favorite Actors Theatre memory?

CM: My favorite memory of Actors Theatre is surely the opportunity to attend world-class theatre performances right here in my hometown — performances that have inspired me with the creative use of lighting, sound, sets and costumes; performances that challenged my world view and helped me understand myself and others in an entirely new way; performances of classics along with new works by unknown playwrights.

ATL: How was your experience of streaming any of our recent digital productions?

CM: In March, I was one of the people who had a ticket to the first cancelled performance of Where the Mountain A U D I E N C E

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Meets the Sea. Actors Theatre Direct gave me the opportunity to “attend” that performance virtually. Since then, I have attended many other Actors Theatre Direct offerings.

The one thing I miss is that the collective response of the audience — gasps, sighs, claps — is gone, so I don't know if others feel the same way about those words or actions as I do. The things I enjoy about Actors Theatre Direct are: I can watch it any day or time that I need an Actors Theatre boost; I can press pause and take as many intermissions as I personally need; and I can replay something if I am unsure of what I heard or saw.

ATL: What is your hope for how the Louisville arts community will change in response to the pandemic?

CM: My hope is that all the arts groups in Louisville will be able to find multiple safe ways (for both the artists and the audience) to bring their best work into the lives of every citizen. I hope the arts can find creative ways to tell the stories that the entire community needs to hear — not only to those who have an internet connection but to all of us.

“All of us” must include children, no matter where they are. The lessons of this pandemic may give us alternative means of distribution that continue long after venues are again operating at 100-percent capacity. One small group may not be able to do this alone, but we (arts groups) can do this together.

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REWIND & REFLECT

LO’S 2019 FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN MUSIC 1

by G. Douglas Driesbach

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CLICK HERE for the official Audience Performance Guide.

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n this issue of Audience Magazine, we rewind and reflect on past performances and special events in Louisville’s arts community. For the Louisville Orchestra, we are excited to look back to Feb. 23, 2019, and remember Kentucky Spring: Festival of American Music 1 that included Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Rachel Grimes’ The Way Forth, both conducted by Teddy Abrams at The Kentucky Center’s Whitney Hall.

Appalachian Spring is a transportive, optimistic, and timeless piece. The original story remains the anchor point to Andrea Schermoly’s choreography as she pays homage to Martha Graham’s work in style, intent, and history to bring the score to life. Schermoly seeks to achieve this by adding dancers and correlating contemporary stories that take on the same perils and excitement that come with young love. This treatment is an optimistic testament to a great country, the courage of the people in it, and the simple resilience of the human spirit.

The Way Forth was a world premier for Rachel Grimes, and orchestrated for the Louisville Orchestra by conductor Teddy Abrams. Grimes’ inspiration for the work derives from her family history in Kentucky and their settlement in the United States. The piece is dedicated to her brother, Edward Sterling Grimes, and her mother, Lou Jean Leedy Grimes, who both passed away while she was working on the piece.

We are excited to bring you perspectives on the performances and other topics from Rachel Grimes, WUOL Classical Louisville host Daniel Gilliam, who also hosts the orchestra’s pre-concert talks, as well as longtime Louisville Orchestra supporter Selena Frye.

RACHEL GRIMES Composer – The Way Forth Rachel Grimes is a heralded pianist, composer and arranger in the world of independent music.

About five years ago, she got to know Teddy Abrams and shared with him her solo piano suite. He asked if she would be interested in orchestrating a few of the pieces for the orchestra, which was a dream

VIDEO: Rachel Grimes’ “Got Ahold of Me" from The Way Forth

come true for her. She got to work right away and created three movements for Spring 2016, and the very first Festival of American Music concert.

“It was an incredible honor to be part of the first one,” says Grimes. “I was able to use what I had learned and get to work using the language of the full orchestra.”

Grimes has created performances for various groups, orchestras and even films. Her creative inspiration for a new work is different every time, as she adapts to the vision of who she is creating the work for.

“What I did for Teddy was unique in that I was taking a piece that I had already written and then arranged it for this particular ensemble,” she says. “For a film maker, I work with them to get a feel for the flow and style they are looking for and create music that will match that criteria. And sometimes the music just comes entirely from my head or a narrative that I have. It is really different with every project.”

For the Festival of American Music, Rachel composed The Way Forth by going through archives, photos and back stories of her families past generations. She would start with her parents and match photos dating back further and further.

She describes the work as a “family memorabilia organizational project,” and it basically took off from there. It eventually evolved into what she envisioned different women figures in her family heritage would have been like.

 Louisville Orchestra principal horn, Jon Gustely chats with Daniel Gilliam before one of the concerts of the 2019 season.

Photo by O’Neil Arnold.

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A conductor he interviewed told him that when you see a performance, that’s the only time in history the music will be heard in that exact situation. “The point is that live music is a unique experience."

One of the songs, Red House School, came from an autobiography that her grandmother wrote in the ’60s for a college assignment.

Her grandmother was a schoolteacher and the piece walks through the life of a rural educator through the eyes of a woman. “To me this is a look into the challenges and realities of teaching rural America.” Rachel says. “I continued to explore the stories of the female figures in our family’s history.”

She adds that she had never written a piece this extensive and large. It was 65 minutes with a full orchestra, a chorus, soloists, a film, and more. “Originally, I would refer to it as a song cycle, which wasn’t really an appropriate description,” Rachel says.

“It really has a larger scope and many different musical references, styles and genres that cross the centuries.

So, I decided to call it a folk opera because it encompasses those different styles and the scale of it was pretty huge.”

Countless hours of research, writing the music for various instruments and all of the other details that go into composing all paid off when the final note was played and the audience roared with their approval. “The applause was tremendous,” she reflects. “It was the deepest kind of satisfaction and happiness for me because I had such a great time rehearsing with the orchestra.”

For both the rehearsals and performance, Rachel had a lot of responsibilities, including playing the piano (right in front of Teddy), helping her ensemble members, who were guesting with the orchestra, interpreting the score when they rehearsed with the whole orchestra, and more. There were a lot of moving parts, but everything went so smooth. “Whitney Hall was absolutely packed to the gills and just about everyone I have ever known was there,” Rachel says. “It was just a warm and beautiful night and we all had a really good time.”

DANIEL GILLIAM Louisville Public Media – Director of Radio Host for 90.5 Classical Louisville & Host for Louisville Orchestra’s Concert Talks

TUNE IN! The Louisville Orchestra concerts we loved hearing live will be broadcast weekly on 90.5 WUOL Classical Louisville every Thursday evening at 8 p.m. These concerts, recorded live in performance, include events from the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Brown-Forman Classics Series.

Put these concerts on your calendar and don’t miss these one-time-only broadcasts!

June 25 Festival of American Music

July 2 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 9 Teddy Talks Brahms 16 Beethoven’s Ninth 23 From The New World 30 From the Sea

“I try to serve as the intermediary between the musician I am interviewing and the audience.” says Daniel. “I am personally curious and have questions for the musicians to find out things I want to know, but I also try to ask them questions about things I think the audience might want to know as well. We like to pull back the curtain a bit about what they do.”

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When it comes to the world of classical music, Daniel Gilliam is the man to know. As Louisville Public Media's Director of Radio, and the official host of the daily show Classical Louisville on 90.5, Daniel explores the deepest caveats of the musical genre.

On his show, he explores various eras of classical music to create a space where people can listen to great music and escape.

He likes to give a platform to local music like the Louisville Orchestra, to connect the community with the musicians who are playing the music they hear. He is also the host for the Louisville Orchestra Concert Talks, a partnership between the orchestra and WUOL where Daniel interviews musicians, talks about the performance and describes what the audience is going to hear.

Violins of Hope Don Quixote and Other Journeys Teddy Talks Mahler Brahms’ Third

September 3 Gospel at the Symphony For a more information about the performances, visit wuol.org/louisvilleorchestra/.

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When it comes to what he looks for in a concert, Daniel says, “There is no such thing as a perfect performance. I like to focus on the music that I may know, and how the musicians play it and how it is going to sound that day.”

A conductor he interviewed told him that when you see a performance, that’s the only time in history the music will be O R C H E S T R A

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Rachel Grimes-The Way Forth Ensemble

heard in that exact situation. “The point is that live music is a unique experience,” Daniel says. “I like to take in the experience the musicians are providing on that given night.”

the Louisville Orchestra to be among the best on the country.

She says Whitney Hall’s sound quality, layout, and stage presence compare with the most famous ones around.

For The Way Forth and other premiers, he tries to be fairly open when forecasting what he might hear. Having familiarity of past works from the composer is helpful in setting expectations.

“I am familiar with a lot of composers and their styles, so there is a part of me that has expectations of what it will sound like,” he says. “But I really try to be open about the piece.”

Combine a great hall with an energetic conductor like Teddy Abrams, and you have a recipe for success. “Before Teddy, we had more of the traditional performances and the classics, which were great, and I really enjoyed that,” Selena says.

“I also like to hear a piece of music for the first time, so I have really enjoyed the world premieres he has brought in. He includes some contemporary works as well as some radical and unexpected programming, but there is a nice balance of it all.”

Reflecting on the Festival of American Music, Daniel says his friendship with Rachel helped inform him about what the piece would be like. “Rachel is really talented in creating these spaces where you can just sort of float in the music,” he says. “I enjoyed following the story and the film that was associated with it.

It created a lot of stimulation and every time you listen you might focus on different things each time. It was a beautiful work and very moving for a lot of different reasons.”

Daniel is rolling out weekly recordings of past season performances from the Louisville Orchestra every Thursday on WUOL. The Festival of American Music will air June 25, featuring Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Rachel Grimes’ The Way Forth. Additional performances will be aired every Thursday at 8 p.m. through Sept. 3 on WUOL. See the full schedule on the opposite page.

SELENA FRYE Longtime Louisville Orchestra Subscriber With early classical influences from her mother’s music library and watching Great Performances on PBS, Selena Frye is an avid fan of classical music and the Louisville Orchestra. Having attended performances for 25 years across the country, she has seen the ebbs and flows of the genre, and considers 20

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When looking back at the Festival of American Music last year, she recalls it being a wonderful evening. “The work by Aaron Copeland was such a familiar piece and an audience favorite.

It is a wonderful, energetic piece of American music that served as a great lead in to get the audience ready for the second half, which was The Way Forth with Rachel Grimes.”

She was really impressed with the piece. “I was familiar with Rachel Grimes' work, but this was new and a beautiful, lush orchestration of America and American voices. Some new pieces, you have to listen to for a while to really ‘get it,’ but this one was immediately acceptable.”

She attributes that to possibly Grimes being from Kentucky and writing and composing music that draws on all the regional lore and history. “There were all kinds of Appalachian sounds in the music along with the classical elements as well.”

She adds that the work was also interesting because it had the key elements of something old, something new, something familiar and something unexpected.

Speaking of unexpected, Selena encourages music fans who may not be familiar with classical music and the Louisville Orchestra to give them a chance.

“Even if you are not familiar with classical music, there is always something for everyone. You don’t need to be familiar with the technicalities to enjoy it. As Teddy says, ‘Come with open ears, listen to the music and let it speak to you.’ ” M A G A Z I N E

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LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA AT HOME The Louisville Orchestra has been providing top-quality streaming content ranging from DUETS with Teddy Abrams to dedications to conversations with community leaders. LO online content is available at LouisvilleOrchestra.org.

 DUET: Teddy Abrams & Alexander Schwarz, “Haydn Trumpet Concerto Mvt 2” Louisville Orchestra Principal Trumpet Alexander Schwarz joins Teddy Abrams in the LO DUET series with the 2nd Movement of Joseph Haydn's Trumpet Concerto.

 REWIND: Jim James, Teddy Abrams, Louisville Orchestra.

“Back to the End of the World,” performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

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When has there been A better excuse to escape for a few days?

With 45 state parks in Kentucky, 30 offering camping or private cottages, now is the chance to rediscover your own backyard.

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A SLICE OF HISTORY

A LOOK BACK AT KENTUCKY PERFORMING ARTS’ VENUES 24

A U D by I EChristian N C E M A G A Z I N E Adelberg

The Brown Theatre

To say Kentucky Performing Arts’ family of venues have a rich history is a bit of an understatement. Beginning with the Brown Theatre’s opening in 1925, continuing with opening of The Kentucky Center in 1983, and Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in 2019, KPA’s halls have long stood as the Commonwealth’s home for cultural events, arts educational outreach, outstanding performances, and human connection. We invite you to take a journey through the history of our venues, from the classic days of American Theatre through the next generation of performance venues.

1925 - The Brown Theatre opens on October 5, with Elsie Janis in a revue called Puzzles. The theater is named for J. Graham Brown, Indiana native and longtime Louisville resident. Modeled after New York’s famous Music Box Theatre, the Brown boasts a 40’ x 40’ stage that is the equal to anything in New York except the Hippodrome.

1930s - With the Great Depression, road bookings dry up, and the Brown is leased to the Fourth Avenue Amusement Co. as a movie theater.

1962 - The Brown is renovated to once again stage live performances.

1971 - After another renovation, the theater is sold to the Louisville Board of Education and is operated under contract by the Louisville Theatrical Association. The theater is subsequently rechristened The Macauley Theatre, after an earlier Louisville

theater located on Walnut Street (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard).

1982 - The Broadway-Brown Partnership is formed and purchases the theater and the adjoining hotel in an effort to rejuvenate the southern end of Louisville’s downtown business district.

1995 - The dressing rooms are renovated in preparation for the premiere of Stage Door Charlie, a musical starring Tommy Tune.

The event is staged as a fundraiser, and the following year a new roof is put on the building.

1997 - The Fund for the Arts acquires the building and undertakes financing for the remainder of the $4.2 million restoration. Kentucky Performing Arts (then The Kentucky Center) is contracted to manage the theater. Generous gifts soon follow from the W. L. Lyons Brown Foundation, the Brown family, and Brown-Forman Corp.

1998 - The newly re-rechristened W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre includes new stage equipment and rigging, a modern, computerized marquee and a new heating and air conditioning system. A further gift from Owsley Brown Frazier results in the main reception area adjoining Fifth Third Conference Center being named the Frazier Lobby.

2008 - The Brown Theatre undergoes extensive renovations to enlarge the orchestra pit to accommodate up to 66 musicians.

These renovations come as the Kentucky Opera makes the Brown Theatre their permanent home.

2018 - The Kentucky Performing Arts Foundation purchases the Brown Theatre.

 Opening Night at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, 1983.

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The Kentucky Center dedication gala in 1983.

Photo courtesy of The Courier Journal.

In 1988, Lonesome Pine goes international, with 130 PBS stations across America and Channel 4 in England broadcasting concerts videotaped on the Bomhard Theater stage.

1986 - The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts is established and in 1987 celebrates its first class with 120 students attending in six disciplines: creative writing, dance, drama, instrumental music, visual art, and vocal music.

1987 - The Boyd Martin Experimental Theater is dedicated.

The MeX, as it comes to be called, is a simple “black box” stage, providing a blank slate for original plays, innovative productions of the classics, music, dance and literary readings. It soon becomes a favorite venue for local theater and arts groups.

Alexander Calder's sculpture, "The Red Feather," landed on the Kentucky Center steps in 1989.

1983 - On November 19, The Kentucky Center is officially dedicated at a gala event in Whitney Hall. Attendees include Charlton Heston, Diane Sawyer, Lily Tomlin, Jessye Norman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

1989 - Alexander Calder’s sculpture “The Red Feather” finds a home on the front steps of The Kentucky Center. The piece joins artworks by such 20th century masters as Joàn Miro, Jean Dubuffet, Louise Nevelson and John Chamberlain.

1990 - The Kentucky Center initiates the ArtsReach Louisville program, bringing arts involvement and instruction to community centers throughout the city. ArtsReach joins several successful educational programs at the Center, such as the Arts Education Showcase, the Kentucky Institutes for Arts in Education, and the Arts Academies. All of these programs fulfill The Kentucky Center’s mission to bring the arts to every corner of Kentucky.

1984 - The Kentucky Center takes the national spotlight when it hosts one of the 1984 Presidential Debates between President Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale.

1991 - The Kentucky Center Access Services Department establishes the first Audio Description program in the Commonwealth. Later, Kentucky’s first Captioned Theater program will be added as well.

1986 - The Bank One Lonesome Pine Specials Series begins taping its concerts for airing on KET throughout the Commonwealth.

1993 - To celebrate 10 years of excellence, The Kentucky Center hosts a statewide open house, bringing in various arts

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Indiana natives, Houndmouth performing at Old Forester's Paristown Hall.

Theater in two hugely successful performances, and the recordbreaking run of the musical Wicked.

Opening in 2019, Old Forester's Paristown Hall is the newest Kentucky Performing Arts venue.

organizations, performers, and audiences from across the Commonwealth for a day-long celebration.

2000 - Thanks to the support of the Kentucky legislature, The Kentucky Center initiates a $4.5 million renovation, a major project that includes adding 5,900 square feet to the lobby on both the north and south sides of the building, and a reconfiguration of the main entrance off Main Street.

2004 - The Center is the recipient of a VSA Arts/MetLife Foundation Award of Excellence in Arts Access.

2004 - Two of The Kentucky Center’s education programs, Arts Academies and the Kentucky Institute for Arts in Education, are among five programs selected for an international study concerning professional development for teachers in the Arts by Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

2009 - Thanks to the Kentucky Legislature, The Kentucky Center embarks on an extensive, $8.9 million renovation project.

Among the renovations to be addressed first, a new state-of-theart floor is installed on the Whitney Hall stage, making it safer and more responsive for dancers while still sturdy and reliable for Broadway productions, and new lighting and dimming systems are installed in Whitney Hall, Bomhard Theater and the MeX. 2010 - Billboard Magazine ranks The Kentucky Center as the 9th top-grossing venue in the world with 5,000 seats or fewer.

2013 - The Kentucky Center celebrates its 30th Anniversary Season.

2013 - His Holiness The Dalai Lama shares his message of peace and compassion with a group of middle, high school and college students in Whitney Hall.

2014 - Pollstar ranks two of the Kentucky Center's venues in the Top 100 Theatre Venues for total ticket sales. Whitney Hall ranked number 26 and the Brown Theatre ranked number 100.

2019 - The organization changes its name to Kentucky Performing Arts.

2005 - The Center is the recipient of the MetLife/Arts Presenters Award for Excellence in Arts Access.

2005 - President George W. Bush hosts a Town Hall Forum in Whitney Hall on Social Security reform.

2007 - The Kentucky Center is the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2007 Excellence in Accessibility Leadership Award.

2007 - Former Soviet Union leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev comes to speak as a part of The Global Issues Forum at The Kentucky Center.

2008 - The Kentucky Center celebrates its 25th anniversary season with a year-long celebration that includes an open house of events and performances, the Alvin Ailey American Dance

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2019 - On July 29, Opening Night of Old Forester’s Paristown Hall was an evening filled with memorable moments, including cellist Ben Sollee’s moving performance as dance company Pilobolus shared their amazing vision of Louisville through shadows and dance, Mucca Pazza’s madcap energy and headliner Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue blowing the roof off the joint. This sold out performance was a truly amazing night.

2020 - OFPH rings in the new year, and the new decade, with a sold-out performance featuring Houndmouth.

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KENTUCKY PERFORMING ARTS AT HOME #KPAatHome, our free streaming concert series, continues this month. While our theaters are temporarily closed, we continue in our mission of building lifelong relationships with the arts by bringing artists into your homes. Thanks to our sponsors, Brown-Forman, Commonwealth Credit Union, and the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, Kentucky Performing Arts is able to connect people through the arts and provide local artists with paying gigs, as their livelihood is impacted by the COVID-19 social distancing protocols.

 Maestro J James Racine is an educator and a performer.

He is the executive director of the Blazin' Strings Academy, a nonprofit organization offering free music education to underserved youth. He also serves as Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Orchestra Director at the Kentucky Country Day School. On stage, Racine is known as “Maestro J,” a contemporary jazz violinist incorporating R&B, Pop, Latin, and Hip Hop into his set. His restless curiosity, passion, energy, and multi-faceted musical interests have earned him the title of “The Blazin' Violinist.”

 Frederick The Younger Art-pop band Frederick the Younger lasso various transitory states and tensions of the heart on new EP “Fever” out on SonaBLAST Records (January 2020). Louisville-based songwriters and real-life couple Jenni Cochran and Aaron Craker dissect regret, love, and letting go.

Performances are streamed on KPA’s Facebook page but if you not able to watch them live they are also available on KPA’s YouTube channel and our website, kentuckyperformingarts.org.

We encourage you to follow Kentucky Performing Arts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as these channels are the best way to receive updates and stay connected.

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KPA at the KENNEDY CENTER

 On June 8, Kentucky Performing Arts was honored with the opportunity to present a performance on the John F. Kennedy Center’s streaming program, The Kennedy Center Couch Concert: National Spotlight. The performance, Spotlight On Louisville: Peace + Love + Justice, featured performers Jecorey “1200” Arthur and Cheyenne Mize, hosted by Ben Sollee. The performance shared the diverse musical communities of the Bluegrass State with a worldwide audience, while speaking to battle for justice and equality happening in our city, state and country right now. You can watch the concert live here.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT There are many causes worthy of your support during this uncertain time. We invite you to consider a gift to Kentucky Performing Arts, so that we may continue to build lifelong relationships with the arts across the Commonwealth. Donate

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VIRTUAL REALITY

BALLET LAUNCHES VIRTUAL SEASON FOR 2020-21

by Nicole Gantashar

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he Kentucky Governor’s March closure of all Kentucky Performing Arts theaters and venues left Louisville Ballet with a bare stage and empty studios. Safe at home, Louisville Ballet Artistic Director Robert Curran was staying connected to the company dancers, teaching class online and imagining their homecoming to the studio.

Unable to wait for the all clear to return to the stage, Curran reimagined Louisville Ballet’s future season. His vision for the Ballet’s “Season of Illumination” was originally planned for the stage. As spring advanced and other ballet companies came up with Plan A, B, and C dependent on their theatres reopening, Curran determined his only Plan A. He wouldn’t wait for his dancers to return to the stage; he would create a new one.

“I’ve long admired The Paris Opera Ballet’s digital ballet film stage, 3e Scène” Curran says. “I wanted to bring that video platform to Louisville. I began to see this current environment as a chance to truly innovate, to create amazing, meaningful work on a new ‘stage.’ And this is an incredible opportunity to invite new, diversified audiences to join us, to lead existing audiences into a digital platform and to establish this virtual stage as another expanded venue, even when we're finally, and joyously, able to return to live performances in physical theaters.”

I began to see this current environment as a chance to truly innovate, to create amazing, meaningful work on a new ‘stage.’ And this is an incredible opportunity to invite new, diversified audiences to join us, to lead existing audiences into a digital platform and to establish this virtual stage as another expanded venue, even when we're finally, and joyously, able to return to live performances in physical theaters.

“A Season of Illumination” will illustrate how ballet can move across a different stage, it will shine its light on a virtual platform. Curran’s plan will reframe dance and not be a season of re-broadcasts of previous existing performances, captured by a few static cameras in a theater.

Curran rejected the idea of a season from Louisville Ballet’s filmed archives. He wanted a different, imaginative eye behind the cameras he would use to fill the ballet studio in place of the audience. He turned to a frequent collaborator, Stephen Kertis, Founder and President of KERTIS Creative.

Kertis and Curran first met in 2015. Curran had “just arrived at the company, bursting with energy, brains, and a vision — re-introduce ballet as ART to audiences,” Kertis says. “Not art as homework, not art as vegetables. But art — as shocking, engaging, relevant, and moving.”

seldom get to see. The camera will almost serve as a member of the ensemble, showcasing and comments on the movement.

KERTIS Creative will work with Curran to reimagine ballet for the digital stage.

Together, they will create video pieces where the camera will frame the movements and take the audience to a view they

“We welcome the challenge to evolve,” Kertis says. “If there can’t be a ‘stage,’ we will transform existing spaces in ways that complement and push against this season’s concepts.”

 Artistic Director Robert Curran rehearses with Company Dancer Ashley Thursby. Photo Sam English.

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Congratulations to the Governor’s School for the Arts First Virtual Summer Program Students!

JUNE 29, 2020 - JULY 17, 2020

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Artistic Director Robert Curran and Senior Ballet Mistress Mikelle Bruzina. Photo by Sam English.

A launch of something this innovative and new should take months of planning, but within a short amount of time, Curran and his staff rethought how to launch the reimagined season.

Instead of tickets, Louisville Ballet will sell memberships. Along with the videos, there will be blogs, discussions, interviews “backstage,” and commentary to expand the audience’s point of view.

“Ballet is, and can still be more than its history,” Kertis says.

“If we can’t allow people to experience the Ballet from inside an auditorium, we will re-imagine accessibility, performance, and presentation. This is an historic chance to engage with the challenges and opportunities of non-traditional physical (and emotional) space.”

That space will be at the Louisville Ballet studios at 315 E. Main St. Productions will range from locally-inspired new works to internationally recognized classics with a cinematic frame.

Season productions will be announced on a rolling basis, at least four weeks prior to each virtual performance.

The absence of a formal schedule will allow the ballet to be agile during an uncertain time. Louisville Ballet wants to avoid canceling performances and disappointing its audience, so the schedule was built to be flexible. If the dancers have to quarantine due to a new surge, the production schedule can move to accommodate this issue.

The season calls for the dancers to return to the studio at the end of summer to rehearse and prepare. Louisville Ballet and KERTIS Creative plan to launch the first film production of the season in mid-October 2020. Details for this production will be announced by early September. All productions will L O U I S V I L L E

"...the schedule was built to be flexible.

If the dancers have to quarantine due to a new surge, the production schedule can move to accommodate this issue." be available on-demand, with the purchase of a virtual ticket, for a limited time.

“While the prospects of planning this season initially felt bleak, once we simply made the decision to pivot to a completely digital platform, I felt this sense of momentum and excitement; I began to see this current environment as a chance to truly innovate, to create amazing, meaningful work on a new stage,” Curran explains. “This is an incredible opportunity to invite new, diversified audiences to join us, to lead existing audiences into a digital platform and to establish this virtual stage as another expanded venue, even when we’re finally — and joyously — able to return to live performances in physical theaters.”

Louisville Ballet looks forward to returning to the Kentucky Center in Fall 2021, and this virtual “Season of Illumination” serves as a critical platform to stay connected to its audience, to actively invite more people to join the Louisville Ballet family and to continue making moving art until the dancers can once again perform in a darkened theatre.

Louisville Ballet invites you to join us for our virtual season, as Kertis describes it: “A venturing from the dark towards the light, towards clarity of vision and revelation. It’s the opportunity to see things you couldn’t possibly see before: bodies cleanly sculpted by the light, details of movement and balance revealed.”

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SUPER SUPPORTER

SPOTLIGHT ON LOUISVILLE BALLET BOARD MEMBER

SHARON POTTER

by Natalie Harris

this very unique state. And she’s driven to dispel erroneous stereotypes about her beloved state. Sharon has also served on numerous nonprofit boards with impact, and now Louisville Ballet is so fortunate to have her as part of our own.

Louisville Ballet: Can you share why you made the decision to join the Louisville Ballet board?

Sharon Potter

Sharon Potter adores Kentucky, her adopted state, and Louisville. A native of New Orleans, Sharon has spent most of her adult life here in Louisville, raising her children alongside her husband, local architect Henry Potter, and jumping head-first into a life of public engagement and service.

She’s the powerhouse and Executive Producer behind KentuckyShow! – a multimedia film narrated by Kentucky native, Ashley Judd, that shows daily at the Frazier Museum and highlights the history, beauty, people, and culture of 36

Sharon Potter: (Laughs) Well. When I first agreed to become a ballet board member, I had just made a conscious decision not to join any more boards.

I had always enjoyed and appreciated Louisville Ballet and the art form — I took ballet lessons for years as a young girl — and we were subscribers for years. We never missed a performance when my children were small. But as they got older and all of our schedules got busier with their out of town sports competitions, we found it harder to attend weekend performances. We enjoyed the experience when we could, but I lost some of the connection.

Then a few years ago, in 2018, Ghislain d’Humieres (former Speed Museum CEO) told me that I should meet Robert Curran, Louisville Ballet’s Artistic Director because of my strong Australia connection. My daughter and son-in-law are marine scientists who, at the time, A U D I E N C E

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were living and working in Australia, and my son-in-law is Australian. Ghislain was convinced that Robert and I would hit it off, and he let me know that Robert had been a well-known principal dancer at The Australian Ballet. So just after I eventually met Robert — and so enjoyed him — I asked my son-in-law if he had heard of Robert. It turns out that his godfather had been Chairman of The Australian Ballet’s Board of Directors, knew Robert personally, and had nothing but good things to say about him. It was four degrees of separation!

Not long after our first meeting, Robert asked if we could get together before I left the country to visit my daughter in Australia for a month. He explained his vision for Louisville Ballet — to elevate this historic company to become an epicenter of new choreographic works while also becoming a financially selfsustaining organization. He knew the company was poised to do big things but realized he needed to grow the board into an even stronger one to realize this vision. So, he asked if I would consider joining the board as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. He also asked me to spearhead establishing a foundation for the company. Much to my own surprise, I agreed to both!

LB: What keeps you involved?

SP: A number of things: working with Robert and a terrific board that continues to grow stronger; helping to rebuild and grow one of the four arts “pillars” of our city; getting to know Louisville Ballet's awesome dancers and building personal relationships with some of them.

I’m also just so enthusiastic about the ballet’s significant community engagement initiatives. They directly bring the fantastic benefits of dance and related enriching experiences to thousands of children in Louisville who wouldn’t otherwise have that important opportunity.

And while it may seem counterintuitive to think this, I’m also motivated by the challenging environment we all find ourselves in right now. I really believe that the “post-pandemic” future looks incredibly bright for Louisville Ballet.

This “pause” has given the company the chance to really look at and evaluate what’s important. We are just beginning to develop a bold new strategic plan under the guidance of the country's leading arts consultant, Michael Kaiser, and have a team of strong directors in place to implement it. I think we’re positioned to move forward into a much stronger place.

LB: What's your favorite ballet moment?

SP: Two of my more recent Louisville Ballet experiences: The Merry Widow, performed at the start of this past season and choreographed by the legendary Ronald Hynd was so gorgeous and world-class. And Human Abstract, from the end of the 2018-19 season, just left me speechless. Both were so incredibly different — a narrative, lush story-ballet in the Whitney and a stark, contemporary piece in the Bomhard — but both were so powerful and excellent in every way. Both ballets completely blew me away.

LB: What is special about Artistic Director Robert Curran and why does his vision for the ballet resonate with you?

SP: I love so much what Robert has brought to Louisville Ballet — his connection to amazing international artistic talent from around the world and his ability to bring them to

Louisville has made such an impact on the city and its arts community. I also admire his amazing work ethic, integrity, and perfectionism. He has raised the level of the art form here and brought international attention to Louisville Ballet and to the city of Louisville itself.

I also love that he’s so taken with Kentucky that he’s written and choreographed a trilogy of ballets about it — Kentucky! Volumes 1, 2 & 3. And I have to add that he’s just a delightful person — so much fun and with a terrific sense of humor.

LB: You've done so much for Kentucky, your adopted state, what has drawn you to a life of service?

SP: My parents set a great example of civic leadership while I was growing up in New Orleans, so it felt very normal for me to become civically involved once I arrived here in Louisville. I quickly fell in love with and felt deeply connected to the place and appreciated being so welcomed by almost everyone I met.

And so, the erroneous stereotypes of Kentucky became offensive to me. To be honest, people in my hometown were initially shocked that I was going to move to Kentucky because they had false impressions of its culture. And that realization of how wrong they were about this place was really my motivation for creating KentuckyShow!

– to show what Kentucky really is as told by the real people of the commonwealth. People are so open and welcoming here, just like my New Orleans hometown.

In order for me to learn about my new state, when I first moved here, Henry and I spent some weekends traveling to state parks. The physical geography of Kentucky is just stunningly diverse.

Where else can you find such physical contrasts? The Appalachians, the rolling bluegrass hills, the lakes, the river towns — it’s so incredible. And to capture the people who live there? Such a rich diversity of culture, geography, and history lent itself beautifully to being captured in a documentary film. Oh, I fell in love with this place and wanted to portray it in an emotionally compelling way.

LB: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the Ballet? Is this different from the challenges facing other arts organizations?

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SP: Right now? COVID-19, without a doubt. This pandemic has had such a detrimental effect on performing arts organizations throughout the world.

It feels like a new strange universe.

Performances are for audiences, and I really don’t think people will feel comfortable attending them until there’s a vaccine.

But what is unique for Louisville Ballet in coping with this challenge?

Our current work with Michael Kaiser.

Luckily, we engaged with Michael to lead us through the development of a strong, multi-year strategic plan. We couldn’t be more fortunate to have him with us right now. He truly believes that we have a great artistic product. He knows that Louisville Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in the country at almost 70 years old. That’s incredibly special for any city anywhere. And we have a great Louisville Ballet team to lead us into the future.

Human Abstract, 2017.

Photo by Sam English.

LB: Is there anything else we should know?

SP: I wish I could wave a magic wand and have everyone here in Louisville experience a Louisville Ballet performance. The experience of watching these incredible artist athletes dance to sensational music would be mesmerizing to so many who haven’t had that opportunity. I want everyone to have that chance to feel and be moved by the extraordinary art they’re creating and performing right here in Louisville.

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Louisville, KY 40232-3033

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LOUISVILLE BALLET AT HOME Bring the joy of dance into your home by viewing these beautiful, moving performances.



"I AM" Choreography by Brandon Ragland, Louisville Ballet Company Dancer and instructor at The Louisville Ballet School, in collaboration at a distance with many other Black American spoken word artists, friends, dancers and poets. As Brandon explains: "I had been wrestling for a while on how to use my platform and voice in response to everything going on. Art is healing! Thank you to everyone who contributed to this video. It really means a lot to me.”



proJECT Hope Louisville + Louisville Ballet Collaboration Two ballet dancers. One green screen. One connected community. proJECT Hope collaborated with Louisville Ballet during the COVID19 quarantine for a socially-distant performance art piece. Both dancers were filmed separately on green screens, then combined and projected on the Louisville Ballet building. This piece is a story of how, while we are socially distant, our access to technology and art can connect as one community.

Choreography by Robert Curran, Artistic Director Performed by Louisville Ballet Company Dancers Leigh Anne Albrechta and Brandon Ragland

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ENEMIES

A KENTUCKY OPERA STORY

by Kentucky Opera 40

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Composer Ben Moore wrote about his journey in bringing Enemies, A Love Story to the stage during Kentucky Opera’s Brown-Forman 2018-19 Season, and the role Kentucky Opera played in that process.

C

reating an opera based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's brilliant novel Enemies, a Love Story has been a long journey to say the least; one that has been difficult at times, but always stimulating and enriching.

The talent, resources, and generosity of Kentucky Opera have been at the center of this journey.

The simple truth is that without Kentucky Opera there would be no Enemies, a Love Story.

Work on Enemies began in 2006 after I was encouraged by Sandy Fisher to write a new opera. (Sandy was the Chairman of the Richard Tucker Foundation at the time and is also indispensable to Enemies’ existence.)

After a presentation of my early efforts in Sandy’s apartment, the Great Recession struck and prospects for the opera’s development seemed to dim. Two years later, I got an email from Nancy Albrink, who was helping David Roth (General Director, 2006-2015) develop his Composer Workshop at Kentucky Opera. As it happened, Nancy had heard her daughter, Emily, perform a song of mine at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago.

All this led to my participation in Kentucky Opera’s Composer Workshop in 2009. (Emily is a marvelous soprano and Louisville native who, I’m delighted to say, sang the role of Yadwiga in Kentucky Opera’s 2018 production.) I invited Librettist Nahma Sandrow to attend that first workshop, after which we began working together in earnest.

From the beginning, my goal had been to create an opera that is highly dramatic and also featured lyrical and melodic music, which I believe can be most effective in theatrical storytelling. The power of a good melody cannot be underestimated. It can draw us in, define character, highlight the most consequential moments in a story and, above all, tug at our hearts.

David Roth, Nancy Albrink, and the community of supporters at Kentucky Opera seemed to share my musical values. This made the program a perfect fit for me.

The Kentucky Opera Workshop in 2009 was with piano only. In 2011, Kentucky Opera was awarded an Opera Fund Repertoire Development grant from OPERA America to present a second workshop, this time with full orchestra in collaboration with the University of Louisville.

 Enemies, a Love Story. Photo by Brymer Photography.

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[Enemies] asks how one man and three women can survive in the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities, and it does it with melody and humor.

Needless to say, this is a crucial second step for opera composers and librettists. Traditionally, Broadway musicals are developed through series of readings and workshops, followed by tryout runs, and then weeks of preview performances before opening night. Nothing like that exists in the opera world, so it falls to companies like Kentucky Opera to support composers in the development process.

In 2015, Palm Beach Opera gave the world premiere of Enemies, A Love Story. The response was very gratifying. Fred Plotkin of WQXR called it “an important new work that will find its place among those works that audiences will be moved by.” The Wall Street Journal praised its "soaring Puccinian lines, folk tunes and klezmer melodies." But the first fully realized production also taught us many lessons about how to improve the piece.

When Ian Derrer (General Director, 2016-2018) contacted me about the prospect of bringing Enemies back home to Louisville, we were more than thrilled. It gave us the opportunity to hone and revise the opera, and we were excited to see the changes realized in this new production directed by Mary Birnbaum.

Although we were sad to lose Ian to The Dallas Opera, K E N T U C K Y

Actors perform scenes from Enemies, A Love Story.

the appointment of Barbara Lynne Jamison, Kentucky Opera’s newest General Director, was a wonderful surprise. Barbara and I met at Seattle Opera previously, and I feel in her a kindred spirit.

So, Enemies, a Love Story truly is “Enemies, a Kentucky Opera Story!” I can’t express my gratitude enough to everyone in the Kentucky Opera community who have made this production possible.

Enemies has so much to say to us as human beings. It asks how one man and three women can survive in the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities, and it does it with melody and humor.

My inspiration for this piece came largely from my dear Aunt Trudy, who was among the last Jews to escape Germany in February 1940 and who lived in New York City for a time after the war. Even as recently as 2014, new connections to her lost world of friends and family have been discovered.

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A LOOK BACK

SHAKESPEARE ON A SHOESTRING AN INTERVIEW WITH MONTE PRIDDY 44

Written by Arabella Paulovich & Edited by Professor Tracy K’Meyer, of Louisville Department of History A U D I E N C E M A G A ZUniversity I N E

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n recognition of Kentucky Shakespeare’s 60th anniversary, in spring 2020 a group of students in the history department at the University of Louisville conducted oral history interviews with some of the company’s long-time performers, directors, backstage professionals, and supporters.

Monte Priddy, who played a role in the first production of free Shakespeare in Central Park and is cast in this summer’s 60th season, shared his memories with undergraduate student Arabella Paulovich. Priddy has the distinction of being the only cast member to work with every Producing Artistic Director in the company’s history. In this memoir, he tells stories from the 1960s and ’70s, when it was under the leadership of Douglas Ramey.

It was Shakespeare on a shoestring. Doug (Ramey) had to get people anywhere that he could. There were people dropping out. There were people not available. One of the standards was a guy named Charlie Kissinger, who was well known and in a lot of commercials around town. He had a show on television in which he introduced horror movies. Charlie was a very funny guy. He used to make jokes about Doug calling somebody and saying “Gotta role for you, it’s got one great scene.” That was the pitch. That was the attraction you would have. It’s not a big role, but you have one great scene.

I remember the first time we did a full production in the park in 1962. We did Othello. At that time, the stage was in a slightly different location. The Old Louisville information center was open then, and it was called the Shelter House. A wooden boxing ring had been set up down the hill from that, and we were doing the production on that boxing ring.

Monte Priddy in Julius Caesar

What became Kentucky Shakespeare was called the Carriage House Players in the early years, because the theater was in a converted carriage house on Fifth Street about 50 or 60 yards south from Memorial Auditorium. That’s where the magic happened.

My experience in my first play at the University of Louisville Playhouse was in December of 1960. Then the following spring, I saw a couple things at the Carriage House. I remember that summer I had a small but significant role in Much Ado About Nothing, which we did in Central Park. As far as I know, that was the first time we actually did a production in Central Park. Then after that, any time I had a chance, every time I was offered a role I gladly accepted.

The theater really operated on a shoestring at that time.

In fact, I’m not exactly sure how Doug made it go. He had some sponsors. There was Doc Hendon, Jack Clouse, and Mae Salyers, who was the head of a neighborhood community organization.

I think he relied on those contributors.

I was playing Rodrigo, who is a funny character who has been exploited by the villain Iago. Iago causes a commotion yelling to Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, that she had been abducted by Othello. Then Brabantio, the father, was supposed to storm on the stage. Iago left me on stage to deal with the angry father.

 Monte Priddy (left) performing in Henry IV, Part 2. Photo by Bill Brymer.

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virtual Free Shakespeare in the park

Julius Caesar June 26-28

July 3-5 facebook.com/kentuckyshakespeare • youtube.com/kentuckyshakespeare kyshakespeare.com 46

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"At least some actors enjoy doing Shakespeare. I did, and I accumulated a lot of roles over the years. As a matter of fact, that is my main claim to fame, if you can call that fame."

On opening night, the angry father did not show up. I started yelling some lines myself to try to wake him up. Finally, I had to go up the hill, go inside the Shelter House, and find the actor playing Brabantio, who was sort of hiding in the corner.

I said “Come on, you gotta go.” He said, “I can’t remember my lines.” And I said, “Well you have to go, say anything… or okay don’t say anything just go on.” Then I grabbed him and sort of dragged him down the hill. After that we got through the rest of it somehow. The next year we moved over to the stage in the same location where we are now.

In those early years, it was sort of Doug Ramey’s company.

He was the producer and director in the early days. He was a very important actor in the productions. Doug was an affable man, and he was an impressive actor. He had this wonderful base voice. He also had charm, which helped him in recruiting actors to work for him without making a lot of money for it.

We were all fond of Doug, partly because he gave us a chance to do a lot of Shakespeare. At least some actors enjoy doing Shakespeare. I did, and I accumulated a lot of roles over the years. As a matter of fact, that is my main claim to fame, if you can call that fame. In 1989, I made a point of trying to count them all up. I got close to 90, and then I decided that was approximate enough.

Once in a while, Doug would work up a tour. He’d find schools for us to play. I remember trips to the mountains of Appalachia.

Typically, that would involve going to school in the morning, putting up our set in the middle of the gymnasium facing one of the sides where all the spectators usually sit at basketball games, and then blasting away to try to make ourselves heard and understood in these echoing gymnasiums.

Occasionally, we would be someplace where they had an auditorium where the acoustics would be a little better. But we couldn’t depend on that. I remember on one tour in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. We were going to have to stay overnight, and as the young people do, we were looking for ways to entertain ourselves.

It was a dry county. Somebody told us there was a bootlegger out on the other side of the railroad tracks. (They always seem to be on the other side of the railroad tracks!) So, we drove over there and found it and got a couple of six packs of beer and a half-pint of whiskey. We were driving back and, “Uh-oh the police.”

The police stopped us. They came up, looked inside and said, “Where you been going?” I was sitting in the front right seat and K E N T U C K Y

Monte Priddy in Richard II. Photo by Bill Brymer.

I had a couple of six packs of beer down between my feet on the floor. He leaned in. He shown his flashlight on the beer. So, I know he saw it. And, of course, they had been watching us obviously. But they just let us go. Didn’t say anything after that.

You know, “Have a good one. Have a nice night.”

The ’70s were fun. I was in my 30s, and I was doing pretty well.

I remember one of the interesting stories: In Midsummer Night’s Dream I was playing Bottom, who gets turned into an ass by Puck. I was wearing an ass’s head that had been specially made for me. But it was not easy for me to see out of it.

I had to move very carefully and point the ass’s head in just the right direction before I could see anything. One night as I was pontificating, a dog came up on stage barking at me in a very threatening way. I thought, “Oh no, oh no, this is where it ends.”

A great beast. But the dog’s owner or somebody came up and grabbed the dog by her collar and led him away. But I felt very vulnerable then. Well, that was the ’70s.

I was working in Alabama at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 1979 when I found out that winter Doug had passed away.

Doug had stopped acting with the company in the early 1970s.

His health was not good for the last nine or 10 years of his life.

But the show went on. He had people helping him as his health deteriorated. Bekki Jo Schneider, who had been the director of the local children’s theater and who later became the producer-director of Derby Dinner Playhouse across the river in Clarksville, became the new producer.

I came back in 1980 when Bekki Jo Schneider took over.

She offered me the role of Falstaff in the Merry Wives of Windsor.

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SUPER SUPPORTERS

VOLUNTEERS REMINISCE Longtime Volunteers Brenda Johnson and Connie Harris Aim to Help Secure Kentucky Shakespeare’s Legacy

by Kyle Ware

If time is the greatest gift one has to give, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone more generous than Connie Harris and Brenda Johnson. Kentucky Shakespeare regulars instantly recognize both, as much fixtures of the summer festival as the actors themselves, the amphitheater or the vined pergola where you’ll most often find them at the gift table.

Ask just how long they’ve known each other or how long they’ve been coming to Kentucky Shakespeare, and they’ll mentally scroll though birthdays of children or grandchildren before being able to arrive at anything close to an educated guess.

first one I remember and it’s still my favorite one. When my daughter Holly was maybe 10 years old, we started coming every night because she loved it so much.”

The best guess they have is they’ve been coming for over 30 years, and volunteering for most of that time.

Ask them for a favorite memory or something the love about it, and they can’t give you just one.

“I can’t even tell you how long I’ve been friends with Brenda,” says Connie, “and she’s the one that got me involved with Kentucky Shakespeare initially, and I just fell in love.”

“We have oodles,” says Brenda. As you might imagine, these lifelong friends have many of the same answers: they both cite A Midsummer Night’s Dream as their park favorite (Brenda likes the most recent 2014 production, while Connie favors the production from the early 2000s). And both love the actors, the crew, the people, the environment, and when the actors are called upon to react to the park, be it planes overhead or dogs running onstage.

Brenda can trace her first experience to Kentucky Shakespeare’s founder, C. Douglas Ramey. “He brought an entire production to my school every year,” says Brenda. “Hamlet was the

Both are retired; both still incredibly active. Connie is a retired state worker and when she’s not chasing after one of her 12 grandchildren, she stays more active in retirement than most do,

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working part time as a substitute teacher and working or volunteering with a number of organizations.

“My kids know,” she says, “if you want me to babysit, you have to let me know in advance, so it doesn't interfere with Shakespeare.”

Brenda retired from Embry’s, a women’s clothing store, but still works four days per week with a stationery company.

She says, “That allowed me to volunteer even more for Shakespeare and I started taking care of gift sales.”

The value of that time cannot be understated. Anyone who’s ever been even peripherally involved with a nonprofit organization can tell you how important good, dedicated volunteers are to the success of an organization. Many are shocked to learn just how small the staffs of many nonprofits actually are, and for Kentucky Shakespeare, even when the staff expands during the summer season, there’s still more work than hands available.

Longtime Kentucky Shakespeare actor Jon Huffman says, “No theater

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Connie Harris and Brenda Johnson working at the gift table.

in America can survive without its Volunteer Staff. Brenda and Connie are as much a part of Kentucky Shakespeare's family — and as important to Kentucky Shakespeare's success — as the actors, directors, designers, and show staff. We all love them both!”

And in that time, the two have done just about everything there is to do for the company, and even a couple I’d not heard of before.

And seeing that need is how both became so active with the company.

Says Brenda, “Someone asked us. That simple. Someone asked and we said, ‘sure.’ And as I said, my child was already hooked and I loved it too.”

“Yes, that was my official title. I was the Pocket Lady. I had this vest on — like an apron — and the kids could pick out a toy out of any pocket for a dollar and the money would go to support Shakespeare. The kids loved it.”

“Because when you’re there so often, you notice things,” says Connie. “Like sometimes they don’t have enough people to pass out the brochures or things like that. And when they had enough people to pass out programs, I started to help Brenda at gift sales.”

Working with and motivating children is also a significant part of why the pair are so passionate about volunteering.

They encouraged their children to get involved when they were young and impressed upon them the importance of being involved, learning new skills, and making oneself useful.

“Connie and I are the kind of people that if you ask us to do something, we'll try our best to help you out, so you have a couple of suckers to begin with. You can't get rid of us — y'all are stuck with us now!”

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“Connie was the Pocket Lady,” says Brenda.

Is that an official title?

Says Brenda: “I just think it's so great to do. I think it's good for young people, to start them out young volunteering — which Connie has done, as I have done — because I think it's good to let A U D I E N C E

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children help and know they're helping.

And then it teaches them, as they get older, the importance of volunteering and being involved. And it gives them access to people. And they remember those moments.”

“And just seeing the young people in the park is wonderful,” adds Connie. “One little girl comes up every year — she's gotten older now, so she's not a little girl anymore — but she's been coming ever since she was a little girl. Her mom brings her, and she'll come back and talk to me and Brenda. She loves it and it’s so important for children. Anything that involves children, I’m all for.

And we’ve been able to see her grow up, so we’re lucky. We get to see things a lot of other people don’t.”

“And I think that’s why I love volunteering. It helps keep Kentucky Shakespeare free in Central Park, and I would love for it to always be there for future generations.”

It’s safe to say, she’s right: Connie and Brenda are a big part of why Kentucky Shakespeare is still here.

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AWARDS IN THE ARTS

A LOOK BACK AT THE MARQUEE 2019 EVENT

By Lauren DePaso Warble 52

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COVID-19 prevented this year’s marquee event, Louisville’s Awards in the Arts. But, in its fiveyear history, the event has proven to be a vibrant, resilient, and culturally forward event, and Fund for the Arts’ largest annual fundraiser. It’s an event that started as the brainchild of Fund for the Arts’ JP Davis and Lauren DePaso Warble, who at the time worked at Churchill Downs.

It was a brainchild chronicled on cocktail napkins during late-night, wine-fueled brain storming sessions. This is a look back from Lauren.

In June of 2015, I started at Churchill Downs Inc. as Director of Community Relations. I was 28, and at that point in life had only ever known my one real job as part-time staff writer/ executive assistant to the publisher and full-time gopher for The Voice-Tribune. Truth be told, I thought the breadth of Churchill Downs started and ended on the first Saturday in May. I was wrong. So wrong.

Immediately upon accepting the role, I was tasked with revamping the portfolio of corporate initiatives that had (as the company admittedly deemed) grown “stale.”

The function of a community relations department at publicly traded companies have, at times, been met with antiquated and transactional practices: look at the annual budget, write some checks (sometimes present oversized checks for feel good media fodder), rinse and repeat.

But under the new leadership of CEO Bill Carstanjen, that wasn’t good enough. So, as a new CEO and a new Community Relations Director, we set our sights high and got to work. Where we were going, we weren’t quite sure, but whatever the end result,

required significant financial contributions to organizations that not only served the thoroughbred industry, but were specific to the communities and jurisdictions in which CDI operated.

With the flagship property, historic Churchill Downs Racetrack, headquartered in Louisville, we started there and quickly arrived at partnering with Fund for the Arts.

THE STORY BEHIND THE AWARDS I’ll never forget sitting outside a coffee shop on Frankfort Avenue with JP as we frantically scribbled notes on a napkin (which I’ve since had framed) that would ultimately become the blueprint for the inaugural Awards in the Arts. We knew we wanted this to be an event like no other, that engaged the city of Louisville combining northern progressivism with southern hospitality and above all else, was unapologetically authentic and made a significant impact on our community.

 It was a packed house at Churchill Downs. Guests and performers strike a pose during the 2019 Awards in the Arts.

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6 During the 2019 Awards in the Arts at Churchill Downs, artists and musicians performed (1,2); guests watched mural artist Brayln Resko Stewart create a new piece (3); My Morning Jacket’s Jim James enjoyed the atmosphere (5); guests browsed a myriad of artwork on display (6); and performers from Cirque Louis entertained the crowd (7). During the 2018 Awards in the Arts, Louisville native and actress Jennifer Lawrence was interviewed (4). Photos by Bill Wine.

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"...if being born and bred in Kentucky taught me one thing, it’s that teamwork really does make the dream work, and nothing is off the table when people come together." - Lauren DePaso Warble We presented the plan to a board room of Churchill Downs Inc. executives, half thinking to ourselves, “They’re never gonna go for this.” But, as the cool kids say, “YOLO,” and the rest is history.

From that moment, our napkin roadmap evolved into countless emails, a third partner in the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation, late-night brainstorms (wine was involved with a side of panic), 2 a.m. wake up calls to promote across local media, thousands of paper cuts from printed room layout configurations, and about 150 driving miles to hand deliver what would become the most coveted of event swag bags. We did all of this while maintaining our full-time day jobs.

The partnership between Churchill Downs, Fund for the Arts and the Jennifer Lawrence Foundation brought together diverse and expansive skill sets that collectively – with the tireless support of Mo McKnight Howe – engaged over 200 artists to flood Churchill Downs Racetrack on Saturday, April 30, 2016, to officially kick off The Kentucky Derby week and celebrate the inaugural Awards in the Arts.

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When it was all said and done, that first year generated over $200,000, which was subsequently put back into the Louisville community through award grants. 2016 was a banner year for increasing the impact of the arts across Louisville, and a moment in time I’ll never forget.

In looking back, it was fairly bold for us to pitch an idea completely dependent on an event space at the racetrack that required a hard hat before entering up until almost a week before the event date, but if being born and bred in Kentucky taught me one thing, it’s that teamwork really does make the dream work and nothing is off the table when people come together.

Since then, I’ve moved (twice) and today reside in San Francisco.

Being 2,308 miles away from home, that framed napkin is a tangible reminder of how our city really does foster great possibility — possibility that we were able to harness to deliver something incredibly profound, longlasting and most of all, motivated by authenticity. Awards in the Arts is something I am proud to have been part of and look forward to every year!

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REAL RECIPIENTS

POWERFUL & PROVOCATIVE Pandora Productions is dedicated to telling the stories of the LGBTQ community

by G. Douglas Dreisbach

artistic director Michael Drury to discuss Pandora’s journey, what it takes to run a theater company and what lies ahead.

The following is an excerpt. To read the full interview, visit Audience502.com.

G. Douglas Dreisbach: What is Pandora Productions and how was it created?

Michael Drury, Pandora Productions; Artistic Director

What started as a theater company with a goal of showcasing social justice through the arts, Louisville-based Pandora Productions has blossomed into one of the only LGBTQ+ theater companies in the region. Through trials and tribulations, shoestring budgets and other obstacles, the group is blazing its own path to deliver relevant content in the community. We caught up with

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Michael Drury: Pandora Productions is one of the only theater companies exclusively dedicated to telling the stories of the LGBTQ+ community in our region. We were founded in 1995 by three gentlemen who got together because they were interested in writing a musical adaptation of the myth of Pandora, and to do that, they thought, “Well, we’ll do some theater to make a little money to fund that project.”

So, they did a few shows, but it was not really funding the project, and one by one, they kind of went by the wayside. In 1997, I acted in a show for the last owner and we became friends.

In 1999, he and I were sitting in my A U D I E N C E

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"For the literature that we perform and have performed, it’s been a mirror to the AIDS crisis, for sure, but also the awakening of the LGBTQ+ movement, which began long before Stonewall, in the ’50s and ’60s, with Harry Hay and the Mattachine Society and the like." living room talking about the future of Pandora Productions, and he said, “I’m not really excited about producing theater anymore.” At the time, I was a professional actor and was traveling all over the country. So, I said that I was really tired of that and wanted to settle down here and was thinking about forming my own company.

He said, “Well, have you thought about taking over Pandora?” and I was like, “Well, yeah, I would be interested in talking about that. How much would

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you sell it for?” And he laughed and just said, “There’s a box of props, there’s a box of costumes, and there’s a mailing list, and it’s small. You can have it.”

So, he literally handed me boxes, which I think is ironic, since the company’s name is Pandora Productions, but that is how the company got her name.

I had never produced before, and he had, so I really felt like I needed his support for my first time. We did the play version of Kiss of the Spider Woman in 2000, so that was my first foray into producing. I took over the company, formed a board and incorporated the company.

GDD: Do your current roles and responsibilities align with what you had originally envisioned?

Have things turned out the way you thought they would?

MD: I don’t think that I expected to wear as many hats as I wear today.

I really didn’t have any experience running a company, being an artistic director or a producer, so neither one of those roles were really familiar to me, I was really learning as I went. In many ways, Pandora was successful in spite of me, because I certainly made mistakes along the way, and still do, for sure.

But because we’re still in the growing phase I still wear a lot of hats. Only in the last year have we hired a parttime employee who handles ticketing, subscriber relations and some IT issues.

We also have volunteers who do a lot for us and are greatly appreciated.

DD: Pandora Productions was originally started to give a platform for the LGBTQ+ community. How has the community embraced the Pandora vision and programming?

MD: Extremely well, I would say.

We grew exponentially fast in the first couple of years. 2004-2005 was our first full season, and that was only three shows. We had done only a couple of shows when I took over, and we originally offered a subscription.

In my background, I worked many years at Derby Dinner Playhouse, and they have a huge subscriber base and I really 58

thought that was the way to go. Our first year, we sold 118 subscriptions. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but to us, that felt like a huge number. The second year that number doubled, and the third almost a 500 percent increase over the first year.

In some ways, I wish we had not grown that fast. I mean, I know that sounds antithetical to what anybody would say when they are leading a company, but I certainly wasn’t growing as fast as the company. Then 2008 happened, the economic downturn set in and things leveled off a little bit for us. From then, we have really sort of steadily grown our base and are on a much healthier trajectory for growth.

I think our audience has really accepted and embraced us. We have a diverse, broad audience from all demographics.

I am really proud of it because our mission is not only to tell the stories of the LGBTQ+ community, but also to educate on LGBTQ themes and things that go on in the lives of LGBTQ people.

DD: The Fund for the Arts has been instrumental in helping groups that make meaningful impacts in our community. How has Fund for the Arts contributed to the mission of Pandora Productions over the years?

MD: I would say one of the reasons we have grown as much as we have over the last couple of years was because of support from Fund for the Arts.

It brought to our regular audience, our audience that was with us at the time — a gravitas to know we were supported by the Fund for the Arts. And it also helped in our ability to leverage their good name in our fundraising, which is incredibly important.

But most importantly, I would say, because of their embrace of the Imagine 2020 initiative several years ago, they really opened up their funding for small companies like us to be recognized.

And I think it is pretty impressive that a city the size of Louisville has a company, a theater company, that’s exclusively dedicated to telling the stories of the LGBTQ+ community. There are certainly cities larger than Louisville who don’t have that, so I think that’s pretty awesome. It says a lot about the city A U D I E N C E

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of Louisville and the Fund for recognizing that.

DD: Why do you think live theater and the performing arts are important for people and society overall?

MD: Well, I am sure you have heard a million times that theater is a mirror for our times and our society. I believe that. For the literature that we perform and have performed, it’s been a mirror to the AIDS crisis, for sure, but also the awakening of the LGBTQ+ movement, which began long before Stonewall, in the ’50s and ’60s, with Harry Hay and the Mattachine Society and the like.

We’ve done plays based on that. Of course, Stonewall was a huge moment in the LGBTQ movement and that revolution, even all the way up to marriage equality several years ago.

I would say the importance of theater and the arts in general is holding a mirror up to our society and what’s happening in it currently. I really can’t wait to see the productions that come out of the current Black Lives Matter movement. I hope that some of them are also LGBTQ+ stories. And if they’re not, then we may devise those ourselves.

DD: Is donating on your website, pandoraprods.org, the best way to support Pandora Productions?

MD: We’ll never turn down a donation, no matter how small. But really, we feel the best way to support Pandora Productions is to buy a ticket, come see what we’re doing and what we’re offering. Check out the quality of our productions, and don’t be afraid.

I think there are probably some in our community who may be afraid to try us out because of the work that we do, the themes that we explore, but we’re not scary at all. We are really lovely people and are really doing great work.

Once you buy a ticket and come see what we’re up to, you’re going to want to become a subscriber. Subscribers are the lifeblood of our organization. It is not a dying model from where we stand.

We love our subscribers, and fortunately have had loyal subscribers right from the beginning.

For more information on Pandora Productions, visit PandoraProds.org.

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I BELIEVE CAMPAIGN Fund for the Arts’ “I Believe” campaign began simply as an effort to highlight our collective believes that equality is for everyone and to affirm that Black Lives Matter. It became a snapshot of our collective values of diversity, equity, and inclusion while highlighting our cultural similarities.

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Andy Warhol: Revelation July 5 – November 29

New Hours

Discover another side of the Pop artist of Campbell’s soup can fame. Andy Warhol: Revelation is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine Warhol’s complex Catholic faith in relation to his artistic production.

Advanced ticket purchase strongly encouraged and face masks required.

Andy Warhol: Revelation is organized by the Andy Warhol Museum.

Andy Warhol The Last Supper, 1986 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. 1998.1.2126 © 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Presented by:

Additional support from: Christina Lee Brown The Paradis Family LG&E and KU Foundation DDW, The Color House Land Rover of Louisville Contemporary exhibition support provided by: Augusta and Gill Holland Emily Bingham and Stephen Reily Exhibition season support provided by: Dav Fam Art Fund Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein Paul and Deborah Chellgren Debra and Ronald Murphy Eleanor Bingham Miller

Media support from:

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Friday 3 – 8 Saturday & Sunday 10 – 5

speedmuseum.org

SPEED MUSEUM AT HOME Until the doors of the Speed Art Museum reopen on July 5, you can take virtual tours of our programs and exhibits from home!

 Make Your Own Story Activity

 Interview with the Director of Hilma af Klint

 Flower Power Pop Art Activity

 Speed Cinema Streaming: Shirley Trailer

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"Beautiful Reflection"

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

JEANEEN BARNHART The Art of Drawing

by Amy Higgs Art is beauty. Art is healing. Whether it is on the stage or on canvas, creative inspiration is all around us. We are excited to showcase the amazing people behind Louisville’s vibrant visual arts scene in our Audience Artist Spotlight in each issue.

We’re grateful to have the chance to shine the light on some of the most talented artists in the city and hope you enjoy our selections.

This month’s spotlight is on Jeaneen Barnhart, a Louisville transplant whose expressive equine and figurative drawings have been exhibited in notable galleries from Lexington to New York City, and graced the sets of HBO’s Entourage and ABC’s Body of Proof. She recently was licensed to create an ongoing collection of powerful drawings depicting 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, the most recognizable name in Thoroughbred racing.

A native of Florida, Jeaneen and her twin sister, Doreen DeHart, both began painting at around 4 years old. “I started selling 64

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“The idea of creating something that moves anyone, whether expressing passion, pain or a simple intimate gesture, can give me that extra boost of energy." portraits of friends and sketches of superheroes while in middle school,” says Jeaneen. “At that point, I knew I wanted to be a professional artist.”

Her love for human figure drawing started to develop when she was about 7 years old. By the time she entered high school, she could create a portrait that looked like a photograph.

In college, her professors challenged her to lose her attachment to drawing the “perfect” figure and become more abstract in her work. She eventually came back to figure drawing, M A G A Z I N E

and now combines all of the elements of abstraction with her talent for capturing the lines and movement of the human body.

After she received her BFA in painting from Alfred University, Jeaneen joined Doreen in Louisville. “As soon as I moved to Louisville in 1992, I caught on to this horse racing town and met all the right folks in the art industry,” she says. “Probably the 1994 Kentucky Derby Festival poster design may be considered the big break for me. My artwork was launched and visible to the greatest audience. Not just those who appreciate and collect art, but the general public.” She also participated in her first group art show that featured her figurative work that year.

She and Doreen have partnered on five Kentucky Derby Festival posters, the 2010 Derby commemorative bottle for Woodford Reserve, and two St. James Court Art Show posters. “Having my twin sister involved as my graphic designer was the best partner I could have,” Jeaneen says.

“Together, we succeeded in making a strong impact in the local community and beyond.”

Jeaneen works out of her home studio in Louisville, where she says “80 percent of my house is dedicated to workspace.”

Her work primarily includes finished charcoal/pastel drawings, loose oil paintings and quick studies focused on both figurative and equine anatomy, expression and passion.

She creates small to large scale pieces on both paper and canvas.

“My execution is usually fast, as I have no desire to create portraits. Instead, I want to create a piece that represents an emotional connection to myself and my audience,” Jeaneen says.

Her inspiration comes in many forms, but what inspires her most is the response she gets from her supporters and clients. “The idea of creating something that moves anyone, whether expressing passion, pain or a simple intimate gesture, can give me that extra boost of energy.

Yet, after making art all these years, it’s not always so easy to approach the paper or canvas and be certain of what’s going to make me happy. My work relies on a spontaneous J U N E

Jeaneen Barnhart is known for her dynamic equine art, including "Beautiful Rampage" (left) and "Full Charge" (right). Her art has graced movies sets for Orphan Horse and My Husbands Secret Wife, and one of her most notable collectors is designer Ralph Lauren, who displays two of her equine drawings in his Polo Bar NYC.

flow charged by determination. So, at any given moment, I must be ready. Perhaps you could easily say I am ‘on call’ to my work.”

That unwavering dedication is what’s enabled her to achieve notoriety in the art world, in Louisville and beyond. Jeaneen says she’s grateful for “not having to knock on gallery doors, in the hopes that someone would look at my portfolio. Clients and gallery owners reach out to me, desiring my work, and that is a not only an accomplishment, but an honor.”

Jeaneen adds that she has no plans of slowing down.

She intends to paint and draw until it’s “physically impossible.”

Asked if there’s a commission project she’d like to take on or a location she’d like to see her art displayed, she says, “If I had the resources, I would love to create an abstract equine sculpture for Cherokee Triangle!”

Louisville is so incredibly fortunate to count Jeaneen as one of our own! To view a gallery of her work, or to purchase original art and prints, visit her website: artsocool.com

QUICK FACTS: Age: 53 | Hometown: Miami Hobbies, other than making art: Fishing A few favorite artists: Joan Mitchell, Egon Schiele and Henri Toulouse Lautrec 2 0 2 0

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C R A F T E D C A R E F U L LY. D R I N K R E S P O N S I B LY.

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WOODFORD RESEA RVEU I S AD R E GII S TE E R EN D T RC A D E MEA R K . M © 2 0 2A 0 BG ROWA N - F OZR M I A N .N A L L ER I G H T S R E S E R V E D .