11 minute read
UM Symphony Orchestra
from The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Spring 2011 Press Book: Select Previews and Reviews
by umd_arhu
UMD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: EMBARK!
PHOTO BY: STAN BAROUH
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Maryland Community News Online
Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011
Keeping it real
Clarice Smith's spring schedule tackles some gritty subjects
by David Hill | Staff Writer
The upcoming spring season at the University of Maryland, College Park's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center features artists from as close as the university and Prince George's County to as far away as Ireland.
The center, which opened in 2001, plans to host dozens of theatrical, music and dance productions from late January to May. The season will offer a captivating blend of university productions and visiting performers, said Paul Brohan, the center's director of artistic initiatives.
"We have a very intentional mix of what we present," Brohan said. "It mirrors the mission of the center overall ... to transform lives through sustained engagement with the arts."
Play tells story of recovering Iraq veteran
Among the season's early highlights is "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter," which is produced by UM's School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies and is scheduled to run for eight shows from Feb. 11 to 19.
The play — written by Los Angeles playwright Julie Marie Myatt — tells the story of Jenny Sutter, an injured Marine who returns home from Iraq with an amputated leg and struggles to make sense of her experiences and adjust to her new life.
UM theater professor Leslie Felbain, who will direct the school's production, said she was drawn
Ros Kavanagh/Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Terminus is a contemporary verse play, which explores a stark yet imaginative idea of contemporary alternative Irish urban lifestyles, provoking passionate responses from Dublin to Melbourne to the American shores. From left, Catherine Walker, Declan Conlon and Olwen Fouere are part of the Abbey Theatre, an Irish company scheduled to perform in College Park in March.
to the play's depiction of the struggles many veterans go through, as well as the role their communities play in helping them to heal. In the play, Sutter is comforted by residents of Slab City, an abandoned Marine barracks-turned-trailer park.
"I loved the play. It just made sense to me," said Felbain, who will preside over a 12-student cast. She said she was further inspired by her personal experience meeting a friend whose son lost an arm in Afghanistan. "The piece is very hopeful in how fellow human beings can help each other, and that
healing is possible within a community."
Irish production
While "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" features a dozen on-campus performers, actors will come to College Park all the way from Ireland on March 17 to 18, as the Abbey Theatre puts on two productions of "Terminus."
The century-old, Dublin-based theater company will visit the campus as one of several stops on its U.S. tour. The play uses interlocking monologues to tell the story of a middle-aged woman, her estranged daughter and a serial killer who are thrown into a world of angels and demons.
"The play is pretty hard-hitting and gritty in the way it treats urban culture," Brohan said. "[The Abbey Theatre] is a very tradition-rich company that's not often seen in the U.S."
PBS, NPR to feature youth musicians
The center also plans to highlight young musicians, both locally and nationally, as it hosts a taping of the PBS and National Public Radio series "From the Top" on April 16. The program features classical instrumentalists and vocalists ages 8 to 18, as they perform and reveal their stories and personalities through interviews.
The show, which premiered in 2000, is hosted by pianist Christopher O'Riley, who conducts interviews and often provides musical accompaniment. Its 90-minute shows typically feature five artists or groups, and are edited down to a one-hour broadcast.
"The extraordinary experience of actually seeing these world-class performances come out of a 12year-old kid is really remarkable," O'Riley said. "It is my job to make them as comfortable as I can. They have very different personalities and express their interests in music in very different ways."
O'Riley said the program aims to profile the young artists, while also widening appreciation of classical music within all age groups. He said the typical "From the Top" audience features adults and children, the type of crowd that is rarely seen at a typical classical concert.
"It seeks to be more inclusive," O'Riley said. "Their peers see a kid who has played violin for three or four years, and the impression they get is, ‘Gee, if I found something I was passionate about, I could do anything.' We're pretty proud of that."
CSPAC also plans to host numerous student productions and orchestra recitals, as well as visiting performances including Radio Macbeth — a play about actors who nearly go mad when visited by ghosts of past performers during a rehearsal on Feb. 4 and 5; and a one-woman show by actress Anna Deavere Smith on March 8 and 9.
YOU’RE THE CRITIC
On a weekly basis, the Clarice Smith Center gathers qualitative feedback from critical reviews, campus and community partners and participants. As part of a national research project, we have instituted regular e-surveys following performances, entitled "You’re the Critic," which enable us to assess the impact of these arts experiences on individuals. This direct feedback is posted on the Center’s website, and in many of the responses, patrons praise the Center not only for bringing specific shows or artists to campus, but also for our overall approach to presenting.
SITI COMPANY: RADIO MACBETH
UMD SCHOOL OF THEATRE, DANCE, & PERFORMANCE STUDIES: WELCOME HOME , JENNY SUTTER
“The show was very thought-provoking. Like many people I thought I was aware of the issues our troops can face when they return from combat, but this play made me very painfully aware of how naive I have allowed myself to be. All of the performers were good, and a few of them wereexceptional. When you catch yourself feeling for the actor what you felt for his character it is clear the actor mastered his character. Congratulations to all who were involved. I had to come back and see it again. Everything was very efficient, and the staff was very friendly.”
UMD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: JUST REPLIES
“It was wonderful. Whoever came up with the idea to show pix of Shostakovich, Stalin etc. should be complimented; those along with the lighting effects and even the orchestra's red & black clothes made for nice surprise effect atop the power of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony. Very moving (I admit to shedding tears of emotion at the end). The piano soloist in the Rachmaninoffwas excellent; listening to her, and the entire young orchestra, play makes someone like me who's loved classical music for 55 years believe that there is still hope for it in the future, despite declining/aging audiences (seeing all the young folksin the audience is encouraging,too).”
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH: A PERFORMANCE AND CONVERSATION, FEATURING PORTRAITS FROM LET ME DOWN EASY
“Anna Deavere Smith was EXCELLENT. She gave moving and interactive performances. It was nice to see her exchange with the Mr. Nossel who was the moderator for the after-performance discussion. I was pleased to be able to ask Anna Deavere Smith a question during the audience question segment. From the box office to the ushers, to the young man who sold me two of Anna's books, everyone was polite and wonderful.”
MARYLAND OPERA STUDIO: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (THE BARBER OF SEVILLE)
MARYLAND OPERA STUDIO: DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL (ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO)
“Really great singing and orchestra. And very funny too. Totally enjoyed the experience. I can’t believe that these aren’t professional actors out there!
KRONOS QUARTET: THE AMERICA PROGRAM
LUCINDA CHILDS: DANCE
“It was fantastic. It took a very brave, original, and creative person to produce it. The combination of arts (film, dance, technology) was inspiring. The imagesof dancers and the real dancers merged so that you couldn’t tell which was which. Is the imagination more real than reality? Both are needed for art, imagination, and the real ability to create. The dance movements were great.”
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