Review: Compleat Female Stage Beauty: Mildred's Umbrella

Photo by Anthony Rathbun

Mildred's Umbrella, the little theater company with a penchant for thinking big, takes a trip down restoration England lane with Jeffery Hatcher's delightful comedy Compleat Female Stage Beauty. Hatcher chronicles the bumpy road for male actors when women were allowed back on stage, to play, what else, women. It doesn't come as good news for one male actor, Edward Kynaston, who regularly brings the house down with his histrionic portrayal of Desdemona. When the dames enter the scene, with no shortage of assorted mischief, the renown actor is reduced to a shadow of his former self, busing the coffee cups of the local forever-scribbling critic at a seedy tavern.

The cast contains some standout performances. Chris Rivera delivers a nuanced performance as Kynaston, vibrant, but with the pathos in all the right places. Steve Bullitt, as Villiars, Duke of Buckingham, keeps us guessing on the play's gender bender highjinks. Marion Kirby's King Charles II anchors the play with swift comic timing. Timothy Evers renders the sniveling green room crashing critic, Samuel Pepys, with a combination of glee and gusto. Liz Cascio's performance as the demure theater maid turned actress contains understated grace, and Christie Guidry Stryk delivers a good turn as Margaret Hughes, the woman who started all the trouble. Stephen Myers as the resident villain, Sir Charles Sedley, pulls of garish outfits, outrageous wigs, and period style evil with panache.

But it's Sara Jo Dunstan as Nell Gwynn, King Charles' resident prostitute, who steals our hearts and just about every scene she is in. Dunstan radiates punch, charisma and delicious exuberance; she's an attention magnet at every turn.

It's a big show for Mildred, and the production looks a bit stretched and stuffed into their tiny home at Midtown Arts Center. But what the play lacks in extravagance it makes up in sheer feisty energy, and some of that tightness actually works for the play. The voluptuousness of Hatcher's play remains nicely intact despite budget constrains. Veteran Houston director Ron Jones directs with a keen eye for period mannerisms and a spunky, farcical pace. Imagine Masterpiece Theater but with way more sass. Jodi Bobrovski's set does a lot with very little—a row of elevated chairs as the interior of a theater, a dressing room table, and of course, a pillow filled bed, where much of the action takes place. Kelly Robertson's fanciful costumes sparkle in the intimate setting.

In the end, Kynaston realizes he's not such a shabby Othello after all, something he figured out after deciding not to off Desdemona with his velvet pearl-encrusted pillow. The plays pulls you in and leaves you wondering what Kynaston finally did with his Hamlet. All in all, an entertaining few hours, guaranteed to quell your econ-woes for at least the duration of this zesty play.

Mildred's Umbrella presents Jeffrey Hatcher's Compleat Female Stage Beauty at Midtown Arts Center, 3414 La Branch, through February 28^th . Call 832-418-0585 or visit www.mildredsumbrella.com

Dancers in the Wings

Come out and see what Hope Stone artistic director Jane Weiner has been up to for the past several months. She will be showing about 45 minutes of her new piece, then we talk about it, all of us together. If you have ever wanted to ask a choreographer what's swimming around in their creative noggin while making a dance, this is your time to come and find out. Should be fun. It's this Sunday at 3pm at the Kaplan theater at the JCC.

Walk by Dances: Leslie Scates on Installation Dancing at the Spacetaker Synergy Gala

Dance Source Houston: What attracted you to working with Spacetaker?

Leslie Scates: Spacetaker consistently supports fringe and emerging artists. Founder David Brown continues to challenge us all to work where our hearts are. I am drawn to work with Spacetaker because I will be allowed to stretch my performance paradigm with an educated and up for anything audience.

DSH: Has your previous work with “Drive by Dances” morphed into walk by dances with martini in hand?

LS: Dances in situ allow an audience to self-edit a performance. Working inside a 360 degree perspective calls me to craft movement without dictated spatial orientations. Tiffany Couser and I are planning new versions of Drive By Dancing based on work we did this last year for camera near the Brazos River south of Houston. I am constantly distracted by roadside locations that holler out to me: “Hey! Dance in me!”

DSH: I have this memory of taking a walk in the woods (with a busload of others) at Blackwood Land Institute and running into you doing your Amish/Samurai thing. It was an odd feeling, as if I had entered a dance already in motion. You seem to enjoy playing with that boundary between performer and audience.

LS: I enjoyed the Blackwood Dances we created because I was working with Drive By Dancing at that time, and it was a natural sideways move to get dancing in the country. Place and Site profoundly expand / layers the context in which our choreography is created/absorbed/experienced. “Found theater” is everywhere. Places and sites energize and fuel my dancing brain. Happening onto a dance is a happy accident, a shooting star, like seeing a wild animal in its habitat. There is an immediate sense of interrupting something, which physically involves a viewer, demanding presence in the dance moment. No barrier between performance and viewer. We create a choreographic climate by being in a specific habitat, inviting dance and audience to create together out in the world.

DSH: I love the term “choreographic climate” and I plan to steal it soon, thanks. Audiences are so used to plopping their butts down and watching. I will be curious how you actually give permission for audiences to come and go. I, for one, will be attending to that. Perhaps our coming and going will be part of the dance. Where's the fun and challenge of performing in non-traditional venues?

LS: Working with fresh attack is always exciting. Fitting into an unknown space accesses adaptation skills human beings possess. The challenge is designing a dance that works to make use of all idiosyncratic features of a given space.

DSH: You seem to be living up to the title I bestowed on you in Dance Spirit magazine, Houston's reigning queen of Improv. How's that crown feel and tell us about your recent studies in that direction?

LS: When you named me “The Queen,” I thought immediately: Queens are overthrown or beheaded, and new rulers make up new rules. I reinvented myself to myself a few years ago when I retrained myself as an improviser. I study composition deeply by creating it in the moment with ensemble work and my solo movement world remains deeply affected by my work with Nina Martin, Lower Left, and improvisers from Colorado, New York, Seattle, Mexico, Europe and Texas.

DSH: I wasn't thinking of a coup d’état to the improv castle at all. It was a title of honor for all your serious study in improvisation.

LS: I have improvised with several local dance companies, numerous students and Houston dancers, sharing improvisation techniques that others have thoughtfully shared with me. I continue to work as a choreographer by performing/studying improvisation. I find giant satisfaction in performing improvisations with giving, risk-taking dancers that have a deep capacity for concentration and a loose grip on ego. Although, we would not move around in public if there were no ego involved. I like an audience and the chemical exchange that interaction provides. Adrenaline junkies never die. I want to work with people who can ignore the drive/worry /entertain a crowd and dig deep in performance, which can be truly entertaining, hilarious, and powerfully physical.

DSH: I know you work with very specific scores, and for you improvisation is not just making it up on the spot. Not everybody reading this knows what a score is, so can you give us an idea of some of the scores you will be working with for the gala?

LS: Jordan Fuchs and I will be improvising to music and silence. We have practiced contact Improvisation together at several workshops in the last two years. We set up a couple of big images to work with and then go. We will structure ourselves with a time limit. We don’t dance “to” the music we use, we dance “to” each other. We build movement vocabulary and phrasing on the spot. A score is a map for an improvisation. It’s how we know what to stay focused on so we don’t do a lot of wasted flailing around. Jordan and I bounce off each other’s movements and bodies. I think there may be chairs involved.

DSH: Tell us about your cohort this time around.

LS: Jordan Fuchs is on the faculty at Texas Woman’s University. Jordan teaches contact improvisation and contemporary dance at TWU. We are hosting a contact improvisation jam at American College Dance Festival this March at Texas A&M. I am elevated through my work with Jordan up to now, and I expect I will continue to grow as I work with him. This is our first public performance together.

DSH: Give us a crash course in Scates watching. Will it be OK to talk, sip fine wine, and be part of the dance?

LS: Notice the space. Notice the bodies in the space. Notice the sounds in the space. Let details be the dance. Let there be a story or leave narrative out of the dance. Watch for movement you like. Watch for moments that make sense. Enjoy your cocktail. Like what you like and allow your senses to be a guide to viewing. Keep breathing. Your contribution of vision and observance are gratefully accepted. Drink all you want and feel free to talk while in the dancing space.

What else is coming down the road?

LS: I am performing with Teresa Chapman in her DiverseWorks residency "The Convenient Woman" first two weekends in April. I am performing February 24,25 in NYC with Lower Left. I am going to March2Marfa in March and studying with Deborah Hay and performing with the March2Marfa lab participants on March 28 in Marfa, Texas and performing with Rice Dance Theatre on April 17 and 18 at Hamman Hall at Rice.

DSH: Any last words of wisdom from the making it up as you go road?

LS: The make it up as you go road has shifting speed limits and fuel in the form of sweat. Hitch hikers and drivers share giving rides. I like to drive my vehicle all over the road, in the air, and use a seatbelt when situations require restraint and discipline. I am finding substance and sparkling content in the work I am engaging in, spontaneously creating in performance and in life. The make it up as you go road fits me and I am thankful to have found support for my efforts to please myself with dance making. I am glad I work with artists that are creating and sustaining the technique of improvisation. Nina Martin calls it a performance language. I am immersed in a culture that feeds me and solicits / elicits the best dancing I have in my bodybrain.

DSH: Forget the “queen label,” you are more the Jack Kerouac of the dance improv world.

Leslie Scates performs as part of Synergy, the fifth annual Spacetaker Gala on Saturday, February 21, 7-11pm, at Winter Street Studios. Call 713-868-1839 or visit www.spacetaker.org

Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.

Walsh on Bourne

Domenico Luciano in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.

Photo by Mark Roden

Dominic Walsh will be the first to bring Matthew Bourne's work to Houston, and there's more. Dominic Walsh Dance Theater is only dance company outside of Bourne's own troupe to have received permission to perform the pas de deux from Bourne's revolutionary Swan Lake, a gender bender ballet that turned the classic on its feathered head. Walsh tells the story below.

Dance Source Houston: How did you meet Matthew Bourne?

Dominic Walsh: We were both setting works on The Sarasota Ballet and staying at Iain Webb's (the artistic director) house. He was setting Infernal Gallop and I was creating Wolfgang for Webb.

DSH: Did you connect?

DW: I was nervous at first. But I found him so approachable and easy to talk to. There's no airs about him at all. I have such respect for his work and I resonate on so many levels with his process. So, yes, I felt a strong connection. He watched my techs and dress rehearsals and gave me ideas on lighting. He was very generous.

DSH: Did he know your work?

DW: I don't know. He checked out my website while I was there and watched my Sleeping Beauty, which he really enjoyed. So, he knows my work now.

DSH: So how did you end up getting the pas from his Swan Lake?

DW: I couldn't gather enough nerve to ask him while I was there so I asked him in an email. I didn't hear back right away, but Iain assured me that he doesn’t always respond to emails right away, so I emailed him again. I heard back immediately and he said yes, it would be perfect for us and that Domenico should be the Swan and you the prince. It was amazing.

DSH: What happened next?

DW: We went to London and learned the piece in four days from Scott Ambler, the original Prince, and Etta Murfitt, both Artistic Associates. Matt came in the last day to clean up. All three of them were very encouraging and complimentary to us, especially with Domenico’s interpretation and the many qualities he brings to the role. At one point after our run for Etta on the third day, she expressed that some sections are looking the best she’s seen.

DSH: What do you find remarkable in Bourne's Swan Lake?

DW: I saw it in London in 1997 and thought it was the most brilliant piece. It's so respectful of the music; he gave a new chapter of life to Tchaikovsky's score. There's such honesty in its human gestural moments as well, he's made poetry from the mundane. You can learn more on the piece at Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

DSH: How does this pas de deux speak to you as a male dancer?

DW: Well, almost any male dancer that has seen this ballet wants to do the part of the Swan. It's so multifaceted and challenging for a dancer on so many levels.

DSH: I suppose you danced a lot of Swan Lakes in your career.

DW: Yes. I danced the role of Siegfried in Ben Stevenson's Swan Lake for years.

DSH: What about the role of the Swan for Domencio?

DW: At 6'3'' he is a powerful presence, and then he has those dark brooding eyes. He's a great fit for the role, and it’s a perfect vehicle for him. He has this calm adagio quality, and gives such care to all of his choices. It's his year.

DSH: And you get to the dance the role of the prince again?

DW: This is a prince of a different order. It's about a man that has never known freedom or comfort, and he's created this beautiful bird in his imagination, an image that holds the idea of peace and freedom. I think he has manifested a companion to hang on to and break free with. Like the traditional Swan Lake, Matthew’s role of the Prince also has the dilemma of needing to break free from his responsibilities of royalty, but has a more multifaceted physiological journey through the production.

DSH: Is it daunting to be the first person dancing Bourne in Houston?

DW: No. It's exciting, especially knowing I have Matt's blessing.

DSH: The show also features Jirí Kylián's Double You, and two of your older works, Bello, winner of three 2005 Dance Europe Critic's Choice awards, and For the Two of You, created in honor of Julie Gumbinner and Lucas Priolo's wedding. How did that piece come about?

DW: The work developed from a place of simple honest gestures toward each other that really demonstrated who these accomplished dancers are as people. We have two couples dancing the duet from our company and they have really taken it to a new and wonderful place.

DHS: How do you see the whole feel of the show?

DW: It will be a great introduction to the company. If you thought Titus Andronicus was too much to handle, you can see another, sweeter side of Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. And there's also a bit of a Valentine's theme going on as well.

DSH: What's up next?

DW: Big stuff. We end our season with The Trilogy-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart It's a huge cast, as Dominic Walsh Dance Theater will join forces with the Sarasota Ballet. We will be performing in Sarasota and here. This idea of “The Trilogy” has literally exploded into a major event. Amadeus won my second Choo-San Goh award and Mozart won the Princess Grace Award. Designers Libbie Masterson, Nic Phillips, and Domenico Luciano make up a perfect team to explore this wildly familiar and successful composer. I hope to bring something new to the way we see music and hear dance and The Trilogy has proven to provide just that. Mozart’s music is timeless and powerful – it absolutely perpetuates growth for me as a movement inventor.

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater presents Bourne-Kylián-Walsh: A Masterful Mixed Repertoire on February 12-14, 2009 at 7:30 PM, at Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilkha Hall. Call 713-315-2525 or visit www.dwdt.org.


Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.

Quick Chat with Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus

photo by Mike Dvorak

Pianist Ethan Iversion, former musical director for Mark Morris Dance Group, is coming to Houston, along with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King of the famed category-defying jazz trio The Bad Plus. Known for their novel covers of such iconic songs as Tears for Fears' hit “Everyone Wants to Rule the World” and Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the trio also produces an impressive body of original music. Iverson popped in via email for a fast chat before his Da Camera February 7th show at Cullen.

Dance Source Houston: Thanks for visiting with the Houston dance community. Can you give us a flash history of how you went from being Mark Morris' musical director to being a jazz rock star in The Bad Plus?

Ethan Iverson: Reid and Dave played music together in high school, and I met Reid when he was first-year college and I was still a junior in high school. This band goes back 20 years now! However, we didn't really play a gig until 2001, when it felt really great. I had always planned to leave Mark and pursue jazz full-time, and the two jobs overlapped smoothly.

DSH: How does your time with Morris inform the work you do now?

EI: Mark showed me a magnificent blend of high and low; I think The Bad Plus is in that tradition too. I always say: I didn't get to play with John Coltane, Charles Mingus or Miles Davis, but I did get to play for Mark Morris.

DSH: And how cool is that? Let's talk about covers. As dance people we know covers. We will be covering Giselle until eternity. I am continually amazed at the available space between a piece of choreography and the dancer who re-enacts it. As musicians do you see covering a song as a spacious event as well?

EI: Sure. I cover covers in detail in this blog post.

http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2007/09/just-the-facts.html

DSH: You are all composers as well. What's the creative farming process like over there?

EI: We all write separately and bring the pieces to be fed through the machine of the three of us.

DSH: Can you talk about the Houston show at Cullen?

EI: We are thrilled to be playing in an area we don't get to often enough.

DSH: Talk about your new release For All I Care with Wendy Lewis.

EI: Wendy is a Minnesota indie rock cult hero, and she was the perfect choice for our first collaboration. We believe in the power of song, and working with the human voice was just so logical!

DSH: What gives with the typewriter and will it be coming to Houston?

EI: Hah. I think we all have analog nostalgia these days. Sorry, just the laptops will be with us (but not on stage).

Da Camera of Houston presents The Bad Plus on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 8:00 PM in the Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center. Call 713-524-5050 visit www.dacamera.com.

Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.