‘The Gate’ crashes together two completely different traditions
So, just what would a mash-up of Kabuki theater and western musical look like? Not sure, but UNH Prof David Kaye (UNH Theater department) has witnessed just that and is bringing it to his program and you could bring it to yours.
This unique commingling was first witnessed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, when Kaye attended to present “How I Brought Peace to the Middle East,” accompanied by his “crew” daughters Emily and Abby.
“Of course we were seeing tons of stuff. … We went our separate ways on several occasions. They went and saw ‘The Gate,’ (by Kaso Jogi). They thought it was wonderful, the style so interesting,” Kaye says. “They were so into it they wanted to see it a second time. … I thought if they wanted to see it that bad, I should go too.
“(‘The Gate’) really crashes together two completely different traditions a very traditional Kabuki-inspired style, mashed into Western-style musical theater,” he says. “I found them very captivating. Then I didn’t think much about it after.”
At the time Kaye was in conversations with an Egyptian artist he hoped to bring as the next international guest artist for the University of New Hampshires Cultural Stages program. Then communication stopped, and he was “back to square one,” he says. “Then I thought, wait a minute, what about those people from Japan.”
The sticking point was the number of artists required. Cultural Stages, endowed by Ellis Woodward, is designed for a single artist; the troupe numbered more than a half dozen.
He connected with Kaso Jogi. It was decided the director, composer, and manager/translator would arrive first (Jan. 18) to present pre-workshops etc.
“So we had to figure out a way with the funds that we had (to) bring three instead of one,” he says. “And, figured it out!”
The rest of the troupe arrives a week before the performance (Feb. 19, 2020), which is the premier of the musical’s English version. Twenty UNH students will also perform.
While in New Hampshire, the company will be available to do programming with other other organizations. For info write [email protected], for a promo video see: www.youtube.com/embed/P2J19_GR6r4?enablejsapi=1&=1&playsinline=1
Kaye’s talents extend to producer, playwright, director and actor. “The Haber Conundrum,” his latest, original one-man show, was produced this summer, to rave reviews. The plan is to film “Haber” (based on German Jew chemist Fritz Haber, 1868-1934), at and with the support of the Portsmouth Public TV crew.
“Right now I’m working my way through a bunch of power play projects,” Kaye says. “Once I can take a breath (I’ll) turn my attention back to Haber.”
Ben Bagley moves on to the main stage
The Rep’s Media Manager Ben Bagley (also musician, actor and techie) has dipped his toe into directing a number of times with its teen company and now it’s on to the main stage
Bagley will direct the company’s “Christmas Carol,” a musical; “just this gigantic Christmas spectacular,” Bagley says. “It’s going to be a … Radio City Music Hall scale extravaganza. Let’s keep using these (adjectives), because it’s wild!”
All his teen main stage shows, such as “Newsies” and “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” were large, but this one tops them.
“It’s larger than life, so it was important to find larger than life actors, … so that any single person in the cast could dominate a room if they needed to but, can also turnaround when called for and be intimate, or heartbreaking.”
For that reason Bagley cast Kevin Mahaney as Scrooge, “the first step in setting the tone for the scale and style of the show.”
“Kevin is one of those rare actors that can perform these larger-then-life characters and at the same time still be a believable person, which is not a common quality,” Bagley says. “AND he can sing it.”
Handling the show is about taking it a scene or production number at time, a half scene in some case, he says. Shaking his head he adds, “the opening is 14-minutes of songs all woven together.”
“It feels like an event,” Bagley says. “The dream is to peek out at the audience and see that everyone is smiling.”
“Christmas Carol” opens Nov. 29, info at https://seacoastrep.org.
Meanwhile Bagley is busy with other projects. He’s currently designing lights for the Teen Mainstage Production of “Legally Blonde,” and the Props for “Assassins.”
“Oh,” he says, “and I’m designing lights for ‘Christmas Carol’ too.”
Formichelli, Altschiller merge their talents
Jordan Formichelli (Theaterography) and Marina Altschiller (Dive In) have worked a number of projects together over the past few years, either under one or other’s production company, or as collaborators. Now they are officially “one thing,” with Formicelli joining Altschiller’s Dive In as its artistic director.
“We’ve been collaborating … but I’d never officially been onboard with her production company,” Formichelli says. “I didn’t even know she had one till we brought ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ to Hatbox (in Concord).”
The two spent all of 2018 working on Dive In’s “Little Shop,” which opened in May 2019, including beefing up it’s social media presence. During the process it became apparent they enjoyed working together, and with the people they were attracting.
“That’s when Marina said ‘we’re going to go a little more legit. … How does this sound. I’ll be executive director and you the artistic director?'” she says. “Marina is good with development and outreach, and I like to take on more of the marketing aspect and talking through building a season. But we both love team building, and we both have pretty strong networks. … And so that’s kind of why we wanted to merge.”
The plan is to continue developing the company, especially on the seacoast. A few new projects are already in discussion.
“Dogfight” is Dive In’s current project, now at the Players’ Ring (through Oct. 6, info at https://playersring.org/schedule/).
“I adore Marina, she just has this resilience about her. Her attitude, and infections energy, it’s amazing to work off, and I find inspiration from that,” Formichelli says. “It’s great to have a collaborator you’re so in sync with.”
Lisbon moves on from Hackmatack
By now most of the theater community knows Crystal Lisbon stepped down as artistic director at Hackmatack Playhouse after a five-year tenure. Executive Producer Michael Guptill says he’d known since hiring Lisbon this was coming.
“She actually told me. … She has a firm belief that a theater needs to change the artistic director every five to seven years, that it’s better for the theater,” Guptill says. “We’ve had a good five years.”
Lisbon, a librarian in Dover, isn’t leaving the area. “She hasn’t left to pick-up a job,” he says. “And I have a very good feeling she’ll be doing other things for us in the future, just not artistic director.”
Guptill says Lisbon’s time at the Playhouse was a success.
“I knew she’d bring excellent skills in acting and choreography. But what I didn’t realize is she’s so organized, and that she would do such a great job mothering everyone.”
Theater teams come from everywhere and of different stripes, “and we have a short time to get things done.” Therefore Lisbon’s additional skill made a big difference in the theater’s culture. “You have to have that mother hen to keep everyone happy,” Guptill says. “She did that wonderfully.”
The new artistic director has been selected and will be announced in late 2019.
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