REVIEW: Arbor Falls

Kicking off the 2024 season for the SMTD Theater & Drama department is Caridad Svich’s Arbor Falls. It is a more recent piece, premiering in 2022 at Illinois State University. Directed by Tiffany Trent, this reflective and quiet play invites the audience to reflect on themes of community, fear, and change. According to newplayexhange.org, this is the fourth time the play has been fully produced onstage.

Arbor Falls is one part of Svich’s seven-play cycle entitled American Psalm. The plot revolves around the members of the dwindling members of a church within a small unnamed town. The preacher of the church allows a passing traveler to stay in their church, and the town unforgivingly reacts with gossip and rejection. The traveler exposes the spiritual and moral values that lie within their society’s foundation, as a juxtaposition to their seemingly neutral spirituality. The town members pressure the preacher to send the traveler away, as the traveler does not immediately fit into the community. Each character is unnamed and un-gendered, named “Preacher”, “Traveler” or “Churchgoer”, so the presentation of characters in this show is quite flexible. The freedom of dialogue and character presentation within the script was apparent, and I can appreciate how each production of Arbor Falls would have its own nuances based on the performers and community.

Set of Arbor Falls, Lydia Mendelssohn Theater

The set of the play didn’t entirely establish the environment of the town of Arbor Falls. I understood the simplicity of the townspeople’s viewpoints, their closeness to each other, and the dedication and importance of faith in their community, but I didn’t know exactly where we were (physically, or in time) from the assorted colors and textures. One enchanting aspect of the set was the courteous lighting shining through the top window. It functioned, to me, as the ounce of faith and hope left in the town. Which, is dwindling dimmer and dimmer, until a grand event near the end swoops the piece away.

The dramaturg team describes the play as “..an exploration of love, life, and the mess of all things human.” In my own reflection, this is an accurate description of the overall play, with the humble and morally conflicted Preacher, as well as the judgemental and pious Churchgoers. But moments after the curtain call, I found myself parsing through my memory of what actually had happened the last two hours. Svich’s poeticisms often fell short in terms of plot—their stillness and reflection were often lost to the audience. The story depicts itself at a lull through Act I, until an abrupt scene near the end, where the Traveler turns into a ghost(?) or eagle (?) flying away, absorbing the top of the window fixture. This abrupt moment made me question everything that happened before. This moment felt abstract for the groundedness that was created in the hour and a half before. The scene is still simmering in my mind—possibly the only moment that stuck.

Although, Svich’s blatant messaging regarding how communities treat outsiders was clear. She often explores stories of wanderers and the disenfranchised in her plays, connecting to her roots as a child of an immigrant. This relevant messaging shined through the rather monotonous performance.

The Department of Theater & Drama will present Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard in the Arthur Miller Theater later this spring. Shows will run April 4-14. Tickets are available here.

 

 

Photo thanks to University of Michigan SMTD.

REVIEW: The Grown-Ups

At the end of your time at SMTD many seniors choose to show off their skills and talents in a senior thesis. This weekend I had the chance to see such a performance. The Grown-Ups written by Skylar Fox and Simon Henriques is the directorial senior thesis of SMTD student Leah Block. It’s a two act play that follows five camp counselors as they navigate their friendships with each other, their collective and individual pasts, and their role as counselors. The play is a comedy, and while it does cover more serious topics in act two, it generally keeps that tone throughout.

One of the first things I noticed about the performance was how the space was arranged. The audience surrounded the stage, which consisted of a small circle of lawn chairs on a blanket. Everyone in the audience was seated in a chair on the floor too, and it made the space feel like being at camp. I could totally imagine being in the woods and watching this while sitting on some kind of makeshift chair (maybe something like a tree stump).

The plot mainly centers around Cassie’s experience as a new counselor at the camp. Mostly consisting of her struggles to fit in and gain acceptance from the other counselors, many of whom have been coming to camp since they were children themselves. The use of props and costumes is another thing that I really enjoyed about the play, and Cassie’s gradual acceptance could be tracked through her accumulation of stickers, camp paraphernalia, and camp specific acronyms.

Another aspect of the plot relies on the counselors abilities to shield the campers from a heated debate online, which made me think about how weird and strangely isolating summer camp is in general. Who thought it was a good idea to entrust a large group of kids to a small group of people barely not kids themselves? The play touched on this concept many times, and it was made all the more entertaining by the increasing severity of the conflict in the outside world.

Overall I really enjoyed the chance to see The Grown-Ups. I always really enjoy the opportunity to see productions by other SMTD students, but I found this one particularly funny, and a uniquely versatile setting and concept.

Picture from The School of Music, Theatre & Dance events website.

 

REVIEW: Arbor Falls

7:30pm • Thursday, Feb. 15, 2023 • Lydia Mendelssohn Theater

The School of Theater, Music and Dance’s production of Arbor Falls this last week was a unique and memorable take on faith, community, and change. Arbor Falls tells the story of a small town grappling with change. A traveling stranger has come to town, granted refuge in the preacher’s small, failing church. The stranger’s presence in Arbor Falls resurfaces the old hurts and prides of the residents’ lineages, forcing them to reckon with what it means to preserve one’s history and when to move on. Having grown up in a small town, it was interesting to compare and contrast the world created in the play with my own personal experiences.

For me, the best part of this play was the script, the core around which the rest of the performance was built. The play was written by Caridad Svich, a much-awarded playwright who also translates works of theatre in English and Spanish. For me, it felt like she captured the essential characters and perspectives of a small town, then romanticized them into something altered but recognizable. Arbor Falls was like my home-town portrayed through an Art Nouveau lens, all curliques and flourishes. She wrote much of the dialogue in an unusual syntax, perhaps meant to evoke rural dialects, which engaged my curiosity. I could sort of imagine the script being read by people I grew up around, but those words felt awkward spoken in theatre students’ voices. Real but unreal.

Stylistically, the production felt untethered in time and space. The Arbor Falls onstage was like no small town I’ve ever lived in, but recognizable at the same time. Svich’s treatment of religion in the script merged the mundane with the otherworldly, and the set and costumes materialized this tension. The costumes were a bit bohemian–they reminded me of clothes you would see at a small folky music festival, or maybe a renaissance fair, made new to look old. Not like anything I’ve ever seen anyone wear, but they helped create the unique world of Arbor Falls. Similarly, elements of the set, like the preacher’s pulpit, appeared to in the process of sinking into (or emerging from) boulders. Or, perhaps, they were symbolically embedded in the land as a representation of the characters’ roots in Arbor Falls.

Overall, I thought Arbor Falls was a beautiful interpretation of how we might maintain or fail to maintain our values, how we grapple with the baggage of our heritage to navigate change. I wish I could watch it again to really grasp all of the nuances in the language, but I deeply enjoyed my experience watching this last Thursday.

Featured image from SMTD digital program.

REVIEW: Alexandra Collins’s “Hyper Light”

Seeing Stars with Alexandra Collins’s Exuberant “Hyper Light”. 

On Friday February 16th, I had the pleasure of attending the opening reception of Stamps senior Alexandra Collins’s first solo exhibition “Hyper Light ”. The work is on display at The Common Cup, an Ann Arbor coffee shop on Washtenaw Avenue.  From still lifes of jello molds and glassware, to large zinging abstracts of flowers and shapes, the series is a colorful and bold exploration of the relationship between energy and tension.

“Red Jello on Purple Tablecloth”

Collins’s eye finds movement in stillness. Investigating the organic in the inorganic, she uses bold colors and streaky light to create energetic portraits of jello and glass. The tension between energy and stillness holds as a focal point in her still lifes like the horizon of a sea scape. The lively dynamic style contrasts and emphasizes the stillness of the subjects like a loud silence. Maybe you shouldn’t have ordered that second Mayan Mocha, or maybe you caught the jello jiggling from the corner of your eye.

 

“Superbloom”

Collins plays with the constraints of the canvas, in some works lining up several panels, in others tacking panels on in unexpected ways. The larger and more abstract pieces expand and challenge what can contain them. Pieces such as “Superbloom” are colorful menageries of plant life, bubbles and baubles, and streaks of light. Reminiscent of exploding stars and streaking galaxies, the arrangements represent a synthesis of color, shape, and form. The flowers are closed, and the paint around them vibrates and thrusts and sings like it just can’t be held anymore. Like the build up of a song with no release, we are held in those moments before explosion.

On a blustery February day, the basement location of the exhibition makes the colorful paintings feel like an underground secret, like spring charging beneath the earth. I felt a celebration and investigation of the feminine in the flower motifs and dining room still lifes. The celestial exuberance and energetic synthesis of shapes and color asking what feminine energy might look like, and where we could put it down. When I parked at a table for a few hours to sip coffee and send out piles of resumes and cover letters, I felt Hyper Lights hum resonating around me, not with the glory of the finish line, but with potential.

“Supernova”

“Hyper Light” will be on display at The Common Cup on Washtenaw Avenue for about two more weeks, until March 2nd. The paintings are an energetic and possibility expanding presence in the cafe, which is a great place to study or meet with friends. You can find more of Collins’s work on her website and instagram, or by attending Commence, a graduating senior exhibition held at the Stamps Gallery in April.

 

 

 

 

REVIEW: Gershwin Centennial Celebration

The University of Michigan’s School of Music is the world’s leading institution for the study of the work of the Gershwin brothers. SMTD partnered with the Gershwin family in 2013, and since then the team behind the Initiative has continued to educate and deliver George and Ira Gershwin’s iconic music to Ann Arbor community and beyond. Gershwin’s most beloved piece, Rhapsody in Blue, is enjoying it’s centennial this year, and the Initiative hosted a concert at the iconic Michigan Theater last Sunday to honor it’s legacy.

The concert featured SMTD’s Contemporary Directions Ensemble (dir. Jayce Ogren), along with a quartet of singers and pianist Kevin Cole, a member of the Initiative and a Gershwin brothers superfan. There were several speakers interjecting throughout the performance with information on The Gershwins including Editor-in-Cheif Mark Clauge, PHD stuent AJ Banta, Dean of SMTD David Gier and other presenters who work with the Initiative.

Four singers from the SMTD Musical Theater program performed songs from musicals the Gershwin’s wrote: Aquila Sol (BFA 25′), Keyon Pickett (BFA 25′), Alex Humphreys (BFA 24′), and Sam O’Neill (BFA 25′). The four were outstanding individual singers who nailed the pieces stylistically and dramatically while ensembling beautifully during their group numbers. Many of the musicals they were singing were not from the mainstream, including Of Thee I Sing, Sweet Little Devil, George White’s Scandals of 1924, and Lady Be Good. 

The concert closed with the iconic 1924 Rhapsody in Blue, a classic piano and jazz band piece that is always a hit with audiences. Kevin Cole was a fabulous soloist with the Contemporary Directions Ensemble and played with humble virtuosity and conviction. It was a thrill to see the piece performed in person. The concert was a hit, deeply appreciated by the Ann Arbor community.

 

More about the Gershwin Initiative here.

Journey Crossing the Border – Leang Seckon

REVIEW: Angkor Complex: Cultural Heritage and Post-Genocide Memory in Cambodia

(In Thumbnail: Journey Crossing the Border, 2016 – Leang Seckon)

In the UMMA from Feb 3 to July 28, the Angkor Complex is a profound exhibit that displays the tragedies of lost cultural heritage, colonialism, genocide, and the rebuilding of the memories lost from the shards that remained from post-genocide Cambodia. Through a mix of cultural artifacts and contemporary pieces, the Angkor Complex dutifully shows the emotions inlaid in the terrible death, suffering, and fleeing that resulted from the Killing Fields and the Khmer Rouge.

Bomb Ponds, 2009 – Vandy Rattana Photographs of ponds in craters made from US bombing during the Vietnam War

Gaining independence from French colonial rule in 1953, Cambodia has had a tumultuous history with the oppressive Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, millions of people were displaced, forced to work in labor camps, or outright executed in the Killing Fields in the name of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. In these labor camps, Cambodian citizens were subject to unending abuse from the soldiers: many died from disease, starvation, overwork, being forced to work through their infections, pregnancies, and sicknesses. The Killing Fields were where many were tortured, executed, and stuffed into mass graves; by any violent means men, women, and their children were slaughtered for their crimes against the regime. The regime also came with the destruction of traditional art, religion, and ways of life. By the end of the genocide most of the artists, buddhist monks, apsara dancers (traditionally female dancers that depicted classical/religious stories) and a quarter of the whole Cambodian population were killed. Due to the nature of these histories, it is absolutely imperative to understand the inseparable, lasting effects that the Khmer Rouge had on the Cambodian people to understand the sorrows and coping on full display throughout the exhibit.

Apsara Warrior, 2004 – Ouk Chim Vichet Displays an Apsara figure built of guns and metal tearing apart a rifle with its hands

While a few of the pieces on display date back to the Khmer Empire (802-1431) or during the time of the French Protectorate of Cambodia (1887-1953), most of the pieces in the exhibit are from contemporary Cambodian artists, many of which are members of the Cambodian diaspora—the dispersal of people from their homeland. These pieces provide the deepest insights into how post-genocide Cambodia copes with the loss of its culture with all of that they regain from the repatriation of colonially seized artifacts and the re-education of Cambodian traditions. My personal favorites are the pieces made  artists that lived through the Khmer Rouge’s regime. They tell their stories of which their pains sorrowfully resonated with the histories I was familiar with in my own Filipino identity. Though most of them regained hope of survival with their immigrations, it came with the loss of their newfound diasporic identities. Such complications become inevitable in the full extent of these tragedies, which shine through in their pieces that depict cultural and religious iconography juxtaposed with modern cityscapes (such as in the thumbnail of this post).

Full Circle, Unbounded Arc, 2015 – Amy Lee Samford A series of terracotta pots that have been broken and attempted to be reassembled with glue and string. It represents the difficulty in rebuilding what has been lost.

Overall, each and every piece of this exhibit carries unmistakeable weight in their messages, and I truly believe the best way to experience this exhibit is to read every piece’s plaque. Each of the experiences from the artists are on full display: their pain, their loss, their coping, their rebuilding. I hope that with this review, you are implored to see the exhibit for yourself and feel the emotions of each piece, for they should be grieved with just as they should be hoped with.