By Douglas Langworthy, Literary Manager, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

Here at the Denver Center we are currently mounting EVENTIDE by Eric Schmiedl based on the novel by Kent Haruf, author of the award-winning bestseller Plainsong, which we produced in Eric Schmield’s adaptation a few years back.

 

What I’ve been thinking about lately is terminology—while it’s true that the events of Eventide occur chronologically after the events in Plainsong, Kent Haruf prefers the term “companion piece” to “sequel.” The term “sequel” implies that you need to have seen the first play/read the first book to fully grasp the meaning of the second and, in this case, nothing could be further from the truth. Both stories stand on their own and tell a complete narrative. Yes, some characters from Plainsong appear in Eventide, but just as Plainsong has a beginning, middle and an end, so does Eventide. It’s true that having seen one enriches the experience of seeing the other, but in truth the plays stand alone and can be seen in any order.

 

All this got me to thinking about other famous companion pieces of the theatre. Lillian Hellman’s two plays about the greedy Hubbard family come immediately to mind: Another Part of the Forest and The Little Foxes. Forest was written years after Foxes even though in terms of the lives of the characters it chronologically precedes it. Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is composed of two separate plays—Millennium Approaches and Perestroika—but these plays are two halves of a whole (thus the over-arching title Angels in America) and as the action is continuous, should be viewed together to get the maximum impact. The dramatic appearance of the angel at the end of Millennium Approaches heralds (so to speak) the second play, Perestroika. Then there is House and Garden by Alan Ayckbourn, two separate plays played simultaneously by the same group of actors huffing and puffing between two different theatres. These are companion pieces of a sort, as it doesn’t matter which play you see first, but to truly appreciate the skills of the playwright and his acting team you really should see the other.

 

So to return to Plainsong and Eventide, wouldn’t it be great to produce both companion pieces in the same season using the same actors? To set the two dramas side by side and listen to them speak to one another? To create a true Coloradan event? As both plays have large casts, it would be a costly project, and these days that’s a big hurdle to overcome, but, hey, a guy can dream, right?

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EVENTIDE, a companion piece to Plainsong which premiered at The Denver Center in 2008, starts Friday in The Stage Theatre.  The play is based on Kent Haruf’s novel about a fictional town on the eastern planes of Colorado.  This year, Eventide was selected as part of the “One Book One Broomfield” series.  Here, Broomfield Mayor Patrick Quinn welcomes Eventide author Kent Haruf to talk about his novel:

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By Paul, dog actor in When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

Hi there. My name is Paul (aka Laika / aka Conan). I auditioned and just won the starring role in the play called WHEN TANG MET LAIKA (no autographs, pleeeeeease).  I will be performing January 22 through February 27 at The Space Theatre, so come see me!  You can get your tickets at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ website, www.denvercenter.org, or give them a call at 303.893.4100. I am a fantastic, sweet, and oh-so-handsome 1 year old, 8 lb, Chihuahua mix….and very humble. Did I say I was good looking too? Heh, heh!!

 

Well, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was brought to the MaxFund No-Kill Animal Shelter by a very nice “patron saint.”  I say patron saint because I was lost, running around in a busy intersection and, boy, was I a scared pup! So this kind person brought me to MaxFund, one of the nicest bed and breakfast, no-kill animal shelters this side of the world!

 

Now, since I came to MaxFund as a stray not much was known about me until a lovely volunteer named Andrea invited me over for a slumber party…wheeee!!!! I just love slumber parties!!! We drove to her home and the car ride was fantastic…of course I have to like car rides to go to my forever home, right????? So…no car sickness here. Once we arrived, I was introduced to her dog, a cute little Chi, like me, who was a very nice hostess…then out from the couch, I spied her two cats. Now, I thought cats liked to play, so off I went…chasing them at full speed, through the house. Have you ever seen 2 cats leap over 5 foot cat towers? I have, heh, heh! Needless to say, it was at that point I decided I should be in a home without cats. Dang it anyway!

 

Now for the best news of all!!!  Patrick Schaetzle, proprietor of the Celtic Tavern, came in to talk to the MaxFund about doing a fundraiser and he saw me and it was love at first sight. He and his fiancée, Nikole, brought me home Saturday, January 2 and I could not be happier.

 

But I digress. I’m going to star in a world premiere play and if you come to see me, I guarantee you’ll be able to say, “I saw him there first” ‘cause that’s what “world premiere” means. No one has seen this play…everrrrrrrr (oh, I can kind of get my teeth into that).

 

So, I am truly blessed. A forever home and stardom all in the same week.

 

P.S. Patrick says I am a little angel…I am probably the best little snuggle bug in the universe. When I am not snuggling, I love to go outside for walks and have very nice leash manners. So don’t forget, my name is now Paul (aka Laika) and you can be the first to see me perform and say “hi.” And if you come by the Celtic Tavern, 1801 Blake Street in Lo Do, say hi to Patrick and thank him for giving me such a wonderful home.

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By Amy Hartman, Assistant Projection Designer and Video Operator for When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

Hi everyone!  Amy Hartman here, Assistant Projection Designer and Video Operator for WHEN TANG MET LAIKA. Last week we started tech rehearsals for the show.  This is one of the most “tech-heavy” show the Denver Center Theatre Company has ever produced!  Here is a recap of our second tech day:

5:52pm

8 minutes ’til we resume work. Crew all seems happy and well fed as they trickle in from dinner break. Ronnie just said he made “good” coffee. Must go investigate this claim.

5:56pm

Ronnie has indeed made “good” coffee. The set all of a sudden looks much more colorful.

6:04pm

And we’re back…

6:31pm

Running the retirement community scene. Having some technical difficulties involving a shuffle board mat. The seagull sounds and palm tree projections make it seem very tropical here in The Space Theatre. There is a cabinet filled with board games, which makes me wonder, when

was the last time I played Battleship? If I have to ask, it was probably too long ago.

6:55pm

And just like that, it’s winter again. Running the Moscow scene; the lights and video are chilling.

7:19pm

The amount of technology in this show really is amazing. Pallets on, pallets off, lights, videos, sounds and music. Our stage manager Christi has her work cut out for her keeping up with all of it. And it’s her birthday! Happy birthday, Christi! Maybe she’ll get a birthday surprise, later on…

7:29pm

Everyone is singing along to Frank’s “Fly Me To The Moon” during our first 10-minute break. Awesome.

7:32pm

Just finished some delicious shortbread from Backstage Coffee. I highly recommend trying it.

7:52pm

…let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars….

8:02pm

Ward Duffy, who plays Yuri Gagarin, keeps barking. Well, his vest does. Have I mentioned how high tech this show is? I mean, there is a barking vest! How awesome is that?

8:27pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTI! We just had a cake rise on the elevator during the first International Space Station (ISS) scene, accompanied with a custom projection. She was so surprised. Too bad we have 2- minutes until our next 10-minute break to eat cake.

9:08pm

Cake was delightful.

9:14pm

In the first ISS scene, there are 32 separate cues — for a four-page scene. That’s impressive.

9:50pm

The space station looks incredible. Every detail is spot on! If I didn’t know better I would think we had real astronauts not actors. The revolving stage floor does a great job giving off that zero gravity feel. Clever effect.

10:14pm

Of course, the revolves do make finding your entrances and exits tricky. And catching up to your fellow actors. This whole show is an exercise in extreme blocking. The weak of heart need not audition.

10:37pm

Eleven and a half hours into a 10 out of 12: That’s when the crew starts getting giddy…and starts playing on the revolves. At least were all in good spirits.

10:52pm

And now it’s an all out dance party. WOOOO! Fortunately for all of us, it’s in the script. Charles McCloud did a bang up job making it feel like a real club in here.

11:03pm

Just broke for the day. Now notes and off to sleep. Tech day two — overwhelming success.

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By Megan Byrne, actress in When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

The “tang” in our play title WHEN TANG MET LAIKA refers to Kraft’s orange-flavored soft drink, not the Chinese dynasty as some have thought. In 1965, NASA began using Tang on the Gemini flights. Subsequently, the general public came to associate the beverage with astronauts. NASA stopped serving Tang in space after the Gemini program. However for Americans of a certain generation, including President Obama, Tang will forever be thought of as the astronaut drink. In March 2009, while on a video conference with the orbiting crew of space shuttle Discovery, the President jokingly asked “Do you guys still drink Tang up there?”

 
Growing up, I also thought of Tang as the astronaut drink. It wasn’t until I began working on this play that I was introduced to some of the non-beverage uses for the orange powder. I play Samantha, wife of astronaut Patrick Norman. Sam makes Tang pie in the play. The key ingredient is, you guessed it, Tang. The pie tastes a bit like a creamsicle to me, but you should try it for yourself. Here’s the recipe:

 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Tang orange drink powder
8 oz. sour cream
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 graham cracker pie crusts

 

Preparation:
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into the two pie crusts. Chill in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving. Bon appétit!

 

Tang is not just for consumption. Apparently you can also use Tang to clean discoloration and scale from your dishwasher. Add one half container of Tang to your detergent and run a regular cycle. The citric acid present in the mixture helps to loosen up the hard water deposits and remove scale from your dishwasher. I admit I myself haven’t tried this out, but some people swear by it.

 

So the next time you are at the supermarket, you might want to consider heading down the powdered drinks aisle and throwing a container of Tang into your cart. Could come in handy. You never know when you might get the urge to whip up some Tang pie, clean your dishwasher or mix up a drink for an astronaut.

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By Terrence J. Nolan, Director of When Tang Met Laika, Denver Center Theatre Company

 

Playwright Alan Bennett has said that “theatre is often at its most absorbing when it’s school.” The same holds true for making theatre. One of the great joys of directing is the opportunity it affords to continually enter new worlds – to be surrounded by teachers who generously share their knowledge and experience. I have discovered that I am my best as a director not when I tell people what to do, but when I listen for it is then that I learn. And there is much I have had to learn to direct the world premiere production of Rogelio Martinez’ WHEN TANG MET LAIKA.

 

When Tang Met Laika tells the story of the US and Russia’s cooperative efforts to build the International Space Station. It is also a fantasia, jumping from space to earth and back again. As you might have heard, there is a dog — and several other surprises.

 

We have been fortunate to have a team of teachers helping us find our way: Dramaturg Doug Langworthy provided extensive research so that we better understood the political and historical context in which this story is told; Russian Language Consultant Maria Pakulova and Dialect Coach Kathy Maes made sure we understood what we are saying and how it should be said; Video Designer Charlie Miller, with tremendous assistance from NASA, helped us visualize life in space; and astronaut Bruce McCandless shared with us what it is like to be an astronaut and, most importantly, put us in touch with the authentic. In addition, we have had an extraordinary team of stage managers and artisans and technicians and assistants (our own Mission Control) to ensure that we can successfully launch this amazing new play. The Denver Center knows how to make school fun.

 

I live in Philadelphia where I am the Artistic Director of the Arden Theatre Company. My wife and two boys, Liam and Flynn, came to visit during rehearsals. (While Amy was here, she helped train Paul, our dog. Another teacher.) Liam and Flynn are 10 and 6, so a plane ride to Denver and staying in a new place was a grand adventure. We saw the fireworks on the 16^th Street Mall on New Year’s Eve. We ate at Sam’s (the boys’ favorite). One beautiful day we went up into the Rockies. But the highlight of the trip was a visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science where Liam and Flynn discovered Space Odyssey.

 

Space Odyssey is an exhibition that celebrates space exploration. It is When Tang Met Laika brought to life. There is a display of the International Space Station where you can dock the space shuttle. There is a room in which kids can get dressed up as astronauts and sit behind the control panels of the shuttle. Overlooking the exhibition is an astronaut wearing a replica of the Manned Maneuvering Unit that Bruce McCandless wore when he made the first, untethered space walk. How amazing to look up at that astronaut and say to my boys, “I met this man.” How amazing to see my sons sit behind the shuttle controls — dressed in blue NASA jumpsuits — and “pilot” the shuttle (though the jargon Flynn used was more Star Wars than NASA). How amazing to be in school with my family here in Denver.

 

I was Flynn’s age when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon. My parents woke us up so that we could watch the live coverage on TV. I remember gathering together late that night, dressed in our pajamas, watching the black and white images of Neil Armstrong taking those first steps. There is a mystery to space, a sense of possibility. Rogelio Martinez’s play has awakened in me a renewed fascination for this mystery.

 

I thank Rogelio for this great adventure — and all the teachers who have made it seem possible.

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Here at The Denver Center, we work hard to make theatre accessible and enjoyable for patrons of all abilities.  For our patrons who are Deaf or hard of hearing, we offer American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performances for all of our shows.  In this quote from the most recent “Broadway Fan Club” newsletter, Lisa Carling, Director of Accessibility Programs at Theatre Development Fund (TDF) in New York, gives an excellent explanation of the difficult preparation necessary for interpreting a live show:

 

“Interpreting for the theatre is an ‘in the moment’ technique.  In 1980 TDF’s Accessibility Programs (TAP) presented the first sign-language interpreted performance of a Broadway show. Since then, hundreds of productions have been interpreted on Broadway.  It is an intense process wherein interpreters spend roughly 50-70 hours preparing for a show.  Their rehearsal preparation includes translating the script into American Sign Language (ASL), working with a Deaf advisor, character division, rehearsing at the theatre in an out-of-the-way place during the performance to learn the actors’ pacing, nuances, and facial expressions; and when it comes time to interpret the actual performance, staying with the live experience all the way.  This means keeping fluid, never freezing their translations, being able to adapt to changes both on stage and from the audience.   It’s a definite skill and when it’s done well, it’s an unforgettable experience for Deaf audience members.

 

Interpreting for the theatre is also, first and foremost, a service that is provided for the Deaf Community, people who are culturally Deaf and use ASL as their primary means of communication.  Sign language interpreters are not members of Actors’ Equity.  They are not performers.  Their job is to throw focus to the actors, not compete with them, and to help Deaf attendees understand what the characters are saying and feeling on stage.   It’s a very difficult balance but with top-notch interpreters you can see the difference between signers who are serving the show and those who are trying to use it as a vehicle to stardom, which it definitely is not. It’s a highly specialized skill that involves a tremendous amount of hard work on the part of the interpreters for a very appreciative audience.”

 

For a full schedule of ASL interpreted performances and other accessible performances, please visit our website.

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It’s less than a month until LEGALLY BLONDE hits Denver on February 2!  Here’s a Q & A with Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone (Ensemble, u/s Elle Woods, Margot) pulled from the “Legally Blonde on Tour” website.

You’re new to the cast — tell us a little about what you were doing before you joined the show.

Before the Legally Blonde tour I was auditioning a lot! Pretty much believing that something would break through (like the Legally Blonde tour). I was part of a play festival at the Public theatre in NY this last summer.

What’s your favorite thing so far about being in the show?

I love the people! They are super-talented, have great attitudes and are just so fun to be with. I’ve been performing in the show just a few weeks now and every night I discover some new, funny thing that happens on stage. Whether it’s CJay’s comments under her breath as the judge, Sarah Shepard’s amazing facial expressions as Chutney or Kyle and Connie’s performance as Nikos and Carlos, each night I’m finding myself onstage saying “Kathleen, hold it together, find some professionalism”.

What do you like doing when you are not on stage?

I love traveling. My husband and I run a production company and it allows us to see new places depending on what we’re producing. We were in Australia last year. We also have a cabin in New York and I LOVE being there and working on new things around the house. I went to Target yesterday and went nuts over all their decor! I love anything Betty Crocker-ish/Martha Stewart-ish. It’s so opposite than “showbiz” and I like the balance.

What’s on your iPod right now?

Legally Blonde the Musical (of course), Ingrid Michaelson (obsessed), Jason Mraz, a little Glee, some country (Dolly Parton, Lady Antabellum) and all of my vocal sessions with Kyle our musical director (not as entertaining as the other stuff. I hit a lot of wrong notes during the learning process).

What would you say is your signature color?

Oooh, I would say black. Ha! I actually don’t know, but now that I’ve learned the role of Elle Woods I’ve been inspired to stay on top of the beauty standards every girl should know – for example: signature color.  I did get a dark pink pedicure today. I’m at least improving.

What’s the most fun thing about working with animals on stage?

They remind you to stay calm and normal. I love that when I pick up Bruiser or hold him, it brings me back to Earth. It keeps me from “performing” Elle Woods and requires me to just be in the moment.

What are you looking forward to the most this year on tour?

Getting to be onstage! I’m still pinching myself that I got this job. And getting to see the country.

Finally, what’s your best Blonde Moment?

Do I have to pick one? How ’bout the first week I joined the tour in Costa Mesa, my brain was so fried from retaining so much information I couldn’t find our rental car in the parking lot of the theatre. So I tried to open every white car in the lot. Of course they were all locked and I swore someone had stolen it. I called Lucia (Enid) frantically and she reminded me where it was. It was pretty much five steps to my left (the one place I didn’t look) behind a dying parking lot tree. From that moment on Lucia has definitely considered me a “blonde”. (We blondes do have more fun though!)

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It’s George Washington’s 251^st wedding anniversary AND the first Tuesday of January, which means it’s time for a new episode of “10 Minutes to Curtain”

 

The Denver Center celebrates the New Year with the opening of two world premiere productions; this month, Charlie gives you a behind-the-scenes look at both shows. Meet NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, who talks with the cast of WHEN TANG MET LAIKA about life in zero gravity, and hear from the cast and creative team of EVENTIDE as they revisit familiar characters. Then, look back on five years of the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT and don’t miss the auditions for the coveted role of Laika the dog.

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