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Show UnNersltY Jollmlll • Monrl.ilY, JllnB 24, 1996. 3 Thanlfs to fight director, USF has a summer of action t's not how big your sword is, it's how you use it. That's the philosophy of Randy Kovitz, fight director for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. For more than 17 years, Kovitz has been teaching actors how to hold, parry and thrust with a sword while rising to the challenge of creating realism coupled with dramatic excitement. And, as audiences have become more familiar with weaponry and "fighting styles" through exposure to television and film, the need for this authentic looking stage and theatrical combat has become even greater. Now residing in Los Angeles, Randy Kovitz has choreographed hundreds of fight scenes for film, television and stage. His first experience in fight choreography started as a student, under Fight Master B.H. Barry, while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Kovitz's career highlights include staging a bare-knuckled boxing match between Vanessa Redgrave and Keith Carradine in the 1991 motion picture The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and choreog raphing fig hts for the original Broadway productions of Burn This!, Angels In America, and The Kentucky Cycle. He also helped choreograph dueling scenes and was the fencing double for Raul Julia in The Addams Family movie. For the Festival's 35th Anniversary I season, Kovitz returns for his third year to choreograph fights in four plays: Henry IV Part 1, Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, and The Three Musketeers. When asked to sum up his work for the Festival's 35th anniversary season, he said, "It's the year of action!" As the Festival's Founder and Executive Producer Fred C. Adams stated, "Randy brings us some of the most professional and realistic stage fights in the theatre world of today!" This summer, each of the Festival's productions employ different fighting styles, as well as different kinds of weaponry. The Comedy of Errors is a physical comedy, using slapstick and acrobatics. W hile slapstick and acrobatics are not commonly considered fighting, both use forms of physical movement that require the same choreographic detail as a fight or dance sequence. Henry IV Part 1 uses the broadsword, which is a heavy, flattened weapon that looks like an exaggerated rapier. The broadsword was the historical weapon used in Braveheart by Mel Gibson. The size and weight of the broadsword demands the. total concentration and control of the actor. Macbeth is a mix of rapiers, daggers and pikes (which are short sharpened sticks). And The Three Musketeers uses the rapier for the more traditional sword duels of the Musketeers. In teaching actors fight sequences, Kovitz said he treats the sequences as a piece of dialogue. "The scene must tell a story," he said, "I stress acting in my fight work rather than fighting as merely a technique. I feel if an actor has the right acting objectives, the proper fighting technique will follow and the proper fight 'look' will naturally follow. The sequences are also worked to a count; for example, an actor can count, thrust, parry, and so on. In rehearsal, to keep the fighting safe, extra time is always spent on the fight scenes in every show. Throughout the entire rehearsal period, the cast learns new fight choreography each day, working through it slowly. As opening night gets closer, the movements are then brought up to full speed. "As long as the actor is good at his acting craft or has a good fighting partner, I can teach anybody stage combat and it will be safe for all involved," said Kovitz. "The safer the fighting is, the more confident the actor will be. The safety must be built in as you choreograph." During the run of the show, the fight rehearsals continue nightly on the stage before actual curtain time. Watch the different shows and note the different styles of the fights. The trick of theatre, finally, is the intricate, labored and difficult work involved to make the fights look real and spontaneous. To purchase tickets for Henry IV Part 1, Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, and The Three Musketeers (or for the Festival's other plays, The Mikado and The Winter's Tale), you may call the Festival Box Office at 586-7878. CarDan Duo next up for concert series here variety of romantic music ranging from German art songs to Broadway musicals will be presented vocally and on the piano Aug. 11 when the CarDan Duo appears on Southern Utah University's Sunday Evening Concert Series. The free 7 p.m. performance will be held in the Randall L. Jones Performing Arts Theatre. Lyric soprano Carol Ann (Hill) Modesitt, one of the pioneer performers with the Utah Opera, and Daniel Perkins, a noted tenor, pianist, and choral conductor, comprise the CarDan Duo. "Both Modesitt and Perkins are coming off international tours which were very successful ," Marla Bingham, director of the concert series for the SUU lectures/special projects office, said. "Modesitt toured South America as the featured soloist with the New Hampshire Friendship Chorus. She sang in Peru , Bolivia, and Ecuador at a series of fundraising benefits for orphaned and homeless children. "Perkins most recently returned from a concert tour of France, where he was the pianist with the New Hampshire Arts Jazz Duo. Earlier this year he starred as Peter Pan in a critically acclaimed KAT Company production of that play." Modesitt's appearances in Cuzco, La Paz, and Quito were featured on national television in those countries. She and the chorus were honored by local governments in all three nations, as well as by the U. S. ambassador to Bolivia and the first lady of Bolivia. "The CarDan concert will feature generally romantic music," Bingham said. A I "Numbers will range from demanding art songs in any of four languages through well known American music and Broadway tunes. The performance will include a sampling from the varied programs these two have offered across the United States." Modesitt is currently in her fourth year as professor of voice and opera at SUU. She was previously artist in residence at Plymouth State College and a visiting assistant professor at the University of Colorado. She has served on the faculties of Duquesne University, Seton Hill College, Utah State University, and Iowa State University. Among her recent credits are a performance as Mimi in "La Boheme," with the SUU Opera Theatre, a sold out concert in Wolfeboro, N.H., and a tour of Scotland as the featured soloist with the Pemigewasset Choral Society. She has been a member of the New Hampshire Touring Artists Roster since 1992. Perkins is popular as a clinician and guest choral director nationwide. He has served as director of the New England Choral Festival, has been the musical director of KAT Company, and a guest artist at the North Country Center for the Arts summer theatre. He is currently director of choral activities and assistant professor of music history and voice at Plymouth State College. While earning graduate music degrees at the University of Southern California, Perkins directed the Hoover Street Vocal Jazz ensemble and served as musical director for a Los Angeles area black gospel choir. Prior to going to New England, Perkins was the assistant conductor of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. |