| Show 6E The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday September 13 1987 u II Salt Lake’s two professional theater companies open 1987 - ’88 seasons with Utah premieres Continued From l Morey has stated on more than one occasion that an audience can never fully appreciate today’s theater without understanding what preceded it He is dedicated to presenting a “classic repertoire” featuring the great plays of the American British and European theater peppered with a selection of contemporary plays For Morey the responsibility to keep classic plays alive is just as important as it is for a museum to preserve Michelangelo a symphony to perform Mozart As a result of the diversity found in both theaters local audiences are the winners When SLAC begins its season officially on Friday it will be with a new and much heralded play “On the Verge” directed by South African Hilary Blecher Written by Eric Overmyer the story concerns three American women explorers in 1888 who start out to conquer the Himalayas and end up in the future of the 1950s Gryska who wanted to produce the play ever since seeing it in Los Angeles says it is SLAC’s biggest production to date and “We have given it over with complete confidence to Hilary Blecher All of the other regional productions have been directed by men I felt the show had to be directed by a woman" E-- ? —Tribune Staff Photo by Rick Egan v From left: Debora Lynn Threedy Nancy Borgenicht Valerie Kittel Russ Lees star in Utah premiere of “On the Verge” Utah’s appreciation returned by ’Cats’ By Nancy Melich Tribune Theater Writer The facts are in and the figures tabulated Add Salt Lake City to the list of “Cats" lovers The national tour of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Trevor Nunn T S Loot musical broke the local re- cord books for theatrical touring shows when it played to capacity houses Aug 31 through Sept 5 for eight performances in the Capitol Theatre at an unheard of price Audiences were asked to pay a top ticket price of $40 which they did — in droves Mark Stahl fine arts box office manager for the Capitol Theatre and the Salt Palace said “It was absolutely a superb week and the promoters are ecstatic Advance tickets sales were good right where the producers had expected them to be Then after the show opened the sales steadily increased After the curtain went down we had people walk right to the box office to buy return tickets” Stahl released these attendance figures: Opening night Aug 31: 89 percent Sept 1: 98 percent Sept 2: 99 percent Sept 3: 99 percent Sept 4: 5 pm matinee 92 percent 10 pm 99 percent Sept 5: 2 p m 99 percent and 8 pm 99 percent Stahl added that 99 percent for this show is capacity because some of the seats must be occupied by mixer boards used during the production The turn-ou- t was particular re- warding Stahl said because the producers “had heard so many bad stories about Salt Lake City — how Broadway wouldn't play here They were surprised” Stahl acknowledged that the show itself had something to do with it “ 42nd Street’ which played at the Capitol last summer to only 40 percent houses was good but a story that seemed rehashed nothing new ‘Cats’ is popular but also everything about the way it is promoted works The advertising all the advance — the same formula is used across the board and it works just like it came out of a text book" Ronald Andrews from the Toronto-based Concert Productions International took the chance on Salt Lake and has no regrets "The company members loved the audiences in Salt Lake" said Andrews from his Canadian office “and the support we received from the entire technical staff was excellent The little things that were done for us most hall managers would ignore The company members even praised the way they were treated by the hotel staff It all speaks very highly for Salt Lake City It has opened the eyes of the industry — people in the New Y ork office watch what happens in the cities where ‘Cats’ tours and they are well aware that the show was a home run in Utah" Andrews added that Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis "thanked us by giving the key to the city to the company and said we had proved that the economic base is there to support touring shows So we will be back “1 would like to do a series where we would present three shows for maybe three or four nights each I also think we’ll bring ‘Cats’ back in the spring after we leave California I know the company will want to return I received a call this morning from the tour manager in Omaha where things behind the scenes are not going well She said she wants to return to Salt Lake You all should be pleased" Blecher currently living in New York is a director who was affiliated for several years with Johannesburg's innovative and important multiracial Market Theatre She left her country with her family in the early ’80s when her husband could no longer tolerate being part of the oppressive South African government She served as a guest director at the 1986 Playwrights Conference at Sundance and returns to Utah with pleasure to direct “On the Verge” which she considers “a definite challenge” A firm believer in “popular theater” not theater by intimidation she says “Verge” affords the opportunity to be “witty playful and naughty” “With all my sophisticated ideas about theater" says the charming South African in her equally charming accent “I want ‘Verge’ to be accessible When people talk about the play they usually mention the language — how well written it is the choice of words But that makes me a little edgy This is really a very American play It’s talking about American attitudes and the culture It dissects the culture and is slightly political when it speaks of the conservative politics found here” Most of all says Blecher the play deals with the situations of these women how much three middle-agecourage it takes for them to leave hearth and home and go traveling through different countries Overmyer based his play on actual women explorers of the 19th century Cast members include Nancy Borgenicht Valerie Kittel Debora Lynn Threedy and Russ Lees When PTC opens Sept 23 Salt Lakers will have the opportunity to see a popular new Broadway show “My One and Only” now touring the country with its original star Tommy Tune and featuring the music of George and Ira Gershwin The local production is directed by Patti D’Beck who just completed a summer with Tune and the national tour The show stars New Yorkers Deborah Carlson last seen at PTC as Cassie in “A Chorus Line” and Mark Martino the star of last season’s “On Your Toes" Also featured will be Jan Micksen an original member of the Broadway show in the dual roles made famous by Honi Coles and Ros-co- e Lee Browne Professional theater is no longer Utah's best kept secret (as one New York artist claimed a few seasons back) An increasing number of artists are spreading the word that as Blecher says "an artis- d n Ed Gryska SLAC Director tic freedom and sense of cooperation rare in the New York theater world exists in Utah” making it a favorable can place to work If recognize the professionalism found here local audiences surely should follow suit and continue to support the growth of quality theater in their hometown Verge’ author succeeds in two worlds By Michael Kuchwara Associated Press Writer NEW YORK — Eric Overmyer has one foot in the theater and the other in television — and has succeeded in both worlds Theater people know the Overmyer as the author of “On the Verge” The play is a dazzling linguistic adventure through time and space that in less than two years has had nearly a score of regional theater productions across the country (It opens this week at the Salt Lake Acting Company) But Overmyer is also a story editor for “St Elsewhere” the television series about a mythical and slightly manic Boston hospital He climbed aboard as a scriptwriter for the season beginning last fall It was a job made possible by the success of “On the Verge” Since its premiere at Baltimore’s Center Stage in January 1985 the play has sprouted in such cities'as Hartford Conn Minneapolis Boston San Diego Syracuse NY Chicago Seattle Dallas Ashland Ore and more New Yorkers surprisingly were among the last to see Overmyer's optimistic and exhilarating tale of three female explorers who journey from 1888 into the unknown — climbing mountains fording rivers trekking across desert and jungle before ending up in the American Midwest of much-honore- Center Stage also has provided a home for other Overmyer plays including "Native Speech" and a musical called “In A fig’s Valise” The theater will also present his latest work “In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe" which Overmyer says is about “right-winpolitics and paranoia” The play will be done in Baltimore this season Overmyer born in Colorado but raised in Seattle came to New York in 1976 after attending Reed College in Portland Ore and the Asolo Conservatory in Sarasota Fla For a while he was literary manager at Playwrights Horizons an theater company before settling down to write Overmyer landed a job on “St Elsewhere” in 1985 through Tom Fontana one of the show’s producers and head writers They had known each other as starving playwrights in New York Overmyer wrote one script which wasn’t used but then was asked to do a second “They used about half of that one” Overmyer said “And then they offered me a staff job last year for the show’s fifth season” Writing for television proved to be an experience with a lot g v: JF jjf d Eric Overmyer ‘Verge’ playwright book about female Victorian travel- ers “I had never heard of them” he says "They sounded weird and fabulous" He did further research delving into a book called Victorian Lady Travelers by Dorothy Middleton At about the same time some friends needed a one-ac- t play for a double bill they were producing “Something light" Overmyer recalls “I wrote a little one-ac- t which was essentially the play in miniature just a lot sketchier and more impressionis- 1955 Along the way the women encounof the future — concepts like insurance tax shelters soul music and mud wrestling or objects like eggbeaters “I Like Ike” buttons Burma Shave and Cool Whip “I have seen the future and it is slang" remarks one of the intrepid adventurers In "On the Verge" Overmyer shows how language helps define create and change society Why did it take so long for a New York production? “No one asked" answers the blond and bespectacled Overmyer The production which played last spring at the John Houseman Theater stared alumni of the Acting Company under the direction of Garland Wright artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis The Acting Company had asked Wright to direct a play in New York He chose “On the Verge" The idea for the play came from a book about travelers by Evan S Connell called A Long Desire Overmyer was fascinated by a chapter in the ter artifacts and phrases tic” The playwright later expanded the work and a workshop production was done at Baltimore's Center Stage It was at Center Stage that the play was nurtured and shaped particularly with the help of director Jackson Phippen “I wasn’t really interested in tfie reality of the women as much as I was interested in their spirit” he says of b training “I didn't really know ‘St Elsewhere’ when I was hired" Overmyer admits "I had a lot of catching up to do I reau a lot of scripts I spent the first couple months on the job just trying to figure out the characters — who was who “You work out the stories in a group” Overmyer says “Then you are assigned a script You basically do a script by yourself Then the head writers come in and add a few jokes and cut things They clean it up the way they want it “The parameters of the form are very strict” he adds “A writer has 48 acts A minutes or four three-pag- e scene is a long scene You can’t have big speeches and you have to have a snappy button on every scene It’s problem solving but within that framework there is a little room for creativity or crazy stuff” Two head writers plus three story e aueditors — and a few thors — produce all the season’s 22 episodes “It's odd not having the final say on a script” Overmyer says "Although as the year went on they left more and more of my stuff alone I think 1 finally got the hang of it” free-lanc- U of U Child Drama Program receives praise at convention Members of the University of Utah’s Child Drama Program were recently praised at the American Association of Theatre for Youth Convention in Chicago Under the direction of Xan S Johnson 48 students and professionals ranging in age from nine to adult traveled to Illinois to present “Wingless Butterfly” The drama concerns peer pressure and teen suicide and was written by U of U child drama student Yevet Crandell Johnson said that the U production and “Mother Hicks” produced by Northwestern University were considered the top productions at the national convention In addition to “Wingless Butterfly” the Utah group presented a workshop production entitled “Run Away Red” also by Crandell which deals with teen runaways by incorporating the story of “The Little Red Riding Hood” fairytale With funding received by the Child Drama Program from a Henry Fonda Playwriting Grant Utah teens wrote a play dealing with life through the eyes of a gifted cystic fibrosis teenager which was also presented in Chicago The youth program operates on a basis with a variety of classes year-roun- d 3 NIGHTS OFPASSION (with English Supertitles) Isn’t Your Baby Worth A Grand? Children who are exposed to the art of piano music gain experiences beyond worth: Confidence poise the feeling of accomplishment success and more life-lon- g THE MAGIC FLUTE Barrus Pianos has the grand (and baby grand) to get your baby Sohmer Petroff Three top-of- the - line started Young-Changrand pianos just waiting for your child ArruiiiiW Mi Oukomo Puumi i urt g Come test-pla- y LA BOHEME OCTOBER 15 17 19 21 JANUARY 21 23 25 27 IPAGLIACCI Atyyrro Uomavallo GIANNI SCHICCHI Giaiomo Ptnani MAY 12 14 16 any of the three And bring your baby t T 4 IS 3 1 i |
