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Category Archives: Word for Word
Wonderful women in Word for Word's Aunt Hagar
Posted on November 20, 2016 by Chad Jones
The cast of Word for Word's All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones includes (from left) Kehinde Koyejo, Jia Taylor, Khary L. Moye, Sheila Balter and Margo Hall. Below: The Young Man's (Khary L. Moye) elders (Margo Hall, left, Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe, seated, and Velina Brown) ask an urgent favor. Photos by Julie Schuchard
What you remember from Word for Word's production of All Aunt Hagar's Children, a full theatrical adaptation of the short story by Edward P. Jones, are the women. Such women. They make an impression on the audience the way they make an impression the story's narrator, a nameless young man who returned to his native Washington, D.C., nine months ago after serving in the Korean War.
The young man is in a transitional phase, working a file clerk-type job until he can join a war buddy in Alaska and strike gold, but mostly he's giving himself license to celebrate (i.e. drink) and dream of a life beyond what he already knows. As he puts it: "And I, a veteran hearing Alaska singing, didn't want to ask any big questions and didn't want anybody asking me any big questions. I was twenty-four and just starting to dance away on the easy side—a little soft-shoe here, a little soft-shoe there."
Living a quiet, alcohol-soaked life isn't quite panning out for the young man. Drama finds him in the form of a strange incident involving a Jewish woman who practically dies in his arms on the street, muttering an enigmatic Yiddish phrase with her final breath. And in the form of a murder that he reluctantly agrees to help and solve.
With that latter, Jones' story falls into some familiar, noir-ish rhythms, although the young man, who worked as a military policeman in Korea, is not at all a detective. What his investigation does is let him cross paths with some extraordinarily interesting women, and that's where the heart of the story lies.
As in all Word for Word productions, the company has not changed a word of Jones' story, which originally appeared in the New Yorker in 2003 and then served as the title story in a collection of his short stories in 2006. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his novel The Known World, Jones delivers an unusually told story that is both intimate and epic, a short story that feels crammed with incident and history and interpersonal connections. It's one man's story that is continually taken over by the women he encounters, some of whom are close family members, others he barely knows and still others who are strangers on the street.
Director Stephanie Hunt (working with co-director Margo Hall, who is also a standout in the uniformly strong cast) has the disadvantage of working on the cavernous main stage at Z Space rather than the more intimate Z Below in the basement. Set designer Sean Riley creates a striking image of brick buildings in a northwest Washington neighborhood, but most of the action is confined to a much smaller platform plagued with door frames whose logic is not always observed by the actors. There's a lot of time spent bringing furniture on and off this platform, which tends to slow the action.
And if there's one thing plaguing this 100-minute one-act production it's pacing and a tendency to be too literal in the interpretation of Jones' prose. The writing is evocative enough without having to see every little thing (especially at the end with a striking image that is probably best left to the imagination rather than being rather clumsily realized).
Khary L. Moye makes for an arresting narrator who is at once charming in his assessment of his life and surroundings and confounded by the same. Except for Joel Mullennix in a series of smaller roles (a nefarious bad guy from the past, the young man's lawyer boss), the other six members of the cast play all the wonderful women our narrator encounters in his quest to solve a mystery and discover the meaning behind the words uttered to him by the dead white woman he tried to help.
Velina Brown is piercingly funny and moving as the young man's mother, a stern, sharp-tongued woman with a deep love for her children and her two best friends from childhood (Hall as Aunt Penny and Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe as Miss Agatha), with whom she suffered some significant trauma as little girls in Alabama. The ghost of that trauma haunts the present (1950s) narrative in a most intriguing way.
Sheila Balter plays both of the Jewish women who factor into the young man's intrigue: the woman who dies on the street and the woman who connects him to the dead woman's final words. Just as the connection with his mother's past weighs on the young man, so does his post-World War II interactions with these two very different Jewish women. Nothing is overly explicit in Jones' writing here – it all adds to the emotional, cultural and even historical complexity of the young man's experience.
Many of the other woman are those who assist in the murder investigation in some way. Hall is hilarious as Minnie, a neighbor of the murder victim who's skill at flirtation is almost as pronounced as her talking bird's ability to surprise with bizarre exhortations ("I'm only flesh and blood" or "There's more to come, somebitch!). Kehinde Koyejo memorably plays the bird.
Jia Taylor plays the romantic interest from whom the young man is uncomfortably trying extricate himself as well as one half of a duo (Koyejo plays the other) who help the budding detective the trajectory of his investigation (he hasn't quite figured out that he should visit the scene of the crime even though it happened some two years ago).
Storytelling is important to characters in All Aunt Hagar's Children, just as their stories themselves are powerful in the telling. One character says of her father, "He used to tell me stories when the world got too much. Comforting, you know. Keeping the world away." Jones' has that effect while also bringing the world in closer for a better, more intriguing view.
[bonus story]
You can read Edward P. Jones' All Aunt Hagar's Children on the New Yorker website here.
Edward P. Jones' All Aunt Hagar's Children continues through Dec. 11 in a Word for Word production at Z Space, 450 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $33-$58. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.zspace.org.
Posted in Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe, Edward P. Jones, Joel Mullennix, local theater, Margo Hall, plays, theater review, Velina Brown, Word for Word | Leave a reply
Word for Word enlivens stories by Donoghue, Tóibín
Posted on February 28, 2016 by Chad Jones
Franny (Rosie Hallett) is read to by her brother (Rudy Guerrero) one family evening in a scene from Emma Donoghue's "Night Vision," part of Word for Word's Stories by Emma Donoghue and Colm Tóibín at Z Below. Below: Lady Gregory (Stephanie Hunt) contemplates her secret in Tóibín's "Silence." Photos by Julie Schuchard
There is nothing more comforting than a Word for Word production. This extraordinary company's rich stage adaptations of short fiction for the stage can be thrilling, inventive, moving, incisive, funny and thought provoking. And, in that way that great writing can take you into that zone of alternate experience, they can be comforting. Maybe that's akin to the joy of being read to – there is that element in play, but augmented with the beauty of sets, lights, costumes, music and the combined thrill of both reading and live theater.
The new Word for Word show, Stories by Emma Donoghue and Colm Tóbín now at Z Below, comprises two gentle, emotionally rich stories by Irish writers who both happen to be nominated for Academy Awards this year: Donoghue for her adaptation of her novel Room for the screen and Tóibín for the film version of his novel Brooklyn. In their selected stories, both writers are inspired by the lives of real women finding their voices as writers.
Donoghue's story "Night Vision" from her 2004 collection The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits begins the two-hour evening with a look at the early life of Frances Brown, later known as the "Blind Poetess of Donegal." Brown, played by , narrates the story of how, amid the chaos and love of a large family, she came to love words and sentences. Franny, as she is called by her family members, is clearly a writer in the making when she makes observations like, "Color is when you can taste something with your eyes."
There's tension in the Brown household on this night because there has been trouble at the schoolhouse. Franny attended her first, and possibly her last, class, and though her aptitude and intelligence cannot be questioned, the powers that be see only her blindness, the result of smallpox. A blind girl, they say, has no place in the classroom for she is a "stunted little girl."
As played by Hallet and under the smooth direction of Becca Wolff, Franny is a life force who refuses to be cowed by the stupidity and cruelty of others: "The Minister must be wrong. Didn't I live, when bigger children died of the same fever? This must mean I have been chosen for something. There must be another future for me, if I'm not to be a woman like other women and have twelve children. If I do not grow up to be a poet, then what does that all mean?"
Night Vision is a beautiful story gently and sensitively brought to life by Wolff and her sharp six-person ensemble headed by the luminous Hallett.
The second story is Tóibín's "Silence" from his 2011 collection The Empty Family. It's subject is Isabelle Augusta, known as Lady Gregory one of the founders of the revered Abbey Theatre. But before she was an accomplished writer and literary force in her own right, she was, according to Tóibín, an almost painfully self-aware new wife married to a man 35 years her senior.
As played by Stephanie Hunt, Lady Gregory has a vibrant interior life, even as she maintains a placid exterior, fulfilling the duties as wife and companion to Lord William Gregory (Richard Farrell).
The thrust of the story stems from an item found in one of Henry James' journals, something that was shared with him by Lady Gregory about an affair she had with the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (Rudy Guerrero), and into whose published work she managed to include some of her own work.
Directed by Jim Cave, the story has a slow build to it that is augmented by a warm, elegant set (by Jacquelyn Scott) and lights (by Jeff Rowlings). There's passion here, and it's satisfying to watch Lady Gregory come into her own power as a writer as she (via Tóibín) becomes the author of the story that James (well played by Robert Sicular) never got around to telling himself.
Word for Word's Stories by Emma Donoghue and Colm Tóibín continues through April 3 at Z Below, 470 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $33-$58. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.zspace.org.
Posted in Colm Toibin, Emma Donoghue, local theater, plays, theater review, Word for Word | Leave a reply
Bay Area theater 2015: some favorites
One of the best things about the year-end exercise to round up favorite theatergoing memories of the preceding year is that it can be such a powerful reminder of how much good theater we have in the Bay Area and how many really extraordinary theater artists we have working here. Another element jumps out at me this year and that is how, in addition to great homegrown work, our area also attracts some of the best theater artists from around the world to come and share their work (at the behest of savvy local producers, of course).
So here are some thoughts on memorable work I saw this year – and I will add as a caveat, I didn't see as much as I should have (or as much as I used to for that matter), and I must express some pride that as we head into 2016, this old Theater Dogs blog will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and that makes me mighty proud. This is a labor of love, and I want it to be that first and foremost, a way of celebrating and promoting the riches we have here.
• The Curran Theatre is reborn. For me, the theater event of the year was actually a series of events comprising Curran Under Construction, a reintroduction of the fabled theater by its owner, Carole Shorenstein Hays not simply as a stop for touring shows but as an important player in the theatrical culture of the city. While the theater undergoes renovation in its lobby and restrooms, Hays invited audiences to enter through the stage door and sit on stage to experience one after another shows of extraordinary power and diversity. She began with The Event, a horrifyingly relevant exploration of mass violence, grief and understanding, and moved on to the wildly different but equally thrilling The Object Lesson with Geoff Sobelle blending materialism and memories in a magical way. Dave Malloy's Ghost Quartet offered whisky, haunting music and one of the year's best, most immersive stage experiences. Steve Cuiffo is Lenny Bruce brought a favorite son back to San Francisco, and Stew and Heidi Rodewald put their own rock-blues spin on James Baldwin in Notes of a Native Son. Every event at the Curran, including the speaker series hosted by the Curran's resident literary star, Kevin Sessums, has been glorious and fascinating and involving. What more could you want from theater? (read the original posts here)
• Central Market gets a jewel of a theater in ACT's The Strand. The Curran wasn't the only re-birth this year. American Conservatory Theater spent a whole lot of time, money and effort bringing some class to the evolving Central Market area. The new Strand Theater is spectacular and should prove to be a key component in the cultural life of San Francisco. (read the original post here)
• Just Theater blows us away. Again. After A Maze last year, Just Theater became a company I wanted to pay attention to, and boy did that attention pay off. With Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, from the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 the company emerged as a producer of provocative, impactful work that should attract as big an audience as possible. This play within a play (within a rehearsal) tackled race, history and personal drama in ways that felt mind bending and heart racing.(read the original post here)
• We got to see Angela Lansbury live on stage. Even if she had just stood on stage and waved, that would have been something, but no, Dame Angela, the legend herself, gave a true and truly funny performance as Madame Arcati in the Broadway touring production of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit as part of the SHN season. At 89, she defied any signs of age and offered pure magic. Extraordinary. (read the original post here)
• Hookman splatters expectations. Playwright Lauren Yee offered abundant surprises in this "existential slasher comedy," which is the best possible description of this electric one-act play from Encore Theatre. (read the original post here)
• Tuneful time travel in Triangle. The most heartfelt new musical I saw this year was Triangle at TheatreWorks, a time-twisting tale involving tragedy and romance. Curtis Moore and Thomas Mizer have crafted a smart, melodious show that feels original and scaled exactly right (the cast of six feels much bigger, as do the emotions). (read the original post here)
• There's still life left in Scrooge after all. There's absolutely no reason that the new musical Scrooge in Love should not become a holiday perennial. Creators Kellen Blair, Larry Grossman and Duane Poole have crafted an utterly charming musical sequel to A Christmas Carol with songs you actually want to hear and characters you root for. Of course having Jason Graae as Scrooge is a big Christmas bonus, so kudos to all at 42nd Street Moon for breaking away from the classic or forgotten musicals and presenting something fresh and fantastic. (read the original post here)
• Alice Munro should love Word for Word. There's no better theater company than Word for Word and no better writer than Alice Munro, so…mic drop. This was sublime from beginning to end as director Joel Mullenix and a cast that included the wondrous Jeri Lynn Cohen, Susan Harloe and Howard Swain brought two Munro stories to life, one from 1968, one from 2012. There was humor, heart and exquisite writing. (read the original post here)
• Cathleen Riddley lays it bare in Tree. Riddley can always be counted on for a strong performance, but in this powerful Julie Hébert family drama at San Francisco Playhouse she was riveting and heartbreaking as an older woman losing touch with herself and her family. (read the original post here)
• And then the drama comes flooding in. My favorite set of the year was G.W. Skip Mercier's design for Tarell Alvin McCraney's Head of Passes at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Water played a big part in the design of a house in marshy Louisiana territory where the forks of the Mississippi meet. There was a storm, a leaky roof and then a deluge of biblical proportions. And boy was it fun to watch. (read the original post here)
• Hypocrites pummel Pirates perfectly. Probably the most fun you could have in a theater (and not mind getting beaned by a beach ball) was Chicago troupe The Hypocrites' wild and wonderful take on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. Berkeley Rep had the smarts to introduce the Bay Area to this smart, enterprising company, and I hope we haven't seen the last of their inventive, energetic take on interactive theater. (read the original post here)
Posted in 42nd Street Moon, American Conservatory Theater, Angela Lansbury, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, BroadwaySF, Carole Shorenstein Hays, Cathleen Riddley, Curran Theatre, Encore Theatre, Jason Graae, Julie Hébert, Just Theater, Lauren Yee, San Francisco Playhouse, The Hypocrites, TheatreWorks, Word for Word | 1 Reply
Sublime stories from Word for Word and Alice Munro
Posted on March 8, 2015 by Chad Jones
Jeri Lynn Cohen is a homemaker who wants an office of her own in which to write in Word for Word's Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" & "Dolly." Below: Howard Swain and Sheila Balter are a couple addressing the end of their lives and dealing with their past in "Dolly." Photos by Mark Leialoha
Any celebration of Alice Munro merits attention, but when that celebration comes from Word for Word, the ever-astonishing local company that transforms short fiction into brilliant theater with complete fidelity to the original text, attention must not only be paid but also reveled in and savored.
Word for Word brought a Munro story to life in 1999 ("Friend of My Youth"), and the intervening years have brought more acclaim for the Canadian writer and a Nobel Prize for literature. Now that she is rightly revered for her masterful prose, Munro is given a full Word for Word evening in Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" & "Dolly," a sort of career bookend with one story from her first collection, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) and her most recent, Dear Life (2012). What's clear is that Munro started out with a gift for clarity, precision and astonishing insight, and that gift only intensified with time.
The first story, "The Office," feels somewhat autobiographical as Munro's protagonist is a homemaker who also writes but is embarrassed to call herself a writer. What she really wants is an office, a writing space of her own. A man's work outside the home has its traditional, respected place in society, but a woman's place, the home, is ruled by children, and the though of a mother removing herself from them behind a closed door is perceived as unacceptable. So this mother, this wife, this writer (Jeri Lynn Cohen), heads downtown to find herself a room of her own.
She finds the perfect spot, formerly occupied by a chiropractor, and quickly sets up her minimal furnishings – table, typewriter, hotplate, kettle, instant coffee and mug. Her separate, simplified space turns out to be too good to be true. There's a man, the landlord (Paul Finocchiaro), who feels no compunction about invading her space and squandering her time. He refuses to accept that she doesn't want a touch of color in the room – a rug, new paint, a plant, a plush chair because women want those kinds of things – and turns himself into a nuisance.
There are likely many actors who could convey the flustered frustration and inner turmoil of the protagonist, but I can't imagine anyone better than Cohen, who manages to be heartfelt and funny and misanthropic all while conveying a desperate need to create in solitude. This is a woman operating on multiple levels. There's the polite citizen attempting to navigate home life and an attempted professional life, and then there's the sharp, enraged, wildly intelligent woman inside reacting to everything around her. Our view of this woman is so thorough (through Munro's prose and Cohen's superb performance) that humor is abundant and laughs are hearty.
And that's an amazing thing to me. I've read most of Munro's work and relished it, but I don't recall laughing out loud often. But in both "The Office" and "Dolly," the second story, the humor is deeply satisfying and quite audibly appreciated by the audience. It's a laughter of recognition, and that's always the best kind.
Both of these stories deal with the inner lives of smart, complex women dealing with seemingly ordinary problems, but Munro can take us deeper in the space of a sentence. There's also a link between the stories when it comes to writing. In "The Office" the woman can't quite own up to being a writer. And in "Dolly," a man, a horse trader by profession, also works as a published poet. But for him, too, writing is a little shady. When you're working with horses, you're obviously, he says. But when you're working on a poem, you just look idle.
There's a woman writer in "Dolly" as well. After a career in the classroom, she has taken to writing books rescuing certain Canadian writers from obscurity. The teacher/writer (Sheila Balter) and the poet (Howard Swain) are in their later years. He's in his early 80s, she's about a decade younger, and they casually but efficiently discuss the details of their joint suicide. But then life, in the from of an old flame named Dolly (Susan Harloe) shows them they're not quite as tapped out as they thought.
As in the first story, the actors here, under the expert direction of Joel Mullenix, revel in the kind of humor that not only elicits laughs but also deepens our connections to the characters. Balter is especially good at conveying the emotional turmoil of a woman who is surprised to find herself in the kind of upheaval she would have never expected at this stage in her life. And Harloe and Swain convey the power of a years-old connection with a mix of joy and confusion and, ultimately, nonchalance.
This set of stories delivers exactly what we've come to expect from both Munro and Word for Word: brilliant prose and beguiling theatricality. It's the perfect combination.
[bonus interview]
I wrote a cover story for the San Francisco Chronicle's 96 Hours section on Word for Word's Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" & "Dolly". Read the feature here.
Word for Word's Stories by Alice Munro: "The Office" & "Dolly" continues through April 12 at Z Below, 470 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $35-$55. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.zspace.org.
Posted in Howard Swain, Jeri Lynn Cohen, Joel Mullennix, local theater, plays, San Francisco Chronicle, theater review, Word for Word, Z Space | 1 Reply
Twenty years on, Word for Word as brilliant as ever
EXTENDED THROUGH SEPT. 13
JoAnne Winter (left) is Viny Liberty, Jeri Lynn Cohen (center) is Calliope Marsh and Stephanie Hunt is Libbie Liberty in Word for Word's 20th anniversary production In Friendship at Z Below. Below: Amy Kossow (left) is Mrs. Toplady, Patricia Silver (center) is Mrs. Mayor Uppers and Nancy Shelby is Mrs. Postmaster Sykes in short stories by Zona Gale adapted for the stage by Word for Word. Photos by Mark Leialoha
Here we thought Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart were giving a master class in the fine art of the theater. Turns out there's an equally good master class happening at Z Below, the climate-controlled space (formerly Traveling Jewish Theater) underneath Z Space. That's where the geniuses (genii?) behind Word for Word are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a sharp-tongued, warmhearted show called In Friendship based on the stories of Zona Gale.
The nine women who founded the company, including artistic directors Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter, are all performing in the show (together for the first time, which seems hard to believe). So there's more going on here than just another show, which happens to be an extraordinarily strong example of what Word for Word does – short works of fiction fully and beautifully adapted for the stage without altering a single word of the original text. Works of literature become, in the hands of these artists, imaginative, compelling and often transporting works of theater without compromising what made them great in the first place. That's a hell of a formula.
The stories here are about the bonds between women (and two men – shout outs to Paul Finocchiaro and Joel Mullenix, who also directed four of the six stories) in the small town of Friendship. Judging by the harsh treatment of vowels, the town is located in the northern Midwest, and it's a place where everyone is reasonably healthy and well situated. That leaves plenty of time for the politics of society, community and necessity. The women have all kinds of currents flowing between them – some friendly, some not – but they essentially run the town.
How appropriate, then, that the women of Word for Word chose these stories to mark two decades of some of the Bay Area's best theater making. Watching these friends, co-stars and company members bring these stories to life is sheer pleasure on every level. Gale, the first woman to win the Pulitzer for drama, has a crisp way with words, and though there's a humorous, almost cartoonish bent to her take on small-town America, there's also a great deal that is sharply observed and, ultimately, quite heartfelt.
The first half of the two-hour show is devoted to competing social engagements and an attempt to reinvent the church bazaar as seen through the eyes of a relative newcomer to the town, who also happens to be a writer (Harloe). This is an effective way to get to know the town's personalities and begin to understand the pecking order of local society. Mis' Postmaster Sykes (Nancy Shelby) is clearly at the top of the heap, and Mrs. Ricker and Kitton (Winter), a cleaning lady who has come into an inheritance, is clearly at the opposite end. In the middle are people like the nervous but compassionate Mis' Amanda Toplady (Amy Kossow); the domineering new lady in town, Mrs. Oliver Wheeler Johnson (Stephanie Hunt); a somewhat scandalized nearly former mayor's wife (Patricia Silver); and the forceful Mis' Holcomb-that-was-Mame-Bliss (Sheila Balter).
Scenic designer Giulio Perrone allows the ensemble to create an entire town through his simple but effective moving white panels that create living rooms, dining rooms, street corners and a firehouse, among many other things.
In Act 2, once we're deep into the town's psyche and well into the fall, things get more blatantly emotional. Director Delia MacDougall, who also performs in the final two stories, brings such warmth and intelligence to the stage that any trace of sentimentality is banished and only genuine feeling remains.
The story zeroes in on Harloe's nameless writer and the woman she has most bonded with, the outspoken Calliope Marsh (a genius Jeri Lynn Cohen who artfully manages to never over- or under-play her bold character). It's coming on Thanksgiving and these two women, who don't have much family, want to do something for the community and give themselves a sense of holiday that doesn't involve depression or loneliness.
What they end up creating is the very definition of holiday spirit, and not to sound cloying or cliché about it (the story is neither of those things), you may end up feeling more genuinely excited for Thanksgiving than you have in years.
The show concludes in a rush of emotion, for the characters we've just met, for the wonderful actors we've been watching and for the glory of Word for Word on the occasion of its 20th.
On a personal note, I have loved Word for Word since I first saw the work nearly 20 years ago. Intelligent, enterprising and always rewarding, this company, whether on its own or in one of the many great collaborations that have happened over the years, is original and inspiring. A huge congratulations to the women of Word for Word, simply one of the great theatrical endeavors.
Word for Word's In Friendship continues an extended run through Sept. 13 at Z Below, 470 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $30-$50. Call 866-811-411 or visit www.zspace.org.
Posted in Amy Kossow, Delia MacDougall, Jeri Lynn Cohen, Joel Mullennix, local theater, theater review, Word for Word | 3 Replies
Great stories, theater and heart in Word for Word's Men
Ryan Tasker (left), Armando McClain (center) and Arwen Anderson in "Gold Star," one of two short stories by Siobhan Fallon performed in Word for Word's You Know When the Men Are Gone. Below: Marilet Martinez (left), McClain and Tasker in "The Last Stand." Photos by Mark Leialoha
Sometimes it's too easy to forget we're a nation at war, and that's not at all a good thing to be able to say. But it's true, especially here in the Bay Area bubble, where the war seems especially far away. For that reason, among many others, Word for Word's You Know When the Men Are Gone is a powerful and important piece of theater. Not to mention a moving and beautiful one.
It's nice to see Word for Word, the extraordinary company that turns short fiction into fully staged works of theater without changing the original text, working in such a contemporary mode. The two stories that comprise this show, "The Last Stand" and "Gold Star," are by Siobhan Fallon a military spouse who chronicles the lives of young soldiers and their families in her 2011 collection that gives this show its name. We don't know the ages of all the characters we meet on stage, but the two main characters are 21 and 24, and it's conceivable this entire show contains a crowd of people under 30, and that's only one of the aspects of this show that makes it so interesting.
The first story, "The Last Stand," has a universality about it that could apply to the story of a soldier from just about any war coming home to the life that has become so idealized in his head while he was away. Directed by Joel Mullennix, the story is told from the point of view of Kit Murphy (Chad Deverman), a young soldier seriously wounded in an IED explosion in Iraq. He was the only survivor in his vehicle when the body of his sergeant ended up providing a sort of shield from the flames.
Now able to walk on crutches, his left foot still enclosed in a cast and a protective boot, Kit arrives, hoping to fall back into the arms of his wife, Helena (Roselyn Hallett), who, in her husband's absence, has moved back home with her parents and started taking college classes. The reunion isn't at all what Kit was hoping for, though Helena is hardly the bad guy in this sad scenario.
We meet Kit again in the second story, "Gold Star," but he's just a supporting player in this tale, directed by Amy Kossow. The focus here is on Josie, the widow of the sergeant who died in the explosion that wounded Kit. Josie (Arwen Anderson) is navigating the best she can through her grief, which is to say she's not doing well at all. She suffers through the funeral (but avoids the memorial service), reluctantly accepts the company of soldiers who are assigned to watch over her and the other wives at Fort Hood who bring her casseroles she won't eat.
When she gets a call from Kit saying he'd like to pay her a visit, she eagerly makes the date because unlike all her other visitors, Kit was with her husband in his final moments, and she craves that connection.
The selection of these two interconnected stories is rather brilliant because the evening ends up feeling like a two-act play. The emotional weight of the first story carries through to the second, making the ending all the more potent and emotionally wrenching. And like the stories themselves, the directors and actors are expert at sharing telling details about the experience of war on the front lines and on the civilian home front.
Even the set by Jacqueline Scott plays a part in those details. Built on a theme of stars and stripes, the front of the stage features big stars in the floor, while the stripes take the form of narrow white sheets hanging down from high above the stage. Those versatile sheets become bed dressing in a cheap motel, decorations for a strained homecoming celebration and tents in Iraq. Through the space between the sheets (and thanks to some beautiful lighting by Drew Yerys) we see glimpses of life in Iraq and sand dunes in the distance.
Like all Word for Word shows, the ensemble is vitally important, playing multitudes of roles and filling in all kinds of descriptive blanks. Marilet Martinez, Ryan Tasker and Armando McClain are fantastic as Army buddies, waitresses, officers, ghosts and bar bimbos. They create a believable world around the protagonists and also keep the stage lively. The inventive staging that so often marks a Word for Word show is alive and well in these stories but never distracts from the emotional core of the stories, which is the human cost of war beyond the casualties and the long, long process of healing wounds both visible and hidden away.
[bonus interviews]
I talked to author Siobhan Fallon and directors Amy Kossow and Joel Mullennix about You Know When the Men Are Gone for the San Francisco Chronicle. Read the story here.
Word for Word's You Know When the Men Are Gone continues through Feb. 24 at Z Space, 450 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $20-$55. Call 866-811-4111 or visit www.zspace.org.
Posted in Amy Kossow, Arwen Anderson, Chad Deverman, Joel Mullennix, local theater, Siobhan Fallon, theater review, Word for Word | 1 Reply
Delicious theater spiced with fiction
Posted on January 13, 2012 by Chad Jones
The cast of Word for Word's "Food Stories: Pleasure Is Pleasure" includes, from left, Rudy Guerrero, Molly Benson, Soren Oliver, Patricia Silver, Delia MacDougall and Gendell Hernandez. Below: MacDougall and Silver appear in "Enough," a story by Alice McDermott. Photos by Mark Leialoha
That most scrumptious of Bay Area theater companies, Word for Word, is going the way of the foodie. Yes, Word for Word, the company that turns short fiction into extraordinary theater, is diving headlong into food lit with Food Stories: Pleasure Is Pleasure.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Word for Word's Susan Harloe and JoAnne Winter about the show (directed by Theatre Rhino Artistic Director John Fisher) for the San Francisco Chronicle. Also got to chat with one of the authors featured in the show, T.C. Boyle, whose "Sorry Fugu" is a delightful tale of a New York chef battling his nerves and his confidence during three visits by the harshest food critic in town. I did not get to speak with the other author, Alice McDermott, whose story "Enough" is also featured.
Read the story here.
Here's my favorite quote from Boyle:
"In many respects the whole foodie thing is utterly ridiculous," he says. "It's about conspicuous consumption. I love to go to a good restaurant and have a good time, but unlike some of my friends, I don't do it to the exclusion of all else."
Word for Word's "Food Stories: Pleasure Is Pleasure" continues through Through Feb. 5 at Theater Artaud, 450 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $30-$55. Call 800-838-3006 or visit www.zspace.org.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/11/DDUN1MLHRV.DTL#ixzz1jI9D38fS
Posted in John Fisher, San Francisco Chronicle, T.C. Boyle, theater news, Word for Word | Leave a reply
Making theater dance – an ode to collaboration
One of the most exciting things about the world premiere of American Conservatory Theater's The Tosca Project is that it shines a big old spotlight on the riches of the Bay Area.
Here is a revered local theater company venturing into risky territory – a play mostly without words told through dance and recorded music of all kinds – in collaboration with an artist from another revered local company. But get this, that other revered institution is not a theater company.
Yes, ACT Artistic Director Carey Perloff has spent four years working with the San Francisco Ballet's Val Caniparoli to create The Tosca Project, a story inspired by – hold your hats again – a piece of San Francisco history. Are you getting all this local, local, local stuff? The legendary Tosca Cafe in North Beach is the subject, from its opening in 1919 by a trio of Italians to its current status as the royal court of Jeanette Etheredge and her literary and cinematic pals, and that history is related via dance, music (opera, jazz, standards, rock) and even some beat poetry.
There are thrilling, beautiful moments in this 90-minute piece, and the stage pictures – created by Robert Wierzel's lighting, Douglas W. Schmidt's warm, inviting set and Caniparoli and Perloff's staging – are often stunning in their visual poetry.
This "Project" should be the start of many such projects that take full advantage of the extraordinary resources we have in the Bay Area. Think about the history we have yet to explore in dramatic and musical ways. "The Tosca Project" focuses on one bar in one neighborhood. The city, as they say, is full of a million stories. Let's hear more of them. And let them be told by local arts groups of all kinds working together.
I know it's naive to think that arts groups can just join together and create. There are little hurdles like budgets (or lack thereof)and grants (or lack thereof). But the biggest hindrance seems to be the silos everyone works in. ACT, Marin Theatre Company and the Magic Theatre are busting out of their silos to present Tarell Alvin McCraney's
The Brother/Sister Plays trilogy next season. Why are there so few of these inter-Bay Area collaborations? With any luck, such fruitful teamwork may be an inspired byproduct of this horrendous economy.
California Shakespeare Theater has collaborated brilliantly with Campo Santo/Intersection for the Arts as well as with Word for Word. Think of what they could do with a little help from San Francisco Opera. Or the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Or Oakland's flammably adventurous The Crucible. Think what might happen if Beach Blanket Babylon and Killing My Lobster decided to join forces. Or Thrillpeddlers and Lamplighters. The mind fairly boggles.
ACT's The Tosca Project continues through June 27 at 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $10 to $89. Call 415 749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org.
Above photo: The Bartender (Jack Willis) dances with the memory of his long-lost love (Sabina Alleman) in ACT's world premiere of The Tosca Project. Photo by Kevin Berne.
Posted in American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Carey Perloff, Jack Willis, local theater, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Ballet, Vall Caniparoli, Word for Word | 1 Reply
Entering heavenly Pastures
Posted on June 6, 2010 by Chad Jones
The ensemble of Cal Shakes and Word for Word's The Pastures of Heaven, an adaptation of the John Steinbeck book by Octavio Solis. Photos by Kevin Berne
Spectacular things are happening at the Bruns Amphitheater – on stage and off.
At long last, California Shakespeare Theater is getting a performance venue worthy of its status as one of the Bay Area's foremost theater companies. Improvements to the Bruns include a new box office, new landscaping and, most importantly, a beautiful new 7,850-square-foot building to house its food operations and some spectacular bathrooms (if you ever used the bathrooms in the old endlessly "temporary" facility, you'll appreciate just how spectacular these new facilities really are).
The improvements aren't quite done yet, but they're already upping the ante on the Cal Shakes experience – and just in time for Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone's 10-year anniversary with the company.
So many things to celebrate ̶ not the least of which is the world-premiere production on the Bruns stage.
There's a palpable sense of the new at Cal Shakes, and that extends to Octavio Solis' adaptation of the 1932 John Steinbeck novel The Pastures of Heaven, which is the first world premiere to take place at the Bruns. In translating this book for the stage, Cal Shakes turned to the one of the nation's greatest literary and theatrical resources, which just happens to be across the bay in San Francisco: Word for Word Performing Arts Company. There's no better company when it comes to adapting fiction for the stage.
But in keeping with the whole idea of making things new, Word for Word's collaboration with Cal Shakes involves, for the first time, a playwright. Usually, the wizards at Word for Word adapt short works of fiction for the stage without changing a word of the author's original text. That's why they're every writer's favorite theater company. This time out, they're working with a playwright, and it's inevitable that the playwright will place his own literary and theatrical stamp on Steinbeck's work.
So you end up with an extraordinary quartet of collaborators: Cal Shakes, Word for Word, celebrated San Francisco playwright Octavio Solis and a silent but very present John Steinbeck.
Steinbeck's Heaven, published when the author was only 30, is a novel told in 10 thematically linked short stories (with a prologue and epilogue), and Solis' adaptation more or less follows the structure of the book with some dramatic rearrangement. The result is a play that feels more like a complete novel than the actual novel does. A deeply human story of dreams and destiny, of flaws, foibles and failure, Pastures of Heaven, both on the page and on the stage, is a compelling and beautiful story shot through with the sadness of fantasy clashing with reality.
Directed with the emotional acuity and elegance we've come to expect from Moscone, these Pastures are rich with nearly three hours' worth of fascinating stories and characters enlivened by a marvelous cast of blended Word for Word company members, Cal Shakes company members and newcomers.
Set in a picturesque valley outside of Salinas, Las Pasturas del Cielo ("pastures of heaven") was settled by a disenchanted 49er fleeing gold greed seeking an ideal home for many future generations, and though his vast family never quite materialized (he and his wife had only one son, and that son only had one son), the area grew into a thriving little farming community.
And where there's community there's drama, as we find out in Steinbeck's pithy portraits of the valley's inhabitants. There are so many vivid moments in this production that it's impossible to catalogue them without simply reprinting Solis' script. But some of the stand-outs include Rod Gnapp (seen at right with Charles Shaw Robinson) as Shark Wicks, a financial whiz with a big secret whose world collapses just as his wife's world (so insightfully illuminated by Joanne Winter) expands into bold new emotional places. It's also impossible to forget Amy Kossow's portrayal of Hilda Van Deventer, a terrifying child whose mother (the invaluable Julie Eccles) has an unfortunate penchant for grief and endurance.
Madness and mental challenges play a surprisingly large role in the stories Steinbeck chooses to tell. Tobie Windham plays Tularecito, a somewhat deformed young man whose mental grasp of the world is tenuous but whose artistic talent is undeniable. The young man is forced to go to school, but his teacher (an animated Emily Kitchens) reveals an unbridled enthusiasm for the boy's artwork and his grasp of the more supernatural elements of valley nights.
Amid much serious subjects that includes curses, ghosts, religious fervor, death by snakebites, filicide, financial ruin, and the depression of dashed dreams, the play takes a break for a chapter told completely in song. With music by Obadiah Eaves and musical direction by Julie Wolf, actors Winter and Catherine Castellanos (seen at right) play the Lopez sisters, who fail at farming and at running a diner. They finally find success in a centuries-old profession, and they do it singing and dancing (movement by Erika Chong Shuch) all the way.
Aside from wonderful guitar playing at the top of Act 2 by Richard Theiriot, there are no more musical interludes, alas. But we continue to delve into the stories of people – among them are those played by Dan Hiatt, Andy Murray and Charles Shaw Robinson – coming to California with a dream and inevitably having to reconfigure their lives when too much reality interferes.
This is an ambitious, abundantly rewarding new work that combines delicious theatricality (just watch the way 11 actors populate an entire valley and the way Annie Smart's amazingly precise dollhouse set gives them room to do just that) with a literary pedigree that fuses Steinbeck's muscular yet poetic prose with Solis' lyrical, humor-tinged script.
The Pastures of Heaven tills fertile ground. Notions of destiny and legacy weigh heavily in these stories, but so do undercurrents of hope, community and determination. And this powerhouse collaboration yields a new dramatic work that should grow into a long, distinguished life on stage.
Cal Shakes/Word for Word's The Pastures of Heaven continues through June 27 at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, one mile east of the Caldecott Tunnel in Orinda. Tickets are $34 to $70. Call 510-548-9666 or visit www.calshakes.org for information.
Posted in Andy Murray, California Shakespeare Theater, Catherine Castellanos, Charles Shaw Robinson, Dan Hiatt, John Steinbeck, Jonathan Moscone, Julie Eccles, local theater, Octavio Solis, plays, Rod Gnapp, Word for Word | Leave a reply


Deputy Stone and Deputy Warren LaRue were shot and killed by a man as they attempted to seize his mobile home at 5344 E. Van Buren Street to satisfy an $833 judgement.
The man produced a gun and shot Deputy LaRue in the back four times. Deputy Stone returned fire hitting the suspect five times as the suspect shot him three times. Both deputies and the suspect died at the scene.
Deputy Stone's son, a Phoenix Police Officer had been killed in the line of duty just three weeks prior to this incident.


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Viktor Krovopoeskov (Russisch: Виктор Алексеевич•Кровопусков; Moskou, 29 september 1948) was een Sovjet-Russisch schermer.

Krovopoeskov werd zowel individueel alsmet het sabel team in 1976 en 1980 olympisch kampioen. Krovopoeskov werd in 1978 en 1982 wereldkampioen individueel en vijfmaal met het team.

Resultaten

Olympische Zomerspelen

Wereldkampioenschappen schermen

Schermer uit de Sovjet-Unie
Olympisch kampioen uit de Sovjet-Unie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Find interfaces defined in the class How to find all available interfaces defined in the class using Apache BeanUtils, MethodUtils etc. ?
public class MyClass() {
   .....
   public interface Interface1{};
   public interface Interface2{};
}

A: I suspect you just want Class.getClasses():

Returns an array containing Class objects representing all the public classes and interfaces that are members of the class represented by this Class object. This includes public class and interface members inherited from superclasses and public class and interface members declared by the class. This method returns an array of length 0 if this Class object has no public member classes or interfaces. This method also returns an array of length 0 if this Class object represents a primitive type, an array class, or void.

So call MyClass.class.getClasses(), and then filter out non-interfaces using Class.isInterface.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Xcode Cloud can't find GoogleService-Info.plist I try to build my iOS app (made with Flutter) with Xcode cloud, all is fine until I get this error:
Build input file cannot be found: '/Volumes/GoogleService-Info.plist'. Did you forget to declare this file
as an output of a script phase or custom build rule which produces it?

The file is added to the git repository under ios/Runner and if I try to build using Xcode I don't get the error.

A: Solved this by moving the file to ios/Runner and adding a reference to it using xcode


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Жильбер Дьендере (; ) — военный и политический деятель Буркина-Фасо; глава президентской гвардии (полка безопасности президента) Буркина-Фасо и председатель Совета национальной демократии после переворота 16 сентября 2015 года в течение недели до 23 сентября.

Биография
Дьендере участвовал в военном перевороте 1987 года, в результате которого был убит Томас Санкара (именно он командовал спецназовцами, расстрелявшими Санкару и 12 его соратников), а Блез Компаоре стал президентом. Дьендре был одним из приближённых Компаоре, возглавив элитную президентскую гвардию и предотвратив попытку военного переворота.

После свержения Компаоре в конце 2014 года Дьендре был смещен с поста командира президентской гвардии, но сохранил тесную связь с ней. 16 сентября 2015 года участвовал в военном перевороте, в результате которого были задержаны временный президент Мишель Кафандо и премьер-министр Исаак Зида, и был объявлен главой Совета национальной демократии, новой военной хунты.

Тем не менее, хунте не удалось консолидировать свою власть по всей стране, и в конечном итоге столкнулась с давлением от лидеров соседних стран и регулярной армии, лояльной переходному правительству Кафандо, после чего Дьендере был вынужден покинуть пост.

22 сентября было подписано мирное соглашение между путчистами и регулярной армией. Сам Дьендере признал, что переворот был «большой ошибкой».

23 сентября свернутый Мишель Кафандо и его правительство официально вернулись к исполнению своих обязанностей.

26 сентября стало известно, что государственная прокуратура Буркина-Фасо заморозила активы генерала Жильбера Дьендере. Также были заморожены активы еще 13 человек, которые подозреваются в причастности к заговору против президента Кафандо.

1 октября арестован. Дьендере были предъявлены обвинения в попытке захвата власти в стране, а также убийстве Тома Санкары в 1987 году.

В ходе военного переворота в Буркина-Фасо в 2022 году был освобождён.

Личная жизнь
Дьендере женат на Фату Диалло Диендере, политике, которая была приговорена к 30 годам тюремного заключения за убийство, нападение и нанесение ущерба государственной безопасности.

Примечания

Военные Буркина-Фасо


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Home » Our Communities » Wadeye
Mayor Ralph Narburup, Deputy Mayor Wilfred Harris and Councillors Jake Clark and Mark Tunmuck-Smith represent Wadeye and surrounding outstations - the Thamurrurr/ Pindi Pindi Ward which has a population of approximately 2,500.
Wadeye, also known as Port Keats, is one of Australia's largest remote Indigenous communities located approximately 420kms south west of Darwin. It is accessed along the Daly River Road which is not sealed from the Daly River crossing and can only be accessed by road during the Dry Season (May to October). Outside of this time, access is only possible by light aircraft (daily) or coastal barge (weekly). There is a sealed airstrip accessible throughout the year with automated lighting for night time landings. Flying time from Darwin to Wadeye is approximately 45 minutes.
The township was originally founded as a Roman Catholic mission station by Father Richard Docherty in 1935 at Werntek Nganayi (Old Mission), and subsequently moved 14km inland to the community's present location. Due to the opportunities that the mission provided for the tribes in the area, there were fights between tribes trying to get into the mission as there was limited space and facilities to support a large group of people. Father Docherty had to turn some people away until the mission's facilities and gardens could provide for large numbers of people. The mission was populated by people from seven different language groups and more than 20 clans. The Australian Government managed the mission until the late 1970's. In 1978, local government was handed to the Kardu Numida Council and the community was renamed Wadeye.
The new West Daly Regional Council (WDRC) covers 14,000 square kilometres and has a population of more than 3000 throughout the communities of Wadeye (Port Keats), Peppimenarti (Peppi) and Palumpa. The roads to the communities are cut by flooding...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Suave and sophisticated, this pair of tan lace-up shoes from Da Vinchi by Metro has been crafted to precision. The premium quality full grain leather upper promises utmost comfort while the abrasion resistant rubber sole makes it durable. Perfect for all formal occasions, it would pair well with a formal shirt to look classy.


text:
Neroli & Citrus Bath Salts
Neroli & Citrus Bath Salt
All Bare Bath Salts are made using Epsom Salts & Sea Salts.
Contains: Lavender, Neroli Light, May Chang & Orange Essential Oils
This Salt has a wonderful fresh and citrusy fragrance. With the exciting combination of Orange and Lavender, this is fantastic when you want a relaxing, peaceful and calming soak.
Neroli is extracted from the so-called 'Orange Flower Blossom'. It was traditionally used in wedding bouquets as it has a calming and soothing effects (especially useful for nervous brides). It's aroma is unique in that it is delicate and yet carries weight with it's exquisite floral notes.
Cheerful and uplifting while supporting collagen formation in the skin. Orange has been used for centuries in all forms for it's anti-depressant qualities.
May Chang
May Chang is proven to be both stimulating and uplifting, so it is excellent for relieving fatigue and lethargy. It is often called the "oil of tranquility" and is recognised for promoting physical relaxation and mental calm.
The name Lavender originates from the Latin "Lavera", which literally means "to wash". The Romans used is in their bathing routine. By far the most popular and versatile of all essential oils, it is used to great effect to release muscle tension, and can combat stress and crisis.
Please Note: These are handmade, natural products, so colours may vary slightly from those seen.
Ingredients: Sodium Chloride (Coarse Sea Salt), Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts),Sodium Bicarbonate, Tapioca Starch, Citrus Sinensis (Orange) Peel Oil, Citrus Aurantium/Parfum ( Neroli Light) Oil, Lavandula Angustif (olia) ( Lavender) Oil, Litesea Cubeba Fruit Oil,Citral*, Linalool*, Limonene*, (* Naturally occurring in Essential Oils).
Cosmetic Product Safety Report Certified as Legally Required by EU Regulation EU 1223/2009
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22 Castle Street, Beaumaris LL58 8AP, UK
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This tool works great for my shop as we see a lot of European vehicles, which is what it works best on. We do a lot of programming/coding with this tool which is why it was purchased, that was the selling point for us. Updates are a little pricey but compared to other scanners it is competitive. I gave it 4 stars mainly because of the lack of customer service, other than that it is our go to scanner.