More Funding for the Arts! Artworks Receives $500,000.00 for ARTWALK
A LEG UP, A World Premiere at Bristol Riverside Theatre - Opens September 20th
BRISTOL RIVERSIDE THEATRE OPENS ITS 2022/23 MAINSTAGE SEASON WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE OF A LEG UP BY KEN KAISSAR
Beginning September 20, Bristol Riverside Theatre (BRT) will present the world premiere of A Leg Up by BRT’s Co-Producing Director Ken Kaissar. The show will be performed at BRT’s theater (120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, PA 19007), which combines the excitement of a large stage production with the intimacy of a 300-seat theater. A Leg Up launches its 21-performance run on September 20 and continues through October 9. The cast features stage and screen actors Marla Alpert, Jennifer Byrne, David S. Robbins, Brittany Lee Hamilton, Joe Hogan, Liz Maurer, James Joseph O’Neil, and John Siciliano, with BRT’s Co-Producing Director Amy Kaissar directing.
“The inspiration for A Leg Up came to me in 2013 when I was preparing to teach a class on Gender and Sexuality at Rider University,” said Ken Kaissar. “I was also directing the famous farce Boeing Boeing during that time, and it occurred to me that I had never seen a farce that featured LGBTQ+ characters. I wanted to try the form with characters of all genders and sexualities, and, in making it more inclusive, the show actually became funnier.”
Initially slated for its world premiere in the 2019/20 season, this witty and outlandish story is a new comedy for the 21st century written as a traditional farce. In A Leg Up, Charles Griffin III (O’Neil) has staked what’s left of his fortune on the new Miraculous Knee-to-Toe XR-3000 with 3D Helix, an intelligent prosthetic leg, designed for a presidential candidate, Senator Sam Wannamead (Hogan). Unfortunately, his mistress Laurie (Hamilton) announces she’s pregnant, his business partner Stephanie (Alpert) has her eye on his wife Barbara (Maurer), and the Senator is having an affair with the leg designer Rufus (Robbins), and it’s not even lunchtime yet!
The production team behind A Leg Up took ambitious steps to help bring the story to life. The set features a full two-floor mansion that combines the overwrought grandeur of the family home in Schitt’s Creek with the engaging panoramic design of the house in the 1982 Broadway play Noises Off. Audiences will watch characters dash in and out of rooms or up and down stairs throughout the house as the hijinks unfolds. The show’s intelligent prosthetic leg becomes a revolving gag in its madcap plot after a malfunction causes it to interact with the wearer’s subconscious. The cast worked with a clowning expert and fight choreographer to develop various stunts, including the leg kicking at people the user doesn’t like, playing a flirtatious game of footsy, and performing elaborate dance routines.
Kaissar began writing A Leg Up in 2014 while working as an independent playwright. He developed it through BRT’s new play development program America Rising in 2015, which engages emerging and mid-career playwrights by offering residencies, workshops, readings, and premieres. The show was then selected for BRT’s 2019/20 Mainstage season by Founding Director Susan D. Atkinson and then-Artistic
Director Keith Baker. America Rising is intended to both introduce audiences to the development process while providing a tailored experience for the playwright to meet their individual needs. America Rising has supported several notable playwrights, including Bruce Graham, Pulitzer Prize-nominee Jon Marans, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.
Each of BRT’s productions will offer special pre- and post-show engagements, included with the price of the ticket, for guests to create a special night out. The September 22 performance is followed by a catered reception where folks can revel over the night’s show. At the Friday Festival (September 23), BRT patrons can enjoy complimentary beer and appetizers on the first Friday of each production. Looking for a midweek wind down? On the second Wednesday of A Leg Up (September 28), the evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with Wine Down Wednesday, where audiences are served crudité, desserts, and wine. The third Thursday (October 6), known as Thirsty Thursday, includes an hour of complimentary snacks and beer.
Tickets for A Leg Up are available online or by calling 215-785-0100.
A Leg Up cast includes: Brittney Lee Hamilton, David S. Robbins, James Joseph O”Neil, Jennifer Byrne, Joe Hogan, John Siciliano, Liz Maurer, and Marla Alpert
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About Bristol Riverside Theatre:
Since 1986, Bristol Riverside Theatre (BRT) has continued to bring acclaimed theatre to Bucks County. The theatre is the recipient of over 71 Barrymore Award nominations. Now under the direction of Producing Directors Amy and Ken Kaissar and General Manager David J. Abers, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community. In addition to its mainstage productions, BRT offers the William Penn Bank Summer Music Fest, the holiday tradition An American Christmas Songbook concert, the new play development series, America Rising, the summer theatre arts camp ArtRageous, and a range of education programs for local youth. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.
African American Spirituals Highlighted in World Premiere on September 25th, 2 PM
Soprano Keith Spencer Leads Lord Write My Name, A World Premiere at Trinity Episcopal Church, with pianist and arranger, Peter Hilliard on September 25th, 2 PM
Nationally recognized Baritone Vocalist, Keith Spencer and award-winning composer, pianist and arranger, Peter Hilliard have teamed up to create a unique musical tapestry of African American Spirituals, Lord Write My Name – A World Premiere on September 25th, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
Lord Write My Name is a musical blend of African American Spirituals that is interspersed with narratives, poetry, and letters penned by freed slaves and iconic Black figures throughout history. It explores the plight of those enslaved mourning in servitude, the redemptive story of the Gospel, and ultimately, their claimed identity as a freed people. Well-known spirituals performed by Mr. Spencer, include: “Deep River,” “My Good Lord’s Done Been Here,” “Nobody knows the Trouble I Seen,” “Steal Away,” and several others brilliantly arranged and played by Hilliard for the first time in public.
Pianist and arranger, Peter Hilliard
According to Keith Spencer, “It is an honor to present this concert which shares the significance and influence of the Gospel on people who had so little else to hold on to. Slaveowners intended to use the Bible to control and coerce. Instead, within Scripture, slaves found a hope and freedom of their own that couldn’t be beaten or taken from them. We see the result in the beauty and messaging of these expressive spirituals.”
Tickets start at $30 and group discounts are available. To purchase tickets call 609-392-3805 x 100 or go to Eventbrite HERE. Lord Write My Name is presented in partnership by On Demand Programs and Events! and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, located at 801 West State Street, Trenton, NJ.
Keith Spencer was last heard on Creative Conversations with Mandee Hammerstein on WDVR 89.7 FM on 9/12/22
Arts News As Heard on WDVR FM Live: 3rd Annual Makers Alley Juried Arts, Artisan & Crafts Exhibition 10/22-11/6
As Heard on WDVR FM LIVE with Mandee Hammerstein:
Recently, Makers Alley co-founder, Peter Rosenhal, shared his news with Creative Conversations listeners about the upcoming 3rd Annual Makers Alley Juried Arts, Artisan & Crafts Exhibition taking place October 22nd and running through November 6th, 2022 in Frenchtown, NJ. Makers demonstrations are also being planned by the organization, along with the welcome return of the Makers Talk Series!
The Makers Alley's juried exhibition submission deadline has now been extended to Monday September 12! Work will be juried in Emerging and Experienced categories. All artistic disciplines are welcome. If you are a Delaware River Valley artist/maker/craftsman go www.makersalley.org for more information and to enter!
"Lost" Pieces Come to Life, Celebrating Women with Concordia During ChamberFest - Sept. 9th & 10th
Pictured Above: Images 1-3: Soprano Chelsea Helm - Credit: Caitlin Oldham & Nic Coury; Violinist Edwin Huizinga & Executive Director Michelle Djokic - Photo Contributed; Harpsichordist Elliot Figg & Violinist Edwin Huizinga - Credit: Melinda David Secord; Violinist Edwin Huizinga - Photo Contributed.
Written By Lori Goldstein for MK Hammerstein’s Arts News
Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Purcell may be the most well-known composers of the Baroque era, yet none of their work will be heard during Concordia Chamber Players’ ChamberFest 2022 on September 10 at Glen Oaks Farm in Solebury, PA. That is because the program, titled Il Fattore XX—The Female Factor—was generated by artistic director Michelle Djokic’s excavation of “lost” pieces composed by of all people, women, during the Baroque era of the 17th century.
Commonly referred to as music “from behind the convent walls,” it was highly valued in Italy even when the composers left their nunneries. Why their work disappeared from performances in future centuries is a matter of speculation. With the mission to restore these gems, Michelle called upon some of the best baroque performance specialists she knew—violinists Edwin Huizinga and Manami Mizumoto, harpsichordist Elliot Figg, and soprano Chelsea Helm—to bring this concert to fruition.
Edwin Huizinga & Michelle Djokic. Contributed
One might say it was an organic process involving thought-provoking emails among the artists situated in different locales. It started with Michelle and Edwin, who had performed socially distanced concerts on the porch of Michelle’s home in Monterey during Covid. Michelle expressed an interest in mounting a concert of baroque music, which isn’t her specialty. Edwin asked, “Are you ready to put gut strings on your cello?” (Baroque strings are made from sheep intestine, called catgut. Non-baroque instruments use strings made of steel, nylon and other synthetic materials.) Michelle said, “Yes, yes let’s do it!” Hence the name for Chamberfest’s ensemble: the Gutsy, Plucky Band.
Elliot Figg & Edwin Huizinga. Photo Credit: Melinda David Secord
Edwin then reached out to Elliot Figg, with whom he performs in their baroque ensemble Acronym and with whom he has recorded an album titled Sonic Ghosts. Two years ago he met this “amazing soprano,” Chelsea Helm, at the Carmel Bach Festival. “My jaw just dropped when we started working together. I love her vibe, it’s so real, her voice is one of a kind, like many of our really great sopranos are these days.”
He also called upon Manami Mizumoto, with whom he’s played a lot in the past two years. “She has an incredibly unique voice on the violin. And she has composed a small instrumental piece for the concert. It may also have a little bit of improvisation,” which baroque artists love to do.
When Edwin was on the road in August with his Grammy-award- winning classical guitarist William Coulter, he took time to speak to me about his knowledge of female baroque composers such as Barbara Strozzi and Isabella Leonarda. Although Edwin was familiar with them, he hasn’t performed their music up until now. He thinks “they are absolutely on par with male composers from that era. And to be honest, we don’t really know how many female composers there were because some used male names.”
Edwin speculated, “That’s what they had to do to get amazing performances. And the other thing with that time period which I love so much is that everyone was a player. Everyone played and composed. There wasn’t really a situation where you only did the composition and you sent it off to the players. You were likely in the ensemble.”
Another hallmark of the Baroque era is that “the compositions weren’t really reveled in or relished in the way they are now,” Edwin explains. There was a more utilitarian outlook: “It was much more like, ‘okay, you composed for this concert. Let’s move onto the next concert and we have to compose something new.’”
During the course of our interview, Edwin showed me a lengthy email thread among the five musicians--a cross-pollination, you might say, of musical ideas about the program they were in the process of creating. “I think it’s so important for…Chelsea to say I would love to sing this piece because I have a connection with it,” which he knows the audience will sense. That unspoken validation between the artist and the listener is paramount.
Edwin referred to the important conversations he and Chelsea had about “why, why we want to play a concert, why we sing, why we care about what we’re singing and playing…what we’re saying in the musical community, and that we’re advertising how we feel about our lives on earth and what we want to say. We can talk a big game, but I want to do the things that I care about, so I’m really excited to raise up some of these incredible female composers.”
“I was also trying to see what Elliot loves to play, because the more we get invested, the more of our ideas get put to the forefront.”
Within the chordal structures of baroque music, there is much room for improvisation and ornamentation, or the embellishment of a melody either by adding notes (such as a trill, a rapid repetition of one note) or by modifying rhythms. “The way that Elliot plays is so unique,” says Edwin. “He expands everything and he’s not afraid to try completely different structures.”
“Often the basso continuo is what we call a bunch of goose eggs (whole notes that are the basic chord). The real thing is showing the audience and each other how the conversation is so important, and what I think that does …for you and the audience, you feel the power of listening and caring for each other and sharing those little moments where it often inspires people to go out of their comfort zone.”
Knowing that Edwin has played in the most majestic concert halls around the world, and forgetting that he grew up on a farm in Ontario, Canada, I asked him what does he expect it will be like playing in the barn of Glen Oaks Farm, where the bottom floor once stored the animals and the musicians will be playing on the second floor.
“I grew up with goats and chickens, I was very sheltered in the most beautiful of ways in my opinion. I can’t tell you how much I practiced in a barn my whole life. And yes, I love performing in unbelievable palaces and concert halls, but it’s so special to just realize and share the music that matters in a comfortable situation for everyone. That’s something I’ve really been thinking about a lot: presentation but also expectation, and I think there’s something beautiful about playing in a casual environment where people can maybe shed some of their walls, because how fancy or worried are you going to be in a barn?”
In regard to the evening of Chamberfest, Edwin expresses the hope that the audience will “feel the connection from that time to now. I want them to feel that especially the songs are stories about the human condition. Whatever the text is actually about, whether it’s a love story or a sad story or a story about a death, or resentment or passion–it’s very much about the human condition--which we all deal with every day in our lives.”
“The other huge thing for me is the conversation. For me, when people hear a baroque concert, it’s so conversational, it’s so important to be completely present in what’s happening in the moment because, for example if I start ornamenting, and Manami could be playing the same phrase one or several bars later, and we want to imitate each other, we want to egg each other on, we want to [say]…’I was listening to that, I would like to play that and add a little bit’, then Elliot will think, ‘oh, that’s where we’re going’” and Edwin can count on him and Michelle to take the conversation to another level. “It’s very much like my dream suggestion to humanity.”
To learn more about Concordia or to experience ChamberFest, visit https://concordiaplayers.org