The event will take place at Oklahoma City University in the Burg Theatre and opening night is the evening of April 5, 2013.  The initial five inductees for The Wall of Honor including legends and friends will take place at a banquet preceding the show.  Inductees include the delightful Lakshmi Manchu, a native of India, and OCU graduate who has made a big impression in such programs as Las Vegas and Desperate Housewives and Chip Ulrich a technical expert in lighting whose position with Schuler-Shook is renowned. Cathy O’Donnell, whose contributions in movies is profound (remember the beautiful Barbara Waggoman who captured Jimmy Stewart’s heart in “The Man from Laramie”) is unfortunately a posthumous award.  Jonathan Beck Reed whose nationwide theatrical triumphs are legendary will be inducted as well as Donald Jordan, Artistic Director for City-Rep Theatre here in Oklahoma City.  Jordan and Reed have worked together on numerous productions over the years and their contribution to OKC Theatre is a credit to our city.

Now, on to the show!  “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a great pooling of talent with OKCU Artistic Director, D. Lance Marsh directing an incomparable cast.  Donald Jordan, Artistic Director of City-Rep is functioning as Artistic Director for the production and Kathryn McGill, Artistic Director for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park portrays Miss Prism.  However, the decisions all fall on Marsh and he begins with a superb cast list: Andi Dema portrays John Worthing, Hunter Paul plays Algernon Moncrief and the incredible Michael Jones is Lady Bracknell. Other cast members include Dwight Sandell, James Tyler Kirk, Brett Garrett, Renee Lawrence and Lauren Thompson.  Also Kathryn McGill, Alexis Graves and Taylor Weinhold grace the list of exceptional actors Marsh has chosen. This cast includes Equity actors as well as sweat equity performers and a few future honorees for the Wall of Honor to come.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is a favorite OCU Theatre production, and a favorite of Oscar Wilde fans, and who isn’t?  The show reflects a time period in the past, but the humor is relevant and contemporary and is put together by a group of talented folks who are unable to miss the mark.  For ticket information contact the Oklahoma City University Box Office at 405-208-5227 and the Burg Theatre is at the OKCU campus on Blackwelder just north of Pennsylvania Avenue.  This is not one to miss!  Earnestly!

Dye has a prestigious resume as a director from New York to Los Angeles to Oklahoma City and back again to New York. A graduate of Drake University with an MFA in directing from Yale University, Dye came to Oklahoma City in 1971 as Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre. He made profound contributions to the growth of Lyric Theatre during his tenure. He also became Executive Director of the Oklahoma Theatre Center. During his time in Oklahoma City, Dye’s influence radiated throughout the theatrical community.

Lyle Dye has an excellent grasp of human nature, a generous spirit and wit, and the rare ability to turn a flaw into an asset. He has earned great respect and good will from colleagues and from the many performers who worked under his direction. He is remembered with much fondness by those who knew him in the good old days, but he has also provided a lasting legacy for the Oklahoma City community. Actors and directors who never met him benefit from the traditions he established–traditions of common sense, wit, honesty and integrity. Dye has given the Oklahoma City community great foundations in theatre.

The “Black Tie to Tie Dye” benefit will take place on Thursday, November 1^st at Castle Falls, 820 N MacArthur Boulevard from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The cost is $100 per person or $175 per couple, and black tie is not required. There will be entertainment to salute Lyle Dye for his achievements and contributions. Do not miss this is an opportunity to see a beloved mentor again or meet for the very first time a man whose life still shapes the performing arts community in Oklahoma City. In addition to honoring Dye, the benefit supports CityRep and its continuing commitment to excellence in Oklahoma theatre. Contact Michael Jones at CityRep (405-410-8035) for further information or for tickets to the benefit.

In professional theatre, the dream of a lifetime is to grasp with humility a Tony Award. Presented by the American Theatre Wing in honor of Antoinette Perry, an accomplished actress of the early 20th century and one of the Wing’s founders, the Tony recognizes excellence in Broadway theatre.

Yet the American Theatre Wing does not stop with noting the deserving performer in New York City. Over the past 55 years, the American Theatre Wing has shown its dedication to not-for-profit theatres by distributing some $3 million dollars through its Theatre Company Grants Program. These grants, although less well known, are equally prestigious. Among these are the Jonathan Larson Grant (awarded to musical theatres) and the National Theatre Company Grant. This can only be awarded to companies that are between 5 and 15 years in continuous operation with an established record of excellence in theatre.

In the American Theatre Wing’s own words, the grant of $10,000 is “…for general operating support to companies which have articulated a distinctive mission, cultivated an audience, and nurtured a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre.”

This year, for the first time, one recipient of the National Theatre Company Grant is an Oklahoma company. The dedicated and talented members of Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep) have earned this national recognition for their hard work, attention to detail, accuracy and expertise. CityRep is led by Artistic Director Donald Jordan, and this dedicated group is proud to receive the honor.

CityRep has just completed 10 difficult and rewarding years of operation providing professional theatre to Oklahomans. From their home base at the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City, the company has produced Oklahoma premieres and returning favorites. Their efforts and talents are showcased in the upcoming 11th season opening September 7 with the timely show November by David Mamet. This production should not only entertain us but will also encourage us to perform our civic right and duty – to vote.

Don Jordan, CityRep Artistic Director. Photo by Wendy Mutz.

In addition to Jordan as Founding Artistic Director, the company includes Development Director and Production Stage Manager Steve Emerson, Artistic Associate Michael Jones and Artist-in-Residence Jonathan Beck Reed. Kurt Leftwich serves as Box Office Manager, Anna Holloway as Dramaturg and Historian, and the Official Photographer for CityRep is Wendy Mutz. The company operates under a Board of Directors consisting of twenty members headed by President Ruth Charnay.  Many of the actors in each production are members of Actors Equity. CityRep is now in its eleventh season of producing professional theatre for culturally aware and sophisticated Oklahoma audiences.

Oklahoma is nationally remembered for disasters like the dustbowl and the Murrah Building bombing, or for sports teams taking national and international attention from the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team to the football programs at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. We don’t often get credit for Oklahoma’s significant contribution to the arts.

Oklahoma is a hotbed of talent. Many Broadway and Hollywood stars have been nurtured in this heartland by the great theatre training programs at our local colleges and universities. We should all be proud: of our young performers, of those who have gone on to represent us on the national stage, of our diverse residents who support the arts in this great state.

CityRep is one company that offers talented young performers a doorway to professional excellence. And the American Theatre Wing, by making CityRep the recipient of one of the 10 National Theatre Company Grants in 2012, has chosen to remind all of us, and the nation, that Oklahoma is a land of creativity and endeavor that rivals the Big Apple in texture, taste and talent.

The grant money is welcome, of course, but the honor gives all Oklahomans another reason to be proud. Artistic Director Jordan states: “The recognition from the American Theatre Wing is a tremendous honor. It is a tribute to the efforts and talent of the artists from Oklahoma, Broadway and throughout our American professional Regional Theater whose work has been represented on our stages as well as the steadfast support of our loyal patrons, dedicated Board members and generous supporters. Together we are striving to enhance our community’s Artistic, Educational and Economic future. We are very grateful to the ATW for this award and for all they do to promote and support professional theater in our country.”

The National Theatre Company Grant is our Tony Award – a Tony for the state as well as for CityRep. It is just as inspiring as a Heisman or Olympic Medal.

Congratulations to CityRep as a truly professional theatre and to Oklahoma as a truly cultural haven.

Don Jordan, Jerome Stevenson, Michael Baron. Photo by Anna Holloway.

Stevenson is Artistic Director for the Pollard Theatre in Guthrie, just twenty short minutes from downtown Oklahoma City.  The Pollard Theatre is just winding up 25 years in operation with a resident company living, working and entertaining in Guthrie.  Baron is the Artistic Director for the Lyric Theatre, just beginning their 51^st season in Oklahoma City with outstanding musical theatre using local Equity Members and talent, and bringing in other Equity Actors from all points east and west.  Jordan is Artistic Director of CityRep with 10 delightful seasons of Equity Performers bringing the best and newest theatre to central Oklahoma with the heart of the heartland.

There are numerous theatre choices in central Oklahoma:  University Theatre, Community Theatre and Professional Theatre.  The students are learning their craft and as students often perform at a professional level.  Community talent is strong in Oklahoma and consists of those talented performers who either did not choose to join Actor’s Equity or, well, Life Happened.  Lyric Theatre, CityRep Theatre and the Pollard Theatre consist of actors who are paid for their services and have committed to provide the public with professional level performances consistently.  That is not to say that professional level performances do not occur at the community or college level because that certainly happens.  However, these three professional theatres always do so.

Having worked as a critic for several years here in Oklahoma City and Guthrie it is easy to see that professionalism has been without exception the rule.  It is the job of the critic to let readers know whether or not a show is one they should see and, at the professional level, there has not ever been a show that shouldn’t be seen because it wasn’t good enough.  There are occasions where a show might not be appropriate for sensitive or youthful audiences.  Everything a review is about is a combination of nit-picking and constructive criticism.  No one can claim to like every play ever written and performed.  Every performance in Oklahoma City mounted by these theatres is an acclaimed piece of writing.  If that writing is directed towards a mature audience that needs to be noted, but that is not a criticism.  The review is invariably about the production and should be limited to criticism on that level.  There are a few delightful occasions when we get an original script, and that review may include script criticism with the understanding that, here, we are drama critics, not literary critics.

With the apologia for this perspective out of the way, let us consider the goals of these three artists. Watching them connect with each other the way Stevenson talks about connecting with the audience is just as magical as the performance.  Baron is ecstatic as he discusses the recent performance of Chita Rivera in “Chita Rivera My Broadway” an evening of love.  The love that Rivera has for her craft and the love and respect she has for her audience as she labors to extend this feeling out in radiating and pulsating sound.  Baron admires Rivera because he shares her commitment.  And he has a troupe of performers and technicians helping him share that commitment with each audience.  Jordan mentions several of his guest artists as well as several Oklahoma regulars.  Their commitment is to entertain, educate, illuminate and inspire the audience.  This commitment is not on a shallow or surface level.  It is, rather, on an organic and basic level.  These productions are meant to confirm, change and enable an audience to a greater understanding of life itself.  These productions must be chosen with that in mind, because that is invariably what happens.  As Stevenson describes the connection that occurs between the audience and the cast in a show, one can see something happening on a personal level.  This connection just doesn’t happen with a box and a screen as wonderful as they are.

Jordan noted one of his favorite quotes from Thornton Wilder:  “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being”.  There is nothing more beautiful, inspiring and thought provoking than the naked emotion that is genuinely communicated between people and lovers.  When it comes across the footlights the emotion is often more realized than coming across the candle lights.

So what value do these organizations have for the community at large?  Education, Entertainment and Economy.  Jordan directs me to a National Endowment for the Arts Study which shows that every dollar spent on live entertainment generates $11.00 in local income.  That’s a pretty important contribution too!

These theatres have made these commitments and, obviously, they have been excellent stewards of public funds as well as public trust.  They have provided diversity here in Oklahoma that is an outstanding asset and just like the excellence in other artistic areas; sports and nature have fostered an attractive business climate for job creating.  That’s adds a little something to the pot doesn’t it?  And out of the pot?—about $25.00 a pop as a comfortable average.

Clearly Oklahoma has a strong foundation in talent.  Witness the number of successful community theatre organizations and University organizations.  Oklahoma City University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Central Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University all have excellent programs which nurture that innate talent that arises out of the prairie.  Central Oklahoma can support three professional theatres because there is so much heart in the heartland.  And that leads us back to the connective tissue Stevenson discusses:  It is the audience that is the force behind the phenomenon of Oklahoma talent.

Yes – it is you.

Director and Choreographer Shawna Linck has the daunting task of correlating 8 separate casts for the current production of “Cinderella” based on the Anderson, Brightman Disney screenplay.  As a result there are 4 ‘Bobbidi’ casts appearing June 7-10 and 4 ‘Bibbidi’ casts appearing June 14-17.  Performances are Thursday through Sunday with two performances to give each cast exposure.  All of the lead actors play ensemble cast members on their ‘off’ nights so not only does everyone get some lead experience, they also get general experience.

This also gives the audience an opportunity to see the other Cinderella’s in action without attending all specific shows.  The cast being reviewed here is ‘Bobbidi cast D’ from Saturday nights 8pm performance.  As the number of total cast members is at least 150, it is impossible to recognize each and every Cinderella and wicked stepmother performing, but clearly each and every cast member, regardless of age and experience, gives an even performance with poise and clarity.

In a show for children with the majority of children performers one often makes allowances; yet no allowances are taken by the charming cast.  Quoting a fellow audience member “….It’s a good show for kids.  If you have some, you might think about taking them.  Plus, there are children dressed as mice and they are cute as buttons.  Cuter even.”  Clearly the mice in the production are adorable and, looking at the program one notes the performances of those mice assuming lead roles in other production as exceedingly polished.

Saturday night’s production features Daraja Stewart as Cinderella.  Her interpretation of the Disney version gives substance to the character adding dimension to the role.  Stewart has a sweet voice and lovely presence.  Phoebe Hunter is the beautiful Fairy Godmother and the combined sweetness of the two is delightfully offset by the wicked stepmother and sisters.  Kayla Jennings develops a saccharine cruel streak for the stepmother and the sisters are played by Jordan Absher as Anastasia and Margaret Patterson as Drizilla.  Patterson’s flamboyance creates a lot of fun along with Absher’s irritating whine.

Prince Charming is deliciously portrayed by Dakota Muckelrath and exceptional performances captivate when the emotionally retarded King (Joe Grotta) and his trusty retainer Ben White take the stage.

Educational Arts programs for children help so much to teach other academic subjects, fostering a well-rounded background.  Many of these kids could go on to be professional artists and of those who don’t enter the creative fields, they always find that their creative intelligence lends a great deal to any endeavor.  These programs also foster self-esteem.  While the program at St. Luke’s seems complicated to arrange with the varied cast permutations, Linck does an excellent job of bringing out the very best in all the students.

For more information on the arts program or any of these performances visit www.poteettheatre.com or call 405-609-1023.  St. Luke’s Church sponsors the activities of the Poteet Theatre and the Educational Arts Program and is conveniently located at 222 NW 15^th Street in Oklahoma City.  “Cinderella” has two performances each day, Thursday through Saturday at 6 and 8pm and Sunday at 2 and 4pm. 

 “Next to Normal” is not a musical that is fun and frivolous; this is a serious drama about an extremely important subject presented in a powerful voice, backed by an exciting band.  “Next to Normal” plays at the Freede Auditorium in the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City through November 20, 2011.  This production is a piece with all the power and all the voice for anyone afflicted with a mental illness and even more importantly, anyone who loves another.

CityRep presents “Next to Normal” under the excellent direction of Michael Jones.  Charles Koslowske as Musical Director leads a fantastic band in accompaniment to the exceptional voices of a professional cast.  A starkly depressing yet beautiful set from Scene Designer Amanda Foust provides an excellent backdrop for Jones to stage effectively.

So many versions of mental illness are labeled and mislabeled manic depression, bipolar disorder, erratic mood swings, depression and grief.  Almost everyone is connected personally to someone suffering from a form of mental illness and an objective perspective is virtually impossible. 

For years the character Diana Goodman is haunted by her demons and ghosts. Her diagnosis is manic depression or bipolar disorder. Not only is the illness profoundly ruining her life, it is just as devastating for her family.  Playing the role of Diana is Stacey Logan.  Logan brings to the role a complete understanding of the illness, a superb vocal talent and the interpretation of a confident and brilliant actress.  The audience is completely bowled over by this outstanding performance.

Lane Fields as husband and father Dan is every man and woman in the audience with a family member who has been saddled with such a diagnosis.  Anderson Daniel is the picture of every lost child haunting a family closet whose name brings too much pain.  Natalie comes to fearful life in every move and expression of actress Jennifer Hiemstra.  Dr. Fine and Dr. Madden are both played by Matthew Alvin Brown and his god complex strikes the gut with great power.  Jordan Justice as Henry, Natalie’s young and initially irresponsible yet sanely normal teen boyfriend brings a much desired ray of hope to the characters.

While the music and lyrics and story of Yorkey and Kitt are superb and well deserving of great acclamation, it is the subject tackled that makes this show Pulitzer material.  This is an indictment of the medical community, particularly the psychiatric community for categorizing grief as mental illness in the first place.  Accolades should be given to the sponsors of this production, particularly those in the Psychiatric industry for the guts to back this production.

Technically, the choice made by Sound Designer, W. Jerome Stevenson and Jones to provide individual microphones for each cast member rather than placing microphones strategically on stage is questionable.   Individual microphones create greater mobility and versatility in staging yet can dampen the vocal quality of voices in cases where the singers have the diaphragm to carry the sound and fury to the back of the auditorium.  This is a cast of powerful voices.  The Freede Theatre is a space able to acoustically handle these beautiful voices without individual microphones thereby giving an even greater clarity to these powerful performances.

For tickets call 405-848-3761.  If you are a mental health professional, patients and families need your attendance.  For everyone else:  you are not alone.