According to Just Poets member Roy Bent, the
group titled its Fringe Festival program of original poetry “Not Wallace Stevens” because while
Stevens is undeniably a great poet, he’s one who’s “good on the page, but not
on the stage.” It’s a characteristic endemic to poetry as a whole, and their
group hopes to change that by taking a hint from other art forms that have
evolved over the years through the use of technology in order to become more
enticing to modern audiences. I’m not sure the show was entirely successful in
that regard (it very much resembled a traditional poetry reading), but there were
some good poems to be heard nonetheless.
The group’s plan for spicing up the poetry
consisted of a projected slideshow of stock images (one image to represent each
poem) and live music provided by guitarists Bob Vosteen
and Melvin Henderson. The slideshow didn’t add much, as I mostly found myself
watching the readers and ignoring the images entirely. While I expected Vosteen and Henderson to play along with the readings,
instead they only provided accompaniment as reader Celeste Schantz
sang bluesy covers of “Summer Wind” and “Love Me Like a Man.” Schantz has a pleasant voice, but the songs seemed out of
place amongst the original poetry that made up the majority of the program. The
highlight of the afternoon was Colleen Powderly’s reading of her poem “Twice,”
a bittersweet ode to the loves of her life. Maybe that was Just Poets real
strategy: the addition of extraneous elements highlighted the fact that the
poetry was the real star of the show.
(“Not Wallace Stevens” also
takes place Friday 9/27 6 p.m. at Writers & Books. Tickets cost $7.)
It seems entirely likely that audiences for “All Your Questions Answered” at the Geva Theatre Nextstage will leave
the theater with more questions than when they entered. Namely: “What the hell
did I just see?” and “What kind of demented nutcase is Greg Kotis
exactly?”
An evening of short comedic skits and musical
numbers written by the Tony Award-winning creator of “Urinetown,”
the show can only be described as: Non. Stop. Bananas. Covering scenes that
range from a call-to-arms amongst refrigerator mold that’s positively
Shakespearean, to a warning about the potentially dangerous side to that fresh
baby smell, the show is made for theatergoers with a twisted sense of humor.
And I’d count myself amongst that group.
This is a production of the Geva
Theatre Conservatory, which allows young local theater talent to work with
professionals in the business. All 10 members of the cast were fantastic in a wide
range of bizarre and over-the-top roles. I bet this show was an absolute blast
to create. I particularly enjoyed Stella Kammel and
John Cummings in a series of recurring skits involving… well, you’ll just have
to watch the show to see how they connect. Somewhat frustratingly, I had to
consult the website to find the names of specific cast members after asking at Geva’s info desk proved unhelpful. The person I talked to made it very clear that they were not involved with the
production, and frankly seemed put out that I’d even asked.
The show is definitely a little rough around the
edges, but I found that only added to its charms. If you desire layers and
deeper meaning from your theater, you can find it in philosophical discussions of
whether audiences truly exist, or you can even ask Kotis
himself, during a post-show discussion (during the show, naturally) which
involves a live telephone call to Greg Kotis to
answer exactly two questions from the audience. But mostly, “All Your Questions
Answered” is just great, silly fun.
(“All Your Questions
Answered” also takes place Sunday 9/22 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday 9/28 at 3 and
8:30 p.m. at Geva’sNextstage
Theater. Tickets cost $16.)
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2013.
Not sure who you talked to Adam since Geva doesn’t have an “info desk” and we would not have said we aren’t involved with the production since its actually a Geva show and will have its own run here after Fringe ( at which time I’m sure there will be programs with cast info). But glad you like it!
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! Sorry for the confusion, I talked to someone at the box office desk, which is where I’ve asked for information about shows in the past, Hence my reference to an “info desk.”
The actors did a great job, I just thought it was a shame that no cast information was available at the theater during the festival. And yes, that was my understanding about the show, which is why I was perplexed by the response I received. It was a busy night, maybe I just caught the person at a bad moment. It happens.