Weekly Update from Kristianne
February 13th, 2009
- NVA increased our technical capabilities. From a heated pond to overhead rain and an increased lighting system, it is a technically more advanced show than we have done before.
- NVA introduced two new actors to the San Diego theatre community. Both Jasmine Allen and Asia Jackson are making their professional stage debuts with this show - and both actresses have amazing potential as artists. Also, they are both African-American, and there are not many opportunities for African-American actors in San Diego theatre (especially young women). Add to that the NVA debut of Grandison M. Phelps III and we have some great new talent at NVA.
- The music is fabulous. I think Tim Parker’s “Ballad of Rowan Hale” is one of my favorite music moments in theatre - you’ll have to check it out.
- Our ensemble members shine - Sandy Ellis-Troy as the Madame and Jack Missett as Schoolch excel in their roles.
- The play deals with issues of race and sexuality, which many theatres in our area have shied away from. This is a play that you have to experience - and then you will think about that experience long after it is over.
- We are only the 5th theatre in the world to attempt the play. Many theatres don’t produce it because of its size and scope - and we have pulled it off! The show will only continue to grow as the run continues - come see it again in the 3rd or 4th weekend!
“Our names are our fates and our proper place,” a teacher named Schoolch tells the title character, an orphan discovered in the bulrushes 18 years ago. Eisa Davis’s drama is a tale of identities lost and found, of truths smothered and revealed. It’s 1955, the eve of the Civil Rights movement. Young, mystical Bulrusher reads peoples’ future in water they’ve touched. She grew up in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, where some locals still speak Boontling (a language invented in the 1880s, at first for people to stump each other, then to make objects more personal) and where the African-American Bulrusher was so isolated she had no idea about racism or sexuality. The arrival of Vera, a black woman from Alabama with a secret, awakens Bulrusher to realities both horrific and wonderful. It’s easy to see why Davis’s drama was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Character- and language-driven, it unfolds like a musical score about the varieties of innocence and experience. New Village Arts’s opening night had many, but not all, of the play’s elements in place. Kristianne Kurner’s scenic design, a handsome triptych of three raised locales (a spare cabin, a manzanita near a river, the front room of a brothel, all backed by pine tree trunks), featured graceful rain effects. Mary Larson’s rustic costumes and blues-rich background music enhanced the look and mood. The production, however, sometimes went fast when it should go slower, and vice versa. The cast often sped through the poetry and Boontling; and scenes often lagged with slow stage business, which lengthened the evening. Sandra Ellis-Troy scored as Madame (don’t call her “madam,” even though she runs the brothel), a crusty perfectionist who also has a secret. Grandison M. Phelps III adds upbeat Logger, Boonville’s only black man, to his list of impressive performances. Tim Parker, with pomaded hair and James Dean outfit, energizes every scene, be it crooning with his guitar or being “Stook On” (infatuated with) Bulrusher. Though she could savor the language more, Jasmine Allen made Bulrusher part perplexed teen and part woodland sprite. A touching portrayal.
