Corona, the angel of death, killed not only a third of a million Americans and many more worldwide, but also brought to an end most cultural events, especially concerts and theater shows. To my surprise and delight, some of the most beloved choruses and orchestras in the Philadelphia area, instead of canceling, became creative in entertaining audiences in safe and often unexpected ways via virtual performances.
 
The reviews below, jointly published by Phindie and Drama Around the Globe, present two aspects:
1. A History and short overview of the achievements of each musical group.
2. My Observations of their concerts.
 
Let’s hope that we can visit theaters and concert halls again next year. In this spirit:
Have a Happy, creative, and Covid-free New Year. 

​THE ORPHEUS CLUB: Oldest men’s singing club in the U.S.

History: “The Orpheus Club is a men's singing club based in Philadelphia, and is the oldest of its kind in the United States. It was founded in 1872, when 22 members performed at the Musical Fund Hall on Locust Street.
 
“The Orpheus club performs its Christmas, winter and spring concerts at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and at the Kimmel Center. Its Twelfth Night Revels performance is held at the Orpheus clubhouse on South Van Pelt Street each January.” (Wikipedia)
 
Henrik Eger: Orpheus Club of Philadelphia Virtual Christmas Concert 2020: The quality of the voices, the originality of the videos—which even juxtaposes singers each wearing a mask with a photo of the same singer without a mask, and the blending in of songs performed at the elegant Academy of Music in the past where thousands of people were singing along—created one of the most joyful choral holiday experiences. 

History: Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, one of the most popular choruses with high standards, formerly known as the “Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia is a music institution in Philadelphia, [. . .] founded in 1874 by William Wallace Gilchrist, a major figure in the 19th century music of Philadelphia. The chorus is currently under the direction of Dominick DiOrio (2020- ). It was previously directed by Paul Rardin from 2015-2020, chair of the department of choral conducting at Temple University. Prior to Rardin's appointment, the chorus was led by Alan Harler from 1988–2015.” (Wikipedia)
 
Henrik: A Slice of Pie: Music by Melissa Dunphy, Poetry by Feminista Jones: One of Australia’s greatest gifts for Philadelphia is Melissa Dunphy, the composer of the Gonzales Cantata, the musical equivalent to The Investigation by Peter Weiss, based on the transcripts of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials. Dunphy took the entire transcript of the Gonzales hearings and turned them into an equally eye-opening trial on stage.
 
She used strong Baroque elements for her music in the Gonzales Cantata, wrote many other pieces, quite a few in a more academic, abstract style, but for this Christmas concert, she used a mixture of American jazz and dream choirs, sung magnificently by the newly named Mendelssohn Chorus. My fear that I would hear atonal music which I usually only can stomach when performed by modern ballet dancers dissipated within seconds: This music made me want not only to eat more pies, but more importantly listen to sounds which made me feel at home, but also lyrics that made me think.
 
Adding to the down-to-earthness of this musical gem, this witty recording of her Slice of Pie, actually includes Dunphy herself preparing a pie, and mother proudly taking it out of the oven, followed by other people who are eating various forms of baked goods.
 
Given that way too many older folks have died of Covid-19 infections, I was moved when I saw an elderly couple eating a homemade pie--clearly relishing the joint experience. I appreciated that Dunphy and her lyricists, together with the chorus, the musicians, and the videographers, managed to make me think without being confronted by an angry manifesto. Rather, Dunphy manages to let us experience the joy of the holidays, but also gifts us with the awareness of what can happen to large numbers of people if we allow ignorance, greed, and exploitation to rule a country.
 
It was the first time that I saw the brilliant new conductor, Dominick DiOrio, wearing a festive red jacket, conducting over 70 singers, and the three musicians—Eric Schweingruber on the trumpet, Nathan Pence on bass, and Travis Goffredo on drums—leading to one of the most joyful holiday choral experiences.

​History: This year’s Christmas concert by the popular Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, founded in 1981, presents an upbeat, one hour free virtual program: “Home With Bells On—A virtual holiday concert.” Joseph J. Buches, the artistic director, expresses the hope that next year the crisis might be over. He then starts conducting a wide range of songs, accompanied by Baker Purdon. As always, ASL interpreter Brian Morrison gives us a chance to experience music in new ways
 
Henrik: What makes this program unique is not just the music and the joy the PGMC singers bring to the audience, but the mixture of highlights from previous holiday concerts with new Zoom recordings. We see close ups of all the participants singing beautifully in their own homes, identified by their first name, and with the lyrics being projected onto the screen. I also liked the rendition of Ma’oz Tzur, the Hanukkah song, presented by one member in Hebrew with great dignity.
 
When two singers sang “Grown-up Christmas List,” supported by the chorus, I was pretty moved, aware of the violence that surrounds us, and yet hope living on: “Do you remember me?/I sat upon your knee/ I wrote to you/With childhood fantasies.// [. . .] My grown-up Christmas list/Not for myself/But for a world in need.//No more lives torn apart/That wars would never start/And time would heal all hearts.//And everyone would have a friend/And right would always win/And love would never end.//”
 
Of all the many Christmas concerts I have seen, I never witnessed a conductor, dressed in his black tails, joining eight guardsmen, dressed in red uniforms, jointly performing “Favorite One” with some pretty complex choreographed movements by Sean Toczydlowski with their hands and arms, even their legs and feet moving rapidly in unison—a feat that brought down the house.
 
For the record, this concert may be the only one where the producers gave themselves permission to earn some urgently needed funds by including commercials by a vodka company. Purists may not like it, but a chorus must survive, not only artistically but also financially, given the many expenses. 

PHILLY POPS: The official Pops Orchestra of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ​

​History: “The Philly Pops is an orchestra based in Philadelphia, PA. Founded by presenter and producer, Moe Septee, and conducted for 35 years by two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist Peter Nero, who, with the Philly Pops played orchestral versions of popular jazz, swing, Broadway songs and blues. In 1999, the Philly Pops was designated the official pops orchestra of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” (Wikipedia)
 
Henrik: A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season: Of all the groups which I saw perform this season, the beloved Philly POPS conducted by David Charles Abell, made sure that the violinists, all wearing masks, sitting in the middle of the stage, were protected by large Plexiglas walls from their colleagues who played wind instruments (“Blasinstrumente” in German = blowing instruments)—a realistic reminder of how musicians, including singers, are almost as endangered as medical staff at hospitals.
 
The care that went into this production confirmed again the professionalism of the Philly POPS, including the protection of their guest singer, Broadway’s Mandy Gonzalez, and the members of the orchestra, who not only looked classy with their black tuxedos and cheerful bow ties and/or elegant long black dresses. The chorus took the deadly Covid threat seriously, so much so, that when the orchestra played, accompanied by the large POPS Festival Chorus, and with the conductor inviting us to sing along traditional carols, I almost went ashen when I saw their production of the most famous of all Christmas songs, Austria’s “Stille Nacht”—“Silent Night”:
 
Nothing hit me as hard about the seriousness of life as their version of the holiest of Christmas songs when nothing appeared on the screen but a flickering candle, before we saw the happy-looking singers cheering us up with their carols, but within seconds the colors of their faces and outfits faded into stark black and white images. These dark figures reminded me of the people of all ages who had already gone from this life and that this version confirmed the reality of the brevity of all our lives—but this concert also invited us to make every moment count.
 
We wouldn’t be in America if it weren’t for the next song wishing all of us a “Merry Christmas” with the conductor suddenly showing up from behind a window, wearing reindeer antlers and singing like an overenthusiastic reindeer, which made me laugh and forget the sadness I experienced with the eye-opening black and white scene.
 
The concert included a guest performance by Seattle’s pianist Charlie Albright; an unusual jazz version of “Amazing Grace” played on the trumpet by the Philly POPS artistic director of jazz, Terell Stafford; and continued with many more songs and a special performance by the Gospel Choir of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas (founded in 1792), directed by Walter Blocker, who sang “Hark! The Herald, Christ is Born,” with great enthusiasm with the women dressed in African dresses and headgear, more colorful and exuberant than anything the elite in Britain wears at the annual Ascot Racecourse.
 
The concert ends with a jubilant performance of Handel’s “Hallelujah,” presented by the Philly POPS Festival Chorus, the St. Thomas Gospel Choir, and the Philadelphia Boys Choir. To my amazement, the director took the risk of conducting the orchestra live while the recorded video of all the performers—put together with great care by Austin Berner, the sound editor, and spliced together with split-second accuracy by videographer Jeffrey Masino—was running in sync with the Philly POPS.
 
What a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s concert, filled to brim with surprises, both funny and serious.

PHILADELPHIA BOYS CHOIR & CHORALE: "America's Ambassadors of Song" ​

History: Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale is a boys' choir and men's chorale based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “[. . .] founded in 1961 by Dr. Carlton Jones Lake [. . .] currently under the direction of Jeffrey R. Smith. They are known as "America's Ambassadors of Song" and are considered to be one of the best boys choirs in the world. They have performed in concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Kimmel Center, Notre Dame de Paris, King's College Cathedral, and Philadelphia's Academy of Music. [. . .]
 
“Riccardo Muti hailed the boys as a "gem" at the performance of the concert version of Puccini's Tosca with internationally acclaimed soloists. [. . .] During the 1990s, the Choir added Benjamin Britten's War Requiem to its repertoire under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch. [. . .] Each year, the Pennsylvania Ballet hosts the Choir as part of their seasonal favorite, The Nutcracker. Internationally, the Choir singers have performed for the Royal Families of Sweden, Denmark, England, Thailand and in over 30 countries around the world. [. . .] They have also sung at the White House for four presidents.” (Wikipedia)
 
Henrik: Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale Winter Concert 2020: Jeffrey R. Smith, the conductor, describes in detail how he and a team of experts manage to get over 100 boys to sing at home without being able to hear anyone other than a recorded music track and seeing their artistic director conduct a virtual, non-visible chorus—before, after many days of splicing everything together we get this chorus sing in harmony. I have never seen anyone who explained this process so well that I understood the complexity of this time-consuming task. Alas, the overabundance of Christian graphics tend to distract from the overall high quality of this program.
 
However, seeing little boys reciting passages from the Christmas story in between musical numbers with great joy, added to the video. A Jewish boy, sitting next to a menorah, introduces “Ocho Kandelikas” (“Eight Candles” in Ladino), a lively Sephardic Jewish Hanukkah and New Year’s song with the English translation of the original lyrics projected onto the screen—one of the best Hanukkah song renditions I have ever heard. The scene of a little black boy in front of a tree in his neighborhood enthusiastically talking about Christmas made me think of a 10 year old Martin Luther King, Jr. in his neighborhood in Atlanta reaching out to the world in 1939—the outbreak of World War II—with a message of hope.
 
“When you believe” from The Prince of Egypt brings together both the Philadelphia Boys Choir and the Philadelphia Girls Choir—a joyful ending with over 300 voices.

​PHILADELPHIA GIRLS CHOIR: “A legend in the making”—with a surprise ending

History: “Established in 2012, the Philadelphia Girls Choir provides an unequaled experience for girls 7 and older, taking a holistic approach to choral music that relates musicianship and performance to the broader human experience designed to instill confidence, responsibility and achievement through music.
 
“Cultural diversity and personal development are essential elements of our program. Ensembles of the Choir are invited to sing at public performances at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet’s Nutcracker and the National Constitution Center. The Concerto ensemble also travels and performs internationally for a yearly summer tour.” (Philadelphia Girls Choir website)
 
Henrik: Philadelphia Girls Choir Holiday Concert 2020: For this virtual concert, the choir also invited the American Boychoir from Princeton, NJ, the Princeton Girls Choir, and sang one piece with the Philadelphia Boys Choir. I particularly appreciated the graphics which showed beautiful scenes in nature in between numbers to which religious and non-religious people can relate, and I valued the international Christmas and New Year’s songs in Hebrew and Icelandic in their holiday repertoire.
 
This concert comes to a joyful close with all the girls slowly walking through a field next to a barn, all keeping a distance of more than six feet from each other, slowly moving forward, singing, each picking up a gift box—except a very young little girl with braids, who walks around unable to find her gift. The Philadelphia Girls Choir concert ends with a charming surprise. 

TAGS: Corona, Philadelphia, Christmas concerts, Henrik Eger, The Orpheus Club, Musical Fund Hall, Academy of Music, Kimmel Center, Twelfth Night Revels, Orpheus clubhouse, Mendelssohn Chorus, A Slice of Pie, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, William Wallace Gilchrist, Dominick DiOrio, Paul Rardin, Temple University, Alan Harler, Melissa Dunphy, Feminista Jones, Gonzales Cantata, The Investigation, Peter Weiss, Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, Eric Schweingruber, Nathan Pence, Travis Goffredo, Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, Home With Bells On—A virtual holiday concert, Joseph J. Buches, Baker Purdon, Brian Morrison, PGMC, Ma’oz Tzur, Hanukkah song, Grown-up Christmas List, Favorite One, Sean Toczydlowski, Philly POPS, Peter Nero, Moe Septee, A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season, David Charles Abell, Silent Night, Mandy Gonzalez, Charlie Albright, Amazing Grace, Terell Stafford, Gospel Choir of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Walter Blocker, Hark! The Herald, Christ is Born, Ascot Racecourse, Handel, Hallelujah, Philly POPS Festival Chorus, Austin Berner, Jeffrey Masino, Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale, Carlton Jones Lake, Jeffrey R. Smith, Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Notre Dame de Paris, King's College Cathedral, Riccardo Muti, Puccini, Tosca, Benjamin Britten, War Requiem, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Nutcracker, Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale Winter Concert 2020, Ocho Kandelikas, Martin Luther King, Jr., When you believe, The Prince of Egypt, Philadelphia Girls Choir, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia Girls Choir Holiday Concert 2020, American Boychoir, the Princeton Girls Choir,

This review is published jointly by Phindie and Drama Around The Globe​. 

​Dutch Puppeteer Coby Omvlee (Netherlands/Norway) presented Teater Fusentast’s educational outreach to Scandinavian, Dutch, and immigrant audiences, including children from Africa and the Islamic world—a puppet-sized step toward counterbalancing the often vicious, relentless, and threatening verbal attacks on “the Jew” hammered into the children in many madrasahs around the world on an almost daily basis. Coby describes two of the scenes:
 
“Acting as a Nazi with an SS collar, I take one of the hand-sized paper puppets, Willem—whom the audience has grown to know quite well—set him on fire, and throw him into an “oven.” Later, without any expression of anger or hate, I take the remaining characters out of the family portrait and throw them away, except Hetty, the main character—the only one left. She then tries to find out if there are any family members left and reads from the lists of the deported and murdered on the miniature Red Cross building. During those scenes, both children and adults tend to sit in an edgy silence."

Turning the kaleidoscope by 180 degrees, some conference participants lucked out and reached Tashmadada, the Jewish Theater Down Under, temporarily transplanted to the residence of the Australian Ambassador in Austria who had invited us and Deborah Leiser-Moore (Australia) to present aspects of her physical theater. 

In 2019, Australians experienced Medea: Kaddish for the Children, a re-imagining of one of the most iconic and tragic figures, Medea—played by Deborah Leiser-Moore.

​At the end of the Theater of Genocide presentation by Robert Skloot (USA), Susan Salms-Moss (USA and Germany), an American opera singer who has performed in Germany for the past 25 years, sang Maurice Ravel’s Kaddisch with a God-given voice that went under my skin as if it had been sung in a forgotten concentration camp—the last song of the last surviving Jewish woman on earth. 
​
[Kaddisch performed via the link above by Nikola Hillebrand (soprano) & Alexander Fleischer (piano) in Heidelberg, Germany, 2019.] 

Having secured the Bishop’s permission to perform in Vienna’s Votivkirche, one of the most important Neo-Gothic religious architectural sites in the world, our host Warren Rosenzweig (USA/Austria), founding artistic director of the Jüdisches Theater Austria (Jewish Theater of Austria), and his international cast presented his dramatic epic Die Judenstadt [The Jewish City].
 
Centered around Theodor Herzl in the months before he conceived the Zionist manifesto Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews), the play follows the psychological journey of Herzl, a frustrated bourgeois playwright, as he faces down his inner demons and, in particular, his self-hatred, to emerge at last with a grand vision of himself as redeemer of the Jewish people.
 
The performance of Rosenzweig’s play on the Jewish city and the Jewish state—an extraordinary event—was held in a sacred Christian place. Three generations ago, such a Jewish performance would not have been allowed, and if it had taken place in secret, would have led to most audience members being carted off to Theresienstadt (Terezin)—coming from Germany, this scenario colored and haunted my perception of the entire Jewish theater conference in Vienna. 

Set during the Third Reich in Europe and the U.S., my play Metronome Ticking (Germany/USA), the only Holocaust docudrama which presents the harrowing experiences of Lily Spitz, an Austrian Holocaust survivor, fleeing across Europe, collide with the conflicting conscience and actions of Alf Eger, a Third Reich war correspondent and propaganda officer in occupied France—was performed at the Jewish Museum of Vienna by Mira Hirsch (USA), artistic director of the Jewish Theatre of the South, and myself.
 
Our scene began with both the original German and the English translation of my father’s letter to my mother: “Lies mehr als meine Buchstaben, lies was ich nicht schrieb, lies was mein Herz zerspringen lassen möchte."—“Read more than my letters, read what I did not write, read that which could shatter my heart.”

​We were taken to the edge of human existence many times: Brenda Adelman’s (USA) My Brooklyn Hamlet relived her mother’s murder by her father (who then married the victim’s sister), a drama that created a classical Greek catharsis in a modern Brooklyn setting (at right, Adelman performing below a painting of her murdered mother).

​LEFT: Brenda Adelman's father, the murderer, who killed her mother (see painting).
RIGHT: Photo of the daughter who not only wrote My Brooklyn Hamlet, but who also developed
​THE FORGIVENESS PROJECT. ​

A century ago, the Moscow Art Theatre developed revolutionary new acting methods under Konstantin Stanislavski and became the topic of heated discussions in Europe, ranging from actors and directors reviling to revering this new method, so much so that during a tour through Germany, one playwright called Stanislavski and his troupe “artistic divinities.”

The Russian cultural revolution spawned many ideas and books, including Utopian Construction — Judaism and the Soviet Avant Garde, which in return helped in fostering the next generation of Russian theater artists, especially in the theater and film world to advance their own revolutionary ideas. 

Similarly provoking was the dispossessed spirit in Dybbuk, presented by Irina Andreeva of the Teatr Novogo Fronta, now settled in Prague (Czech Republic), whose movement-oriented, non-verbal method of acting created physical expressions and images, even absences, that crawled and crept into my mind—some of the most hauntingly beautiful “fleurs du mal” (“flowers of evil") from Eastern Europe that I have ever seen.

​Eva Brenner (Austria), the outspoken artistic co-director of the experimental theater collective PROJEKT THEATER STUDIO/FLEISCHEREI-mobil (the Butchery), co-founder of the independent political Castillo Theater, an independent experimental theater worker, author, and producer, and one of the very few Austrian theater people actively participating in the conference program. She directed over 50 political performances and new formats of socio-theatre with migrants and community people. In 2013, she published her book about independent theater--ADPATATION or RESISTANCE: The Loss of Diversity (Promedia, Vienna).
 
At the AJT conference, she presented one of her company’s action-oriented political theater pieces, Robert Blum, der Außenseiter (Robert Blum, The Outsider), who was executed in 1848 for his revolutionary activities, shortly after he wrote his famous Abschiedsbrief (farewell letter).

In a performance at the store-front sized Jewish Theater of Austria, the audience was taught some warm-up exercises by Sun Sun Yap (Singapore/Austria), which slowly transformed into a protest rally where we imperceptibly became part of a revolutionary scene. Marching along, singing “Wir sind die Arbeiter von Wien” (“We are the Workers of Vienna”), a Socialist song written by Fritz Brügel, a Jewish Viennese activist, we became totally integrated into an old documentary of marching workers, now flickering on a large screen in front of us.

Gaby Aldor (Israel) represented The Arab-Hebrew Theater of Jaffa, where two theatrical groups produce plays, together and apart, in both Hebrew and Arabic, and in which Israeli and Arab actors and directors work collectively, provoking controversy for many in the region as they challenge notions of the cultural and political divide. They often engage in heated debates and arguments, but out of the pain can come good theater:
 
Tikun Olam at its best, as witnessed by the Jewish Arab peace song, or, in Aldor’s words, “sharing and working together in the theater makes us forget our different origins. It makes us become and stay close friends.” 

ABOVE LEFT: Photo of The Arab Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa with inscriptions in Hebrew and Arabic. 

ABOVE RIGHT: Photo montage of Farid al-Atrash, Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player,
and actor (1910-1974)​, played by Jewish Israeli, Ziv Yehezkel, Israeli singer and popular oud player,
born to Iraqi Jewish parents, who sings in Arabic (1985-), Arab Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa. 

​Motti Lerner (Israel), internationally acclaimed Israeli playwright and screenwriter, just as the legendary Theodor Bikel did before him, presented deeply challenging ideas about the prospect of Jewish culture and identity in his speech on “The Politics of Jewish Theatre” at the palatial Austrian Theater Museum:

I thought of Shimon Levy (Israel)—playwright, director, academic, and Beckett scholar—who brought up the Israeli saying that theater is a secular synagogue. Such a powerful institution, a synagogue-theater without walls.

​Shimon Levy, Israeli playwright and academic, Beckett scholar, and author of  The Bible as Theatre. 

A synagogue-theater without walls already exists, thanks to editor Moti Sandak’s (Israel), who, in 2003, founded the All About Jewish Theatre website (AAJT), the world’s largest Jewish theater online portal—an influential, secular synagogue on the Internet, an Open University—which provides free access to everyone, Jews and non-Jews alike (see my YouTube video about AAJT).

[Unfortunately, the extensive English language section with hundreds of reviews and articles about Jewish dramas around the globe—even scripts of dramas and operas created in the ghettos and concentration camps—all became inaccessible in 2014.

Via The Wayback Machine, I managed to create a section on Drama Around the Globe, called, “Rescued Jewish Theater,” which features my articles, reviews, and interviews, including the richly illustrated “’Don’t ask me what happened. It’s best not to know!’: A DYBBUK, or Between two worlds.”]

​Moisej Bazijan, former artistic director of the Jewish Theatre of Lemberg (Ukraine), who now teaches and directs in Munich (Germany), created one of the most international experiences for me when I served as his German-English interpreter while he presented his “Role Analysis through Action” for English-speaking actors from Europe and the U.S.

The wit of Robin Hirsch (Germany, England, USA), author of Last Dance at the Hotel Kempinski: Creating a Life in the Shadow of History, in spite of his terrible experiences in the 1940’s, kept the audience in stitches, showing life through the lens of the upper classes, first in Germany, then, after escaping the Nazis, in England.
 
Robin Hirsch was born in London during the Blitz to German Jews who had escaped Hitler. Coming of age in postwar England, he quickly learned the ironies of survival: His best friend at school, an English Jew—at the age of six—called him a “Nazi.” Hirsch moved to America as a young man and became well known for his literary, artistic, and musical career sponsoring rising artists through the performance room at the Cornelia Street Café in New York's bohemian Greenwich Village.

Every playwright, director, actor, creative artist, board member, even theater critic in support of Jewish theater around the globe became a cultural ambassador the moment we all walked into the Imperial and Royal Wine Treasure Vault of the Piaristenkeller with glorious food and wines and, great company at the largest theater congress in modern history.

As part of the solo theater conference’s Solo Performance Series, we experienced an entertaining, yet gut-wrenching series of performances.
 
The past came back forcefully but also showed us a new spirit of hope, which surfaced again when Warren Rosenzweig introduced Ruth Schneider, a Viennese Holocaust Survivor (Austria and Britain), who spent some time incarcerated at Holloway Prison in London.

Robin Hirsch, whose parents had fled Nazi Germany, and Deborah Baer Mozes (see links above)—whose mother, a refugee from Nazi Germany, aged only 16, arrived in the U.S. alone—walked up to the stage at the monastic Piaristenkeller with a birthday cake whose huge flame shot high up on that stage.
 
I will never forget the way Piatka held her hands up to her chin in utter surprise, radiating even more joy and energy than before—if that is possible.

The ambassadors of Jewish theater from around the globe rose from their chairs, walked a few feet and paid a visit to the Piaristenkeller’s “Emperor Franz Joseph Hat Museum.” There they donned classical chapeaus, large feather boas, and old helmets from the Imperial Austrian Monarchy.
 
With much laughter and mutual admiration about the quick transformation, the cultural ambassadors then sauntered into the Imperial wine cellar, where the theater royalty drank more of those good spirits, toasted, sang together, and listened as the beloved Theodor Bikel (songs)—a native son of the city on the Danube—treated us to another song.

In spite of all the beauty and power of the emerging images in our kaleidoscope of Jewish theater, a few glass splinters did hurt when one of the active participants wrote, “The conference was very monopolized by American Jewish theater,” and when another participant e-mailed, “Why were so few Europeans participating in Vienna . . . Is this a question of lack of communication?”

Hardly a day goes by without images from the Vienna kaleidoscope flashing into my mind, each of them—whether terrifying, thought-provoking, or nurturing—has encouraged me to continue my writing.

Many other conference participants seem to have been inspired by the conference, too. One of them, Marcia Isaacs (USA) of the West Coast Jewish Theatre in California (with husband Herb Isaacs, playwright and WCJT board member) went all out. She created a DVD with a beautiful musical and visual tribute to Tikkun Olam and all its participants in the spirit of old Vienna, a digital “laterna magica.” ​

Let’s celebrate theater, let’s celebrate life,
let’s interpret and change the world and with it, ourselves:
L’Chaim, wherever you live, wherever you work.
H.E.

This article was published originally by Theatre Arts, www.HenrikEger.com, March 2007, now updated, with additional texts and images, published by Drama Around The Globe, ​2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the isolation of millions of people, to creative and responsible actions by many others, and to irresponsible behaviors by way too many people who refuse to wear masks, refuse to keep social distance, and genuinely believe that Corona is a “hoax.”
 
The Way Out performance series by cutting edge theater artists and aerialists not only presents stunning live performances, but comes with a lot of thought behind it to create a safe environment for audience members driving by in their cars, on their bicycles or tandems, exploring Philadelphia’s historic Laurel Hill Cemetery at night with six different performance stations. The demand for limited tickets is so great that these artists are already planning another show in the spring.

​Questions, Answers, Insights: Interview with The Way Out ​artists

​This interview asked some difficult questions and led to quite a few thought-provoking responses.
 
Henrik Eger: As a child and/or as an adolescent, what was your greatest fear in life, and how did you conquer it as an adult through dance or other creative arts?

Lauren Rile Smith (she/her/hers): I’m genuinely afraid of heights, so much so that you won’t catch me on top of a mountain! However, training and performing on trapeze allowed me to slowly adjust what “high” means to me.
 
I take inspiration from our setting at Laurel Hill Cemetery, a beautiful green space and historic burial ground that dates from an era before public parks. Our Victorian ancestors would visit graveyards to spend time with their dead as well as their living friends and family.

During our COVID-19 pandemic, we’re constantly shadowed by a fear of mortality. Performing in a cemetery reminds me that loss always surrounds us—making death less scary. ​​​

Evalina “Wally” Carbonell: The scene we are creating for The Way Out illuminates connections between femininity and nature. Our blood has memories, as does the earth, and they speak to each other in a curving, heated flow of movement. “Blood is that fragile scarlet tree we carry within us,” wrote Sir Osbert Sitwell, brother of Dame Edith Sitwell, the poet. This awareness informs our connection to the natural world within Laurel Hill Cemetery. 

​Henrik Eger: What aspects of your life influenced your scene at Philadelphia’s most historic cemetery?
 
Eppchez!: As a visibly queer and trans person, it is impossible to separate the queerness from my work. So often I find my mere presence pushes buttons, upsets the status quo, and I have to do a lot of coddling and educating if I want to share space with cis people. When I’m on stage, I can do the emotional labor dance much more on my terms.

Ama Gora: I use she/her/we pronouns. To acknowledge the communities, ancestors, and deities that carry and hold me as a queer black woman, I’ve embraced “we.” I find that my queerness is always a part of my work. It may not be the central theme in works like Project Assata, but it creates an ever-present dialogue about queerness.
 
Queer black femme folk have been and continue to pick up the broken pieces when things have crumbled. I have to acknowledge that, address it, and continue to create space for dialogue around it—despite any controversy and push back I may receive.

Evalina “Wally” Carbonell: I would like them to tune into the blood in their own veins and be appreciative of the life force within them and that of their neighbors. Ideally, I would like them to listen to the ancient mysteries that live within them, communicating secrets of humanity to their environments.
 
Christina Eltvedt: I like to present an idea with enough room embedded to reflect and craft a personal outlook. I want audience members to take what they need from my work.

Eppchez! : I try not to worry too much about what the audience takes away—that is their prerogative and entirely in their hands. Four and a half minutes is not a lot of time to get much across. However, through this performance I hope to offer the realization that we need to do better than return to a normal that was untenable for millions of people.
 
We may not be able to interact intimately in this time, but we can still find ways to build the kinds of community that will get us through the deep winters that are coming. Not alone, holed up in the woods with our one million calories, but together in our neighborhoods—sharing all the resources we may not even realize we already have.
 
Lauren Rile Smith: In this show, all of our artists seek to answer, “What is the way out of our current moment?” Frequently, this question shows up in small and in large ways in our lives—as reflected in each performance in The Way Out.
 
Seeing others work through these vital issues gives me new perspective and strength in my own work. Through a half-dozen tiny worlds, The Way Out hopes to show our audience possibilities and transformations.
 
Sometimes, “this moment” feels like it started in the middle of March, while at other times, it feels like one endless, frustrating afternoon. For some, a marriage or a job needs escaping. For many, it’s a struggle that can be traced back decades, even centuries.

WHERE: Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3822 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19132.
WHEN: Thursday October 1, Friday October 2, and Saturday October 3. All performance times are rolling (7pm-8:30pm). Rain date: Sunday, October 4.
TICKETS: $100 tickets per car, not per audience member. $25 tickets for individuals on bicycles may be announced in September if COVID-19 safety permits.
 
Because of the COVID precautionary measures, only a few people are allowed in, leading to a very limited number of tickets—all of which are only sold in advance, making for a contact-free box office experience. Call 215-266-6215 for tickets. Upon arrival, audience members who already paid for their tickets will be checked in via the same telephone number.  
 
Throughout the entire performance, audiences will stay in their vehicles. There is no restroom access on site. Please read our COVID-19 Info Page for more information. The performance is family-friendly, although not oriented toward children. Contact info@tangle-arts.com or call 215-266-6215 with questions. 

For the article The Way Out: New life at Laurel Hill Cemetery with an all-female ensemble of many theater artists and Tangle’s aerialists, click this link.  

​See also, They Only Come Out at Night: A Graveyard Cabaret (REV Theatre): 2015 Fringe Review 60 by Henrik Eger, Phindie.

Philadelphians who are concerned about getting Covid-19 infected if they attend a large gathering of theatergoers can relax AND see a live show that avoids mingling with other people. Part of the Philadelphia Fringe, audiences can now experience The Way Out with performances by a wide range of cutting edge artists at Philadelphia’s historic Laurel Hill Cemetery’s on Thursday October 1 through Saturday October 3.

The Way Out, a mini-festival, features 17 artists performing at 6 separate show stations at the Laurel Hill Cemetery—all coordinated by Lauren Rile Smith, founding artistic director of Tangle, the much talked about aerial circus arts group.
 
The lead artists include Ama Gora and her ensemble Ma'atWorks Dance Collective; Evalina Carbonell and duet partner Weiwei Ma; Christina Eltvedt and ensemble; Eppchez!; and Madeline Rile Smith [Lauren Rile Smith’s sister]—who present their own non-aerial works of dance and theater at five separate stations.

The show concludes with an aerial performance of Tangle (see bios and photos) with Kate Aid, Lesley Berkowitz-Zak, Rebecca MoDavis, Najwa Parkins, Lee Thompson, and Deena Weisberg.

Describing the evolution of Tangle, she said: “Out of excitement for a radical potential circus, I founded Tangle as a queer, all-female circus company to question our assumptions on gender, bodies, and the way people relate to one another. We believe that the real world’s politics show up in circus acts, and we want our performances to be part of creating the world we want to see.
 
She observed Tangle’s spectators as “those who are dazzled by the physicality of circus arts,” and audiences which “seriously explore relationships between women—from the platonic to the passionate.” Transparency and honesty, two of the hallmarks of Tangle, led to these observations of the performers who “display a wide range of body types, gender presentations, and interactions—relationships of support, antagonism, flirtation, or partnership.”
 
For this performance at the Laurel Hill Cemetery, Lauren Rile Smith is not acting as a performer because this complex outside show requires her to be on the ground as a producer throughout.
 
Tangle's aerial dance closes The Way Out with a moving and thought-provoking finale.

WHERE: Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3822 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19132.
WHEN: Thursday October 1, Friday October 2, and Saturday October 3. All performance times are rolling (7pm-8:30pm). Rain date: Sunday, October 4.
TICKETS: $100 tickets per car, not per audience member. $25 tickets for individuals on bicycles may be announced in September if COVID-19 safety permits.
 
Because of the COVID precautionary measures, only a few people are allowed in, leading to a very limited number of tickets—all of which are only sold in advance, making for a contact-free box office experience. Call 215-266-6215 for tickets. Upon arrival, audience members who already paid for their tickets will be checked in via the same telephone number.  
 
Throughout the entire performance, audiences will stay in their vehicles. There is no restroom access on site. Please read our COVID-19 Info Page for more information. The performance is family-friendly, although not oriented toward children. Contact info@tangle-arts.com or call 215-266-6215 with questions. ​

For interviews with the all-female cast of artists, see “Collectively, we live in a period of drastic change and reordering": Interview with some of The Way Out artists and performers. 

See also, They Only Come Out at Night: A Graveyard Cabaret (REV Theatre): 2015 Fringe Review 60 by Henrik Eger, Phindie.

Luke Bradt: It’s gonna be fun! Let the show surprise you. I think what I like most about Popcorn Falls is that there is a real heart to it.

Yes, I play a bunch of zany characters, but what might surprise the audience is how there are some moments in the show that are completely straightforward and grounded. My goal is to get you to fall in love with these characters so you cheer their successes and mourn their failings.

Dan Olmstead: In a world that can seem so dark these days, Popcorn Falls is a charming piece of mostly light entertainment, but almost consistently surprising—a comedic tour-de-force for my partner-in-crime Luke Bradt. He plays by far the lion’s share of characters with a Chaplin-like grace, humor, and pathos. The play often swings back and forth between moments that are almost farcical, and others that are grounded, true and deeply felt—but without a doubt, Popcorn Falls is a comedy in every sense.

Henrik: How did you manage to learn over 20 different roles?

Luke: Practice. Muscle memory. Practice. Practice. Muscle memory. Practice. Practice. Muscle memory. Practice.
Perhaps surprisingly, the actual switching between characters vocally and physically isn’t the challenge. That’s the fun part! I could do that all day! I just get to let my imagination run wild.
​
The hard part?—all the minutiae that go along with it. Remembering if I put the cigarette holder in the front right pocket the last time I did the character, or if three scenes ago I moved the second cell phone to the front left shirt pocket during the scene change. Did I remember to preset the walkie-talkie in the jacket pocket for the last scene after I stashed it in the onstage bin during a change during the first scene?

It’s stressful stuff, and you have to trust your work, trust your prep, and trust that you have the chops to adapt if something goes wrong. And things will go wrong!

Dan: I’m not sure I’ve ever truly learned a role. If I’m being any good, at least to my mind and according to my own process—such as it is—I’ll be learning about my character throughout the entire process. If I didn’t approach both acting and directing from that angle, I’m afraid I’d bore not only myself, but very likely others, to tears.

Henrik: Which are your three favorite lines from this play?

Luke: I’ll try not to pick any lines that give anything away! Here we go:

“Hello.” . . . Simple line. But it’s delightful in context. It comes at a certain moment, and it marks the end of a particularly challenging sequence of character and prop shifts.

“Let dead dogs lie, Mr. Trundle. Let dead dogs lie!” . . . I have favorite characters. One of them is Floyd, the one-armed lumberyard owner, and I have a particularly fun time with him. While reading the script, I kept imagining the voice of the obscure character Monkey John from the Western series Lonesome Dove, played by Matthew Cowles. So Floyd is my best impersonation of that character, and I love doing it.

“One week. If there’s no play in exactly seven days, and let’s see . . . it’s 7:59 . . . I’ll even throw in a minute! You have until eight PM one week from tonight to put on your play, or I will see to it that you rot in jail.” . . . This is not an interesting line, but it was hard to memorize, and I am happy when it comes out easily.

Dan: Hmm. “One day we dreamers are going to realize that there are a lot more of us than there are of you.”

“I hit traffic, got stuck behind a parked car.”

“I’m so tired, I just want to sleep.” Actually that last one is probably reflective of the way I’m feeling right now, at the end of week 3.

Henrik: Tell us something about you as a person that only some of your best friends know about you.

Luke: I was stuck on this question, so I asked my fiancée, Nicole, and she says that I’m a terrible liar, so I’ll go with that. [He laughs] I can’t get away with anything!

I’m also a huge nerd. I have a whole room devoted to my hobbies. I regularly meet up with some friends to play Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve played it since fifth grade, and it’s always been an outlet for an excess of imagination.

Dan: My director, Ellie Mooney, is also my boss at home. She’s done an extraordinary job with Popcorn Falls, imbuing it with humor and poignancy. She and I met in 2010 during rehearsals for Amadeus at the Walnut Street Theatre. I played Salieri and she played Mozart’s wife Constanza. So Salieri finally wins! [he laughs] I had the extraordinary opportunity to direct her a few years back in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, here at the Independence Studio. She and the rest of the cast were beyond wonderful; and now with Popcorn Falls, she finally got her chance to get revenge and direct me!

I’m only kidding: of course, she and I have a unique relationship where we collaborate artistically on almost all our projects.

Henrik: Tell us something about you as an actor that only some of your closest colleagues know about you.

Luke: I’m petrified of missing an entrance. When I did Brigadoon in high school, I completely blew an entrance. It has haunted me ever since. I usually wait in the wings long before I’m supposed to enter, because I don’t want to space out and fail to hear my cue to get into place—sometimes, as far as two scenes in advance, if I won’t get in the way of anyone else trying to do their job.

Luckily in this show, I enter—and then I don’t exit. So I’m only nervous about that once!

Dan: Wow, there could be so many things. I am a devoted pet lover and I am fairly obsessed with my current puppy, Bisou. She is a magical little Cavapoo [a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle] who, ironically perhaps, teaches me every day, in some small way, how to be a better human being.

Ellie has kidnapped her to Florida for the moment, so I am missing them both very much; and even though I am loving the theatrical romp that is Popcorn Falls, I’m very much looking forward to the death by a thousand licks that I’ll receive when we are reunited—to be clear, I’ll be receiving those from Bisou, not Ellie

​On a scholarship as a German exchange student at Bethel College, Kansas, I was given the lead role in The Sign of Jonah by Günter Rutenborn–putting God on trial in Berlin in 1945. Everything went well during rehearsals, but on opening night, faced by a packed auditorium, something I had never experienced before, I forgot all my lines for the first five minutes and went into a James Joycean stream-of-consciousness mode.

The drama teacher developed gray hair and made me stay up most of the night and rehearse non-stop till the curtain went up again the next evening. Unfortunately, by then, I was so exhausted and nervous that I lost all my lines again. While I learned to improvise in front of a whole hall of theatergoers, none of whom knew the script and quite a few of whom told me afterwards how much they enjoyed my performance—alas, I was never invited to perform in any play anywhere since.

​To this day, I don’t know why!
​
Instead, I write plays in both English and German and became a theater reviewer and interviewer. In short, I have the greatest respect for actors, not only for their acting skills, but for their capacity to learn whole scripts by heart—as witnessed by muscle memory masters Luke Bradt and Dan Olmstead, acting over 20 different roles non-stop at the Walnut.

This interview was originally published by Phindie on March 9, 2020. 

To see the entire booklet, 33 pages, click the PDF file above. Below, a few excerpts. 

In the Fall of 1951 Bethel College welcomed the first participant in what has become a truly unique exchange program between Bethel College and the Bergische Universität-Gesamthochschule Wuppertal (BUGH). In the intervening fifty years 151 students have participated in this exchange program and thereby gained a better understanding of themselves and another culture, while becoming fluent in their new language. As a part of the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the Bethel/Wuppertal exchange program, this booklet containing words of welcome, brief history, personal essays, and photographs has been compiled. The historical segment, written by Erna Fast, a Bethel alumae, who was instrumental in establishing the exchange program, originally appeared in a booklet published for a 1994 Fall Fest Bethel/Wuppertal Exchange gathering. She has graciously offered it for inclusion in this booklet as well.

We are delighted to welcome alumni and friends of the Bethel College/Wuppertal Exchange program for the celebration of the 50 year anniversary of the program. It is only a small measure of the profound personal significance of the exchange program that so many have returned from near and far to join in observing this milestone. As I have visited with Wuppertal alumni on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in the last six years, I have been impressed again and again with how these persons treasure the deep friendships, the changes in world views, the challenges to thinking and believing that arose from the experience of living and studying in Wuppertal or North Newton.

​This program has left its mark on hundreds of students. But it has left its mark on our college as well. International study-exchange programs were rare in 1951. That Bethel College and the then “Pädagogische Hochschule” created this program speaks to the firm conviction that serious encounter and exchange among persons of different cultures and nationalities is essential to real education. That conviction has continued and grown at Bethel College in a variety of formats and programs, but the Wuppertal program was and is the prototype. We celebrate this remarkable program, its inspiration, its history and the mark it has left on the scores of people who have through it immersed themselves in growth and learning.

Dr. Douglas Penner
​President of Bethel College

​Since my arrival at Bethel College in 1985, I have been associated with the Bethel/Wuppertal Exchange program. In reflecting on the 50thanniversary of this program, I am reminded how much such an exchange program can be compared to a person. Like an individual, the program has experienced and survived occasional hardships, developed a network of friends, taken its place in educating students and broadening their world view, matured and taken on its own personality. Within the educational framework of Bethel College, the Bethel/Wuppertal Exchange program has given participants the opportunity for total immersion in a foreign culture and for developing proficiency in a foreign language, invaluable experiences in a liberal arts education, especially for language majors. Such a long-standing and affordable exchange program, the envy of many other language departments, deserves both the recognition that comes with its 50th anniversary and the continued support of Bethel College and the Bergische Universität-Gesamthochschule Wuppertal.

​Over the years I have appreciated the opportunity to interact with the students from Germany, to meet older participants in Wuppertal and to see the students from both institutions develop during their year in Wuppertal or in North Newton. I cherish the friendships that I have made through this program. In more recent years a group of the German participants founded the Förderverein, an offically registered organization dedicated to supporting Bethel College in a variety of ways and currently chaired by Christiane Renger. Thank you to each of you who are members of the Förderverein for looking after the Bethel students studying in Wuppertal and making their experience in Germany even more beneficial. I would like to personally thank Professor Uwe Multhaup, my colleague in Wuppertal for his support and guidance of the program in Wuppertal, especially since he has handed over responsibility of the program to his colleague, Professor Bettina Hofmann. On behalf of the Language Department I welcome all participants of the program to this celebration and thank you for your personal contribution in giving this program life, direction, and character.

Dr. Merle Schlabaugh
Professor of German & Editor of this booklet to celebrate 50 years of the Wuppertal-Bethel exchange program. 

Henrik: Before the play started, we saw a rich, upper-class environment through a gauze curtain, as if we were about to enter an aristocratic Alice in Wonderland world, peopled by fantastic Victorian characters—all set in an awe-inspiring design by Dr. Roman Tatarowicz, “chair of the obstetrics department at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne” and one of the most sought-after stage designers for miles. He was quoted as saying that he found his stage work “humbling because some of the people I work with are crazy talented.”

What was it like working with this “crazy talented” scenic designer?
​
Bernard: We found him through our production manager, Siobhán Ruane, who was aware of his work. Having Siobhán on our staff has been a tremendous asset for us. She introduced me to Roman, and I saw his portfolio. I thought the work was amazing, and we immediately got him under contract for a show in the studio, and it just grew from there. ​

He’s worked on two shows that I directed, The Humans and then this show. He’s a wonderful collaborator. He not only studies the script thoroughly to inform himself as to the design, but he will also talk to me in great detail about my vision for the piece, leading to great collaborations. 

The only thing that I had to talk to Roman about was the final act set for A Woman of No Importance. He was doing it in the same design as the grand mansion, and I said, “No, it’s a different world altogether. She lives in a cottage. It has to portray purity. There has to be a great change. All the flowers have to be white, absolutely white.” And I said, “I want a crucifix on the wall, because she has devoted so much time to religion and her church.” So with that collaboration, he came up with that wonderful set for us. 

Henrik: When you shared your interpretation of the last act with Roman, how did he respond? 

Henrik: Could you describe your overall approach working with the creative team, starting with lighting designer Shon Causer, and how all their arts and skills contributed to this production of a difficult play with some of Wilde’s most famous quotes? 

Bernard: Shon and I have collaborated on a number of plays that I directed at the Fulton Opera House and then moved to the Walnut, and he also worked on The Humans with me. He’s a sensitive and aware human being and artist. He understands light and the importance of it. ​

And also, the piece that’s played by Hester on the violin is American music from that period. I think it’s Stephen Foster. I said to Colucci, “Find me a piece of music that would’ve been played in America that she would have learned to play. And I’d like it to be specifically American, and not a piece of Beethoven or Bach or something.” So that’s what he did. ​

Henrik: One of those “crazy talented” people at the Walnut, Mary Folino, your costume designer, once said, “Costumes give the audience information about the characters before they even speak. And they help define their personalities, just as anyone’s clothes do.” 

In this production, the men are dressed in dark outfits that represent their social and professional status. The women are wearing exquisitely elegant Victorian outfits with various colors and shades, with two exceptions: the American visitor dressed in white, and Mrs. Arbuthnot dressed in all black, almost like an angel risen from the dead (played by Alicia Roper, demonstrating a wide range of feelings). 

Could you describe Folino’s work at the Walnut and her costume design for this production in particular?

Bernard: The first costume you see the young American in is pale off-white, slightly yellow, and the last dress she wears in Oscar Wilde’s Act 4 is white, white muslin. It’s also informed by Parisian fashions at the time, because of Wilde’s reference to “American women always get their clothes in Paris.” So when Mary researched the period and the costumes, she also researched what costumes, what dresses were being designed in the early 1890s in Paris. 

The black dress, worn by Mrs. Arbuthnot, was only for Act 2 and 3, and it’s called for. Oscar actually refers to the “woman in black,” and so Lord Illingworth immediately says, “Yes, what a charming woman in black.” 

The costume is also spelled out for Hester, the young American girl. It has to be a woman in white muslin. Oscar Wilde has put it in the script, in the dialogue. You would be absolutely foolish, and wrong, if you didn’t follow Oscar’s direction. ​

[Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street] January 14-March 1, 2020; walnutstreettheatre.org

​This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 20, 2020. 

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 1, Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre, and
Part 2, As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors. 

Henrik Eger: Most people seem to know you only as one of the most successful theater directors for miles. Could you give a few examples of how your childhood and adolescent experiences led you to the theater world? 

Bernard Havard: Born in Chiswick, England, I was a child actor at St. George’s, a Catholic boys’ boarding school in Weybridge, Surrey [founded in 1869]. As I had a very high soprano, I got to play all the female roles. 

In adolescence, I was involved in a television program in Calgary, Alberta, as an actor. It was called More or Less, and it was also sold to ABC in Australia. I played a juvenile delinquent in a black leather jacket and a ducktail hairstyle. 

Henrik: Audiences often wonder whether you are English or Canadian.

Bernard: I’m a proud American. I was born in England and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada with my family when I was eleven years old. In 1977, I was head-hunted into the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA. 

Henrik: Did those experiences encourage you later in life to create programming for young people in Philadelphia? 

Bernard: No, that came much later. I got involved in touring for young children in Toronto with Young People’s Theatre. Later on, I was recruited by the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta, putting together tours for young audiences in Northern Alberta. We would fly our company into Northern Alberta, because those communities were so remote that this was the best way to reach them. This program was subsidized by the Alberta government. 

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 18, 2020. 

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 1, Risks can lead to financial loss: Interview with Bernard Havard on A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Walnut Street Theatre, and
Part 3, What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre. 

Thirty seven years ago, Bernard Havard was named president and producing artistic director to bring back to life America’s oldest continuously running theater, the Walnut Street Theatre. Together with his creative and administrative staff, Havard developed one of the most popular theaters on the East Coast. However, even the most successful theaters, especially those which take a risk with a play that might be difficult, can take a financial loss.
​
Few producers and directors would be willing to talk about these aspects of running a cultural institution. Havard admitted that for his production of Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance, “I’m not selling the number of tickets I hoped to sell.” In this interview, he described the risks he took and the efforts he and his team made to lead to one full house after another since Valentine’s Day.

Henrik Eger: Recently, you took the risk of putting on the rarely performed A Woman of No Importance. What gave you the courage to produce and direct this wit-filled Oscar Wilde drama, which takes place in upper class Victorian England butdoes not come with the razzle-dazzle of My Fair Lady and other productions familiar to American audiences?

Bernard Havard: I enjoy Oscar Wilde’s work. I have great admiration for his writing, and I have great admiration for his courage. He was a man of great courage. Also, the play speaks to me about democratic values versus the British class system, which for me was always full of hypocrisy. But it has been a risk, and it continues to be a risk, because I’m not selling the number of tickets I hoped to sell.

Take the title: The Importance of Being Earnest is an extraordinarily well-known title, the most popular of his plays, but A Woman of No Importance is not as popular. It’s a more difficult play. He wrote the play in four acts, and the first three acts all take place at the large manor house, and they’re all full of Wildean wit and humor. But then, after Lord Illingworth attempts to kiss and seduce the young American lady, the Puritan, it becomes rather melodramatic, and it’s a tough change for the audience. It just is.

Henrik: What did you, your experienced actors, and your creative team do to present this satirical setup in such a way that American audiences would relate to it, especially as we are dealing with the barriers of linguistic class divisions in Victorian England?

Bernard: First of all, I made a number of substantive cuts to the text. I also allowed the actors to get involved in the cuts. During the rehearsal process, we probably reduced the play’s running time by about half an hour, and a lot of the references that we cut were references that were too obscure, or too English, or too unrelatable to an American experience. I didn’t see any point in keeping references that made no sense to a contemporary American audience.

However, I did supply one word to the text: when Karen Peakes as Mrs. Allonby mentions the place they’re talking about—Philadelphia. That was my one addition, and I thought it worked, because Wilde had been to Philadelphia. He knew about its Centennial International Exhibition. That’s what the young girl is actually reading about, so when the actress says, “that city with the funny name,” it was Philadelphia. It was a great laugh that American audiences could relate to.

Henrik: Strong British accents can present a problem for American audiences.

Bernard: All of the actors, I think more or less, gave me an English accent that was as close to being understood as you could get. I didn’t want any regional accents; I didn’t want any Yorkshire accents; I didn’t want any Cockneys. I was trying to get a clear English accent that was acceptable in terms of pronunciation. We worked very hard at pronunciation to make sure everybody was consistent.

But it is an adjustment for an American to come in and hear a bunch of foreigners on that stage, people with foreign accents, anyway. And you have to adjust and listen.

The sound is heightened. There are a number of microphones on that stage. There are four small foot mics, and then there are mics in the vases and around the set to pick up the dialogue. Everything is amplified.

I just don’t like putting radio mics on actors for a classic piece like that. One of my bugbears is making sure the audience can’t see the microphone. If you see a microphone on an actor who’s performing in a classic piece, it takes me right out of it. Like, what the hell is that little thing on the forehead of that actor doing there? So I’m a bit old fashioned, I suppose, when it comes to hiring actors that can project.

Henrik: Earlier, you said that, unlike your other productions, A Woman of No Importance did not sell so well. What did you do to rectify this situation?

Bernard: We made a really large social media push for Valentine’s Day. We got my son, Brandon [O’Rourke who played Gerald Arbuthnot], involved and asked him to push it on his extensively subscribed social media platforms. Actually, he offered to do that. Contained in these social media posts was an ability to go to his bio to find the link to purchase tickets.
We attempted to get the rest of the cast involved by making production shots available to them. We offered special “two fer’s” and a $27 ticket for Valentine’s Day. All in all, we used Instagram, Facebook, and I believe some Twitter. We are also experimenting with texting.

Henrik: Impressive cooperation. What impact did this Valentine’s campaign have on ticket sales?

Bernard: It increased our attendance. We were probably selling close to 500 seats a performance, and this jacked it up to over 750 seats, so that’s something like a 50% increase. We now have a President’s Day special. Everyone is invited.

Henrik: Oscar Wilde’s wit and spirit will be hovering over the stage in every sold out performance, no doubt. And the unexpected ending of this play, which came as a shock in 1893, is delighting thousands of theatergoers.

[Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street] January 14-March 1, 2020; walnutstreettheatre.org

This interview was originally published by Phindie on February 17, 2020. 

For the other two parts of this three-part interview, click these links:

Part 2, As if Oscar Wilde himself had arrived on the Walnut stage: Interview with Bernard Havard on casting and working with his actors, and
Part 3, What’s going on behind the scenes?: Interview with Bernard Havard on working with his creative team at the Walnut Street Theatre. 

Eleanor – An American Love Story runs January 29-February 23, 2020, at the Media Theatre. A little-known musical, Eleanor (music by Thomas Tierney, lyrics by John Forster,  book by Jonathon Bolt) has been a favorite at regional theaters since the first production was staged in 1987 in Seattle, WA. The musical is based on the early lives of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, from their passionate courtship, through their complicated marriage with a domineering mother-in-law, to Eleanor’s emerging role as a catalyst for social change in America.

In Media, Eleanor is played by Maxwell Porterfield, Franklin is played by Patrick Ludt,  and Sara Roosevelt (FDR’s mother) is played by actress Susan Wefel (see below for historical biographies). Henrik Eger spoke to the actors about their roles and the real-life characters behind them.
​
[Media Theatre, 104 E. State Street, Media, PA] January 29-February 23, 2020; mediatheatre.org

[Media Theatre, 104 E. State Street, Media, PA] January 29-February 23, 2020; mediatheatre.org​