Pam Grier day

It’s Pam Grier day. Today the actress and author turns 64. In the past I’ve dedicated the month to Pam Grier and watch her films. I will begin a marathon starting with The Arena and ending with my favorite film Coffy. Then I will watch the series The L Word. In the middle of that I’ll watch Black Mama, White Mama, The Big Doll House, Foxy Brown, The Big Bird Cage, Drum, Jackie Brown and Fort Apache The Bronx.
The Arena is a female version of the gladiator movies. Black Mama, White Mama is the female version of The Defiant Ones. The majority of the films showcase Pam’s bodily assets, but you can see her acting develop. Fort Apache the Bronx, although a small role was one of her more demanding roles. She wasn’t even considered for the part. She pulled a Dorothy Dandridge and Paul Newman liked what she saw and she was given the role. (Pulling a Dorothy Dandridge is a term I came up with for an actress that goes in for a role in character when she’s been told she isn’t right for the part and then she proves everyone wrong.) The only film of Miss Griers that I would like to add to my collection is Something Wicked This Way Comes. There are many other films that I have in my collection, but I’ll save them for another time. Strip Search, Love The Hard Way, Above the Law, Bucktown, Original Gangstas, Sheba Baby, Scream Blacula Scream, Feast of All Saints, Ghost of Mars and 3 A.M. & Bones which I watched a few weeks ago.

Thanks for stopping by, and do come back again. Remember to keep an open mind.

Last night I saw two plays at the Zachery Scott Topfer Theatre.
 Dream: A Midsummer Forest Tour, a modern update on the Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Nights Dream. This is part of the Balcony Play series which is free to the public before the main performance. Its quite unique as I don’t recall ever seeing this sort of thing before in stage performances anywhere.
The play begins at 7 P.M. and runs about 25 minutes.

(This was one Sunday when they were rehearsing for the outdoor performance.)

The Cast includes: Rosalind Faires, Sam Gorena, Harrison Harvey, Katie Miles, Jon Peterson and Chrissy Shackelford. The play was directed by William Davis. It will run until Sunday, June 16, 2013.

Inside the Topfer theatre is Harvey. I’ve never seen a stage version of the story and I was only familiar with the film that starred Jimmy Stewart. I remember seeing it as a kid. Last year I bought a version of the film that stars Harry Anderson, but I have yet to watch it.

The crew at Zachery Scott has outdone themselves again with the set design. When I saw Ragtime I thought that was awesome, and then there was White Christmas which blew me away because I got to see them work on some of the sets in the parking lot. That was followed by 33 Variations and Mad Beat Hip and Gone, but Harvey has a unique set design that rotates and slides. It’s like watching a jigsaw puzzle right before our eyes.

When I saw Mad Beat Hip and Gone I thought the sets over shadowed some of the performances. Being an artist that is very visual if the actor on stage isn’t one to command my attention I’m looking at something else.

That was not the case with Harvey. The actors were incredible. There were two familiar faces in the cast. David R. Jarrott (DJ) who I had seen in Ragtime, is great as Judge Omar Gaffney. Jacob Trussell who recently appeared in MBH&G, plays Dr. Lyman Sanderson.

Martin Burke gives an incredible performance as Elwood P. Dowd. He commands the stage. This is an incredible piece of work and I look forward to seeing him in other performances. Lauren Lane is awesome as Veta, Elwood’s sister. She also has that presence that commands your full attention.

With these incredible performances and great set design are some colorful costumes. (Designed by Susan Branch Towne.) Everything was on point.
Dave Steakley has selected a great cast and directed another great play.

Another standout performance was Liz Beckman as the sexy nurse.

When awards roll around, Michelle Ney should definitely win something for her scenic designs.

Matthew Webb is in charge of lighting, Craig Brock is in charge of sound and Justin Cox is in charge of properties. These roles are just as important as they help set the tone.

A great job to everyone involved.

Harvey will make you laugh and it will make you think.

Harvey starts at 8 P.M. and will run until Sunday, June 16, 2013.

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