Bacchanalia! Revel like a true Greek!

The guest of honor: Bacchus, also known as Dionysus, god of wine, was a popular portrait subject. Caravaggio painted his version of the god in the late 16th century. The oil on canvas hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Bacchanalia celebrations were originally women-only gatherings, later extended to include men. Opera To Go's version will be open to both genders, and will include a variety of food and drink, music, theatrical performances and other participatory entertainment.

Web Posted November 20, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

Thousands of years ago, during the time of the toga, the ancient people of Greece and Rome would gather in groves and celebrate, often for days on end. Their reasons for partying varied, but throughout the past few thousand years of human adaptation, we have still retained the ability to make time for carousal all throughout the year, whether we have a good excuse or not.

In continuation of the tradition, Opera to Go presents "Bacchanalia!" this Saturday at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center.

The social event is a fundraiser for Opera to Go, and will make an effort to mimic the original celebratory rituals as much as is reasonable.

"It's not going to be like the original drunken debauchery, but more light and social," said Wade Rogers, who is producing the event. "We're trying to get people exposed to Grecian culture."

The original Bacchanalia players were all women who got together in secret to celebrate the Greek god Dionysus - also called Bacchus by the Romans - god of the vine and ritual madness. Eventually, the invitation was extended to the men as well. During these get-togethers, there were copious amounts of wine and food, dancing, theatrical performances, and fertility rites designed to ensure the success of the upcoming planting and harvesting season.

Fertility was also emphasized during the early stages of the tradition. Originally, Bacchanalia were held in the spring in an effort to please Bacchus and to ensure the success of the grape crops for that season. After all, without grapes there would be no wine for the following year's festival.

The evening will arouse several of the senses, with offerings including a wide range of food and drink, musical and theatrical performances and participatory entertainment.

"It's sort of our way of saying thank you for helping us in the last several years that we've been in existence," Rogers said. He has also emceed and produced other similar events in cities around the country.

The Silverbow will be providing edibles of the Mediterranean flavor, including delectable dishes such as hummus platters, spanakopita, lamb kebobs, roasted vegetables and baklava to top it all off.

Beer and wine will be served at a no-host bar.

As dance was a very important part of the original festival, the Daughters of the New Moon will perform traditional Middle Eastern dances.

Other acts include the magic of Jeff Brown, the Dale Wygant Polka Band, pianists Doug Smith and Tom Locher, Todd Hunt on saxophone, and duet Brett and Cheryl Crawford.

Seating will be in the Greek amphitheater style, with tables set up in an arc around a central performance area.

The stage won't be the only place for entertainment, however. Throughout the night, there will also be other opportunities to mix and mingle.

"It's unlike anything we've done," Rogers said. "Usually things are done in a theatrical setting, on the stage. This is going to be very interactive where people will be able to see the acts around their table, on the stage, in the hall, and be able to walk around while the acts are ongoing."

Several downtown hotels are providing discounted rates on sleeping quarters for the night. Participants include the Baranof, Goldbelt and Prospector, all within stumbling distance of the culture center. Room prices can be found on the Opera to Go Web site at www.operatogo.net.

Dress is dressy casual, and though togas aren't required, they are certainly optional.

"We're kind of going with an international theme," Rogers said. "So, if you want to wear your lederhosen and suspenders, you'll fit right in."

Doubt: Award Winning Play Sets The Stage In Juneau

Photo by Libby Sterling

Web Posted November 6, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

The arts can be a natural outlet for coping with distress, but they can also bring to light certain dark issues that may have been the cause of the distress in the first place. Composers, designers, performers and other artists often seem able to conceptually express more about these dark areas than philosophers and academics can, using fewer words and more subtle modes of expression. This subtlety of expression is one of the strengths of "Doubt: A Parable," Perseverance Theatre's second production of the 2008-09 season.

John Patrick Shanley, born in 1950, is the playwright responsible for "Doubt," which originated as an off-Broadway play first staged in 2004. It then ran for more than 500 performances on Broadway, winning a Pulitzer Prize in drama, a Tony Award for best play, and a Drama Desk Award, each earned in 2005.

Set in a Catholic church-school in the Bronx in 1964, "Doubt" follows the drama surrounding two nuns, Sister Aloysius and Sister James (played by Shona Strauser and Christina Apathy), who have opposing suspicions concerning the ethical integrity of a priest teaching in the school, Father Flynn (Ed Christian). The sisters' main concern is the nature of his interactions with a certain boy in the school named Donald Muller.

As the play's title implies, the situation is far from straightforward and involves potential conclusions that may seem to be obvious at first. However, much like a religious parable or allegorical fable, all the evidence may be considered and examined through a diverse range of lenses. In turn, the characters' fluctuating and opposing presumptions constantly trouble them.

The production consists of one act, though the original New York cast found that the second act happened after the curtain fell. It was then that the audience would leave the theater and begin to discuss their viewpoints on varying elements of the play that remain unrevealed on stage.

The actors in the Perseverance production also said they don't expect to be the only ones talking after the curtain call.

"In Juneau there's always a response from the community, which is a great thing," Strauser said.

Director Flordelino Lagundino has been working at Perseverance for the past four years, though he has been directing since 1991. He fills varying roles as an actor, director, teacher and administrator.

He also is the founder of the Thunder Mountain Theatre Project, where he will be directing "Shakespeare's R&J" in early 2009. This contemporary spin on the original "Romeo and Juliet" is similar in nature to "Doubt" in that it also brings potentially contentious matters up for discussion.

Lagundino said that plays like these are why he loves to direct even more than he likes to perform.

"Directing gives me a voice in some ways. There are certain plays that I feel are important to do because of the playwright's voice. I like to produce or direct plays that, in some way, I'm in agreement with or I feel should be part of a dialogue," he said.

Lagundino said he also likes "Doubt" because he feels that it is a discussion about ethics.

"This show is based on the fact that Shanley believes that there is nothing that is simply black and white," he said. "In the play there are a lot of sermons, and I consider theater as a place that is sort of a sermon, in a way. Not in a sense of saying you absolutely have to do this or that, but it's a place to discuss something. 'Doubt' is a discussion about religion and how we get in our heads that things are a certain way when those ideas are built on emotion and not really on fact."

"Doubt" opens the door to a great deal of discourse on many levels. Christian said he finds it interesting to see the varying evaluations audiences make of his character, the suspected priest.

"People just assume that I play a bad guy," he said.

Christian said one of Shanley's main goals in the play is to address the high level of certainty that is often used in making assumptions. He said it also is important to consider the difference in mainstream thought between the 1960s, when the play is set, versus that of the present day.

"From our perspective in the 21st century, we all think we know things for sure because of the experience of the lawsuits and things in recent years," he said regarding inferences often made about church scandals.

Lagundino said he notices the same attitudes in the general hindsight of the public. We can look to the past from the present and the verdict can seem obvious, but it wouldn't have been as unmissable to people in the 1960s.

"From our point of view, they should have known that Father Flynn was doing something bad. We automatically judge him in that way because of our facts that we have in general, but not specifically to Father Flynn," he said.

The original production had such an impact that the play has recently been adapted into a screenplay that premiered just last week at the AFI Fest in Hollywood. The film was directed by Shanley and stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Even immediately after the initial screening, there was Oscar talk among critics.

Shanley also is well-known for writing and directing the 1990 adventurous comedy "Joe Versus the Volcano," as well as for writing several other stage plays and award-winning screenplays.

Marinda Anderson, who plays Mrs. Muller, enjoys performing in Juneau so much that she came all the way from her home in New York City for this production. She was previously involved with Perseverance in 2006 and has been living and performing in New York since then. She said there is great theater all over the country and she is always open to going anywhere, especially Juneau.

"I'm glad to be back," she said. "Perseverance is really solid. I've always respected the theater here. And it's a nice getaway from New York. The city is kind of crazy."

This is quite a small production for Perseverance, made up of only four actors. The troop said they are enjoying a break from the big crowd, though it makes rehearsals much more intense.

"It's tough, but it's good, and it's a very good group of people. They believe in the show and they want it to do well. They want to communicate the show to the audiences here in Juneau," Lagundino said.

'Rocky Horror' To Show At Pre-Halloween Bash: KXLL Radio Sponsors Party and Showing of Cult Movie On Oct. 24

Web Posted October 23, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

Multitudes of cult-classic movie fans and Halloween enthusiasts are preparing to rock on Friday, Oct. 24, at the Rocky Horror Halloween Bash.

The event, held at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center, is a fundraiser for Excellent Radio, 100.7 FM, and will consist of a dance party starting at 9 p.m. and a midnight showing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

"This is the first showing for a long time in Juneau," said event organizer Andy Kline.

According to Kline, it's one thing to watch the film in the quiet of one's own home, and quite another to experience it with a group of people who are eager to participate.

Serious Rocky Horror fans may already know all of the parts where the audience has a duty to play a part, whether it's to holler a phrase or throw something at the screen. For first-timers, cheat sheets with cues will be provided.

The $5 cover will also include a goody bag with all the necessary props for audience involvement.

"In bigger cities, there are people who are totally dedicated to this and come dressed as various characters. A lot of people have come up to me and said they can't wait and can't believe we haven't had a showing in Juneau," Kline said.

The film was originally released in 1975 and was one of the original "Midnight Movies" shown around the country in the 1970s. It was screened alongside other countercultural, offbeat films, but remains a favorite among devotees around the world.

"We're really trying to do it exactly like it should be done," Kline said.

Preceding the midnight movie will be a Halloween-themed dance party emceed by Eric Caldwell of PolarSounds Entertainment. Partygoers are encouraged to dress in costume, whether it be in a Rocky Horror motif or otherwise. Wearers of the best costumes will be rewarded with prizes.

Caldwell will be in control of sensory items such as dance-inducing music, atmosphere-enhancing lighting and MTV-style music videos that will be projected on the big screen.

"At the Halloween Bash, we want to make everyone feel like Excellent Radio opened a nightclub. That means bright lights, big sound and music that is both cool and edgy. Because we're going to have the big screen on hand for 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and PolarSounds Entertainment's eclectic collection of several thousand music videos, it's going to be the wildest music video party Juneau has ever seen," Caldwell said.

Caldwell is also the host of "80s Nation" which airs Friday nights at 8 p.m. on KXLL. Because of the show, he said he has become known as "the 80s guy," and hopes the Halloween Bash will be a good opportunity to remind people that he knows other music besides 80s, especially since most of his DJ'ing career has occurred well after the decade came to a close.

Folks of all ages are welcome to attend the bash, and there will be a beer garden sponsored by the Alaskan Brewing Co. for those of legal age.

Arts, Music, Beer At Autumn Festival: Oct. 18 event moves indoors to Culture Center

Photo courtesy of Mayumi Arimitsu

Web Posted October 16, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

Juneau's annual Autumn Festival will celebrate its fifth year this weekend with a move to the rain-free Juneau Arts & Culture Center.

From noon until 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, attendees can partake of the sweet fruits of locals' labor through various arts and crafts offerings, and can enjoy live music and games. There will also be food aplenty, including Kettle Korn, Fry Bread and Chef Stef's catering. Edibles will be accompanied by a beer garden, sponsored by the Rendezvous and the Alaskan Brewing Co., opening at 2 p.m.

For the first four years of its existence, the festival was held at Marine Park. This year, the festivities have outgrown their former wall-less setting and organizers have opted to move the event indoors - just in case the weather happens to be less-than-desirable.

Founder, organizer, and master delegator Rachael Juzeler said she is interested in seeing how the change in venue will affect the turnout.

"People will hang out longer, I'm guessing," she said. "When we did it downtown, we didn't get so many passersby because people weren't really walking downtown anyway. They came down exclusively for this. It's super community (oriented), everyone knows each other, there are kids running around like crazy, and I expect nothing less again," she said.

Juzeler said she and a friend got the idea for a street fair around the time that Marine Park was constructed. The city was on board with the concept, but with the stipulation that the festival would have to wait until the cruise ship season came to a close, timing which naturally accommodated an autumn theme.

"It's a good kickoff for winter," Juzeler said. "It's a great place to do all your Christmas shopping in advance."

Musical performances will run all day long, and will include sets by Teri Tibbett, Train Wreck, Slow Gun Runner, Brook Morgan and others. There will also be time dedicated to impromptu performers during an open mike session.

Between musical performances, the Alaskan Brewing Co. will present awards to the winners of this year's Autumn Pour Homebrew competition. Ale-brewing champions will be announced at 4 p.m.

Another highlight will be a game called cornhole. This recreational activity is closely related to horseshoes, but rather than tossing an iron crescent around a stake, players fling cornhole bags filled with corn, beans, or sand at a target on a raised platform.

Arts and crafts tables will include work made by local jewelers, ceramicists, glass workers, knitters and more. There will also be interactive tables for children of all ages to discover and express their inner autumn creativity.

Juzeler said she expects the arts and crafts tables to sell out of products and close down around 5 p.m.

"That always seems to happen at this festival because we do have a lot of people that come through," she said.

Juzeler runs the festival as a volunteer, and is not necessarily affiliated with or sponsored by any one organization.

"It's basically just me. I have a lot of good volunteers that come and help me set things up," she said.

Admission is free, and proceeds will benefit the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council.

"It's basically just a community event with community people playing and community people all working together and showing all their stuff," Juzeler said.

Puccini Opera In Triplicate: Three acts, three sets, three costume changes highlight "Il Trittico"

Italian opera: Performers rehearse a scene from "Gianni Schicchi," the third act of "Il Trittico." From left are Therese Thibodeau, Aaron Elmore, Philippe Damerval, Wade Rogers, Cathy Pashigian and Kathleen Wayne. The opera consists of three one-act operas: "Il Tabarro," "Suor Angelica," and "Gianni Schicchi." They were composed by Giacomo Puccini and will be performed over the next two weekends at the Juneau-Douglas High School auditorium. The Amalga Chamber Orchestra will provide instrumental accompaniment to the performances.

Photo courtesy of Dave Depew

Web posted October 2, 2008

By Libby Sterling | for the Juneau Empire

It's unlikely that attendees to this weekend's performances of Giacomo Puccini's "Il Trittico" will have to journey to the lengths that Puccini did to attend opera productions when he was a young man. He and his brother once walked more than 18 miles from their home in Lucca, Italy, to see a performance of Verdi's "Aida" in Pisa.

Apparently it was well worth the trip. That performance is said to have spurred him to begin his career as a composer.

Now, 150 years after his birth, Puccini's work is still being remembered and celebrated in such faraway places as Alaska.

Juneau's own Opera To Go will launch its 2008-09 season with performances of Puccini's "Il Trittico." The opera consists of three one-act operas - "Il Tabarro," "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi" - and will be performed with the Amalga Chamber Orchestra at the Juneau-Douglas High School auditorium. Puccini designed the three to be presented as a triptych, though they also are quite often seen separately.

"This is a different type of production," said Roald Simonson, the stage director. "It takes three sets, three casts, three lighting designs and three sets of costumes. But when you perform all three together, there are interesting relations that make a kind of emotional art," he said.
"Il Tabarro" ("The Cloak"), the first opera of the three, is set on a barge on the Seine River. What appears to be a very normal day of chores for the deckhands quickly turns into a battle for control by the three members of a love triangle. A wife plans an adulterous scheme with her new flame, and though her husband has his suspicions, they remain unconfirmed. However, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, husband and lover meet face-to-face, and only one of them will walk away from the encounter alive.

"Suor Angelica" ("Sister Angelica") takes place in a convent and focuses on a nun who has spent the last seven years escaping the worries and shame of her past life in the comfort of the church. She receives a visit from a family member bearing less-than-ideal news: Her young son, whom she hasn't seen since birth, died two years prior. Out of love, brokenness and regret, she makes the decision to force her own death to rejoin her son in the clouds. She concocts a poison and consumes it, only afterward fully grasping the reality of her decision. With a prayer to the Virgin Mary, the heavens open and mother and child are reunited.

Performer Patricia Kalbrener said "Suor Angelica" will be her first performance with Opera To Go.

"I've been in musicals before but there had always been some break in melodic action for whatever reason - a dance or spoken-word downtime - but the opera is just one big song, and when no one is singing the orchestra carries the music as if someone still were, so the flow of story is impeccable," she said.

Kalbrener said her role as a nun provided an opportunity to get to know the other performers.
"We are all sister nuns," she said, "wandering about our nunny business and existing together in the convent. It feels like we carry the sisterhood offstage with us, honestly."

"Gianni Schicchi," the third opera, takes place at the deathbed of a very wealthy Italian man, who is surrounded by a plethora of his relatives. The family, however, isn't hanging around to offer support to this poor man, but rather for what they may receive as their inheritance upon the moment of his death. Rumor eventually makes its way to the family that the funds they plan on assuming have already been promised to a local monastery. They scramble to find a way to change the man's will before their money goes out the window, and decide on a delegate to impersonate the old man just long enough to dictate a new will.

The delegate, however, decides to play his own trick on the rest of the family, laying down the will to be very much in his favor.

Meanwhile, his family is powerless to intervene, lest the whole scheme becomes uncovered and each of them loses a hand - the punishment for being an accessory to fraud at that time in Florence.

"The third opera has Puccini's most famous melody of all," Simonson said. "People who don't even know opera will recognize it. It's called 'O mio babbino caro,' meaning, 'Oh, my dear papa', and it has been heard in car commercials and many other familiar, non-operatic settings."

Juneau will have a chance to experience the "Il Trittico" both as a whole and in parts. "Il Tabarro" and "Suor Angelica" will be performed twice, on Oct. 4 and Oct. 10, as will "Gianni Schicchi," on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12. The entire "Il Trittico" will be performed Saturday, Oct. 11.

Tickets are available at both Hearthside Books locations and at the door. Each ticket purchased will be honored at every performance with no attendance limit, giving audience members a chance for an opera overdose.

Thirty-three performers make up the cast of the three operas, some of whom will double-dip and participate in as many as two of the productions.

"It's theater, and we're all there for the same reason; we want to make it as entertaining as possible," Kalbrener said.

Gordon Bok and Carol Rohl Tell Musical Tales of the Sea

Photo Courtesy of Hugh Chatfield

Web Posted September 25, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

It's hard not to be influenced by one's surroundings. And for a creative type it can be hard to suppress the urge to share stories about the things, places, people and experiences that have been instrumental in bringing a person to where they are now.

Folk singer Gordon Bok has taken to using instruments to keep and share stories of his past. Not only does he utilize his baritone voice, 6-string and 12-string guitars but also an instrument he likes to call the cellamba; it's a six-string, fretted cello he has built himself.

He doesn't stop there, though. He also uses wood in addition to music to create visual representations of memories that have shaped his life. He grew up among woodworkers and has followed in their footsteps as not only a furniture maker and instrument builder but also a relief sculptor.

"Many images are from memories of working on boats or fishing along the coast, and most of the figures in my carvings are people I have known," Bok said about his work.

Both the visual and verbal imagery Bok emphasizes in his carvings and his music are based around his connection with the sea. He hails from Camden, Maine, and has shared his stories through music all over the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Inspired by his years of working on fishing boats, yachts and schooners, he uses his music to share his unique perspective on people who live and work at sea.

Rather than resorting to some of the negative clichés about sailors, Bok writes about his own personal experiences as well as those of people he has known. Time Magazine described him as "the poet laureate of those who go down to the sea in ships."

He also dives into the mythical realm with albums such as "Another Land Made of Water," an album recorded in 1979 that illustrates the musical culture of an enchanted group of people living in the sea.

He is also a song gatherer, singing traditional folk songs from all over the world in their original languages, including but not limited to Italian, French, Portuguese and Mongolian.
Bok has worked and performed with many other musicians over the years. He was one-third of the trio Bok, Muir, and Trickett, who played together for almost 30 years. He also worked with Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Stookey produced Bok's first album. He has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and has audibly appeared on the radio program "A Prarie Home Companion." He has even had music included in several folk music collections, including the anthology "Rise Up Singing."

Bok will perform in Juneau at 7:30 on Sunday, Sept. 28, at Resurrection Lutheran Church. Tickets are available at Hearthside Books for $15 or at the door for $17. He will be joined by Carol Rohl on the harp. The concert is sponsored by the Alaska Folk Festival.

They will also be performing in Ketchikan on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Saxman Tribal House.

Rohl, Bok's wife, began playing the harp in 1986 and has since shared her talent at all sorts of events in all corners of the world, often joined by her husband. She has also spent her share of time on the water, as she was a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain for seven years, working at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Rockland, Maine.

"Carol was the first folk harp player in this area. When she came to town, we all muckled onto her," Bok said.

In 1996, she began to play private bedside performances for the ill in hospital rooms, homes and hospice environments. She is a certified harp practitioner through the International Harp Therapy Program and the Music for Healing and Transition Program. She has a B.S. in social work and also leads classes on musical healing.

In September 2004 at age 51, Rohl suffered a stroke that sent the left side of her body into paralysis. She didn't let it keep her keep her down, though. After only five months, she was performing with her husband again.

"Playing provides such great joy," Rohl said. "Anything that gives you joy has a healing energy to it."

Tom May: Folk Singer, World Traveler

Photo Courtesy of Tom May

Web Posted September 18, 2008

By Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire

When Tom May was a little boy, he thought he might grow up to be a railroad engineer or perhaps a telegrapher, after his father. He didn't expect to end up living his life as a professional musician, as he has for the past 36 years. He and his friends jokingly refer to his career as "a hobby that got out of control."

May was always attracted to music even though he came from a nonmusical family. He purchased a guitar with earnings from his newspaper route, marking the beginning of what his career has now become.

Originally from Nebraska, May now resides in Vancouver, Wash. His music has traveled far and wide, from all corners of North America to Europe. He first played in Alaska in the 1980s and he says he still loves coming back to Southeast. He gets out on the road quite a bit, playing between 150 to 200 shows per year, two of which will be in the Panhandle: He will play in Skagway on Friday, Sept. 19, and will also perform at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21.

Some would label May as a traveling troubadour, and though he says that word may be a little too flowery for him, he doesn't disagree.

"It is appropriate in the sense that I travel and take news of events that I've seen and my observations on history. I was lucky enough to find my niche, in a way, in that my songs are geographical and historical sketches, things that I feel are not forgotten but brought into the present."

May comes with a new album, "Blue Roads, Red Wine" released this year through Waterbug Records. The album features a song called "Yukon Journey, 45 Below" which, like many of May's songs, tells an epic story. In this case, the tale is of a tour through Alaska and Canada during a frigid winter. Juneau even makes a lyrical appearance, as does Alaska Airlines and all the other people, places and things that made the journey possible.

Much of May's music consists of verses that tell stories, whether they are personal journeys, present observations or historical narratives. His interest in history and geography moves him to write from one perspective and place in hopes of sharing it with another.

He has especially enjoyed bringing his songs about American history to listeners in Europe. The few hundred years of American history can't hold a candle to the millennia of recorded events taking place in Europe, but May says he has observed quite an interest by his international fans in his presentation and delivery of the American yesterdays.

His love for folk music has also led him to host the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, "River City Folk." The show first aired in 1985 and features the recordings of different artists from week to week, as well as live performances in the studio and interviews, granting listeners a comprehensive introduction to folk musicians from around the world.

He also helps run a winter folk benefit concert in Portland, Ore., which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. It takes place each February and raises funds to provide low-cost and no-cost meals to people throughout the Portland area.

An author as well as a musician, May recently published "Promoting Your Music: The Lovin' of the Game" with co-author Dick Weissman. They have included interviews with friends in the music industry such as Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Manx and Eliza Gilkyson, and stories of their experiences turning musical callings into careers.

No matter where May is playing, he is constantly emphasizing the importance of relating to his audience and, in fact, viewing them as participants more than just flies on the wall.

"My reward is the joy of being able to play," May said. "If you miss the friends and the people connections along the way, you've missed all there is."