Guest scenic designer and Hilberry Theatre alumnus Greg Loftus researched Paris and the Art Nouveau style as inspiration for his design for the upcoming production of “Frank Langella’s Cyrano.” Here are some samples of his research and his initial model of the set. “Frank Langella’s Cyrano” opens this Friday, January 13, 2012.
What can I say? I’ve been having quite a busy year! After Graduating from the Hilberry this past May, I went back to Greenfield Village for a third summer of wearing many hats (as well as other historical accoutrements). Once again I breathed life into Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, J.R. Jones the general store owner, and occasionally Huck Finn. All the while I auditioned like crazy, and it really paid off.
I started this theatre season at The Abreact, one of my favorite places to perform, in Oh Hell. It was a Two-fold night, with a short play by David Mamet called Bobby Gould in Hell as act I, and I finished the evening with The Devil and Billy Markham, by Shel Silverstein. I played five different characters throughout a 45 minute monologue. It was a challenge, and an experience like none other.
I’m currently playing Algernon in the Tipping Point Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest. It’s been a blast performing along side my old Hillberians James Kuhl, Brian Sage, and Christina Flynn. I’ll be sticking around Tipping Point for a bit after Earnest closes, as I’m performing in Months on End, a three show fundraiser on the 29th, 30th and 31st of December. In Months, I get to share the stage with my buddy, roommate and fellow Hilberry alum Rob Pantano. So far it has been a pleasure to perform with him again.
In the new year, I’ll be making my Meadowbrook debut in Mary Stuart. I’m very excited to try on a whole new stage. Should be fun!
I do have one more play I’ve agreed to do, but I’m not sure how much info I can divulge about it yet, so it’ll have to stay under my hat for now. It’s a very new venture for me and for those involved, so stay tuned.
To ensure I have as little free time as possible, I’ve filled my off stage time with various “hustles” as I call them. I’ve been working at the new Berman Center for the Performing Arts in West Bloomfield as a tech guy. I’ve polished up on my audio/visual, as well as my carpentry skills. It has been quite the (re)learning experience. To brighten my days, I pushed to get my Hilberry buddy Jordan Whalen a job there too. We have so much fun working together, I’d almost do it for free. Almost.
Most recently, and quite out of the blue, I was tapped to do some audio book readings. Someone who knows someone, who knows someone who knows me, let on to a company that does business leadership motivational books, that I’d be a good candidate for their books to CD voice. So I’ve recorded one book for them so far, and hope to do many many more.
Well, I’ve got to stop there. I have a performance of Earnest tonight, and I’d better get off this computer if I wanna make my call on time! However I send my very best to all Hilberians, Bonstellers and Wayne Staters. I cherish my time there, and I know it was a vital element of my current success. Play on!
Until next time,
Peter Charles Prouty
Well, it’s been about six months since I was “released back into the wild.” And quite a six months it has been. After commencement, I spent all of about ten days getting reacquainted with my home in Chicago. Then, I spent two weeks visiting family in New York, Massachusetts and Florida. After another ten days at home, I returned to “the Mitten State” to spend the summer with the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, in Jackson.
What a wonderful way to return to the professional world: three challenging roles in three wonderful plays, (Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, the Old Shepard in The Winter’s Tale and the title role in Tartuffe,) working with marvelously talented people. Among the company were some names familiar to Hilberry audiences: Artistic Director Janice Blixt, assistant stage manager Mercades Coley, lighting designer Brian Scruggs, and the lovely Christina Flynn. (I even got to play her father!) I can’t tell you yet who’ll be there next year, but they’ve chosen a great season – Richard III, Love’s Labours Lost and Pygmalion – so if you need a classical theatre fix after the Hilberry season ends in May…
After closing the season at Michigan Shakes, it was back to Chicago – for another ten days – before a long-planned trip to China and Tibet with my family. (If you want to see some pictures of the Great Wall, Tibetan monasteries, the Forbidden City and more, I’ve put some up on my website, www.AlanBall.biz.)
Although I could eat Chinese food pretty much forever, (the Yak dumplings in Tibet were especially good,) eventually it was time to head back home – for ten days. (Are we beginning to see a pattern here?) Fortunately, during that time I was able to squeeze in a bit of actual work, including a commercial and thirteen short industrial films. Then, I made a very pleasant 600-mile drive to Lewisbirg, West Virginia, to play Mr. Bumble in the Greenbrier Valley Theatre‘s production of “Oliver!”
GVT is a surprisingly lovely little theatre in a surprisingly hip little town; the 2011 Coolest Small Town in America, according to Budget Travel magazine. And with a cast of 49, (two of whom are older than I am, thank you very much!) the show never gets boring.
That’s it so far. As of this writing, “Oliver!” runs for about two more weeks. Then I’ll head back to Chicago, where I’ve got some singing gigs lined up. And of course, I’ll be auditioning, auditioning, auditioning. And – hopefully – I’ll be home for more than ten days.
-Alan Ball, 11/18/11
On Tuesday, February 22, casting director Robert Lambert visited his alma mater. Lambert, who received his BFA in Theatre from Wayne State University in 1983, has had a successful career as a professional actor and casting director. Since leaving Wayne State, he has worked in Chicago as an actor in roles such as George M. Cohan in Give My Regards to Broadway, Constantine in A Day in Hollywood, and Bobby in A Chorus Line.
Lambert has also played the role of Huck Finn in the national tour of Big River and Jean Michel in La Cage Aux Folles. He has worked on Broadway in Gypsy with Tyne Daly (for which he was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut by an Actor, and for which he won the 1990 Theatre World Award and the 1990 Astaire Award for Outstanding Male Dancer). Lambert’s other roles include Off-Broadway productions of Forever Plaid and An Unfinished Song. He has also performed in industrial shows for McDonald’s, Toyota, Sears, and Hardees with performers such as Billy Crystal, Liberace, Tony Randall and Audrey Landers. His television credits include appearances on All My Children, Another World and Ryan’s Hope. As a casting director, he has worked on All My Children for the last 10 years and assisted on the casting of the revival Broadway production of Annie and the East Coast casting of Sunset Beach. He has been teaching on camera “Soap” classes for almost eight years in New York City.
In 1997 Lambert was awarded the Arts Achievement Award from Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts. The purpose of his return earlier this month was to host a talkback with theatre students and share his experiences as a casting director for All My Children.
Lambert ensured his visit was an unforgettable experience for Wayne State students wanting to work in daytime television by sharing must-know technical information combined with on-camera auditions in his master classes. Students learned about everything from initial “one on one” auditions to the screen test, including how to breakdown of role, how roles are cast, audition techniques, image and knowing your “type,” pictures and resumes, general interviews and much more. At the end of this intensive, Mr. Lambert gave students a private and honest evaluation of how they did in the class and their headshot and resume.
All photos by Nikki Allen
We’re getting closer…
Newsflash: Detroit
Wayne State University has issued a warning to the general public that fourteen of its theatre students, five Masters of Fine Arts and nine Bachelors of Fine Arts, are planning a mass escape, and that they plan to commit widespread entertainment on an unsuspecting public.
Fortunately for Art-abiding citizens, authorities know something of their plans. According to sources, who asked not to be identified because they were only in a play in high school, the graduates plan to begin their Showcase spree close to home, performing a short evening of scenes at the Hilberry Theatre, 4743 Cass Avenue, at 6PM on Sunday, March 6th.
Unless recaptured, they plan to perform them at the Studio Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street in New York City at 6 and 9PM on March 14th. And even Chicago is not safe, as they intend to be at Stage 773, located at 1225 West Belmont Avenue, on March 21st, also at 6 and 9PM.
Authorities recommend calm, and suggest that the safest and best place to be during this “entertainment emergency” is in the audience for any of these free performances.
These actors are well-rehearsed and should be considered extremely talented.
You may find the original article here.
WSU alum and Hilberry actor Jeffrey Tambor will be joining the cast of La Cage aux Folles on Broadway.
“With Kelsey Grammer preparing to depart the Broadway production of “La Cage aux Folles” in February, is there another television star who can bring to the role of Georges an equal level of erudition and dignity that’s begging to be chipped away? Hey now! It turns out there is.
Jeffrey Tambor, who played the self-absorbed sidekick Hank Kingsley on “The Larry Sanders Show” and, after that, the fatuous Bluth family patriarch on “Arrested Development,” will take over the part of Georges beginning Feb. 15, press representatives for “La Cage aux Folles” said on Wednesday. Harvey Fierstein, the book writer of “La Cage,” was previously announced to take over the role of Albin from Douglas Hodge on that same date.
“This is like my bar mitzvah, plus,” an excited Mr. Tambor said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I’ve been going around humming all day, apparently.”
Update: additional information may be found here.
The New York Times has reported that veteran actor of Broadway, film and television, Michael Tolan, has died at the age of 85. Born Seymour Tuchow on Nov. 27, 1925, in Detroit, he graduated from Wayne State University in 1947. Mr. Tolan was a strong supporter of the Hilberry and Wayne State Theatres. As recently as November of 2009, Mr. Tolan returned to the Hilberry to perform poetry and promote WSU Theatres with the show A Man, A Woman and A Cello. His legacy lives on in the Tolan-Tuchow Scholarship, which is awarded to a theatre student every year.
A Man, A Woman and A Cello performed in the Dr. Henry & Yvonna Newnan Lobby
Being a part of Wayne State goes on long past the time you spend in the classroom and hallways of Old Main. Did you know you can continue the experience by becoming a part of the Wayne State University Alumni Association?
Founded in 1935, the organization has been led by only 4 people in the last 75 years. Each year the Alumni Association presents and sponsors a number of regional and national events that bring Wayne State Alumni back to campus and back into communication with the people who defined them in their formative years. There are events for all types of people at all stages of their post-Wayne life.
Highlights have included:
• A Thanksgiving Day Parade warming station at the Bonstelle Theatre
• Dinner and wine tastings at local area restaurants
• Pancake tailgating at Homecoming
• Regional events in Texas, Windsor, New York and Chicago
But being a member of the Alumni Association doesn’t provide only emotional benefits, it offers financial ones, too.
Did you know that Alumni Association members:
• Receive a special discount on WSU Theatre tickets?
• Receive the special Wayne State magazine?
• Have access to the special Travel Programs that the Alumni Association arranges yearly?
• Receive discounts at local retailers via use of your Alumni Association OneCard?
If you are interested in joining the Alumni Association, visit http://alumni.wayne.edu/ for more information.
Hello again, Hilberry patrons and friends! You may (or may not) have noticed that my signature doesn’t appear on correspondence from the Theatre this year; like my on-stage classmates Rob, Brian, and Christina, I graduated in May of 2010. My degree was in Theatre Management. While I was with the Hilberry Company, I worked in the box office, promoted a season with the Bonstelle Theatre, and finally, was the Director of Development in 2009-10. Here is a little insight into the past few months of my life.
One week after the final production of the 09-10 Season, I headed to Dayton and married my wife – I could not ask for a better graduation present. After a brief honeymoon, we returned to the Cleveland area to continue my job search.
In early fall, I began my job as Assistant Director of Parent and Family Giving at Oberlin College. Oberlin is a small, private, liberal-arts college located in Oberlin, Ohio. It’s a lot like the Hilberry in that the reputation and personal connections stretch across the country. My job, specifically, is to foster relationships with parents of current students and determine whether their philanthropic priorities align with the strategic goals of the college. It is very rewarding work to collaborate with parents in providing solutions and creating the framework for the college’s future. I spend one or two weeks each month traveling to meet parents around the country; most of them are members of the Parents Executive Committee, with which I assist. I am also co-leading a college-wide professional development presentation on communication in the workplace later this spring.
Oberlin College Building
But I haven’t abandoned the arts! When someone asks me why I left the arts to work at Oberlin, my answer is generally the same: the students and culture of Oberlin is full of so many performers, artists, composers, and entrepreneurs that it’s like I never left the theatre community. The Oberlin Conservatory is world-renowned (they recently returned from their sold-out tour in Asia) and the theatre program is thriving. The creativity on this campus gives me energy much like working in the theatre.
Thank you for supporting me through the Hilberry program the past few years – I made life-long friends, colleagues, and relationships during my time there. I hope that you are enjoying the current Hilberry Theatre season. And thank a theatre manager the next time you are at the theatre!
Theatre managers Chris Nelson, Alex Goodman, Jillian Zylinski and Nikki Allen at the 2009 President's Preview
Hi. It’s me again. Rob. I’m back with another BLOG. It’s a Rob-o-Blog. Like Robocop. He was in Detroit too. Great movie. Anyway, last time we talked -well, I talked and you listened, and that’s how I like it – I was in the middle of a show at The Tipping Point. I’m happy to report that Wiley and The Hairy Man ended its successful run on Halloween.
Wiley and the Hairy Man at Tipping Point Theatre
What have I done between Halloween and now, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I did some on-camera acting work during November. They include: a training video for GM, an online commercial for Zoup! featuring the Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas) from Seinfeld, a commercial voice-over and a featurette for Ford Explorer’s facebook page.
On December 14 I started rehearsals for The 39 Steps at the Meadow Brook Theatre. As I write this, Thursday night, January 6th, we have just finished our second Preview. The show is looking great and we open officially on Saturday. I have had such positive experiences with theaters in Michigan since graduating and this one is no exception. I don’t mind telling you, my Silent Friend, that THIS is the show I have been waiting for all season. If you don’t know about the show, don’t worry, I’ve put a link for you here.
Promotional art for The 39 Steps at Meadowbrook Theatre
I play somewhere around 12-13 characters in this play. All of whom range from a standard British to Cockney to Irish to Scottish to West Country (think Hagrid from Harry Potter). Some are male, some female and all are different ages and physical types. I found out I had been cast during the summer and so I’ve had a good long time to worry if I was up to the challenge. I was excited, don’t get me wrong, but very VERY intimidated by the role(s). There are always two thoughts that go through my head when I find out that I’ve been cast in a role. “All right! I got it.” And then “Oh crap, I’ve gotta DO it!”
I know for a fact that I would not have been up to this challenge had it not been for the Hilberry. Now, I know this just sounds like lip-service, but just hear me out. I have made a strong effort to create 12 different characters (sometimes switching between them in mere seconds) with different physical types and accents. Now, in order to do this, I had two things to rely on: my own imagination to create the character; and the Vocal and Movement training I received from the Hilberry to back it up.
Accents come easy to me, they always have. But I DARE you to try to speak in a cockney accent and jump right into Scottish and then jump back (while spinning across the stage to boot!). It’s not so easy. The voice training we get in the Hilberry involves learning where the accent “sits” in your mouth. Is the tongue flat or raised during speech? Is the upper lip stationary during speech? We learn that an accent isn’t simply saying words differently; it is changing the shape of the mouth so that the words NATURALLY come out differently. Once I found my “placement” for each accent, I was able to stop thinking about it and focus on the physical demands of the show. Which, by the way, are numerous.
Promotional art for The 39 Steps on Broadway
Running, jumping, bouncing, hunching, dancing, squatting and, for yours truly, a backwards layout somersault. These are just a few of the physical demands of the show. Working on keeping myself centered and keeping my “Core” engaged was one of the biggest challenges of my Hilberry career (Pilates were the bane of my existence) but it has helped me in so many ways that I don’t have the space to write here. I have chronic back problems and, by doing a few simple exercises I learned during my time at the Hilberry, I have been able to stay grounded and centered and (knock on wood) relatively pain free during this entire process.
With a show like this one, there is a lot of leeway to create some pretty outlandish and eccentric characters and Travis (the director) has kept 70-80% of the crazy things I’ve come up with in rehearsals. Now, if I know I can come up with something funny, and that no matter how crazy it is, Travis might keep it in the show, then I am going to feel safe to create. It’s funny, talking about safety in terms of creating comedic bits, but you’d be surprised how quickly inspiration can disappear when a director makes it clear that he’s not interested in your input.
All the training and creativity in the world adds up to NOTHING if an actor doesn’t feel safe in the space. Luckily, this was not the case in The 39 Steps process. Travis has been nothing but supportive and I believe it shows in the product. So, Silent Friend, I suppose there’s nothing left for me to say besides the obvious. Come see The 39 Steps at the Meadow Brook Theatre!
Rob Pantano, Former Hilberry Company Member, 2007 – 2010
The Hilberry Theatre 
