Mic Check

Hi! My name is Mike Cichon and I, too, am an apprentice here at Performance Network Theatre. I've been here almost a year now. It's been a very exciting, interesting, and stressful year, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, or so the saying goes. Though my friends and family may question why I'd take a job that would keep me from them for nearly a year, I will never regret nor lament my time at the Network. The most potent teacher is experience itself.

To the many actors, directors, designers, and (my beloved) stage managers who have helped keep me sane over the last year: you have my most humble thanks and gratitude.

Before my time is up at the theatre, I hope to post a few more blogs dedicated to future Apprenti -- what they should expect and how they should approach the program and life in general.

And if you haven't seen A Picasso yet, you really should. Time is running out! Runs till July 12th!

2009 Vote "4 The Best" Nomination

Seems we've been graced with a nod for "Best Theatre Group" in the Detroit area! You can vote for us at the WDIV Click On Detroit page.

Tell your friends, and get the word out...

Reviewed! Blogged About! -- UPDATED 6/25/09

Click each link for the full article.

-John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: "Manages to look deep into the soul of the artist and be devilishly entertaining at the same time."
-Martin Kohn, Encore Michigan: "Sutton-Smith's Miss Fischer threatens quietly, she conceals, she reveals."
-Jenn McKee, The Ann Arbor News: "Manfredi...sinks his teeth into this larger-than-life character, and the effect is both dazzling and unforgettable."
-Daniel Skora, The New Monitor: " It ends with a closing scene sure to surprise and be remembered for a long time."

The following is taken in its entirety (with permission) from a savvy Network subscriber's blog:

"We saw the Performance Network's production of "A Picasso" last night. Both Lisa and I thought it the best play of the 2008-09 season, of which it is the concluding production. The play imagines an interrogation of sorts between Picasso and a female gestapo agent in Paris during the early phases of the war. The writing is excellent and John Manfredi as Picasso amazes with his intensity and complete immersion into the character. If the production has a weakness, it is that Manfredi at times overshadows Emily Sutton-Smith, though her performance grew over the course of the play.

Our medium size (and somewhat older) Saturday matinee audience did not give a standing ovation, but they should have. Highly recommended."

Do you blog about theatre? Let us know!

Picasso Script / Keith of the Apprenti

A Picasso: This Script Rocks (no spoilers)

Jeffrey Hatcher's script is a triumph of structure, which is the reason a play about so much (art vs. politics, inspiration, fame, love/hate relationships both emotional and intellectual...) holds together so well as a story. In lesser hands, this stuff would be all over the map, bloated and alienating. Fortunately, it's constructed as a taut, funny faceoff with enormous scope.

The audience gets brought into the period and the Paris art world through subtle reference and repetition (take note of the artists to whom they refer and in what order), trusting the audience enough to catch on without overdoing it. The play is structured cyclically, setting up and returning to examinations of three self-portraits. In effect, the analysis of Picasso's work becomes a dissection of Picasso's psyche, resulting in a battle of wills.

My favorite part of all this is that Picasso and Miss Fischer constantly force each other to reveal new sides of themselves, acing the trick of having a character evolve in front of an audience. The two actors, in a way, "sell" each other's development, and this, aside from the intellectual fireworks, is what makes the story pop: their relationship is continually shifting, all the way through the end of the show. On one hand, sometimes I feel like I could draw the script out in some kind of diagram (by the way, I count this as a good thing)...on the other, it's vibrant, engrossing, and, dare I say it, snappy.

I've done my best not to drop any spoilers in here. Perhaps once more people have seen the show, I'll feel better about discussing details. What do you think?

In Other News: One More Apprentice

As promised, we have a new apprentice. His name is Keith. Be kind to him, for soon we (myself and Mike) shall mold him in our own image. Muhuhahahahahaha.

(I mean, it's not that hard. He's already a skinny dude with glasses.)

The Last "Lazy" Saturday at PNT

Today is the last lazy Saturday for the Apprenti. Now, "lazy" has a different meaning to us than it has to, say, Calvin and Hobbes (The Lazy Sunday Book). Lazy, to Apprenti, doesn't mean that we don't have any work to do. It means that we don't have a children's show in the morning, cleaning after that show, a 3 pm professional show, a scramble to reset the theatre, and an 8 pm show. Lazy means that we have some office work and a show at 8.

The reason for this lazy Saturday is, of course, that it's the first preview weekend. Usually on these days, the only people at the theatre are Mike and myself, as everyone else finally has a day to catch their breath, secure in the knowledge that one show is closed and another is on track to open without any major disasters. Two preview audiences have weighed in on the new stuff, and three more will get that chance before Opening Night. Much, if not all, is right with the world. It's quiet, which is absurdly rare.

Makes a fellow reflective, as this is the last show we'll run as apprentices. Yes, over the summer, we'll be turning our jobs over to some other young folks. Doubtless they are embarrassingly overqualified and will make us look like the navel-gazing slothboxes we are, but for a fleeting moment, we will know more than they do about working at PNT specifically.

In a while, I'm going postering, because you, your family, your friends, your co-workers and acquaintances, your neighbors and landlords, and that cute girl or guy with whom you make eye contact for a little under two seconds across the counter at the coffee shop as you do your best to give nothing away even though you desperately want to make the moment last, all need to know about A Picasso, which is an excellent show. Heck, I'm even interrupting a blog post about my apprenticeship to advertise it, because that's what an apprentice does.

Lest this sound too much like a wistful, last-day-on-the-job, Ben-Folds-playing-in-the-background post, let me remind you that Mike and I are here for a while yet, and we have a ton to do before we're done with this place. (I'm writing this because it's the last lazy Saturday, remember?) And Ben Folds is most certainly not playing in the background. Note: If Ben Folds is playing on your iTunes or Pandora, you are required to turn it off now and re-read this post from the beginning. Working at the PNT means being part of something groovy, and I expect I'll be picking up tricks o' the trade and making wisecracks with the staff for the next two months non-stop.

Hope you're enjoying your lazy Saturday. I'm enjoying another weekend at the theatre.

Thanks for readin',

Russ

"A Picasso" by Jeffrey Hatcher runs through July 12th

There is an account from Pablo Picasso's time living in Paris, during WW2, of his being harrassed by an officer of the Gestapo. During the questioning, the officer pointed to a photograph of Picasso's painting "Guernica," the famous cubist depiction of the bombing of that Spanish city by the Germans and Italians, and asked "Did you do that?" to which Picasso curtly replied "No. You did." In "A Picasso" now playing at Performance Network, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher uses this exchange as the starting point for a taut thriller, pitting notorious lothario Picasso against Miss Fischer, a female agent of the Ministry of Culture. In the play Picasso is called in by the Nazis to authenticate three of his paintings, so they can be included in a public art burning of "degenerate art." What ensues is a cat and mouse battle of wills, as Picasso defends his art, his political views and his sexual predation of women. It's a mesmerizing exploration of the psyche of the artist, as well as an old fashioned battle of the sexes with Picasso using all of the weapons in his sexual arsenal. Set in the hornets' nest of Nazi-occupied Paris, the stakes are nothing short of life and death. Who wins, who loses? The answer may surprise you.

Setting Up!

Hey there. Russ here, lowly apprentice.

I mean, *clears throat* Hi, my name is Russ, and I'm proud to present Performance Network's blog. From here, we can continue to experiment with new ways to communicate with our followers and collaborators: we might make glib comments on world-changing events, we might share fascinating behind-the-scenes information, we might drop hints about exciting upcoming events, or we might just opine/argue/editorialize about arts n' culture.

(If you're not familiar with us, we're located on the corner of 4th and Huron in downtown Ann Arbor, right near Kerrytown, and hence dangerously close to all kinds of good restaurants. We run professional shows year-round, showing in our 140-seat Shure theater.)

We recently closed a long and successful run of August Wilson's classic Fences, and we're now building the set for the mind-bending A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher. Tickets are on sale now, and the show begins previews on Thursday, June 11.

Got any ideas for ways we can use this space? Let us know! Comment here or contact us at boxoffice@performancenetwork.org.

Thanks for readin',

Russ