Blackbird Theatre : All posts

event preview

Celebrate 15 years of the Blackbird Theatre at Frenchie's

It's the little theater company that could. And they have, for 15 years, by presenting bold theater productions up close and personal—and sometimes outdoors. To celebrate, they're doing what nearly every adult does after some hard work and having a well-deserved drink.

Blackbird Theatre announces West Park production of 'Cymbeline' and more

Blackbird Theater and The Neutral Zone team up for 'Liz Estrada'

The Blackbird Theater and the Neutral Zone have teamed up to present a stage production featuring local teens called "Liz Estrada," happening Friday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at The Neutral Zone, 310 E. Washington in Ann Arbor. For more information, call 734-214-9995, ext. 226 or visit www.neutral-zone.org. $5-$10 is the suggested donation, collected at the door.

play preview

Blackbird Theatre to stage outdoor 'MacBeth' in West Park

Barton Bund and Jonathan West in The Blackbird Theatre's "MacBeth"

Photo by Brian Carbine

And while theater artists often studiously avoid saying the title of Shakespeare’s superstition-riddled tragedy, “MacBeth” was the first word on the lips of Blackbird artists Jamie Weeder, Brian Carbine and Barton Bund when discussing potential projects.

“Jamie Weeder and I had taught … a Shakespeare class in Ferndale, through the Michigan Actors Studio, and we could focus on one play, so we focused on ‘MacBeth,’ because that’s what the students were interested in,” said Bund. “It’s a play that just brings something out in people, and gets under their skin. These are people—some of them had never read or seen Shakespeare before, and something in them just came alive with ‘MacBeth.’ There’s something dangerous and exciting about the play.”

Blackbird Theater plans to return to West Park this summer

“I have never worked in a more ideal space,” Blackbird founder Barton Bund said in a press release. “The West Park idea started six years ago, the brainchild of my dear friend Bob Dascola.” Dascola, owner of Dascola Barbers, has been an advocate for the renovation of the park for years.

Blackbird Theatre launches 'Unemployed' web series

Local theater company Black Bag Productions, better known as the Blackbird Theatre, is venturing into film and recently launched a new web series titled "Unemployed."

Written, directed, and edited by the Blackbird's founder, Bart Bund, and starring Jamie Weeder, Analea Lessenberry, and Qmara Peaches Black, the series—according to its (adults only) blog—focuses on young 20-somethings facing a tough job market and economic climate.

As Bund notes on the series' site, "The idea is that we're all seeking jobs that we somehow believe in, but we have to take jobs that are basically available and convenient, biding our time until something better comes along. But the problem is that it becomes our life; we stumble into something that we say is just temporary, but the temporary becomes permanent. We constantly seek the next thing. We have loyalty to no one. …

Shakespeare West cancels 'Othello' production

In the wake of the death of a member of its company, the Blackbird Theatre has announced the cancellation of its upcoming production of "Othello."

The Blackbird has been producing Shakespeare works for much of the summer in the bandshell at West Park, under the umbrella name "Shakespeare West." "Othello" had planned to close out the season, but the recent death of a company member forced the cancellation of the final week of "Twelfth Night" and now the run of "Othello."

play review

encore michigan: Shakespeare West 'Twelfth Night' starts with great promise

Review by Bridgette M. Redman

For Encore Michigan

The exuberant beginning featured tie-dyed hippies and spaced-out peaceniks grooving out to '60s music in what promised to be one big party. Had the party continued in that vein, Shakespeare West's opening night performance of "Twelfth Night" would have been an evening of delightful, comedic fun. Instead, poor vocal performances let the air out of this comedy of separated twins and mixed-up love polygons.

play preview

Blackbird Theatre reimagines 'Twelfth Night' in its next Shakespeare West production

The Blackbird Theatre’s inaugural season of Shakespeare West, an outdoor theater series, continues with a unique take on the comedy “Twelfth Night.”

The modern reimagining, which is directed by Blackbird Theatre’s artistic director Barton Bund, is sure to be something completely different for Shakespeare fans.

Blackbird Theatre continues Shakespeare West festival with gender-bending 'Much Ado About Nothing'

“I came up with the concept after reading the play and realizing how much it’s steeped in archaic gender roles,” said director Brian Carbine. “There’s a lot of, men act this way, women act this way. … So I started wondering how other kinds of couples might react in same situations.”

To play with gender, Carbine cast two men (Forrest Hejkal and Maxim Hunt) in the roles of earnest young lovers Hero and Claudio, and two women (Diviin Huff and Emily Patton) in the roles of the older verbal sparring partners, Benedick and Beatrice.

“I was originally considering both (women) for Beatrice,” said Carbine. “But then I wondered, what it would be like to see one of them as Benedick?”

slideshow: Shakespeare comes to West Park with Blackbird Theatre's 'The Tempest'

Photographer Jeffrey Smith captured these images:

play preview

Blackbird Theatre kicks off new outdoor Shakespeare West festival with 'The Tempest'

Jamie Weeder as Ariel and Barton Bund as Prospero in "The Tempest."

Photo by Carla Angeloni | Courtesy of the Blackbird Theatre

Difficulties have plagued the fest’s inaugural, production of “The Tempest” in Ann Arbor's West Park—originally planned for a five-person cast—since the actress cast as Ariel and Alonso (Gayle Martin) suffered an eye injury and also needed emergency surgery on her vocal cords.

“We learned of it minutes before the first read-through,” said Blackbird founder Barton Bund. But then Jamie Weeder, an actress who’d been cast as Caliban, told Bund, “‘I’d like to try it. I think I can do this.’ … Right away, (Weeder taking on additional roles) worked out well, and it was thematically cool. With all of the fast changes we’re making, and the way we’re emphasizing the duality of the characters, it wound up being the case that her instincts were correct.”

So then there were four—before the show’s Prospero, actor Dennis Kleinsmith, was hit by a van while rollerblading near his home in Detroit.

Blackbird Theatre offers discount tickets for Shakespeare West on Friday

This Friday, May 13, tickets for the Blackbird Theatre’s summer-long outdoor Shakespeare Festival in West Park are just $13.

Ann Arbor’s new Shakespeare Festival is offering this one-day deal to kick off the summer festivities. To purchase now, go to www.blackbirdtheatre.org and click on "Our 2010-11 Season." There you will find a full schedule of performances. Pick your dates and buy your tickets for nearly half the regular price.

The season features five of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, performed in the open air Fridays and Saturdays all summer long:

play review

The Blackbird Theatre offers a powerfully rendered 'Seascape'

(Top) Linda Hammell, Joel Mitchell. (Foreground) Steven O'Brien, Julia Garlotte.

photo by Lynch Travis

It’s uncanny that just as I’m being asked to explain nearly everything to my almost-3-year-old on a daily basis - reading storybooks and watching “Sesame Street” are acts now punctuated every 30 seconds by the questions, “Why?” and “What is that?” - I see Edward Albee’s “Seascape,” now at the Blackbird Theatre, for the first time on a stage.

For the Pulitzer Prize-winning play focuses an aging couple, Charlie (Joel Mitchell) and Nancy (Linda Rabin Hammell), who, after discussing their past and future life together while on the beach one day, are confronted by two human-sized lizards, Lesley (Steven Alan O’Brien) and Sarah (Julia Garlotte), who speak English, but have a large number of gaps in their knowledge, since they just emerged from a life in the water.

So Charlie and Nancy fumble to explain handshakes, love, clothing, why we differentiate between arms and legs, and photos (among other things). Defining so much of the small stuff of daily life - as I’ve realized while chatting with my curious toddler - necessarily forces you to think about their inherent absurdity.

play preview

Blackbird Theatre presenting Edward Albee's 'Seascape,' lizards and all

Meeting two human-sized, English-speaking lizards is no day at the beach — unless you happen to be a character in Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Seascape,” now being staged at the Blackbird Theatre.

For the fantastical, absurdist comedy, which debuted on Broadway in 1975, focuses on a couple (Nancy and Charlie) who stand on the brink of retirement. While discussing their relationship, as well as their dreams, at the beach one day, the two meet a pair of highly evolved lizards, Leslie and Sarah, who engage them in conversation.

The Blackbird Theatre, and “Seascape” director Lynch Travis, originally sought a good vehicle for actress Linda Rabin Hammell. Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” wasn’t the right fit, but something about “Seascape” caught Travis’ eye.

event preview

Blackbird Theatre announces Shakespeare West launch party

On Saturday, April 16, the Blackbird Theatre will host a spring patio party at Ann Arbor’s Aut Bar, at 325 Braun Court, to kick off Shakespeare West, Ann Arbor’s new summer-long outdoor theatre festival.

Join the Blackbird for drinks at 6 p.m., and then at 7 p.m., take a walk down to the newly-renovated West Park and bandshell, the Blackbird’s new summer home.

Blackbird presents original audio drama about the life of Arthur Rimbaud

Who could resist a theatrical event that employs “smell design”?

That’s one of the more unusual elements employed for the Blackbird Theatre’s new, original, radio-show-style show based on the short life of poet Arthur Rimbaud: “Je est un Autre (I is another).”

Using sources like letters, poems, and court documents as a basis, the hour-long play is the product of Blackbird Theatre founder Barton Bund, actress Sara Wolf Molnar (who plays Rimbaud), and local novelist Kathe Koja.

The Blackbird will record the show being performed by actors live, with little to no staging, in front of an audience, with sound effects, and the show will then be made available on the Blackbird Theatre’s website, as well as EncoreMichigan.com.

“We’ve been wanting to experiment with potential multimedia aspects,” said Bund. “A play is not an available-on-demand thing, so we wanted to expand the scope of what we do, and reach out to people who maybe can’t come out to our shows.”

play review

The Blackbird Theatre's not horsing around with intense, rewarding 'Equus'

Which is worse: feeling pain, or feeling nothing?

That’s one of many questions driving Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” now playing at the Blackbird Theatre. (Note for those lining up a babysitter: the production runs nearly three hours.)

The Tony-winning drama focuses on a psychiatrist, Martin Dysart (Lee Stille), who’s asked to treat a young man, Alan (Evan Mann), who violently blinded six horses. As trust slowly builds between doctor and patient, the bizarre mystery of Alan’s act is unraveled, and the existential ache at the center of Dysart’s life is exposed.

Blackbird Theatre's season canters along with Peter Shaffer's 'Equus'

Photo and design by Barton Bund

“I remember going to make a phone call to offer a role to an actor that had auditioned for the show, but that was unfamiliar with the script,” said director Sarah Lucas in an e-mail interview. “I kept thinking, ‘How on earth do I ask someone to play a horse named Nugget and make it sound like good thing?’”

Letters to the editor

Opinion: Bravo to Ann Arbor's Blackbird Theatre

I saw a remarkable play last night at the Blackbird Theatre. The play, “What Can You Do With Lincoln's Corpse?,” was written by Brooklyn Dimitrie, a young actor from Ann Arbor.

Under the direction of Mr. Dimitrie and Forrest Hejkal, the talented young cast very ably brings the sparkling dialogue to the stage. In a little under a month of rehearsal, they have put together a thoroughly entertaining evening.