Season 15 started out with HCC's only improv troupe, What Improv Group?!?! (W.I.G.), bringing the seriously funny in creative and wholly original ways. For those who need a refresher, improv is a style of theatre in which characters and scenes are created on the spot by quick-witted and hilarious actors, oftentimes with the aid of some audience interaction . What makes W.I.G. so special is that they think outside the box of your average improv show, creating their own improv styles and games. Also, there are wigs. Lots and lots of wigs. Directed by Susan G. Kramer, W.I.G.'s second year was a triumphant success, with show after show of audiences leaving the theater aching from laughter and impressed with the skills of W.I.G.'s talented cast.
Fall Production: A Chorus Line
Next up, the Arts Collective really kicked things into high gear with their spectacular fall production, Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning A Chorus Line. The story of seventeen dancers trying to achieve their dreams of making it into the chorus line of a new Broadway show, A Chorus Line is all about human aspiration and what people are willing to do for their dreams and for love. Directed by Susan G. Kramer and Jenny Male, with Musical Director Keith Tittermary, A Chorus Line was a smash hit with audiences, selling out in advance almost every show in its three week run. One reviewer called the cast "talented", saying that the show, "complete with dazzling costumes, high-flying kicks, and sweet singing...will put a smile on your face".
Workshop Co-Production:
Next up, the Arts Collective really kicked things into high gear with their spectacular fall production, Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning A Chorus Line. The story of seventeen dancers trying to achieve their dreams of making it into the chorus line of a new Broadway show, A Chorus Line is all about human aspiration and what people are willing to do for their dreams and for love. Directed by Susan G. Kramer and Jenny Male, with Musical Director Keith Tittermary, A Chorus Line was a smash hit with audiences, selling out in advance almost every show in its three week run. One reviewer called the cast "talented", saying that the show, "complete with dazzling costumes, high-flying kicks, and sweet singing...will put a smile on your face".
Workshop Co-Production:
tempODYSSEY
To kick off 2010, Arts Collective partnered with HCC's very own Theatre Program for the very first time! Following the success of their first workshop production Last Train to Nibroc, the Theatre Program teamed up with Arts Collective for another workshop production, tempODYSSEY. Directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre and Helen Hayes Award-winning director Kasi Campbell, this "post-modern fairytale" chronicles the trials of a young girl who runs away from her future as a chicken-choker on a farm and winds up working as a temp for a company that builds bombs. Differing from most productions staged by AC, which hold open auditions to both current HCC students and alumni, tempODYSSEY was cast solely with current HCC students. Despite scheduling conflicts due to the Snowpocalypse, the show went on to great acclaim from audience members.
Holding Change
For it's official fourth season, the Arts Collective Dance Company pulled out all the stops. Holding Change, successor to AC Dance Company performances such as audience favorites Vodoo Child and Sunshine in Blue, celebrated a myriad of dance styles from Ballet to Contemporary to Hip-Hop. For the first time in ACDC's history, HCC's Coordinator of Dance and Director of Holding Change, Renee Brozic Barger, was joined by guest choreographers Esperonto Bean, Nicole McClam, Donald McKayle, Helanius J. Wilkins, and Stephanie Yezek, with Adrienne Judson staging Mr. McKayle's choreography. Like a fine wine or Helen Mirren, ACDC just gets better with each season.
Spring Production: Angels in America
How do you possibly cap off a season as exciting, as groundbreaking, as fantastic as our 15th season? Angels, duh. But I'm not talking Roma Downy kind of angels. I'm talking about Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning epic Angels in America. One of our most controversial and more modern pieces to date, the story revolves around a number of seemingly unrelated characters stumbling their way through life in the 80's, drawn together and pulled apart by love, AIDS, miracles, suffering, and, hopefully, redemption. Directed by Susan G. Kramer, this "gay fantasia on national themes" proved to be both an immense challenge and an outright blessing. Along with a staged production of Angels in America: Millenium Approaches--as if that weren't enough--AC hosted two very special readings of Part 2, Perestroika, as well as post-show discussions with the cast and crew. Want to know some more about what staging Angels was like? Look through our past entries for our Cast Member Blogs with some great insights into the story and the production.
So, folks. That is Season 15, in a nutshell. Of course there are things that have been left out--like Shakespeare's Birthday Celebration co-sponsored with the Theatre Program, etc.--but with the number of events we do every season, a blog entry with everything would take years to read--and more importantly years for this blogger to write.
Plus, we can't dwell too much on the past when we have Season Sixteen knocking on the door. Big things are happening around the Arts Collective offices! As I said earlier, we are hard at work finalizing our 16th season; we have an AMAZING acting workshop coming up in August, led by instructors from Los Angeles-based Steppenwolf Classes West (which I will be writing about on this blog very shortly); and major changes are being done in the AC offices with regard to Prop World, Costume World, and Office World.
Of course if you haven't already, please "Like" us on Facebook...as everyone knows, if it isn't on Facebook, it isn't true. Also, please sign up for our mailing list to get the latest Arts Collective news.
We hope you're having a great summer, Blogfriends! Stay healthy and safe in this heat. Make sure to drink lots of water and check back here soon for even more from AC Bloggin! Yes, checking the AC blog is good for your health.
[Photos provided by resident AC photographer Erin Drum, with the exception of tempODYSSEY]
