Memorial Task Force Potluck and Annual Review

Posted on by Thor

A Task Force Potluck and Annual Review was held at Christ Church Unity Orlando (771 Holden Ave Orlando, FL 32839) in December of 2017. There were several posters at the front of the room that showed the design Dix Hite had proposed for an Interim Memorial, which helps to clean up the site and added some new landscaping. The interim memorial will provide areas to leave messages and will include seating, shade, lighting and trees. The iconic sign will be enhanced but not removed. A new fence will be placed around the perimeter of the nightclub itself, which will remain standing until a decision is made in the future regarding the permanent memorial design. The new fence has a section which allows visitors to see the damage to the building from the police breach of the wall on the evening of June 12, 2016. Much of the labor involved will be completed off-site and new elements will be installed at the site with minimal impact on the surrounding community.

The Task Force is working towards keeping the meetings inclusive. Pam Schwartz set up Zoom (a digital video conferencing system) which allowed distant survivors and families of victims access to the meeting. Many of the faces in the room were familiar and I was pleased to be seated at a table with Terence Hickey who was involved in the comfort dog program at Orlando Regional Medial Center after the shooting.

Results from the memorial survey sent out to families and survivors were complete and the results would be discussed at the next Task Force Meeting. The survey was set up to gauge what families and survivors felt they would like to have done at the site. The task force is still in its infancy and they are working towards completing their mission and vision statements for the future memorial and museum.

Nikole discussed the events planned for 2018. Town hall meetings would be held at regular intervals to keep everyone apprised of the progress moving forward. Also on the calendar are a Family Day, a Community Rainbow Run, the Annual Remembrance Ceremony and of course PRIDE. The Orlando One Pulse Task Force will also be involved in bringing the Laramie Project to Orlando.

The Laramie Project (2000) is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. The murder was denounced as a hate crime and brought attention to the lack of hate crime laws in various states, including Wyoming. The play draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theatre
company with inhabitants of the town, company members’ own journal
entries, and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and
eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short
scenes. The play will run June 1, to July 1 of 2018.

33 Variations

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On March 28th I went to The Winter Garden Theatre to see 33 Variations written by Moises Kaufman and staged by Beth Marshal Presents. I had been to a dress rehearsal and hopefully that write up generated interest for this incredible production. Though it was the second to last performance, I had to see the set and lighting to feel the shows full impact. Aradhana Tiwari directed this stellar cast in this show about Beethoven’s struggle to create late in his career as he went deaf and a modern day researcher obsessed with understanding his motives as her health also fails. The 33 variations were written by Beethoven based on music written by a lesser known composer and music publisher.

I was touched by the idea that the music researcher felt the need to travel to Vienna to see and touch Beethoven’s original sketchbooks. I wrote out every compositional idea, so the sketchbooks were a way to see his every thought. The minimalist set acted as a multi media projection space at times covered in notes and in one scene becoming a bustling subway. At one point a ghostly silhouette of Beethoven was projected walking from stage left to stage right. The sound, lighting and projections became a creative escape into two tortured minds.  Modern day events and historic Viennese events overlapped and intermingled. I was swept away.

Peg O’Keef who played Katherine Brandt, the music researcher, did an astonishing job performing with the advancing stages of sclerosis. After the show, she explained to me that she had found a series of You Tube videos made by a gregarious and vibrant man who recorded himself repeatedly as he succumbed to the muscle debilitating illness.  In one daring scene Peg disrobed for an MRI. In the nude isolation, she and Bethoven were back to back.  The magical moment wag gone in a flash.

After the show, Aradahna hooked her arm in mine and asked me to have a drink with the cast at the bar next door. I only stayed for one drink but the party was just starting. It seems sad that such an amazing show should have such a short run. But, like Beethoven, a creative life can’t last forever. The music and inspiration does last forever. There is a link above to all of the 33 Variations. I suggest you listen to it while your surfing the web or social media. They are inspiring in their entirety.

33 Variations

Posted on by Thor

On February 25th I went to the Winter Garden Theatre ballroom ( 160 West Plant Street, Winter Garden, Florida) for a Designer Run of the show, 33 Variations, a play written by Moises Kaufman. Stage Manager Jay Ferrence was the first person I met when I entered the ballroom. He informed me that the purple tape marked the front of the stage. Actress Becky Eck entered soon afterwards and introduced herself. She had played Jane in “Alice Lost in Wonderland” and she did an amazing job grounding that production. A designer run is a full run through of the show that gives the set designer an idea of where characters will be blocked during the production. Producer Beth Marshall and director Aradhana Tiwari sat behind a folding table to watch the show. Pianist Julian Bond will be performing Beethoven‘s 33 Variations live on stage in the final production, but for now a recording was used and Julian watched to see how the performers would be moving on the set.

This was a dress rehearsal so some actors were in period outfits from Beethoven’s era and the rest of the cast was wearing modern clothing. Photographer Kristen Wheeler was shooting the show this night and she set up two lights to illuminate the actors. Beth warned her not to shoot the feet of some of the period costumed actors since they didn’t have the right shoes yet.  During the show, Kristen had total access to the stage and she moved around the actors catching every emotional moment while also switching on and off lights to get the shots. It was an impressive ballet that didn’t once phase the actors.

The plot examines the creative process of Beethoven’s obsessive variations build from a rather plane and uninspired composition by Diabelli (Brett P. Carson). At the same time, the play follows musicologist Katherine Brandt (played by Peg O’Keef) who yearns to understand Beethoven’s obsession. Brandt’s relationship with her daughter (Becky Eck) is strained as she succumbs to a disabling Sclerosis and at the same time Beethoven (Chris Gibson) goes deaf. I had watched a number of performers audition for the part of Beethoven and I must say Chris is compelling as the anger driven compulsive composer.

 The musicologist traveled to Vienna to inspect Beethoven’s original sketchbooks. By flipping through the pages she could see his every thought as he composed. She wondered if he might be mocking Diabelli’s composition with his variations or perhaps he just wanted to one-up Bach who had 32 variations. Beethoven’s loss of hearing may have actually helped him break new ground as he reinvented the very process of creation. Though cloaked in anger and bitterness, he found an amazing joy in the process even as the world grew silent. Minor composers like Diabelli could be satisfied and complacent with their insignificant contributions.

One moment in the rehearsal was absolute magic. I stopped sketching and was drawn in to the moment. Katherine Brandt disrobed as if in a doctors office. I imagined she was preparing for an MRI full body scan. She stood in a spotlight facing the audience with her arms out in a Christ like gesture. Beethoven stood behind her and they leaned back to back. His head leaned back on her shoulder and her head leaned back on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and shuddered with quick breaths of ecstasy. I noticed Becky Eck off stage began to cry, and my eyes welled up as well. There is a certain magic that happens when actors are no longer reciting lines, but they are emotionally invested in every moment.

Mark Your Calendars! The show runs from March 14-30, 2014
Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm, Sundays at 2pm,
PLUS Monday, March 24 at 8pm- INDUSTRY NITE

 Tickets: $25 ($21 students/seniors) BethMarshallPresents.com or GardenTheatre.org

Searching for Beethoven

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On July 29th, Beth Marshall and Aradhana Tiwari held an audition in their ongoing quest to find the perfect actor to play Beethoven at The Venue (511 Virgina Street Orlando FL). The role is for 33 Variations written by Moises Kaufman. This play, directed by Aradahna will run March 13th through March 30th at the Garden Theater. About five actors came out for this audition. Actor Eric Pinder was stuck in traffic. The producer and director waited patiently while periodically getting text updates on Eric’s progress on the road. The conversation took a surprising turn to a cult of Satanists living in Central Florida whose bark was louder then their bite.

The roll of Ludwig van Beethoven requires an actor with a strong domineering presence. Beethoven was quite honestly a bit of an asshole, treating people around him with disdain. Which reminds me, I recently was mentioned in a venomous, anonymous letter, as someone who is an asshole, financially unsuccessful, a wimp, and not much fun. An asshole and a wimp are bipolar opposites so I can’t be both. Perhaps my opinions rub some the wrong way. My single minded drive and ambition could be perceived as not much fun. When lost in the creative process, I am occasionally interrupted by people who are curious about what I do. I’ll offer a quick joke, so they realize I am human, and then I get right back to work. If the conversation continues, I’ll keep working regardless. I suppose that can be considered rude. The narrow window I have to capture a moment requires constant observation. There is an agonizing panic in the need to finish a sketch before the moment is lost. I can identify with Beethoven’s annoyance at the shallow niceties of the Vienna social scene, the chattering crowd. Now, every time I meet someone, I wonder if they are the coward whose life is so empty that they need to write hateful letters to someone they don’t truly know.  Perhaps this is the danger of social media in that some people feel they have the right to meddle in other peoples lives. Perhaps that has always been the case. Part of me thinks I might have over stayed my welcome in Orlando. San Diego is being considered as a new city where Terry and I can set down new roots.

Eric arrived, dusted off the annoyance of unexpected traffic and quickly focused on his craft, reading his lines with a thick Bavarian accent. You have to look past the distractions and stay true to yourself in any creative endeavor. Seize the moment. Ignore and distance yourself from anyone who feels the need to bring you down. Regardless I will be around Orlando jackin’ out sketches every day.