Reviews Erica Tobolski a Dolls House Part 2
Supper Tabular array Spotlight: Steffi Brink and Erica Tobolski
We're featuring the artists from the Supper Table project throughout the summer. This is the 14th in our serial on Supper Table Artists.
Information technology takes a special kind of artist to portray a figure similar Eliza Lucas Pinckney with the finesse and beauty Steffi Brink and Erica Tobolski are. Pinckney was a remarkable young adult female, both far ahead of, and stuck in the eye of, her time. At only sixteen years old, a young Eliza Lucas was sent to the South to run her own plantation. Instead of fading away or losing her grip similar many in her position might accept, she not simply succeeded, simply became one of the most successful individuals of her fourth dimension.
Pinckney was one of the first to notice the importance of the indigo plant and to brand it the cash ingather in the colonies that it became. While we are forever indebted to her and in awe of her power as a young woman in a male oriented earth, nosotros cannot disregard that Pinckney was a slave holder and that it was the forced labor of the enslaved individuals on her plantation that made her success and so tangible. In honoring her, nosotros must honor them, the unnamed who made indigo possible, whilst not failing to recognize what an empowering figure and role model Eliza is for young girls.
The women creating the film honoring Pinckney and embodying Pinckney herself have been cognizant of this challenge and have worked to reconcile these two parts of Eliza'south life in their ain art.
Steffi Brink is a visual creative person, curator, and film programmer at Indie Grits Labs. She was a photo teacher and organizer for the PhotoVoice project "Seen and Heard: Women and Girls in the Midlands." Her work has been exhibited at the Columbia Museum of Art and received the People's Choice Award from the Darkroom Gallery in Vermont. She has a BA in Media Arts from the University of South Carolina and is the recipient of the 2016 USC Photo Review Prize.
Steffi Brink
Brink'south film on Pinckney features cyanotype, a type of printmaking that makes the final images a stunning blue in colour, which echoes, of grade, the indigo crop that Pinckney is known for. The images etched into the prints reflect different images and aesthetics of the life of Pinckney, set with words from her own journals and letters.
Erica Tobolski is an actor, voice-over artist, and song motorbus. At the Aspen Fringe Festival, she played Nora inDoll'due south Firm Office 2 and Juliana inThe Other Place. She has played major roles in productions at Trustus Theatre, Theatre South Carolina and the Due south Carolina Shakespeare Visitor. In Chicago, she appeared at Bailiwick Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, and Open City Theatre. Erica has vocal coached at Great River Shakespeare, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the National Theatre in Malaysia. She is an Acquaintance Professor at USC and a consultant in voice and presence for business concern professionals.
Erica Tobolski
Together with theatre artists managers, Vicky Saye Henderson and Colleen Kelly, Tobolski is crafting an embodiment of Eliza that reflects both her ability and her struggles.
Brink's film and Tobolski'due south performance will premiere at our two opening events. Our first result is at Trustus Theatre on the evening of September 6th, and tickets can be purchased here. Our second event is that Sunday afternoon, the 8th, at Harbison Theatre, and tickets are too bachelor for that performance online.
-Christina Xan
"The Other Place" at the Trustus Side Door Theatre - a review past Rachel Arling
Directed by Jim O'Connor, the evidence is well-suited to the intimate venue because the script gives the audience a kickoff-hand view into Juliana'due south head. We feel events in the same fragmented way that she does, so it's appropriate that we are also right at that place with her physically in the small space. The fix is minimalistic, especially during the get-go half of the play, when the scenes switch abruptly (sometimes mid-judgement) betwixt various locations. The slightly more than detailed set of the play's 2nd half depicts "the other place:" the Cape Cod vacation home that has been in Juliana'southward family for generations. The set is supplemented with excellent use of projections that serve every bit PowerPoint slides for Juliana's presentation, and the projections also occasionally set the turbulent mood with images of crashing waves. The costumes, designed by Jean Gonzalez Lomasto, are simple but well-chosen (though I was sometimes distracted by the clomping audio of the women's high heels on the hollow wooden stage, but this is a small-scale complaint.)
The cast is comprised of iv capable actors whose chemistry together increases equally the play goes on. As Juliana, Erica Tobolski must conduct the show. She navigates the highs and lows of the complex character with dexterity, understanding that Juliana uses her acerbic wit and administrative demeanor as coping mechanisms that aid her to grasp at the vestiges of control over her life. Like the character of Vivian in Margaret Edson's Wit, Juliana frequently breaks the fourth wall to share the details of her struggle with an illness that might be cancer. Tobolski successfully establishes a close relationship with audience members every bit she enlists our assistance to effort to make sense of her "episodes." I exercise wish that some of the transitions between the different scenes and audience addresses were clearer; nevertheless, I recognize that the blurred transitions might exist a directorial option intended to illustrate the muddled nature of Juliana's experience.
Bryan Bender plays Ian, Juliana's husband. (Or is he her "soon-to-be-ex?" This is one of the mysteries the playwright wants us to contemplate.) Both physically and emotionally, Bough provides a solid, patient, and grounded presence compared to Tobolski's agitated restlessness; their relationship dynamic reminds me of the couple from Next to Normal in more means than one. Bough and Tobolski do their best work together during the climactic flashback scene that takes place at "the other identify."
One thousand. Scott Wild and Jennifer Moody Sanchez play the other men and women in the show. Wild has the play's two smallest roles, but he brings them to life with his typical skillful free energy. Sanchez plays three dissimilar characters: Juliana's doctor, Juliana's distant adult daughter, and a stranger. She makes distinctive choices for each one, simply I liked her best as the stranger. The scene betwixt Juliana and the stranger is hilariously entertaining because of the ridiculous situation and the style the two actors react to i another. More importantly, though, the scene provides a touching example of an empathetic connexion between 2 people who have never met before. The stranger shows kindness to Juliana fifty-fifty though information technology doesn't come easily to her because she is dealing with myriad issues of her own. The two women are united by their suffering in "the other place," and sometimes the formation of such a connection is plenty to help both of them showtime the healing process.
This production of The Other Place, which runs through Nov 1, is worth seeing. Don't expect to sit down back in your seat and relax, though; the show requires its audience to lookout actively and make judgments about what's happening. But doesn't all effective fine art do that?
~ Rachel Arling
The Other Place runs through Saturday, November 1st in The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre (although the closing Sabbatum dark is currently sold out.) The doors and box office open thirty minutes prior to pall, and all Trustus Side Door tickets are $twenty for general admission and $15 for students. Reservations can exist made by calling the Trustus Box Part at (803) 254-9732, and tickets may be purchased online at world wide web.trustus.org. The Richard and Debbie Cohn Trustus Side Door Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady Street and on Pulaski Street. The Trustus Side Door Theatre entrance is through the glass doors on the Huger St. side of the building.
"Clybourne Park" at Trustus Theatre - a review by August Krickel
Clybourne Park'southward first act depicts the conflict that was meanwhile taking place in the sellers' living room, and its second act fast frontwards to 2009, where the same actors play dissimilar characters engaged in similar wranglings over real manor that are really all about race and class. Well-written, well-crafted, and thought-provoking, Norris's script is also funny, agonizing, upsetting, provocative, and frustrating. Top-notch acting and management ensure that the author's themes and bug are presented with clarity and eloquence, merely the ultimate message may be that nosotros accept not progressed nearly as much as a society as we like to think.
In 1959, Bryan Bender, Lucas Bender, and Erica Tobolski portray a wholesome middle-class family who could be Ward and June Cleaver'south neighbors. Their bland and affected churr hides a family tragedy, which makes them eager to sell their abode to the first bidder. Neighbors (Chiliad. Scott Wild and Rachel Kuhnle) and the local government minister (Bobby Bloom) break the news that the buyers are a "colored" family, and drag the housekeeper and her husband (Ericka Wright and Wela Mbusi) into an increasingly volatile statement over integration. fifty years later on, the neighborhood is considered traditionally African-American, and at risk of losing much of its cultural heritage to gentrification. Wild and Kuhnle at present play high-strung yuppies who imagine themselves to be liberal and progressive, while Wright and Mbusi, representing the neighborhood association, are a seemingly pleasant, reasonable couple who discover how hands their buttons can be pushed when it comes to race. Norris seems to be saying that while these characters (and by implication, Americans) can co-be peacefully in sure circumstances, at the aforementioned time at that place's much left implied, rather than e'er honestly dealt with or resolved.
Norris's script makes good use of contemporary colloquial and modern speech patterns where people talk over one some other and cut each other off mid-sentence. Director Jim O'Connor keeps action and dialogue flowing at lite speed, and his cast excels in making every give-and-take seem natural. Several actors adopt believable Northern accents, although to my ear some sounded more reminiscent of Minnesota, a la the film Fargo, than the Chicago natives I've known, but there are references to the characters' German language and Scandinavian roots, and the effect works either manner. Tobolski's suburban Suzie Homemaker in the first human action, clad in a lovely dress and a frilly apron, is almost a comic stereotype, but there's a legitimate reason for her demeanor. Bryan Bender is a master of Midwestern reserve in the first act, then switches to broad comedy in the 2d act as a whimsical and quirky workman. Kuhnle gets some of the sharpest barbs and meatiest character mannerisms to play with, while Wild's functioning is the nearly believable and nuanced. His character is the only one in the 2nd act to make some effort to address the real problems at manus, although he botches this attempt terribly. Still, his hapless frustration is likely to strike a familiar chord with many in the audience, every bit his attempts at political correctness reveal biases he never realized.Christian Thee's ready design of a typical 1950'due south living room seems unproblematic, indeed minimalistic, yet its inventiveness becomes apparent in the 2d deed. Panels and units within the set up are quickly replaced during intermission to seamlessly describe a one-half century of urban decay. Also of notation is Baxter Engle's sound pattern: assorted cell phones, radio broadcasts, and unseen structure equipment sound exactly as they should.
While the script has many genuinely funny moments, it's ultimately a nighttime and wicked satire of gild's attitudes and misconceptions well-nigh race, and a number of uncomfortable questions are raised, explored, yet never answered. Forcing an audience to think about, and sometimes express mirth at, of import topics that are more hands ignored is sufficient reason to adore and embrace Clybourne Park as a piece of work of literature and social commentary. O'Connor and his cast add a necessary and welcome human being touch, bringing hard characters to conceivable life.
Clybourne Park runs on the Thigpen Primary Stage at Trustus Theatre through Saturday, Feb. eight; contact the box office at 803-254-9732 for ticket information, or visit trustus.org/.
~ Baronial Krickel
(This review also ran this week online at the Complimentary Times.)
Trustus brings Pulitzer Prize and Olivier award-winning one-act "Clybourne Park" to Columbia with a talented ensemble cast under the management of Guest Director Jim O'Connor.
Trustus Theatre is bringing Bruce Norris' Pulitzer Prize, Tony, and Olivier Accolade-winning comedy Clybourne Park to the Thigpen Chief Phase. This show, a response to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Dominicus, is a provocative and humorous look at racial relations and reactions in America. Clybourne Park is directed by award-winning invitee managing director Jim O'Connor, and opens on the Thigpen Main Stage Friday Jan 24 thursday at 8:00pm. The show runs through February 8 th , 2014. Tickets may be purchased at world wide web.trustus.org.
Clybourne Park explodes on to the Main Stage in two outrageous acts ready fifty years autonomously. Human activity I takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a blackness family unit. Act II is set in the aforementioned house in the present day, equally the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to concur its ground in the face of gentrification. A wonderfully well-crafted script that received all of the superlative theatrical honors, Clybourne Park intriguingly explores alien aspects of the American feel.
Much of director Jim O'Connor'due south theatrical career and life has been spent addressing social issues ranging from Apartheid, sexual equality and harassment, social order and responsibleness, and American values. "I was elated when Trustus offered me this script," said O'Connor. "This script is such a direct, powerful, and humorous chance to direct another piece dealing with the world of prejudice and racial relationships. Clybourne Park furnishes a delightful and meaningful evening in the theatre, simply as well offers the audition something to recall near after as well. Information technology can exist used every bit a guide in our everyday lives."
O'Connor has assembled a potent ensemble bandage for this daring production. Trustus Company members G. Scott Wild (Ragtime), Rachel Kuhnle (Pino), and Venus in Fur's Bobby Flower (2013 Jasper Artist of the Year in Theatre Finalist) are returning to the Thigpen Main Stage. Joining them are USC theatre professor Erica Tobolski (Good People) and A Christmas Ballad's Wela Mbusi, who has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K. Making their Trustus debuts and rounding out the bandage are Erika Wright, Bryan Bender, and Lucas Bender.
Pop local artist Christian Thee is designing the scenic elements of Clybourne Park, where the house on stage must magically transform and age 50 years over the course of interruption. Thee is bringing his mastery of trompe l'oeil ("fool the eye") art and design to the set in order to make the illusion of historic period and transformation come up to life for the audience.
"Beyond its well deserved pedigree with a Pulitzer Prize and an Olivier Award, this script demands attention considering of its subject matter," said Director Jim O'Connor. "This script is unique because of the wonderfully creative form and power to brand its point through laugh out loud characters, situations and lines. All one has to practice is read a daily paper to find the relevance of racial harmony or disharmony in 2014. At that place continue to be cases in the Supreme Court, battles in Congress and, conflicts in daily life based on when and how different races volition ever manage to get together and shed traces of prejudices."
In that location will be a talk-back following the bear witness on Feb 2 nd . The panel will consist of, lensman Vennie Deas Moore who is currently documenting growth in downtown Columbia from 1920 to 1950, Tige Watts who is currently President of the National Council of Neighborhoods, Julia Prater who is deputy director of the Columbia Housing Authority, the cast, and the director Jim O'Connor.
Trustus Theatre's Clybourne Park opens on the Trustus Main Stage on Friday, Jan 24th at 8:00pm and runs through February 8 th , 2014. Thigpen Main Phase shows showtime at 8:00pm Thursdays through Saturdays, Saturday matinees are at 2pm, and Sunday matinees are at 3:00pm. At that place will non be a matinee functioning on January 26. Tickets are $22.00 for adults, $20.00 for armed services and seniors, and $fifteen.00 for students. Half-price Student Rush-Tickets are available 15 minutes prior to drape.
Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady St. and on Pulaski St. The Main Stage archway is located on the Publix side of the building.
For more information or reservations telephone call the box role Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all prove data and flavour information.
"Good People" - Jillian Owens reviews the new play at Trustus Theatre
David Lindsay-Abaire'due south Skilful People , the new evidence at Trustus Theatre, takes identify in Boston, but really exists in two dissever worlds. Margie Walsh (Dewey Scott-Wiley) isn't doing well at life. Equally struggling single mother with a severely disabled adult daughter, she's barely getting past paycheck to paycheck. When she'due south laid off from her job at the Dollar Store for excessive tardiness –mostly from having to treat her girl—she's left with no prospects and a looming eviction. Her friends suggest she get talk to her erstwhile loftier school flame, Mike (Jason Stokes) to come across if he tin can give her a job. They all remember him as existence "Good People" - surely he'll help an old friend out. Mike is completely beating Margie at the game of life: he'south a successful doctor with a dwelling, a family, and a practise in Chestnut Hill, an upscale part of boondocks. Mike never says he's rich, just "comfortable," to which Margie snaps back, "Oh, comfy. Yous'recomfortable. OK — I guess that makes meuncomfortable." She manages to wheedle an invitation to a birthday party that his married woman is throwing for him, where she hopes to see her new hereafter employer.
Lindsay-Abaire presents some truly interesting characters and concepts in this play. Mike is that guy who managed to "become out" and make something of his life and Margie is that girl who only didn't make information technology. While Mike feels entitled to his success, since afterwards all he did work extremely hard to go there, Margie points out that he had several lucky breaks that most people in the "Southie" finish of Boston never had. At what point are you lot truly just stuck? When Margie, the cocky-proclaimed "too nice" girl attempts to blackmail Mike with frightening secrets from his past, you tin't help but wonder if any of these people are "proficient" at all.
This script is peculiarly compelling as Lindsay-Abaire grew up in Southie. Like Mike, he grew upward equally the son of a fruit peddler, and was one of the lucky ones able to get out subsequently getting a scholarship to Milton Academy when he was 11. The author says that the reason it took him so long to write a play virtually his childhood home was that "I was terrified. You lot love and care most these people deeply, and you don't desire to misrepresent them." His characters are treated with compassion and nobility here.
This production, directed past Jim O'Connor, is subtle and well-executed. This show is a terrific case of what can be done with a terrific bandage and a terrific managing director when they're given a terrific script. Dewey Scott-Wiley is a raw and intelligent Margie who interjects just the correct amount of humor into a very serious story. Jason Stokes plays Mike, and while he's probably too immature for this role (despite several references in the script to his looking skillful for his historic period), he manages to make you feel truly sorry for him when Margie starts laying in to him. The supporting cast, consisting mostly of Columbia theatre veterans, all deserve mention too. Erica Tobolski, Barbara Lowrance Hughes, Kevin Bush-league, and Michelle Jacobs all deliver solid performances.
That being said, the set seemed hastily put-together, clunky, awkward, and not very well designed, which has been a recurring issue for Trustus. For this functioning it was downright distracting every bit actors struggled with some of the fix pieces and defunction. But that'southward nitpicking.
Trustus Theatre has been spot-on with the plays they've chosen this flavor. I'chiliad happy to run into them getting back to their mission of bringing some of the best new theatre to Columbia, SC, and I hope this continues.
Skillful People runs through April 6; contact the box part at 803-254-9732 for ticket information, or visit world wide web.trustus.org (and try out the new Trustus online reservation system.)
~ Jillian Owens
Source: http://jasperproject.org/jasper-magazine-online/tag/Erica+Tobolski
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