Shades of “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” Rajiv Joseph’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play
A female bobcat named Ollie escaped her enclosure at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Her companions in the zoo enclosure were both males, so perhaps the escapee just got fed up with men and began wandering the streets of our nation’s capitol. At any rate, Ollie weighs only 25 pounds, so is not comparable to the big guy in “Bengal Tiger.” She doesn’t talk; otherwise, she’d be looking for President Trump to plead for preservation of the National Endowment for the Arts, which gave “Tiger” a 2009 citation for best new play. A news flash from Feb. 1 relates that Ollie is found on the zoo grounds. Beloved local actor, Ron Choularton, who played the title role in Ion Theatre’s “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” in 2013, will participate in Write Out Loud’s “Voices of Ireland” celebration (with dance, music, poetry and prose) at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 13, at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. Meanwhile, Ion will announce their next season any day now. For more information, visit www.writeoutloudsd.com or call 619-297-8953.
Aspiring Shakespeareans sign up
Applications for the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Studio, now named for patron Pam Farr, are available now through April 1.
The month-long program (July 17-Aug. 14) is for high school students (grades 9 to 12, plus recent graduates) and is designed to develop basic skills for reading, interpreting and performing Shakespeare’s works, and moreover to cultivate each student’s artistic voice through storytelling and creating original material. The curriculum includes voice and speech training, stage combat and text taught by Globe artists and staff. For further information visit www.theoldglobe.org/summerstudio or email [email protected].
Our man in Connecticut
On Jan. 28, the Hartford Courant featured former Globe Shakespeare Festival artistic director, Darko Tresnak, and his husband of 14 years, costume designer Joshua Pearson, who’ve recently completed settling, along with their bulldog Hector, into a Bauhaus-designed home in Manchester, just 11 miles from downtown Hartford. Tresnjak is artistic director of Hartford Stage, where he just renewed his contract through the 2018 to 2019 season. His Tony Award for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” (a co-production of Hartford Stage and the Old Globe) is displayed in his study. Tresnjak, who says he is grateful for the peace afforded by the Manchester home, directs the new musical “Anastasia” on Broadway this spring.
For more information, visit www.courant.com/hartford-magazine/home-living/hc-hm-home-darko-tresnjak-20170128-story.html.
For your calendar
UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance continues its winter quarter productions with David Rabe’s “Streamers” from Feb. 24 to March 4 in the Mandell Weiss Forum. For a list of additional productions, go to www.theatre.ucsd.edu/season/index.htm#Winter.
La Jolla Music Society’s Orchestra Series continues at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 at Jacobs Music Center Copley Symphony Hall with the presentation of the venerable Bamberg Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach conducts Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 3,” the Overture to Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with guest soloist Ray Chen, who according to media materials is known for his rock star charm. La Jolla couple to produce boomer musical
If titles and casting were guarantees of good entertainment, this original musical would be a must-see. La Jollans Hedges Capers and Nancy Lock Capers will present the world premiere of “The Geeze and Me” from March 31 to April 29 at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center. In case you haven’t guessed, it’s about aging, specifically surviving aging. The 14-member cast features, among others, the one-named Devlin, author/performer Hedges Capers, Kent Brisby, Byron LaDue, and Jesse MacKinnon, whose names alone would draw me to the theatre just off Broadway and Tenth downtown. Fifty percent of the proceeds benefit Path, A New Path: UCSD Center for Healthy Aging; The Unbattle Project; and The Center LGBT Senior Services. Tickets are $25. For more information, visit www.thegeezeandme.com or call 858-232-9696.
