Great things are happening on summer stages. I just saw 42nd Street in Sullivan at the Little Theatre on the Square. Having seen back in 1980 the original Broadway production, which began with a slow curtain rising on what seemed to be 100 pairs of tap-dancing feet, I wondered how effective the opening would be handled […]
Arts Features
Posted inArts & Culture
art seen 6-9-05
For 40 years, John T. Crisp Jr. has been known on the East Side for his art and for his work in youth education. In the past, when people west of 11th Street wanted to interact with artists of color, they came to him. Crisp, who grew up on the East Side (“Back then, if […]
Posted inArts & Culture
backstage pass 5-26-05
I’m playing town crier this week for the comedy Rounding Third, which finishes a two-weekend run at the Hoogland Center for the Arts this Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28. It’s the first production of the just-formed ADHD Productions, and local actors Jason Goodreau and Mac Warren are performing this must-see play by Richard […]
Posted inArts & Culture
art seen 5-19-05
Almost every artist I’ve interviewed for this column has explained how he or she made a connection to the visual arts early in life. To better understand how an elementary-school art class might influence that early focus, I recently visited with Shirley Frankowiak, who has taught art going on 30 years. “Miss Frank,” as her […]
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backstage pass 5-12-05
Springfield gets its first look next week at Rounding Third, a new comedy by Richard Dresser that played off-Broadway and has been a hit in theaters around the country. Jason Goodreau and Mac Warren, two local actors, are responsible for the Springfield production, and they play the lead roles. Rounding Third follows Don, a tough, blue-collar, […]
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art seen 5-5-05
Oh the Places I’ve Been, the newest exhibit at Prairie Art Alliance, features paintings by Springfield artists Tiffany Beane, Shirley Caldwell Smith, and Leonard Gaither. I visited with portraitist Beane recently as she moved one of her latest creations from its new home at Prairie Heart Institute to the PAA Gallery. Her portrait of cardiologist […]
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backstage pass 4-28-05
Springfield Theatre Centre had a big hit last year with its production of Annie. The same STC directing team (Julie Davis, Doug Hahn, Gary Shull) is back with this week’s opening of Bye, Bye Birdie on the main stage of the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The show runs two weekends, April 29-May 1 and May […]
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art seen 4-21-05
Over the past decade, Robert Sill began noticing a trend that disturbed him: Gallery spaces had grown, and large-scale works tended to dominate shows. But bigger isn’t always better, and Sill, a curator at the Illinois State Museum, decided that it was time for something different. The result is think small!, an exhibit featuring an […]
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backstage pass 4-14-05
Many of this weekend’s theatrical offerings are focused on the celebration of the official opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. A big downtown block party, with history as its theme, is planned for a large area stretching from the Lincoln Home neighborhood north to the museum, 212 N. Sixth St. On the grounds of […]
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backstage pass 3-31-05
Missouri-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson has been writing plays since the off-off-Broadway movement began in New York in the 1960s. His first plays were produced at Café Cino and the still-in-operation LaMamma Theater. A few of Wilson’s plays made it to Broadway, and one, Fifth of July, will be seen here, in the University […]
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art seen 3-24-05
Michael Dunbar still has a problem with his early school years: “When you know what you’re going to do and you have to listen to teachers and figure out ‘How does this apply to me?’, it makes school a real challenge.” Young Michael knew what he wanted to do for a living at a very early […]
Posted inArts & Culture
backstage pass 3-17-05
So many companies in the region have scheduled productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast during the next few months (including the Springfield Muni, St. Louis’ Muny Opera, and the Little Theatre in Sullivan), I wish they could have been spread out a bit. Undoubtedly one of the best of the lot is the current production […]
