Two productions from members of the Polaris Performing Arts Company made their way to the Dibden Stage: Portrait of a Town, an originally devised production based on the artistic works of Ruth Greene Mould, and an original one-act entitled as :To Break Suddenly, presented by James Kalbfleisch.
Missed out on the productions? Basement Medicine has you covered with the inside scoop:
On “Portrait of a Town”
Portrait of a Town, which was collectively pieced together by the Polaris Performing Arts Company, opened for performances from December 8-9. As previously stated by Social Media Coordinator and Staff Writer Wilbur Hayes, the production was conceived throughout a two and a half-month-long period of looking deeper between the brush strokes of Mould’s artwork. What staging techniques would be utilized to translate the pieces, as well as the places, and the townspeople within them, for a dramatic theatrical realm?
The plot of the currently untitled show brings audiences the lives of eight area folks who hail from the small rural community of 1930s Johnson. Including, of course, (And who wouldn’t forget?) the local artist herself. Split up within a cyclical series of events, Portrait of a Town is the figuratively quintessential “coming-of-age” story for said community. It’s the 1946 film, It’s A Wonderful Life, meets the 1944 musical film, Meet Me in St. Louis, but translated onstage through a distinctly local contextual lens.
Hardworking civilians like John and Jeremiah, the “master of ceremonies” behind nearly every communal event, personify the Johnson community’s core values. Rodney, a no-nonsense area man, owns a long-lived sugar shack near town and has a temper of his own making toward others. Young Beatrice, a new girl who wears her ambition on her sleeve, moves to town from Quebec with the intention of cultivating a new chapter for herself. Rose is a mother with a heart of rose-gold that helps cultivate the best for the community around her. Essie may be a middle-aged area woman of high temper, but she shares her pride via the cultivation of annual Christmas pageants and intense gatekeeping of her garden. Finally, we have our heroine, Ruth, who was once bound for the healthy birth of a new baby, but was instead devastated with an unexpected stillbirth, leading her on a road of artistic self-discovery to come.
The cast featured Jill Pressman as Ruth Greene Mould, Heike Chaney as Essie Davis/Harvey Bradley, Wilbur Hayes as Beatrice, Zibman Miller as Rose, Taylor Michaud as Jeremiah/Agatha Rooley, James Kalbfleisch as John, Amelia Burger as Rena Bradley/Channing Mould, and Sergey Vakhrouchev as Rodney.
James Kalbflesich on “:To Break Suddenly”
A naturalistic story with themes oriented toward grief, loss, and platonic relationships, the plot of :To Break Suddenly illustrates the personal recovery journey of Alex, Kalbfleisch’s main character, with the help of his friends Oliver and Eleanor. Kalbfleisch’s cast featured Zibman Miller as Alex, Wilbur Hayes as Oliver, and Jackie Abramsohn as Eleanor. :To Break Suddenly staged performances November 15-17 with optional talkbacks, and a rousing series of instrumental rock resounding from the rafters of the theatre as pre-show music.
The narrative was first created as a project for a playwriting course Kalbfleisch took last fall, during his junior year. When asked about the general conception of the piece, Kalbfleisch explains how the script focuses on the importance of platonic relationships.
“Writing mimics reality in a lot of ways, and so you draw from yourself to write,” said Kalbfleisch. “I wanted to show a different, but slightly altered view of what friendship can be. Especially for male presenting people.”
This semester marks Kalbfleisch’s first time directing his own original production. When asked what made him interested in piecing together :To Break Suddenly for the stage, Kalbfleisch explained he enjoys theatre that emotionally affects other people. Previously, he assisted Laura Roald, part-time faculty professor in the Performance Arts and Technology Program, in directing Polaris’ Spring 2023 production of Shaina Taub’s Twelfth Night.
Media depictions of family members who struggle with substance abuse issues are often displayed in two different ways, says Kalbfleisch. Oftentimes, a character with such struggles may be portrayed as sympathetic, or a “one-note villain” with a crowd of saddened characters around them. Keeping this knowledge in mind, Kalbfleisch aimed to place an alternative picture of the situation, due to having had experiences with this in his personal life.
As with any average series of rehearsals for a theatrical piece, time and access were the utmost difficult aspects of piecing together Kalbfleisch’s production. Both the full cast and Kalbfleisch himself were involved in multiple productions at once, which gave rise to conflict in completing the full script, maintaining personal wellness, as well as other physical aspects such as set designs. Since rehearsals for Portrait of a Town were occurring back-to-back, preserving time for Kalbfleisch’s rehearsals without them ending up happening late at night, as well as getting the cast to rehearsals at the same time, was difficult.
But outside of the hard punches and tribulations, Kalbfleisch expressed his gratitude for the flexibility and understanding of the cast.
“Someone won’t be feeling well after the devised rehearsal and will want to go home and sleep because it’s 9:00 at night, and they have work, or homework, or other stuff to do the following day,” said Kalbfleisch. “I’m thankful for all their understanding, flexibility, and general [hospitality].”
Several more productions, in partial fulfillment of the remaining P.A.T senior projects, will be aiming to make appearances in the Spring 2025 semester. To name a few: Wilbur Hayes will be developing and releasing a production of Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s musical, Ride the Cyclone. Emily LaRose and Taylor Michaud were originally scheduled to release a devised duo production in conjunction with Portrait of a Town and :To Break Suddenly. But due to unforeseen circumstances, LaRose and Michaud will be pushing back their production to next semester.
Keep an eye on Basement Medicine for more information and updates to come.