Bare Feet on a Cold Floor
by Kathryn Rickson

will be read on the stage of the Carousel Theatre Saturday, February 13 at 12 Noon.

featuring: Elizabeth Norment, David Kortemeier, and Ned Schmidtke of the cast of Oedipus the King.

A discussion will follow. 

The Clarence Brown Theatre Reading Series continues tonight (Friday, February 6, 2009) with The Exonerated.  The reading is in Room 132 at the Law School.

This powerful and moving play, written by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank, tells the stories of six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder, then exonerated and freed after life-altering experiences in prison. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers awarded Jensen and Blank the Champion of Justice Award for the play.

It’s part of a Consortium on the death penalty in Tennessee, and decision makers about Tennessee’s death penalty will be in the audience.

It’s free, and many of our faculty and students are involved!

Clarence Brown Theatre to Hold Free Staged Reading of New Play
The Olive Grove
 
The Clarence Brown Theatre will hold a staged reading of a new play, The Olive Grove, on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lab Theatre. The reading is free and open to the public. Performed by professional actors, the reading provides the opportunity for audiences to participate in the birth of a new play, one that may receive its world premiere on the Clarence Brown stage. A discussion with the author and artists will follow the reading.
 
In 416 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, a pair of Athenian Generals explained to the inhabitants of the island of Melos, why, if they did not give up their freedom and submit to Athenian domination, they would all be killed or sold into slavery.  As written by Thucydides, this conversation has become known as The Melian Dialog.
 
“Gary English’s new play is about the history of ancient Greece, but it is a story about contemporary concerns:  politics, ethics, national fear and fatherhood,” said director Calvin MacLean.
 
Playwright Gary English is Theatre Department Head at the University of Connecticut and Artistic Director of Connecticut Repertory Theatre.  He earned his BFA at the University of Arizona, his MFA from Northwestern University and served as a faculty member at the State University of New York and Carnegie-Mellon University.  In 2003, he was appointed to the rank of Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in Dramatic Arts. His areas of expertise are in stage directing and stage design. Recent major directing credits include The Miracle Worker and American Primitive, both at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA. Other projects include Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, A Little Night Music, Carousel, and Man of La Mancha which received the 1997 Best Musical Award from the Connecticut Critics’ Circle. His design work includes scenery and costumes for Off-Broadway, television and over 70 productions at many of America’s leading repertory theatres.
 
Now in his 3rd season, Director Calvin MacLean is the Clarence Brown Artistic Director and UT Theatre Department Head. Formerly professor of Theatre and head of Directing at Illinois State University, he also was artistic director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.  His productions at Chicago’s Famous Door Theatre earned several prestigious Joseph Jefferson Awards for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Direction.  He was named by the Chicago Tribune in 2002 as one of the “ten most promising” theatre artists in Chicago. Most recently, he directed CBT production of The Secret Rapture. He will play the guitar in the upcoming CBT production of Tommy.
 
Composer Terry Silver-Alford is a member of the UT Theatre faculty and teaches Musical Theatre Performance, Introduction to the Theatre and Acting. He has worked in professional theatres across the country as a performer, director, musical director and composer.  He has directed or musically directed over 100 productions and created  scores for four original musicals and a variety of chamber and vocal music pieces.
 
Four visiting guest artists will participate in the reading. David Kortemier (General) was last at the Clarence Brown in A Flea in Her Ear. His work also has been seen in theatres across the country. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Louisville and was a professor of Theatre Performance for 12 years at Clarke College in Iowa.
 
Wendy Mortimer (Daughter) last appeared on the CBT stage in the production of A Flea in Her Ear.  She has worked professionally as an actress, teacher and voice/text coach in Seattle, New York, Connecticut, Illinois and Indiana.   She received an MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.  Currently, she serves as coordinator of the Acting Program at Ball State University in Indiana where she teaches Voice and Acting.
 
A graduate of the Yale School of Drama Elizabeth Norment (Woman) has been seen in regional theatres across the country.  She has performed in New York on Broadway and in such theatres as the Manhattan Theatre Club and Roundabout Theatre.  Her television credits include Law and Order, ER, Mad About You, Doogie Houser, and L.A. Law, to name a few.
 
Roderick Peeples (Man) was last seen as Galileo in the Clarence Brown production of The Life of Galileo.  Over the years he has appeared in many Chicago productions, including work at Chicago Shakespeare, Court, Steppenwolf, Next, Famous Door and Victory Gardens theatres.  On television, he has appeared in Prison Break, ER, Early Edition and The Untouchables.  He also has several film credits.
 
Three professional artists and UT Theatre Department members also will join the cast.  David Brian Alley (Magistrate) is in his 9th season as Artist-In-Residence for the Clarence Brown Theatre where he has performed in many productions.  He also has appeared at PlayMakers Repertory in North Carolina and the ImprovOlympic Theatre in Chicago. David has numerous film and television credits.
 
Currently in his 19th season, Tom Cervone (Captain) is the Managing/Program Director for the Clarence Brown and the UT Theatre Department.  He also teaches in the undergraduate training program. He received his undergraduate degree in Speech and English Education with an emphasis in Theatre from West Liberty State College in West Virginia and his Master of Fine Arts degree from UT Knoxville. He will return to the CBT stage to act in the upcoming production of Tommy.
 
John Sipes (Prime Minister) is a first-year faculty member in the UT Theatre Department.  Formerly he was Resident Movement Director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon where he worked on over 100 productions.  Recent directing credits include All My Sons at the Clarence Brown, King John at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Hollow at the Milwaukee Rep, and mr. lear, a play he wrote, directed and performed at Usine-C in Montreal. He received an MFA in Acting from Indiana University.
 
Two UT Theatre Program undergraduates will round out the cast. Seth Crowe (Antonides) is in his third year at UT.  He has performed in such CBT productions as The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Guys and Dolls, Antigone, and The Life of Galileo. Lauren Pennline (Girl) is in her final year as an undergraduate in the UT Theatre program.  Past UT productions include The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Antigone, and The Life of Galileo, to name a few.
 
For more information on the free staged reading of The Olive Grove please contact Robin Conklin, Marketing Director for the Clarence Brown Theatre at 974-2497, rconkli1@utk.edu or visit the website at www.clarencebrowntheatre.com .
 
 
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The next event in the Clarence Brown Theatre Reading Series:
TICK, TICK…BOOM

Sunday, September 28, 2008  7:30pm
Carousel Theatre

TICK, TICK…BOOM is Jonathan Larson’s (creator of Rent) autobiographical musical created in the early 1990’s (pre-Rent).  The piece will feature three University of Tennessee undergraduate students, Jordan Walters, Erica Bundy, and Quinn Cason.

The reading will last just over 1 hour and features 12 rock/eclectic/pop songs that are funny, engaging, and inspiring.  This small musical touches on many themes that we all share as theatrical artists and the many challenges we face as we try to pursue our passion for theatre and have a “life” as well.  The script/score is also eerily prophetic of Mr. Larson’s untimely death (at 35).

Terry Silver-Alford

The staged reading of Crocodile scheduled for April 27 has been cancelled.

In lieu of the reading, the UT graduate actors will present The Beginning is Now: Showcase 2008 on Thursday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carousel Theatre.

The culmination of three years of training at UT, The Beginning is Now: Showcase 2008 is a short program of songs and scenes from plays which the actors will present to agents, casting directors, and other industry professionals in New York and Los Angelese in May.

Please come out to see and send off these actors who have graced the Clarence Brown stage in many roles over the last three years, and to give them an opportunity to say thanks to the Clarence Brown Theatre Community.

A reception with light refreshments will follow the event.  Admission is free.  Donations to help offset the costs of the actors’ travels will be accepted with gratitude.

Due to some scheduling issues involving the participants for the Reading Series production of The Prince of Homburg, the performance has been rescheduled to Sunday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the CBT Lab Theatre.

(The performance was originally scheduled for Feb. 3).

The Clarence Brown Theatre Reading Series continues this Sunday night (Sept. 30), with I Just Stopped By to See the Man.

The performance is in the CBT Lab Theatre (enter from the ramp off the Pedestrian Mall (between Hess Hall and the Clarence Brown Theatre building, where the closed portion of Andy Holt Avenue used to be…)  It’s very near the intersection of Andy Holt Avenue and Melrose Place.

It’s open to the public, and is free, but seating is limited, so it’s first-come, first-seated!  Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.

The story line: Jesse Davidson, the last of the Delta blues singers, died fourteen years ago. But the story is… he isn’t dead at all. When an English rock band comes to town, the leader, Karl, comes lookng for the truth about his legendary hero and triggers a confrontation of mythic proportions.

Written By: Stephen Jeffreys
Directed by: Karen Kessler

Here’s a letter that Cal MacLean received this week following our CBT Reading Series Production of Parade on Sunday, Sept. 16 in the Lab Theatre:

Dear Mr. Maclean,

This past Sunday we had the pleasure to see the reading of the musical
“Parade” in your Lab Theatre.  It was a compelling piece of theatre with a
powerful story from our American history.  We thought the play was well cast
and their performances were exceptional, given the limited rehearsal time.
This theatre experience has made a lasting impression on us; we simply
cannot stop talking to our friends about this play.  Some have heard of the
story of Leo Frank, while others were fascinated to hear about it.  Tuesday
evening, we “Googled” Leo and Lucille Frank and found their tragedy had been
accurately presented on your stage!  We also learned of the remarkable
impact Leo Frank’s death had upon our American legal system and about the
special interest groups that were spawned from his lynching. 

We are teachers in the Oak Ridge Schools who have used theatre arts many
times in our thirty-plus years of teaching in public schools.  We strongly
believe that this play has tremendous merit and deserves to be performed
again to a wider audience.  We know teachers would use this play to teach
their students about prejudice that existed then and that still exists today
in different forms.  It is our considered opinion that there are many other
groups and individuals who would appreciate a play with this message.  We
ask that you please give it serious consideration in your future play
selection. 

We realize that most musicals are ‘feel good’ performances from which the
audience leaves singing hit tunes.  The “Parade” does not seem fit the “feel
good” genre and its songs are not yet popular.  Nonetheless, we found this
music so compelling that we have purchased the original soundtrack from
Amazon.com! Something about it keeps drawing us back to hear it again.  That
final song by Leo & Lucille (”All the Wasted Time”) is really special!

While we have seen plays on the mainstage of Clarence Brown many times, this
was our first theatre experience in Clarence Brown Lab Theatre.  Needless to
say, it will certainly not be our last!  We have our calendar marked for
future Lab Theatre performances.

Thank you for raising the level of performing arts in our area and we look
forward to more.

Sincerely,

Mike and Barbara Bundy
Oak Ridge, TN  37830

This year’s Clarence Brown Theatre Reading Series will kickoff in big-time musical style this Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. with Parade.

The performance is in the CBT Lab Theatre (enter from the ramp off the Pedestrian Mall (between Hess Hall and the Clarence Brown Theatre building, where the closed portion of Andy Holt Avenue used to be…)  It’s very near the intersection of Andy Holt Avenue and Melrose Place.

 It’s open to the public, and is free, but seating is very limited, so it’s first-come, first-seated!

Although technically a reading (no special lighting, set, or costume design; limited cast movement; lines and music are “read”, not memorized), Parade will feature a full cast (30 people) of some darn-good singers and actors.

This Tony Award winning musical is the true story of the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jewish factory manager who was accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old employee.  The trail, sensationized by the media, aroused anti-Semitic tensions in Atlanta and the state of Georgia.

Book by Alfred Uhry
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Directed by Terry Silver-Alford

Other shows in the Reading Series this season include:

I Just Stopped By to See the Man  (Sept. 30)
The Prince of Homburg  (Feb. 3)
Crocodiles (April 27)