Most of you who visit this site know that I've worked to receive funding for visiting artists and resident companies for the last nine years. The most recent guests left today, after a few short days and a performance of an new piece that was and is nothing short of beyond wonderful.
I first saw BLUE DOOR at the Sundance Theatre Lab in the summer of 2006. The play is by Tanya Barfield, about a 50-something African-American mathematics professor who has reached a point in his life where he is receding from the world, his family and his wife. He simply doesn't want to face up to the past his family and legacy means and to how it defines a large part of him in the present. When his wife decides she's had enough, she decides to leave and he has a night of insomnia and the memories of past male relatives hold conversations, arguments and tell past stories that Lewis, the math prof, has buried for years. He talks with his late brother, his late grandfather and his late great-grandfather (a slave) and also re-enacts moments he experienced with his father.
It's a stunning piece of work about what it is to struggle against your heritage and what you may sacrifice if you do so. The acting was superb and the playwright was here as well. We had a day of Q & A and the performance on Saturday.
The actors were Hubert Point-du Jour, a recent graduate of NYU's undergrad conservatory program and an absolutely spectacular talent. He landed the role of playing Lewis's relatives right out of school, his very first job, and it played at Seattle Rep (after premiering with a different cast at South Coast Rep). Lewis was played here by Joseph C. Phillips, best known as playing the husband of Lisa Bonet on THE COSBY SHOW. He's every bit as fine an actor (a graduate of NYU's grad acting program) and watching these two work back and forth was a master class in itself.
And, as I wrote, Tanya Barfield (the playwright of BLUE DOOR, a Julliard-trained playwright and now on Julliard's faculty) was here as well. When I was at Sundance with her, and saw the play for the first time at the end of the workshop, she was praised by the plays then-director, Marion McClinton, as picking up the torch for the dying August Wilson. At that time, August Wilson was dying of cancer and McClinton was one of his best friends, having directed the premieres of Wilson's final 4 plays of the 10-play cycle.
The play was performed, reading-style, in the new performance hall and, thanks to some friends in the community, a decent-sized audience attended. Decent also considering that the Homecoming football game was that night. It was the only night available for the three guests to visit and the visit had to happen before the second week in October. So, no choice. Still, I was, once again, disappointed in the very poor turn-out from the theatre majors and minors. I just don't get it. As many of you have written back to me, these visits by the professionals were some of the most memorable learning experiences you had with USU theatre. I try to impress the students about your experiences but I still struggle to get 15% to even show up for these things.
Well, it's also my last time doing it. The responsibility has been passed on to Adrianne for a few reasons, not the least of which are my tremendous disagreements with the interim department head. That, and my looking for a new position. I intend to promote and run a similar program where ever I end up.
Another neat thing: tomorrow and Tuesday I participate in a workshop run by Moises Kaufmann's Tectonic Theatre Company in Salt Lake, through the U of U. Kaufmann won't be there (too bad, I know him from Sundance) but one of the company members will run the workshop and introduce the participants to their 'capture' method of writing plays. I'll report soon after it finishes.
And thanks to Annette and Amanda for the kind words regarding the finished deck. Yes, Amanda, Carolyn and I have enjoyed the deck for the past two years at it crumbled under our feet. We weren't going to let that stop us from sitting outside on beautiful evenings (and there are a lot of them here, as you know). We'll keep it up with the new stuff. And my apologies to Annette, but I'll have to turn down the offer to help build a new deck at your place, whenever it starts to happen for you. If I never see another hammer or power screw-gun again... :)
It's connected to a sad story (a 32% hike in tuition for California public universities) but I really like the picture and the way the 'save the humanities' sign is so prominent. It was a peaceful protest, by the way. 
