Notes from Director Dave Steakley:
THE NEA GRANTTwo years ago Michele Baylor, ZACH’s Development Director, came to me with a new grant initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts called American Masterpieces. The NEA was going to award ten grants to reacquaint Americans with the nation’s greatest artistic works in musical theater from the past and provide a younger generation with an introduction to the rich heritage of the art form. Michele wanted to know if I had any projects in mind that met the criteria and without hesitation I said Porgy & Bess. Katrina happened a couple of weeks before we wrote the grant and it was heavily on my mind as I wrote my Artistic Statement because in Act II of the opera there is a huge hurricane that occurs which has devastating consequences on the economically poor Gulf Coast residents. At that moment many New Orleans residents and musicians were finding their way to Austin for refuge, and suddenly our approach to Gershwin’s masterwork had a context for our community.
THE CONTEXT FOR OUR PRODUCTIONWe are one of ten theatres nationally that were awarded a grant by the NEA. Our production will remain in the 1930’s period in which it was originally set, and we are being inspired by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans, to draw from the rich jazz musical heritage of The Big Easy. Consequently our orchestra will be comprised of piano, bass, drums, violin, guitar, banjo, tenor sax, baritone sax, trombone, trumpet, flute and clarinet with the intention of orienting our production toward an American jazz exploration of Gershwin’s masterwork. When the hurricane strikes at the end of Act II, the scene will be performed by our actors from rooftops as the levees break and our swampy bayou is flooded. Imagine what this will do to the mourning felt in Bess’ reprise of “Summertime” sung to Clara’s orphaned infant in this context of the flood.
I envision ZACH Theatre as the meeting tent where a diverse, energized community of Central Texans has investment, ownership and representation -- on stage, behind the scenes and in the audience. I believe theatre offers an avenue for self-examination, an arena in which we might be challenged to understand a little better not just our own lives, but the world in which we live. We purposefully make art that creates the opportunity for meaningful conversations on topics that have resonance in our community. At ZACH we love learning from other voices and other perspectives because they enrich our imagination and our experience in ways we could not imagine. We see theatre as the place where all liberties are possible for all people. Porgy and Bess provides an opportunity for us to shed some light again on our brothers and sisters who are still finding life in a partially recovered New Orleans to be challenging.
Tickets for this dynamic production are now on sale.
Call 476-0594 xt. 1 and make your reservations now!
Limited two week run - January 25 - February 3, 2008
A ZACH Theatre production at the All New Austin Music Hall.
Posts
