A dramatic choice

Larger-than-life musicals are usually the norm at the Portola Valley Theatre Conservatory, based at Valley Presbyterian Church. Like "Fiddler on the Roof," or the recent production of "Nunsense" that had me giggling like a loon.

This time, though, the conservatory is taking a brave leap, doing "The Laramie Project," which deals with the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. According to testimony, Shepard was killed in large part because he was gay; he was beaten and left for dead on a buck fence.

Bravo to the group for choosing this play. That's true dramatic theater: not being afraid to throw yourself into the morass of human emotion and deed, however devastating it may be. And hoping you can learn and teach something.

The Rev. Cheryl Goodman-Morris, director of "Laramie" (and a lovely friend of mine), said the play is not just about Shepard; it's about the whole town of Laramie after the murder. Here, 20 actors play more than 60 parts (the script is based on real interviews), portraying a variety of residents in all their divergent views. In one scene an actor might portray a gay man, in the next, a redneck.

"The play doesn't try to sway people one way or another. Its point is that everyone deserves to be treated with tolerance," Cheryl told me. "There are so many voices -- you'll hear your view portrayed."

Because the play will be at a Presbyterian church, its opening is particularly timely, Cheryl said: the denomination -- including Valley Presbyterian -- is dealing nationally with the issue of whether gays should be ordained.

"We have numerous stances in our church, as in all churches," she said. "I thought it would be a good play to open up dialogue."

The actors, who include Palo Alto mother-son team Sally and Ryan Pfleiderer, are a mix of seasoned actors and first-timers. Proceeds benefit several organizations, including Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Shows at the conservatory often sell out; call 650-851-8282, extension 411, for details. I know I'll be there.

Pictured: Marge Murray (played by Ginger Holt) and Alison Mears (Anne Hubble) in a rehearsal for "The Laramie Project."

The disappearing reviewer

Those of you who enjoy reading the wisdom and witticisms of Weekly theater reviewer Kevin Kirby, fear not. Even though he hasn't written for the paper for a spell, he should be back shortly.

Our busy writer's time has been consumed by his own theater projects. He was recently in "Angels in America" at the City Lights Theater Company of San Jose. Now he's directing "Forever Plaid" for the Sunnyvale Community Players. This show, which opens this weekend, centers on four young male singers from the 1950s who perform with harmony and plenty of patter.

Sunnyvale is a wee bit outside the Palo Alto area, so the Weekly won't be reviewing the show. But you're welcome to be a theater reviewer yourself by leaving a comment on my blog...
Pictured: Kevin Kirby during a rehearsal for "Forever Plaid." Photo by Ron Evans.

Quote of the week

Says Weekly photographer Norbert von der Groeben, bursting jubilantly into the newsroom:

"I found a brain! Do you know how much brains are?"

(He had been searching for a plastic brain to photograph for a story on brain cancer. And you thought life in community newspapers was dull.)


Photo by Heinrich Jakob (from morgueFile.com)

The disappearing editor

Apologies to my devoted blog fans (hi, Mom) for not having posted in about 57 days.

But I have a note. Or at least an excuse. I'm in a show in San Jose: "Tomfoolery," a revue of Tom Lehrer songs. The man is a genius. Decades later, his songs are still relevant and hilarious. "Send the Marines," anyone?

And physical comedy is a new experience for me. I usually play an ingenue. Now I get to fall down on the stage, hit people with a yardstick, and throw up into a sombrero. Now that's great theater.

Fellow Tom Lehrer fans, unite! What are your favorite songs?

The revolution on video

Here's a supplement to my previous post about the 1956 Hungarian revolution. It's a clip from the Radio Free Europe video that plays at the Hoover Library and Archives exhibit.

From the uprising to the United States

Anyone who spends .57 of a second on my blog knows I’m interested in everything Hungarian. I used to live in Budapest (and went through a phase of signing my name "Majdnem Magyar").

So I fell all over myself to cover the Hoover exhibit on the 1956 Hungarian revolution for the Weekly. In the process, I met a few 56ers through watching the documentary "Starting Over in America," which was made by Sally Gati and is shown in the exhibit.

For a historic event that seems so far away in space and time, it’s fascinating to find so many California connections. Laszlo and Paulette Fono, who own the Bravo Fono and Babbo’s restaurants in Stanford Shopping Center, are 56ers. Laszlo was also the U.S. National Ski Champion in 1958.

Tibor Landsmann, who helped Red Cross workers during the uprising, now owns a jewelry store in San Francisco. And Vilmos Zsigmond was a student who documented the revolution on 35mm film. Here in the States, he became a cinematographer, nabbing an Oscar for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and working on a bazillion other movies.

Gati spends a lot of time -- justifiably so -- on the story of her husband, Frank. He was at university in eastern Hungary when the uprising began, but came to Budapest to fight alongside the other students and workers. At first, the feeling of breaking away from Soviet domination was exhilarating, he recounts in the film.

"It was like a longtime dream coming true ... as opposed to running scared," he says. "More like becoming an adult, as far as a nation was concerned."

After the Soviet tanks rolled in to crush the revolution, Gati walked through Western Hungary with his best friend George for five days. They escaped over the Austrian border and ended up on a ship for the United States. Gati became a computer analyst for Bank of America.

For the most part, America treated these 56ers well. They're shown in the film saying: "I was so lucky to get out of there" and "I was born American. I was born in the wrong place."

But a period of transition can be inescapable. I was very moved by these comments of Tibor Landsmann: "In Hungary...I didn't have to worry about dentists or doctors; everything was taken care of by the government. I realized it was not my decision -- it was the government's -- and here you have to think as an independent human being. ... It took me about four, five years to assimilate myself to the American lifestyle."