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Greensburg native Mary Taylor Huntsman co-authors play Play runs through Sunday, February 17, 2008 in Louisville By David Cazalet, Jr. Somerset Community College Librarian Mary Taylor Huntsman is the co-author of one of the twenty-four 60-75 second plays that make up "Elevator Plays 2: Beyond the Norm." The plays are being performed by the Specific Gravity Ensemble (SGE) on the elevators in the Starks Building located in downtown Louisville. The Starks Building is located at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The plays runs through Sunday, February 17, 2008. According to Sherry Deatrick, writing for Louisville's LEO Magazine, "three elevator plays take place while going up, and the fourth is the "control" elevator, carrying the actors, who will change places with the up elevators, for the downward ride. Each play lasts only 60 to 75 seconds." Huntsman's piece, which she co-authored with Danville native David Lee Smith III, is "Vertical Mobile Instructional Space of the Future" Huntsman said that she and Smith wereinspired by David Macaulay's satire on Egyptian tomb excavations, Motel of the Mysteries, and the general nature of academe. Deatrick wrote, "By the time the show goes up, the actors will have taken 80 elevator trips. In each act, they'll take 12 successive trips on a sold-out night. This rigorous preparation is like training for a marathon. Some will take motion sickness pills to avoid nausea. Remarkably, none of these actors is getting paid. They do it because SGE is doing interesting, unique work as a collective. And they love working with such a dynamic group. Nobody throws a "star trip" in the SGE." According to Deatrick, "place" is precisely what SGE is all about. If there is a thread that combines the troupe's mutually dissimilar productions, it is what James Joyce scholars like to refer to as "a sense of place." By staging their performances in unconventional locations not just alternative venues, but places that were never intended as venues at all the group challenges audiences by dashing all preconceived expectations. "It's all about 'adventure and unpredictability,' Rand Harmon, the show's director, told Deatrick. "Elevator Plays" are being performed in a disarmingly friendly setting: an elevator in the pleasantly metropolitan Starks Building. All these little plays are set inside elevators. It is a treat for the audience as well as the actors, according to Harmon."We have a ball. It's luxurious for the actor. You have 60-75 seconds to perform either a really hysterical or hard-hitting piece of theater. Learning your lines is a snap. You can really focus on the moment. And the audience can't get away. There's no anonymity." That's because audience and cast are confined inside an elevator car with no escape. This theater experience is definitely not one for the claustrophobic," Harmon explained. "Last year, we sold out nearly seven out of eight shows," Harmon says. "We saw in the elevator plays a metaphor for what we do. It puts the audience in a situation they've never encountered before actually they HAVE encountered it before, but it's different," he told Deatrick. One of last year's "Elevator Plays" was Harmon's "The Doppler Effect," which came off more like performance art than theater as two men simultaneously read speeches by George W. Bush and the Dalai Lama. This year, "Elevator Plays" consists of 24 pieces. There are two acts, with six plays going on at once. This year's theme is "Beyond the Norm." The challenge sent out to playwrights was to create plays about elevator culture where anything can happen. To go beyond the normal, to what is possible. Last year, there were 13 actors and six directors. This year, there are 22 actors and only five directors, with more plays going on simultaneously. Mary Taylor Huntsmanis the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Harry B. Huntsman of Greensburg, Kentucky. She is a 1991 and 1994 graduate of the University of Kentucky, and has been a librarian at Somerset Community College since 2000. She is a native of Green County and a graduate of Green County High School, class of 1987. Mary Taylor volunteers with Lions' Camp Crescendo-Camp Heart to Heart, a charitablecamp for children affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS, and Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption. She resides in Somerset with her two Airedales and three cats. Ticket informationanddirections areavailable at http://www.specificgravityensemble.com. Performances take place on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 8pmET/7pmCT and on Sundays at 5pmET/4pmCT. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students. This story was posted on 2008-02-08 15:50:08
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Col. Casey PTO fundraiser Friday at Depot SCC to hold February Open Screen Tests for upcoming film SCC Teen Theatre auditions to be held on Mon., Feb. 18, 2008 Tommy Clark art exhibit runs Jan. 28-Feb. 7, at CU Poet Billy Fudge speaks to JAMS students at 8:15 today New movie (2008), Cloverfield, starts Fri. at historic Columbian High School Musical coming to Barn Lot Theater Pridonoff Duo to perform twice at Gheens Recital Hall CU Theater holding Taming of Shrew auditions Two new movies start Friday, Jan. 11, 228, at Columbian View even more articles in topic Local Arts Scene |
 
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