(From the Janesville Messenger, 11-18-07)
Laurel Canan, who writes a monthly column about the arts in this newspaper, is the executive director of the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
I have known Laurel for several years. When we get together and start brainstorming ideas, scary things happen.
For instance, before JPAC opened in 2004, Laurel and I were talking about what would be an appropriate opening night performance at the center. The next thing I knew, I was writing a play called “Janesville In Stages,” and we were busy trying to coordinate well over a hundred local actors, singers and musicians into a cohesive performance. When Laurel recently saw that event being rebroadcast on JATV-12, she called me to say she still couldn’t figure out how we pulled that off.
So last year, a similar brainstorming scene occurred in her office, and the result is that we are putting together another unique showcase for local talent on the JPAC stage.
On Tuesday evening, December 4, live radio broadcasting returns to the auditorium for the first time in decades. JPAC will be presenting “A Christmas Carol” on the stage for a live audience, while it is being broadcast over the airwaves on WCLO. In just about every way possible, we are trying to give this a 1940’s, old-time radio feel. Even the commercials will be read live from the stage. More than one person has compared this to “A Prairie Home Companion,” the wonderful weekly radio program broadcast live on public radio from Minneapolis.
The show will be JPAC’s Christmas gift to the community. The $5 admission we are charging goes entirely to the Good Samaritan Fund, which benefits the Salvation Army and ECHO. In addition, WCLO’s sponsorship revenue will also be donated. Theirs will benefit SpotLight on Kids, the children’s theater company in Janesville.
The script we’re using as the basis for this production has a strong pedigree. Citizen Kane himself, Orson Welles, initially produced it for radio in 1939. The role of Scrooge in that production was played by the incomparable Lionel Barrymore.
Technically, I am the director of this production, but that’s essentially just a title since we have assembled some of the finest acting talent in the area. If you frequent Rock County theater productions, you’ll recognize the names. To name just a few: Michael Chase, Colleen Burns, George Kiskunas, Ken Regez, Dave and Kathy Bitter, Ron Brown, Dennis Vechinsky.
Once word spread that we were planning to do this play, so many people wanted in that I didn’t have enough roles to give out. I had planned on taking a speaking role myself, but I ended up giving up them all out to involve as many people as possible. (Actually, I did leave myself a single four-word line performing the indispensable role of “Partygoer #2.”)
Even during our initial read-through of the script, I knew we were on to something special. If you would like to attend, call the JPAC ticket office at 608-758-0297. Or simply relax and enjoy the performance on WCLO that evening. If you miss it, the plan is for the play to be rebroadcast on the morning of Christmas Eve, and made available as a podcast on the WCLO web site.
Wish us luck the next couple of weeks as we iron out the technical issues, work on our timing, and make final preparations. We hope that you will enjoy our Christmas gift.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Whatever Happened To Class?
(From the Janesville Messenger, 11-4-07)
At the dry cleaners the other day, I was parked next to a pickup truck, one of those huge beasts that dwarfs all the other vehicles around it.
What I found astonishing, however, was not the pure size of this vehicle, but the message that was plastered on the cab’s back window for all followers to read. It was a parody of the “Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles” logo that said “Highly Dangerous Mother (expletive).” You can easily guess what the expletive was.
My first thought was to wonder if this vehicle gets driven to church, or to elementary school to pick up a first grader. My second thought was to wonder when obscenity laws were changed so that anyone could publicly display the F-word in letters larger than license plate numerals.
So whatever happened to dignity in America? Or class?
I realize that I’m going to make myself look like a prude or a snob in writing this column. Those who know me know I am anything but. I believe that off-color jokes or R-rated humor have a time and a place. The back of a vehicle driven on public roads isn’t one of them.
I’m glad my kids are older now, so I don’t have to explain to a 7-year-old what “Eats Chevys, S---ts Dodges” means. Or why Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes” is urinating on a Bears helmet. Or why that’s the most profound thought some people can express.
Subtlety is a lost art. Coarseness rules. We’re so insistent on making whatever our point is, that we feel we need to slap someone across the face with it.
Rewinding back to my comment about going to church, it appears even church isn’t immune from inappropriate public sentiments. I went with my family to the Holy Hill Shrine near Hubertus recently, on a gorgeous day in which the fall colors made this beautiful place look even more amazing. The grounds were packed with people, most of whom showed the proper respect for a religious area. But not everyone was with the program, like the pair of women who looked like they were dressed for their next shift at the Sugar Shack. Then there was the young man wearing a shirt advertising Trojan condoms. Ironically, he was wearing this at a Catholic shrine. I also saw a guy in church wearing a Michael Vick jersey. I don’t think he was there to pray for Vick’s redemption.
Maybe people just don’t realize what’s appropriate and what’s not anymore. The definition of obscenity has been erased. The mass media has undeniably had a lot of influence in that respect.
When cable television first started airing edgier fare, it was no big deal. Like going to an R movie, you paid for the privilege. But now, tired of losing audience, free television and radio have decided to “catch up.” I always watched “NYPD Blue” but had to make sure my kids weren’t still awake at 9:55 because you could always count on the last scene involving entangled naked bodies. And just try to find a comedy where the jokes aren’t sexual in nature. The thinking seems to be, if it’s not dirty, it’s not funny. Ironically, you now have to get cable just to find programming that your children can watch.
In 1961, FCC chairman Newton Minow derided television as a “vast wasteland.” If he thought that then, what must he think now?
The biggest problem is that Hollywood doesn’t think anyone will watch a show that doesn’t have shock value, whether it’s in the humor or the violence. And it’s a shame.
When John Ratzenberger (who played Cliff on the classic comedy “Cheers”) appeared at the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce dinner earlier this year, I had an opportunity to speak with him about what has happened to television since that show went off the air. Ratzenberger made a very insightful comment. He said that today’s shows are being written by the first generation of writers brought up on television, not on literature. It made sense; inbreeding yields disastrous results.
All one can hope is that the pendulum will swing back at some point, and America will regain some dignity. Until then, the top story on your network newscasts will continue to be the latest Britney Spears sighting.
At the dry cleaners the other day, I was parked next to a pickup truck, one of those huge beasts that dwarfs all the other vehicles around it.
What I found astonishing, however, was not the pure size of this vehicle, but the message that was plastered on the cab’s back window for all followers to read. It was a parody of the “Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles” logo that said “Highly Dangerous Mother (expletive).” You can easily guess what the expletive was.
My first thought was to wonder if this vehicle gets driven to church, or to elementary school to pick up a first grader. My second thought was to wonder when obscenity laws were changed so that anyone could publicly display the F-word in letters larger than license plate numerals.
So whatever happened to dignity in America? Or class?
I realize that I’m going to make myself look like a prude or a snob in writing this column. Those who know me know I am anything but. I believe that off-color jokes or R-rated humor have a time and a place. The back of a vehicle driven on public roads isn’t one of them.
I’m glad my kids are older now, so I don’t have to explain to a 7-year-old what “Eats Chevys, S---ts Dodges” means. Or why Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes” is urinating on a Bears helmet. Or why that’s the most profound thought some people can express.
Subtlety is a lost art. Coarseness rules. We’re so insistent on making whatever our point is, that we feel we need to slap someone across the face with it.
Rewinding back to my comment about going to church, it appears even church isn’t immune from inappropriate public sentiments. I went with my family to the Holy Hill Shrine near Hubertus recently, on a gorgeous day in which the fall colors made this beautiful place look even more amazing. The grounds were packed with people, most of whom showed the proper respect for a religious area. But not everyone was with the program, like the pair of women who looked like they were dressed for their next shift at the Sugar Shack. Then there was the young man wearing a shirt advertising Trojan condoms. Ironically, he was wearing this at a Catholic shrine. I also saw a guy in church wearing a Michael Vick jersey. I don’t think he was there to pray for Vick’s redemption.
Maybe people just don’t realize what’s appropriate and what’s not anymore. The definition of obscenity has been erased. The mass media has undeniably had a lot of influence in that respect.
When cable television first started airing edgier fare, it was no big deal. Like going to an R movie, you paid for the privilege. But now, tired of losing audience, free television and radio have decided to “catch up.” I always watched “NYPD Blue” but had to make sure my kids weren’t still awake at 9:55 because you could always count on the last scene involving entangled naked bodies. And just try to find a comedy where the jokes aren’t sexual in nature. The thinking seems to be, if it’s not dirty, it’s not funny. Ironically, you now have to get cable just to find programming that your children can watch.
In 1961, FCC chairman Newton Minow derided television as a “vast wasteland.” If he thought that then, what must he think now?
The biggest problem is that Hollywood doesn’t think anyone will watch a show that doesn’t have shock value, whether it’s in the humor or the violence. And it’s a shame.
When John Ratzenberger (who played Cliff on the classic comedy “Cheers”) appeared at the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce dinner earlier this year, I had an opportunity to speak with him about what has happened to television since that show went off the air. Ratzenberger made a very insightful comment. He said that today’s shows are being written by the first generation of writers brought up on television, not on literature. It made sense; inbreeding yields disastrous results.
All one can hope is that the pendulum will swing back at some point, and America will regain some dignity. Until then, the top story on your network newscasts will continue to be the latest Britney Spears sighting.
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