Musical About Gold Rush Prostitutes Premiers at Cyrano's

Barker (scum of the north)

After the show I told Ed Bourgeois that he was lowlife scum and I'd never speak to him again.  And just last week when I talked to him he seemed so nice, but as Barker in Gold Rush Girls he was such a despicable villain that the audience even booed him a few times. Ed was also the director of this musical. 

It was dark on stage after the show and my pictures didn't turn out well, but Barker doesn't deserve a clean, crisp picture.  Fuzzy and out of focus is still too good for him.

 I keep saying this, but it continues to be true.  Anchorage is lucky to have such good local theater in small intimate venues.  Cyrano's Playhouse holds 99 people.  We were on the side and we were closer to the action at times, than other actors on the stage.

Cyrano's stage from our seats before the show

Lael Morgan

 And the actors were all so good.  The acting and, more importantly, the singing voices were strong and beautiful.  The music was strong.  This was a cast of seasoned actors and singers (the program lists lots of notable experience)  bringing to life this musical "Gold Rush Girls" about the people in an Alaska dance hall.  It's based on the book Good Times Girls by Lael Morgan who was there for opening night.  So were the composer and playwright, Jerry and Karmo Sanders.



A good story, good music, great cast.  It's scheduled to be here through September.  It's a perfect night of entertainment for tourists who want to see good musical theater with an Alaskan theme as well as for locals who just want to see a good musical. 

The playwright and composer notes in the program say:

Gold Rush Girls has been through many incarnations in the past 10 years;  with numerous readings, 5 of them being at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and a 2 week workshop at the New Repertory in Watertown, MA.  After each one of those adventures, we came home - and re-wrote.

I'm sure after seeing it actually performed now, they'll be doing some more tweaking.  Despite it being over two hours long, I was fully absorbed throughout.   There were so many great performances.  It was like an old Perils of Pauline plot with several heroes, some weaker souls who went with the flow, a love-struck "Schoolboy", and an ambitious woman who is easy prey for the devious villain.  So the boos from the audience fit right in.  I wanted to grab Lily (Regina MacDonald) and tell her, "No, don't be a fool!!  But the lead character, Eudora (Katie Strock) told her for me. 

I want to point out Christina Gagnon, who played the ghost of Kanoontuk, and hovered around the stage throughout singing advice from the afterlife in her amazing, powerful, and beautiful voice.  My favorite moment was Schoolboy (Leo Grinberg) and Rose's (Ali de Guzman) duet.  They were standing about six feet from us and Kanoontuk was looking on from the doorway, even closer to us, adding her beautiful encouragement. 

We've had many great experiences in this intimate theater.  An evening of opera stands out - hearing those penetrating voices up close without amplification.  Another evening with Dan Bern - two shows worth - just totally into the music and the audience.  This was a night like that.  If this play ever makes its way to Broadway, the people in New York won't have this magical intimacy with the actors.

I don't take pictures during performances without permission. This was during what would have been the curtain call had there been a curtain.   I'd note that during the performance the actors did not ignore those of us sitting on the sides of the stage. 

Productivity and Teaching

 Legislators want more productivity these days.  In classrooms, particularly at the college level, this often means more students per faculty member.  If you give a lecture to 20 students, they think, you'll be twice as productive if you have 40 students in the class.  What they really like is the idea of faculty teaching internet classes with 90 students. 

There are two basic ways to increase productivity:
1.   have the same output using fewer resources
2.   increase the output using the same or fewer resources

When legislators want to increase class size, they may achieve an increase in productivity if by that they mean more tuition coming to the university for the same resources, or more students complete the class for the same resources.  But if you mean how much each student learns, the output goes down.  Learning involves interaction between the students and the teacher - during class, after class, and through comments students get about their work.  The more students in the class, the less interaction and feedback (and learning) students get.  (I'm assuming a good teacher here, who does actively give students in depth feedback.)

 All this comes up because I've been reading Robert Boice's Advice for New Faculty Members, in preparation for the new faculty mentor program I'm working on this coming semester.  A key concern for Boice is that new faculty work way too hard.  He's come to this conclusion from studying new faculty for many years.  I got to that conclusion by living it.

Boice quantifies the work load of a new faculty member teaching six hours (typically two classes) a week, a lower than average course load.

• 6 hr/wk in class plus some 20 min/day interacting with students before and/or after each class meeting (total = at least 10 hr/wk)
• 18-30 hr/wk preparing lectures/classroom materials via reading, notetaking, writing, plus another 2 hr/wk, on average, grading tests and paper, etc. (total = at least 18 hr/wk, often as much as 40 hr/wk)
• 6 hr/wk for office hours (total= at least 6 hr/wk, much more for faculty who do not keep office doors closed past official office hours) (p. 13)

This comes to  between 30 and 56 hours a week.  We're only talking about teaching now.

This is a reality I faced as a faculty member.  My preparation for class, after many years, could be reduced by relying on notes and handouts from previous semesters, though usually I wanted to tweak my old materials and that could get me back to the 18-30 hours Boice lists for new faculty.  I found, though, that my grading load was much higher than 2 hr/wk.  I had  students write essays and short papers.  I found I needed at least 30 minutes per paper to read them carefully and give useful feedback.  For papers that needed more feedback, an hour wasn't unusual.

Boice's example above is the load just for teaching two classes, while many, if not most faculty, have a three or four class schedule.  Boice's example  doesn't include time for the other two major functions of faculty - research and service.  At the University of Alaska Anchorage where I taught, the normal faculty load was 3-1-1.  That is 3 parts (60%) teaching, 1 part (20%) research, and 1 part (20%) service.  So, in addition to teaching, there is another 40% expected, and again for research and service, another eight hours each, isn't going to cut it.

Boice writes:

". . . where campuses demand loads of 9 - 12 hours, time spent at teaching usually equals 50-60 hr/wk during the first two years.  . . [T]hese averages afford far less time than anticipated for good starts at scholarly writing, for setting up labs and research and field programs, for preparing grant applications, for reading of the professional literatures, for keeping in touch with colleagues at other campuses, and for socializing on the new campus.  [Finally] the dearest costs of this heavy demand come in social/family life, exercising, health, and sleep." (p. 13)

People would hear that I taught three classes a semester - nine hours a week in the classroom and think I had it pretty easy.  They didn't consider the prep time, grading, and the research and service work that made my work week go into 50 - 70 hours.

But when I think of elementary school teachers, who are in with the students for six or seven hours a day, five days a week, I know my load was easy.  Being in charge of a classroom - the learning and the behavior of a classroom of students  - takes a lot of energy.  It's like performing and directing.  And so good teachers have to do most of their class prep and assignment feedback on their own time. 

Yet many legislators and the some of the public think that teachers have it easy.

Are there problems?  Plenty.  Some college faculty do take advantage of their autonomy and don't spend that kind of time on teaching.  The vast majority though are conscientious and there is a lot of pressure to get way too many things done in way too little time.  There's no such thing as overtime.  And for K-12 teachers, the much higher amount of in classroom time makes for a very exhausting job. 

Can Astrology Explain The Strange Events The Last Few Days?

 Thursday, there were several stories in the paper that were so unexpected that I finally checked an astrology page for Wednesday (July 25) to see if there was some sort of strange star alignment.  From Cosmic Life Coach:

Intellectual Mercury in creative Leo is forming a 120-degree trine to Uranus in self-expressive Aries (9:27 am EDT). Uranus is considered the higher octave of Mercury and is linked with our more brilliant or genius impulses and also our intuition. Mercury-Uranus tends to quicken our mental activity, in addition to helping to showcase our original perceptions. It can also suddenly ignite our intuition, or the voice of our spirit. Accordingly, today may be an excellent day for brainstorming, trying new approaches to old problems, making discoveries, and for tuning into that “still, small voice within” for wisdom and guidance. [emphasis added]

Trying new approaches to old problems?  Is that what explains why Sandy Weill, the man everyone is crediting with shattering the Glass-Steagall Act, was now saying he was wrong and that the wall between banks and investment companies should be rebuilt?

Then there are the Republicans, led by Senator John McCain and Rep. John Boehner, who have publicly disawowed Rep. Bachmann for her unsupported anti-Muslim slurs against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff.

Don Young's campaign ad endorsing Representative Mazie Hirono in the Hawaii Democratic primary isn't quite as shocking.  After being repeatedly elected to Congress since 1973, he seems to feel he can say or do whatever he wants without worrying about  reelection.  Plus, Alaskan and Hawaiian members of Congress have a history of reaching out across the aisle to protect their common interests.  But prominent national Republicans don't normally endorse Democrats these days, particularly not in television ads.


And while I was checking the star alignments, I thought I might see whether Mitt Romney's horoscope (he was born March 12) for July 26 might have warned him to be nice in London yesterday.   Possibly, except there was no agreement. And most it was  ambiguous.

Here are some examples:

Pisces

February 19-March 20

Remain stable, strong and straightforward in the duties you must perform today. However, remain receptive to the advice an experienced and knowledgeable female friend will offer you regarding a particular money matter.    Lucky Number:  401   Financial Outlook:   very good   Compatible Sign:   Scorpio  (Star Telegram)

I imagine Romney's financial outloook is always 'very good.'  Strong and straightforward probably wasn't good advice.  And whatever female friend warned him, financial matters weren't the problem. 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/26/4126940/horoscopes-for-thursday-july-26.html#storylink=cpy

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ll be in the position to choose your focus. Look at the moral implications, and let them weigh heavily on your decision-making process. Enjoying what you do is not a sufficient reason for doing it. (Philstar) [emphasis added]

His problem (the ones we know about anyway) was more in the realm of etiquette than morality.  Perhaps the last line is the one he should have paid attention to.  

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) • • • • Reach out for more information. You might be more perplexed than you realize and could be thinking on a different level from many other people.  (The Spokesman)

Looks like Mitt should have read this Spokane newspaper - get more info. . .perplexed . . . thinking on a different level from other people.  He should cut this one out and read it every day.

PISCES. (Feb. 18 - March 18): This is an auspicious time for dusting off an old project or aspiration. See where it stands. You may find it's more doable than ever.  (SF Chronicle)

Well, he is revisiting the Olympics, isn't he?  Maybe the folks in London are going to show him how doable it is.  What did the Prime Minister say?  "it's easy to run an Olympics in 'the middle of nowhere.'"  Ouch.  Not exactly the good host either.  (The mayor of Salt Lake City has since invited Cameron to 'the middle of nowhere.')

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
If you’re travelling, just go with the flow today and tomorrow. If you’re not travelling, the next two days are a poor time to book a reservation somewhere. There’s a goofy element at loose in the world. It is what it is.  (National Post)

This Canadian newspaper seems to have been telling him to chill the first couple of days and it did warn him about a 'goofy element.'  It just didn't say he was the goofy element.

PISCES (Feb. 20 - Mar. 20):
The pressure has been cranking up for quite some time and over the next few days it may even become intolerable. But you are tougher than you look and will rise to the challenge. Give as good as you get. (Globe and Mail)

Is this one suggesting a turnaround for Mitt in the next couple of days?  Will Mitt seem smarter and the Brits look dumb if something goes really wrong during the Olympics?   Does being right override being a polite guest?  Except that Mitt has since said he "expects a highly successful Olympics."


The Independent (Ireland) didn't gave me their July 26 horoscope.  I got July 27 instead and I couldn't help but feel they wrote this especially for Mitt, with the knowledge of his first day in London:

Pisces: Be disciplined and careful not to alienate people with your powerful feelings. This will make life less intense and you will find it easier to cope. Watch out for your need to control events and circumstances just now. You will feel much more relaxed if you do not try so hard. Love will find a way.

"Romney retroactively cancels visit to London" and other tweets about the Republican Candidate

I don't have a Twitter account, but I saw at Immoral Minority that Mitt Romney had done so badly on his first day in London that someone started a new Twitter RomneyShambles hash tag.  Here are just a few of the tweets about England's response to Mitt.

  Danielle Blake ‏@DCPlod

Mitt Romney retroactively cancels visit to London. #RomneyShambles

  Jon Berry ‏@jonberrydesign

"The trip was meant to make him look presidential... it made him look like Mr. Bean." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/26/mitt-romney-london-olympics-gaffe-live?newsfeed=true #London2012 #Romneyshambles

  The Daily Edge ‏@TheDailyEdge

You can tell @MittRomney's doing badly when he starts getting booed by rich white people #RomneyShambles #AmericanBorat

  Matt Ortega ‏@MattOrtega

Mitt Romney is now, officially, an international embarrassment. Our policy of containment has failed. #RomneyShambles

VANITY FAIR ‏@VanityFair

Romney couldn't possibly offend England right before the #Olympics. Oh, he did http://vnty.fr/N5XbUx #RomneyShambles

Barracks O'Bama ‏@P0TUS

RT @brx0: Next up: Driving around London with the queen's corgis on the roof. #RomneyShambles

  Adam Gabbatt ‏@AdamGabbatt

I've rounded up Romney's gaffes, all in one place. It's been quite a day http://bit.ly/N0bCuj #romneyshambles

  P M ‏@Pawelmorski

Americans: This Mitt person is some sort of American Borat, right? #romneyshambles

  Eileen Sarett-Cuasay ‏@leenie909

Dear Great Britain: Yeah. We know. Sorry. Welcome to our world. --Signed, America.

This is not my usual style of post, but then you don't want me to be predictable do you?

[UPDATE July 27:  While Romneyshambles might be cute for Americans, it appears for people in the UK it has a special ring.  The term omnishambles is already in use in the UK.  The R gives an already good word even more spin.  From an article called "The Omnishambles and the Power of Political Language" in the Daily Telegraph:

"Omnishambles is a hybrid too, and the words “shambles” has come to mean simply a mess or muddle, and has more or less lost its more vivid meaning of a fleshmarket, slaughterhouse, or place of carnage. But omnishambles is OK. It says neatly what most of us think of most governments. The only wonder is that Ed Miliband dares to use it, thus inviting the suggestion that he should look in the mirror."   (There's more at the link.)]

Airshows And The Cost Of Military Fuel

We came out after dinner to see a plane skywriting above us.  Eventually it spelled out:

That's how I learned that this weekend, the Thunderbirds and other groups will perform at JBER. (Does anyone else think of someone picking their nose when people say Jayber, the newish acronym for Joint Bases Elmendorf and Richardson?) 

Skywriting is a very cool way to advertise an Air Show and the person we were with had never seen skywriting before.  He was duly impressed. 


I've been to an Air Show at Elmendorf.  It's impressive and loud.  I think just having planes swoop down on villages - without bombs - is terrifying enough. 

I also couldn't help but wonder about all the fuel used in an airshow.  If (data from the US Air Force Thunderbirds fact sheet)
a)  the 800 gallons an hour figure for F16s (see below) is our rough guide, and
b)  the Thunderbirds have an hour and 15 minute show (both air and ground) and
c)  there are four planes per show (see photos of the Thunderbirds in a show here)
then let's conservatively estimate that between the four planes, flying an average of 15 minutes each per show (to make the calculations very easy) for a total of a combined one hour of flying or 800 gallons. 

That would mean, just that part of the Air Show, if jet fuel is $3.84/gallon  (a big if) it would cost $2400.  After working this, I found some other sites asking similar questions.

Wiki-answers explains it all and concludes,

"Some sources claim 1 hr for F-16 is $4000"

Someone answering that question at Yahoo - Ask, who claims his father is an aerospace engineer, says $20,000 to $30,000 an hour in fuel costs to fly an F16.

The Thunderbirds fact sheet says they perform 75 such shows a year.  At $4000 a show that would come to $300,000 a year.  A figure so tiny in the Air Force's overall budget as to be of no consequence at all.  Even at $20,000 per hour, it would be $1.5 million.  Still a  tiny fraction of the overall budget.  Of course, this doesn't count practices and flying from show to show or any other costs besides fuel.  And how many 'tiny' $1million programs are there hidden in the budget that are not necessary, like this one? 


As you can see, figuring out how much fuel an F16 uses isn't easy.  There is a nice simple article at New Launches, but I can't find any sources for their information.  My sense of this, after looking around the internet, is that there is no simple calculation.  It depends a lot on how the plane is being flown.  I would imagine that the type of flying at an air show would consume more fuel than a steady flight at high altitude.  Here's a post at a forum at Defense Talk which tries to calculate fuel use.  I can't figure it out, and apparently the poster isn't sure either.

But for my purposes, it doesn't have to be exact.  I'm just trying to get a ballpark figure.   New Launches says an F16 uses 800 gallons an hour and also puts that into some context about how much petroleum the US Department of Defense uses altogether.

3) In 2006 Air Force consumed around 2.6 billion gallons of jet-fuel which is the same amount of fuel U.S. airplanes consumed during WWII (between December 1941 and August 1945). The mighty B52 bomber (pictured above) consumes 3300 gallons per hour, the F16 Falcon burns 800 gallons per hour and the KC-135 Statotanker an aerial refueling tanker aircraft consumes 2650 gallons per hour.
2) The Department of Defense is the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S and the US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world. In 2006 the US Military consumed 117 million barrels or 320,000 barrels per day.

I wonder how this affects the price of gas around the world? 

This Armed Forces Journal article supports the basic premise that the jet aircraft fuel is a major cost - in dollars, logistics, and casualties:

Aircraft, particularly jet aircraft, use a great deal of fuel. The Air Force is the largest consumer of fuel in the Defense Department. In 2006, the majority of DoD’s fuel use, about 58 percent, was jet fuel, dwarfing the next-largest category, marine diesel (13 percent). In 2008, fuel deliveries to Iraq and Afghanistan exceeded 90 million gallons per month — 20 percent of the DoD consumption. While the overall consumption of petroleum increased only slightly between 2004 and 2008, the dollar cost increased threefold. Because of the poor in-ground petroleum transport infrastructure, the heavy use of fuel in Iraq and especially in Afghanistan can be directly tied to casualties incurred by ground operations required to get the fuel to U.S. bases. Overall, roughly half of the total tonnage hauled overland is fuel.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the tie between fuel demand and casualties is significant and quantifiable. With fuel and water being the majority of the tonnage hauled, the Army has developed a model from historical casualty data. In Afghanistan, one U.S. soldier or contract civilian is killed or wounded for every 24 16-truck fuel convoys. In Iraq, that number was one per 38.5 convoys. During fiscal 2007, there were 38 casualties incurred moving 897 “average” fuel convoys in Afghanistan. The Army data do not include casualties among allied forces or the Marine Corps. The Marines track their data differently, but the Corps’ Expeditionary Energy Strategy does highlight the issue: “During a three-month period early in 2010, six Marines were wounded hauling fuel and water to bases in Afghanistan during just 299 convoys. That is one Marine wounded for every 50 convoys.”

The o-ax alternative

The direct link between fuel and casualties is not news. However, the impact of high fighter fuel consumption remains poorly understood and rarely discussed. If there were no alternative to the current tactical air fleet, the discussion would be moot. But for the kind of irregular warfare challenges faced in Iraq and Afghanistan (and elsewhere), there is a viable alternative: a turboprop-powered light attack aircraft. The proposed aircraft is not notional — modern light attack aircraft are flown by a number of air forces worldwide. Air Combat Command has a designation for its proposed light attack aircraft: the OA-X. Among its other capabilities, the fuel consumption of the OA-X will be a fraction of the consumption of fast jets. [This is just an excerpt, click here for the full article.]

Gives us something to add into the equation when we discuss US oil consumption and climate change.  

By the time we biked home, the letters in the sky were starting to disappear.

Ptarmigan Creek Bugs

I'm just going to put these pictures up.  I checked my Insects of south-central Alaska book and I can't say I'm sure about any of these and a couple I can't find.

There are two basic sets.  The first is bugs feeding on cow parsnip flowers.  These huge bouquets of little white flowers host a huge number of bugs.

This first one appears to be tiny wasp.  The closest I can find in the book is the subfamily of bachinae in the family Ichneumonidae.

The four above are all the same fly.  Not sure what it is.

The second set is bugs on the windshield.

This one is orangish and I couldn't figure out from the book what it is.

Another unidentified flying insect.

Potter Marsh At Sundown

Sundown in late July is a little before 11pm in Anchorage.  We'd left town Monday morning - I needed bad to be in the woods - and came back late Tuesday.  Over 24 hours, Alaska outdoors replaced a computer screen*.  Closing in on Anchorage we hit the board walk at Potter Marsh.  There were some yellow legs, teals, sand pipers, and the eagles that have been there all summer.

I stuck my little lens into the eye piece of the scopes available on the boardwalk to get a closer picture of one of the bald eagles that have watched their nest.

We were only gone over night, but it feels like longer.

*Tuesday morning's post was pre-scheduled before we left.

Happy Birthdays - Moni, Ropi, and Alex

Three great people to share a birthday with.

Alaskan Seemantham

We were invited to a Seemantham ceremony Sunday afternoon here in Anchorage. This was a first for me.  A delightful first.  But I claim no expertise.  I can just show you some pictures and offer some information from some sites I found. 

[S]eemantham is a function celebrated in the bridegrooms house by parents of bride ,when their daughter is in her first pregnancy usually 7th month before bringing her to their home for delivery relatives and friends are invited ladies put colourful glass bangles on the pregnant ladies hands bangles are also given to lady guests. [From Desitwist]

There are lots of sites giving different and/or verbatim information.  One said eight months and some have lots of details.  Some are forums where people are asking for information because they would like to put on such a ceremony.

Our friends' parents were here from Bangalore, India and the mother began and then the sister and then other women guests followed suit. 

A Tamil-Brahmin site had a very specific list of things that were needed:

Requirements for pumsavanam and seemantham:
Turmeric powder 50 gram; sandalwood powder 10 gram; kumkumam 10 gram; plantain fruit 25;Betel nut 100 grams; betel leaf 200; plantain leaf 6; thodutha pushpam 5 meters; mango leaf bunch 10; ghee 500 grams; haaram for the Aala mokku 6 nos; couple 2; for brass kudam 1; wheat 2kg; raw rice 2 kg; black gram 300 grams; gingilly seeds 100 grams; vraaty 10 nos; sraai thool 2 kilo; cow's milk 200 milli; scented sticks 1 pocket; camphor 1 pocket; Brass kudam 1; vasthram for brass kudam 1; Bell 1; aasana palagai or thadukku 8 nos; visiri 1; kuthu vilakku1; oil for deepam and thiri and match box; Vasthram for aalamokku paal piliya; pethy leaf bunch 1; panri mul 1; paady 50 grams well drenched in water a day before; Veena music CD 1; pancha pathra uthirini 1; elakkai; pachai kalpooram vilamichai root; krambu; coconut 6 nos; ammi kulavi 1; sambhavanai for the kanya girl who crushed the aaalamokku; small brass sombu for punyahavachanam;

As you can see from the pictures that some of these things had been gathered. 

"'Spring Awakening' makes sex strange again"

So wrote Charles Isherwood in the New York Times about the play Spring Awakening in 2006.

Six years later, the Anchorage production at Out North manages to do the same.  

I'm uncomfortable in the role of public critic.  I'm not an expert here and can only say what I like and don't like.  I know that local productions use part time actors and have miniscule budgets.  I want to say nice things and encourage them.  But I don't want to mislead readers either.  So if I really didn't like something,  I just won't write about it.

Sometimes a production overcomes all the obstacles and I can unabashedly gush.   But more often there's lots that's good in an imperfect whole.

It's when I really like something, but know it's not completely fulfilled that I'm most conflicted. 

So, that said, I want to recommend Spring Awakenings to readers, but also let them know it's not perfect.  [It plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm until August 5 at Out North.]

In this production, there were a number of things that didn't quite work for me, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the energy and enthusiasm of the cast and the musicians and the audience.  It was the excitement of local theater, with mostly young actors and crew, reaching high and making it enough times to make the night more than worthwhile.  I think you can see some of the tension and energy in the photo of Moritz (Joey Chu on the right) and one of the other school boys. (Please someone fill in his name*.)


The most potent parts of the musical were what made this play scandalous in Germany when it was originally banned in the 1890s.  We see on stage how, as the NYTimes critic writes, "the discovery of sex temporarily disorders everything."  While technologically we've become a far different world  in the 120 years since the play was written, sex still scares the shit out of parents, teachers, and preachers, as well as the kids themselves.  And the adults' inability to handle the topic only makes things worse.  

The excitement and energy and uncertainty of sexual awakening is present throughout the play.  And the parts that didn't quite work for me were ok because experimenting and sometimes not getting it quite right is also an important part of adolescence.  Sometimes a singer couldn't quite get the high note.  And I felt I'd seen a series of scenes more than a whole play.  The adult roles (that's how they were listed in the program) were played by the same two people throughout.  Amanda Winkelman was wickedly good.  But it was a little confusing, particularly at first.  I thought, for example, that Melchior's mother was also the teacher.  Some little but obvious change in costume might have helped.  And a fair amount of time was spent with the actors front stage on the floor - or on a small riser - which made them almost invisible in Out North's crowded bleachers.  

Latin Lesson before it explodes

For me the scene that worked best, came fairly early - the Latin lesson in the boys school that explodes into a terrifically choreographed expression of adolescent frustration and anger and pent up energy.  

Another fully realized scene came when Melchior is confronted by the teachers, and knows he's trapped.  You can see him squirm.  There's no escape.  He bursts out in a very appropriate song, "I'm Fucked."  It works perfectly.  We've all been there.

There are some great voices in this cast - Ashley Glore as Wendla - for example. Coleman Alquire was a perfect Melchior and Joey Chu made Moritz's struggles very real.  *Despite the fact that among the characters were the names of both my grandfathers, who would have been adolescents generally in that period in Germany, I had trouble, except for the lead roles,  keeping track of names.

Sitting in the audience, even having trouble seeing everything,  I felt a part of an exciting undertaking.  (Have I said 'exciting' enough yet?) The live music, the young cast, the murals on the wall, I couldn't help feeling that Out North is doing exactly the right thing by giving a relatively young director and cast the chance to reach for the moon.

And in small local theaters like Out North, you can talk to the cast and crew afterward.  And so I stuck my camera in the face of director, Caleb Bourgeois, in the one spot of light in the dark theater afterward.  He gives more overview about the play and its history and conveys the infectious excitement of the evening. 




UAA's Northern Lights reporter, Heather Hamilton, does a good job of giving more background about the three lead actors.