Media Reviews

The national touring version that opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre this week deserves praise for staging – set, lighting and overall production value – but little more. Collapse

When Maria Glanz’s Emily Dickinson welcomes the Centerstage audience into her Amherst, Mass., home, there is a deep feeling of welcome in this most intimate of plays, “The Belle of Amherst,” co-produced by Centerstage and Seattle’s Sound Theatre Co.

“The Belle of Amherst” is a one-woman play with only one person other than Glanz on the stage: cellist Brad Hawkins performing the music he wrote for this production.

Dressed all in white, as she always was, Dickinson steps into her living room (a stunning set by Craig Wollam, co-founder of Seattle Scenic Studios) and offers her guests (the audience) a taste of her black cake. She proudly shares the recipe – which, with 8 pounds of raisins and currents, sounds like it could make enough to feed an army. Then she begins to act out the stories of her life.

Fifty years old and not yet recognized as a great poet, she lives an almost reclusive life. At this point, she has published only a handful of poems, and those anonymously; she finds it difficult to connect with other people. For example, she befriends an editor of the Atlantic Monthly via mail, sends him her poems, and carries on an eight-year correspondence – only to have him brutally reject her writing and her, when they finally meet.

Her life is filled with disappointment and unrequited love, and yet she remains almost always upbeat, hopeful and witty. Seamlessly gliding between Dickinson as narrator and acting out scenes from the poet’s life, Glanz conveys all of this with such skill and so naturally that you feel she is, indeed, Emily Dickinson and you are a much-loved guest in her home.

Hawkins’ cello complements the story in all its parts, setting the mood and in places sounding like another actor conversing with Glanz. Only in brief moments did the cello overpower the actor’s voice.

Glanz has won international acclaim as a solo performer, including such awards as “Best of Fest” in Edmonton and Winnipeg Fringe festivals and “Artistic Pick” in the 1999 and 2001 Seattle Fringe Festivals. Her performance in this play shows why she has won such awards.

The play written by William Luce provides entertaining insights into Dickinson’s life and makes extensive use of her poetry. Not only does she read many of her poems during the course of the play, but she drops lines from them into her conversation in a very natural manner.

This play is dramatic, romantic and sad; but most of all witty.

Wollam’s set is as warm and welcoming as the character in the play. Doors, windows, a short staircase and furniture stand on a midnight blue floor and hang in front of a midnight blue backdrop, creating the feeling that they are floating in air. It is not only beautiful, it is simultaneously otherworldly and homey. ‘The Belle of Amherst’


When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 10, plus one Saturday matinee on Oct. 9

Where: Knutzen Family Theatre, 3200 S.W. Dash Point Road, Federal Way

Tickets: $10 to $25 depending on age, group discounts available

More information: 253-661-1444, www. centerstagetheatre.com



Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/10/01/1363863/dickinsons-multifaceted-life.html#ixzz11WqwQjEY Collapse

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This month, Sound Theatre Company is doing something that most small Seattle theaters don't do: remounting a recently produced play. The Belle of Amherst by William Luce features solo performer Maria Glanz as the poet Emily Dickinson. Performances will run through August 15, including matinee performances Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm, at the Seattle Center.

Once again, Teresa Thuman directed this exploration of one woman's attempt to shape the largest questions of existence into verse. She answered a few questions about the appeal of this show for Seattle audiences.

What inspired Sound Theatre Company to revive The Belle of Amherst?
When we first produced Belle in January and the reviews started coming in and word started spreading about the production, we had such an overwhelming response. Within two days after a very slim opening weekend, the entire run was sold out and I had hundreds of calls and emails from very emotional patrons desperately wanting to see this show. We added one performance and the tickets were gone in two hours. It was kind of an amazing experience.

Did you expect this type of response to an older play about a reclusive American poet?
I was surprised that so many people were passionate about Emily Dickinson and her poetry. I have known the play for many years, and I knew it held up for me when I reread it, but I never expected to tap into such a strong current and desire to see the play done well again. The response of the audiences that came was universally positive and very heartening.

Why does Emily Dickinson still appeal to readers? What makes her so universal and so modern?
I often think that part of the appeal of her poetry today is that she was years ahead of the modern aesthetics. She experiments with form and meter and imagery and many of her poems are short – she understands the power of brevity and will organize a poem with a few simple words that then open a door to our imaginations. She is spare and leaves us with just enough to engage the reader/listener to fill in from their own experiences. I believe the music helps a lot in our production; a few of the poems become almost like “beat poems” with very a very modern, almost improvised jazz dramatic sensibility.

How did you pick the Center House Theatre for this show? The first production of Belle was done in Wallingford at Stone Soup..
We loved performing in the very small and intimate space at Stone Soup Theatre. We wanted to maintain that intimacy but also provide a comfortable space for some of the older patrons. It has given us a chance to realize the technical elements of the production with a more complex lighting design and a very complete world for Emily. I believe Maria has done an amazing job at maintaining the intimate relationship with the audience. She had performed there before with her solo show See Me Naked and she was confident the space was conducive to the kind of intimacy she and the audience expected.

Sound Theatre Company has tackled some ambitious projects in the past: staging Troilus and Cressida in a military hangar or your Tempest in the Lake with actual performances in and around the water. Is a more "traditional" production like this easier or harder to sell to an audience?
It is so interesting, but I never thought of Belle as “traditional” – I see now why that would be applied to it, but I always saw it as a risky solo piece that demands so much of the actor and the audience. I thought only a few people would be drawn to the intensity of that kind of performance so I didn’t expect such a wave of interest. For each of our productions, the consideration of “space” has been central, not just the site-specific pieces, but the space selected has to enhance and lift the experience of the play for both performers and audience. I am excited to see our audiences grow and come back from show to show. I feel they are adventurous and trust us to bring them a meaningful, high quality and worthwhile evening in the theater.

Something slightly difference about your production: you feature cellist Brad Hawkins playing his live original musical score.
Adding the element (and in many ways the “character”) of the music and the musician seemed like a big risk at the time. Now it is hard to imagine it otherwise. Brad Hawkins and his score are now a fully integrated part of the production.

What's next for Sound Theatre Company?
I have a long list of shows I would love to direct/produce that fall within the mission of STC to present work based in language and music. They range from Shaw to Shepherd to Shakespeare to Sondheim. For a small theater like Sound Theatre Company, so many elements need to come together to make the necessary commitment to a production. Right now we are putting a fund-raising plan in place so that we can weather unpredictable ticket sales and make plans for productions further out in the future.

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