Posts Tagged ‘presidential election’

Kelly Bremner Talks About What Matters Most at Emory & Henry College

Posted on: by genevra 1 Comment

This week I had a chance to talk to Dr. Kelly Bremner from Emory & Henry College about their involvement in the 2012 Plays for Presidents Festival. I was immediately struck by two things: 1) She is incredibly dedicated to her students and has definitely woven this production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents into her educational vision; and 2) she’s got a very clear sense of purpose and focus when it comes to art, voting, and college-aged citizens.

GGB: You said that the concept of a Presidential debate had inspired the set design. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

Emory & Henry cast at Dress Rehearsal

KB: It happened almost out of necessity. We have a charming black box theatre here was is being renovated, so we unexpectedly got the news this summer that our first production of the year would need to be in College’s auditorium. Normally the word “auditorium” evokes images of bad high school assemblies, but we decided to use that vibe to our advantage.

Our designer, Professor Daniel Wheeler, used theatrical flats to build artificial wings onto the performance space, and went with two projection screens one on each side. The back of the theatre is lined with pillars that simultaneously seem to evoke the front of the White House, and the row of podiums that get set up for a presidential debate. The presidential seal is hung up center. We couldn’t put it on the floor because the stage is too high for anyone to see it. This makes for some beautiful moments where the actor playing the president is framed by the seal when they stand in front of it. To fight the aesthetic distance of the proscenium stage, we built a 6 ft. apron off of the stage, which keeps my actors nice and close to the audience. My one regret, I will miss the actual presidential debate because I will be in my final dress rehearsal.

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Do some votes mean more than others?

This week, Paul Begala argued that the upcoming election would be decided by fewer than 1 million American voters. The reason being that when you take the Electoral College into consideration, the key deciding votes cast in that process will come from 6 states currently considered “swing” states.

His argument includes the suggestion that if you are in one of the 44 states currently not considered a swing state (including Alaska, California, Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Texas), you should not even bother participating. Rather, he says, “your vote essentially doesn’t matter.”

With which I take issue.

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Sarah R. Rowan Wants to Buy Obama a Snack

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Sarah R. Rowan

Maybe I’m a dork for feeling this way, but I always love to hear why people are invested in projects as artists and collaborators. What’s their hook? What’s the draw? What’s the dream? It’s in my nature to be curious about such things, but for the Plays for Presidents Festival 2012, I have an additional motive. As a co-author of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents (and the wife of the play and festival creator, Andy Bayiates), it’s sort of obvious why I might be invested and not really a surprise to know I’m heavily involved.

But we’ve got this amazing team of people who have jumped on board with genuine enthusiasm—and who are sharing their time, talents, and energy in truly significant ways. I’m super interested in their “why,” and I think it’s even more important.

This week, I interviewed the Plays for Presidents Lead Press Director, Sarah R. Rowan, to find out what made her decide to jump into our Festival wagon.

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Forward Theater Co. Ready to Get Madison, WI Talking Politics

Gwen Rice of Forward Theater Co.

I recently reached out to Festival producers who will be mounting their “44P” shows before October to learn more about any side projects, community involvement, or creative undertakings they’ll be tying to their production. I mean – that’s what, at its heart, this Festival is all about: Conversation. Creativity. Action. (All in the name of history and political engagement!)

Gwen Rice, Director of Communications at Forward Theater Co., was ready with an answer. Several in fact. Madison, WI-based Forward Theater Co. already has multiple projects in mind, including pre-show talks before Thursday and Sunday shows to discuss historical background, source materials, and production elements; post-show talkbacks after every show with Artistic Director, Jennifer Uphoff Gray; a presidential portrait gallery created by local artists – to run in tandem in remount with an earlier exhibition of first ladies; educational outreach to get students in to see the show; and a possible addition of a “red night” and a “blue night” wherein audiences and organizations can come out in support of their personal political affiliation.

The amazing part? This sort of additional programming is nothing new. I just had to learn more.

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Sean Daniels: A Man with a Mission

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Sean Daniels (right) with Matt Horgan, co-director for 44 Plays... at Dad's Garage in Atlanta, GA

As promised, this week I spoke with Festival Co-Chair and several-time director of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents, Sean Daniels, to learn more about his upcoming production at Geva Theatre Center.

So how’s it going?

Great! I think it’s always best when doing a large national project to make it a bit larger in scope and more complicated.That’s my signature move.

That’s a good lead in. You’re casting for the Geva production right now, right?

Yes. For the Louisville show, we used all professional actors, casting mostly out of New York, and the show was really top notch… a fantastic cast. But I didn’t just want to chase that production again. So, for this production, the idea was to work with local college students as a way not only to increase the exposure of the play to their peers, but also to use this show as a civic and education engagement tool. That’s why securing the national partnership with Rock The Vote was equally exciting and important to me, so that we can use this production as a way to increase voter education and registration in the Rochester area – and in the country. Win and win… and win!

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