Women artists. - The Bayou Playhouse

Living
Women artists.
Arts & Entertainment. B6.
THE LIVINGSTON PARISH NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
Left, Lysander
(Chris Marroy) and
(right) Demetrius
(Andrew Vogel)
restrain Hermia
(Andrea Watson)
from attacking
her rival, Helena,
in a performance
in the round of
Shakespeare’s “A
Midsummer Night’s
Dream” in Holden.
B1
Above, the audience surrounding a simple platform stage in the middle of a barn soak
up “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Holden. Getting into the spirit of things, some
dress up in 19th century costumes reflecting the gimmick of this version of the play
performed at John Schneider Studios.
Left, Chasen Schneider, credited with the concept of performing “A Midsummer
Night’s Dream” set in 19th century south Louisiana, holds down the role of
Francis Flute.
Left, Oberon, king of the fairies (Denzel Johnson),
is a voodoo king in this version of Shakespeare’s “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” performed in Holden.
Above, Puck (Becca Chapman) dances
with Peaseblossom (Dru Delaney) in a
reversal of the Elizabethan tradition of
using male actors for all parts. In this
case, the Bayou Playhouse version
of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
performed at John Schneider Studios
in Holden includes a female Puck
among eight female cast members.
Below far left, Titania (Casey McShain) is under the
spell of helpless romantic attraction to Nick Bottom
(Ryan Reinike), donkey head and all, during a threeday performance in the round of Shakespeare’s
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at John Schneider
Studios in Holden.
Left, Helena (Ellyn Heald) is
shocked by the advances of
Lysander in “A Midsummer
Night’s Dream” performed in
Holden.
JOHN SCHNEIDER STUDIOS IN HOLDEN staged a professional production
of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on a plywood
platform in a 100-year-old barn.
By Mike Dowty
The Livingston Parish News
HOLDEN — An old barn out in the
middle of nowhere might seem like a
strange place to stage a Shakespearean production with professional
actors from around the U.S.
Even more unlikely, it seems, that
the impressario would be “Dukes of
Hazzard” legend John Schneider or
that he would bring in a blind director to pull it off.
Yet pull it off his company did for
three nights last week with a magical South Louisiana version of “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Director Perry Martin of the
revered Bayou Playhouse in Lockport found none of it particularly
strange.
“This is the kind of place where
Shakespeare began with theater
in the round,” said Martin, who
struggled through some additional
adversity with the production when
he was felled with a stroke about
three weeks before the performance.
Yet Martin was there to experience
the magical nights along with an
audience of more than 100 spectators crammed into the aged building on the complex of the former
Camp Singing Waters, which is now
John Schneider Studios. Most sat
on dining chairs, stools, benches —
virtually every type of seat on the
premises according to Schneider.
Many stood in the open doorways
at either end of the barn, which was
pre-chilled by a portable air-conditioning system.
At the center was a square platform — about 20 feet across — and
several plywood boxes the actors
used for pedestals and seats during
various scenes. With no curtain,
actors simply ran on and off stage
through both barn doors and
sometimes hung around crouching
behind audience members to await
the cues to go on.
During intermission, the audience
went outside to enjoy beverages and
food prepared by Schneider’s chef
Kirk Morrison.
The concept for the production
was credited to Chasen Schneider,
John’s son and an up-and-coming
actor with credits in the TV series
“The Secret Life of the American
Teenager” and “Heartland,” a 2015
movie starring John Schneider
about the fallout on two families of a
hate crime.
Schneider’s role was a bit lighter
this time as he portrayed Francis
Flute, one of the actors in the play
called upon to perform for a wedding party. His role in that play is
that of Thisbe in “Pyramus and
Thisbe,” which is supposed to be a
drama about tragic love. The actors
turn out to be so bad that their work
is mistaken for comedy, and Schneider certainly looks comical dressed
up in a pigtail wig.
While Shakespeare set the play in
Athens, Schneider’s concept moved
it to 1890s post-Civil War Louisiana,
replete with retired Confederate
officers, Steel Magnolia Southern
belles, a Nick Bottom donkey with
a Cajun accent, a voodoo king and
queen of the fairies Oberon and
Titania and the Amazon Queen
Hippolyta who looks a bit more like
Pocahontas.
Such roles could only be filled
successfully by a cast of seasoned
actors, which Martin as a successful
off-Broadway director understood as
well as anyone.
“We needed professionals for something like this to work,” he said.
What he had included:
•Dane Rhodes, playing Theseus, an
actor and director from New Orleans who has appeared in “Django
Unchained” and the Fox TV series
“Sleepy Hollow.”
•Andrea Watson, playing Hermia, who brought 16 stage credits
and three Best Supporting Actress
nominations in New Orleans area
theater.
•Andrew Vogel, playing Demetrius, who has appeared in over a
dozen movies and shorts and two
TV series, “Under the Dome” and
“Mystery Diners.”
•Chris Marroy, playing Lysander,
an actor and director who’s been in
the TV series “Treme” and the Will
Farrell comedy “Get Hard.”
•Ellyn Heald, playing Helena, an
American actress, musician and
singer who has trained in classical
theater in London and Oxford, appeared in over 25 theatrical productions and founded her own theater
company based in New York City.
•Ryan Reinike, playing Nick Bottom, an actor known for “Texas Kill-
ing Fields,” “The Jack of Spades,”
“Flood Streets” and the upcoming
film release “The Palooka.”
•Casey McShain, playing Titania,
an actress, known for “Women of
Power,” “Pink Slip” and “Treme.”
•Denzel Johnson, playing Oberon,
known for “Tangled Web,” “What’s
Behind Door X,” and “For a Dark
Skin Girl.”
•Becca Chapman, playing Puck, an
Elm Theatre of New Orleans ensemble member and its education director and Big Easy Theater Awards
Best Actress recipient.
Professionalism was apparent
throughout the performance from
start to finish, including the special effects lighting of Production
Designer Ron Goldberg with an
extensive theatrical resumé in the
New Orleans area. Helping to keep
it all organized was Alicia Allain,
Schneider’s production partner,
with Maven Entertainment Group.
Martin brought some locals with
him from Lockport too, such as Hailey Thibodeaux, playing Cobweb,
who is the daughter of Lafourche
Parish Assessor Wendy Thibodeaux,
one of the audience members.
Martin is getting ready to open
the Bayou Playhouse season Sept. 18
with the John Biguenet play “Rising
Water,” a dramatic portrayal of Hurricane Katrina aptly timed for the
10th anniversary of the devastating
storm.
As for Shakespeare, Schneider
expects he’ll be back in Holden next
year for another go in the barn.