Our Cultural Capital

Carl Kurlander, who evangelizes on Pittsburgh's entertainment talent, calls it intellectual capital. By whatever name, we have to learn to keep more of it at home and profit from our own creative ideas.

Here's a small example. This year Atlanta premiered a wonderful new idea called the August Wilson Monologue Competition, held under the banner of the True Colors Theatre led by Kenny Leon, Wilson's current Broadway director. The finals on Feb. 26 featured 15 students, white and black, from three schools; next year, juniors and seniors from all Atlanta high schools will be eligible.

"I love this idea!" wrote Atlanta Journal-Constitution theater critic Wendell Brock, adding: "Leon ... says he'll include a Washington, D.C., version of the monologue competition as part of his complete run of Wilson's 10-play cycle at the Kennedy Center next year. 'And then in a couple of years,' Leon says, 'our goal is to have this be national.' "

Sound familiar? This wonderful new idea comes direct from Pittsburgh, based specifically on Pittsburgh Public Theater's 13-year-old Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest. The idea was brought to Atlanta by Todd Kreidler, Wilson's collaborator and now Leon's, who once worked at the Public and is good friends with the guru of its Shakespeare contest, Rob Zellers. Todd even sought Zellers' advice in setting up the Atlanta competition.

Good for Atlanta! But shouldn't Pittsburgh, birthplace of both the monologue contest model and of Wilson, embrace this contest? Why couldn't we have our own next year, connected to Atlanta and Washington? I imagine it as a joint project of the August Wilson Center and the Public Theater, which has been the Pittsburgh home for Wilson's plays -- but if not, several other theaters come to mind.

This reminds me of the Gene Kelly Awards, a great idea invented by Pittsburgh CLO and copied elsewhere -- but it was Houston's Tommy Tune Awards that first pitched the idea to a TV network as a national program. Let's share our good ideas, of course, but let's take them to the next level ourselves.

	August Wilson's relatives at the May 30 historical marker unveiling: (rear, left to right) Edwin Kittel, Richard Kittel and Paul Ellis; (front, left to right) Zonia Wilson, Sakina Ansari-Wilson, Linda Jean Kittel, Freda Ellis, Kimberly Ellis Click image for larger version.

The August connection 1: I asked Pappas why the Public didn't keep the final slot in its 2007-08 season open for Wilson's "Radio Golf," but instead announced "The Odd Couple." He says it's because he doesn't want to close the season with "Radio Golf," choosing to do the last Wilson play "not out of a sense of responsibility, but with the right actors and director," which is more likely to happen in the following theater season, in the fall of 2008, which will still be Pittsburgh's 250th birthday year. He also hints that "Radio Golf" might link up with other projects.

The August connection 2: I have an account in today's Local section of the dedication of a long-overdue historical marker outside Wilson's childhood home, also with online video.

High School musicals

First, "Disney's High School Musical" at the CLO: yes, performances started Tuesday, but the press performances are this weekend, so I'll have my review Monday.

Second, the whole phenomenon: A wise editor (my mentor, the late George Anderson) once said we'd be fools to start writing about high school shows because there'd be no end of it, with every parent demanding we come to their schools, too. Our high school musicals coverage this spring has indeed sparked some such letters, but generally, parents understand when I point out the necessary limitations. It's been a little harder to understand why our online video of Saturday's Kelly Awards features just two of the three Best Musical winners, but there was no conspiracy: we were able to video only the first half of the show.

Henry V and our David

On Memorial Day, the PG editorial page printed Henry V's "band of brothers" speech. No one is more pleased to see Shakespeare in print than I, but did anyone else think that was a surprisingly bellicose selection for that day?

From a review by Naomi Siegel in a May 13 suburban edition of The New York Times:
"Let's begin by stating the obvious: David Conrad is no Kenneth Branagh [as Henry V]. ... That said, Mr. Conrad doesn't have to be anyone but himself to win over an audience. His Henry, commanding the stage in the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey's season opener, has much of the Branagh spirit yet makes his own mark; he is dashingly handsome, with an acute intelligence, a good measure of bravado, a self-deprecating wit and a capacity for genuine tenderness. The Shakespeare Theater, under Bonnie J. Monte's finely tuned direction, has mounted a most rewarding, strongly acted 'Henry V.' "

The Work of Art

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's first Work of Art Awards at the New Hazlett last Thursday was a polished affair in which the arts administration community celebrated itself, mixing speeches, awards and performances, with a very cheery post-show party at the Children's Museum.

Presiding was GPAC CEO Mitch Swain, glorying in Pittsburgh's recent No. 1 rankings as mid-sized arts city and most livable city. The seven awards started with the Mayor's Award for Public Art, which includes in its criteria "economic development of a community." The winner was The Tom Museum, Tom Sarver's community art space on the North Side, and it was stressed that Mayor Luke himself picked it from the three nominees, "and not just because I live on the North Side," he said, as he made the presentation.

(The other two nominees were "Magnolias for Pittsburgh," the bronze and living trees at Penn and Seventh Avenues, Downtown, and STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, which supports artist-developed community projects.)

The Opera's Mark Weinstein, GPAC chair, then returned the favor, presenting the Chairman's Award to ... the Mayor!

Two awards for creative collaboration went to Wall-to-Wall Studios and the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, for excellence in audience development, and to CMU's Creative Enterprise Institute and the Union Project, for capacity building.

(The other collaborations nominated for audience development were Toshiba Business Solutions with Tickets for Kids, for introducing underprivileged children to the arts, and the conjunction of Dick's Sporting Goods, the Pirates, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and City Theatre to market "Honus & Me." Those nominated for capacity building were Nartak Media Group with the Pittsburgh Symphony, for building single-ticket sales, and City Theatre and its 14-strong Cast of Caterers, which provides $100,000 in-kind support.)

The Arts Educator Award went to Robert O'Keefe of Dilworth Traditional Academy. (Other nominees were Lois Clark of Kelly Elementary School and Roger Tabler of Pittsburgh Youth Pops Orchestra.)

And the Volunteer of the Year Award went to Margaret M. Cassidy, Esq., of Calliope -- the presentation including a moving letter of congratulations from her husband, serving at Camp Falluja in Iraq.

The final award, the People's Choice, for "a favorite arts experience," was determined by a public poll conducted by WYEP 91.3-FM. That makes it unsurprising that the winner was a crafts fair -- but a very cool fair, the Handmade Arcade at Construction Junction.

For the other 41 nominees and write-in votes, go to this address on the WYEP Web site. I'm delighted to see that they are a wonderfully diverse group, including 10 theater events: "Oedipus" and "Glorious Ones" at the Public, "Bug" and "Gray Zone" at barebones, Steve Pellegrino's "Drywall Macbeth," Point Park's "Contact," a raft of PICT offerings -- "Pillowman," "School for Scandal" and BeckettFest (this would have gotten my vote) -- and (cue the trumpets) "Off the Record"!

"We lost twice," joked Tracy Brigden about City Theatre's two nominations for creative collaboration -- but of course, it was An Honor to be Nominated.

Theater online

Along with the Kelly Awards video, I want to call attention to Tim McNulty's report on Quantum's upcoming use of the Garden Theater for "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid," which includes online audio clips of artistic director Karla Boos. Go to post-gazette.com/theater and scroll down to "Former North Side porn theater ...," May 20.

Busman's holidays

Monday I had the pleasure of taking in Bricolage Theater's staged reading of David Turkel's "The Servants's Lament," and very elegantly perverse it was, like a fairy tale told by Edgar Allen Strindberg, crisply acted by Ronald Siebert, Lissa Brennan and Gregory Johnstone.

Tuesday I went for a second time to PICT's "Stuff Happens," delighted to re-discover how intensely theatrical it is. Ric McMillan's Rumsfeld, Allen Gilmore's Colin Powell, David Whalen's Bush, Larry Meyers' Cheney, Martin Giles' French ambassador -- these and others are individually worth the price of admission. This is a contender for best show of the year, and there are only a few performances to go.

The bottom line

Paid admissions at city's pro theaters for the week ending May 27:

IntimateApparel/City (80%) ............1,622
Patsy Cline/CLO (47%) .................. 826
Stuff Happens/PICT (70%) ............... 633
Nine Parts Desire/PICT (70%) ........... 210