I Love Erie Theatre

"I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one's truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. Sexual shame is in itself a kind of death." - Alison Bechdel, FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC In a post-modern performing arts context, inspiring narratives can come from anywhere - even from a complicated, visually exciting, textually complex graphic novel. It's even more surprising to see this source material transformed into an award-winning musical. But that is exactly what Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron did when they took the amazing story of self-actualization in Alison Bechdel's FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC, a graphic depiction of a young woman's self-revelation of sexual identity coupled with her realization that her father had never come to a similar affirmation in his own life. In Facebook terms, their relationship is "complicated," and her disassociation from him and from the life she lead becomes the basis of an original, entertaining, and...

"You Americans all subscribe to the "Conspiracy of Mediocrity." You're all trying to preserve relationships and be liked that you are afraid to tell each other what you really think of one another's artistic work." - Michael Joyce, Royal National Theatre Summer Acting Programme In the summer of 1994, I had the privilege of auditioning and being chosen to participate in the Royal National Theatre's Summer Acting Programme, Anthony Hopkins, patron. It was a surreal month of classes in voice, movement, classical acting, mask work, professional development, and scene study. Ian McKellan provided a master class in Shakespeare, Janet McTeer coached our monologue performances, and the late great Alan Rickman challenged us to use our artistic voices as agents of social change. It was a summer I will always remember, even if it becomes more and more of a dream. One of our acting instructors, Michael Joyce, was a longtime friend of the National, had bee...