Vantage brings Ram Dass play to Ocean Beach
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Vantage Appoints New Artistic Director
Vantage Theatre announces that award-winning Playwright-Director Robert Salerno, longtime Artist In Residence at Vantage, will be assuming the post of Artistic Director. Longtime Artistic Director, Dori Salois, will continue as Executive Director.
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VANTAGE GOES TO MEXICO!
Artistic Director receives commission from Tijuana for Tchaikovsky project.
SD Theatre Scene Interview with Eric Tauber:
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Vantage Sponsors New Perspective Festival
Twenty-four short plays by local playwrights, 18 directors, and over 60 actors. Each play performed twice in a six-night repertory in addition to three previews for a total of nine performances Vantage Theatre stepped in to fill the gap left by Actors Alliance to provide an opportunity for local theatre artists to continue an annual presentation of their work. Vantage Theatre, well known for its commitment to developing new works by local playwrights was the perfect partner for this Festival. The mission of Vantage to offer theatre from a “different vantage point” fit well with the New Perspective Festival’s motto: “change your view.”
Artistic Director Dori Salois and Artist In Residence Robert Salerno honored as
“Best of the Fest.”
“ hip, cutting edge topical fare, stepping in shoring up local theatre’s public presence in a gritty principled way …” City Beat
“Provocative, Insightful, humorous, dramatic and fully satisfying…” Pat Launer
SD Theatre Scene …KUSI
Best of the Fest
Here are some of the highlights of the event, from my perspective.
Themes: The war and the cross-cultural divide seemed to be on many people’s minds. Those turned out to be some of the most interesting and/or moving plays:
• Li’l Heroes, another piece by Stephanie Timm, this one directed by Robert Salerno. Chilling tale of two prissy, white-gloved, tea-drinking women (Krissy Tobey and Maya Baldwin) who are having a mindless, Importance of Being Earnest conversation, punctuated by offstage screams. We come to learn about the monstrous world they live in, where even the unborn are drafted into the war. A blood-curdling look into the not-too-unforeseeable future, well written and presented.
• The Thing, by Jack Shea, directed by Dori Salois, seems more like the germ of a play than a fully realized creation. But it confronts a critical current concern: how Westerners conceive of who and what lies beneath the burka. The young Americans, played by Jennie Olson and Kristina Meek, call a veiled Muslim woman ‘it’ and ‘thing,’ and fail to see any shared humanity. Harrowing and discomfiting (and begging for further development)
• Rocky Road, by Stephanie Timm, about a family waiting for a solider to come home from the war. Celeste Innocenti and Patrick Hubbard were especially good as the heavily-in-denial parents. Well directed by Sally Stockton (Vantage Tech Director).
—Pat Launer, http://www.dalemorris.net/Curtain%20Calls.htm
City Beat:
“But damned if it didn’t pull off some hip, cutting-edge, topical fare… That goes for Stephanie Timm’s very good Li’l Heroes, a futuristic piece about motherhood as a weapon of war.
Director Robert Salerno coaxes a great, understated death scene from Krissy Tobey…”
—-Martin Jones Westlin, http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/matter_of_principle/7045/
June 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 2008
Swedenborg Hall
1531 Tyler Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
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2007
SAN DIEGO– Artistic Director Dori Salois announced Vantage Theatre’s 2007season. “We are excited to offer two world premieres of significant new works by playwrights who are not afraid to confront Big Ideas.” The first production is slated to be School Of The World, by Sal Cipolla. This play draws upon a remarkable event in Renaissance history. In 1503 the two leading artists of the Florentine Renaissance were commissioned to paint giant murals in the same room of the Palazzo Vecchio. They were known to have an intense public rivalry. The play speculates about what might have happened in that room, and why both murals were mysteriously left unfinished. It also examines critical questions about the relationship of art, power, religion, and politics. It will be directed by Salois and Artist In Residence Robert Salerno.
The second production will be Mozart’s Last Year by Artist In Residence Robert Salerno, a new look at the most famous tragedy in music history. At the height of his creative powers, Mozart is stricken by a horrible fatal illness. Now, it is a race against time to complete the work that means everything to him. Ever the creative genius, he confronts death on his own terms, aided by several unusual characters and a trip into the eleventh dimension.
Cadenza: Mozart’s Last Year
What the critics say:
“Critic’s Pick”–City Beat
“Questions the origins of creative genius– especially during the heat of actual creation… “
“With profound whimsy, Salerno ponders the time and space continuum and the relationship between the created and the real world…”
“Salerno’s otherworldly play made for a rare day to be savored for months to come…”
–Village News
“creative exuberance bursts through…
an evening of worthy entertainment from one of the few theatres in town that takes on new work and shakes out the talent of actors …”
–SD TheatreScene
“A thought-provoking contribution to one’s personal ‘field of dreams’…”
“Touching… and marvelously funny throughout…”
–San Diego Newspaper Group
“This drama considers creative genius, and how it exists beyond space and time. The playwright clearly has done his homework, has a great breadth of knowledge, and he’s got a lot on his mind.
Rhys Green does an excellent turn as Mozart, with his musical obsession and unlikely inspirations (colliding billiard balls, chirping canary), as well as his impatience and outbursts. Paula Berkenstadt hits just the right notes as the devoted and long-suffering wife, Costanza. James Steinberg, Dave Rivas and Werner Hashagen are delightful in their second-act appearances as Franklin, Beethoven and Einstein, respectively, and they all bear striking resemblances to the groundbreakers they portray.
In the 11th dimension all bets are off. This brilliant meeting of the minds, with all the prescient perceptions and anachronistic detail, some of it knowingly humorous. When Salerno also brings in Sarastro and the Queen of the Night, from “The Magic Flute,” the drama takes yet another sharp turn, as the two opposites battle for the Great Man’s soul. In the opera, the characters symbolized the voice of Enlightened Reason vs. the irrational and diabolical. In the context of the play, both also refer to arguments about the Masons, with its secrets, morals and metaphysical ideas.
The set and sound design (also by Salerno) are effective and evocative. Salois’ costumes are attractive and period-appropriate. There’s a lot to commend here. Vantage is certainly to be commended for taking chances, with new work, innovative casting, and provocative ideas.”
—-KUSI TV
A new look at the most famous tragedy in music history…
Cadenza: Mozart’s Last Year by Robert Salerno offers a new look at the most famous tragedy in music history. At the height of his creative powers, Mozart is stricken by a devestating fatal illness. Now, it is a race against time to complete the work that means everything to him. Ever the creative genius, he confronts death on his own terms, aided by several unusual characters. The Queen of The Night and Sarastro come to life and battle for Mozart’s soul on a trip into the eleventh dimension of modern Physics.
VANTAGE THEATRE
Presents
Cadenza: Mozart’s Last Year
by
Robert Salerno
Directed by
Robert Salerno
Produced by
Dori Salois
CAST
(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)
Rhys Green as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ….….…………..….….….…………. Rhys Green
Costanza Weber Mozart ………………………………….… Paula Berkenstadt
Josepha Weber Hofer/Nun/Queen of The Night …………………Patrice Scott
Shikaneder/Mesmer ……….….….………..…..…….……..……Skyler Dennon
Messenger, Sarastro …..………….………………….….………….. Steve Oliver
Sophie Weber ………………………………………….………..….. Krissey Tobey
Guardasoni/Franklin…………….……..………………….…… James Steinberg
Beethoven …….…………….……………………….……………….. Dave Rivas
Sussmayer ……………….….……..………………..……………. Terence Burke
Einstein ……………………….….………………….….…… Werner Hashagen
Setting: Mozart’s rooms, Vienna, 1791.
PROLOGUE
Video Prologue: Mozart’s Dream
ACT ONE
Scene 1: Mid-July., 1791. Early evening.
Scene 2: Later that evening.
Scene 3: A few days later. Morning.
Scene 4: A few days later. (Aug. 1) Afternoon.
Scene 5: Three weeks later. (Aug. 25). Morning.
Scene 6: Three weeks later. (Sept. 15). Night.
Scene 7: The next morning.
Scene 8: Two months later (Nov 18). Evening.
Intermission (15 minutes)
ACT TWO
Dec. 4, 1791: Mozart’s Last Night.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In Mozart’s time, the Enlightenment was flourishing, and Freemasonry was a flash point for the intellectual elite on both sides of the Atlantic. The writers Voltaire, Diderot, and Claude St. Martin were all Masons, as were statesmen Washington, Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson, composers Haydn and Beethoven, the mysterious occultist Cagliostro, and the even more mysterious Comte de St. Germaine. Mozart joined in 1784 and rapidly ascended to the Master Mason degree, under the tutelage of Master Ignatz von Born, the greatest spiritual teacher in Vienna at the time. Emperor Joseph II left the Masons in relative peace, but upon his death, the secret police began a campaign designed to rid Austria of Freemasonry. Mozart and fellow-mason Emanuele Shikenader risked a long shot– to save the Craft by an allegorical opera, The Magic Flute. The result is one of the greatest musical achievements of all time. It begins with the hero, Tamino, who is sent by The Queen of the Night on what he believes to be a mission of honor to rescue her daughter (Pamina) who was supposedly abducted by Sarastro, her father. It turns out that the Queen was not the wronged party, but a selfish and evil witch who uses the “mission” as a means of seeking revenge on Sarastro, who is actually the High Priest of The Temple of Wisdom to which Tamino and Pamina are eventually admitted.
Many people have asked how I came to write Cadenza. In thinking about it, I realize that several factors came together for me all at once. It was Mozart’s 250th anniversary, and I was reminded of my deep love of his music. I had been thinking about writing something dealing with death for some time. So I thought about Mozart’s death and began researching it. I then found myself at the art museum at Princeton University, where I encountered a visiting exhibition entitled “Images of Death” Even though these images were from different periods of history, the thing they had in common was that they all portrayed death as being something ugly and grotesque. My research showed that Mozart’s death was also very painful and ugly, but I started to look at it from a different “vantage point” and thought, “What if Mozart could have used his creative genius to transform death into something beautiful, and if so, how?” It all came together when modern Physics entered into the mix. By happy coincidence, I stumbled upon the newest “Theory of Everything” (M-Theory), new theories of time and causality, and the recent discovery of the 11th dimension. I was astounded to find that the most advanced minds in modern science were sounding more and more like the mystics of ancient history every day. Their new ideas suggested a key by which Mozart could reach his goal. In the play, I have attempted to make connections between music, history, science, and spirituality. In so doing, I was tremendously excited by these concepts and the boundless beauty of Mozart’s late music. I hope that you will be also.
WAS MOZART POISONED?
In the 200+ years since Mozart died, there has been endless speculation on what killed the 35 yr old genius. Some, including Beethoven for a short time, believed he was poisoned either by a jealous Salieri or by enraged Masons who opposed the public sharing of their secret rituals and traditions. While Mozart’s terminal symptoms of extreme swelling, vomiting, fever, rashes, convulsions, delirium and severe pain can be explained by trichinosis, poisoning, and other causes, the most compelling theory is that the composer succumbed to Schonlein-Henoch syndrome, a late complication of Rheumatic fever, a condition from which Mozart is well-known to have suffered since childhood. The greatest tragedy in music history could have been prevented by a simple shot of Penicillin.
Directed by Robert Salerno
Set, Multimedia, and Sound Design
Robert Salerno
Costumes/props/set
Dori Salois
Lighting Design
Sally Stockton
Choreography
Nanci Hunter
Additional Choreography by
Rhys Green
Stage Manager: Jessica Seaman
Assistant Stage Mgr: Krissy Tobey
Lighting Technician: Aleen S. Moulds
Set Build & Additional Design:
HR Spencer
Special Effects
James Kellogg
Seamstress
Robin Boyington
Production Assistants
Jeanine Manker, Terence Burke
Bird Calls
Nicole Perretta
UPCOMING: THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE
Sara Morgan, Taylor Henderson, Dominique Salerno
Vantage Wins Honorable Mention for Christopher Durang’s The Actor’s Nightmare at AASD
Artist In Residence Robert Salerno directs
If you’re an actor, you’ve had this nightmare, but it was never this hilarious!
THE STORY: This play was inspired by the well known dream that many people in professional and amateur theatre have, that they go must perform in a play that they have inexplicably never been to rehearsals for, and for which they know neither the lines or the plot. So in this play George is an accountant who wanders onto an empty stage, not certain where he is or how he got there. The stage manager informs him he’s the understudy, and must go on in a few minutes. George doesn’t know his name, doesn’t think he’s an actor (“I think I’m an accountant”), and has no idea what play he’s supposed to do. He’s pushed onstage dressed as Hamlet, and finds himself opposite a glamorous actress who seemingly is in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. George does his best to guess the lines, and guess appropriate behavior, but then the actress leaves, and suddenly a new actor comes in, spouting Shakespearean verse (from Hamlet). This is much harder to guess, and after a while George is left alone and must improvise his own Shakespearean soliloquy. In the closing sections, George finds himself thrust into a Samuel Beckett play (a combination of Waiting for Godot and Endgame), which he has very little knowledge of. And then suddenly he’s Sir Thomas More in the historical drama A Man for All Seasons, facing a beheading for opposing Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boylen – and alarmingly the executioner seems more real than he should.
at the
The Sixteenth Annual Actors Festival
SD Rep’s Lyceum Theatre, Horton Plaza
Tickets at the Lyceum Box Office: 619-544-1000
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SALERNO TO DIRECT “THE VENTRILOQUIST’S WIFE” AT SD REP’S LYCEUM IN AASD FESTIVAL
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Salerno Directs World Premiere
As part of its New Play Program, Robert Salerno, Artist In Residence at Vantage Theatre, has been hired to direct the world premiere of Marianne McDonald’s new play “The Ally Way” at Sixth & Penn Theatre.
Euripides meets the Marx Brothers in the 21st century!.
Running 7/31/04 to 9/1/04
“Director Robert Salerno let out all the stops for an unabashedly sexy, over-the-top, vaudevillian romp… the play earned a lively response with its outrageous fun and gags, and its great new spins on the old story – definitely a success.”— S.D. Playbill
*****
VANTAGE WINS 2004 “BILLIE” AWARDS
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy or Drama:
Priscilla Allen, The Painting
Devlin, Frankie & Johnny
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy or Drama:
Daren Scott, Frankie & Johnny
Vantage Presents at The Lyceum Theatre
“C’est L’Absurd!“
THE CRITICS ARE UNANIMOUS: “MUST BE SEEN!”
“A rare treat… A rich artistic melange… Priscilla Allen, grand dame of local theatre has outdone herself!…”
—Anne Marie Welsh, SD Union Tribune (Read Review)
“Director Robert Salerno, choreographer Esther Emery and designer Nadja Lancelot all provided me with a hearty boost to my bliss, using their handsome cast of 17 actors as though they had bred them for this very occasion. (Salerno and Lancelot even did a slick new translation ). I just relish the joyous leaps through torn logic and the startling images in such improbable juxtapositions.”– Welton Jones, SanDiego.com
“An evening of absurdist delight… a true tour-de force… astonishing… rife with craft and subtlety… must be seen.”– Charlene Baldridge, Village News
“Two brilliant, hilarious, and thought-provoking productions… “– Rob Hopper
“ENCORE, DAMMIT! Vantage program reveals void in local theater… This avant-garde milestone…had her (and the rest of us) by the ass.”–Martin Jones Westlin, San Diego City Beat
“Entertaining absurdist concoction”— S.D. Theatre Scene (Read Reviews)
“Using a singular sense of comedy, symbolism, and satire… under the insightful direction of Robert Salerno, the show moves at a breathless pace leaving one always thinking, laughing, and feeling a bit confused – but definitely never bored.”– Playbill.com
” Priscilla Allen is masterful… Do get to the Lyceum to see these lovely shows.”– Jenni Prisk, San Diego Theatre Scene
Robert Salerno’s award-winning production of The Wedding on The Eiffel Tower, by Jean Cocteau
Running with Eugene Ionesco’s hysterical farce, The Painting,
both starring Priscilla Allen
Playing in Repertory with:
DJ SULLIVAN’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF
FRANKIE & JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE, STARRING DAREN SCOTT AND DEVLIN
“This talented duo reached Frankie and Johnny’s emotional cores and got every joke along the way…gets as many laughs today as when it premiered in 1987 — thanks to director D.J. Sullivan, actors Daren Scott and Devlin, and the Vantage Theatre production” —S.D. Reader
“a delightful production, teeming with talent”—Pat Launer, KPBS
“Vantage Theatre has provided yet another totally satisfying evening of exceptional theatre.”—SD Playbill
C’est L’Absurd:
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Salerno Directs Charles Ludlam’s “Reverse Psychology“
San Diego– Jan 1, 2005 Vantage Theatre has announced that it will present Charles Ludlam’s hysterical comedy, “Reverse Psychology” in association with Diversionary Theatre, opening March 18, 2005. Award-winning director Robert Salerno will lead a cast and crew that includes the award-winning designer David F. Weiner, whose set for Billy Crystal’s “700 Sundays” can be seen currently on Broadway. Salerno, who is Artist In Residence at Vantage, is excited about his newest assignment, “I saw Ludlam perform the play when it first opened in New York. It was the first of many performances if his that I was lucky enough to attend at the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. At once, I sensed that here was a rare genius– a Modern Moliere, an American Aristophanes.”
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Upcoming World-Premiere Production
by Award-Winning Playwright
Elizabeth Ruiz’s “Death By Survival”