In love with Jane Austen, tis the season

In love with Suzie, and Jane Austen, at Reduxion

As  a repentant English major, I admit I should know more about Jane Austin than two or three titles, and I met her last night at Reduxion Theatre's joyful holiday production, Jane Austen's Christmas Cracker, and interactive ball.
No, I've never read Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. My English major tastes were more masculine--everything by Joseph Conrad and anything by Whitman, with a little Kafka thrown in. And, I'm currently re-reading Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, in a copy I bought in Paris 10 years ago, in the famed bookstore Shakespeare and Company.

The program

But I sort of fell in love with Jane last night, with the characters, the songs and music, the dancing and production. All the elegantly dressed young women with rosy cheeks and complexions and smiles, the stylishly dressed men.
I consider Reduxion Theatre one of Oklahoma City's unique treasures. Billed as "theatre in your lap," actors regularly interact with the audience in the theatre in the round. Suzie and I always sit on the front row. "Revisit the classics," is the other slogan, and the theatre puts on everything from Shakespeare to Tom Jones to Sweeny Todd, and yes, Jane Austen. Check their website for a complete list. We don't go to a lot of movies, but the money for season tickets here is always a thrill and experience.
I went expecting to join in the dancing, but was intimidated by the youth and energy as the cast invited various audience members up on stage and performed graceful English Country Dancing numbers of Jane Austen's day throughout the show. You should have seen the joy on the faces of the audience members dancing--complete happiness and having a good time. Real Christmas spirit the way it is supposed to be. It was a Christmas party, with egg nog, sweet treats and ice cream provided by Braum's. The cast mingled with the crowd during the break, staying in character and English accent, asking questions, laughing. Yep, in love with Jane Austen.
Reduxion Theatre.

The changing costumes of our lives

Costumes imprinted, 6 by 8 watercolor, 140# d'Arches paper

Changing costumes.
I've witnessed  a lot of that this week, both in rehearsals for the OKC Gridiron show this week, and in Reduxion Theatre's production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" over the weekend.
Actors and people acting out roles, changing costumes from one role to the other echoed Shakespeare's immortal words in that play, "All the world's a stage...and one man in his time plays many parts."
We are people of many costumes and roles in our lives, some of which change slowly, and others seem to be assumed overnight. Many we are not aware of, and others bespeak of our ego efforts. All bespeak different scripts in our lives. Can you count your costumes? I'm not sure I can.
Most of our "natural" costumes and our roles rise out of our scene settings and roles. Adam came from the earth and much of our roles and costumes are deeply ingrained with our beginnings. Even when we change costumes and roles, and play multiple parts simultaneously, deep down, there is still that imprint of character we cannot escape.
Tonight, after rehearsal and changing costumes and roles and returning to another, I found this painting inside me--a costume and role imbedded in Oklahoma.

Shakespeare and more, 'In your lap' in OKC

Opening set at Reduxion Theatre's production of "the women."

A vital part of OKC's renaissance, making it more than just a frontier boom town, has been an explosion of arts of all kinds--music, galleries, art shows, poetry readings, cooking, museums, funky shops,  renovated neighborhoods and theaters.

One of my favorite is Reduxion Theatre on 16th and Broadway in Oklahoma City, a non-profit theater -in-the-round that brings four plays a year to town, including at least two Shakespearean plays, set in contemporary times. The website includes photos and more. Twitter is @ReduxionTheatre, and it is on Facebook.
What grabs me about the place is that the stage is only about six inches off the floor, and you sit right next two it, where the actors interact with you. It is indeed "In Your Lap" theater, sometimes literally, I've found in the past. ; )
But the real trademark is how the directors, Tyler and Erin Woods and their staff, put together plays using only a few actors playing multiple roles. It is astounding to me who these professionals manage not just to change costumes, and memorize different lines, but so get into their characters.
The current production of Clare Booth Luce's 1930s play, "The Women," is one such example. Twelve actors play 30 different rolls in this swashbuckling, cat-fighting, catty, tragic and humorous play involving an all female cast.

The rest of the season

Yes, we went Friday, having bought season tickets last year. The play will energize you. Next weekend is the last performance, Aug. 29-31. Go.
The remainder of the season includes Cabaret, Oct. 25-Nov. 16; As You Like It, Feb. 7-March 1; and Henry V, May 9-31. Reduxion is supported generously by Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and many local firms and people. You can even sponsor a square foot of the stage for $26.
The company has also performed in area libraries and has started "Classics for Kids," 45-minute productions designed to introduce children to the classics.
One of my favorite lines from the play when young woman sniped at one of the older women, 

"Get your chin up...both of them."

Saturday simmering

A stressful week ends with a Saturday of simmering intentions, but they've not come to a boil.
The blog has wilted it seems, between the start of classes, the death of my first mother-in-law, brief visits with three of my children, surgery on my father-in-law, and my computer getting ready to die.
Only the pressure to keep blogging, as the teacher of blogging class, and watching my monthly blog traffic wither as well, pushes me to the keyboard.
Good news  comes in small packages, including the kids' visit and seeing four of the grandchildren. The a friend writes that she's seen my story on Western art in the new issue of Oklahoma Today. It's a story I sweated over, and enjoyed, but I haven't seen it yet. There is nothing like a byline. And the managing editor of Oklahoma Today writes about my latest story, liking it, and asking for revisions.
There is nothing like a byline. One former students comes up to me this week, just bouncing with joy. "Dr. Clark, Dr. Clark, I'm getting hired by The Vista."She is so thrilled to write and work for the student newspaper and can't wait to tell me This young woman is a successful blogger and can write really well. So much excitement and passion. I need that.
Early this morning, I go to the farmers market, where the crows and produce are dwindling with summer. But the sweet ripe smell of a cantaloupe, porter peaches, some sweet corn for the grill help brighten the day.
There's so much to write about, that may never see the pen, from the horrible Oklahoma murder to the Manning case, to faculty gathering at a watering hole Thursday to laugh the first week away.
And the blogs I follow, including Yogi's Den,  Turtle Rock Farm, Okie Funk, Really Most Sincerely, Red Dirt Ramblings and Santa Fe Daily Photo prompt me, give me ideas and the urge to write, to travel and to photograph.
Tonight we will go see "The Women," the play at Reduxion Theatre , a cool theater in the round in Oklahoma City. That will prompt even more ideas. A New Mexico attack is also infecting me...it's been a year since I've been there, and a long weekend is coming up. 
Maybe these items will turn up the heat and bring the blog back to boiling.

The art "month"--unfinished business

Intermission music at Reduxion during Tom Jones
(Turn up the volume, for this and the closing video)

My "art month" spanned more than just June, starting in late April. What astounds me is how much interesting things there are going on in this city and state. I took photos and videos of much of this, and

I meant to write about it all. I only managed to post about Frank's watercolor lessons--closest to the heart, I guess. I think I could have written full time on this month, but writing also wears me out.

The other lesson we keep talking about is how much we drive downtown. It's getting close to time to move.

Herb Ritts--Madonna

• Oklahoma City Museum of Art--Photorealism exhibit, late April
• Herb Ritts photography, Beauity and Celebrity, late May.
• Reduxion Theatre's Tom Jones, late May
• Frank Francese workshop, early June
• First Friday at Paseo, art  and music, early June
• Prix de West at Cowboy Hall of Fame, art and demonstrations and lectures,  mid-June
• Visited Woolaroc, Gilcrease, Cowboy Hall and Fred Jones Jr, Working on Western art story, all of June
• Faith Hope Love art and musical benefit fund raiser at Westminster Presbyterian Church, with opera, Amazing GGrace, bagpipes, Leona Mitchell, Thomas Studebaker, Jeffrey Wells and more, late June
• Painted, and wrote. 
• Missed poetry readings at Beans and Leaves, and Mark Zimmerman's night photography class exhibit opening downtown. 
• Following is a clip of Jeffrey Wells. I'm not a fan of opera, but I am now.

Solstice dawn and days missed

Dawn at Chaco Canyon

The longest "day" of the year, when time, the sun "stands" still--the literal translation of "solstice,"  

as the sun begins its journey toward shorter days. This marks also the end of an unintended  three week "blogcation," the longest interruption in writing in the five year history of Coffee with Clark.

It is appropriate to show a photo of one  of the places of power in the world,

one of my places--Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Atop that 300-foot sandstone land mark is a "sunmark"--where the Anasazi more than 1,000 years ago erected  stones  to form a "sun dagger" to accurately record the solstices, equinoxes and even moon cycles. It probably had to do with planting seasons, and more, with religious rites. 
We increasingly urban folks mark the first day of summer or other seasons on a calendar, but are so out of touch with nature and the universe that  seasons don't have as much meaning as they used to. For us, "time flies." Time may not have stood still with multiple ideas that were "meant-to-have-been" blog posts, but weren't. Even this one is difficult, but like an eventual shaft of sunlight between rocks, there are more stories to tell. 

Alas, vibrations from the increased traffic far below Fajada, and the years, have shifted the rocks, even with restoration by Park personnel. So today's solstice didn't quite hit the mark.  I can not imagine the knowledge and patience it took to build a site like this, or the ones at Mayan and Inca sites, or at Stonehenge. Years were required.
The only way to see Fajada at dawn is to camp there overnight, 26 miles of gravel road off the highway in northwest New Mexico. It's cold, but so worth it. At night, you can see the stars move overhead, actually sense the earth moving. And as the shadows climb up and down the sandstone cliffs at down or sunset, you can see time.
so in the time that's flown by these last three weeks, there were going to be posts on Reduxion Theatre, on Frank Francese's watercolor workshop at IAO, on the 40th Prix de West art show, on music at Paseo, on freelance writers, on the 107th country blog reader, and more. You can't "catch up" in time, but you can get glimpses of the past, at Chaco, and in words, soon.

Much Ado about Reduxion

Live music prelude to Much Ado at Reduxion

I cried and I laughed.

That's been the effect of Reduxion Theatre Company http://reduxiontheatre.com/ and the two performances of Shakespeare I've seen there.

In the fall, we went to see "Hamlet," put on with just seven actors in various roles at the little theater in the round on North Broadway in OKC.

You're sitting right at the edge of the stage, close enough to be touched by the actors. The closing of that play did bring tears. Friday, we went to see "Much Ado About Nothing." Eight players switching roles and costumes, bringing the Bard's genius and wordplay to life again, this time with laughter and live music.

Cover of the Playbill

More interaction with the audience this time brought my stage debut.

The cop Antonio reaches for me, asks me something, (You have to listen very closely to Shakespeare's words) intending to bring a person up on stage for questioning as potential thief in an investigation. Of the top of my head, trying to fit the Italian setting, I reply, "Si."

Up I go into the middle of the stage, and he says to me, laughing, "You're the first person who ever answered "Si." After I'm prodded and probed by the cops, I'm sat back down.

Later he's walking by in a soliloquy, and asks a rhetorical question of himself, two feet from me. I reply "Si." It cracks him up and it gets a laugh from the crowd. After the play, one audience member asked if I was a plant.

Nope. But next year... the Golden Globes or Oscars for me.

Much Ado about Nothing, for my adventure.

But Reduxion Theatre should be on your list of experiences in a revitalized OKC and energized creative landscape.

Check the website for lots more information. Next season, they're putting on Shakespeare twice, "Richard III" Nov. 1-17, and "Love's Labour's Lost," Feb 7-23. "Also Night of the Grand Guignol" Sept. 20-29, and "Tom Jones," May 9-25.

In addition, "Sense and Sensibility" May 10-26 this spring, and the Jane Austen Festival June 12-16.

 The actors will stun you as they move from one role and costume, and sometimes gender, in an evening. Theater the way the Bard envisioned it and experienced it.

Reduxion deserves Much Ado about it.

Here's music from the prelude. This was so much fun.