Category Archives: Interview

Interview

Opera is a world onto its own

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Willene Gunn
Willene Gunn

BRAVA! Opera Theater Artistic Director Willene Gunn, is directing Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” at the Camelot Theatre in Talent. Gunn, an accomplished performer herself, directed the Opera Program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 30 years, and served on the faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Last year her direction of “Breasts of Tiresias” was stunning. Early in her career, Gunn performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We visited at the Downtowne Coffee House in Talent.

EH: How did you find your life in opera?

 WG: I always sang, loved music, played all kinds of instruments. By the time I left the University of Montana, I knew I was going to go into opera. When went back to New York, my teacher arranged for a sponsor for me. He said one of the reasons was: I had talent, yes, but also, if I got kicked and knocked down, I got up again.

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Interview

Ashland New Plays Festival seeks out most interesting story telling

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Kyle Haden
Kyle Haden

Kyle Haden, the new artistic director of the Ashland New Plays Festival, follows the legendary Doug Rowe, who retired after spearheading ANPF for many years. Haden served as an actor and educator at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a faculty member in Theater Arts at Southern Oregon University.

EH: What is your interest in developing new theatrical works?

 KH: I want to tell a story in the most interesting way possible. The playwrights are the genesis of that. What we’re focused on at ANPF, is helping the playwright find that story. We are the first step on that journey.

The main focus of ANPF is our Fall Festival. We solicit scripts from playwrights around the world. This year we had a cap for the first time: We took the first four hundred that submitted. We have a ton of volunteer readers. Each play is read by several people. Folks get together in small groups and discuss the plays.

Eventually every play is scored and ranked to get to four plays that we feel have real promise. None of the plays have ever been produced. When the playwrights come to Ashland in October, they are working with directors and a team of actors to get the chance to hear their plays out loud. Continue reading Ashland New Plays Festival seeks out most interesting story telling →

Interview

Britt festival taking show on the road to Crater Lake

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Donna Briggs
Donna Briggs

Donna Briggs has been the president and CEO of the Britt Festival for five years. With her education in Communications and Organizational Development, Briggs heads 13 full-time employees in an organization which (during the season) goes up to 65. We met at her office in downtown Medford.

EH: Who was Britt?

DB: Peter Britt was an explorer, a photographer, a wine maker, a builder, a renaissance man. He came here in the mid-1800s. He left the Britt hill to Jackson County.

EH: How did the Britt Festival begin?

DB: In 1961, John Trudeau, a conductor of the Portland Symphony, came in search of the perfect venue for classical music, and found the Britt hill. He got together with the mayor and the city council, and by 1963, they had their orchestra put together. Basically the stage was a lean-to. Now, we have a 90-piece professional orchestra from all over the world. Continue reading Britt festival taking show on the road to Crater Lake →

Interview

SOU hopes to strike sparks between the arts

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David Humphrey
David Humphrey

David Humphrey is director for the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University. With a doctorate in music education and opera production, Humphrey went on to become director of education for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and director of San Francisco’s Museum of Performance & Design before coming to Ashland. We met at Pony Espresso Café in Ashland. This is the first of a two-part interview. The second will be published on Dec. 14.

EH: How did you become interested in an interdisciplinary approach to education in the arts?

DH: I started in music, but my interests grew very broadly. I really liked all the arts; I know so many young people do too. Art schools tend to keep students within specific disciplines and don’t allow them to explore other disciplines.

Students are multi-talented, and their choice of a specific area is based on very limited knowledge. They wind up in a particular discipline doing very well, but not quite suiting their personality. They need to find themselves. I believe if you can really understand who you are, and how the arts work, you can make a better decision. Continue reading SOU hopes to strike sparks between the arts →

Interview

SOU stages adaptation of Chekov’s ‘Seagull’

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Jackie Apodaca
Jackie Apodaca

Jackie Apodaca directs a new version by Libby Appel of Anton Chekov’s “Seagull,” now playing through Nov. 22 at the Center Square Theatre on the Southern Oregon University Campus. I saw an early run through and was impressed by the high quality of the rehearsal and the vibrant energy that propels the play. I met Apodaca at The Human Bean next to the library on the SOU Campus.

EH: What is the world of Chekov?

JA: Chekov is embracing the idea that everyone is the hero of their own tragic-comedy. The thing that is so fascinating about it is that it’s relatable, it’s about the type of issues that we all face. We think our lives are great dramatic love stories with triumphs and tragedies. We live our own lives that way. It’s the tiny things in our lives that take on such great importance, and that are ridiculous from the outside. You do get to very dramatic outbursts. It’s very naturalistic, in that we really do take those things so seriously. Continue reading SOU stages adaptation of Chekov’s ‘Seagull’ →

Interview

Backstage: After the ‘Tempest’ – Caliban continued

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James Donlon
James Donlon

James Donlon is directing “Caliban’s Dream” which opens Nov. 6 at Southern Oregon University’s Center Stage Theatre on the SOU campus. Donlon devised the script from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” With its imaginative framework, unique staging and iconic characters that morph through time, “Caliban’s Dream” promises to be a stimulating and unique theatrical experience.

Donlon, an assistant professor in SOU’s Theatre Arts Department, found his affinity for theater as an undergraduate while attending Humbolt State University on a basketball scholarship. Since then, he has shaped a long theatrical career that includes teaching at such prominent theater schools as The American Conservatory Theater, The Yale School of Drama and the University of California at Santa Barbara and San Diego. We lunched at the Standing Stone Brewing Company in Ashland. Continue reading Backstage: After the ‘Tempest’ – Caliban continued →

Interview

Backstage: Making films about subjects people don’t talk about

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Katherine Roselli
Katherine Roselli

Katherine Roselli will present her documentary film “OLD?!” tonight at the Varsity Theater as a fundraiser for the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Beautifully photographed and smartly edited, the film includes such local notables as artist Betty LaDuke, playwright Julia Sommer and fitness expert Andy Baxter, plus lots of charming children. The film is refreshing joyous and emotionally compelling. I met Roselli at the Boulevard Café in Ashland.

EH: What is your process of movie making?

KR: I go out with my camera, use natural light, have the concept and do the interviews. But I could not make a movie without my stellar editor, Claudia Ballard; my sound engineer, James Abdo; and Steve Brown, who color corrects and make the DVDs. I put it all together, but they make it a movie. Continue reading Backstage: Making films about subjects people don’t talk about →