Tag Archives: Camelot

Steve Sutfin

June 13, 2012 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

When “1776” opens at the Camelot Theatre, it will begin with a drum solo by Steve Sutfin, Camelot’s resident drummer and photographer. A professional musician, Sutfin toured internationally, finding a home base in Ashland. Steve’s iconic photos have graced Camelot’s programs and the pages of local newspapers. We met at the Whistle Stop in Talent.

EH: When did you become a photographer?

SS: As a professional musician, I took up photography so I could starve in a second art form.

EH: You contribute your time and talent to the Camelot Theatre. Why?

SS: I believe in the theater. I love playing music in the theater. I’ve been in bands for 45 years, playing rock ‘n’ roll and blues and traveling. I got tired of it. I found I liked hanging around with actors better than I did with musicians. They’re a little bit more intellectual and witty. Musicians are fun, I am one. It was a natural evolution for me. It’s something I want to do. I like theater. Continue reading Steve Sutfin →

Interview

Doug Burns

May 30, 2012 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Doug Burns is Camelot Theatre’s interim executive director. He has a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a long career in theater and advertising. Burns recently returned to Ashland after an absence of 13 years. In the 1990s, Burns was the general manager of the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. We met at Noble Coffee.

EH: What is your attraction to theater?

DB: For me, it’s about the people. I really like actors, singers and musicians. I find these people incredibly creative and open-minded. It’s this traveling community. You bring a group of people together for an intense period; they create this community, and then they disperse. I love their camaraderie. I love their openness, their fun and their weirdness.

Theater itself is that magic of live energy between the performers and the audience. There’s one expression, “Audiences get the show they deserve,” because of their energy and their response to the show. If the audience is with the show, it can go to the heights. One of my raison d’etres for being in theater has always been to make sure the artists are taken care of.

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Interview

David Gabriel

April 11, 2012 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Actor David Gabriel is performing in “Broadway out of the Blue”, a new musical comedy review currently playing at BLUE-Greek on Granite in Ashland. David is also preparing for his as John Adams in “1776” at the New Camelot Theatre in Talent. We chatted about acting at Ashland’s Boulevard Coffee.

DG: Acting always seemed to me as a means to an end because I write songs and musicals. In order to learn about the musical genre, what better way to do it, but from the inside? I came at it as a singer, and learned acting as I went along.

EH: You’ve played some dark characters. How do you access those personalities?

DG: We’ve all experienced a lot of different people in our lives. We all have within us the potential for the qualities of all those characters. It’s just a matter of being permeable and knowing that we are all capable of all of that.

Continue reading David Gabriel →

Interview

Grant Shepard

March 14, 2012 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

In 1922, Grant Shepard was “bitten by the theater bug” at the age of six. He went on to earn a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a Masters Degree in Cinematography from the University of California Los Angeles. He taught at the University of Miami and California State University at Los Angeles. Shepard has acted and directed theater in the Rogue Valley for over twenty years.

EH: Why are some people so passionate about theater?

GS: The theater-going public (which prefers live theater to cinema) is apparently hungry for the immediacy of the relationship with the persons and things that happen on-stage as opposed to shadows on the screen.

EH: What makes a great play?

GS: It depends on the viewpoint. From the audience’s standpoint, a great play is one that pulls people in over a long period of time. From the performers’ standpoint, a great play is one that has parts that are challenging and fun to do. From the critical standpoint, it would be a play that is attention absorbing, gives entertainment, and looked back-on as having been worthwhile. It either has some kind of a message, thought provoking situation, or character development.

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Interview

Livia Genise

February 1, 2012 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Camelot Theatre’s Artistic Director, Livia Genise, is directing “All The King’s Men”, which opens Friday, February 3^rd, at Camelot’s newly constructed theater in Talent. After building the new Camelot Theatre facility, in addition to her daily routine of acting, directing, and producing, Genise seemed remarkably rested and resilient. We chatted over coffee at Starbucks near Southern Oregon University one sunny afternoon.

LG: I’m doing what I think I was supposed to do with my life; and when you do that, you’re happy.

EH: Did you always know that you wanted to be an actress?

LG: I always knew what I wanted. But my focus shifted from wanting to be a star (which I think was more about low self-esteem) to wanting to make a difference. When I was given a George Bernard Shaw quote that said: “This is the true joy in life –being used for a purpose, recognized by yourself as a mighty one,” it changed my life. My life then became more about service.

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Interview

Don Zastoupil

December 7, 2011 Evalyn Hansen 1 Comment

Set Designer, Don Zastoupil, has created a guillotine for The Scarlett Pimpernel, currently playing at The Camelot Theatre. With a background in interior decoration and an interest in cinematography, Zastoupil began designing and constructing stage sets when he was a Board Member at the Opera House in Woodland, California.

One afternoon, we visited in Camelot’s newly constructed playhouse as he was finishing the set for The Scarlet Pimpernel which takes place during the French Revolution. Individual scenes depict a prison, the Bastille, an estate, a library, a schooner, a drawing room, a garden, a ballroom, a café, a cave hideaway, the inside of a carriage, and a seacoast.

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Interview

Paul Jones

April 13, 2011 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Paul Jones is directing “Crimes of the Heart,” the last production in Camelot Theatre’s current building. Within the last two years, Jones has played Nixon in Camelot’s “Frost Nixon,” Marley’s Ghost in Oregon Stage Works’ “The Christmas Carol,” and Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson in Camelot’s “A Few Good Men.” We chatted over coffee at The Coffee House at Bloomsbury Books.

EH: Why do you think “Crimes of the Heart” won a Pulitzer Prize?

PJ: The play doesn’t bring up any earth-shattering world issues, but it hits people in unexpected places. The appeal is very human, people handling their problems, which to them are monsters, nothing to do with earthquakes, or tsunamis, or the threat of the A-bomb.

It’s about three sisters struggling with making the wrong decisions, listening to their fears, being too logical, or just jumping into something without asking the heart, “Is this what I really want to do?” and then not listening. Those are the crimes.

It’s comical, desperate and pathetic. You find yourself being drawn in with the characters, the traumas that they’re dealing with, and living their lives. It is so well-written, it just plays itself; it flows so beautifully. It’s enormously funny, but underneath are all those layers of what is going on with those people. The audience will find themselves crying and laughing at the same time.

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