Theater in Montrose

 

Magic Circle Players 

score big with Amadeus

Okay, let’s be fair. 

After years of sometimes brilliant, often intriguing and always entertaining community theater in Telluride and Ouray, I’d become rather insular. I’d developed an unsubstantiated opinion that our small mountain towns offered the best chance of quality theater in the region.

Added to that there's both tourist towns’ liberal distaste for Delta/Montrose‘s Trump/Boebert boosterism, particularly after a Delta jury thumbed their nose at Telluride citizens' protecting their community gateway by arbitrarily doubling the cost of saving/condemning the Valley Floor to $50 million -- twice what it had been appraised at. 

For me and others, opinion had become more like a full-fledged bias. Artistic as well as political. In all my 43 years on the Western Slope, I’d never gone to see a single play in Montrose. 

Kind of embarrassing actually for a former newspaper theater critic, son of a California community theater star, and one-time usher at the Schubert Theater in New Haven. 

Then, last month I heard a Colorado Public Radio interview with castmembers and organizers of the all-volunteer Magic Circle Players of Montrose. Started in 1959, MCP is a repertoire theater company that has been putting on plays for 63 years. On the air, one of their spokespeople made the claim that MCP shows were the best community theater on the Western Slope. It sounded like hubris. I resolved to go see for myself.

Plus, the current show that was just winding up its run was Amadeus. I had missed the original play. And the movie. It’s been on my to-do list forever. Since that hadn’t happened, I enlisted a friend from Hotchkiss to join me. We attended the finale performance of the late Brit playwright and screenwriter Peter Shaffer’s best known work, which had been awarded five Tonys for the stage play (1980) and eight Oscars for the movie (1984).

A period piece set in 18th Century Vienna, the play is a nuanced struggle between sloppy brilliant Good and clever mediocre Evil, the composer Salieri we’ve never heard of and the composer Mozart we all love. I figured I’d go and see if MCP could pull off the conceit of this recent classic and make it believable and engaging –- especially as I was very interested in the story and I had not seen previous interpretations.

Well, to be honest, it was not only believable and engaging, it was terrific! I was blown away. In no small part because of really extraordinary lead actors. 

M.A. Smith was our Virgil on this Dantean descent into the hell of fame, jealousy, intrigue and betrayal, superbly re-creating Antonio Salieri for us. His foil -- the babbling, immature and outre boy genius Wolfgang Mozart, excellently played by Everett Gregory -- made us laugh, cringe and listen in awe to bits of his musical classics. Both gave dazzling performances.

Unfortunately, community theater is well-known for tolerating weak links in its productions. Hard to get professional quality acting out of volunteer thespians. But that’s just what Director Kathy Murdoch flat out did. 

Gary Hokit owned the charmingly stuffy (and dare I say witless -- “There it is!” -- or at least out-matched) Joseph II, Emperor of Austria. Janel Culver did a marvelous turn as Constanze Weber, Mozart’s wife. One could call each name on the playbill list and laud their very convincing performances, all in character, all audibly enunciating, all well-acted. 

Add to that a chorus that doubled as audiences, servants, crowds and crew, moving the delightfully minimalist set pieces in and out and making visible costume changes on stage in a marvelous choreography of inobtrusive staging.

In the second act I got to move from the back row to the front row. Up close I marveled at how well everything in the production worked. 

The ornate backdrop doubled cleverly as a screen where royal chambers and other relevant scenes were projected from the rear, giving an effective illusion of set changes. The costumes were lavish, well-made and appropriate. The tech, the lighting, the sound. 

Perhaps my one quibble might have been seeing upfront Gregory’s discrete headset microphone visibly scotch-taped to his cheek. But hardly significant.

Just about everything about MCP’s production was so well done that this one teensy faux pax was easily offset by the effective voicing the headsets provided the primary castmembers. 

A standing ovation from the large crowd in the 225 seat MCP theater validated the excellence of the evening.

Magic Circle Players, bravo! 

I’m definitely planning to go back to see more MCP shows. Particularly any in which Smith or Gregory star, or where Murdoch directs. 

Next up in early December is MCP’s Readers Theater offering: Miracle on 34th St. –- a script reading in the guise of a live radio play. 

Dec. 1, 2, 3 @ 7:30, Dec. 3 & 4 @ 2 pm, $10. In Montrose.

https://magiccircleplayers.com

Thankgiving

ThanksgivinG

My first day unencumbered

in weeks. Having Cloud Acre's 

million willow maze all to myself

after radical middle politicking up

in Telluride. Warm jacket weather

Walking Simba, Mary’s rescue dog

she gifted us – a tough little Chow 

who loves to run free. But

in irrigated cattle & sheep fields

dogs at large don’t live long

Above us the trimmed cuticle of

a moon barely visible in the west

I’m tending to her leash

from our barrow ditch path 

drinking in all there is to think

when she smells something

across the blacktop & lunges

onto the county road just

as a speeding pickup races

over the hill. Itki’s all I can do

to dig my feet in & tug her

back to safety. Giving thanks

for saving Simba, for memories

of Mary, for a blue sky Colorado day

& for all those on the team

in this tug-of-war world

ART GOODTIMES

 

Captain Barefoot

Baking

Foolish. Fearless 

In discussion heshe often 

grabs hold an idea

& dumps itki into the mix

First thought. Best guess

Only upon reflection

just as often backtracks

Flips the dial

Listens to wise women

The menus of smart men

Open as any expert

to the brilliant divergent 

messiness of mistakes

essential to 

success

Chaff 

to winnow

Shell to yolk

To make a better 

bread

Telluride Science

 

Telluride Science

-for Sara

The air is wild with leaves

as gusts announce an early fall storm

Beyond the Valley Floor

lightnings’ silver filigrees thread

the darkening western weave

of massed West End nimbostratus

We sip libations to toast 

& celebrate the latest re-do

of the Rio Grande Southern depot

into a center of cutting edge science

Telluride’s 

untracked tourist-plus locomotive 

charging full-STEM ahead 

into a fact-based lane-changing 

interstellar panarchtopia

Pandora's Amphora #4

 Original Thinkers Hosts Big Ideas

FILM ... I came to Telluride because of the festivals. First, it was the Film Fest. My seminary buddy Craig Chapot was involved, and I’d heard about some of the early classics balanced with cutting edge cinema. I was enthralled, having been a film buff in San Francisco – a regular at the old Canyon Cinematique at the San Francisco Art Institute ... Gradually, as I came to love mountain life more than Hollywood versions of reality, I got involved with Mountainfilm. I loved when Rick Silverman took the helm and moved the schedule towards more than just climbing films and extreme sports – herding us into social justice and the full spectrum of mountain life. For many years l emcee’d at the Mason’s Hall – an intimate venue with a dedicated crew ... I was sorry to see Rick leave the fest, but I loved the way David Holbrooke curated movies. He knew great filmmakers and brought a rich feast of film to Telluride. When he too left Mountainfilm, I was sad. But I was also getting disenchanted with the frenetic pace of both film festivals, where you were rushing from one theater to the next, waiting in long lines, always it seemed missing many of the films you wanted to see ... So, I was delighted when David pioneered a new kind of festival – Original Thinkers -- where you got to see all the offerings and had time to integrate what you’d seen, to discuss and take to heart big ideas.

STORY & COMMUNITY ... As one of my mentors told me early on, the poets of the time are our filmmakers. They create the stories and myths that inform our dreams, our conversations -- against which we measure our lives ... When I see a great film, I need time to assimilate it into my life. To reflect on it and discuss it with others. Original Thinkers allows exactly that. There’s only a handful of films. But not just films but great films. And there’s more. Yoga. Forest hikes. Tea ceremonies. Plenty of opportunities to make the stories one’s own ... It’s no mistake that Original Thinkers begins with a dinner for all participants. There’s no better way to jump-start community than eating together, turning strangers into a kind of film family. This year’s dinner was two long long tables in the Transfer Warehouse. I got to sit with two of the Janes who made Chicago history in the ‘70s illegally providing abortions for women at risk pre-Roe v. Wade. And I made fast friends with John Bates   -– trading his best-selling handbook on Ted Talking for my chapbook of Lone Cone poems.

BIG IDEAS ... So, for me, it’s the takeaways that matter most at festivals. What did I learn? What can I used in my life? ... Cancer kept me from enjoying many of the first few years of OT. But I remember one talk by David Quammen speaking of his New York Times bestseller, The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life that changed my understanding of biology. I bought the book, read about Carl Woese and Lynn Margulis, and came to see horizontal gene transfer as the biological game changer that it is. That big idea has stayed with me for years and now informs my understanding of how life has developed ... Of course, singling out one idea is almost heresy, as there are so many. But that’s the beauty of the event. You get to focus on the big idea that strikes you ... Free from cancer, I got to attend most of the programming this year. And this year’s smorgasbord of films and happenings took my breath away. But it was the first film that made the biggest impression on me, “Of Medicine and Miracles.” Ross Kaufman is a master director. And the documentary’s “star” was as humble as he is brilliant. By matching the life & death struggle of a young woman facing acute leukemia and a research physician driven by good fortune and intention to figure out a cure for this deadly disease, the audience rides a roller coaster of emotion – from sadness to empathy to hope. It’s a story that had me in tears more than once ... And I came away with the big idea that with persistence and good fortune, using non-intuitive techniques, like employing HIV virus to carry activated T-cells into the bloodstream of patients, cancer can be cured ... Of course, that’s only one small piece of web of big ideas, great films and energizing events that made up this year’s festival. Personally, I can’t wait until next year.

photo by Jonathan Thompson

DOLORES LACHAPELLE ... This Silverton wise woman -- author, independent scholar, deep ecologist, mountain climber with a number of first ascents, and a legendary powder skier named to the Ski Hall of Fame -- has been dead for over a decade. Because she wasn’t associated with any university or institution, her books are out of print and her name has faded into obscurity. But thanks to Jen Brill of the Silverton Ski Area and Ananda Foley, executor of the LaChapelle estate, held a mini-summit last month to try and revive Dolores’ legacy. A small working group of friends heard from Clare Menzel of Montana, who’s done a MA thesis on Dolores; Steven J. Meyers, author, fine photographer, senior lecturer in English at Ft. Lewis College and an old friend of Dolores; and Katrina Blair, author, founder of Turtle Lake Refuge in Durango, and another old friend of Dolores. 

MASS MOVEMENT ... I had the good fortune to catch the Telluride Dance Collective's "Mass Movement: Rebirth" show at the Palm Oct. 6th. It was dazzling! I was completely blown away at the talent in our community. Wonderful choreography. Spectacular movement. By turns innovative, thrilling, funny. It even included outrageous aerial silk dancing ... Kudos to Kelsey Trottier and her whole troupe.

TALKING GOURD ... I’m not usually a poet who writes in form. I like the freedom to explore language without traditional boundaries. But Dolores always urged her students (which included Katrina Blair and I) to lie down under the aspen in the fall and look up at the sky through the golden leaves. We did this when we were in Silverton. And I found myself using a Persian poetic form of a praise poem:

Ghazal for Katrina

I profess the religion of love;

wherever its caravan turns along the way,

that is the belief,

the faith I keep

 -Ibn al-Arabi

For the love of the divine in everything

I lie among the golden leaves to sing

In the azure sky there’s no limits or endings

Our words like clouds obedient to the wind’s bendings

Sprawled with a friend among the aspen we sing

Our hearts wild as kites upon a string

Attached to fingers & toes of free mind at play

Praising passed friends and the passing day

On mats of leavefall that inspire what we sing

Lifting our voices like evening bells that ring

At dusk in Silverton to clothe the caldera in prayer

As we make afternoon ritual of the lyric air

With my sister teacher friend in contrapuntal witnessing

Honoring Dolores’ deepest gold as we sing

In Our Circle of Community

 

Essential

            —for Art Goodtimes
 
 
When I was clay,
was mud, was
slurry, was sludge,
he said, Fly,
beautiful bird,
high and low.
When I was
nothing, he said,
I am honored
to be your friend.
When there was
nothing to be said,
he sat with me.
We breathed in
deep sadness.
We breathed out love.
All around us,
the grass grew.
Inside, I felt it,
as if his words
were prophecy,
I knew it,
the possibility
of wings.

-Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Goodbye Laurie James

Photo by Wendy Videlock

Ma Tana

Laurie James (1947-2022)

The last time I stopped at your Salida digs

jonesing for a Ma Tana hug

you were gone

As you are now

in a hospital’s ICU

Even as Dano, Wends & I made plans

for a lightning nomad poets’ lark

to hug & help you off into

that mystery 

that’s coming for us too

Denied a face-to-face

we can only call you up

in our dark hearts bright minds

A fearless gentle cantankerous kind

of mountain goddess

we held dear

Hold even dearer now

in death’s embrace