You Can’t Go Home Again

A group of students from a small Catholic college in Wyoming reunite to celebrate the installation of a beloved professor as the school’s new president.  During their conversations and debates, ugly truths are revealed and raw emotions come to the forefront.  This is Heroes of the Fourth Turning and it is currently playing at BlueBarn Theatre.

Without question, this is one of the deepest plays I’ve ever seen.  Will Arbery has an ironclad grip on the current times and asks a lot of questions in this modern morality play.  These questions have no easy answers and Arbery does not attempt to answer them.  He merely poses the talking points.  Arbery asks questions of the true nature of morality; the raging us vs them mentality of society, especially when it comes to political platforms; why people gravitate towards certain collectives; the inability to have civil discourse with differing opinions; the dangers of pride and ambition carried too far, just to name a few.  That he does it through a quintet of conservative characters is a particularly clever touch and a good way to get people to walk a mile in another’s shoes as the old saying goes.  These powerful questions almost make the audience forget that Arbery leaves a couple of plot threads dangling especially one including a Twilight Zone style twist.

Barry Carman helms this production and his direction is of sterling quality.  Carman cuts a fierce pace for this juggernaut production.  He intimately understands the beats and momentum of this show as it just builds and builds into a runaway train that threatens to derail until finally applying the brakes at the critical juncture.  Carman also has a sense of movement that is second to none.  Each and every time his characters move, there is a clear purpose behind it that speaks as loudly as words.  Carman has also led his cast to remarkable performances.  There isn’t a weak link among them and each performer gets a moment in the spotlight.

As Gina, Joey Hartshorn is the beloved teacher who had a hand in molding the thinking of her 4 students, one of whom is her daughter.  Hartshorn brings a definitive intelligence to the character and a certain open-mindedness in her conservatism.  She’ll always vote the platform out of principle, but chooses to follow leaders that she believes are best for the country such as Barry Goldwater and Pat Buchanan.  She also doesn’t buy into the “gloom and doom” thinking of her protégé who believes that a culture war is brewing.  Hartshorn also brings a certain coldness to her interpretation.   She clearly doesn’t have a good relationship with her daughter and didn’t seem all that interested in seeing her students again.  Not only does she lay into her protégé, Teresa, for not thinking exactly as she does, but she shows some liberal leanings now that she’s running the show at the college.

Suzanne Withem does some exemplary work with her take on Teresa.  As Gina’s protégé, Withem’s Teresa drank copious amounts from her fountain of knowledge and seems to aspire to be a better Gina than Gina.  Teresa is the most conservative of the group and appears to downright hate liberals with her comments about them being evil due to their adherence to the pro-choice platform.  Withem brings an ice-cold selfishness to Teresa who clearly believes herself to be smarter, more moral, and simply better than her classmates.  She’s utterly disdainful of Kevin, backhand compliments Emily, has some respect for Justin, and fawns over Gina.  Gina’s dismissal of her gives Withem the chance to break Teresa’s chilly exterior and show the scared child hiding behind it.

I’ve always been dazzled by Anna Jordan’s mastery of body language and her turn as Emily further bolsters that amazement.  Jordan’s Emily suffers from a nameless disease that leaves her frail and constantly hurting.  With her caved in chest and heavy leaning on her cane, Jordan truly appears haggard and ill.  Emily is the most open-minded of the group and seems to always look for the truth and the good.  It’s hinted that her illness may just be in her head and that she truly suffers from extreme empathy.  You can see Jordan visibly start to break as tensions get higher and higher, triggering flashbacks to a distressing incident with a client which might have been the onset of her own illness.

Thomas Gjere is a truly good man as Justin.  Justin is definitely the rock of this group.  He clearly had a rough past and Gjere makes you believe that he was a hard-edged man who had those edges softened after finding the college and Gina who he says “saved his life”.  Justin is a flawed man and Gjere has subtle guilty expressions when he recalls some of his past troubled life.  He’s on the search for something greater, but whether he is doing so out of personal growth or fear is left for the viewer to decide.

Michael Judah’s Kevin is definitely the most broken character in the show.  Judah does splendid work essaying Kevin’s drunkenness and the truth that almost literally spews from him due to the loosening power of booze.  Kevin seems to pine for perfect morality and emotionally flagellates himself whenever he falls short of it.  This seems to happen frightfully often due to his utter loneliness which appears to be caused by fear of women (he gets physically sick talking about the Virgin Mary) which, in itself, was caused by his repression of love for Teresa and Emily.

Jason Jamerson has designed an extraordinary set that looks like you are genuinely outside in a wooded area with its long grass, trees, bushes, and stumps with the back of Justin’s house butting up against it.  I swear I could almost feel the cool breeze blowing in from a nearby river.  Homero Vela’s lights perfectly emulate a starlit night, but the flip side of being true to the setting meant the faint light made it hard to see the actors’ faces and expressions when they were in darker parts of the stage.  That leads to an interesting conundrum and I’ll be honest in admitting I’m not sure how to get the best of both worlds.  Bill Kirby’s sounds make for an ambient night and, at points, something a little more terrifying and jumpy.  Jocelyn Reed’s costumes helped to flesh out the characters from the business pantsuit of Gina to the outdoorsy clothes of Justin, the hoodie of the frail Emily, the stiff, professional clothes of Kevin, and the practical clothes of Teresa.

Buckle yourself in for a challenging night of theatre, but there is a powerful kernel of hope in this show in that it may encourage people to talk to each other instead of at each other.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning runs at BlueBarn Theatre through October 24.  Showtimes are Thurs-Sat at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2pm with the exception of a 6pm show on October 17.  Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased by calling 402-345-1576 or visiting www.bluebarn.org.  Due to mature themes and language, this show is not suitable for children.  BlueBarn Theatre is located at 1106 S 10^th St in Omaha, NE.

The Monsters Are Needed at the BSB

Brigit Saint Brigit is holding auditions for our next production ‘The Monsters are Due on Maple Street and Other Assorted Treats’ directed by Scott Kurz. Casting will be gender/race-blind. All roles are open. All roles are paid. Roles will be tailored to suit the actor not the other way around.

When/Where: Saturday, Oct., 19 @ 1:00 PM @ UNO (Fine Arts Building Rm. 333) & Monday, Oct., 21 @ 7:00 PM @ First Central Congregational Church (421 South 36th St.)

Details: A rep company will be cast for this production. All members will be cast in ‘The Monsters are Due on Maple Street’ and others will be double-cast in other shorts/one-acts that evening (including Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘The Long Walk to Forever,’ an original work written by the director and more…) The original ‘Monsters…’ Twilight Zone episode can be found on Netflix (Season 1, Episode 22)—this version is being updated to a contemporary setting/sensibility. This will be a fun, stimulating and collaborative production!

If you are unable to attend either night and would like to be considered for a role, please contact Scott Kurz (skurz@bsbtheatre.com).

I Went to Disneyland!!

Sleeping Beauty Castle

I finally got to fulfill an adventure I’d had in my mind for a while now.

Back when I was a lad I really loved the amusement parks.  Some of my best childhood memories were from trips taken to Adventureland, Six Flags, or Worlds of Fun.  When I was between my junior and senior year of high school, my band performed in Orlando, FL at Universal Studios and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.  For my park lovin’ heart, Walt Disney World was the pinnacle of amusement parks due to sheer scope and variety.  I enjoyed it so much that I’ve been back several times over the years.  My love for amusement parks has waned considerably over the years, mostly due to my distaste of waiting in lines, but I still retain an enjoyment of Disney parks.

As a Disney aficionado, I’d long had a hankering to visit the park that started it all:  Disneyland.  However, I really didn’t want to visit it on my own as fun is always better when it’s multiplied by others.  Luckily my old friend, Mat O’Donnell, and his wife, Carolyn Langlois (also a Disney park nut), lived in nearby Tempe, AZ.  I asked Mat if he and Carolyn wanted to join me in Disneyland and it ended up becoming a weeklong visit/road trip.

On Feb 24, I hopped on an American Airlines flight which was delayed a half hour due to deicing the plane.  Eventually we got underway and I soon found myself in Phoenix.  So happy was I to escape the cold and ice of Omaha that I would have hugged a cactus if I’d seen one.

Mat met me at the airport and we drove to his house.  I set my bag and laptop in my room and noted that our mutual friend, John Velasquez, tried to turn a practical joke against me.  John and I had a mock argument about the guest bedroom as each of us “claimed” it as his own.  John visited Mat a few weeks prior so Mat helped me arrange a photo of myself to greet John with a sign that said, “Christopher Elston proudly welcomes you to his room.  Daily rates apply.”  John had added the title of Slumlord to my name.  Well played, John.  Well played.

Shortly afterwards, Mat took me to a little Greek joint called Mika’s where I had a Mediterranean Gyro for dinner.  Mat and I had a long conversation over dinner and then we headed back to his place where we watched a little anime, talked, then went to bed.

The next day, Mat took me to worship services at Our Lady of Mt Carmel and then we had breakfast over at Denny’s.  We had decided to just take it easy since there would be a lot of travel starting the next day.  During his last visit to Omaha, Mat had borrowed Resident Evil 7 from our friend, Jeff Bevirt, so we decided to play through it.

For those of you interested in that particular game series, I found it a return to form and probably the third best in the series.  The series returns to its survival horror roots and I genuinely jumped at several points.  The story was the most tragic of the series and the nearly lifelike graphics (aided by Mat’s 4K TV) were stunning.  The game could have used some more puzzles and it was one of the shortest of the series, especially in this era of epic length games.

Carolyn, who had been on a camping trip, returned in the afternoon and it was gaming and conversation until bedtime.

The next day Mat and I completed Resident Evil and had lunch at Del Taco.  Carolyn came back early from work, packed, and we loaded up Mat’s car before beginning the drive to Thousand Palms, CA.

Mat’s dad, Barry, winters in this desert community so the decision was made to stay overnight at his place and we would continue on to Anaheim the next evening.  This would allow us to hit Disneyland first thing on Wednesday morning.

It was a really pleasant drive and we arrived at Barry’s home at about 7:45pm.  Barry had picked up some excellent brisket sandwiches from a nearby BBQ joint.  This was the best brisket I had ever tasted.  I’m not a particular fan of coleslaw, but the slaw used on these sandwiches was excellent.  A small side of chili filled in the chinks nicely.

We were weary after the drive, not to mention our body clocks were off due to the time zone change (2 in my case), so we called it a night.  I borrowed a box fan for some white noise and collapsed on the air bed in my room.  Such a restful night’s sleep.  The window in the room was darkened so not a trace of light could peek into the room and the bed was so comfy.

Our little group puttered around in the morning before stopping at a pizza joint called Billy Q’s for some lunch.  I give this place a hearty recommendation.  Billy Q’s is famed for a nice thin crust with lots of toppings or a thicker sourdough crust.  I had asked for a personal Cristen’s (taco) pizza and our server arranged for it to be on a sourdough crust despite the fact that the personal is traditionally served on original crust.  Barry had ordered a small Works pizza for himself while Mat and Carolyn were supposed to share a small half Mac N Cheese/Reuben pizza.  Unfortunately they goofed and made the Reuben side a Cristen’s.  To make up for it, they brought out a personal Reuben.  Too many leftovers and not enough time to eat them.

 

 

About 5pm, we said our good-byes to Barry and began driving towards Anaheim.  Anaheim is part of the Los Angeles metro area which is the 2^nd largest city in the country.  Six lanes of traffic and we caught a bit of the last of rush hour.  I’m truly glad Mat is an excellent driver because he handled it like a pro.  Things got far more peaceful once we got off the interstate and into Anaheim.

Carolyn had booked a room for us at Portofino Inn and Suites.  This is one of many Good Neighbor hotels for Disneyland.  This means that shuttle service is available and you can buy park tickets at the hotel.  The inn itself is a bit incongruous to its neighbors as it is only about three floors while its fellow hotels are imposing giants.

The walls are a little thin, but the room was comfortable and a bit suiteish as I had my own private sleeping area which also allowed privacy for Mat and Carolyn.

 

 

It was still early so we decided to hit up a mini-golf course nearby called Golfland Camelot.  It touts itself as the biggest mini-golf course in the country though I can’t make a judgment on that as two of its four courses were closed.  On the courses we played, emphasis was placed more on length than obstacles.  These were long holes.  Carolyn claimed not to be a good putter but slaughtered Mat and myself on the second round.  Luckily Mat and I had played solidly on the first round which led to him squeaking out a one stroke victory over me.  When the game was done, we headed back to the hotel.

Mat and Carolyn went out for a late dinner at Subway while I ran out and bought some batteries for my camera.  I went back to the hotel and caught a shower before retiring for the night.

We were up bright and early the next day.  It was a cool day that would top out only at 61 degrees so I found myself wearing a jacket to a Disney park.  We stopped for breakfast at IHOP, then walked to the shuttle area and were zipped to Disneyland.

So there I was at the original.  Disneyland is pretty much the Magic Kingdom at WDW, but a bit bigger with some extra rides.  It was a little strange as the park is so similar to Magic Kingdom, but has its own unique identity.  We walked up Main Street USA and saw the park’s centerpiece, Sleeping Beauty Castle.  I took a moment to soak up the ambiance and then we started exploring.

 

 

We picked a perfect day to visit the park.  The last week of February is, historically, the lowest in park attendance and that proved to be the case as there were not very many people at the park.  This allowed us to hit all of the good rides multiple times and we never waited in line for longer than 30 minutes.  We were also aided by Carolyn’s use of Fastpass Plus.  This meant she was able to use her phone to get our Fastpasses instead of us running all over creation to get them.  Her Disneyland app also let us check wait times on rides so we could plan appropriately.

What an amazing day!!  We enjoyed the classics such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Haunted Mansion (a personal favorite and I especially loved the Southern plantation motif) along with new rides such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and the Matterhorn (incredibly awesome at night).  I even indulged my inner child and rode on It’s a Small World and Snow White’s Scary Adventures.  We even watched a performance from the Straw Hatters and Carolyn and Mat took a photo with Goofy.  What’s better is that the rides that exist in both Disneyland and WDW are still different enough to have their own identities.

 

 

We closed the night with an amazing dinner at Café Orleans where I had chicken gumbo and shrimp and grits and followed that with Disneyland’s closing show, Fantasmic.  Thirteen straight hours of fun and 10 plus miles walked.

The next day we visited the other park, Disney California Adventure.  Again, we arrived right at opening.  Over a third of the park was closed for refurbishment, but even at full strength, this would be a half day park at best.  It does possess a few classic rides.

The centerpiece of the park has to be Guardians of the Galaxy:  Mission Breakout which used to be the Tower of Terror.  Originally, the ride had a Twilight Zone theme, but has been altered to be a story where the riders help the Guardians escape from the clutches of The Collector.  The ride has 6 different drop patterns based on the song playing from Star Lord’s mix tape.  I loved the Twilight Zone version, but Guardians has a delightful sense of comedy and fun that makes it a must experience ride.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout

My other favorite ride was Grizzly Rapids.  Being a cool day, the ride never had a long wait though I imagine it can get quite lengthy on hot day.  Admittedly I scoffed at the sign that said “You will get wet.  You may get soaked.”  That is a hallmark of any raft ride and usually isn’t the case.  Well, we did get wet and did get soaked.  Towards the end of the ride, a geyser erupted in front of us and drowned us like rats.  A reconstruction of the event can be seen below.  On the plus side, it woke us up.

SPLISH!!!

 

 

About 2:30pm, we left the park and began the drive back to Thousand Palms to pick up Mat and Carolyn’s dog, Jojo, before heading back to Tempe.  Having finally experienced Disneyland, I can honestly say it’s a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t plan an entire trip around it as the two parks can be done in 2 days tops.

It was hard to believe that the trip was nearly done, but there was still fun to be had.  The next day was a gorgeous 75 degree day in Phoenix so Mat and I played mini-golf where he creamed me with a nearly perfect final round.  Wait, I mean the rat jerk cheated beyond belief in order to best me.  Foul!  Foul!  I call a foul!

In the evening, we had dinner at the Angry Crab Shack where Mat supped on steamed king crab legs and vegetables and Carolyn and I had shrimp po’boys.  Then we headed off to Mesa to experience an escape room.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, escape rooms have become extremely popular in recent years.  You and your group get locked in a group for about an hour and need to solve a series of puzzles to escape from the room.

I picked Jack’s Cabin.  The story was that Uncle Jack had been sending you strange messages so you go to his cabin to check up on things.  As Mat, Carolyn, and I searched the room, we found that Jack had become a werewolf and set up a means to stop him in one of his more lucid moments.  His desk had seven locks on it and we had to figure out the combinations to them all.  It was a tough case and we needed to burn all of our clues to solve the puzzles.  But we managed to put a rifle together and located a secret compartment with a silver bullet to escape from the room with less than seven minutes to spare.

For a first escape room, I had a good time especially with the sense of impending doom as precious time ticked away.  Carolyn said it was the weakest she had visited due to the focus simply being on locks.  She shared tales of amazing rooms with secret passages and creative challenges and said we would visit a proper room on my next visit.

The next day it was back to Omaha for me, though the airport was an absolute zoo.  I had never seen so many people for one airline.  It took me nearly 45 minutes to check in.  Thankfully, the security line was low, but I got to my gate just as boarding began.

It was a grand adventure and I look forward to my next visit to Tempe for another classic series of adventures.

Last Exit To Vegas (For Now), Day 2: Where on Earth is His Luck?

As I watch a glorious sunset from my suite, I find myself at the keyboard once more to report on the adventures of the day.

As I suspected (and hoped), my headache was merely the result of exhaustion as a good night’s sleep cleared it up.  A long, hot bath in the morning cleared up any residual traces and I was ready for some breakfast.  Once more, I headed to the Gold Coast to enjoy their delicious (and affordable) breakfast buffet.  After a filling meal, I was hoping my peculiar luck was ready to surface and further pad my bank account.

As you may have gathered from the title, that most assuredly did NOT happen.

I could not get any serious runs going on any machine I tried.  I was frequently teased with bonuses that did not manifest, fried by Godzilla on Monster Island, haunted by The Phantom of the Opera, slimed by Ghostbusters, slapped around by Superman, and blasted by Back to the Future. 

Once I had taken enough of a beating, I decided to make use of the nice day and do some exploring.  I decided to actually go inside many casinos that I had never stepped inside or hadn’t stepped inside for years.  I made a further exploration of the Bellagio which is actually quite artistic.  Many of the ceilings are decorated with butterflies and they also have some elegant gardens in the resort. 

I also wandered about the Monte Carlo, New York New York, the Cosmopolitan, Harrah’s, and the Mirage.  And at the Mirage, some semblance of my luck managed to show its face as I found a kindly The Twilight Zone machine which allowed me to play steadily for a long while, but didn’t net me big bucks. 

After six hours of walking around, I was ready to return to the Rio and put my feet up for a bit.  Upon resting for a while, I decided to take my $1 bills and give it one final shot.  This was my luckiest moment as Judge Judy was quite benevolent.  I ended up earning 8x my investment.  It was a true pity that I only had put $5 into the machine.  Ah well.  A win is a win.

I ended up having my supper at the BK Whopper Bar at the Rio.  Whopper Bars began appearing a few years back.  Their menu is actually pretty limited as they only serve Whoppers or Double Whoppers, though they also have a traditional breakfast menu in the mornings.  The big difference is that you can get fixings that aren’t available at a regular Burger King and you can also get a beer if you desire.  I had a Whopper with the traditional fixings, but added pepper bacon and sautéed mushrooms.

Tonight I’ve decided to take it easy and perhaps watch the cult comedy, Kung Pow!:  Enter the Fist.  Tomorrow will be spent at Qua Baths and Spa, though this time I will be paying for it out of my own pocket.  However, I must take a moment and put it into perspective.  The Vegas casinos have been kind enough to pay for my spa visits the last three times.  Including tips, that means they have paid out somewhere between $800-$850 total.  They barely got a fraction of that back from me today, so I can still claim ultimate victory in the money wars.  Also, thanks to the free room upgrade, I’ve actually broken even and may even be slightly ahead asset wise.

Until the next time. . .