Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 24

The brutality and barbarism of Shakespeare's early 'revenge' play, Titus Andronicus, make it difficult fare for modern audiences. And yet, as director Stacey Koloski says about her staging at South Portland's Mad Horse Theatre Company: 'Titus Andronicus shows the human cost to the cycle of war and violence.' That the tragedy with all its on-stage atrocities may be 'frighteningly relevant today' does not make the experience any less painful for the spectators. Yet despite its assault on our emotions and senses, the audience at the Mad Horse Theatre cannot help but be gripped and moved by what it witnesses.

The dark, handsome man with twinkling blue eyes and classically chiseled features who sits opposite me at the Maine State Music Theatre has the look of a leading man. However, at this moment he is wearing his hat as the company's newly minted Artistic Consultant. Nonetheless, I am not wrong in my initial impression. Curt Dale Clark is, indeed, a leading man - a prominent actor who has tread the boards in major theatres across the country starring in roles such as Javert (Les Miserables), The Phantom (Phantom of the Opera), Don Lockwood (Singing in the Rain), and Joe Gillis (Sunset Boulevard). He is also the playwright and lyricist of a number of musical fairy tales, for which his longtime collaborator, Marc Robin has written the music. But this is the first juncture in a career that has spanned twenty-four years that Clark has had the opportunity to combine his creative and acting talents with his skills as a theatre administrator.

In his in vino veritas speech near the end of Ken Ludwig's comedy, Moon Over Buffalo, George Hay voices a nostalgic paean to the "wicked life upon the stage." Like several of Ludwig's other plays, Moon Over Buffalo is a predictable, but gently amusing look at a troupe of actors treading the boards in out-of-town theatres, ever dreaming about the big break.

With the start of Memorial Day, hordes of summer visitors flock to Maine for an idyllic summer of sailing, swimming, hiking, kayaking, and reveling in the beauty of the rocky coast, serene lakes and mountains, and pine-scented air. But exploring the outdoors is not the only reason to visit the state whose moniker is 'Vacationland.' For theatre lovers there are some excellent opportunities to experience exciting professional and community theatre productions.