Shelterbelt Presents My Occasion of Sin and Nobody Gets Paid 4/22-5/7

Shelterbelt Theatre is proud to present two premiere productions by Native Omaha playwrights, My Occasion of Sin by Monica Bauer and late night offering, Nobody Gets Paid by Ellen Struve. My Occasion of Sin, directed by Roxanne Wach, runs April 15-May 8, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6pm, with the May 8 performance at 2pm. Nobody Gets Paid runs April 22-May 7, Friday-Saturday only at 10:30pm. Reservations may be made at www.shelterbelt.org or 402.341.2757.

Wach first came across My Occasion of Sin at the 2010 Great Plains Theatre Conference. "I was unable to attend her reading and asked Monica if I could get a copy of the script. After being at performances all day and evening, I started to read the script when I got home and couldn't put it down. I knew I had to direct it."

Blending local history and settings with fictional characters, My Occasion of Sin is set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1969 Omaha race riots. The story follows the convergence of the characters lives as they challenge their own views and seek common ground in the changing times. A Polish South Omaha accordion player and music store owner and his wife (Jonathan Wilhoft and Janet Macklin) try to evolve with the growing trend of rock and roll by reluctantly hiring a black North Omaha jazz drummer (D. Kevin Williams). The drummer is trying to restore the Dreamland Ballroom to its former jazz mecca glory. Sixteen year old accordion student (Bailey Newman) hears jazz and her world is blown open, much to the chagrin of her teacher and his wife. Meanwhile, a fourteen year old girl from The Projects (Jocelyn Eusery) tries to find her own voice, as the world spins out of control. The action is punctuated by a score of jazz, polka, popular 1960s music and vintage images of Omaha and Omaha families.

Bauer adds, "The play is fictional, but the setting is Omaha in 1969. The city of Omaha, the North side and the South side, is almost another character in the play. Anybody who was here back then should recognize the era and the emotions, but like most playwrights, I hope to have written a play with universal appeal. Anyone's who's ever been young trying to find their way, or older and trying to adjust to changing times, will find something of themselves in My Occasion of Sin."
Bauer started work on My Occasion of Sin in graduate school at Boston University in 2005. Captivated by the relationship she saw as a South Omaha teen between Luigi Waites from North Omaha, her first percussion teacher, and Johnny Swoboda. Swoboda owned a music store with lesson rooms that was originally called "Johnny Swoboda's Accordion Center." By 1968, when Bauer was 15, it had become "Johnny Swoboda's Music Center."

"Johnny was hiring all sorts of folks to teach kids what they wanted to learn: how to play rock and roll," Bauer continues. "Here were two people who were literally from opposite sides of town and opposite sides of everything else, it seemed. Luigi was divorced; Johnny was a family man with a house full of kids. And at a time when the nightly news was all about racial tensions, here were these two guys: one white, one black. And they seemed to get along great! That was the tiny seed which blossomed into this play."

In 2007, the play received a reading with the Nebraska Repertory Theater, Lincoln, NE, which was supported by a grant from the Lied Foundation. Actor D. Kevin Williams, who played the role of Luigi, brought Waites to the reading.

"Luigi and I talked about the play, and the fact that the character of Luigi Wells was inspired by him, but was not him," Bauer recalls. "I asked Luigi if he wanted me to change the character's name, and he said that wouldn't be necessary. He was flattered that one of his old students remembered him, and was tickled to watch a character on stage who shared some of his history, yet was very different. I was very sad to learn of his passing, for many reasons. I had just heard the play would be performed at the Great Plains Theater Conference in 2010, and very shortly after, learned that this dear man would not be around to see it. I am dedicating the play to Luigi Waites, and his life's mission: bringing people together through music."

Bauer admits that there are pieces of her in all the characters, but says, "I was never actually interested myself in becoming a jazz drummer. I studied vibes with Luigi!"

Bauer, currently a writing fellow at Quinnipiac University, CT, will attend performances April 21-24, with talkbacks scheduled after the show on April 22 and 23. Joining Bauer for the post-show discussions will be the cast and director of the production with A'Jamal Byndon, Executive Director, Omaha Table Talk Collaborating Center (April 22) and Rudy Smith, eyewitness and photographer of the 1969 race riots (April 23).

Continuing the jazz theme, Shelterbelt presents the late night premiere production, Nobody Gets Paid, directed by Scott Working. Blending live jazz from area musicians with humorous observations from the modern jazz life, the cast includes: Craig Bond, Carl Brooks, Zach Cook, Noah Diaz, Scott Glasser, Julia Hinson, Jeremy Johnson, Kelcivious Jones, Andy Niess and L. James Wright.

"The first scene I wrote was a Valentine's Day gift for my husband. It wasn't at all romantic," say Struve, whose husband is a musician. "Honestly, it's a bit dark, but it made him laugh and encouraged me to write down a few more of the many stories I've been making up during the countless jazz performances and festivals we've attended throughout our marriage."
Shelterbelt Theatre is Omaha's home for new and original theatre in Omaha. Their mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment in which to focus the development of original work and to provide for the practical education of writers, performing artists, creative and technical staff, and the general public in the art and science of moving an idea from the mind to the stage.

Productions of My Occasion of Sin and Nobody Gets Paid are made possible with the support of Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment.