http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYX_0-0HFio

And Toto too theatre presents the award winning play Heads by EM Lewis-tickets www.theatermania.com, or andtototoo.org

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Media Contact:                ....

Susan Lyles....

720-280-7058     ....

susanlyles@comcast.net....

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For Immediate Release                   

                       

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Denver’s And Toto Too Theatre Company Announces the Selection of....

“Heads” by E.M. Lewis for Fall Production....

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....DENVER.., ..CO.... –September 1, 2009 - And Toto Too Theatre Company (http:// www.andtototoo.org),....

a not-for-profit theater company producing new works by women playwrights, today announced  the  selection of The Francesca Primus Prize  award winning new play Heads by E.M. Lewis as the company’s fall production.  The regional premiere will be performed on September 30, 2009 and the show will run through October 29, 2009 at the Denver Victorian Playhouse. ....

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E.M. Lewis is an award winning playwright, not only of the Francesca Primus Prize, which was until 2002 administered by the Denver Center Theatre Company, but also just received the 2009 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for her new work Song of Extinction.....

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Heads is the timely and compelling story of a British Embassy worker, an American engineer, a network journalist and a freelance photographer who are held captive in ....Iraq....; as death draws close, each hostage must decide what he’ll do to survive.  This is a play that Edward Albee calls “provocative and wonderfully threatening." ....

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Heads will run September 30 - October 29 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at the Denver Victorian Playhouse located at ....4201 Hooker Street.... in ....Denver..... Tickets are $20.00 - $22.00 Wednesdays and Thursdays and will be specially priced at $11.00 on Tuesdays.  Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 303-433-4343 or by ordering on-line at the company’s website www.andtototoo.org or directly through www.theatermania.com. ....

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*To arrange an interview with award winning playwright, E.M. Lewis, call the media contact, Susan Lyles at 720-280-7058.....

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About the Theater Company: And Toto too Theatre Company is located and legally incorporated as a not-for-profit in ....Denver.., ..Colorado..... All other brand or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders. ....

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TO BE REMOVED FROM THIS DISTRIBUTION LIST - SIMPLY REPLY WITH "PLEASE REMOVE" IN THE SUBJECT LINE....

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http://onebigbadwolf.blogspot.com/2008/06/glider.html

Check out Brady's Blog on the Glider and then hang around and read some of his other writings.

Susan

The Miles family boathouse on Lake Michigan becomes the site for three sisters to unite after their mother's funeral. 

And Toto Too's current production at the Denver Victorian Playhouse directed by Susan Lyles captures Katherine Snodgrass' award winning play, The Glider.

From the beginning the plot becomes predictable. A sense of deja vu nibbles around the edges. With plays revolving around women, there is the sense we've singing the same song just a different verse, notably Steel Magnolias, and most recently The Vic's Crimes of the Heart. Indubitably we'll wander the terrain again and again.

When three sisters connect after their mother's funeral, there's going to be anger, resentment, and the forever embedded feel-sorry-for- me-you-never-cared-look-at-the- sacrifices-I-made attitudes.

In the Glider it's all there. They're going to fight, argue, tease, laugh, disapprove, blame, pity and somewhere along the way find a piece of common ground. It continues to amaze me on the stage and for "real" how some sisters, friends, families want to control the lives of everyone else. Individuals make individual decisions, but always when individual decisions are made, resentment turns into a full force gale containing a lot of hot wind.

No real surprises pop up in The Glider. Surprises are always expected. Secrets are clutched tightly until they explode at the wrong time and wrong place guaranteeing a dramatic tour de force.

What sets this production apart is the treatment Lyles gives it along with her stunning cast. On a delightful cluttered set in a boathouse with stuff all around: boat stuff, fishing stuff, catch all stuff. Playing in connection with the Vic's superb production of Catch Me If You Can happening in a mountain cabin, the basic walls for the cabin fit nicely with the boathouse. It takes an hour and a half for the crew to change from one set to another. Darrin Smith's concept of the boathouse with a kayak hanging from the rafters definitely adds to the atmosphere, Along with the sounds of waves from the lake, fish jumping, and other unidentifiable lake sounds designed by Smith, you can almost smell fish stuff, boat stuff, and wet swimming suit stuff wafting within the four walls.

The Glider became an experiment for Lyles And Toto Too to launch a weeknight theatre run Tuesday-Thursday. An experiment that definitely holds merit.

In the dark, Fran slinks into the boathouse, lantern in hand, carefully juggling an urn talking all the while. Rita Broderick charmingly brings the alcoholic National Geographic photographer to life with casual humor. The last time she returned home was for her father's funeral five years prior. Now in the darkened solace of the boathouse, she babbles to her mother. She really isn't as bad as everything thinks she is, she tries to proclaim as she "smirkenly" uncovers a bottle of vodka she hid five years ago. Sure her mother hated her for running off to see the world, claiming a golden opportunity many only dream of, she knows she's the bad apple in everyone's eyes.

In the midst of her rambling to her mother, feeling the warmth of the vodka sliding down her throat, the sound of her sister Essie calling for her sends Fran scurrying to hide the bottle and hide her mother's urn.

Loaded down with a tray of glasses and pitcher of lemonade, Essie chides her for sitting in the dark. Rebecca Remaly takes on Essie's essence with a sense of tenderness and caring. The mother of three children, always having to contend with an ex husband, the role of Essie is undoubtedly the less appealing of the three sisters. A chatterbox by nature, aching to want to feel in control of something, Fran becomes an obvious target. One minute content to have Fran there, reminiscing over carefree childhood days, the next biting at her heels for staying away, for being out of contact, for never writing or calling. Demonstrating a one upsmanship of tenderness for Fran, she reveals a bottle of vodka she brought just for her estranged sister. Of course, she resents Fran. Her children are her life and here she is in the company of a renowned world traveler, making assumptions, never bothering to find out if Fran missed being away from home.

Of course, the house will go to Chrissy, the youngest, who put her life on hold to return home to care for the ailing mother. Fran just knows this to be true. After all, it was Chrissy who saw to her every whim, cooked for her, fed her, bathed her, and waited on her hand and foot. Chrissy loves the house; Fran knows it to be true. Along with the smirks, the sharp words in retort to Essie, the confident truths she conjured up, Broderick shades Fran with soft grays around the edges providing insight that there's more to Fran than what she verbally projects. Broderick shows it in Fran's eyes, half-hidden contemplative expressions.

Likewise, Remaly gives Essie three-dimensional insight where it would be all too easy to play her as a paper doll cutout. Through the expertise of the three actors is where The Glider stands up and talks.

Fran and Essie know their little sister, Chrissy. They have her pegged as so many sisters think they have. Chrissy's the natural caretaker who will hunker down in the family homestead with who? Whoops! Seems as though little Sis has become lovey dovey with someone rattling Essie's cage.

a tray full of medicine bottles, Chrissy bursts into the boathouse. She's been cleaning out the mother's room, deciding the multitudes of medications need to be destroyed. Without thinking about the fish, her intent is to dump them into the lake. Amanda Van Nostrand slides wonderfully into Chrissy's heart and soul. Who her sisters think she is and who she really is tumbles into the mix as Chrissy takes a stand in her own right. Secrets spill; teeth are bared with sharp growls. Huge bites are taken along with many nasty nips. A once-upon-a-time lake monster becomes a tease out of right field, and surprises explode in everyone face. The actors are astute enough to react honestly to the not so surprisingly surprises allowing the play to be palatable.

Broderick, Remaly, and Van Nostrand are the reasons to see this production, along with Lyles, and Smith. I applaud And Toto Too to champion women playwrights, but hopefully out there, somewhere there are women playwrights who champion women who can do more than gossip, resent sisters for making individual choices, and are able to rise above the pettiness of squabbles, guilt, and blame.

In spite of that, And Toto Too's production merits experiencing because of the "who's" involved.

The Glider
By Katherine Snodgrass 
.

Take a read of our combined review with Catch me at the Denver Victorian Playhouse.

Catch Me If You Can and The Glider Contrast at The Vic ....

by Craig Williamson -North Denver Tribune..

Northwest Denver's Victorian Theatre is presenting two shows in repertory, with Catch Me If You Can on weekends and The Glider on weeknights. The Vic's Catch Me is a clever and comic mystery with many twists and turns, and The Glider, produced by And Toto Too, is a tear-jerker about three sisters working through issues and secrets after their mother's funeral. We cover both of these productions in this review starting with the mystery.

.. ..Catch Me If You Can is a whodunit written by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert set in a remote cabin (transported to the Colorado mountains for this production). Daniel Corban's wife has disappeared, which he reports to the local authorities. When a woman he has never seen before shows up claiming to be his missing wife, hilarity and intrigue ensue, with everything in constant flux until the clever and unexpected final resolution. 

.. ..Director Edwin Fronheiser keeps things moving at a quick pace with high energy levels (though the amount of yelling did get a bit tiresome). There are strong contrasts between the characters and in transitions between scenes, without being too jarring.

.. ..The actors are well cast, led by Christian Mast as Daniel Corbin and Wade P. Wood as Inspector Levine. Wood's dry humor fits the part perfectly, and he gives us a great sense of having his patience pushed to the limit over and over again. Mast is nicely befuddled by the appearance of a strange woman pretending to be his wife, and manages to ramp up his anger and hysterics throughout. Nils Swanson plays Sidney, a wonderfully funny character, with wit, timing, and depth. He is hilarious, but also adds a serious dimension.  Robin Wallace is appropriately over-the-top affectionate with her "husband," then turns manipulative and conniving with him in private. Dell Domnik's Father Kelleher is pious – and devious.

.. ..While not a complete opposite, The Glider stands in stark contrast to Catch Me. And Toto Too Productions brings this Katherine Snodgrass script to its first production in the area. It is the story of three sisters, coming together for their mother's funeral, working through issues and secrets from the distant past up through the present. Bit by bit, more and more is revealed about the truth of their lives. The play has a strong formal construction – it starts and ends with Francesca on stage alone, and all aspects, including dialogue, energy, movement, and the number of people on stage grow to the climax, then ebb back down. This gives the show a sense of completeness and resolution, even though much of the content is not resolved.

.. ..Director Susan Lyles shows patience that reflects the sense of a quiet evening in a boathouse. She develops the shows internal rhythms well, following and enhancing the pace and structure embedded in the script.

.. ..Lyles cast the show well, with three strong yet contrasting actresses.  Rita Broderick dominates as Francesca, the sister who left to travel the world. She knows there is resentment, but tries to work around it. When one particular secret is revealed, her sense of being overwhelmed is palpable. Rebecca Remaly is staid and reliable as Estella, the second sister, who is fighting to keep up some sense of normalcy. Remaly used some delightful small character bits that served to reinforce Essie's personality. Chrissy, the youngest sister played honestly by Amanda Van Nostrand, seems the most fragile at first, but reveals more as the evening progresses. All have multiple layers of anger, resentment, and betrayal, as well as love, compassion, and loyalty.

.. ..One of the realities of running two shows together is that they must share the performance space with a minimum of changeover work. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the boathouse set for The Glider, with no indication whatsoever of the mountain cabin concealed beneath. The Glider is pushed somewhat downstage, but with a small cast and a more intimate theme, this works well. Both Wade Wood's set for Catch Me and Darren Smith's set for The Glider capture the essence of their locations, with good details sprinkled throughout. Karalyn "Star" Pytel has designed the lights to illuminate both shows reasonably well in their respective spaces, enhancing mood and not being afraid of using dim levels where appropriate. Smith also designed the sound for The Glider, which was exceptional. There was near constant background noise, as appropriate for an exterior setting, interspersed with cues and effects called for in the script.

.. ..Catch Me If You Can and The Glider are two very different plays sharing a venue. Catch Me is clever and intriguing, keeping the audience guessing about what is really going on and laughing at each new misadventure. The Glider is thoughtful, contrasting three sisters' reaction to nostalgia – Chrissy wants to move on, Essie desperately hopes things will stay the same, and Fran wants to go back. None is necessarily the right answer, and we leave not knowing who will do what, but thinking about what might happen. Perhaps the biggest contrast between the shows is this sense of resolution. Catch Me is all about figuring out how everything will be resolved in the end. On the other hand, like so much in family relationships, The Glider leaves much unresolved.

.. ..So if you want a comic mystery with lots of plot twists, go on the weekend to see Catch Me If You Can. If a tearjerker relationship drama is more your speed, see The Glider on a weeknight. With both playing at The Vic, you have a choice of good theatre.

.. ..Catch Me If You Can runs through July 12 on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2:00 pm. The Glider runs through July 10 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 pm. Both shows are performed at The Vic, 4201 Hooker Street in Northwest Denver. Tickets are $22, discounted to $20 for students and seniors, and are available by phone at (303) 433-4343. Next up at The Vic is Politics: Showbiz on the Powerbiz, opening July 25. For more information, visit www.denvervic.com.

.. So now you know you want to come see the show-TUESDAYS $11.OO, Wednesday and Thursday.  It's the final week-don't miss out on this wonderful story of three sisters...

Susan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQZLqjcwDc

And Toto too-theatre company set for The Glider-change over from Catch Me at The Denver Victorian Playhouse

So now that the show has opened I find that I really must get my house cleaned....and yes I did get a gift certificate to hire a cleaner twice a month (my better half has finally admitted defeat and conceded that I am not  a good little housewife) but as a lot of you know I have to clean the house before the cleaners come in. 

We had a small but enthusiastic crowd last night.  Someone commented how some of the things said hit close to home and now she had to go home and call her sister.

Only 1 tech glitch, but Jessie is on it and it won't happen again.  The ambient sound I had misgivings about taking in and out is being redone-I would rather it come from the back of the house and be able to have additional sound cues at the same time than to fade it in and out throughout the show-it's a bit like the crickets are warning of an impending earthquake ( those of you in CA will know what I mean).

Critic coming tonight-first of the big papers to come see what we are all about thanks Lisa for taking the time-

National Theatre Convention is in town-getting a few tickets from that.

Got our first blog mention  Thanks AJ   http://blogs.denverpost.com/denverdoings/2008/06/12/the-rockies-dont-scare-me-yet/


So off and running now. Yea!

Fingers crossed attendance will  be high enough to fund our next show-which means I have a lot of reading to do!

susan

I'm sitting here feeling calm, but at a bit of a loss-I feel lke I should be running around doing all kinds of last minute things before opening.  This is the first time in several productions, (not just ours but others that I have either costumed or acted in) we were done with tech-set, costumes, etc before opening night.  I'm nit picking on things to do, should I age this, or maybe that should be a different color, when I should just be still.

This has been as one of my actors put it " a drama free" show.  Looking back it has-we've all played well together-thank you girls.

 The actors are ready for the audience, our tech is ready, and the set is ready. So now a nights sleep and off to pick up wine and cheese for the opening night reception and we will be off and running.

This is what it should be. 


The Glider by Katherine Snodgrass at the Denver Victorian Playhouse, 4201 Hooker Street Denver 80212

So make those reservations, either at theatermania.com, or call 303-433-4343.

Remember Tuesdays are bargain night $11.00 a ticket (no other discounts apply).

Off to bed, to sleep per chance to dream....

a very satisfied, 

Susan

 

Media Contact:               

Susan Lyles

720-280-7058    

susanlyles@comcast.net

 

For Immediate Release                   

                       

 

Denver's And Toto Too Theatre Company Announces Cast for

"The Glider" by Katherine Snodgrass

 

DENVER, CO – April 8, 2008 -And Toto Too Theatre Company, a not-for-profit theater company producing new works by women playwrights, is proud to announce the cast for the award winning new play The Glider by Katherine Snodgrass June 11-July 10, 2008 at the Denver Victorian Playhouse.

 

Playing Fran will be Rita Broderick, who critics call "…mesmerizing…,".

Rebecca L Remaly, hailed by the critics as "smart…sensitive…" plays the middle sister Essie, and newcomer Amanda Van Nostrand, will round out the cast as the youngest sister Chrissy.

 

The Glider tells the story of three very different sisters who come together at their mothers funeral.  In the boat house where they spent their childhood, secrets are revealed and decisions made that will alter their lives, but will it break the bond of the love the sisters have for one another?

 

The Glider will run June 11-July 10, 2008 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, at the Denver Victorian Playhouse located at 4201 Hooker Street. Tickets are $20.00- $22.00, and may be purchased by calling the box office at 303-433-4343 or by ordering on-line at the company's website www.andtototoo.org and through www.theatermania.com.  Tuesdays will be specially priced at $11.00 for all tickets.

 

*To arrange an interview with playwright, Katherine Snodgrass, call the media contact.

 

About the Theater Company: And Toto too Theatre Company is located and legally incorporated as a not-for-profit in Denver, Colorado. All other brand or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

 

Douglas Brown article on working moms-And Toto too Theatre


Finally got some coverage at the Post-Douglas Brown was the writer on it and captured Harry to a "T", Camden is doing his spiderman impersonation in the photo.

Fingers crossed this will draw a little more attention to one of the "best kept little secrets in Denver"

Susan

Tickets for The Glider by Katherine Snodgrass are on sale at theatermania.com, or call 303-433-4343 for group reservations, or information andtototoo.org.

TUESDAYS ARE $11.00 FOR EVERYONE!

Special discounts to CTG members and attendees of the National Theatre Convention in June.