art

“O’Neill’s Ghosts” Play at The Odyssey Theatre – Opens Sept. 5th

Posted on by lkthayer

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September 5th – 8PM (Limited Engagement)

Performances: Thurs.- Sat. 8PM – Sun. 2PM

The Odyssey Theatre

johnstarkproductions.com

O’Neill’s Ghosts, written by award-winning playwright Jovanka Bach, is told from the tormented perspective of Eugene O’Neill as he struggles with his latest writing while being haunted by the ghosts of his alcoholic-suicidal son, Bud; his career-plagued father, James; his dope-fiend mother, Ella; and debauched older brother Jamie. O’Neill suffers pangs of conscience while ravaging his family’s troubled history as plot fodder for his many plays, but it doesn’t stop him from pushing the pen.

The drama is set in 1912, in a coastal Connecticut home. As O’Neill arduously tries to concentrate on his latest work, he is haunted by the years of paternal neglect toward his eldest son, Eugene O’Neill Jr. (Bud). This relationship is reminiscent of the interactions with his own father James, mother Ella and brother Jamie. In the meanwhile, his long-suffering but dutiful wife, Carlotta struggles to uphold his privacy. The interruptions include a series of frantic calls from the family attorney concerning Eugene’s and Carlotta’s overwrought concern for their ailing dog. From her own perspective, the family’s surly Irish maid, Maude, grows even more disgusted as she tries to make sense of the family’s dysfunction.

Sadly neither O’Neill’s father, his mother, nor his brother can impress upon him enough to change the way he interacts with his own son, Bud. The more he tries to impress his father, the more Bud’s spirit deteriorates as it becomes evident that his father will never take the time from his calling to accept him into his world. And, just as O’Neill seems to have an epiphany, it is all too late as Bud takes his own life. But, the show must go on as they say, and O’Neill continues to bury himself in his work.

Featured as Eugene O’Neill is John DiFusco, with a supporting cast of Dana Kelly, Michael Vaccaro, Lisa Thayer, Penny Orloff, Tom Groenwald and Tanya Starcevich.

The production is designed by Jaret Sacrey, with lighting and sound by Kent Inasy and stage management by Joe Morrissey. Poster designs by Lara Starcevich.

Stephen John Kalinich

Posted on by lkthayer

 

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Photo by L.K. Thayer

Art kills
and builds
levels all fields
strips power
from the unworthy
and thieves.
Art does not
overcharge
take advantage
of the market.
Does not cave in
or pander
to the lowest
common denominator.
Real Art
is pure intent
in my opinion.
Art does not manipulate
or call garbage or dreck
and lewd expressions genius.
Art is the destruction
of the mundane.
Art must be ever fresh
create new boundaries
that enhance
and bring benefit to all beings.
Stephen John Kalinich
© 2014

Frank O’Hara

Posted on by lkthayer

orange photo: oranges oranges.jpg

Why I Am Not A Painter

I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,

for instance, Mike Goldberg
is starting a painting. I drop in.
“Sit down and have a drink” he
says. I drink; we drink. I look
up. “You have SARDINES in it.”
“Yes, it needed something there.”
“Oh.” I go and the days go by
and I drop in again. The painting
is going on, and I go, and the days
go by. I drop in. The painting is
finished. “Where’s SARDINES?”
All that’s left is just
letters, “It was too much,” Mike says.

But me? One day I am thinking of
a color: orange. I write a line
about orange. Pretty soon it is a
whole page of words, not lines.
Then another page. There should be
so much more, not of orange, of
words, of how terrible orange is
and life. Days go by. It is even in
prose, I am a real poet. My poem
is finished and I haven’t mentioned
orange yet. It’s twelve poems, I call
it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery
I see Mike’s painting, called SARDINES.