Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Another Rave Review for Elephant's Graveyard!

From Brendan Kiley
The Stranger

Sometimes things just come together: The right script finds the right bunch of actors, the right director knows how to harness them all together, the theater is precisely the right shape and size, and the audience is full and generous. The room starts to hum and you forget time's passing. Only once you're clapping do you notice that your foot's fallen asleep.
Elephant's Graveyard, at Balagan Theatre, is one of those productions—which, frankly, is a bit of a surprise. Since its formation in 2006, the company has wandered up hills and into ditches (its production of The Spinning, an "original S&M love story musical written in iambic pentameter," in 2007, was the kind of searing disaster that tempts one to swear off theater forever), but this production is the first time Balagan has stood on a mountaintop. In the bar before the show, the bartender told a patron that the play was "like being stabbed in the heart." She wasn't wrong.

Nothing radical or groundbreaking happens in Elephant's Graveyard—just meticulous, fantastic storytelling by a midcareer playwright (George Brant), a young director (Jason Harber), and a pack of veteran fringe actors. The script—based on a true story about a traveling circus that, in 1916, stumbled into gory disaster in a muddy Tennessee town—is, like the best art, microscopically specific with echoes that radiate outward across time. It conjures a world with its own atmosphere and terrible internal logic. It's mesmerizing.
The star attraction of Sparks Circus, led by a frustrated but ambitious ringmaster, is Mary, America's largest circus elephant. Sparks brags that Mary is three inches taller than Jumbo. When the circus comes to town, it stages a promotional parade. Everybody in Erwin, Tennessee—the young and the old, the white and the brown—turns out to watch. Then something awful happens, setting off a story that I shy from telling because I want you to see this play. And I want it to give you the same pleasure it gave me. Learning what happens, and how, and how the 13 characters understand what happens in different ways, is the primary pleasure of Elephant's Graveyard. It's an old trick, but it works.
A wooden boardwalk runs across Balagan's long, shallow stage with 13 actors split into three camps: six circus people (ringmaster, clown, elephant trainer, et al.) on one side, six townies (the marshal, the preacher, a local housewife, et al.) on the other, and a railroad engineer in the middle. The circus people describe the gap between their sparkly, presentational surfaces and the muck of their lives. The ringmaster, a world-weary and resonantly smoky-voiced Michael Blum, is trying to keep up with his competition. The clown, played by a menacing Chris Bell, his face stretched into a rictus, snarls sardonically about hard labor and heartbreak.
The depressed townies have their own problems: The sensitive preacher (Samuel Hagen) can't find parishioners, the housewife (Joanna Horowitz) is driven to distraction by Erwin's persistent yellow mud, the local steam-shovel operator (a wild-haired and wild-eyed Ryan Higgins) drinks his tedium away. The townies need a diversion in the worst way, and the circus needs their bored desperation. They all get what they want at a terrible cost.
Ray Tagavilla, as the elephant trainer, is the show's secret weapon. The bulk of the tragedy hangs on his shoulders and he keeps the pathos tightly reined in, signaling devastating emotions with a tiny pause or a flick of his eyes. Tagavilla is a miraculous physical actor: So controlled and crisply specific, he allows no room to doubt his character. He rejects the presentational razzle-dazzle that rots so many performances, and he's allergic to mugging. His performance as a tic-riddled office worker in Washington Ensemble Theatre's recent production of The Mistakes Madeline Made was a paragon of restraint. Almost any other actor would've turned the character's compulsive gestures into cheap, Seinfeld-style caricature. Tagavilla made them both pitiable and charming. He has only a supporting role in Elephant's Graveyard—but during the play's tragic conclusion, he sits upstage in the dark, quietly weeping while other actors speak into the lights. The audience weeps with him.
The production has flaws: The best actors are understated, just telling their stories, but a few—like Sharon Barto as the kid—stray into a cornball, gee-willikers burlesque of their Podunk characters. And the script contains one pedantic, spell-breaking monologue by the marshal about the awful effects of American willpower.
But the total effect of the production is symphonic in its emotional variations on a tragic theme. Elephant's Graveyard buzzes with truth about the consequences of misunderstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville. It is the best thing Balagan has ever done.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Thoughts/Reviews on Elephant's Graveyard

"This show is darkly comic; it will make you laugh, but it also made many in the audience cry through frustration, sorrow and not a few through anger and hatred. Like the complicated stories of peoples' lives, this show will tangle your emotions into a twisted skein that you will be untangling the whole rest of the evening - I suggest walking to the show and walking home afterwards in the company of somebody you can talk with. I highly recommend everybody see this show. "-- Ravings of a Random Mind

"While there are a few laugh lines in the show, it's not really funny. It's an emotional punch in the gut that ended with few dry eyes in the sold-out house. Elephant's Graveyard is an amazing tale examining questions of justice, commerce, spectacle, race, gender, and revenge. Balagan's production is not to be missed. " -- West Seattle Weisenheimer

"The show is performed as direct audience address, with all the different characters telling their story directly and rarely interacting with one another. It's a device that works well and lets Brant display a wide cross-section of the people involved....There's not much to fault the Balagan's production for, which has the audience in stitches at the open and in tears at the close."--TheSunBreak http://thesunbreak.com/2009/09/08/george-brants-dead-elephant

"Thanks for a gorgeous show!!! Sigh..Thank god for waterproof mascara..." Lisa Viertel

"What a wonderfully performed and directed show! Very powerful. My mind keeps going back to how you and your wonderful cast had me fully convinced that Mary, the huge, huge elephant, was actually in the room with us! The energy in the room changed drastically from the excitement of having the circus come to town, to the horror and sadness in the end when all was said and done. Not only did you transport me to that muddy town, but you also have given me food for thought about how I myself would have reacted had I been there. Thanks again!"-- Audience Member Jill Holliday

"Saw this yesterday with very little expectation and was incredibly surprised by a wonderful cast and a very powerful and moving story. Highly recommend this little gem of a show that took on a life of its own. can't say enough about this story and cast. Spread the word, beautifully done!"-- Audience Member Sandra Garcia-Pelayo

As a valued friend of Balagan Theatre, we want to offer you a SPECIAL TICKET PRICE!
Get your $12 tickets now!
Discount Code: Balagan
SHOWS ARE THURSDAY THRU SATURDAY AT 8pm & SUNDAY AT 2pm
SEPTEMBER 3 thru SEPTEMBER 26

Sunday, September 6, 2009

From The Stranger and relevant to Elephant's Graveyard

PETA's Show Goes On
Posted by Unpaid Intern on Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 12:36 PM
By news intern Garrett McCulloch

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals drew the usual mix of eye rolls, middle fingers and supportive car horns as they protested the Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus's visit to the ShoWare Center in Kent yesterday.

PETA recently gathered undercover footage showing Ringling Bros. trainers repeatedly hitting elephants backstage. They appear to be using a bullhook, a three-foot stick tipped with a sharp steel hook, hitting and prodding the elephants. Looking at the footage, it appears pretty damning.

"This abuse goes on behind the scenes, backstage, where the public never sees it," says Lisa Wathne, a captive exotic animal specialist with PETA. "I think too many people when they see the elephants perform in the ring don't realize it is the result of abuse."

A lawsuit pending in federal court alleges the same kind of abuse shown in PETA's video. And it's not the first time the circus has found itself in legal trouble. A trainer was tried on criminal animal abuse charges in 2001 for alleged use of a bullhook (he was acquitted), and Ringling Bros. has been sued for cruelty numerous times, once being ordered to pay animal-rights groups $20,000. "I think we're going to be in good shape," says Nancy Pennington, an activist who also works to release elephants from Woodland Park Zoo. "If the judgment goes against Ringling, that will effectively shut down the circus." Of course, the sort of abuse that looks offensive to humans—using bullhooks—may not constitute animal abuse, particularly considering courts have ruled against PETA in the past.

Read more at:


3 packed houses have experience Elephant's Graveyard thus far...where a bullhook across an Elephant trunk has tragic consequences.


SHOWS ARE THURSDAY THRU SATURDAY AT 8pm & SUNDAY AT 2pm

SEPTEMBER 3 thru SEPTEMBER 26

For more information go to: https://www.balagantheatre.org/

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BalaganTheatre

Tuesday, September 1, 2009


“Popcorn!” “Peanuts!” Relive the sights and sounds of a turn of the century circus!

The circus comes to Balagan Theatre in the WEST COAST PREMIERE of George Brant’s new and exciting play, ELEPHANT’S GRAVEYARD.

When a struggling circus comes to a small town in Tennessee, things are shaping up to be a normal stop for the show. The train arrives, the animals and performers settle in, and the tent is constructed. Finally the ever popular parade ensues, but Mary, the circus’ prize elephant, panics and causes a catastrophe. Events careen towards a climax you won’t believe as the townspeople seek revenge on Mary. Set in September of 1916, the play combines historical fact and legend, exposing the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge.

Elephant's Graveyard was awarded the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center, a "Best New Play" citation from the Austin Critics' Table, a Playwrights Center Core Apprentice Workshop and the Keene Prize for Literature (one of the world's largest student literary prizes at $50,000).

This production marks the directorial debut of Balagan stage regular and Company Member, Jason Harber (Arabian NIghts, Othello, Marat/Sade, Picasso). The show features the impressive ensemble talent of: Jose Amador, Ashley Bagwell, Sharon Barto, Christian D. Bell, Michael Blum, Banton Foster, Jake Groshong, Samuel Hagen, Ryan Higgins, Joanna Horowitz, Marty Ofsowitz, Allison Strickland, and Ray Tagavilla.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! This show is not to be missed.


SHOWS ARE THURSDAY THRU SATURDAY AT 8pm & SUNDAY AT 2pmSEPTEMBER 3 thru SEPTEMBER 26

Don't forget to treat yourself to the entertainment, drama and pure escape that only live theatre can provide. Get your Balagan Season Subscription NOW!

For more information on the shows, and to purchase your Season Ticket Subscription, go to:https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/72856

For more information on all things Balagan go to:https://www.balagantheatre.org/

See This Man in Balagan's Next Two Shows!


From our friends at Seattle Magazine:


In case you just emerged from 12 months of living “off the grid,” we’re sorry to be the first to tell you: It’s been a rough year for the arts. (Also: Michael Jackson is dead. Seriously!) Not surprisingly, when the economy takes a dive, so do theater and arts attendance numbers. But it’s not all bad news (don’t go running back to your yurt just yet). Our city remains rich in exciting arts offerings for the fall and beyond. We’ve collected our favorites here—as well as those of a few local arts leaders—and grouped them by personality (in the Fall Arts Calendar) so you can take in the arts according to your ever-changing moods. We’re also thrilled to present our 3rd annual Spotlight Award winners—five up-and-coming, peer-recommended local artists whose work we had the true pleasure of experiencing in the last year, and who we believe are on the brink of tremendous achievements. That should be plenty to keep you out of the woods and into the arts.

NEXT UP: Tagavilla is at Capitol Hill's Balagan Theatre in ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD!; check balagantheatre.org for more information!

Anyone who saw Washington Ensemble Theatre’s exquisite production of The Mistakes Madeline Made last February knows Ray Tagavilla—even if they don’t remember his name. The 31-year-old actor played Wilbur, the weird, verbal-tic-laden office worker who falls for the troubled Edna. In the hands of a less skilled actor, the character would have sunk to irritating caricature, but Tagavilla brought a stunning humanity to the role, infusing Wilbur with nuanced, underlying woundedness that made his bizarre quirks endearing.

“It was the perfect storm of script, role, cast and company,” Tagavilla says of the experience, which he names as his favorite performance to date—and he already boasts a long list of credits in Seattle’s fringe theater arena, including stints with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Annex Theater, Theater Schmeater and ArtsWest. Reviewers consistently call out his performances as stellar. But Tagavilla hasn’t made the leap to mainstream theater companies for one important reason: They rehearse during business hours, and he works as a site supervisor for a security firm 9 to 5. “I’m crawling toward getting rid of my regular job and doing theater full-time,” he says. But regular paychecks are hard to leave behind.

Tagavilla and his family moved to the Seattle area from the Philippines in 1985 when he was 7. He had never before seen carpet or his own breath in the cold. He remembers wanting to learn English quickly, so he watched a lot of television—which he believes influenced his desire to become an actor. As a senior in high school (at Burien’s J.F.K.), he was convinced by a friend to try out for the school play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Though he had never tried acting before, he landed the role of Demetrius and was hooked. But being from a “traditional Asian family,” he declared himself a business major upon entering University of Washington. By the time he was a junior, however, he had switched his major to drama.

Explaining how he tackles his characters, Tagavilla notes that for dramatic roles he tends to work “inside out,” meaning gaining an understanding of “how this character moves from one place to another, internally.” Conversely, for comedic roles, he works outside in: “I try to find the physicalities that make him unique.” The latter approach was successful both in Madeline and in Tagavilla’s most recent play (last May), Balagan Theater’s production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile. In it he played Sagot, Picasso’s pompous art dealer, and grabbed the audience’s attention the moment he walked on stage, bringing both humor and a riveting physical groundedness.

While nuanced minor characters may be his forte, the next time you see Tagavilla, it might be in his first producer role. This summer he commenced work on a production of Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind with Theater Schmeater’s former artistic director Rob West (though he is careful to point out, “We currently have no money, no theater space and no cast”). The play has been a favorite of Tagavilla’s since college, when he performed in it as his senior-year “swan song.” As for his long-term plans, Tagavilla says he imagines heading to New York City at some point to pursue acting. For now, he’s refraining from any delusions of grandeur. “I just want to be the kind of actor people stop on the street and say, ‘I know I’ve seen you somewhere,’” Tagavilla says, adding jokingly, “I want to be vaguely recognizable.” For audiences of Madeline and Picasso, at least, mission accomplished.