The Flick, Dog Act, Broke-ology

[Jane Zussman]

3/16-24 - Lansing Community College Performing Arts in partnership with Peppermint Creek Theatre Company presents The Flick by Annie Baker directed by John Lepard

7:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday, March 16-17, 2018
7:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday, March 23-24, 2018
2:00 p.m. Sundays, March 18 & 25, 2018

Where Peppermint Creek Theatre Company
Miller Performing Arts Center
6025 Curry Lane, Lansing, MI

This Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in a run-down movie theatre where three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors around. A hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.

Director John Lepard said, “While the play touches on many timely subjects including racial friction and the loss of an artistic medium in a digital age, the play is ultimately about the need to break through our barriers and connect with another human.”

Several years ago, Lepard had proposed directing the play to LCC, but performance rights weren’t available at the time and LCC’s performance spaces weren’t conducive to the movie theatre setting. Melissa Kaplan, LCC Performing Arts Coordinator, suggested the possibility of teaming with Peppermint Creek. “I knew Peppermint Creek has also wanted to produce The Flick, and I thought their space at Miller Performing Arts Center would be the perfect setting. Partnering helps both groups by sharing resources and audiences.”

“Peppermint Creek is thrilled to be partnering with LCC, an institution that creates such vivid and dynamic theatre,” said Chad Swan-Badgero, Peppermint Creek’s Artistic Director.  “It has become increasingly important for us as a theatre company to reach further into the community for partnerships and collaborations to deepen the work on our stage, and to diversify our audiences and the experience they have at the theatre. Collaborations such as these truly help build and create a strong theatre and arts community in Lansing.”

The cast includes Ndegwa McCloud, Hannah Feuka, Steve Lee and Quinn Kelley. In a case of fiction meeting reality, two cast members are movie theatre employees, McCloud at NCG Cinema Eastwood and Feuka at The State Theatre in Ann Arbor.

Cost $5 students, $10 faculty/staff/seniors (65+), $15 general admission.
Tickets can be purchased on the Peppermint Creek website – http://www.peppermintcreek.org/the-flick-tickets.html or at the door 30 minutes before curtain.

Contact LCC Performing Arts Production Office, 517-483-1122/1488
Web http://www.lcc.edu/showinfo
 Facebook: LCC Theatre, Music and Dance
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3/16-25 - Dog Act - This capstone thesis production featuring the 2018 MFA Acting candidates follows the traveling performer Zetta Stone, her companion Dog, and her diverse theatre troupe in this post-apocalyptic vaudeville as they journey through the wilderness of the former Northeast U.S., heading toward a gig in China.  Will they find it?  Will their voices be heard? Will they survive the journey?  Highlighting a year-long ensemble based endeavor of research and collaboration, the show features graduate designs, along with fight direction, choreography, and vocal coaching by cast members.
 
Dog Act by Liz Duffy Adams
Directed by Christina Traister
Wharton Center for Performing Arts
MSU Arena Theatre (basement of Auditorium building)
110 minutes, no intermission

https://www.whartoncenter.com/events/detail/dot-dog-act/ 
March 16, 8pm
March 17, 8pm
March 18, 2pm
March 20, 21, & 22, 7:30pm
March 23, 8pm
March 24, 2pm & 8pm
March 25, 2pm

Director Pre-Show Discussion Sunday, March 18, 2018 at 1:15pm
Post-Show Discussion on Friday, March 22, 2018 (Following the Performance)

General Admission $15
Seniors and Faculty $13
Students $10

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3/17-25 - Ixion Goes for Broke with Jackson's Play

Ixion Ensemble presents Broke-ology by Nathan Louis Jackson March 17, 18, 24 & 25 at The Robin Theatre 1105 S. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI. Show times are 8 pm on Saturdays and 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $15 at the door and are available via Eventbrite.com prior to the show. For more information call 517.775.4246, email mailto:ixione...@gmail.com or visit us online via facebook or http://ixiontheatre.com.

ENNIS: Yes, Broke-ology. It is a complex new science that examines two things. One, being broke. Two, staying alive despite your brokeness.

MALCOLM: Sounds very complex.

ENNIS: It is. And more importantly, very useful.

In spite of economic and emotional hardships, the King family has survived thanks to their love for and dedication to one another. William, the father afflicted with MS, still lives in the house in which his sons grew up, continuously grasping at the memories of his late wife and the dreams they shared of a better future for their children. Ennis, his elder son, takes care of William despite the pressure that comes with having a baby of his own on the way. Malcolm, the younger son, is a college graduate recently returned home after a taste of life outside the asphyxiating cycle of poverty and struggle in which he was raised. When the offer of a job in Connecticut tempts Malcolm into leaving for good, he is forced to decide between his duty to his family and his dreams.

Broke-ology is a funny, moving, and thoughtful meditation on the intersection of Economics and the plight of the American family. Playwright Nathan Louis Jackson developed the play while studying at Julliard and based it on his real-life experience growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas.  

The cast includes RICO BRUCE WADE plays the King family patriarch, William. After directing Ixion's season opener, Hoodoo Love, Rico returns to his acting roots. His recent performances include Ixion's production of Top Dog/Underdog (Lincoln,) the CAP production of Fences (Troy Maxon), the Clarence Brown Theatre production of ‘Master Harold… and the boys’ (Sam) and the Farmers Alley Theatre production of The Whipping Man (Simon). He is featured in the films Buzzard and Chasing the Star. Rico worked extensively with the Second City-Detroit, collaborating on over a dozen revues. Rico is also a teaching artist with the Detroit Creativity Project and the Michigan Actors Studio. 
Tyra High plays William's wife Sonia. Made in Detroit, Tyra High is a poet and orating writer, she is finding her way into new rhythms of performance art debuting in Broke-ology.  
Daniel Bonner plays the older brother, Ennis.  He made his Ixion debut as Orcus in She Kills Monsters. He then followed it up as a member of the ensemble cast of Secrets.  He also appeared in Riverwalk Theatre's production of Superior Donuts. Daniel graduated from the Detroit School for the Arts. 
Lekeathon Wilson plays the youngest brother ​​in the king family, Malcolm.  He is a boxer that fights out of MGGA in Grand Rapids Michigan. Lekeathon attends MSU studying physics and math. He made his theatre debut in the Downeaster production of The Laramie Project. 

"This is a funny and heart-felt story that will resonate with anyone struggling to reach their dreams, while balancing the needs of an aging family," say Ixion Artistic Director jeff croff. "It has been a pleasure to get to know the King family."

Broke-ology is directed by Ixion Artistic Director, jeff croff. Assistant Director is Julie Hartley.  Costumer is Sadonna Croff. Producer is Fred Longacre.

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Jane Zussman

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