Meet Dr. Michael L. Mauldin, Artistic Director of CSU Summer Stages

Changes are afoot at the CSU Factory Theatre.  What was once the Dramatic Arts Program will, as of tomorrow, be the Cleveland State University Department of Theatre and Dance. Dr. Michael Mauldin will no longer by the Program Director, but the Interim Chairman of the Department. The Factory Theatre is likely not long for this world, being replaced by the North Campus Neighborhood, with the Department being relocated to the Allen Theatre, along with the Cleveland Play House.

But Michael Mauldin remains unperturbed by all of this activity. His focus right now is singular: mounting three shows at the Factory Theatre in rotating repertory, all set to open next week. He will be directing the third show to open, Curtains, a breezy musical by Kander and Ebb.

“Curtains was created by artists who were active in forming what’s known as the Golden Age of the American Musical, both in content and form,” says Mauldin, referring to music-and-words team Kander  and Ebb, the team responsible for shows like Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman. “It lovingly references several clichés of American musical theatre form, the ‘star is born’ story, and backstage murder mysteries.”

The show takes place during the first Boston preview of a terrible new musical, Robbin’ Hood of the Old West, which the producer hopes to take to Broadway. But when the awful leading lady is killed onstage during the curtain call and several more company members are murdered, homicide detective and musical theatre aficionado Cioffi is brought in to pop the perp.

Mauldin entered this production imagining it to be a tongue and cheek spoof of the theatre, another in what is now an annual tradition of dedicating one Summer Stages show every season to theatre about theatre (following Booth, about the famous acting family, Tom Stoppard’s farce Rough Crossing, and last year’s award winning Chekhov in Yalta). But, “this show does not have a cynical bone in its body. They love the people of the theatre.” Of Lieutenant Cioffi, the homicide investigator who moonlights as a stage performer, “He is the true meaning of ‘amateur’”, which comes from the French, “to love”. “He is very good at his job, but leads a mundane life and loves community theatre. He exists to walk the boards on the weekends, and when he has a chance to be among the people he adores, he can remind them of why they do what they do.”

The show has not been without its challenges, however. Mauldin affirms that this show has been the most difficult musical Summer Stages has undertaken, both in terms of music and choreography. The cast, in an unusual move, spent most of the first few weeks in vocal and dance rehearsals, not moving onto staging until a few weeks in. The real challenge for Mauldin has been simply arranging large number of people on stage; “It’s all huge crowd scenes!” The actors face their own challenges as well. “I’m amazed at the process of how contemporary actors can truthfully and honestly play intentional clichés without sounding cynical.”  They have, Mauldin says, by not being cynical about these characters, by embracing a real innocence.

Curtains opens 10 July 2010 at 8pm followed by a champagne reception.

The show then runs:

July 11 (2pm), 15, 23, 31, August 1 (2pm), 7 and 8(2pm)

Tickets are $10-15 and can be purchased online at http://csu.ticketleap.com or by phone at 216.687.2109

Curtains is appropriate for most audiences. There is mild language, and numerous non-explicit deaths.

A Day in the Life...

CSU Summer Stages 2010 season officially began rehearsals on Tuesday. Our student Apprentice Company begins every day with vigorous warmups, including yoga with company member Geoff Knox and intense cardio. As I write this, director Scott Spence is in the rehearsal studio with apprentice Eric Perusek (Jonathan) and Everett Quinton (Jonathan's mother, Madame Rosepettle) working on Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad.  Later this afternoon, Eric will be rehearsing The Elephant Man with Everett before he goes off to the gym to continue preparing himself for the physically demanding role of the grotesquely misshapen John Merrick. At that time (and until long after I've gone home), Dr. Michael Mauldin, the producer of CSU Summer Stages and director of Curtains, steps in with music director John Kroll to continue music rehearsals with the cast.  In the meantime, shop supervisor Aaron Benson works with his team of carpenters and electricians to build new CSU faculty member Russ Borski's elaborate set and lighting design, while costume shop supervisor Terry Pieritz and costume designer Ali Garrigan continue sewing, ordering, measuring and altering.

In the coming weeks, you'll get to meet the cast, directors, designers and crew and see three amazing shows come together for a truly spectacular summer of theatre.  Until next time...

WCPN's Around Noon with Dee Perry

Dr. Mauldin and Greg Violand discuss CSU Summer Stages with Dee Perry on WCPN's Around Noon, along with John Paul, Lew and Melissa singing songs from Return to the Forbidden Planet and Amy and Doug perform a scene from Chekhov in Yalta.

This week's performances:
Thursday, July 16th: Return to the Forbidden Planet
Friday, July 17th: The Shadow Box (Benefit performance for The Hospice of the Cleveland Clinic)
Saturday and Sunday*, July 18th and 19th: Chekhov in Yalta

All shows are at 8pm except *at 2pm.

CSU SummerStages Are GO!

Cleveland State University Summer Stages, downtown Cleveland's only professional summer theatre company, is proud to announce its third season, returning with another three shows this summer, operating in rotating repertory with a five week run.

Our flagship musical is Return to the Forbidden Planet, written by Bob Carlton, directed by Program Chair Dr. Michael L. Mauldin, a 50’s/60’s jukebox musical which combines the science fiction movie Forbidden Planet with Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Dr. Mauldin was previously seen as Captain Hook in the Beck Center's production of Peter Pan and in CSU Summer Stages' Rough Crossing.

We will also be presenting the farcical Chekhov in Yalta, by Jeffrey Haddow and John Driver, directed by Cleveland Playhouse Education Director Cathy Hartenstein, full of low comedy and high tragedy, this historically-informed comedy features famed playwright Anton Chekhov and Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theatre.

Rounding out the season is the 1977 Pulitzer and Tony Award winning drama The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer, directed by Everett Quinton. The Shadow Box, full of hope and heartbreak, tells the story of three very different families each facing an impending death in their own unique way. New York legend Everett Quinton is a founding member of CSU Summer Stages and has been seen in every CSU Summer Stages production except for last year's hit Dark of the Moon, which he directed.

Being the resident theatre company of CSU, much of the cast and crew is composed of CSU Dramatic Arts students and alumni. After bringing in actors, directors and choreographers from New York and California for two seasons, we have refocused our efforts on local growth, and we are proud to announce that we are the biggest summer employer of union actors in the region. A significant presence in the downtown arts scene, CSU Summer Stages presence will only expand when CSU’s Dramatic Arts’ proposed move to Playhouse Square Center’s Allen Theatre.

The shows run in rotating repertory from July 9th through August 9th, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $15 each, and discounts are available for season tickets and groups of ten or more. Free street parking is available, and parking in CSU lot S1 (East 24^th Street between Chester & Payne) is only $4, with a coupon available at www.csuohio.edu/theater.

Box office: 216.687.2109

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