Last weekend, Fort Lewis College celebrated spring with its first Arts April Fest. The new Performing Arts Department gathered together students and faculty members for performances, workshops, readings and demonstrations. Everything was free, indoors and out of doors, including scenes from the upcoming production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
At 11 a.m. Saturday morning, the cast of Shakespeare’s tragedy marched through campus to Center of southwest Studies. There they performed key scenes, including the famous balcony scene and the fight between the younger generation of Capulets and Montagues. Against a backdrop of the La Plata Mountains, the student actors unspooled the story of the star-crossed lovers caught in a web of family strife. The rigorous fight scene turned out to be rough and tumble, resulting in two stage deaths: Tybalt (Jay Hall) and Mercutio (Kieran Peck). When Romeo’s kinsman is killed, he takes revenge. That action sets the rest of the play in motion.
Combat choreography is an art form based on brutal reality. Thanks to combat choreographer Zachary Chiero, the fight scene is believable. Falling hard on a stage is one thing, falling hard on concrete pavement is another. What’s important, is that the struggle between adversaries is believable. You can see for yourself this weekend, April 14 to16, on the Main Stage of the FLC Drama Building.
Director Felicia Lansbury Meyer said she has chosen to time travel the famous tragedy.
“Taking a page out of Shakespeare’s playbook,” Meyer writes in her director’s note, “he set this play in Italy rather than England, careful not to paint hot-blooded English kids in a bad light. I set this production in a New Yorkesque city in 2023. Our Romeo is played by a female (Siena Widen). These choices felt right to me for this time and place to make the play relatable and relevant.”
With a cast of 17 and an even larger crew, “Romeo and Juliet” caps a year of splendid dramatic productions by the FLC Performing Arts Department.
Fort Lewis College music recitals fill most of the remaining April performance calendar. It’s time for majors to complete their requirements and ensembles to present end-of-year concerts.
Last Tuesday, percussionist Iz Tenorio performed his senior recital in a program of contemporary works with the help of the FLC Percussion Ensemble. This Sunday, three recitals are scheduled in Roshong Recital Hall starting at 1 p.m. Contralto Rhyse Fairchild performs followed by the FLC Brass Studio at 3 p.m., and closing out the Sunday events at 5 p.m. violinist Mira Salt will present her junior recital.
A new college ensemble has emerged from the FLC Brass Studio. The FLC Brass Quintet will perform at 3 p.m., in Roshong. Assembled by assistant professor Joe Nibley, the new chamber consists of trumpeters Nibley and Ronnie Cole, hornist Sean Kinard, trombonist Will Bridges and tubist Sebastian Farrell.
“The FLC Brass Quintet will perform opening and closing numbers as bookends on the program,” Nibley said.
A Renaissance, fanfare-like work from 1684 will open the recital, and then individual members will perform works accompanied by Kathy Olinger and Holly Quist. Works by Mozart, Gershwin and others will be played by the quintet members plus hornist Danielle Friedenson, who will play contemporary work by Robert Planel.
In addition to the quintet premiere as an ensemble, Nibley will perform a world premiere for solo trumpet.
“Chunk of Plumbing,” by Benjamin Taylor, sounds like an inside joke between trumpet players. And, in a way, it is, Nibley said
“Ben Taylor wrote this for me,” Nibley said. “He’s a full-time composer but we met when we were music students in college. Now he has a doctorate from Indiana and five kids. We put together a consortium of trumpet players and then COVID hit.
“‘Chunk of Plumbing’ is about six minutes. It’s fast, jazzy and syncopated. It’s a comical take on the concept that the trumpet is the ‘Scepter of God.’ In reality, trumpet players work with wet pipes all day (humorously referred to as a ‘chunk of pluming’), similar to some favorite video game characters. The piece is a fun, nostalgic romp full of twists and turns, simulating various aspects of a digital world.”
The FLC Brass Quintet will close the program with the first movement of Victor Ewald’s Quintett No. 1 in B-flat minor. Composed in 1890, the work is melodic and imbued with the spirit of Romanticism.
For all remaining events, including the big ensemble performances by the FLC Symphonic Band, Percussion Ensemble, String Chamber Orchestra, Choirs and Jazz Ensemble, check the FLC website.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.