Everyman Theatre Has Instituted A Collaboration Of Its Plays With The Snf Parkway Movie Theater
By: Charles Shubow Dec. 13, 2017
The Everyman Theatre and its Artistic Director Vincent Lancisi have begun a film series in conjunction with historic and restored SNF Parkway Theatre (at the corner of N. Charles Street and North Avenue) that will add to the enjoyment for Everyman Theatre audiences . The film "Farewell My Queen" will be presented Tuesday night, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.
The play THE REVOLUTIONISTS by Lauren Gunderson and Directed by Casey Stang concerns the French Revolution. According to the Everyman Theatre "When you put former queen Marie Antoinette, assassin Charlotte Corday, playwright Olympe de Gouges, and Carribben spy Marianne Angelle in a room together, literally anything can happen, especially big laughs. No this is not LES MISERABLES!
Three members of the Everyman Resident Theatre Company star: Megan Anderson as Olympe de Gouges, Beth Hylton as Marie Entoinette, and Dawn Ursula as Marianne Angelle. Joining them is Emily Kester (NOISES OFF) as Charlotte Corday.
Here are some thoughts from Mr. Hatch and Scenic Designer Daniel Ettinger who will lead the discussion at the Parkway Theatre on Tuesday night
From Mr. Hatch:
How did this partnership come about?
We were approached with this idea by the team at Everyman Theatre, who for 18 years staged productions here in the Station North Arts District. Everyman was interested in contributing some programming to the neighborhood and thought that a film series paired with their season of theatre could be an interesting platform to celebrate and discuss different artistic approaches to bringing stories to life. It struck us as a great opportunity to cross-pollinate audiences and spark some intriguing conversations.
How have the screenings gone so far? How has attendance been?
The screenings have been exciting, yielding some fascinating discussions about the intersecting yet very distinct art forms of filmmaking and live theater. Any series that can jump from David Cronenberg (with the series-debut title, M. Butterfly) to Ava DuVernay (with October's title, Middle of Nowhere) without skipping a beat is one I can get behind!
What is the history of the Parkway?
The Parkway was built as a movie theater in 1915, and rebranded as an art-house theater named The 5 West in the 1950s, staying open until the late 1970s. It's been largely vacant since. We were thrilled to restore it and re-open it for its original purpose, film exhibition, with its debut during the 2017 MD Film Fest back in May. We added two screens in an adjacent space, so we can now offer three screens year-round (two equipped with 35mm film, all three with top-notch digital presentation).
Both Everyman and the Maryland Film Festival have rehabbed historic Baltimore theaters to create state-of-the-art homes for themselves. What do these big growth steps mean for the arts in Baltimore?
They demonstrate that our city's cultural scene believes in itself and is looking forward at the same time that it preserves its history. I've been thrilled to see the exponential growth in size and accomplishment of Baltimore's music scene over the 20+ years I've lived here, and it's a thrill to see similar growth in our film and stage scenes now.
Interesting that the Parkway is so close to the former home of Everyman. For anyone visiting for the first time at this event, what should they look for in your new building?
Architecturally it's an exciting collision of the historic with the contemporary, with some eye-popping design work by our friends at Post Typography. They'll be wowed by our original, very Instagram-able auditorium. I hope patrons will sample some of our locally sourced, GMO-free popcorn and rotating selection of craft beers, and notice in our curation passions for both populist and cinephile filmgoing. Finally, they may want to check out the historic markers and timelines we've included in the space, and reflect a bit on how what we now call Station North was a hub for moviegoing for most of the 20th Century, and is becoming one again.
Tell us about some of the upcoming titles in the series.
We've just locked in for 2018 the acerbic '60s classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (starring Taylor and Burton and directed by the late, great Mike Nichols) and the stellar '90s indie Big Night (co-directed, co-written, and co-starring Stanley Tucci; lauded by Roger Ebert as "one of the great food movies"), both crowd-pleasers of decidedly different stripes.
What is your role in selecting these films?
This series is curad by the guest speakers from Everyman, who have varied from directors to performers, and name a few favorite films that have moved them and influenced their work (perhaps even their current productions at Everyman). I curate within their curation a bit if a preferred film is unavailable, or if I think one of their choices might cross-over to our audience a bit more than another.
Has FAREWELL, MY QUEEN played previously in Baltimore? What kind of reviews or award recognition has it received?
To my knowledge it hasn't screened here before. I'm a fan of other films by director Benoît Jacquot such as A Single Girl and Seventh Heaven, and I'll be happily watching it for the first time with our audience. It was the opening film of the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival and won the Louis Delluc Best Film Prize, a prestigious French critics' award.
Tickets for the film series range from $8 to $10 and are available at Marylandfilmfest.org.
Comments
Videos