Think Tank Theatre opens up for new, surprising collaborations

When the popular Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble announced their end after a 10-year run this summer, fans of their offbeat and influential productions mourned. WFPL arts reporter Erin Keane said at the time, “The end of Le Petomane as a whole is a loss for Louisville’s arts community.”

That was in June. Now, not even three months later, two of their six members have announced their new company, Think Tank Theatre.

Their first production, the love exploration “Ton of Bricks,” won’t premiere until November 13, when it is produced at Walden Theatre as part of the Slant Culture Theatre Festival. But Tony Dingman and Kyle Ware, the founders of TTT, want you to come see them this Sunday, August 31, at the Bard’s Town. They’re not performing, however – they just want you to tell them what you think about love. Stories, feelings, theories – all are welcome, and Dingman and Ware plan to use that crowd-sourced material as grist for whatever their show becomes: It could be a romance, or a comedy, or a tragedy, or a combination of all that and more.

As the dissolution of Le Petomane was being planned, Dingman and Ware “kept talking one night after one of these meetings, and talking and talking, and riffing on what possibilities were out there,” says Ware, who also writes for Insider Louisville in addition to working as director of education at Kentucky Shakespeare. “What we would do if we kept on going, what we always thought we could have done with Le Petomane that we never did – and then got to a spot where we just said, ‘We should just do that,’” as Dingman laughs in agreement.

Dingman, whose lanky, bicycle-riding frame provides a classic comedy contrast to Ware’s more compact, professorial appearance, notes that the aspect most exciting to the pair was being able to expand their boundaries, collaborating with anyone else who “wants to play.”

As members of Le Petomane, they found themselves approached often by musicians, dancers, poets and other people whose skills came from outside the usual structure of the theater.

“At the time – well, for most of the life of Le Petomane – it was kind of insular,” says Dingman. “Not that it’s a bad thing! But it was the six ensemble members who worked to create shows. And there were numerous people who wanted to work with us.”

He says, “One thing that came out that was, 'What if we said "yes"?'”

One detail they feel fairly certain about is that only they will stay on as permanent members, with others brought in as needed. It may not always go smoothly, but it also allows for “happy accidents” that add more than they could have expected.

“It’s forcing us to rediscover everything,” Ware says. “Which is great for creativity.”

Their experiences with Le Petomane have taught them that offering a variety of approaches doesn’t always lead to glowing reviews. “Not because they were poorly built, in my opinion, but because they were eclectic,” Dingman says. “Like Kentucky weather,” Ware adds.

The pair wants the public to get involved and have a stake in their shows, which is why they are asking for help in writing their shows, and using social media to reach people. “We’re going to touch it and see what happens” is the phrase Dingman comes up with, prompting a big laugh from Ware.

“Now that I’ve heard that, I kind of like it,” he says. “That’s the T-shirt right there!”

The laughter continues when I offer to use their crowd-sourcing model by including the embarrassed Dingman’s phrase in their story so they can see how the public reacts. “That’s my new favorite phrase,” Ware continues. “You know, that kind of applies. The whole thing’s an experiment to invite people in – touch it, see what happens … You could get burned, it could break, it could be a lovely thing.”

Think Tank Theatre hosts "What About Love? An Open Forum"
Sunday, August 31
The Bard's Town
1801 Bardstown Rd.
thebardstown.com
Free; 7:30 p.m.

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

Third Thursday Hoedown offers old-timey fun in Germantown

"I would definitely say it all started with T-Claw, and he brought us together,” says Johanna Sims, a member of the Louisville Old Time Squares Association (LOTSA). That crew, which also includes Chet Gray, Jane Mattingly, Jim Bennett, Alex Udis and a few others, was officially formed by the caller known as T-Claw in July 2012. They have been putting on square dance socials on the third Thursday of each month since then at AmVets Post #9. But wait – what’s a caller?

It’s simple, really: The caller announces the dance steps so you know where you’ll move next as the Appalachian music plays; the good ones also entertain with lively commentary. Their energy is important to keeping up the dancers’ energy. Sims says it takes a lot of practice and has to be mastered through experience. “Sure, you can call dances to yourself to recorded music, but it is nothing like calling to actual dancers. So you just gotta get out there and do it! Make a fool of yourself a few times.”

A native of Nashville, T-Claw came through Louisville a few times while on tour. He and Sims had met at old-time music festivals and had mutual friends, so she helped him get started here. Sims had been introduced to the activity via those festivals, where bands play all day and a square dance follows every night.

“Before we started having regular dances here, I had been known to drive all the way to Columbia, Mo., for a square dance,” she says. “I’ve loved old-time music for a long time and started playing it when T-Claw moved to town and started giving me lessons.”

The organizers held early dances at Derby City Baseball, the Rudyard Kipling and Nachbar before landing at AmVets, which is also home to Danny Mac’s Pizza.



“It’s a wonderful event that’s fun to watch and join in the fun. Lots of good people and smiling faces,” says pizza proprietor Dan McMahon. The son of a vet, McMahon also appreciates that money raised from each event goes to a fund for the veterans, their families and the community at large. “We have so much fun with these Third Thursday square dances that we designed a square pizza called the Schnitzelburg Square. It fills up the square box. More food for the customer, same great price.”

“I have loved their pizza and karaoke for a long time now,” Sims says. “It started as a hangout for us. The hall already had a dance floor, a disco ball, a bar, pizza, and it is all right in our neighborhood … It is a beautiful arrangement because the guys at AmVets Post #9 love us and the music we bring in, and we love them!”

Sims also introduced T-Claw to a friend of hers who became his special someone, which is how he came to live here for a spell (the couple now calls Denver home). Over time, “He taught us everything we needed to know through monthly meetings, showing us all that goes in to planning and organizing the dance. He is still very active in booking the bands and just general support.”

He also encouraged the Louisville crew to learn how to call so they would have a regular caller. Sims says the LOTSA members have practiced together at house parties, and have added an open mic to their Third Thursday nights to practice and train new callers, beginning at 10:30.

The night has other features, like an old-time jam led by veteran musician Harry Bickel starting at 7 p.m. Local and regional vendors sell their wares. Different nonprofits come out each month. Most important is the community that comes together. “I have seen three generations of a family represented,” says Sims.

A beginners dance workshop starts around 7:30, with some more experienced dancers helping instruct. Sims says some folks seem nervous at first, but “I have yet to see that beginner dance end without a smile on everyone’s face … I would say the majority of beginners stay and dance all night. The new people always dance the most at their first hoedown! Once you start, it is hard to stop.”

“Third Thursday Hoedown” with The Leveetoppers and caller Chrissy Davis-Camp
AmVets Post #9
1567 S. Shelby St.
facebook.com/groups/LOTSA
$5 (free for vets and children); 7 p.m.

photos by Robert Broussard

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

‘Seinfeld’ composer on Louisville, retirement and 25 years in TV

There may come a day when we’re not still watching, referencing or thinking about “Seinfeld,” but that day’s not coming soon. “Modern Seinfeld” is a hot spot on Twitter, spoofing how much urban life has changed since the series ended in 1998.

Two years after its finale, the show’s composer, Louisville native Jonathan Wolff, decided to also end his run as the king of TV sitcom music. The empire he had built was so large that he gave himself five more years to wind down, hand off jobs to trusted associates, and truly walk away from it all.

"Seinfeld” wasn’t Wolff’s first break, or his last, but that rubbery, slap bass-driven, mouth-popping theme will likely be his most popular contribution to the world. The very retired Wolff will make a rare local appearance at Actors Theater on Wednesday, Aug. 20, for an edition of the speakers’ series “Kentucky to the World,” moderated by WFPL’s Devin Katayama for Idea Festival’s IF University. The talk was originally scheduled at the Green Building but high ticket demand caused its move to the larger venue. All this for an event Wolff said he agreed to for a very specific reason.

“Funny thing about that,” he says. “The only reason I’m doing this is because my wife told me to say yes.”

Born in 1958, the Atherton grad’s career in music began in Louisville before he had finished high school. A student of jazz legend Jamey Aebersold, Wolff was playing at parties, in restaurants and hotels, for theater groups, at fashion shows and composing music for local TV stations while still a teen.

Wolff moved to Los Angeles for college and stayed for almost 30 years, adding some 80 or so TV jobs along the way: “Who’s the Boss,” “Married with Children,” “Will & Grace,” “The King of Queens” and “Reba” are among the best-known.

He made a lot of money, but he also worked a lot of 20-hour days. His relationships with his wife and four children (then between 5 and 10 years old when they moved to Louisville) suffered, and his decision to start a new life at 47 coincided with a change in TV programming, as reality shows took over some of the slots previously occupied by the scripted series’ he had mastered. After becoming a dominant force in a notoriously fickle business, he also began to see that he would never again be the hot, flavor-of-the-month discovery so vital to that world. When the Wolffs’ youngest children, twins, were babies, the couple looked at each other and agreed, “This can’t go on forever.”



“There’s this idea people go by – ‘Oh, there’s no such thing as enough money,’” says Wolff. “We decided to challenge that and say, ‘However much we’ve got, that’ll be enough. In 2005, we’ll leave. We’ll go someplace.’”

Why Louisville? It wasn’t about it being home for him, or having family here, at first. The Wolffs looked at several possibilities, but everywhere they went, they would compare those places to Louisville, where real estate prices were especially attractive to a family used to paying L.A. prices.

“We’d go somewhere and it’d be pretty good. But we’d go, ‘I wish they had parks like Louisville.’ Or, ‘There’s no real airport. We’d have to drive for an hour to get anywhere.’ … ‘There’s no real arts here. We’d have to go travel to hear music or see a play.’”

The parents have stayed busy raising their kids – Wolff proudly declares that he goes to every extracurricular activity – and working on house projects. He doesn’t watch much TV these days.

He promises show business stories at the “Kentucky to the World” talk – ask him to tell you about how he wound up onscreen on the ’80s soap “Knots Landing” – but he doesn’t miss it for a moment.

“No,” he says quickly, laughing. “It became a grind. The routine was really brutal when you’re doing as much work as I was doing. I burned out … The human body does really bad things when you go for days without sleep.”

After almost a decade back, few locals know that the guy whose music they hear in reruns every night at 11 is their neighbor.

“I’m in kind of a self-imposed Hollywood witness relocation program,” Wolff jokes.

Jonathan Wolff
Aug. 20, 2014
Actors Theatre of Louisville
316 W. Main St.
2nd Floor
$25; 5:30 p.m.

photos by Isaac Wolf

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

Revelry celebrates a new beginning with help from popular sculptor Matt Weir

"The New Synthesis" in progress

Mo McKnight Howe had some things working in her favor when she took over the Revelry art gallery and boutique on Barret Avenue. All the hard work of starting the business had been done by its founder, Paula Weyler. It had a prime location next to Regalo and Lynn’s Paradise Café. And McKnight Howe’s husband was working in commercial real estate, ensuring their bills could get paid. But then big things started to change.

Weyler decided to move away, meaning McKnight Howe, a recent Hite Art Institute graduate who had been helping with curating while also building her career as a photographer, had to buy her out to continue. Then Lynn’s famously closed without warning.

“When Lynn’s closed, it was a year of … just awfulness,” McKnight Howe says. She tried to stay positive while talking with neighboring businesses about how to survive, but the revival never happened. “The tourists weren’t coming anymore, and that’s what was driving the business,” she says. Tourists had wanted unique local items, a Revelry specialty, but now they weren’t visiting Barret without Lynn’s.

McKnight Howe decided to gamble and relocate to NuLu, where her rent is triple what it had been less than 2 miles away. “I didn’t want to let local artists down. Some of them depend on a paycheck from me.” Since moving, “It’s just been … awesome!” she says. “So amazing. The hardest part of being down here now is keeping up with inventory.”

Her roster is heavy on young, developing artists whose works are more affordable than expected, giving first-time buyers a chance to take home something local and original, as opposed to having to shop for art at Target, McKnight Howe notes. But she has also worked in some well-established names from an older generation, like Julius Friedman and Bob Lockhart, achieving a balance of serious artists coming from very different perspectives.

To celebrate another year – the first successful year – McKnight Howe gambled again and went after a favorite artist (and childhood friend of her older brother), sculptor Matt Weir.



Sculptor Matt Weir with Christopher Raber at work on his latest creation. Photo by Candice Tipton.

Now 34, Weir has swiftly risen to the top of Louisville’s art world. He had walked back in to his old school at 26 to propose a sculpture for their grounds, and won the chance to make his St. Xavier High tiger, “Panthera tigris,” completed in 2008. He returned to document their founding Xaverian brothers. His most recent major commission, “Earth Measure,” was unveiled at Bernheim Forest last October.

But he’s got some different ideas for his Revelry show, “The New Synthesis.” It’s his smallest solo show in several years, though his Indiana limestone-based creations are still relatively massive.

A themed collection of sculptures and drawings connected by scientific and philosophically based notions about the natural world and its unpredictability, “The New Synthesis” (whose title was taken from E.O. Wilson’s writings on evolution and conservation) includes works made in seemingly contradictory mediums. Carved limestone and 3D prints coexist, the former in two architectural “Saddle Point” creations and the latter, the figurative “FLOP,” being much smaller but no less integral to the story being told by Weir – “abstract yet realistic synchronicity,” he calls it. All of his work is figurative, essentially, he says, because it all comes back to human behavior.

Then there are the clouds, presented on vellum. “I am a member of the International Cloud Spotters Society,” Weir reveals with a nervous laugh, almost but not really embarrassed at the unexpected announcement. The membership was a gift from a fellow artist whom he “introduced to clouds.” “I’m passionate about clouds through scientific perspective,” he clarifies. “Isn’t that funny to say, ‘I’m passionate about clouds’?”

“I think of him as a high-end artist who wouldn’t even consider a boutique-slash-gallery,” McKnight Howe says. “I was so humbled and excited” when Weir accepted her invitation to present his latest works. “He’s so philosophical and cerebral. Everything he makes comes with so much meaning and depth.”

At the end of the reception, the party moves back to Barret Avenue, where it all began, for an after-party at the Monkey Wrench. McKnight Howe, the now-successful entrepreneur, plans to spin some tunes as DJ Mo Money.


photo courtesy of Revelry

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

This boy’s life: Q&A with Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane, stars of ‘Boyhood’

The new movie “Boyhood,” which opens today at Baxter Avenue Theaters, was filmed over 12 years, starting in 2002. The cast and crew shot a few days each year, and all — including leading man Ellar Coltrane, who was 6 years old when he was cast — were free to walk away at any time. But they made it to their intended endpoint. Will they continue, and release “Manhood” in another 12 years?

Director Richard Linklater and co-star Ethan Hawke, who plays Coltrane’s father, have also collaborated on “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight,” a trilogy that also follows the same characters through many years. Linklater’s credits also include “Dazed and Confused,” which took place over one night, and the hit “School of Rock.”

We spoke with Coltrane and Patricia Arquette, who plays his mother, to learn more.

Insider Louisville: Rick (Linklater) and Ethan and Julie Delpy made the “Before Sunrise” movies every nine years, and keep on surprising us with more of them. I’ve read that this movie is done and there won’t be more, but I have to think that you’re still filming a little bit every year.

Patricia Arquette: No — we haven’t even been through a year where we haven’t been filming. And the funny thing about the “Sunrise” series is that we started making this movie before they made the second one (2004’s “Before Sunset”). They made the second one while we were filming this one.

IL: You think the “Boyhood” experience gave them the idea to continue that series?

Ellar Coltrane: I think it gave him the confidence to do the long-term thing.

PA: Rick does have a very specific relationship with time, and long-term relationships, and the exploration of intimacy – which, oddly enough, a lot of filmmakers don’t have. If you look at his body of work, there really is nobody else in the world that would curate their career in the way Rick has … Because we’ve been friends for so long, he’s said things at times, like, “When we were on ‘Dazed and Confused,’ we got a great response,” but Rick himself was, like, “You know what I think I didn’t do so great with the movie was explore females in an interesting way.” My character in this movie, he really wrote a fleshed-out, complicated person.

IL: And you all had input on your characters and the story itself?

EC: Very much so. It was a constant reflection and amalgamation of the experiences and the perspectives of everyone involved, really. There’s very little that’s direct – I mean, none of the characters are based on any one person, but pretty much everything that they go through is informed by something that one of us experienced or heard about or witnessed or was related in some way.

IL: Was dialogue scripted before, or did you all just talk about ideas?

EC: No, it wasn’t improvised on camera. Rick would usually come to us with a rough draft, but that’s pretty much it. A couple days to a week, just try to workshop it, see where the dialogue could go using our experiences and our emotions, and our own words, to flesh that out. Then he would take all of that and create a final script by the morning of the shoot (Arquette laughs), but when we were on camera, it was always a script.

IL: Even when you were 8 or 9, he would listen to your input as much as the adults?

PA: Yeah, even when they were 7. The first year, I remember him saying, “You guys will be fighting in the car. What do you think you’d be fighting about?” And he meant it. He had a lot of respect for them. And also, he would laugh at things they would do. He thought, “It’s beautiful that we have children as part of our species. It’s an incredible honor to watch them grow and change.” He wanted to capture that.

IL: As an adult, and as a woman, did you think about how your appearance would change from year to year, and how you might feel about seeing those changes at a later age?

PA: Well, you know, I have been with myself all those years (everyone laughs). It wasn’t a really giant shock to me. Part of the discussion was, what does a woman really look like? And not wanting to Hollywood it up, and not wanting to be an actress in a movie playing a mom, but actually, what would this mom look like? This woman is an academic, and a mom, and there’s a lot of things she’s really interested in. Not to be attractive to the biggest number of men possible (laughs), or to Hollywood in general. So, I felt good about my acting choice when I watched it. I wanted to challenge the status quo in my business. And you know, we all have our egos.

EC: I think there’s something very comforting also about seeing these moments of yourself that, taken out of context, might be embarrassing or self-judgmental in a certain way, but seeing it all together, in context, such a larger span of time and such a large part of yourself – you see it in a different way, I think. It’s easier to take it as a complete assessment.

IL: Ellar, during those years, were you watching (Arquette’s TV series) “Medium”?

EC: I’ve actually never watched an episode of that. I’ve seen a lot of her movies, though. I don’t watch much TV.

PA: My own kids never watched it. Not for any other reason than I didn’t want my children to really be aware of me as an actress. I wanted their experiences to be a personal one, and not impacted very much by what happens when we see someone in a movie or on TV. Suddenly, you have this weird, distorted image of them, a little bit … I think my daughter saw one thing on TV – she’s 11 now – and saw “Holes” and hated it because my character died in it. I don’t have posters of movies in my house. I try to minimize what I do because the world already distorts it a lot.

IL: This is the kind of movie a lot of people were making in the ’90s. More independent, there’s no stuff blowing up –

PA: Yeah!

IL: Do you feel like you had to work in TV over the last decade because the movie parts haven’t been as good, especially for women?

PA: That’s definitely the case, but I think that’s been the case for a long, long time. They’re also about young people falling in love, whether it’s working out or not working out, and I’m not complaining about that. I think that’s part of human beings’ stories that we’re telling. But I’ve aged, and on “Medium,” the writing was good, it was a really interesting part. I also like that network TV is free – you have commercials, but other than that, you can be in some trailer park and have entertainment. You can be in an old folks’ home and have some entertainment. It’s also a different discipline of acting, because you have to learn to work really quickly. And you don’t have the same relationship with the director. You have to be fast on your feet and act on your own instincts. It’s very different, and it’s taught me a lot.

IL: Patty, you’ve been the young ingénue and now you’re the mother. Ellar, you’re a young, handsome fellow. If you were offered “Transformers 5,” would you take it?

EC: I don’t think I would (laughs). Yeah, I know what I like and I know what I want to do. I’m confident that I can find projects that can fill that.

IL: Are you committed to acting? Or is it just one possibility for you?

EC: Yeah, it’s obviously the biggest thing right now, but I’ve got a lot of interests. And I want to do all of them with the right frequency to maintain that.

IL: What else have you been working on?

EC: A lot of visual art, mostly — painting, drawing, photography. I’m interested in music right now. I’ve been doing some stuff on my computer, instrumental banjo. It’s a strange instrument. My dad’s a musician, and banjo’s one of the few instruments he doesn’t play. I think, subconsciously, that’s why I gravitated toward that one (laughs).

IL: How Hollywood have you had to get? Do you have representation, scripts you’re reading now?

EC: I’m working with a manager. The scripts are definitely starting to come in. I’m just sort of biding my time at the moment, just because I’ve been pretty overwhelmed with all the promotion and the release of the film. But the next few months will be a very exciting time.

IL: You must be tired of people treating you like some magic trick.

EC: That’s not really true, though. It gets overwhelming, and I get tired of answering the same questions, but as far as being approached by people, I feel so lucky that, by the nature of this project and the kind of vulnerability expressed, people will approach me with the same vulnerability and treat me with a genuine attitude. Just the little bit that I’ve watched other actors or musicians deal with their fans, it feels so impersonal so much of the time, the way people are approached. For the most part, it’s been people approaching me on a very personal level, looking me in the eye, wanting to express real emotions. It’s incredible.

c. 2014 Insider Louisville

Some tea, some shade: Comic queen Bianca Del Rio reads around the world

In 2002, Roy Haylock was a comic drag queen in New Orleans with a flair for costume design and a Don Rickles-like wit. As Bianca Del Rio, Haylock had a loyal following, but wasn’t a beauty or expected to become an international favorite. In an interview with local alt-weekly Gambit, Haylock cited Rickles and costume legend Bob Mackie as inspirations – but drew a line in the sand by dismissing RuPaul as “not my cup of tea.”

In 2012, Haylock was planning to retire Del Rio by 2015, after turning 40. Today, 18 years after Del Rio’s personal drag race began, she is best known as the New York-based winner of season six of "RuPaul’s Drag Race," and is working on a movie and one-person show. LEO caught up with her last week after she returned from a tour in the British Isles and Amsterdam.

For most of the show’s run, fans abroad had to find it illegally. And they have – a company in England recently bought the rights to make their own version of the show in that country. “I wasn’t expecting large crowds, but it was the complete opposite – it was packed!” Del Rio says. “It was insane. It’s fascinating to me, how far the show has gone on a global scale and reached so many people.”

To get through each day was a big challenge, as the cast spent 12-14 hours filming and then each went back to their hotel rooms, where they were prohibited from seeing each other off-camera. “I would get through each challenge to the best of my abilities, and then move on to the next thing,” Del Rio says. “It’s truly like a boot camp.”

Though she began her season feeling old and somewhat unsure, her personality quickly stood out in a battle filled with talented but less-defined, younger competitors. “If you can’t sing, dance, sew, act, or do comedy, you shouldn’t do the show … It’s like going to the Olympics and saying, ‘Oh, shit, I’ve got to swim?’”

“A lot of people want to be famous,” Del Rio says. “A lot of people want to be on the show and be fabulous – and that’s great, but do your homework before you get there if you want to succeed.”

Her first defining quality was her noted sarcasm. But it didn’t suggest that she was on a winning course. “I think people only think it’s one level, which is kind of fascinating to me.” Why don’t people get it? “I think it’s intelligence,” she says with a laugh as sharp as her words. “I’ve had my share of people telling me that I’m a bitch, that I’m an asshole, of course. But smart people get it. You’re not going to please everyone. I learned that early on.” Once her other level – which included warmth, support and generosity - emerged, Bianca Del Rio became a comeback kid, at 38. Not everyone was in love, though, because the Internet supplied its usual amount of commentary.

“Initially, I thought it was a good idea to look at it,” she says. “And then I realized, ‘Oh God, it’s pointless.’ You get nowhere with people commenting, and they know everything, obviously, because they’re trolling the Internet writing shit about you. I learned early on, whatever happened happened. I know what happened because I was there … it’s sometimes difficult not to get wrapped up in it. But the virtue of doing the show at 38 was that you have a better sense of self.”

Her success has meant taking a leave of absence from her job as a theater costume designer. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this thing that I’m doing. Costume design is my passion and the thing I love the most. I mean, drag is definitely up there, a close second. But I don’t intend to do drag for my entire life. And I’ve always liked to do both, and keep a balance of two quite questionable careers.”

And did RuPaul ever find out about Del Rio’s earlier comment? “Oh, I’m sure. Everything you say comes back to you. But it was my opinion at the time, when Ru wasn’t doing all the things that she’s doing now. Everyone had an opinion on something in 2002, but this show, it’s amazing what it’s become… It’s a different world now.”

Bianca Del Rio
Saturday, August 9
Play Dance Bar
1101 E. Washington St.
playdancebar.com
$13-$15; 10 p.m.

Here
c. 2014 LEO Weekly