Arts & Humanities,
Club indigo keeps on thriving, by Sierra Cheatham and Joe Kirkish
‘Snowflake’ returns to Marquette, by Sara Cambensy
NMU calls on alumna for choreography , by James A. Panowski

 

Club indigo keeps on thriving
Years ago, people predicted an early demise for Calumet Theatre’s food and film program, Club Indigo. However, it caught on and is now alive and kicking with its fifteenth season beginning in March.
Club Indigo’s whole new series of films and taste-tested group of chefs will not disappoint the growing audience of regulars who put the monthly event high on their entertainment priority list.
Still, according to retired film professor Joe Kirkish, creator of Club Indigo, it has been a long, sometimes arduous haul—selecting films, seeking sponsors for the film rentals, technically improving the screenings and snagging the best catering chefs in the area for the buffets that match each film.
“I spend about thirty hours a week working on it,” Kirkish said. “I start with a list of 100 out of two or three thousand movies. Then it’s down to sixty, thirty and when I get down to twenty, its like sweating blood to throw half of them out.”
Before the creation of Club Indigo, Kirkish and the other members of the Calumet Theatre board weren’t completely satisfied with the state of the theatre. The building caught the eye of someone at Michigan State University, who obtained a grant for restoration of the facility. Visuals done in art deco style now adorn the walls and ceiling.
Post-redecoration, there still was the issue of creating activities to get people to come to the theatre. The original intent was to use the adjoining ballroom and fill the theatre more often than the occasional live presentations—rarely more than five or six per year—and to draw in audiences beyond the immediate area. Kirkish figured one way to get people into the theatre was to start some sort of monthly program.
“Not any one thing would work,” Kirkish said. “Not just a film or dinner alone. I put the two together and made it into a Friday night activity. I went to the Keweenaw Co-op and had their chef cater a complete buffet for that movie’s theme.”
The combination was a hit. Popularity grew as the technology of Club Indigo advanced, such as the second projector added to avoid delays in reel changes, and eventually a DVD projection system that replaced the old 16mm projectors that were on loan from Michigan Tech. A new projection screen was purchased to replace the old, yellowed one. At present, the results are up-to-date and patrons show their appreciation by regular attendance.
The old rectangular tables in the ballroom were replaced with friendlier, round tables to make the dinners more sociable. Chefs are chosen for their experience and execution of a wide variety of ethnic foods—Italian cuisine is made for a movie from Italy, and southern cooking for a movie located in the south.
Club Indigo gradually succeeded as a pleasant monthly event, made more so with the modest cost for an evening of good food and a movie. At present, the combination of buffet and film is kept to $17 for adults, with half price for children. The film alone is $5 for adults and again, half for children. During the summers, especially with tourists and visitors, entire families found they could enjoy the food and film combination for less than what would be spent in a fast food restaurant and a commercial movie—and with the treat of a chef’s specialty unique to each event.
The buffet begins at 6:00 p.m., and the movie at 7:15 p.m.
“I’m happy to say that it’s done what I wanted it to do—get more people to the theatre, get people to enjoy movies and eat good food,” Kirkish said.
Reservations for the buffet can be made at least a day in advance by calling the theatre at 337-2610.
Movies are selected to fit into two basic genres: tried-and-tested golden oldies that people enjoy seeing on the big screen again, and a rich variety of celebrated foreign and American films rarely seen at local theaters.
Films for the 2007 season are:
• March 16—John Wayne in the greatest film he ever made in or out of Ireland: The Quiet Man.
• April 13—A British romantic fantasy about love, life and the Other Place, Stairway To Heaven.
• May 11—Kurosawa’s swan song, a visual masterpiece: Dreams.
• June 8—A must see, touching Iranian movie, Children of Heaven.
• July 6—An American classic, Bogart & Hepburn in The African Queen.
• August 10—Lost Horizon; on the big screen it’s incredible.
• September 21—One of the greatest silent films from Germany’s Fritz Lang: a sci-fi fantasy, Metropolis, with an appropriate musical sound track.
• October 26—Yet another droll comedy from Norway, Kitchen Stories.
• November 16—Fellini’s most romantic paean to his childhood in Rome: Amacord.
• December 7—A final tribute for Frank Capra in his salute to life and Christmas: It’s a Wonderful Life.
—Sierra Cheatham and Joe Kirkish

 

 

‘Snowflake’ returns to Marquette
It’s been almost seventeen years since Don Stenglein, Marquette’s one-and-only “Snowflake,” passed away. Many in the Marquette community remember him walking up and down the streets, smiling while being consumed completely by life’s simplest moments, and not the least concerned with possessions or what tomorrow might bring.
Not everyone you meet in life has such an emotional impact on you when your paths cross, but Don did. Anyone who ever saw Don has a memory of him, and anyone who ever met him watched over him like a brother would a younger, innocent sibling.
My grandmother used to talk about Don when we would be driving home from Angeli’s or Red Owl, or after eating at The Onion Crock or Big Al’s. She would point him out to me, “There’s Snowflake out walking again.”
I was about eight the first time I heard her mention Don’s nickname—“Snowflake”—as we saw him on Washington Street outside Dick’s Family Foods. As I heard my grandmother speak, I looked out the window from the back seat of her marine blue Chevy Impala and saw him walking slowly and not very straight, wearing a long puffy coat, baggy pants with his hood pulled over his head. His head was slightly tilted, and if I had a second to look at him, I might have seen his mouth portray his signature smile in the midst of his weathered, unshaven face. I remember his nose—as big and round as a button on the end, perfect just like a clown’s.

Discovering acting during in his college career, Gayle LaJoye decided to take a summer off after his third year to study at a pantomime school in Wisconsin. Although he enjoyed his experience, he didn’t want to pursue mime acting because he felt like he had nothing truly unique to offer to the art form. Broke and a bit unsure about his next step, LaJoye decided to try the famous Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus to supplement his income and buy more time before having to decide where to go back to college.
After four years with the circus, he had earned the title of “Boss Clown,” one of the highest honors in the circus tradition. He realized that all of the clowns he was working with in the circus were younger, and that the older clowns he wanted to learn from were someplace else.
After leaving the circus, LaJoye was in a near-fatal car accident that could have left him paralyzed. Determined to be a performer, he pushed himself to return to the stage. Within a few years he was back and produced the critically acclaimed play, Too Foolish for Words. For several years, LaJoye toured the globe, promoting the silent comedy that was adored by all who saw it. However, when the production ended, he didn’t know where he would go or what he would do next.
Discouraged, LaJoye returned to Marquette around Christmas to think about his next step with acting. Like many artists, he was pushing himself to find what he was meant to do with his life. Over and over, he asked himself if acting was what he wanted to pursue. Could he make a living doing it?
As he was driving back to his mother’s house on Christmas Eve, LaJoye pulled over when he saw Don walking down the street. After all this time, there he was, still walking the streets of Marquette by himself. Having been away for a while, LaJoye suddenly remembered what it was like to come across Don. Even though he had watched him many times before, this time LaJoye focused on detail and emotion.
Perhaps because it was the holiday season, LaJoye now saw more to the man whom everyone knew from a distance as “Snowflake.” He saw the lack of companionship and loneliness of a man without a family during the holidays. He saw the innocence of Snowflake making his way down the street, staying on the sidewalk and not disrupting a single thing. This time he could observe without the interference of cars or people rushing by, and he put himself in Don’s shoes.
LaJoye took this emotional encounter and wondered if he could put all Don’s distinguishing traits into a character in a theatre production. It wouldn’t necessarily be a story of Snowflake, but a story of the thoughts and emotions he portrayed.
LaJoye knew that making a choice to be an artist is one that leaves you not knowing whether someday you could end up at the opposite end of what you worked or hoped for. Here was his chance to use his acting to draw parallels between a person like Snowflake and what everyone could understand about what is most important in life.
LaJoye began to work on the development of his character and found that all of his life experiences that left him unsatisfied were now becoming an integral part of his performance. LaJoye looked at mime as a lost art form and something new that could inspire a generation obsessed with what information was being relayed verbally through television and advertisements. He wanted to put the thinking onto the viewer through a silent show where the audience has to predict what is going to happen next.
LaJoye performed the first show of Snowflake at Kaufman Auditorium in 1992. He made sure that Don sat front and center in the auditorium and that he be the deciding factor on the show’s success and if it was to continue. When asked if he liked it, Don simply replied with a wink of his eye and a thumbs-up sign, which was all that was needed from him to know that the show could go on with his blessing. Two months later, Don Stenglein passed away.
In its seventeenth year of production, LaJoye has performed Snowflake in theatres all over the world. He is toying with new ideas for his acting career and also the possibility of retiring his performance of Snowflake. If you haven’t seen it, purchase your tickets now, as every year the performances are sold out.
Snowflake runs at 7:30 p.m. on April 5 and 6 at Kaufman Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased at the City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center in the lower level of Peter White Public Library. Tickets are $6 for children twelve and younger, $8 for students or seniors, and $15 for adults. For details, call 228-0472 or visit www.lajoye.com
—Sara Cambensy

 

 

NMU calls on alumna for choreography
Janel Cooke, a Marquette native and 2004 magna cum laude graduate of Northern Michigan University, has returned to her alma mater to choreograph Hello, Dolly! Cooke, who now lives in New York City, is no stranger to the Marquette theatrical scene.
As an actress and a choreographer, her work has been seen at the Forest Roberts Theatre, Lake Superior Theatre and Marquette Senior High School.
She was a featured performer for Marquette Center for the Dance, appearing as Clara in The Nutcracker and Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
In New York City, Cooke has been busy appearing as Irina in Peter and the Wolf for the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center and working and teaching at Ballet Tech. She also is on the box office staff at Off-Broadway’s Mint Theatre Company.
For the Manhattan Children’s Theatre Little Tales: Theater for the Pre-Schooler, she choreographed Asian Tales and Russian Tales.
While at Northern, she served as dance captain, while appearing as Maggie in A Chorus Line, Velma in West Side Story, and in the ensemble in Fiddler on the Roof. Cooke co-founded and served as coach for the NMU Dance Team and taught ballet to the United States Olympic Education ski jumpers.
Cooke choreographed Ebenezer Scrooge and The Scarlet Pimpernel for Forest Roberts Theatre. During her senior year, she took on the formidable task of following in the footsteps of Agnes de Mille by choreographing the full version of Oklahoma!
Cooke said there are differences between choreographing Oklahoma! and Hello, Dolly!
“A big difference is the students,” she said. “There are many new people here that I am working with for the first time, and also I am no longer a student myself. My focus right now is only on the show and not class work or other outside distractions.”
She said having lived in New York for two years, she is able to see things from a whole different perspective.
“With the things I have experienced and seen, I feel I’ve continue to grow and learn, and can bring new ideas to a production such as Hello, Dolly!” she said. “Coming back and now being a bit of an outside eye, I’m able to see more clearly certain details that could use improvement, which will only make a stronger show.”
Cooke said the greatest challenge with Hello, Dolly! is that many members of the cast had never danced before.
“So not only do I have to teach them choreography, first they have to learn some of the basic foundations of dance,” she said. “Once they have that, then they must learn the choreography, make it look perfect and still sing while they do it. And the cast has definitely risen to the challenge.”
One of the mysteries to the average theatregoer is exactly how a choreographer goes about conceptualizing a musical number. Cooke shares her approach.
“What I love most about choreographing for musical theater is that every show you work on is completely different,” she said. “While one show may be heavy with tap dancing, another may be primarily ballet. During Hello, Dolly!, one comes across a waltz, a polka, ballet, kick lines and even a little soft shoe.”
When approaching a musical number, Cooke’s first focus is on the music, and she said Jerry Herman has provided great music to work with.
“I think about the style and mood of the piece, the tempo, how many actors should be involved, and what I want the overall look to be,” she said. “Choreographing for the theatre is much different than just choreographing for a dance show, because there are so many other factors to consider, such as how the dance can move the story along, how a particular character may move, which characters should interact with each other and why, and, of course, if singing is involved, the actor needs to be able to execute the choreography while singing.”
Cooke said she is most proud of the scene in Harmonia Gardens, which includes “The Waiters Gallop,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “The Polka.”
“Within this one scene there are three big numbers, all of which have their own style and flair to them,” she said. “‘The Waiters Gallop’ is perhaps one of the most difficult numbers I’ve ever done. It involves approximately twenty people doing many different things with entrances and exits all over the place, trying to keep straight who was doing what was certainly a challenge. But I am very pleased with how it turned out; the cast has done a wonderful job with it.”
The student response has been enthusiastic.
“Working with Janel has been fabulous,” said Jessica Carpenter, a senior accounting major from Marquette. “She is incredibly patient with the chorus members when teaching us routines. Some of them have never had dance training before, and they are doing great in large part due to her patience and great ability to teach.”
Carpenter said she also likes that Cooke didn’t simplify her choreography.
“She had a vision, and she worked with everyone to get there,” she said. “The show is going to look amazing.”
East Lansing senior English major Christopher Curry also has been very impressed with Cooke. “I had no idea how she was going to pull off teaching a cast that does not consist of trained dancers,” he said. “Through Janel, I have learned that even the worst dancers can look cool on stage. If the choreographer knows what [she is] doing—and Janel does—they can teach anyone to look like they have been dancing all their lives.”
Zach Ziegler, a junior music education major from Mayville (Wisconsin), liked the mandatory dance classes set up by Cooke outside of rehearsals.
“Through our dance classes, I have learned a lot of dance terms and a lot about stretching,” he said. “I also learned that it’s good to layer dances and how to do things to draw attention to where it is needed.”
Curry agreed.
“I was originally bummed out that the cast had to attend three of the dance classes conducted by Janel,” he said. “I just thought, ‘sigh…more work,’ until I went to the first class and saw how she conducted it. It was like a real dance class, one that I know many of the students were benefiting from.”
Cooke predicts a sellout and pointed out why Hello, Dolly! still has such popular appeal more than forty years after it first opened.
“I think the music is the why people still love it,” she said. “Most people, whatever their age, will recognize most of the songs, especially the title number. I wouldn’t be surprised if…the audience will sing along with the Harmonia Garden waiters as they welcome Dolly Levi back where she belongs. With music like this, people know they are going to get songs they can hum as they leave the theatre.
Hello, Dolly! ran at 7:30 p.m. February 21 through 24 with a special matinee at 1:00 p.m. on February 24, and continues at 7:30 p.m. from February 27 through March 2. Tickets can be purchased by stopping at the FRT box office weekdays between noon and 5:00 p.m.
Other EZ Ticket outlets include the Superior Dome and the TCF Bank in the University Center. Credit card reservations can be made by calling 227-1032.
Ticket prices are $13 for the general public and $9 for NMU students, with a valid ID card. For online ticket reservations, visit www.nmu.edu/tickets
—James A. Panowski