Tomorrow night, Shadowbox Live will make a return to drama with their very first Stage 2 production, Killer Blues, opening at 7:30 PM in The Shadowbox Live Building at 503 S. Front Street!
Stage 2, Shadowbox Live’s new series of open-format productions showing on Wednesday evenings, bridges the gap between traditional theatrical performances, dance concerts, and multi-discipline shows that resemble the popular presentations from former Shadowbox Live spin-off, 2Co’s Cabaret.
“We’ve really been looking forward to premiering Stage 2,” says Stev Guyer, Executive Producer and CEO of Shadowbox Live. “It will allow us to produce the more theatrical and dramatic shows we’ve been unable to explore since 2Co’s closed in 2006.”
Kicking off the brand new venue is Killer Blues, featuring an assortment of monologues and theatrical shorts, live blues tunes from Shadowbox Live house band BillWho?, and the dramatic one act Killer Blues by Roy C. Berkowitz, a touching tale of a man without hope who finds an unexpected savior in a half crazed homeless woman.
“Killer Blues is an extremely moving piece that will often catch you slightly off guard,” says popular Shadowbox Live metaperformer Julie Klein. Klein is reprising her role as Bertha in the one act, originally shown in 2Co’s Got the Blues in 2002. “There’s a wonderful rawness to it, but it also uses subtle humor that will often pull the audience in right before a heart aching moment.”
“It’s a fabulous centerpiece for the opening of Stage 2,” adds Klein.
But don’t expect Shadowbox Live to stop with one acts and monologues. The troupe plans on keeping Stage 2 very organic, leaving the door open for a variety of possibilities.
“The truly exciting part of Stage 2 is it could be anything,” says Guyer. “We can expand into new styles of performance. We could show an artistic film, or an interpretive dance. We may even use it for future collaborations with other arts organizations. The sky’s the limit.”
Killer Blues will feature the following theatrical pieces:
Killer Blues by Roy C. Berkowitz
It’s Not Just a Cubicle by Martha King DeSilva
For Who the Bell, Like, Tolls by Martha King DeSilva
Beer by Charles Bukowski
The World is a Beautiful Place by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
#90 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Killer Blues musical numbers include:
Love Me Like a Man by Bonnie Raitt
Oh Darlin’ by The Beatles
Catfish Blues by Taste, Arranged by BillWho?
Cold Shot by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stormy Monday by The Allman Brothers Band
At Last by Etta James
Unchain My Heart by Joe Cocker
You Shook Me by Led Zeppelin
Shadowbox Live presents a Stage 2 production: Killer Blues, scheduled September 21st – November 9th, 2011 and running Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. There will be no performances on October 5th or 19th. Tickets are $30 / $20 for students and seniors.
Steve, Julie, et al, it doesn’t both me that Bonnie Raitt changed Love Me Like a Man to make it more acceptable, but it does bother me that you credited her with the song. Chris Smither, a great blues/Americana/whatever singer and writer wrote it and should be credited.