by greg leute
An oft-heard lament from many area theatergoers is that there's little in the way of groundbreaking theater happening in the River City. Fortunately though, a new theater company in town is determined to change all that, one edgy production at a time.
The Opheus Theater Group is opening their run of Closer with a preview showing on July 19 at The Body Gallery in Jacksonville Beach. The steamy drama, seen recently in its cinematic incarnation with Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman, offers a window into the souls of a quartet of haunted lovers who have the temerity and misfortune to believe in love at first sight--and who are doomed to keep looking.
The company is the brainchild of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts alums Jennie Jarvis and Steve Anderson, who both recently returned to Northeast Florida after plying their craft professionally in film and theater: Jarvis on the West Coast and Anderson in the Dallas area. Traveling to San Francisco with her husband, an artist with Industrial Light and Magic, Jarvis worked on the casting of the second and third installments of the Matrix series, as well as working as an independent producer on productions from California to Colorado. When the changing tides, as well as work opportunities, took her to Los Angeles, she continued working "as a director, script consultant, and acting teacher-pretty much anything I could to make ends meet," she recalls.
Coming home to recharge her batteries, Jarvis had a chance reunion with DA classmate Anderson, sharing memories and war stories and bemoaning the lack of theater they'd been used to working on and attending in other regions of the country. In fact, several recent efforts to introduce more provocative plays in the Jacksonville area have been met with less than hearty acceptance from audiences who complain about the departure from more conventional fare.
"No theater company seemed committed to the kind of edgy, provocative productions we look forward to," she says. "We really enjoyed the productions we were involved with-avant-garde, off-the-wall, grass-roots theater-and wondered what we could do locally that was similar."
Adding fuel to the creative flames was local actor AJ Pratt (Coyote on a Fence, The Dead-Eye Boy), who had been trying unsuccessfully to interest local companies in producing David Rabe's Hurly Burly. Talking up the prospect with Anderson, Pratt asked who he thought might be the ideal choice to direct.
"And Steve pointed to me," Jarvis recalls with a chuckle.
Though Jarvis thought the production far too ambitious to mount at the time, the three were very excited about the prospect of sinking their chops into something as substantial and challenging as Hurly Burly. Freshly recharged with new energy and enthusiasm, they found that the biggest immediate challenge before them lay in finding the right vehicle. And that's when Closer popped up on the horizon.
Though the film version ran to checkered reviews, the play, Jarvis insists, is the sort of piece that lends itself well to judicious staging: the intimacy is ideal for a small venue, and the complexly layered characters and gritty eroticism provide the potential for some very immediate, electrifying theater.
"I just fell in love with the material, fell in love with the script," she says. "It's something I can identify with-very message-based-and I think I can bring something to the play."
The company draws its name and inspiration from the classic Greek myth of Orpheus, the gifted musician and poet. Descending into the underworld to rescue his love, Eurydice, Orpheus fails to heed the admonition not to turn around to look at his love as he leads her out of Hades. Fearful for her safety and no longer able to resist the need to know she is safe, he turns round to check on her-and she vanishes forever
Jarvis thinks the name very apt, and feels it nicely articulates their mission and vision.
"The higher [Orpheus] climbs, the more fearful he becomes," she explains. "We really liked the idea of not being scared, of moving forward and not looking back."
To cast and market the production, Jarvis and Anderson went beyond the low-tech 20th-century conventions of print-mail advertising.
"We never had much luck with local newspaper calendars," Jarvis reveals, pointing out that critical information is typically omitted, or entire listings are omitted altogether. It's not an uncommon gripe among local theater companies, that local papers are not interested enough to be scrupulous or diligent in their inclusion of audition or performance information-because it's simply not important enough for them to exercise due diligence.
Not to be dissuaded by local media apathy, the Orpheus folks employed the tools of the Internet, notably MySpace and Craig's List, to advertise casting calls, production info, and performance dates. Partly because of these sites, and owing to the traditional flurry of network phone calls among colleagues that often fill the gaps in casting, the company was surprised and delighted with an embarrassment of riches at audition time.
"We ended up with a terrific turnout for auditions," Jarvis reveals.
And thanks to successfully marketed casting calls-or the Fates-the production's eventual female leads showed up to give stunning auditions that left no question as to who the ultimate choices would be: fellow DA alumna and JU graduate Jaclyn Hoffman and local journeyman Jennifer Gagnon. Gagnon, herself no stranger to edgy fare, has turned in several tour-de-force turns in such productions as The Blue Room and Keely and Du. Director Jarvis was, needless to say, pleased.
"They just blew everybody away," she says.
And, thanks to a lucky confluence of marketing and audience hunger, the buzz has generated substantial interest.
"Word of mouth has been just crazy," Jarvis says. "It's just exploded on us. I won't be surprised if we're sold out for the entire run by opening night."
Now, with all elements in place, the cast and creative team are ready to share their vision with the city's theater faithful. Jarvis makes it a point to emphasize that audiences who come will be treated to some strong adult subject matter and language-but for those not troubled by the content, the performances will prove very rewarding.
"If people are on board with that, then we guarantee they'll be blown away. It'll be like nothing they've ever seen in Jacksonville."
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