TRUCK FIRE – Firefighters knock down a fire in a Ford Explorer truck in Arrowhead Trailer Park in the 1200 block of Sawmill Creek Road Saturday evening. One person received fire-related injuries and was taken to the hospital, Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said, and the truck was considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Warren said. The fire hall received the call about the fire at 5:33 p.m., and one fire engine with eight firefighters and an ambulance were dispatched, he said. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Musical Charts New Ground in Sitka Theater
By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER
Sentinel Staff Writer
Everyone has had their heart broken. It’s inevitable. That’s what makes Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s production of “The Last Five Years” especially poignant.
“We’ve all experienced heartbreak or loss at some point,” Director Zeke Blackwell said. “Hopefully, one of the ideas that come across (in this play) is it’s really difficult to pinpoint why a relationship fails, whose fault it is and why it happened.”
Rhiannon Guevin plays Cathy in scene from the upcoming Sitka Fine Arts Camp production of “The Last Five Years.” The play will be performed September 22 and 23 at Odess Theater on the SJ campus. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Audiences will get a chance to see the “devastating, interesting, challenging” musical 7 p.m. Sept. 22 and 23 at Odess Theater in Allen Auditorium.
“The Last Five Years,” written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, follows two lovers – actress Cathy and writer Jamie – over the course of several years. Sitka’s Rhiannon Guevin plays Cathy and Samuel Faustine, of California, plays Jamie.
“Ultimately the relationship doesn’t pan out but we see it from both perspectives,” Blackwell said.
The audience sees Jamie’s perspective moving forward, from beginning to end, and Cathy’s from end to beginning. The two perform together during the show only once with a duet when their timelines meet up in the middle, Blackwell said. The show switches off between jazzy upbeat tunes, yearning ballads and classic musical theater-style songs, Blackwell said.
“It’s a two-person musical almost entirely sung through,” he said. “The music is really beautiful and there’s a variety of music in here.”
The play is traditionally performed with only one actor on stage at a time.
“That really speaks to the idea that each character is coming from their own perspective of the relationship,” Guevin said. “The idea that they have different interpretations of what happened is interesting and something we can all relate to. We can never truly know another person’s perspective or fully understand another person’s interpretation of anything.”
The play is based on writer Brown’s own failed marriage, Guevin said.
The Fine Arts Camp doesn’t typically do adult shows like this but the musical has been a pet project of Guevin’s.
“I’ve been listening to the show since I was in high school and I’ve always really loved it,” Guevin said. “This has been a dream project of mine for several years and Zeke and I have talked about doing it for a few years. The music itself is really beautiful and interesting – I really like the composer in general. I think his stuff is thoughtfully composed and of course the format of the musical is so unusual.”
It also happened that Faustine, a friend from college whom she thought would be great for the part, would be available at this time.
“It’s hard to find opportunities to do these very small shows because we like to be inclusive,” Blackwell said. “It’s not something we do very often. That’s part of why we wanted to do it.”
“The Last Five Years” also features Juilliard-trained pianist Robert Fleitz, who has taught at the Fine Arts Camp. He’ll also be performing a recital on Sunday, Sept. 24.
“I can’t imagine anyone I would rather have playing the show,” Guevin said, citing Fleitz’ deep history with musical theater. “He’s going to be a really valuable contributor to the whole process.”
Blackwell is also reconfiguring Odess Theater for the show. Actors will not be on the stage, but instead on the auditorium floor in the aisle between two small sets of risers facing each other, he explained.
“We’re performing the piece out in the audience,” he said.
Guevin said the way the play is staged is using Odess in a way that it has never been used before.
“Zeke is just such a clever director, so I am really excited,” she said.
Something else special about these performances is that the actors and musician will be putting the whole show together in four days of intense practices.
“The plan is we’ll all learn our respective parts, start rehearsal on Monday and hit the ground running,” Guevin said. “It’s going to be really intense but I think also really fun and really rewarding.”
The play has mature content and adult language, Blackwell said.
Tickets cost $20, $15 for youths.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Businesses using the Centennial Hall parking lot testified Tuesday against a proposal to charge them rent in addition to the $200 annual permit fee. City Administrator Hugh Bevan made the proposal in response to the Assembly’s direction to Centennial Hall manager Don Kluting to try to close the $340,000 gap between building revenues and operational costs.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand President William S. Paul Sr. will be special guest and speaker at the local ANB, Alaska Native Sisterhood Founders Day program Monday at the ANB Hall.