Two Shows Coming to United Solo, Fall 2024
In its 17th season, United Solo remains the world’s largest solo festival offering performances from all over the world twice a year in New York City. This fall there are 34 shows (with a few late additions added soon) from Greece, Romania, Estonia, Australia, and France; New York, California, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, New Hampshire, Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Maryland. Including comedy, drama, music, mime, biography, fiction, history, poetry and multimedia.
Preview of these two plays shows the festival’s variety. It’s a way to see interesting theater and support the artists themselves without breaking the bank.
Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum created by and featuring Shelley Cooper
Eduard Magnus, Portrait of Jenny Lind, 1862 (Public Domain)
Shelly Cooper is an actor, opera singer, writer and teacher. She took play writing in college, but with “a huge imposter syndrome about my writing” didn’t pursue it for several years. Meanwhile, an MFA at the University of Florida took her south (from Kentucky) after which, like many thespians, she began to juggle. Multifaceted skills and imagination devised an unusually varied creative life. (Shelley never waited tables -“knock wood.”)
The artist became an adjunct (now tenured) professor, opened her own voice studio, and acted for both Disney and Universal theme parks four and a half years. “I always had lines, my face exposed, and never as a cartoon character,” she hastens to add. A six month gig singing opera in Macau, a brief stay testing waters in Manhattan, a professorial position in Bangkok, and directing fellowship in Syracuse, New York – plus theater work followed.
This is the playwright’s second solo piece. The first, La Divina-The Last Interview with Maria Callas, was performed at United Solo 2022. You’d think Jenny Lind would’ve occurred to a woman whose life revolves around both theater and opera, but the idea came from elsewhere. Reviewing one of her concerts, a journalist wrote “Hearing Shelley sing must’ve been what it was like going to see Jenny Lind on tour with P.T. Barnum.”
Shelly Cooper as Jenny Lind
A seed took root. Augustana College where she teaches providentially has Scandinavian roots. Shelley received a grant. She took additional playwriting courses, visited Sweden (Lind was Swedish), and hired a director. Background probing is impressive. The artist worked with her college’s Scandinavian Studies teacher on such things as what Bible passages the extremely religious Lind might’ve quoted and language cadence in her vocals. A book of Lind’s letters was utilized for idiomatic phrasing. Accurate costume was designed.
It turned out that Shelley’s repertoire is very similar to the lyric soprano. Lind is said to have had a very bright sound, as apparently does the performer. The play includes arias in six languages. Accompaniment is live. A balance of monologue and music ensues.
Jenny Lind (1820-1887) retired from formal opera at the age of 29. Believing her voice a gift from God, she judged too many characters immoral. Reputation was developed based on concerts. In 1851, the vocalist arrived in America to tour nine months with P.T. Barnum. Her intention was to use promised remuneration to open schools and orphanages in Sweden. The impresario had never heard her sing.
She knew little about him.
Shelley Cooper as Jenny Lind
There are flashbacks to Jenny’s life and scenes on tour. The latter leads to her discovery of Barnum’s misconduct in securing and exploiting acts. He “leased” Joyce Heath, an African American woman, claiming she was a 161-year-old nursing mammy, and spewed pro-slavery rhetoric to sell tickets when touring in the south. Her employer’s behavior precipitated their disassociation and Lind’s mounting her own tour. Barnum was decidedly NOT the altruistic man portrayed in the film – soon to be a Broadway show – The Greatest Showman.
Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum Before Taylor Swift, there was the original touring girl boss: Jenny Lind! When the opera singer came to America, to tour with P.T. Barnum, she witnessed a nation torn apart over slavery. Come see Jenny’s final operatic concert as she fact checks “The Greatest Showman”!
Friday, October 18, 2024, 7 p.m.
Bent Compass – Created by Neil Brookshire and Colin Sesek – Acted by Neil Brookshire
Colin Sesek deploying at 17
Neil Brookshire entered college on an acting track, switched to literature, then communications – both
for practical reasons and to expand his horizons. He subsequently earned an MFA in acting. The artist is currently an actor and EMT technician. Though he’s written before, this is a first solo vehicle.
At 25, the playwright met local Colin Sesek at a regional theater in Idaho. The 17 year-old intern
had just secured his parents’ permission to enter the army for training as a medic. “I asked, why he did that,” Neil says. “He seemed very clear and confident which intrigued me.” Colin’s mother was a therapist in the Air Force. Perhaps watching her lead him in part to both military service and the desire to help. Neil also conjectures there was something of a young man’s gravitation towards adventure. They talked.
Colin was deployed to Iraq where he’d train and serve 15 months. Except for an occasional group email within the theater community and a crowd-fund to buy the young man a cooling vest, the men had no contact.
Neil Brookshire
Some time after Colin returned, Neil found himself playing Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. “I think the whole play hinges on these guys coming directly back from war and having to deal with domestic life,” Neil says. He called Colin for perspective. They talked about challenges faced by veterans. Over time, the stories fermented. Neil asked whether Colin would be willing to share his experiences. They recorded phone conversations over a month thinking perhaps content might be a play.
Colin was candid. “As a medic, he was armed and fired his weapon. His unit went on missions to raid homes where insurgents were suspected of hiding. To gain entry, they often kicked down doors. He treated both American and Iraqi patients, and was awarded a Combat Medical Badge for performing his duties while engaged in ground combat.”
Eventually settling on a monologue with transcriptions, bridges between and editing of Colin’s stories, Neil began to craft the piece which represented a journey from a fresh faced recruit to seasoned medic. “We focused on how the experience changes someone both for better and worse. I asked Colin if he could sum it up, he said, Bad shit happens, but it’s not always bad.”
The first reading occurred in 2020. During the Pandemic, The Weidner Center gave the piece a grant to video. Since then, with evolution, it’s appeared at a great many fringe festivals. When produced in Idaho, Bent Compass was attended by a number of men with whom Colin served.
Neil Brookshire
During early development of the play, the veteran went on to serve in several other countries and to train medics in additional foreign locales. In between, he became an elementary school physical education teacher. Now married, Colin teaches EMT to high school students and continues in The National Guard as Sergeant First Class. Neil says his friend is a level headed, optimistic guy.
Bent Compass The journey of an Army Medic from fresh recruit to seasoned combat veteran. Based on interviews detailing the effects of war on a personal level. At once reflective, humorous, and candid, these stories illuminate a unique perspective that resonates with veterans and civilians alike.
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 7 p.m.
All photos courtesy of the artists
