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Oshkosh Northwestern, WI
April 21 2005
Professor's show going 'off' huge
Kalinoski's 'Beast on the Moon' opening off-Broadway
By Alex Hummel
of The Northwestern
It's now lights "off" for a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh professor
and playwright.
Richard Kalinoski's award-winning, globally-acclaimed play "Beast
on the Moon," will officially open Wednesday off-Broadway at the
Century Center for Performing Arts in New York City, just steps from
Union Square.
Previews for the play about an Armenian couple in Milwaukee grappling
with the early 20th century Turkish genocide of their people began
April 12.
Previews are a traditional opportunity for theater companies to warm
up a show, work out the kinks and build buzz.
Already, the audiences and build-up for "Beast on the Moon" have been
huge, Kalinoski said.
"We've been getting standing ovations," Kalinoski said Wednesday. "I
just talked to the assistant director 10 minutes ago, and he told me
Tuesday night we were at 70 percent (full in the audience), which is
big for a preview in New York."
He said the cast and crew were expecting The New York Times and
The Wall Street Journal theater critics to take their seats during
previews this weekend.
It's all part and parcel of the nerve-racking world of New York
theater. Kalinoski said the New York staging has given him a crash
course in the financial mechanics of theater: Dealing with ill actors,
footing costly lighting and audio equipment bills and waiting for
those crucial reviews to run.
"I'm literally living now every day with a pit in my stomach," he said.
"Beast on the Moon" tells the story of one Armenian family's
adjustment in America while coming to grips with the 1915 and 1916
Turkish genocide that killed about 1.5 million of their people. This
year marks the 90th anniversary of the World War I atrocities, which
the Turkish government has not formally recognized.
The play also is staged on the heels of the acclaimed film "Hotel
Rwanda" about survivors of the Rwandan genocide and runs in the midst
of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan - two modern-day horrors
echoing those almost a century ago.
"It's always kind of a crucible for humanity, and this play reminds
us of that," said Kalinoski, a Racine native.
"Beast on the Moon" has been performed in 17 countries. Earlier
this year, Kalinoski attended a staging at the prestigious Moscow
Art Theater. Last week, he spoke at the Detroit Armenian Holocaust
Commemorative.
"My goal has always been to be able to write and be accepted as a
playwright on a national level, and that means to me - it may not mean
to other playwrights - but it means to have my work taken seriously,
considered seriously, and produced in some serious way," Kalinoski
said. "And it has taken me more than 35 years to get to that place
where it's at least considered now."
Meanwhile, Kalinoski isn't shirking his UWO teaching schedule. He is
currently leading a class of playwrights. He turned down three recent
invites to Armenia in respect to his classroom commitments.
"I still have a responsibility to that," Kalinoski said.
April 21 2005
Professor's show going 'off' huge
Kalinoski's 'Beast on the Moon' opening off-Broadway
By Alex Hummel
of The Northwestern
It's now lights "off" for a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh professor
and playwright.
Richard Kalinoski's award-winning, globally-acclaimed play "Beast
on the Moon," will officially open Wednesday off-Broadway at the
Century Center for Performing Arts in New York City, just steps from
Union Square.
Previews for the play about an Armenian couple in Milwaukee grappling
with the early 20th century Turkish genocide of their people began
April 12.
Previews are a traditional opportunity for theater companies to warm
up a show, work out the kinks and build buzz.
Already, the audiences and build-up for "Beast on the Moon" have been
huge, Kalinoski said.
"We've been getting standing ovations," Kalinoski said Wednesday. "I
just talked to the assistant director 10 minutes ago, and he told me
Tuesday night we were at 70 percent (full in the audience), which is
big for a preview in New York."
He said the cast and crew were expecting The New York Times and
The Wall Street Journal theater critics to take their seats during
previews this weekend.
It's all part and parcel of the nerve-racking world of New York
theater. Kalinoski said the New York staging has given him a crash
course in the financial mechanics of theater: Dealing with ill actors,
footing costly lighting and audio equipment bills and waiting for
those crucial reviews to run.
"I'm literally living now every day with a pit in my stomach," he said.
"Beast on the Moon" tells the story of one Armenian family's
adjustment in America while coming to grips with the 1915 and 1916
Turkish genocide that killed about 1.5 million of their people. This
year marks the 90th anniversary of the World War I atrocities, which
the Turkish government has not formally recognized.
The play also is staged on the heels of the acclaimed film "Hotel
Rwanda" about survivors of the Rwandan genocide and runs in the midst
of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan - two modern-day horrors
echoing those almost a century ago.
"It's always kind of a crucible for humanity, and this play reminds
us of that," said Kalinoski, a Racine native.
"Beast on the Moon" has been performed in 17 countries. Earlier
this year, Kalinoski attended a staging at the prestigious Moscow
Art Theater. Last week, he spoke at the Detroit Armenian Holocaust
Commemorative.
"My goal has always been to be able to write and be accepted as a
playwright on a national level, and that means to me - it may not mean
to other playwrights - but it means to have my work taken seriously,
considered seriously, and produced in some serious way," Kalinoski
said. "And it has taken me more than 35 years to get to that place
where it's at least considered now."
Meanwhile, Kalinoski isn't shirking his UWO teaching schedule. He is
currently leading a class of playwrights. He turned down three recent
invites to Armenia in respect to his classroom commitments.
"I still have a responsibility to that," Kalinoski said.