Setting the Stage Beyond D.C.
Designers Tony Cisek and Dan Covey Go Minimal Off-Broadway for 'Glory'

By Jane Horwitz
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Scenic designer Tony Cisek and lighting designer Dan Covey have 20 Helen Hayes Award nominations between them -- four apiece for shows they collaborated on -- and have worked together on more than 40 productions in the Washington area.

"He has the eye outside of the box that I'm in to see it from a different perspective and present a better solution," Cisek says of Covey. "And I come to rely on him for that. He probably gets sick of the phone calls."

Tomorrow will mark the second time the two have displayed their work on a New York stage, when "Beyond Glory" faces critics at the off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre, where it runs through Aug. 19. Cisek and Covey's first New York gig was "columbinus," which began at Round House Theatre Silver Spring and landed last year at New York Theatre Workshop.

In "Beyond Glory," actor Stephen Lang performs a series of monologues, adapted from Larry Smith's book, in which Medal of Honor winners recount their deeds. An actor of legendary intensity, Lang worked on the piece at the Actors Studio in New York and test-ran it in Washington in 2004. (His sister, Jane Lang, who founded the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street NE, acted as producer.)

"One of the very first things Stephen ever said to us was that there would be no flags in this production. This was not a flag-waving production," Cisek recalls. "These were stories of eight people in extraordinary circumstances, and you could bring to it whatever agenda you want."

His design challenge was to make the physical production pleasing to an audience, yet feel "like almost nothing, so this guy, this actor, could tell us eight stories. . . . I feel like we've sort of primed the pump, to allow them to more easily receive the really very pure art that's coming at them, the unadulterated performance."

The set is a simple oval disk, on a slant and seemingly floating in space. Projections (designed by John Boesche) appear on a backdrop.

"It was just clear that the best thing we could do was quite literally stay out of the way," Covey says. His lighting is "mostly about emotional tone. There is some hint toward environments, like a jungle, maybe, an exterior or interior, maybe, but all in all it really rides the emotional wave of the show."

Growing Ganymede

In a series of "baby steps," Artistic Director Jeffrey Johnson says he hopes to guide his newly monikered Ganymede Arts -- formerly the Actors' Theatre of Washington -- in many new directions, offering not just theater but also dance, music and art.

As in its earlier incarnation, Ganymede does shows about and for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The name comes from the Greek myth about a beautiful boy chosen by Zeus to be cupbearer to the gods. Johnson notes the tale has been used in art and literature and, in a negative light, in religious teachings against homosexuality.

"I've never wanted to run just a theater company," says Johnson, whose background ranges from competitive swimming to choreography. But under Actors' Theatre, "I just couldn't really justify doing a dance concert or doing an art show."

Now, anything goes. "The nice thing about the expanded mission is that our options are totally open," he says.

Ganymede will continue to call Source Theatre home, but when Source closes for extensive renovations later this summer, Ganymede will decamp to Church Street Theater for a while.

Everyone on the company's small staff (Lee Mikeska Gardner is managing director) is an unpaid volunteer. Johnson estimates he has "donated" about 15,000 hours to the theater over four years. He has a day job at Go Mama Go, a gift and art shop whose owner, Noi Chudnoff, is Ganymede's interim board chairman.

Johnson is proud of the ticket sales and notices the acting company has garnered, citing a much-praised and very adult all-male production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," and last year's hit run of David Mamet's "Boston Marriage," which enabled the company to pay off its debt.

On a yearly production budget of roughly $100,000, Johnson says, he has tried to please a tough crowd of mostly Kennedy Center and Arena Stage subscribers who are accustomed to seeing half-million-dollar sets.

"It's been a challenge to have our foot dipped into the pool of the big boys," he says, "but still trying to operate with a volunteer staff on a small-theater scale."

Follow Spots

· Last night's performance of "Mrs. Packard" was canceled after actor Dennis Parlato became ill during the second act. The new play by Emily Mann is scheduled to run through Sunday at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

· A burst pipe in the National Theatre early this month damaged offices, lobby and lounge areas, but not the auditorium. Repairs will take three to four months but won't affect the next touring show, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" (Oct. 23-Nov. 4), e-mails General Manager Harry Teter Jr. However, the Monday night Summer Cinema series has moved to the Reagan Building, and the theater can't host any Capital Fringe events next month.

· A May 30 Backstage item about the nonprofit ArtStream organization, which offers theater training to adults with disabilities, should have noted that Emilia O'Connor, Nicolette Stearns, Patricia Krauss and Sally Kinka were co-founders with Patricia Woolsey.