Press

Friday, February 19, 2010

‘There’s a man I want you to meet…” Byron Woods review, Independent Weekly

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 17, 2010:

Justice Theater Project's Fences
By Byron Woods


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Friday, January 15, 2010

“Fences” Media Release

A detailed Media Release is available by clicking "read more"
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Friday, October 16, 2009

The Justice Theater Project to Win National Award for Advocacy

The Justice Theater Project will be honored by People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (PFADP) at the group’s 15th anniversary awards banquet in Greensboro on November 7.

PFADP will present The Justice Theater Project (JTP) with its Community Service Award, which recognizes outstanding efforts at educating and mobilizing people to act for alternatives to the death penalty. Deb Royals Mizerk, the organization’s artistic director, will accept the award. The award will be presented by Father David McBriar, OFM, Associate Pastor of The Catholic Community of St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh, NC and a current advisory board member of JTP.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Laundry and Bourbon review by Robert W. McDowell, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Justice Theater Project’s Production of Laundry and Bourbon Is as Potent as a Triple Shot

by Robert W. McDowell

September 12, 2009, Raleigh, NC: The Justice Theater Project’s current production of James McLure’s Laundry and Bourbon is as potent as a 180-proof triple shot of bourbon whiskey, straight. Ostensibly a knee-slapping Southern-fried comedy about three gossipy housewives in tiny Maynard, Texas, this three-character play takes a serious turn when their freewheeling conversation turns from catty comments about each other, their feckless husbands, and their irritating kids to sober speculation on what’s wrong with Elizabeth Caulder’s hard-drinking, skirt-chasing husband, Roy, who hasn’t been home in two days.

Roy Caulder is the much-discussed but never-seen “Elephant in the Room” — in this case, the cluttered back porch — of the rundown clapboard house that he shares with Elizabeth when he’s not out, tooling around Maynard in his cherished pink 1959 Thunderbird convertible, ogling other women, and looking to drown his Vietnam flashbacks and his current worries in an ocean of Lone Star beer. Roy hasn’t been right since he came back from Vietnam two years ago, and he is about to step on Elizabeth’s last nerve, while he is drinking himself into oblivion. Yet she loves him anyway, truly, madly, deeply; and there are growing signs that Roy is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome — but the problem of PTSD is not yet well known on the scorching summer afternoon in 1974 when the play takes place.
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Friday, June 19, 2009

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ’S MUSICAL BASED ON STUDS TERKEL’S BOOK,

IN STEPHEN SCHWARTZ'S MUSICAL BASED ON STUDS TERKEL'S BOOK,
AMERICAN WORKERS SING OF A SONG OF THEMSELVES “WORKING”

PART 2B: REVIEW BY ROBERT W. McDOWELL

Like 19th-century U.S. poet Walt Whitman in LEAVES OF GRASS (1855), I hear America singing in WORKING, The Justice Theater Project's season-ending show. WORKING is a an eyebrow-raising 1978 Broadway musical based on the 1974 oral history by Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel (1912-2008), who interviewed a representative cross-section of the blue- and white-collar workers and recorded their “carols” -- about their jobs, their hopes, and their dreams. Four years later, composer, lyricist, and librettist Stephen Schwartz and cohorts, including one of Chapel Hill, NC's favorite sons, 20th-century troubadour James Taylor, set some of the pithiest sentiments of these Salt of the Earth characters to music.

WORKING, which concludes its three-week run in the Cardinal Gibbons Performing Arts Center on June 19-21 and 26-28, features compelling characterizations by LeDawna Akins, Susan Burcham, Bing Crosby Cox, John Honeycutt, Barbette Hunter, Byron Jennings, Kevin Lawrence, Andrea Schulz Twiss, and Deb Royals-Mizerk -- each of whom contributes vivid vignettes in their multiple roles.

Byron Jennings gives passionate portrayals of “Lovin' Al” the parking-lot attendant, Frank the long-haul trucker, Ralph the salesman, Roberto, and Tom the fireman. Andrea Schulz Twiss, who broke her left wrist on opening night and bravely eschewed a sling for Saturday night's performance, is the epitome of the old theatrical adage that the show must go on. Her personable portraits of Roberta the Hooker and Delores the waitress are especially powerful.

Barbette Hunter likewise makes the most of her moments in the spotlight as Amanda the project manager, Babe the supermarket checker, Candy the political fundraiser, and Enid the telephone solicitor. Deb Royals channeled Norma Rae as Grace the millworker, and LeDawna Akins brought Maggie the cleaning woman and Sharon the telephone operator to full, glorious life.

Susan Burcham has her memorable moments as Rose the schoolteacher, but is also good as Heather the telephone operator and Kate the housewife; and Bing Crosby Cox gives gritty performances as Mike the ironworker, Anthony the stone mason, and Rex the corporate executive.

By adding more snippets of Studs Terkel's trenchant observations from his 1974 book WORKING: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY AND HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT WHAT THEY DO to the script, Justice Theater Project's artistic director Deb Royals-Mizerk beefs up John Honeycutt's role in The Justice Theater Project production. Not only does Honeycutt create a memorable portrait of Joe the retiree, sort of an Everyman in a funny old-fashioned hat and high-riding pants, but the Triangle stage veteran also impersonates the irascible Studs himself as he saunters through the set, candidly commenting on the deep-seated feelings about working that the Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian coaxed out of his interviewees.

Director Deb Royals-Mizerk and choreographer Freddie Lee Heath keep the cast constantly moving and gesturing, sometimes in motions that cleverly mimic a manufacturing process. Production designers Thomas Mauney and Julie Jones' have concocted a striking minimalist multilevel set, whose bare bones gives the show a building-under-construction ambiance, complete with painter's plastic drop cloths and carpenter's plywood panels propped against the back wall; and musical director/pianist Coty Cockrell, standup bass and acoustic guitar player Kevin Lawrence, and drummer Chuck Kuhlmann provide perky accompaniment and help the seasoned cast sing as well as they sling the bull. Cockrell also adds a couple of colorful cameos as Charlie the ex-newspaper copy boy and especially as Conrad the UPS deliveryman.

The Justice Theater Project scores big with WORKING, creating an entertaining musical for the masses while simultaneously raising the audience's consciousness about workplace issues and the plight of the working class. The Raleigh-based theater's heady mix of theatricality and social activism once again proves to be a crowd-pleasing combination.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Strong performances found in Studs Terkel musical

BY ROY C. DICKS - CORRESPONDENT

RALEIGH -- The 1978 musical "Working," based on Studs Terkel's 1974 book, might seem outdated for today's workplaces and careers. But as seen in the Justice Theater Project production, the show still has a lot to say about what jobs mean to people and how they affect their lives.

The show is a series of monologues taken from interviews in Terkel's book. Funny, moving and insightful, these vignettes, from a parking attendant, fireman, secretary, migrant worker, trucker, and a dozen others, are still surprisingly relevant, voicing concerns about pensions and physical safety, age, race and gender discrimination.

The songs, composed by Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked"), James Taylor and four others, range from blues and gospel to folk and show tunes. Some are more effective than others, but the lyrics also come directly from the interviews, supplying an authentic ring.

The creators have updated the musical several times over the years to include e-mail, bar codes and mobile phones. Some of what's left in shows the play's age, but most sections are universal enough to transcend any time frame.

The production's five women and four men (counting music director-pianist Coty Cockrell's occasional participation) gamely cover the wide range of roles and songs, their singing and acting skills sometimes tested, but each getting moments to shine. Bryon Jennings gives a chilling account of a policeman's near-fatal confrontation and poignantly renders a father's hopes for his son's future. John Honeycutt's Terkel-like narrator and lonely widower Joe register strongly, while Bing Cox finds a haunting simplicity in the mason's song.

Deb Royals memorably voices a mill worker's gripping description of numbingly repetitive tasks. LeDawna Akins lets rip a sassy cleaning woman's anthem; Barbette Hunter amuses as a series of phone operators and office workers; and Susan Burcham makes a warm-hearted teacher and humble housewife.

Andrea Schulz Twiss became the reluctant participant in a true the-show-must-go-on moment at Friday's opening when she took a misstep in Act One, fell and broke her wrist. EMS workers put her in a temporary splint during intermission, and she came back to perform her big waitress number as if nothing had happened. (She has since had surgery and will continue in the role.)

Royals, doubling as director, gives the show a nicely casual feel in keeping with its revue-like nature. Freddie Lee Heath supplies cleverly choreographed sequences, although some are more stylized than befits the down-to-earth material.

Cockrell adds polished vocals to several songs and confidently leads the three-piece band in all the requisite styles. Thomas Mauney's construction-site setting of platforms and levels is distractingly messy and contributes to some awkward staging.

Opening night's understandable tentativeness should be overcome by now, allowing the production's simple pleasures and intimate nature to entertain and enlighten.


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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

The reviews are in! "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me"...."showcases clever directing by Carnessa Ottelin and the well-cast, dynamic trio of performers..." Megan Stein, The Independent.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A287865
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Thursday, January 01, 2009

Justice Theater Project makes the “Best of Theater” list for 2008

Best Lead Performances of 2008

Elizabeth Corley (Mother Courage), Mother Courage and Her Children, Justice Theater Project

Best Music of 2008, Honorable Mention

Virginia O'Brien, Derrick Ivey, Mary Floyd Page, Mother Courage, Justice Theater Project

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A273098





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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Mother Courage Soldiers On

In Mother Courage and Her Children, The Justice Theater Project has "given themselves a tough assignment". Adman Sobsey, The News and Observer
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Thursday, June 05, 2008

In the Wings:  Border Issues Come Into Play

By Orla Swift

The border of the United States and Mexico is as dramatic a setting as you could ask for in a timely stage drama, particularly as our presidential contenders debate (or ought to be debating) immigration issues.

So Justice Theater Project artistic director Deb Royals-Mizerk knew "The Line in the Sand: Stories from the U.S./Mexico Border" would make a compelling season closer.


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Friday, January 04, 2008

“Grapes of Wrath” Top Ten of 2007

JTP's August 2007 production of The Grapes of Wrath was recently chosen as one of the Top 10 Theater productions in the Triangle area by the News and Observer. Congratulations to the amazing team of actors, crew and volunteers that made this possible!
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Saturday, September 01, 2007

Orla Swift on the Best in Theater

You'd think that after almost 70 years, the ills of this nation that John Steinbeck described so eloquently in "The Grapes of Wrath" might be behind us. But we are not that wise a nation.
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Wednesday, January 05, 2005

JTP 2004 Indy Awards

In the Wednesday, January 5, 2005 edition of the Independent Weekly, The Justice Theater Project’s “A Lesson Before Dying” won the “Special Achievements in the Humanities” Award.
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Monday, December 27, 2004

Best Theater

Theater doesn't get more relevant than The Justice Theater Project's "A Lesson Before Dying." On the stage was a drama about a wrongly accused prisoner awaiting his execution. In real life, a month before the play opened, there was North Carolina death row inmate Alan Gell, exonerated six years after a jury had found him guilty of murder. To underscore the connection, Gell introduced the play at one of its three Raleigh performances.
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Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Nickel and Dimed Dramatizes Life

When author and social commentator Barbara Ehrenreich decided to look at the rising tide of poor people in America, she realized that the best way to understand what was so troubling about the situation was to experience it first-hand. So she set a few basic rules for herself and then, leaving her upscale Florida neighborhood and rather confused boyfriend behind her, she set off for places where she would be unrecognized and set about learning what "minimum wage" really meant. The result, which was supposed to be merely a Harper's Magazine article, developed into a full-scale non-fiction book, which spent two years on The New York Times best-seller list.
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Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Justice Theater Project Stages a Timely Production

DUBLIN, NC—When you get a first look at Bladen County, they don't exactly seem to be hurting for space. Farmland stretches out on either side of Highway 87 once you finally get past Fayetteville, as the road ambles south by east toward the coast. The terrain's flat; the cloudless sky is broad. Even by the most ambitious driving you're still an hour away from shoreline, but the soil already reflects the change, as Piedmont red increasingly gives way to loamy shades of black, gray and white. The corn's a little less than hip-high just now; the tobacco is still pretty low to the ground.
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