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Lenanne Sylvester, a Portland professional actor who earned a music degree from the UO and MFA in acting from USC, says the show features the stars and vocalists she grew up listening to. For this show, she started off with a list of 100 she wanted to do, but realized it was "a one and a half hour show, not a Kevin Costner epic." She ended up choosing vocalists who offer a diverse array of sounds. Sylvester credits John Gainier, who directed the UO Gospel Ensemble while she was at the UO, for giving her a start. "John called me into his office one day and said, 'Sing something for me.' Then he gave me two songs so I could solo. I was so shy and timid," she says. But even though she was scared, she invited her dad, Norman Sylvester, to the show. "He had no idea I could sing. His eyes popped out of his head when he heard me soloing, then his eyes teared up." Sylvester wrote a song for his daughter to sing with his band, and the two played together for several years, before Lenanne decided to break out on her own to see what she could do. She soon collaborated with Janice Scroggins to form the Lady Day show and perform several other gigs. Sylvester has opened for big names such as Bill Cosby, Taj Mahal and B.B. King. She also teaches in local schools and at the Portland Actors Conservatory. Now, however, Leanne has cut back on her schedule a bit to spend time with her 19-month-old daughter. Will her daughter carry on the family musical tradition? "Oh, believe me, says Sylvester, "She's already a diva." The show opens this Friday, Jan. 19 and continues through Feb. 17. See calendar for details. Lord Leebrick artistic director Corey Pearlstein makes his first mark as the new guy in charge with the opening of Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9 this weekend. The show was handpicked by Pearlstein as a replacement for Art, which had been scheduled but was performed earlier this season by Willamette Rep. Pearlstein also directs. The Lord Leebrick has always stuck a riskier show in its winter slot and this proves no exception. Cloud 9 is a farce of Western civilization, of social conditioning and class, race and gender roles. The action takes place first in East Africa in 1880, during British colonial oppression. The cast of characters play out their own forms of oppression and repression within their familial relationships. Racial and gender lines are crossed to portray the various inequalities. Act Two fast forwards 100 years to 1980 London; the characters are now different, but common threads weave together the characters each actor plays from Act One to Act Two. The audience can decide which characters have broken free from previous restraints and which have not. Brilliant Churchill likes to workshop plays and develop them with an ensemble. Cloud 9 was written to accommodate the talents of her group and has been adapted for this production with some role switching. Pearlstein has also switched some roles around among actors to make it easier for the audience to follow. The play is a post-modern work, breaking with tradition in almost every aspect of production, according to Pearlstein. The set of an African homestead's veranda in Act One isn't illustrated with a broad expanse of acacia trees and coffee plantations as backdrop, but rather a Union Jack, because that represents home to its owner. Whereas many productions of Cloud 9 play humor to the hilt, Pearlstein says it wasn't his intention to be like Monty Python or Jack Benny. "It's hard to merge that with the quality of inalienation," he says, although admits some of the more outrageous sex scenes (for which the play is famous) are pretty funny. As for those scenes, which are scripted without a hint of subtlety, Pearlstein has no intention of toning them down. "We're toning them up," he says. "We want the audience to be screaming in the aisles." But the sex isn't what the show is about; it merely serves as a symbol of power dynamics in a relationship; of freedom and expression or oppression and repression. To express these themes, Pearlstein's lined up a top-notch cast, including David Beck, Sharon Sless, Kathryn Muller-Lorish and others. Cloud Nine opens with a preview performance Jan. 18 and runs through Feb. 10. See calendar for details.
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