Alan Osburn: I Dedicate This One To Ken

From Alan Osburn: As the Producing Artistic Director I have the wonderful opportunity to sit in on design meetings and watch all of these creative people continue to impress and inspire me with their passion and experience. I get to step into the room next to my office see costumes appear where a couple of days ago there was just some fabric. I can go to a rehearsal and watch these talented actors just come up with stuff that makes Michael’s face glow with wonder. But I also have moments of extreme sadness in dealing with very sensitive situations.

When Michael cast these five triple threats I couldn’t have been happier for him. But like the holidays, sometimes with great joy, there comes great sadness. I got a call today from Ken Robinson, one of the members of the cast. For those of you who saw The Full Monty he was Malcolm, the guy who sang Is This the Wind at the funeral in act two, which Ken did beautifully. Ken came to Michael and me a few days ago and told us he had hurt his knee outside of the rehearsal process. Today, after many trips to his physical therapist, his doctor, and after having an MRI, he informed me that he did indeed have a torn meniscus in his knee. With this being such a heavy dance show, and knowing that he would also have to dance on a raked stage, it was clear to me that the best thing for both the show and Ken’s health was that I would need to replace him. As a producer this is one of the hardest calls to make, especially with someone like Ken.

I don’t think most people have a true understanding of how deeply passionate performers feel about what they do. How euphoric they feel when they hear the sound of applause or laugher coming from the darkness just beyond the edge of the stage. Or understand the deep seated drive that actors have to finish the second act of a show, even when they just slipped on the stairs during intermission and cracked their head open and are covered in blood, as one of our Youth Repertory Theatre students (Alex Killan) did this past summer.

On the phone today Ken told me he would do whatever it would take to somehow still be in the show, which basically means he would have to ice, stretch, and heat his knee constantly, and still hold down a full time job, spending his evenings and weekends grimacing in pain, praying that no one in the cast or crew would see him because as he put it he “didn’t want the show to suffer.” We are very fortunate to have in the wings the very talented Marco Robinson who will join the company tomorrow. But for tonight, here’s to Ken, our first choice, our friend, and an inspiration to anyone who has ever had to play hurt for the good of the show.

Pictures:

#1: Ken peforming with Saturday Evening Post in The Music Man

#2: Ken playing the role of Malcolm in The Full Monty

#3: Ken in Sunday in the Park with George

#4: Ken in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change!

FAC hauls in 13 Gazette 'best of' awards

The Fine Arts Center took home 13 'Best of' awards from the Gazette. Congratulations to all!

Best Art Museum
Fine Arts Center (Readers' Choice)
When it comes to the Fine Arts Center, Lee Bowers sums it up quite nicely: "Um. Wow!" After a $28.4 million renovation in 2006, the facility boasts both architect John Gaw Meem's stately Pueblo style and airy public spaces able to accommodate the enormous as well as the intimate. Voters cited the free admission days, Dale Chihuly's chandeliers, a solid permanent collection and ambitious traveling shows as reasons to visit again and again. "Better than the Denver Art Museum," wrote one fan, "who needs angled walls?"

Best Local Exhibit
Colorado Springs Abstract (Gazette Pick)
The scope of this 80-piece survey is ambitious - from turn-of-the-century experimentation to contemporary renderings. Sure, there are heavy hitters, such as the tasty Motherwells you can spot from the broad doorway of the Fine Arts Center's El Pomar Gallery. But the real treat is to see local artists Betty Ross, Holly Parker, Bill Burgess and others hang in this august setting.

Best Museum Exhibit
Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe (Readers' Choice)
Despite a year of blockbusters at the Fine Arts Center - from an impressionists show in January to Pablo Picasso in July - this tightly focused traveling exhibit stood out with voters. Not unlike the delicious Ms. Monroe herself. The April 2008 offering included 300 Monroe-related photographs and works by such artists as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon and Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as 15 local artists invited to participate in the show. It was fun, sexy, sad and, ultimately, a testament to our obsession with the unattainable.

Best Traveling Exhibit
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's big ideas in small packages. Sometimes literally. In this sprawling exhibition, the New York artist creates say-what facsimiles of throw-away objects as well as exquisitely painted canvases that play with notions of realism and the nature of art. All of this at our local museum. Amazing.

Best Use of Multimedia
Mikel Glass: The Discarded (Gazette Pick)
It's hard to get your mind around New York realist Mikel Glass' curious work, which ran Jan. 17-April 19 at the Fine Arts Center. That's especially true of the series of handmade boxes that ape throw-away objects, such as express-mail boxes, with such detail that you can't tell the difference. Recognizing that the best convincer - touching it and seeing the wooden back - wasn't possible, the arts center put together a smart array of online and gallery media - including a slide show, a video on how he makes these pieces and an interview with the artist - to telegraph just how artful this heady work really is.

Best Artist You Do Not Understand
Tom McElroy (Gazette Pick)
If you walked into Tom McElroy's recent exhibition at the FAC Modern, "Atomic Elroy's Hometown," you may have been puzzled. But you were unlikely to miss that, like much of his work, this video and installation piece is smart and meaningful, the pearl inside a particularly petulant oyster. To understand McElroy, you needed to spend time with the piece, wading into his complicated relationship with his hometown, Colorado Springs, and his love affair with the slippery nature of dadaism.

Best Musical
The Full Monty (Readers' Choice)
Fans couldn't stop laughing. They loved the singing, acting and special "ladies night" production. Some thought it should have gotten even more exposure, if you know what we mean.

Best Musical
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
Colorful costumes, a sparkling cast and one show-stopping number after another combined to captivate adults while introducing a new, young audience to the magic of theater.

Best Costumes
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Gazette Pick)
How do you bring a wardrobe, a candelabra and a houseful of everyday objects to life? Easily, if you've got Elizabeth Fry's keen imagination and eye for detail. Why, she made even the Beast endearing.

Best Choreography
The Full Monty (Gazette Pick)
Mary Ripper Baker's dance numbers are always a joy to watch, but in this testosterone-driven musical she really outdid herself, rocking the house with her contagiously energetic choreography.

Best Youth Show
Working (Gazette Pick)
Recognized for its intensive training program in the dramatic arts, The Youth Rep showed with this ode to American workers that it could produce work as polished and mature as any professional theater company.

Best Romantic Restaurant
Cafe 36 (Gazette Pick)
When this restaurant opened in the wake of the nifty Fine Arts Center expansion, it served some pretty food that was also pretty bad. But since Garden of the Gods Gourmet took over, the cafe which is now open for dinner and happy hour tapas as well as lunch, it has landed among the top lunch spots in town. The limited but creative menu is complemented by a romantic setting, particularly on the patio overlooking Pikes Peak.

Best Volunteer
Mary Lou Roesler, FAC docent (Readers' Choice)

The Full Monty on Colorado Culture Cast

Watch Colorado Culture Cast producer Craig Richardson speak with Full Monty director Alan Osburn and actors Cory Moosman and Nick Madson about the musical comedy. The Full Monty runs through Feb. 15.

Gazette: Charismatic cast keeps audience boisterous

Read the Gazette's Todd Wallinger's review of the Fine Arts Center's The Full Monty:
How far would you go to provide for your family? In these troubled times, it's a question more and more people are forced to face. Fortunately, it's also a question that can lead to an abundance of laughter - and some revealing performances - as the Fine Arts Center's production of "The Full Monty" proves.

"Terrence McNally's dialogue comes fast and funny, while David Yazbek's driving, pop-infused songs keep the energy - and laugh - levels high."

The Full Monty on FOX 21

FOX 21's Morning Reporter Meaghan Collier was on the set of the FAC Theatre Company's latest production, The Full Monty, last Monday. Check out the four video clips below:

• Director Alan Osburn discusses the "sassy" show
• How does The Full Monty relate to people in Colorado Springs?
• Cast member Ken Robinson talks with Meaghan
• Meaghan learns Monty dance moves, then turns the camera on photographer Chad

Inside The Full Monty undress rehearsal

Here’s a note from Cyndi Trissel of Colorado Springs, who saw last night’s Invited Dress Rehearsal of The Full Monty:

“I absolutely loved it. Everyone did such a fantastic job. I hadn’t seen a show at the SaGāJi Theatre before; I was very impressed. As with the film, I completely fell for Dave (Cory Moosman) He really evoked empathy from me.

The show stayed very close to the film, which I loved, and the music and songs -- so beautifully executed -- just accentuated the greatness and relevance of the story. The sets were used brilliantly and the cast is wonderful. The actors unwavering dedication to their roles was essential and yet unexpected at the same time. I have much respect for them as artists and craftsman to have that kind of devotion.

I know my opinion is just one tiny person, but I am telling everyone I know to come see it; I think I will even come see it again as well. It was a toe-tapping, heartfelt, fun-loving time, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

The Full Monty is the Go! cover story today

The Fine Arts Center says it won't shy away from 'The Full Monty'

T.D. Mobley-Martinez writes: While stories have circulated that audience members wear sunglasses to sidestep any lighting tricks to obscure the goods, Osburn saw something different when he appeared in the production years ago: They get seats closer to the stage, he says, anticipating those final moments.

"Again, people talk about the last 30 seconds of the show," he says.

"For me, it's the humanity of the piece. Shakespeare wrote ‘Hold a mirror up to nature.' These are real people and they have real problems and the way they find release is through friendship.
It's about the fellas."

Right, sure, but do they do IT?

"Let me put it this way," he says.

"There's no question as to whether or not they do."

Gazette feature on young 'Full Monty' actor

Gazette arts writer T.D. Mobley-Martinez tells the tale of 12-year-old FAC Theatre Company actor Mark Autry, who appears in The Full Monty as well as another production in town. (Mark is shown here with Nick Madson from The Full Monty.)

"It's amazing. I don't think I have anything after this," he says, his freckles shifting as he gooses his eyebrows for emphasis. "‘The Full Monty' starts again tomorrow."

In the past year, Mark's taken roles in at least four community productions, including TheatreWorks' "The Grapes of Wrath" and now, "The Full Monty," which opens Friday at the Fine Arts Center. That means rehearsals that start about 8 p.m. and last until about 11 p.m. Then it's home, homework and bed.

He shrugs when asked whether he's tired. "Not yet," he says of this recent collision of two productions, "The Full Monty" and "The Boy."

See the full story here.

The Independent previews The Full Monty

Today's Independent previews The Full Monty: "The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's upcoming production of The Full Monty is supposed to involve "six steel workers who bare it all." So the obvious question for director Alan Osburn is, "Will we really get the full monty?"

"Unfortunately, he gives the obvious answer for a director who wants a full house: "I think you're going to have to come see it yourself."

From The Full Monty to Slumdog Millionaire

Simon Beaufoy, who came to prominence as the writer of the hugely successful comedy of working-class life, The Full Monty, has written another story of underdogs. The movie titled Slumdog Millionaire has generated a ton of Oscar buzz, after both Beaufoy and the movie earned 2008 Golden Globe awards. In 1998, Beaufoy was nominated for an Oscar for writing The Full Monty.

The FAC Theatre Company's production of the revealing musical-comedy opens Jan. 23. Tickets are available now.