A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts and entertainment during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.
magazine
JULY 2021
Special thanks to our premium sponsors whose support lets us provide this publication at no charge to you.
PNC BROADWAY IN LOUISVILLE Title Sponsor Reflects on 28-Year Partnership Page 6 | KENTUCKY PERFORMING ARTS Old Forester’s Paristown Hall Will Reopen with The Paul Thorn Band Page 10 | KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE Two Career Actors Share Excitement Following Hiatus Page 14 | FUND FOR THE ARTS Get to Know the New President & CEO Page 20
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OVERTURE & BEGINNNERS READY When you’re performing, you’re creating a moment. − Eryka Badu
It’s been a long and challenging road, but we’re finally back to live, in-person performances in front of cheering audiences. This is a time of celebration for Louisville’s performing arts groups — a celebration of their strength and resiliency, as well as their rebirth and reinvention. And it’s all happening in front of our eyes on stage. We could not be more excited! In this issue of Audience Magazine, we hear from two Kentucky Shakespeare actors, who share what it’s like to perform on the mainstage again in Central Park. We also hear from nationally renowned musician, Paul Thorn, who gets candid about the ups and downs he experienced during the COVID, and the delayed release of his new album.
Amy Higgs Managing Editor
We profile the dynamic new leader of Fund for the Arts, Andre Kimo Stone Guess, and how he plans to bring a fresh perspective to one of our arts community’s most vital and visible roles. We also sat down with Mike Moll of PNC Bank, one of the arts’ biggest corporate supporters. He talks about what his company’s long-standing partnership with Broadway has meant for the arts landscape of Louisville. The calendars for all our local arts groups are rapidly filling up. We went from limited choices to too many in record time, which is a great problem to have! We don’t know about you, but we plan to attend as many as we can — from music to theater to improv to comedy and everything in between. Yes, we certainly have lots of great moments to look forward to in the months ahead. Kudos to all the creatives, performers, technicians, executives, community leaders and donors who helped keep the arts community afloat during the pandemic, and who have been instrumental in allowing us all to emerge triumphantly for the 2021-22 new season. And, thank you to our advertisers who continue to support Audience Magazine, allowing us to bring you the stories behind the arts free of charge. What shows are you most excited about? Got your tickets yet? The curtain is up and the spotlight is on,
G. Douglas Dreisbach Publisher
– The Audience Group
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TABLE of CONTENTS JULY 2021
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INTERVIEW WITH MIKE MOLL
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READY TO ROCK (AGAIN)
BRINGING THE LOVE
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ANDRE KIMO STONE GUESS
Plus... Opportunities for young performers, page 18 AND check out our Events Calendar, page 26
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SPECIAL INVITES
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A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts and entertainment during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.
PUBLISHER
The Audience Group, Inc. G. Douglas Dreisbach MANAGING EDITOR
Amy Higgs CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Rhonda Mefford SALES & MARKETING
G. Douglas Dreisbach CONTRIBUTORS
PNC Broadway in Louisville Actors Theatre Louisville Orchestra Kentucky Performing Arts Kentucky Shakespeare Fund for the Arts
To read current and previous Audience playbills and performance guides, go to issuu.com/audience502. On the Cover: Don't miss Shakespeare in Love presented by Kentucky Shakespeare, now through July 31. Free, live shows nightly in Central Park. Learn more on page 14. Photo by Bill Brymer.
GOT AN ARTICLE IDEA? Audience Magazine is a platform for the arts in Louisville. If you have an article idea or something you think we should cover, email ahiggs@theaudiencegroup.com © Copyright 2021. The Audience Group, Inc. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
Audience® Magazine is published by The Audience Group, Inc. 136 St. Matthews Avenue #300 Louisville, KY 40207 502.212.5177 | Audience502.com M A R C H
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AUDIENCE INTERVIEW
MIKE MOLL
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF CLIENT & COMMUNITY RELATIONS FOR PNC BANK by G. Douglas Dreisbach
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ouisville is an entertainment-driven city. Whether it’s a Broadway performance, a concert or music festival, or sporting event, there are plenty of options to fill an evening with a new and exciting experience.
Mike Moll has been instrumental in elevating PNC’s visibility in the community through partnerships, sponsorships, and more, including University of Louisville, Racing Louisville Soccer, and our beloved PNC Broadway in Louisville. Without the support of major companies like PNC, the arts in Louisville would not be what it is today. Through these generous sponsorships, the groups are able to run day-to-day operations and implement various outreach programs, including tickets to youth groups, aspiring artists, and other initiatives to make the arts in Louisville accessible to everyone. Audience Magazine Publisher, G. Douglas Dreisbach, was excited to catch up with Mike to hear about his passion for the arts and entertainment in Louisville, how the PNC partnership with Broadway came to be, and why continuing it year after year is so important. G. Douglas Dreisbach: PNC is one of the largest companies in the area and a major supporter for the arts and entertainment in Louisville. Your partnership with Broadway in Louisville is one of the longest running and most successful in the country. How long has the partnership been in place, and why is it important to you and the PNC team to be a part of Broadway, the arts, and other entertainment options in Louisville? Mike Moll: If I’m doing my math correctly, I think we are in our 28th year as the title sponsor for PNC Broadway in Louisville, which is saying something. It says something
...PNC and other employers of all sizes in the community recognize a thriving arts community is essential to the health and wellbeing of a thriving community... Anything we can do to make our community successful is ultimately going to benefit us as a company, but also benefit our employees here in this community. about the partnership, how effective we think it is from a benefit standpoint, and how impactful it is in the community. I think PNC and other employers of all sizes in the community recognize a thriving arts community is essential to the health and wellbeing of a thriving community, so it just makes sense. We live here. We work here. Anything we can do to make our community successful is ultimately going to benefit us as a company, but also benefit our employees here in this community. GDD: Were you part of the initial conversations and development of the partnership? And if so, how did it start? MM: Yes, I was actively involved in the initial title sponsorship. We viewed it as a great way to help introduce the PNC brand into the Louisville community.
Leslie Broecker, President of Broadway Across America Midwest, and Mike Moll welcomed the audience prior to the first show of Aladdin, which kicked off the 2018-19 season. This marked the beginning of the 25th season of PNC's title sponsorship, which they celebrated with a high five. Photo courtesy of PNC Broadway in Louisville.
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...to me, the entertainment is just incredible, but it’s that buzz before, during, and after [the show] that I really have missed and might surprise someone attending a show for the first time. − Mike Moll
GDD: PNC has several other major sponsorships, including Stage One Family Theatre, University of Louisville Athletics, Racing Louisville FC, and other entertainment outlets. Do you see similarities or any crossover from the sports sponsorships and the partnerships with Broadway from an audience perspective as far as passion for the product? MM: I think you used the key word there: passion. All of the things you mentioned invoke a passion in fans. Whether it is theater or a sporting event, it is all something they can identify with and get behind and get excited about, which makes for a better, healthier community. So, I think that is the consistency we see across those types of sponsorship opportunities and why we’re involved. The other key to the partnerships you mentioned, including a number of other longtime partners, is the working partnership itself. We love working with organizations that have a similar view about a healthy community, an engaged community. Look at the title sponsorship of the Broadway Series as an example. We started that to get the PNC brand into the community. But, working with the Louisville Theatrical Association and with Broadway Across America folks like Leslie Broecker and Glenn Hill, it becomes more of a partnership every year. They’re creative. They are interested in the community. They’re interested in what’s best for both parties, in terms of the partnership. So, it has just become better and more creative year after year after year. That is the consistency with all the different partners that you named, as well as some that you haven’t. We really look for long-term partners that are willing to change and improve with each passing year. GDD: When COVID hit last year and stages shut down, we all realized how much we needed live events and entertainment in our society. The resiliency of the Louisville arts organizations and venues was amazing. They created livestreams, Louisville Orchestra’s Teddy Abrams did parking lot concerts and drive-in performances, and so much more. How does the resiliency reflect on the power of the arts in this community and the importance it has for so many Louisvillians? 8
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MM: I think the passion — there’s that word again — the passion and creativity that has come into play to keep the arts alive has just been incredible. The stories are too numerous to detail, but it’s been incredible to see the hard work and sacrifices made by the leadership and employees of our arts groups to make sure that there is a vibrant arts community once everything fully opens up again. GDD: What do you look forward to the most about the return to full-capacity, in-person live events? MM: I think it is just literally being around other people. There’s something about being together, watching performances, watching sporting events, participating in live events, that creates an atmosphere that you just can’t replicate when you’re sitting at home watching, even on a high-def television. So, I do look forward to that. GDD: You’ve been around the Broadway world for a long time. The upcoming season kicks off in November with Waitress, followed up with Cats in January and anchored by the return of Hamilton next June. What are you looking forward to about those upcoming performances and the upcoming season? MM: Just to get Broadway going again. It has such a Main Street appeal. You put the right season together, which Leslie Broecker always does, and it has something for everybody. PNC refers to itself as a Main Street bank for the same reason... we think we have the capacity to have something for everyone, and at the same time support markets at a local level. So, it’s a great match, and a great way to get performing arts back in front of a lot of people. GDD: What do you personally like about attending the Broadway performances? And if you had an opportunity to pitch somebody who maybe hasn’t ever been to a Broadway show, what would that pitch be? How would you encourage others to give it a try? MM: If they haven’t already attended a live Broadway show, I think they will be surprised at what is my favorite part, A U D I E N C E
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and that is the buzz in the lobby before the show, during the break, and then after the show. Each of those periods has a different buzz to it. Before the show, there’s a lot of anticipatory excitement. And then everybody goes in and there’s the show, and then during intermission, there’s a different kind of buzz. It’s like, “Hey, what did you think of the first act? Wasn’t that opening number fantastic?” There’s an excitement, “I can’t wait to get back in there. This is great.” And then, afterwards, there’s this euphoria, people smiling, laughing, taking their picture in front of marquees and posters. To me, the entertainment is just incredible, but it’s that buzz before, during, and after that I really have missed and might surprise someone attending a show for the first time. GDD: In closing, is there anything you’d like to add about the arts and entertainment in Louisville or PNC’s involvement and support throughout the community? MM: We appreciate everyone involved with all of our various arts partners, and again, all the behind-the-scenes things that none of us will ever fully know that they have done to try and keep a vibrant arts community alive during the challenges of the last 18 months. As the Bank of the Arts, we applaud them, are glad we were able to continue supporting them during that period, and look forward to some fun and exciting times. GDD: Thanks again for your time today, we really appreciate it, as well as your support of the arts and entertainment in Louisville. MM: Thank you! It goes without saying that you are absolutely a crucial part of what I described earlier, in terms of support for a vibrant entertainment community. Audience Magazine does a terrific job, and I know you do a lot of things behind the scenes, including things like this, profiling partners, that are
Brandon Michael Nase as 'Old Deuteronomy' and the North American Tour Company of CATS. Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2019.
really important in helping keep this arts community vibrant. I want to give a personal thanks to you and everything you do for making this such a great city.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES Tickets and info at: louisville.broadway.com
Waitress Nov. 9-14, 2021
Cats Jan. 18-23, 2022
Come From Away Feb. 15-20, 2022
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Mean Girls Mar. 22-27, 2022
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Hamilton June 7-19, 2022
Anastasia Aug. 2-7, 2022
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THE PAUL THORN BAND KICKS OFF THE RETURN OF LIVE MUSIC AT OLD FORESTER’S PARISTOWN HALL by G. Douglas Dreisbach
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hen the pandemic shut down stages around the world, entertainers and audiences alike were left searching for ways to fill their entertainment needs. Livestreams and other creative collaborations were plentiful and fantastic, but they didn’t quite replace the feeling you get at a live performance: The bass in your belly. The camaraderie of fellow fans. The energy from the lights going down and hearing that first note, to the moments after the final encore when the lights come back on. After a long and quiet year and a half, Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, along with The Kentucky Center and the Brown Theatre, are ready to rock again with a lineup of bands and musicians that will bring audiences to their feet. The first performance at Old Forester's Paristown Hall will feature The Paul Thorn Band on August 27. It is sure to be a show you won’t want to miss! Audience Magazine Publisher, G. Douglas Dreisbach, caught up with Paul Thorn to talk about his return to the stage, his musical inspirations and why music is so important to us all. Be sure to check out his show, as well as the other great concerts coming to Paristown. The full lineup can be found at KentuckyPerformingArts.org. This is an excerpt from the full interview. To read it in its entirety, visit Audience502.com. G. Douglas Dreisbach: We’re excited that you will be the first band to play at Paristown Hall when the venue reopens. That’s a pretty big deal. How did you deal with the pandemic and not being able to perform in front of live audiences? Paul Thorn: When the pandemic hit, I didn’t have a gig for over nine months, and then during that time, I caught COVID. It put me under the weather for about two weeks. I laid in bed feeling rough. But I survived that, and I started back doing a few gigs, just me and my guitar, without my band because half the venues were closed permanently, and the venues that were open were at half capacity, so there was really no money to take the band out. So, we all felt a hit. It was like we lost our jobs. But during the pandemic, besides losing money — which I can get past that, that’s no big deal —what really was beautiful
Paul Thorn finished his new album, Never Too Late To Call, in December 2019, but delayed its release due to the pandemic. It's available for pre-order now, with official release in August.
about it for me was that I got to be at home. When you do this for a living, people don’t realize how much you have to be away from home and what a strain it puts on any family. So, even though the pandemic was bad, and I got sick and all that, the majority of it, I was in heaven because I could take my daughter to soccer games. I got to go to all the things that I miss a lot of, like football games, just stuff like dragging the garbage out to the road. Just little mundane things that seem horrible to some people, I felt like I was in Disneyland. GDD: During COVID and no live shows, we saw musicians doing different things like streaming from their homes, giving guitar lessons online and other creative things to stay active and visible. How did you spend your time? You mentioned family time, which is awesome. Did you also work on your new album?
Paul Thorn on stage. Photo courtesy of Kentucky Performing Arts.
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GET YOUR SHOT NOW! Permanent residents of Kentucky who have received at least the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines or the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are eligible. Permanent residents of Kentucky are eligible even if they received the vaccine in a different state. Entry into the drawing must be completed at shotatamillion.ky.gov. Entry requires providing your name, birthdate, email address, phone number, home address and the name and location of the place that provided you with the vaccine. Entry also requires agreement to the official rules of the drawing and agreement to allow the Kentucky Department for Public Health to verify your vaccination information. The winners will be announced publicly by Governor Andy Beshear at shotatamillion.ky.gov.
ANNOUNCEMENT DATES FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2021 FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021 FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2021
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want to hear, and then I’m really proud of this new record we put out, and I’ll be playing a few songs off my new record, too.
Paul Thorn
GDD: Tell me about the new record. It’s called Never Too Late to Call. PT: It’s coming out in August, but right now two songs off the record are available on Spotify. I hadn’t put out an album of original material in six years, and so, it’s been a minute. But there’s a lot of reasons for that. The main one — I had lots of songs, but I didn’t think I had any real good ones, and I wanted to wait until I had some songs I really felt good about. I do now, and I’m really proud of these songs.
PT: We cut our new record at the end of 2019, but when the pandemic shut the whole world down, it was a bit foolish to put a new record out when there’s no way to tour and no way to promote it. So, we waited until things got back on track, which it looks like it’s going that way now. The new record is coming out in August. We have a better shot at getting heard now because we can go out and tour, and we can do all the things you need to do to promote a record. But other than that, I did a lot of artwork and stuff around the house, I wrote a few songs. We all got hit pretty hard, but when you get hit hard, you’ve got to get back up. So, I’m in the getting back up phase right now with a lot of good things on the horizon. GDD: Speaking of getting hit and getting back up, you grew up in Tupelo, Miss., where you had a stint as a boxer for a while. How did you go from boxing to realizing that you’re a singer and a songwriter? PT: My dad is a Pentecostal preacher, so I grew up singing in church. That’s where I really got my start with music. I was a boxer and was ranked No. 29 in the world at one time with a record of 14 and 4. The thing I’m most known for is a fight I lost against one of the greatest fighters that ever lived, Bert Duran. He is probably in the top five greatest of all time. GDD: You have played here in Louisville a few times before. What do you like about Louisville? Do you get a chance to go around town, pre- and post-show, or do you generally come in, perform, and head out? PT: Louisville has the Muhammad Ali museum, which is great and awesome, and I think he was the greatest. I’m just the goodest. I’m the goodest, and he’s the greatest. As far as seeing the town, that just depends on where we’re coming from. But when you’re on tour, it’s not like you’re going on vacation. You’re going to work. And I enjoy my work, but it’s not a vacation. It’s rare that we get a day to just go see the sights. We have some, but not as much as people think. GDD: When you go on your tour, do you have a specific set list you stick to for the full tour? Or do you change it up every show or have some improv folded in? PT: Every year, we’ll work up two or three sets, and we’ll just alternate them city to city. I’ll play a lot of old stuff that fans K E N T U C K Y
There’s a lot of things autobiographical on this. Like a lot of people during the pandemic, drinking became an issue. I drank for quite a while, but even before the pandemic, my drinking had gotten a little bit out of hand, and I could see it was taking a toll on me in a bad way. So I quit drinking. A lot of this, not the whole record, but there’s a lot of stuff on the record... that are like my getting-sober songs... I laid it aside, and I feel a thousand times better. Some of the record touches on that. GDD: Your music carries a humorous side, with songs like, “I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love,” “Pimps and Preachers,” “It’s a Great Day to Whoop Somebody’s Ass,” and others, but the meaning of each of them is serious and real. How do you come up with your lyrics, and when did you realize that humor and music can go together? PT: Well, “Pimps and Preachers” was written because my father was a Pentecostal preacher, and his brother, my uncle, was a pimp. I just wrote about it. That’s not a fiction. Those are real people. And as far as, “I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love,” who can’t say that, you know? There’s a reason we get together only once a year, for Christmas and Thanksgiving, because that’s all we can stand sometimes. Some of our family, we love them, but they are hard to be around, and you love somebody, but you don’t necessarily like them. GDD: Your music has some blues, some rock vibe and a little folk at times. How would you describe your music and the goal of what you want it to be? PT: That’s a hard question. I like to put empathy in my songs, and I like to make my songs where the listener feels like it’s them that I’m singing about, because we all go through the same joys and the same hardships... It’s just people — we’ve got a different name, but we’re all going through the same stuff. And I want my music to resonate and the listener to... after the song, say, “I believe Paul knows exactly how I feel.” We’re all the same. GDD:Do you have a favorite guitar? Or do you travel with several when you tour? And how do you pick that as part of your travel situation? PT: My favorite guitar, I don’t actually carry around with me. My favorite guitar is a 20-year-old Gibson Hummingbird, and the neck got broke off of it when I was out on tour one time, and then when I got it fixed, I just decided to retire it and leave it home, even though it’s my favorite one. But the one I use on the road actually is — I’ve got one of those carbon fiber guitars. It’s made out of the same materials they’ve made spaceships out of. Extreme heat, and extreme cold —neither one bothers it, so it never goes out of tune.
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ACTORS SHARE WHAT IT’S LIKE TO RETURN TO IN-PERSON PERFORMANCES by Daniel Chioco
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In another lifetime, Brittany “BeeBee” Patillo might not have returned to the stage for Kentucky Shakespeare in 2021. In that alternate world, she would have competed for Miss Kentucky and, if she had won, would be preparing to compete for Miss America.
Patillo didn’t compete in pageants growing up. “I was a child that was shy,” she says, but during her senior year of college, she was one of five young women chosen as Kentucky Derby Princesses. That was just the beginning. At the official Derby Ball, Patillo was crowned the 2019 Kentucky Derby Festival Queen, and because of the pandemic, she remained queen in 2020. “I learned that you get a scholarship for being a queen,” Patillo says. “I knew that I wanted to go to grad school to study theater or maybe even directing, so I was really thinking about competing for Miss Kentucky.” Then came the pivotal decision. Both pageantry and theater are time-consuming and full-focus commitments. Patillo would either perform with Kentucky Shakespeare or compete for Miss Kentucky, not both. Fortunately for audiences, Patillo isn’t just simply returning to the stage — she has a lead role as Viola de Lesseps in this summer’s Shakespeare in Love. She wouldn’t have it any other way. “I always knew, even at a young age, that I wanted to perform,” Patillo says, so when Amy Attaway, Kentucky Shakespeare’s Associate Artistic Director, asked her to audition for the 2021 summer season, the choice was clear. “At the end of the day, I knew that pageantry isn’t where my heart is. Theater is,” says Patillo. “So that’s how the decision was made.”
Jon O'Brien and Brittany "BeeBee" Patillo in Shakespeare in Love. Photo by Bill Brymer.
A SPECIAL HOMECOMING As Viola de Lesseps, Patillo is playing William Shakespeare’s love interest, who would eventually become The Bard’s muse for Juliet in his legendary play, Romeo and Juliet. Playing Shakespeare himself is Jon O'Brien, who is returning for his eighth season. “Working with BeeBee is awesome,” O’Brien says of Patillo. “This is the first time we’ve worked together. I think she’s an awesome scene partner.” Like Patillo, O’Brien was born and raised in Louisville. He went to school in New York, attending the Juilliard School of Drama, and graduated in 2009. “Group 38!” O’Brien declares proudly. “I needed a break from New York and wanted to live by actual trees,” O’Brien jokes. “I saw that [Kentucky Shakespeare] was auditioning, so I met with Matt Wallace and Amy Attaway, and the rest is history.”
Jon O'Brien and Brittany "BeeBee" Patillo in Shakespeare in Love. Photo by Bill Brymer.
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KENTUCKY STATE PARKS WANT YOU! e Kentucky Department of Parks hires hundreds of employees each year. With 45 state parks, many with lodges, restaurants, pools, golf courses, marinas, and other recreationsl activities, now is the time to get your foot in the door by applying for a park near you. Visit parks.ky.gov/employment for full-time and interim positions or call your closest park and ask about other seasonal opportunities.
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nation’s S U B “the S C R I B E finest” T O A U D I E N C E
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Shakespeare in Love players perform one of the show's musical numbers. Photo by Bill Brymer.
When asked what it’s like to return to live performances, O’Brien says, “The theater is my church, especially when the audience is there and everyone can share in a single moment. There’s a sense of awe when you’re going through something on stage [as a performer] and you know the audience is going through that same emotional journey with you. That sense of community is something that can only happen with live performances.” So far in his career, O’Brien has also booked significant work in television and film. His resume includes the recurring role of Motlow on AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies, Baron Drew on Chicago PD, and Hunter on The Good Wife. “I was thinking about it the other day, actually,” O’Brien says, “The different sorts of performing arts... As a musician, you play a note and the audience is immediately taken to an [emotional] place. That’s the beauty of a live performance; something new is created right in front of you, something unique to that moment. With TV and film, they’re looking for one moment to capture on camera [forever]. And that’s why I love theater. It’s alive. It’s a living organism.” But during the height of pandemic lockdowns, that living organism — the theater — went into hibernation. “Of course, it was hard,” Patillo says, “because you don’t get to perform. You’re not on stage. We had just started the 2020 Spring Tour, but then everything shut down. It’s already hard enough to be a local full-time actress, so when that’s stripped away from you, now everyone’s in a panic. How am I going to pay this? How am I going to pay for that? So that’s very stressful and panicking.” “But I’m an optimistic person,” she continues. “I read new plays, learned new monologues, and worked on self-tapes.” For O’Brien, much of the lockdown was spent with his son, who was born right before the pandemic hit. Though O’Brien stood against the cliff of the unknown, one constant melody in his life had been another artistic endeavor. “When I’m not on stage, I do woodworking,” O’Brien says. “I like it because I can go into the shop and work for a little bit K E N T U C K Y
and create something. I made several charcuterie boards for Christmas. That was fun.”
STEPPING BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT After a year away, the initial return to the stage was unexpectedly nerve wracking. “I’m amazed at how nervous I was for the preview, our first performance back,” O’Brien recalls. “I had literal physical anxiety.” Prior to performances, O’Brien usually makes playlists for every character he plays. At that point, he hadn’t made a playlist for his warm-up for the preview. But the moment he started listening to a playlist shared by Hannah, one of the backstage crew members, he was able to channel that anxiety into fuel for the show. “All I needed was my music,” O’Brien says. Now that the 2021 summer season is in full swing, it’s already clear what an impact Shakespeare in Love is having on the Greater Louisville community. As a black actress and a lead in a predominantly white company, Patillo describes a beautiful moment of seeing little black girls in the audience and how important it is for them to see a black woman on center stage. “I was talking with another castmate about impact and how excited we are to look into the audience,” Patillo says. “We adore Kentucky Shakespeare so much because you hear them say all the time that ‘Shakespeare is for everybody’ and they really are living true to those words by making sure everyone is being represented.” O’Brien agrees, and encourages everyone in Louisville to come see the show. “Shakespeare in Love is a play where you can put everything aside to see a fun, beautiful story in front of you. Not every story has to pull out a thorn. Sometimes theater can just be a hug. Shakespeare in Love is a hug to our community. A vaccinated, safe hug.” Shakespeare in Love runs through July 31 in Central Park. S H A K E S P E A R E
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SPECIAL FEATURE
ACT LOUISVILLE PRODUCTIONS
A NEW PATH for YOUNG PERFORMERS As performing arts lovers, we know that something magical happens when the house lights go down and the curtain rises. The audience collectively takes a breath as the performers hit their marks, and for one heavy moment everyone in the theater wonders, “What will happen next?” A similar moment occurred years ago for both Beth Hall and Randy Blevins when they performed on stage as classmates at Centre College. The two connected and had no idea that years later that connection would be the biggest, “What will happen next?” moment of their lives. Hall and Blevins have been working together to promote Hall’s two performing arts schools, Actors Center for Training (ACT) and Dancers Center for Training (DCT), which have helped countless young people become working actors around the country. As they worked to provide support for young artists in Louisville, they realized
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there was something missing. More importantly, they realized there was something they could do to better meet the needs of these young performers. “As an educator, I’m so inspired by the potential of young performers in our community,” says Hall. “We’re lucky to live in a city that provides opportunities to discover, experience and explore the arts. But, then what? What’s next?” After years of planning and development, the answer to that question is ACT Louisville Productions (ALP), a brand new production company designed to help the region’s most promising young actors reach greater success as performers and artists. A DELAYED LAUNCH This summer marks the launch of ALP’s two-year pilot program, ARTS at the AMPHITHEATER, which will present young performers with unique opportunities to study with and perform alongside professional actors. The first of these
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opportunities is coming up this month when ALP will stage its inaugural production, The Wizard of Oz, presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. “We had hoped to launch this effort in 2020,” says Hall. “Unfortunately, the pandemic forced the closure of all performance venues. We were, however, able to successfully hold in-person camps last year, while adhering to strict protocols to keep our students safe.” “Our mission is to bring arts to the community,” says Blevins. “We want to build up the next generation of performers and theatregoers, to provide access and opportunities to work with the best professionals in the business. In order to do this, we’ve had to find new ways to reach and foster talent.” Thanks to a blossoming relationship with community centers around Louisville, auditions were held at multiple locations, giving every child access to
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ARTS at the AMPHITHEATER is a two-year pilot program that offers young performers opportunities to study alongside professional actors. Photo courtesy of ACT Louisville Productions.
As an educator, I’m so inspired by the potential of young performers in our community. We’re lucky to live in a city that provides opportunities to discover, experience and explore the arts. − Beth Hall
Beth Hall
the opportunity to audition. Following the summer pilot program, ALP will seek to program at these community centers throughout the year. ELEVATING YOUNG PERFORMERS ALP’s unique summer intensives will also be a new and innovative way to help students further their skills through mentorship with educators and professionals like Broadway performer Sara Gettelfinger, who joined the team as an instructor in 2019. Gettelfinger, a native of Southern Indiana and a graduate of the Youth Performing Arts School, has performed in many Broadway and touring Broadway productions including Fosse, Suessical the Musical, Nine (opposite Antonio Banderas), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (opposite John Lithgow), 101 Dalmatians as Cruella DeVille, Morticia in The Addams Family, and A Free Man of Color (opposite Jeffery Wright and Mos Def).
She shares the vision of ALP: “I am incredibly grateful to have had such a wonderful career as a performer. The opportunity to pass on what I’ve learned and experienced to younger performers is an incredible gift. To share and teach the work and history of our art form not only preserves it for generations to come, but also elevates our young performers to new levels. I believe this is the most fulfilling and important accomplishment there is for an artist.”
travel out of town to get this training. Wouldn’t it be great if Louisville became the destination of choice for training?”
Training via an intense camp environment or learning the craft as part of a large-scale performance under the direction of industry professionals is a huge win for the most passionate students of the arts. ALP wants children to succeed and become incredible communicators, thinkers, and performers.
Beyond the talent and beyond the audiences, ALP will look to the Louisville community to invest in this program. “Sponsorship opportunities are now available,” says Blevins. “We would love to talk with the many generous organizations and individuals in our city to see how they might partner with us to realize this dream. People have been wondering for years when musical theatre would return to Iroquois Amphitheatre. It’s right now. And we couldn’t be more excited, because there’s no place like home.”
“We want ACT Louisville Productions to become a springboard for passionate young performers to make their theatrical dreams come true. So many young artists — both on stage and behind the scenes — want to build their resumes and gain the experience needed to have a career in the arts,” adds Hall. “Many of these talented people have to J U L Y
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“And who knows,” says Blevins. “If this pilot program takes off, we could aspire to create and develop Broadway-bound new works. With all of the local arts support and talent in our community, why shouldn’t Louisville be a preBroadway destination like Chicago or Washington, D.C.?”
The Wizard of Oz will have performances July 30-Aug. 2. Tickets are on sale now starting at $20. Visit actlouisville.com to learn more about all of ALP’s programs. 19
AUDIENCE INTERVIEW
MEET
ANDRE KIMO STONE GUESS
FUND FOR THE ARTS’ NEW PRESIDENT & CEO by G. Douglas Dreisbach
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he Fund for the Arts is a vital asset for the arts in Louisville. Its goal is to provide arts access and education, and foster diversity, as well as promote the city as a nationally recognized epicenter of the arts. During a roller coaster of a year — the arts and the community overall are just now starting to rebound from the challenges of the pandemic — Christen Boone, who has navigated the Fund for the past seven years, announced her resignation. After a national search for a new President and CEO, the Fund for the Arts’ next chapter will be led by one of Louisville’s own, Andre Kimo Stone Guess. With an extensive background in the arts and entertainment world from consulting to management, he is ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work on many important issues around our community. Audience Magazine Publisher, G. Douglas Dreisbach, caught up with Guess to learn more about his background, his interest in the arts and the community, and what he is excited about for the future of Fund for the Arts.
This is an excerpt from the full interview. To read it in its entirety, visit Audience502.com. G. Douglas Dreisbach: Being a Louisville native, you can appreciate the importance of an organization like Fund for the Arts. What initially drew your interest to the position for President and CEO, and what are you looking forward to the most about the role? Andre Kimo Stone Guess: I was born and raised here in Louisville, and my family goes back over 100 years in the Smoketown neighborhood, so I have deep roots in the community. I got accepted to Boston University in the six-year medical program right out of high school, I went to Male High School, and thought I wanted to be a physician early on but found out quickly I didn’t want to be a doctor. So, I ended up coming home and going to University of Louisville and got a degree in economics with a minor in actuarial math. I passed the first actuarial exam, got a job at Capital Holding and worked there for four years but realized that I didn’t really like the corporate world. I really wanted my life’s work to have an
I am taking full inventory and am in a complete listening and learning mode. I am not a changefor-change’s-sake kind of person. I really want to live out the vision of the organization, which is to have art enrich the lives of every person in every neighborhood, every day. − Andre Kimo Stone Guess
From left to right: Mayor Fischer, Andre Kimo Stone Guess (new Fund for the Arts President & CEO), Christen Boone (outgoing Fund for the Arts President & CEO), James 'Ja' Hillebrand (Fund for the Arts Board Member & Chairman & CEO of Stock Yards Bank & Trust) Campbell Brown (Fund for the Arts Campaign Chair and Chairman of Brown-Forman). Photo courtesy of Fund for the Arts. F U N D
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Fund for the Arts hosted a free concert on June 29 at Christy's Garden at Old Forester's Paristown Hall to celebrate our community's artists and donors, and meet incoming President & CEO Andre Kimo Stone Guess.
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impact on something greater than my own personal bottom line or the bottom line for a company. So, I transitioned into the nonprofit world, working for the Lincoln Foundation here in Louisville. I ended up going back to UofL to work on a Ph.D. in urban and public affairs and was writing my dissertation when I got a call from my dear friend, Wynton Marsalis, in New York. He asked me if I’d be interested in coming to help them prepare for moving into and building their new — what is now Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home at Columbus Circle. I was like, “Wow, this is the opportunity of a lifetime!” So, my wife and three young children, ages 7, 4, and 1 at the time, packed up and moved to New York. I did that for almost seven years and then started my own management and consulting firm, GuessWorks Inc., where I did a combination of managing the career of some Grammy Award-winning world-class artists, and also some really exciting consulting work with arts organizations all over the world. In 2010, I was working on a consulting project in Pittsburgh and found out they had an opening for the CEO of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture and ended up getting offered that job. I did it for two years but did not renew my contract. Instead of moving back to New York or staying in Pittsburgh, we decided to move back to Louisville, where my wife and I were both from, and that was in 2012. In 2019, we had decided that we wanted to move to New Orleans, and the reason we stayed in Louisville for as long as we did was to get our daughters, our two younger daughters, out of school. But then COVID happened, and then Breonna Taylor happened, and George Floyd happened, and so my wife and I kind of looked at each other like, “We can’t leave. We have to stay here, and we have to get involved.” So, I went back to consulting full time. Things went well. We bought a condo on St. James Court, our empty nest forever home — our retirement home. Life was good. And then, a friend sent me a message on LinkedIn [that said], “I think this job is perfect for you,” and it was the posting for the Fund for the Arts job. The opportunity was like a calling... It was like the description was written for that little boy from Smoketown, coming back home to take on this role. GDD: Wow, what a great story. How does the arts community in Louisville compare to some of the other places like New York or Pittsburgh? AKSG: Louisville’s art footprint is disproportionate to the size of the city, disproportionately large. Louisville, for the longest time, had the largest per capita giving in the arts than any other city in the country. The arts community and the arts organizations, because of organizations like Fund for the Arts, historically have sort of banded together to move the arts forward. It hasn’t always been as inclusive as it could be, which is why they went through the work in 2017, and now of course, because of all the things that have gone on recently, there’s much more focus on it. F U N D
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The Fund for the Arts staff celebrated their new leader and wished outgoing President & CEO Christen Boone well in her next chapter at the Summer Arts Celebration. Top row (L-R): Christen Boone, Andre Kimo Stone Guess, Annie Nelson, Jake Bailey. Middle (L-R): Meghan Weidner, Mollie LaFavers, Katie Krutsick, Jordan Turpin, Courtney Glenny. Bottom (L-R): Maria Villares, August Anderson, Janie Martin
But having said that, the one thing I do like about the scene in Louisville is that the community is small enough that you can take that art footprint, and while you’re expanding it, you can still steer it in a direction where a significant amount of that ecosystem can move in that direction, and the city saw value in developing a cultural plan that involves the entire ecosystem. Now, we’ve got to do a better job of making sure that all aspects of the ecosystem are included in the plan, and that’s part of my charge in this, but we can move this and steer it in a direction that gets us to where we need to go, which is moving forward and taking everybody with us. How we compare — I mean, you can’t compare any other city to the New Yorks and the L.A.s of the world because they have their own sort of micro-ecosystems of art, and there’s not necessarily a community- or a city-wide effort to promote it or even understand it, how it works together in a way to enhance all aspects of it. A town like Pittsburgh has a very strong local arts scene, particularly an African American arts scene. Hence, they have the August Wilson Center for African American Culture on Liberty Avenue. Pittsburgh has a shared services model that a lot of the large foundations came together and sort of mandated, to a certain extent, that these organizations work together. T H E
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ecosystem north, but also living up to that vision of enriching the lives of everybody in every neighborhood every day. GDD: Why do you feel the arts are important to communities of every ecosystem, of every part of the city and world? What is it about the arts that you feel is important for people? AKSG: Well, at its most irreducible essence, art is a reflection of the human condition. To me, all art is storytelling, and those stories that we tell ourselves and we tell others help us to make sense of the world around us. Also, art is one of the huge lever points that we can use to help heal and transform and bring about some level of equality with human beings.
New President & CEO Andre Kimo Stone Guess welcomes guests to Fund for the Arts' Summer Arts Celebration event.
But one thing about Pittsburgh is that it has those large funders, funders who have assets under management of over $1 billion, so a lot of the voices, a lot of the direction, can come from those voices because they have so much money. I’m not saying that they are steering the policy, but when you have somebody you can go directly to for those kinds of things, it’s kind of hard to steer, unless you have them all deciding that this is what we want to do for the city. GDD: Have you had a chance to look into the current programs at Fund for the Arts and to get an idea of what’s going on right now and what the next chapter is going to be like? Do you see the programs that are in place right now to be beneficial? Or do you want to change them? AKSG: Right now, I am taking full inventory and am in a complete listening and learning mode. I am not a change-forchange’s-sake kind of person. I really want to live out the vision of the organization, which is to have art enrich the lives of every person in every neighborhood, every day. But I want to make sure that that “every” is “every.” And so, the vision is there, in terms of what we need to do, just a matter of living that out and understanding. So, I am taking an inventory of what it is that we’re doing and understand the needs, the wants, the desires, and find out where the gaps are, from as wide a constituency as I can, and then coming from a consulting background, go in and figure out what the next steps are. It is really trying to distill it all down into key issues and then go back and say, “These are the issues that we’re dealing with. How do we deal with them?” So, I’m doing my own sort of mini-internal consulting project right now. Once we find those gaps, we can figure out how we are going to move the 24
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Art has the ability to strip away all of the tribal differences of human beings and reduce us to our homo sapien DNA, where we are all human. But at the same time, as it strips us down, it also elevates us. It elevates us to our humanity of how we deal with each other. I used to say life on Mars is the end of racism, sexism, whatever, as we know it, because if we find that there’s another intelligent being in the world, all of a sudden, Russia and America become nonexistent, right? We become human beings that have to fight for our own survival. We’re all earthlings. And so, it has that power to bring us down to our humanity and deal with each other as human beings. GDD: In closing, what can we look forward to in the coming years, and the excitement that you are going to bring to the Fund for the Arts? AKSG: Well, the immediate — I can say that the world has a spotlight on Louisville right now, for reasons that we aren’t proud of. And quite frankly, the main reason I’m interested in this job is because the chasm that exists in my city, in my hometown, between the racial tension, the Ninth Street divide, and the segregation that we have. I feel like I have a responsibility to do everything I can to deal with that in my own community, to help promote healing in the community. I’m looking at it concentrically. I need to deal with myself. I need to deal with my family. I need to deal with my community, and I need to deal with my city, and then the nation as a whole. So, I think what it is that we have in the short term, and why I’m in this position, why I wanted it, is because I want that spotlight that’s here — I want it to capture things that shows the world that although we may have done some things and had a certain attitude about things, knowingly and unknowingly, that have to do with racial disparities and all kinds of the -isms that separate us, the tribalisms — that we are better than that. We are going to be intentional about overcoming them. We’re going to heal. We’re going to transform this city. We’re going to give you something to see while that spotlight is here, and we’re going to use the arts to do that for all communities, because it’s not just about marketing. It’s about — everybody needs to be able to heal, because we’re suffering right now. If the city were being diagnosed, we probably would be diagnosed with at least some level of depression, and the arts are a great anti-depressant. A U D I E N C E
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Unlock the History
July 24-25
Noon-4 p.m.
For Tour Information & Tickets Visit
Conrad-Caldwell.org/mansions-tour
REMAX PROPERTIES EAST
Presented by the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council and the Conrad-Caldwell House Museum F U N D
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EVENTS CALENDAR Audience is your connection to the performing arts and entertainment of Louisville. Below are some of the events we are looking forward to in the coming months and we hope you enjoy them all!
7/8-8/1: Henry V
JULY
SEPTEMBER
8-31
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Shakespeare in the Park Henry V Runs nightly thru August 1 No Monday Performances Central Park in Old Louisville Free event! kyshakespeare.com
Franco Escamilla Payaso USA Tour Comedy Performance Fully in Spanish Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
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Jo Koy – Just Kidding Tour Comedy Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
Waterfront Wednesday feat. Houndmouth, The Jesse Lees, Sam Filatreau Waterfront Park
16 & 17
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Waterfront Wednesday feat. Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Brooks Ritter, Genevva Waterfront Park
27
11/9-14: Waitress
OCTOBER
Paul Thorn Band Rock/Blues Old Forester's Paristown Hall kentuckyperformingarts.org
28 & 29
Railbird Festival feat. Dave Matthews Band, Jason Isbell, My Morning Jacket, Leon Bridges, Billy Strings and more... Top Pick! Keeneland Racecourse, Lexington, KY railbirdfest.com
Music of Prohibition: Louisville Orchestra, Pops Series Whitney Hall louisvilleorchestra.org
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All Time Low Old Forester’s Paristown Hall kentuckyperformingarts.org
27
Caamp Old Forester’s Paristown Hall kentuckyperformingarts.org
29
A Concert for Unity: Louisville Orchestra Whitney Hall louisvilleorchestra.org
AUGUST
9/19: Jo Koy
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2
Dark Star Orchestra Waterfront Park liveonthelawnlou.com
9/12: Franco Escamilla
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Pink Martini featuring China Forbes Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
30
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Andrew Schulz: The INFAMOUS Tour Comedy Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
Teddy Talks Schubert: Louisville Orchestra Classics Series Teddy Abrams, conductor Whitney Hall louisvilleorchestra.org
9
NOVEMBER
Tommy Emmanuel with Jerry Douglas Guitarist – Songwriter Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
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Michael W. Smith: 35 Years of Friends Brown Theatre kentuckyperformingarts.org
9 – 14
Waitress Broadway in Louisville Whitney Hall louisville.broadway.com
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Holiday Pops: Louisville Orchestra Bob Bernhardt, conductor Whitney Hall louisvilleorchestra.org
Stay connected with Audience! Visit audience502.com and be the first to learn about ticket giveaways, special invites, email news alerts, show previews, reviews and the latest happenings in the performing arts scene in Louisville. 26
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LIVE ON THE LAW N AT WATERFRONT PARK LOUISVILLE, KY
W W W .LIV EONTHELAW NLOU.COM J U L Y
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