Set In A Seedy Motel

Original drama puts music and art to good use

The creators of “Dance of Deceit” include, back row from left, Chuck Landis (Phil), Sandra CH Smith (Carmen), Bryan Manire (Trevor), Tom Gorsuch (author), Jeff Sargent (assistant director), Larry Horn (director) and, front row, Jules Maben (Barb), Wyatt Pavelsek (Michael) and Heather Huber (Penny).
The creators of “Dance of Deceit” include, back row from left, Chuck Landis (Phil), Sandra CH Smith (Carmen), Bryan Manire (Trevor), Tom Gorsuch (author), Jeff Sargent (assistant director), Larry Horn (director) and, front row, Jules Maben (Barb), Wyatt Pavelsek (Michael) and Heather Huber (Penny).

In Eureka Springs, a town where innovation and collaboration are the rule not the exception, the theatrical component of this year's May Festival of the Arts challenges even that abnormal norm. Produced by a new company called Five & Dime Drama Collective, "Dance of Deceit" is a new script written by a relatively new Eurekan, Tom Gorsuch; directed by another newcomer, Larry Horn; and includes not only live music on stage -- coordinated by iconic Eureka musician Pearl Brick -- but also projected images created by equally iconic Eureka photographer John Rankine to tell the parts of the story that required ... "sensitivity to adult situations."

Ann Hopkins, one of the founders of the theater company, swears it isn't as complicated as it sounds -- or as challenging for potential theatergoers.

FAQ

‘Dance of Deceit’

WHEN — 2 p.m. May 7

WHERE — Eureka Springs City Auditorium

COST — $10 suggested donation

INFO — Email ahop222@gmail.com

FYI

May Festival of the Arts

Highlights

May 4 — Unveiling of “A Eurekan Spectacle,” 6 p.m., Basin Park

May 5 — Unveiling of “Four Seasons,” 6 p.m., Basin Park; Plein Air Painters of Eureka Springs reception at Main Stage, 5-8 p.m.

May 6 — Artrageous to the Max Parade, 2 p.m., Spring Street; drumming, 6-8 p.m., Basin Park

May 7 — “Dance of Deceit,” 2 p.m., Eureka Springs City Auditorium

May 8 — Unveiling of “Bridge of Love,” 10 a.m., Basin Spring Bath House bridge

May 12 — Uncorked with Rigdon, 7-11 p.m., Eureka Springs Event Center

May 13 — Art & Music in the Park, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Basin Park; Make Your Own Mobile, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Basin Park; Spirited Wine Tour, 1-4 p.m., Brews, Keels Creek Winery & Railway Winery; Grand Gallery Stroll, 6-9 p.m., Spring Street; Ozarks Chorale Concert, 7:30 p.m., Eureka Springs City Auditorium

May 14 — “Bridge of Love” community photo, 1:30 p.m., Basin Spring Bath House bridge; John Two-Hawks’ Mother’s Day concert, 2 p.m., Eureka Springs City Auditorium

May 19 — White Street Walk, 4-10 p.m., White Street

May 20 — Art in the Park, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Basin Park; Birdcage Art Bazaar, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., The Birdcage on Spring Street; Grady Nichols in concert, 5-7 p.m., Basin Park

May 21-25 — Eureka Springs Plein Air Festival, around town

May 21 — Books in Bloom, noon-5 p.m., Crescent Hotel

May 24 — Plein Air Festival, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Basin Park

May 28 — Dancing in the Park, 1-3 p.m., Basin Park

"The audience will have to work a little bit," she admits, "but they'll be rewarded with some fun, too."

The play is set in three rooms in what Hopkins calls "a seedy motel" somewhere in the Midwest in 1987. An older couple, Phil and Carmen, are in the middle room, while on both sides of them are cheating couples -- coincidentally, half of each married to half of the other.

When those couples are involved in those "adult situations," black-and-white images created by Rankine -- using dolls, mannequins and stuffed animals -- will be shown on a screen above them.

"When I heard the premise of the play I was immediately intrigued and thought creating the photographic projections in black and white would give the play a film noir feel," Rankine says. "Some of the photos are quite raunchy, and I hope they provide the audience some comic relief. This was a whole lot of fun to shoot."

Meanwhile, "Phil and Carmen kind of act as a Greek chorus," Hopkins explains, "commenting on what's going on and talking a little bit about things that have gone on in their relationship, how hard marriage is and how easily you can go astray. It's a message everybody can relate to, in one way or another."

Not coincidentally, Hopkins happens to be married to the playwright and moved with him to Eureka Springs about a decade ago. Retiring from jobs in Milwaukee, they were looking for a place where they could build on the lake and discovered Eureka Springs.

Feeling the need for theater in their new hometown, the couple helped launch Five & Dime Drama Collective with six 10-minute plays last year. Their success earned an invitation to the May Festival of the Arts and a chance to work on the stage at the Eureka Springs City Auditorium, "so that kind of upped our game," Hopkins says. "It's a huge change from everything we've done, and we're so excited for the opportunity."

Gorsuch "has always been a theater buff," she adds, particularly favoring "avant garde, experimental stuff." Feedback to his work as a playwright "has been that his plays are both thought provoking and entertaining."

Director Larry Horn comes from a lifetime of work in education, theater, television and film. Ready to retire from "the rat race" of Houston, he remembered "the fun times our family had in Eureka 50 years ago," fell in love with the area and moved to Carroll County about a year ago. He directed the 10-minute plays for the drama collective and came back for "Dance of Deceit."

"The mission of Five & Dime is to produce original, thought provoking work, so we're certainly keeping with the character of that mission," he says.

NAN What's Up on 04/28/2017

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