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WWI-based stage production resonates with audience

12/19/2018 12AM


Theater Latté Da's All Is Calm strikes perfect seasonal note

 

Every performance at the Center is meant to provide a special experience for a certain audience, but sometimes circumstances combine to create a truly magical event with a lasting impact.

 

That was the case Saturday, when Minneapolis-based Theater Latté Da came to the Palladium with its unconventional and moving musical stage production All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. Using traditional songs and historical texts, it re-creates the amazing true story of British and German soldiers who came out of their World War I trenches to share a holiday moment of peace with their adversaries – singing carols, trading tobacco and other treats, playing soccer and burying each other’s dead.

 

“I had to put a human face on this story,” writer/director Peter Rothstein (at right) told Carmel Monthly magazine for its December cover feature. “I gathered the information and thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could tell this story – a story that had been denied a place in most of our history books – in their own words and through their own songs?’”

 

Apparently, Rothstein and company succeeded, and the timing – during the holiday season, almost exactly 100 years after the World War I armistice was declared – provided additional resonance. The performance, followed by a Q&A session with the cast, drew raves from a multigenerational audience that included many veterans and even a couple descendants of the real-life soldiers who participated. Here are just a few comments from the post-performance survey:

  • “What a wonderful way to bring an obscure piece of history to life!”
  • “Far exceeded expectations. A truly amazing, multi-dimensional performance.”
  • “So glad we decided to see this performance! Everything about it was captivating from the beginning to the end.”
  • “Have been a theatre fanatic for over 40 years – this was by far one of the best productions I have ever seen on stage! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE bring it back in 2019!!!”

 

Those with further interest in the stage production and the events that inspired it might enjoy a visit to alliscalm.org, which offers a host of information including a printable 28-page guide to the military and musical history, as well as links to additional resources for educational use.

 

For more information on the people of the All Is Calm tour (named below), click here.

CREATIVE TEAM
Director: Peter Rothstein**
Music Director: Erick Lichte
Costume Designer: Trevor Bowen
Lighting Designer: Marcus Dilliard***
Dialect Coach: Keely Wolter
Props Master: Abbee Warmboe

 

STAFF
Stage Manager: D. Marie Long*
Assistant Stage Manager/Company Manager: Amanda K. Bowman*
Tour Lighting Director: Megan Winter
Tour Sound Director: Nicholas Tranby
Costume Design Assistant: Mary Farrell
Stitcher/Draper: Dakota Blankenship

 

CAST
Andres Acosta, Joe Allen, Phinehas Bynum, Paul Coate*, Nicholas Davis, Daniel Greco, Andrew Hey*, Sam Kivi, Randy Schmeling* and Andrew Wilkowske

 

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
** The Director is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
*** Member of the United Scenic Artists, which represents designers and scenic painters for the American Theatre.