KSMU Arts Reporter Jimmy Rea talked with Springfield Contemporary Theatre Executive Artistic Director Brandon Thomsen and LaComa Bass, SCT actress and vocal director, about the upcoming production, Disaster!
Welcome, friends.
Thomsen and Bass: Hello everyone. Hi.
So Disaster! I saw on the press release, the crew is in chaos and things are flying around. It's a disaster.
Thomsen: It is a disaster, but only on stage as part of the show.
So I've never heard of this production. Give me a brief. Give me the fluff on it.
Thomsen: Yeah, it was on Broadway a few years ago, and it was the brainchild of Seth Rudetsky, and Seth Rudetsky hosts the Broadway channel on Sirius Radio, right? And it is a spoof of the disaster film genre of the 1970s. So for me, as a kid, I remember watching The Poseidon Adventure. Yeah, and so it's movies like that — Towering Inferno, Airport, Earthquake. It's all of those disaster film tropes rolled into one show using songs from the 1970s.
Oh. Very cool. Yeah. Okay. Speaking of the songs, LaComa, you're the vocal director as well as actress.
Bass: I am, yes.
So why don't you jump on board on this particular production?
Bass: I was asked, and I have been training and working towards becoming a vocal director, and it just worked out that Brandon gave me the opportunity. So it is my first vocal directing job on my own. I've been an assistant a couple times and gotten a, you know, I've gotten some great training, but it's my first time on my own.
Oh, congratulations. It's going to be great.
Bass: Yes. Thank you. The cast is so talented, and they've just been so wonderful to work with and just so much untapped talent.
Yeah. This town is just bubbling over, isn't it?
Bass: It's amazing.
In particular, I've learned a lot about theater in this town, in this new role here as arts reporter and host of Arts News here. And I just love theater folk. There's something about them, being a musician, there's a kind of a kinship. I feel like maybe it's just something about being on stage and being in the lights. But, so when it comes to a vocal direction, you've assisted. I'm sure you've been directed before. As a singer yourself and coming into this role, looking back, what made good vocal directors for you as an as an actress or being directed?
Bass: I've always felt that having someone who is kind, having someone who is able to critique you in a way that allows you to grow and feel safe, yeah, that's always been really important to me. It's something that has been monumental in my life since, you know, and I, I grew up with, in my opinion, one of the best vocal directors in town, Alberta Smith, and just a wonderful force of nature in my life for so many years. So I've really tried to bring to my coaching not only professionalism and knowledge and being prepared, but just a kindness and a love so that my cast knows like they are safe here, they can grow here, they can, you know, express themselves. And I really do believe from that we've gotten a really beautiful product.
Good. Yeah. Looking to inspire, not to ridicule.
Bass: Yeah. I really feel like. I really feel like that's the space the arts needs to go.
Yeah. And in the acting part of it, what's your role?
Bass: I play Lavora Verona. I'm a washed up disco diva who has fallen on hard times. And I have a a little dog named Baby that's everything to me. And, yeah, she goes on a journey.
Is it a real dog that we have here?
Bass: Oh, no. And I also act and voice the dog.
Okay. I love that, I love that. So we're talking about songs from the 1970s. Are these pop songs that folks are gonna know?
Thomsen: "Hot stuff;" "Saturday Night," "I am Woman, Hear Me Roar," "Hooked on a Feeling."
Bass: I do "Knock on Wood," "Come to Me." "Ben" — Michael Jackson's "Ben."
Thomsen: Michael Jackson's "Ben" makes an appearance.
Bass: There's so many songs. 25 or 6 to four. There's so many.
Thomsen: "Sky high."
Very cool. Well, what's the what's the cast look like? Is this a big show?
Thomsen: It's a cast of 21, and many of them are making their SCT debut with Disaster! And we have a great production team where also many of them are new to Springfield Contemporary Theater. So it's been really exciting because, you know, I'm new to Springfield. This is the first show I'm directing in Springfield, and we have this team of people that all wants to pitch in and grow and shape this together. So it's been a very collaborative experience.
It sounds exciting, man. This is this is very, very cool. I can tell by the way you talk about these shows, Brandon, because you've been in a couple times now. I can see the passion coming off your smile and in your eyes and in your voice.
Thomsen: Thank you. I, all I ever wanted to do was have a career in theater.
Here you are.
Thomsen: Yeah. I saw my first show in kindergarten and thought, 'that's for me." And I think it helped get me out of trouble as well. Helped focus my energy. I was a pretty rambunctious, wild kid in school. Yeah, and theater gave me that outlet to focus that energy. And I've always wanted to be a director. I love helping people and asking questions and discovering the story. And I love learning more about myself through through helping people and through discovering all these different stories. It's amazing how much truth can be learned through playing pretend.
I like that line.
Thomsen: Thank you.
Bass: And I will say, working with Brandon is amazing. There again, is a kindness and a warmth that you get to work with. But then also he's not afraid to challenge you and grow you. So it's super fun. It's been it's been nice.
Springfield Contemporary Theatre is lucky to have you. Brandon, welcome to Springfield.
Thomsen: Thank you.
We're talking about Disaster! the latest production from Springfield Contemporary Theatre in their 29th season this year.
Thomsen: I would like to say we open on Friday the 13th, and if any show should ever open on Friday the 13th, I think it is Disaster! So we are embracing it.
Yes. And you guys are running shows Thursday through Sunday, is that correct?
Thomsen: That's right. And our Thursday shows are pay what you want nights. So you can show up an hour before curtain time. So anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30, and whatever seats are available, you can name your ticket price.
Excellent. And let's give them the website so folks can mosey on over to the World Wide Web and find out more about the Springfield Contemporary Theatre.
Thomsen: Look for springfieldcontemporarytheater.org.
It's easy and simple, so Disaster! is going to be a blast the next three weekends, but what else is going to round out this season? Is this the final or you got a couple more?
Thomsen: The last show of the season. This was our 29th season, and Disaster! is the last show of the season. And then, in the fall, we move into our 30th.
Which the big announcement came earlier this week — the 30th season celebrating Springfield Contemporary theater. Let's give folks a rundown of those shows before we go.
Thomsen: Sure. Well, we are partnering with Mosaic Arts Collective to present the musical, Hairspray, followed by Calendar Girls, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then Some), La Cage aux Folles, August: Osage County. And a reimagined version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.
That is very exciting.
Thomsen: Yeah. Part of our mission and our vision is to do contemporary works but also take classics and present them through a contemporary lens, right? And so with everything we do, we look at why this story? Why does it need to be told now? What does Springfield need to get out of these works? And, for our 30th, it was important to me to have a goal for our organization. And so our focus is going to be on relationships. Relationships amongst our staff, our board, our volunteers, our patrons, our donors, how we can deepen those and engage more with our community. And so, because that was our goal, I wanted shows that reflected relationships as well. So all of the shows have a different varying perspective of relationship, good or bad, but something where I think we'll all be able to reflect on our own lives and maybe of our neighbors' as well, how we can see each other differently as a result of seeing these shows.
Sure. And so did you — were you at the full season this year? Did you come in about halfway this season?
Thomsen: Yeah, so they were in production for The Woman in Black. I had just been hired, and I was able to see opening night, but I hadn't started yet.
So 30th will be your full.
Thomsen: First full year, yeah.
LaComa, you got your eye on anything next year?
Bass: Well, I am fortunate enough to be associated with Mosaic Arts Collective. I am actually their board secretary. And so that's where actually a lot of my training has come from, is getting to work with Amanda Sneed and Nki Calloway with things. And then, we were actually doing Once on this Island when Brandon came in, and I just not just myself, but everyone just watching how he came in and just wanted to get to know the cast and wanted to, I don't know, it was a really special vibe and we are so excited to get to work with them for this show.
Excellent partnership. I know it's going to be great. Springfield Contemporary Theater starting their final show of the season Disaster! June 13 running through the 29th of June and of course later this year kicking off the 30th season. Brandon, thanks so much for coming in.
