Big Bayr's Cave: March 2006

Big Bayr's Cave

Find here the musings of a man finally settling comfortably into middle age. Topics of interest will include my work in theatre / visual arts, changing masculinities in society, education, civility, spirituality, and a return to playfulness. OH, yes, also my personal story of childhood abuse. YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED.

About Me

Name: GMarc

Location: Batesville, Arkansas, United States

Trained as a painter and set designer, I've worked in liberal arts environments for all of my adult life. I'm content with my 27 year marriage to a sweet woman (who's a genius as a cook.) I am the proud father of a 21 year old son who's double majoring in Russian and English at the University of the South. My mother arrived in the US in 1948 to marry my father who'd been a GI in the occupation following World War II. I closely relate to issues concerning diversity, which I define more broadly than a matter of race; any definition of diversity must include the full spectrum of what makes each of us individuals.

Friday, March 24, 2006

The Beggar's Opera

I work with a director who cannot sing, so musicals are rarely done at Lyon College. I love the musical theatre and find that it harkens back to the original roots of the art. The Beggar's Opera was a perfect match for the interests of a liberal arts college: as a historical piece, it reached across the disciplines and served the curricular needs of languages and literature, music, theatre, and history.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Stage works: Lysistrata

Lysistrata is a comedy I loved directing and designing. It is like the proverbial old chestnut that people never tire of hearing, the off-color joke Uncle Joe tells after the Thanksgiving meal.
Aristophanes, father of the Old Comedy, gave us a comedy that is both farce and satire, still fresh after nearly 2,500 years: "something for everyone, a comedy tonight!"

Stage works: Fen by Caryl Churchill

A British play concerning the search for identity among contemporary "serfs" chained to land owned by multinational agribusiness. The piece was chosen because of the parallels that could be drawn with oppressed workers in the fertile rice fields of the Arkansas delta.