‘Uncovering Nevada’s Past’ educates with humor
One of the many things I enjoy about Rainbow Company is how its shows don’t condescend to its audiences of mostly children. “Uncovering Nevada’s Past” — now touring local schools following a weekend of performances at the Historic Fifth Street School — is a 50-minute, broadly acted musical sketch. It’s the sort of thing I think will make kids happy. But the show, part of a series (19 years old), offers adults as well a fun look at events that encourage pride in living around these parts.
This time around, director/author/choreographer Karen McKenney takes a look at why East Cost types in the early 1900s became interested in some findings near Lovelock Cave. It begins with a character looking for riches in an isolated cave. She winds up with “bat poop.” Her comrades laugh at her, but she knows better. The stuff is worth big bucks. Because it’s so rare, an archaeologist heads to Lovelock to see what else he can unearth. He winds up discovering what appears to be remains of several cultures.
If this sounds academic and stuffy, it’s not to be feared. McKenney educates us, but the humor is often at the forefront. When the ever-reliable Martha Watson discovers her treasure, she maniacally struts about the stage singing an ode to bat poop as if she were a loony straight out of “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” J Neal provides some bouncy nonsense songs that may make you, against your better judgment, move in rhythm in your chair. Better still, Neal once again displays his superb acting skills. He’s a goofy, wide-eyed banjo player one minute, and a dignified, confident professional the next. He knows how to change souls.
Kris Van Riper’s set are illustrations straight out of the archaeologist’s notebook. The flats reveal, in word and drawing, what sort of materials were uncovered.
Frankly, I had little interest in Nevada history when I first moved here. But simple and compressed as McKenney’s stories are, they’ve piqued my curiosity and have reminded me that my home state is about a lot more than gambling and sequins. (More info: Rainbow Company, 229-6553) …
The Ira Aldridge Theatre Company presented a likable version of Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play “A Raisin in the Sun” last weekend at the Nicholas J. Horn. It was sometimes remarkable to see how well-trained the actors were (my favorite: the often dazzlingly attractive Sherida Devine, who here, as a young married woman trying to get her marriage back on track, looks plain and weary from years of poverty).
Most of the actors, though, didn’t scale their performances to fit the size of the sizable Horn. I got the impression most of them were film-oriented, and the stage and the screen are two different bags of gold.
Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@ aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.