Greg Little
Kicks Editor
Kicks
Stage One brings Albee's 'Three Tall Women' to JPAC stage
Angela Major
Alexia Hollis rehearses a scene with Melissa Schnepper, left, and Stephanie Aegerter, right, for Three Tall Women on Saturday at JPAC.
Angela Major
Stephanie Aegerter, left, plays the part of B during rehearsal for Stage Ones Three Tall Women with castmate Melissa Schnepper, who plays A, on Saturday at the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
Angela Major
Alexia Hollis rehearses a scene as C during rehearsal for Stage Ones production of Three Tall Women on Saturday at JPAC.
Angela Major
Melissa Schnepper, left, Stephanie Aegerter, center, and Alexia Hollis, right, are the main cast members of Stage Ones production of the Edward Albee play Three Tall Women.
JANESVILLEJim Stewart thinks he understands Edward Albee. At least as well as anybody can understand Edward Albee.
For five or six years in the early 2000s, the Janesville director worked closely with the late playwright at the University of Houston. Albee was teaching young scribes how to get their works to the stage, and Stewart was a producer helping cast shows and schedule performances.
Over the years, I got to act in a couple of those plays, which was an interesting experience, Stewart said. Mr. Albee would come to rehearsals every so often to see how things were going and to talk to the playwrights. He was a very odd but very funny man who had a great sense of humor. I wouldnt call him friendly he was hard to describe. He was just an interesting, intriguing, almost enigmatic presence.
Stewart will attempt to channel Albee while directing Stage Ones local production of Three Tall Women beginning April 5 at the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
The play, which earned Albee his third Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1994, also won prestigious Drama Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle awards for best play.
Its kind of his comeback play, in a way, Stewart explained. He had gone through kind of a period in his writing career where plays were few and far between, and not very good. This play popped out.
Three Tall Women is the tale of a woman in her 90s who reflects on life with an emotional mix of shame, pleasure, regret and satisfaction. She reminisces about childhood and marriagetimes she maintained optimism about her futureand recalls the negative events that sparked her regret: her husbands affair and eventual death, and her estrangement from her gay son.
But the play features an extra dimension theatergoers unfamiliar with Albees work will have to work through to understand.
I dont want to say too much about the plot because part of the fun is puzzling out what it means, Stewart said. But I can say the play takes place in a unique universe, that it is a weird memory play that is split between three characters and that it is hard to puzzle out whats going on. I would say it is one of his hardest plays because he doesnt give you a lot of hints, just words.
I think I have a bit of a leg up on others who have directed this play because I kind of knew how his mind works, but its a challenge nonetheless.
Stewarts cast also is finding the play daunting from an acting standpoint. Though only 49, Melissa Schnepper steps into the role of A, a woman of more than 90 years who is one of the shows three female leads.
Its really challenging, and its personally the biggest role Ive ever had, she said. There is the role of learning the lines, and there are a lot of them, and the character drifts in and out of reality. She is fighting senility, so her thoughts kind of go from one place to another and dont connect. Im finding it hard to remember where I am, and its taxing emotionally.
Schnepper said what has helped greatly is the relationship she has formed with co-stars Stephanie Aegerter, who plays B, and Alexia Hollis, who is C.
I really enjoy working with the other two actresses, albeit for a very brief time. They have been very professional. We get down to business and are having a good time doing it.
Motherhood plays a prevalent role in the play and, as a mother herself, Schnepper said she has had a bit of trouble relating to her character.
I have a daughter who is 18 and a son who is 13, and the timing of (the play) is very interesting, she said. My son has just come out as gay, and Im very supportive of him ... which we know this character is not of her own son.
My kids know all about me. Weve talked about my past, and we are very connected and close, she added. And if I am a kid looking at my own mother, we are also very close, and she has always been supportive of me. So this is a little different. Its difficult because its the complete opposite, so I cant relate to it.
Stewart admits the womans relationship with her son in Three Tall Women likely stems from reality. Albee was openly gay.
I read a little note about the play where he says he wrote the entire play and he still doesnt know if he likes his mother or not, Stewart said. This portrait of her is almost kind of unbiased, just an unfiltered memory of her. I think thats how he worked.
He wanted to do a play where his mother was a character, so he kind of imagined what his mothers inner life was like, Stewart added. He didnt know, so hes just making it up based on what he knows about her past and what he knows about her. Its like hes watching her inner life from the outside.
Kicks
Road to 'Redemption': Pop star with Rock County roots to perform new album in Madison
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Ashley McCallum
Reporter - Janesville city government, health
Schure Media Group photo
Skylar Stecker, a pop singer with Rock County roots, will perform her latest album, Redemption, during a March 30 concert at the Majestic Theatre in Madison.
LOS ANGELES—What could a 16-year-old possibly seek redemption for?
For Skylar Stecker, there’s a lot.
Stecker, an L.A.-based, up-and-coming singer, just released her second album soon after leaving her record label and former team, she said.
“Redemption” is about Stecker finding her voice and doing things on her own terms, she said.
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Stecker lives in L.A. but has roots in Rock County. She is the daughter of former NFL running back Aaron Stecker and the granddaughter of Diane and the late Ken Hendricks, co-founders of ABC Supply in Beloit. Her mother, Kara Stecker, grew up in Janesville.
The young pop star will perform March 30 at the Majestic Theatre in Madison. It will be one of two performances she has planned this year, which she hopes will lead to a tour in the near future, she said.
Stecker considers Wisconsin home despite having spent many of her formative years in California chasing her dream of becoming a musician. When she is in the Badger State, she looks forward to seeing family in Beloit and Green Bay most of all.
A close second, though, is her anticipation for cheese curds, Stecker said.
“Redemption” dropped March 15, bringing with it 11 tracks that show off the teen’s vocal range and ambition. The new album leans more toward R&B than the sugary pop songs heard on her first album, “Firecracker.”
“Firecracker” features catchy bops that one might expect from a teenage girl hoping for fame. “Redemption” feels more mature, a reflection of the growth Stecker said she tried to portray in the album.
Stecker said she had another album in the works with her old label, but she scratched it because she couldn’t relate to the music. She has been working on “Redemption” for about six months and said she hopes the new music will make others feel empowered.
The teenager had a say in every decision on the new album, which she says is different from her past work.
In 2015, Stecker described “Firecracker” to The 69蹤獲 by saying “It’s very true to me. What I’m putting out is me, 100-percent authentic. It’s fun; it’s relatable.”
But if you ask the teen about her music now, she would disagree with what she said four years ago. She believes the music she is putting out now is a more accurate reflection of who she is, and the music is less restricted by outside influences than in the past.
In a way, she’s redeeming herself from her last album with this new music, she said.
The music video for the album’s title track borrows from themes seen in recent work of other popular female artists such as Ariana Grande—an edgy approach to popular music that strays from the bubbly trope often associated with teen artists.
The video begins with Stecker reciting a series of sentences on the majesty of human beings while wearing a ring of mouse traps around her neck.
It is a far cry from her music video for the song “Rooftop” off her first album, which features her dancing around a house with several other pre-teens waving their hands in the air.
Stecker struggled to express what she wanted to do with her music before “Redemption.” She has been working toward her career in music since she was 9 years old, she said.
While creating this album, Stecker said she has learned that small moments can lead to bigger, better things, and that the work she has done in the last seven years will pay off as long as she remains dedicated.
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