Artists Talk with LVA: October 12, 2023

As Open Studio begins we speak with 2 of the artists, Ton'nea Green & Victor Sweatt. Also in the studio will be J. Barrett Cooper talking about "The Weir" at Bunbury Theatre. Barrett & Victor were my 1st guests on this show as we celebrate being on WXOX/Artxfm.com for 10 YEARS! Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

J. Barrett Cooper is an Actor, Director, Fight Director, Dialect & Acting Coach, Former Prod. Dir.-Savage Rose Theatre Co. he has worked with Kentucky Shakespeare, Bunbury Theatre, CenterStage at the Trager JCC, Constellation Stage & Screen in Bloomington, IN, and recently appeared in the feature film White Noise, directed by Noah Baumbach. Currently, he is directing The Weir for Bunbury Theatre, which opens tomorrow and runs through October 28.

Ton’nea Green, a recent recipient of a Black Artists Fund grant, is a talented portrait artist. With this grant, Ton’nea aims to create beautiful paintings that reflect the lived experiences of children during this global pandemic. As a mother, Ton’nea wants this project to capture the complicated emotional experiences that many children have had to go through during this difficult time. Ton’nea will be participating In Open Studio Louisville this Saturday, October 14 at Mellwood Art Center.

Victor Sweatt is a Louisville-based, self-taught painter and muralist. Sweatt was born in Louisville. He has shown his work in both group and solo exhibitions and appears in public and private collections throughout the United States. Sweat is a signature member of Louisville Visual Art, the Kentucky Artist Pastel Society, and the Kentucky Watercolor Society. Victor is participating in Open Studio Louisville at the LVA Studios on October 14 & 21

Artists Talk with LVA: June 29, 2023

The show gets a 2nd hour this week so we are filling it with Juergen Tossmann, Patrick Tovatt, andSteve Woodring. One-Off Productions in partnership with Bunbury Theatre is mounting the world premiere of Patrick's new play, Helper, in Louisville June 30, 2023

Patrick Tovatt is an American actor and playwright. He is perhaps best known for his roles on several soap operas, He attended Harvard University and laterstudied playwriting at Antioch College where he studied playwriting. Tovatt was a member of the original company of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He appeared for 14 seasons at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. He was also a founding director of the Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, Virginia. Tovatt has retired to Grants Pass, Oregon.

Steve Woodring worked his life in the theatre as a designer and director and was for many years the technical director of the Kentucky Center in Louisville. He has directed several plays for Bunbury Theatre including Buried Child, Rabbit Hole, Red, and Patrick Tovatt’s Boatwright.

Juergen Tossmann was the Producing Artistic Director at Bunbury Theatre Company sfor 30 odd years, having produced over 200 shows. He is also a writer, director, actor, and musician. He has written over 20 plays for the company and writes short stories and poetry as well. He retired in 2022.

ONE-OFF Productions in partnership with Bunbury Theatre presents Helper by Patrick Tovatt

June 30, July 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, & 15  @ 7:30 pm
June 2, 9, & 16 @ 2:00 pm

Artists Talk With LVA: June 23, 2022

After 30 years of leading Bunbury Theatre, Juergen Tossmann will be passing the torch to Skylar Vest and Hannah Brooks. All 3 talked with us about the importance of transition in the arts. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com each Thursday to hear Artists Talk with LVA.

Juergen Tossmann has been Bunbury's Producing Artistic Director since 1991. Thirty years ago, he guided a struggling fledgling company to health and artistic prominence.

Under Juergen's leadership, Bunbury developed two venues most recently in 2007 the company turned an old gymnasium in The Henry Clay building into a 140-seat state-of-the-art theatre. The theatre currently serves two companies; Bunbury, Pandora Productions, and until very recently,  The Liminal Playhouse.

Before Bunbury, Juergen worked as an artist-in-residence, teacher, actor, freelance director, assistant director, production stage manager, stage manager, prop master, acting coach, and co-founded an improvisational theatre company. The myriad positions at theatres all over the country prepared him for a job that would last over 30 years. At Bunbury Juergen has produced over 200 shows.

In 2020 he received the Kathi EB Ellis Lifetime Achievement Award from Louisville Visual Art. ​

Skylar Vest attended Georgetown College where he earned a BA in Theatre and Directing. Since 2017 he has been working with Bunbury Theatre, most recently as an Artistic Associate.

Hannah Brooks is a local prop and costume designer who has been active in the Louisville theatre community for the last five years. They have worked primarily with Bunbury Theatre on shows including The Green Book, Grace and Glorie, Boatwright, and Visiting Edna. Recently Hannah has been a dresser for the Kentucky Opera and worked for Commonwealth Theatre Company. 

Artebella On The Radio: February 20, 2020

At the Arts-Louisville/Broadway World Theatre Awards on Feb. 24, tribute will be paid to the late Kathi Ellis of Looking for Lilith Theatre and Juergan Tossman of Bunbury Theatre. This week Juergan will be joined us along with Shannon Wooley Allison & Jennifer Thalman Kepler from Looking for Lilith. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM, or stream on Artxfm.com each Thursday at 10:00am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.

Juergen K. Tossmann is an actor, director, and playwright and the producing artistic director of Bunbury Theatre for 30+ years. He was recruited to the position after starring in one Bunbury show and directing another. He has seen the company through a few moves, landing in the Henry Clay Building in 2008, where they now share space with two other local companies, Pandora Productions and The Liminal Playhouse. On Feb. 24 he will receive the lifetime achievement award at the Arts-Louisville/BWW Theatre Awards.

Shannon Wooley Allison was a founding member of LFL in 2001. She oversees the development of the company and the execution of our mission in creating both performances and residencies that speak to the needs of those whose voices are unheard. Shannon performs, directs, and teaches for LFL. For the last 15 years, she has free-lanced as an actor, director, and teaching artist, in addition to her work with LFL. She is proud to be a roster artist for the KY Arts Council, and a member of Alternate ROOTS, The Network of Ensemble Theatres, The Alliance for Theatre in Education, and The Theatre Alliance of Louisville.

Jennifer Thalman Kepler manages LFL’s Community Outreach department including LFL’s award winning program, CHOICES: An Interactive Play on Cyberbullying and Suicide, The Faith Stories Project, in-school drama residencies, afterschool programs and summer camps. Jennifer is also an actor, director and playwright with the company. While in NYC, Jennifer worked for five years as a freelance teaching artist, integrating drama into math and social studies curriculum, facilitating arts-based violence prevention programs and directing youth theatre.

For the 6th consecutive year, Arts-Louisville.com, a Regional Editor for Broadway World, will host an awards ceremony honoring excellence in local theatre, including live entertainment in the form of musical numbers from award recipients.

2020 Arts-Louisville.com/Broadway World Theatre Awards
February 24, 2020 - doors open at 6:00 pm
Art Sanctuary, 1433 South Shelby Street

Petersen Thomas Explores Mark Rothko

“I used to think Rothko’s work was about the emotive power of color and tone. I’m starting to think it’s about the paint.”– Petersen Thomas

Mark Rothko's Seagrams paintings at London's Tate Gallery.

The Bunbury-ShPIeL Identity Theatre is proud to present RED by John Logan. RED is the story of Mark Rothko, a Russian Jewish immigrant, who took the American modern art scene by storm in the 1950s. The play focuses on a period in which Rothko worked on the famous Seagram’s murals, commissioned by architect Philip Johnson for his prestigious new Seagram Building. When finished, he refused to deliver them, and the exact reasons are still a point of discussion. Some scholars believe that Rothko created the paintings with the understanding that they would be placed in the main lobby, and that once he was informed that the paintings would instead be installed in the adjoining Four Seasons Restaurant, he was offended. Others are of the opinion that he always knew of the location and had his own, enigmatic reasons for not delivering the pieces; reasons about which we can only now speculate. Nine of the paintings are now in residence at the Tate Gallery in London, delivered there on the morning of Rothko’s suicide in 1970.

Photo by Sarah Katherine Davis Photography

Painter Petersen Thomas became involved in the production through Louisville Visual Art, providing technical assistance - the two actors, portraying Rothko and his assistant, must finish constructing and then begin painting an 8’ x 8” canvas onstage, and some degree of expertise on Mark Rothko. “I am by no means any kind of ‘expert on Rothko, but he has always fascinated me.”

The collaboration began with time in Thomas’ downtown studio, where he “schooled” actors J. Barrett Cooper and Brandon Meeks about the methods and studio practice they are required to emulate onstage.

Director Steve Woodring and Scenic Designer Tom Tutino also prevailed upon Thomas to execute mock Rothko paintings for the set, Rothko’s New York City studio in 1958 (the rights to produce the play allow for facsimile representations but not reproductions of Rothko’s work). Thomas actually painted these in the backstage area at the Henry Clay Theatre.

"Clementine" by Petersen Thomas, Acrylic on canvas, 48x60in, $2000

Thomas paints in different styles, but his heart is perhaps most in abstract expressionism, so his affinity for Rothko comes naturally. Red has been a dominant color in some of his work, such as “Clementine,” pictured here, which is typical of the larger-scale, color field work, although there are also cooler hues in his diminutive, “Lenith Series.”  

It is this work that gave Thomas the foundation to jump into the deep end with his exploration of Rothko. “Rothko is a perfect touchstone for so many tropes in modern art,” explains Thomas. “For instance, someone might look at his work and say, ‘I could do that.’ - Wanna bet? There is so much happening on the canvas, but it looks and feels so simple. That is incredibly hard to do. He was a virtuoso.”

"Lenith VII1" by Petersen Thomas, Acrylic on canvas, 8x8in, $75

“For me, Rothko embodies self-doubt.  When he landed the Seagram commission, he was as revered as a living artist could be. But in response, he makes this wild gesture about the integrity of art. It was the ultimate “fuck you” to the art world. But why? Did he truly believe that the paintings were sacred? Or was that a pose? Trying to figure out the difference between genius and fraud, self and persona, is the fastest way I know to bring you face to face with the abyss.”

So what did Thomas learn about Rothko that he didn’t already know? What insight did the experience of RED provide about one of the most famous artists of the 20th century? “I used to think Rothko’s work was about the emotive power of color and tone. I’m starting to think it’s
about the paint.”

Performance schedule for the Bunbury-ShPIeL Identity Theatre production of RED at the Henry Clay Theatre, 3rd & Chestnut:

Backstage studio for RED.

February 16, 17, 22*, 23, 24,
March 1*, 2, & 3 at 7:30pm
February 18*, 25**, & March 4 at 2:00pm        

*Denotes post-show talkback, **Panel discussion

Thomas was the artist in Residence at Roma Kungsgarn, Gotland Sweden and received the Governor’s Award for Excellence at the Governor’s Art Show in Columbus, Ohio. Exhibitions include: New Art on Newbury, Boston, MA, MiSh Gallery, Columbus, OH, Lemongrass Gallery, Columbus, OH, NorDys Gallery, Birmingham, AL, Karen Lynne Gallery, Boca Raton, FL, “The Nude 2002,” Loudoun House Gallery, Lexington, KY, Drawing from Perception IV, Wright State University Art Galleries, Dayton, OH, and Fidelity Investment Building, Boston, MA.

Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: BA, Denison University, Ohio; JD, University of Michigan. 

 

Scroll down for more images

"Lenith 1" by Petersen Thomas, Acrylic on canvas, 8x8in, $75

"Lenith V" by Petersen Thomas, Acrylic on canvas, 8x8in, $75

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Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.

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