Elvis People at the Phillips Center
By Shamrock McShane
Are you one? Were you one? Could you be one?
Personally, no, no, and no, but that doesn't matter. According to studies conducted by American Demographics: 84% of Americans say their lives have been touched by Elvis Presley in some way.
In what way? I'm guessing: Seriously, dare I say, Spiritually.
Reality, I think, is another matter.
Nevertheless, Elvis Presley, the commodity known as The King, has a shelf life stretching into, well, the present, and apparently beyond. Proof of this is Elvis People, a new play making its Southeastern premier at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, of all places.
Oddly enough Elvis People is straight play, in the parlance of the theater, having nothing to do with gender, as you might naively guess, you rube. It means It's Not a Musical.
Known primarily as a venue for road shows, it's a tad unusual to see something homegrown at the Phillips Center. This show has come about with the marriage two artistic communities — ours and another college town, Charlottesville, Virginia.
The playwright Doug Grissom is a drama professor at the University of Virginia. He is also a true and practicing theatrician, founding his own theater company and actually getting new plays up on their legs.
That is, bar none, the most difficult and exalted task in all of theater.
Grissom was taken with the sociological impact of Elvis on our so–called society, and he fashioned the play organically, working from real life studies, like a painter, then assembling an ensemble to interpret the script.
And that's where Gainesville comes in, which, as you should well know, is the home of the Hippodrome State Theatre, one of the cultural jewels of the South. Most of the interpretive talent applied to Elvis People springs from the Hipp and Hogtown.
Robert A. Rush, who's producing the show, is a well–known Gainesville attorney. Emilee MacDonald, the managing director is a longtime Hipp player. Nell Page, of course, is one of the Hipp's finest actresses. She also happens to be the playwright's sister–in–law. Tim Dygert and Bob Robbins, are set and lighting designers of longstanding with the Hipp. Graham Johnson, the sound designer, formerly of the Hipp, now plies his trade in New York City.
I'll let Emilee MacDonald spin it from here: "The journey began down south in a living room in Gainesville, Florida. Eight actors, one playwright, nine chairs, and 400 pages of potential vignettes unfolded one night in July 2003. The actors had never read the script. The playwright had never heard the words spoken. Collectively they gave birth to the play Elvis People.
"The next step was a formal staged reading at the Hippodrome. In attendance was attorney Robert A. Rush, who was moved and impressed. The play's universal appeal prompted Rush to set into motion the key ingredients to build a national tour of Elvis People.
"On January 31st 2006, Elvis People opened as part the Norfolk New Play Festival at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke. It played to packed houses and rave reviews. The national tour of Elvis People was quickly booked for a run in its birth city of Gainesville."
Elvis People plays the Phillips Center through May 14.
Get Your King Facts Straight
According to studies done by the magazine American Demographics:
- 84% of Americans say that their lives have been touched by Elvis Presley in some way.
- 70% have watched a movie starring Elvis.
- 44% have danced to an Elvis song.
- 31% have bought and Elvis record, CD or video.
- 10% have visited Graceland.
- 9% have bought Elvis memorabilia
- 9% have read a book about Elvis.
- 5% have seen Elvis in concert.
There are over 500 Elvis fan clubs in America. There are fan clubs in every state except three:
- North Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming
America's top Elvis County is Banks, Georgia, where residents are 250 times more likely than average Americans to be Elvis fans. Nobody knows why. |
