The Milk Can Theatre Company's Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival

January 28-29, 2005 at The Sande Shurin Theatre

Each of the ten-minute plays is based on a piece of art by Henri Matisse.

Read all about the crazy places his art took our imaginations....

Written by Sharon E. Cooper

Directed by Bobbi Masters

Starring: Leslie Miller and Cotton Wright

Painting it Matisse explores the concept
of present and past --what can be learned and what we can let go of.

Sharon talks about how she was inspired by Matisse's Odalisque with Red Culottes (painted 1921):

"I knew I wanted to have the woman in the painting be a part of the story; she looks content and quiet and in some ways, sadly perfect. Beyond that, for several weeks, I stared at the painting and thought, 'I've got nothing for you.' Then, it hit me. What if she had the opportunity to live in the present? And then I had the idea that not only was she the subject of the painting, but perhaps the painter as well. From there, the play moved into place."

Written by Cheryl Davis

Directed by Kimberly VerSteeg

Starring: Sandra DeLuca, Rebecca Miller,
and Jim Faulkner

What goes through the sitter's mind when she poses? What sorts of mental pictures does she paint? The Painted Lady is an exploration into the thoughts of Madame Matisse while she modeled the Madras Hat.

Cheryl talks about how she was inspired by Matisse's The Lady in the Madras Hat (painted 1907):

"When I looked at the picture, I was struck both by the intensity of the colors and by the intensity of the sitter's gaze. The reds seemed to give the painting a passionate feel, and her gaze seemed oddly 'knowing.' When I did some research and learned about the strained relationship between the Matisses after they hired a beautiful young Russian girl as Madame Matisse's companion, a possible story behind the The Lady in the Madras Hat came to mind."

Good Samaritans in Late Afternoon

Written and Directed by ML Kinney

Starring:

Matt Klan
Brad Seal
and Kirsten Walsh

A suicide attempt and dancing in the street set the stage for two good samaritans to jump in and save the day. A late afternoon spent wrestling the big questions of love, mind readers, and The Hokey Pokey.

ML talks about how she was inspired by Matisse's
A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon (painted 1902):

"I read somewhere that Matisse once said that he wanted his art to have the effect of a good armchair on a tired businessman. Matisse's life spanned some turbulent political events, from 1800's through the 1950's, though his work does not express the politics or unrest of the time. It represents a colorful comfy chair that one can settle into and enjoy.

When first experiencing A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon, I was taken by the block shape of Notre Dame that dominates the horizon. I researched the structure and was amazed at the history of the church. From Kings to cults, from fires to wars the building has witnessed much. In doing this research I thought for sure that I'd be inspired by something from its past to write about. Nothing came. I was at a loss for an idea.

I decided to stop thinking and look at the painting. To sit in the work as Matisse would have wanted. In doing so I was drawn to the people walking by the river. There are three distinct characters there, almost cartoonish in style. I settled myself by the river, with Notre Dame in the background, and let my imagination eavesdrop on these three people. The conversation and action overheard is Good Samaritans in Late Afternoon."

Do We Really Have To Sleep Together Till Death Do Us Part?

Written by Bethany Larsen

Directed by Tom Nondorf

Starring:
Leslie Baden
Brent Peebles
and Jessica Rodwick

Yellow & Henri's marriage has never been exactly blissful. But in art, as in life, the devil you know beats the devil you-think-you-know-because-you've-seen-them-hanging-around....

Bethany talks about how she was inspired by Matisse's Two Girls in a Yellow and Red Interior (painted 1947):

"I started doing research on Matisse after randomly choosing my painting. While I found background biographical information about the artist to be helpful, I couldn't find anything on my painting beyond a title and a year. This lead me to questions of obscurity and fame, and how some paintings?and pieces of art become so familiar to us while others never seem to get their due. This made me wonder that if paintings were people, would they be jealous of their more famous counterparts? I also stared at my painting for weeks and finally came to terms with the blasphemous thought that I just don't like it -- I think it's boring, the colors are garrish, the figures are ugly and there is nothing provocative at all about it. So continuting on with my paintings-as-people exercise, I thought this particular painting would be like a long-suffering wife -- always upstaged, somewhat shrewish and shrill, but also a permanent member of the artist's portfolio -- one he may be sorry he painted, but can't ever leave."

Prelude to a Resignation

What happens when your boss pushes you just a little too far? Prelude to a Resignation explores the emotional roller coaster of trying to quit.

Nick and Sidney talk about how they were inspired by Matisse's Woman Before an Aquarium (painted 1921):

"After spending a lot of time staring at this painting and questioning who this woman was and what was her story, we decided to write what we knew. Everyone at one time or another knows what it feels like to have an unforgiving and inconsiderate boss at a horrible job. This woman is obviously not happy and contemplating what to do about it. The colors suggested an impersonal setting to us. So we decided that she was at work. An unhappy experience, daydreaming about far away places, a life out of the office, and most importantly about how to leave her job. Nick decided that he would like to try a music first approach to the piece. He improvised and composed a few themes and songs based on a basic series of actions and events that we chose, and the rest unfolded from there."

Written by Anne Phelan

Directed by Lauren Reinhard

Starring: Jerie Clowes and Sara Wagner

La Leçon de Musique is about Fay, who is trapped in a miserable marriage, and the love she feels for a man who's not her husband. Fay finally tells her childhood nurse the truth that she's kept secret for years, and the nurse tries to stop Fay from committing a desperate act.

Anne talks about how she was inspired by Matisse's La Leçon de Musique (painted 1917):

"I stared at La Leçon de Musique for a month; four figures, in a house somewhere on the Mediterranean. The man in the armchair doesn't appear to be at ease. The woman at the piano has a child with her, who she seems more engrossed in than the lesson or the music itself. There's the older boy, completely cut off from the rest of the family, out on the terrace. I was drawn to him, and wanted to know why he was so separate. I thought about stepchildren (I was a stepmother myself for eleven years), and what a common, and odd, relationship that can be. Since Milk Can was in the midst of performances of Aristophanes' Peace, I was thinking about the Greeks as well. I settled on the Phaedra myth as a possible explanation for the painting, and the scene where Phaedra she confesses her love for Hippolytus to the nurse seemed the most emotionally loaded to me."