by Rachel Hill
Daily Lobo
The Fusion Theatre Company's annual foray into film started with a sold-out screening of "The Man with a Movie Camera" at Downtown's Cell Theatre on Saturday.
The first installment in the theater's 2007-08 Brave New World film series featured a 1929 silent Soviet film by Dziga Vertov. A live musical score, courtesy of the improvisational ensemble Playroom, enhanced the cinematic presentation.
Film series curator and company actor Justin Lenderking said he discovered Vertov's experimental work through a soundtrack performed by British jazz band the Cinematic Orchestra.
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"Vertov has a kind of fatal playfulness in his approach to the film," Lenderking said.
Shortly after completing the yearlong production of "The Man with a Movie Camera," Soviet sensors exiled Vertov to the Ukraine, Lenderking said.
"The Man with a Movie Camera" gave the audience an idea of what to expect from the film series format. All film series events will combine film with live performance, Lenderking said.
"Our primary mission is to provide hospitable and professional theater for our patrons," Fusion Theatre Company co-founder Laurie Thomas said.
Thomas said she and co-founders Dennis Gromelski and Jacqueline Reid had two reasons for hatching Fusion: to create professional plays in Albuquerque and to bring a fresh perspective to classic plays, such as those by Eugene O'Neill, William Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams, Thomas said.
Now 6 years old, the company is producing a host of plays that are premiering in the Southwest as part of its Brave New World season, Thomas said.
"The season will continue with a wonderful offering by a great, emerging American playwright, J.T. Rogers," Gromelski said.
The theater offers students discounted tickets, but reservations are necessary due to the Cell's limited seating capacity.
Brent Stevens, Fusion board member and sound designer, said the Cell Theatre's small size actually provides an advantage for its patrons.
"In some ways, it can help you realize more what the playwright intended, because you're never more than 12 feet from the actors," Stevens said. "There's an emotional impact here that you can't get in a big theater - that's the reason to come here."
One patron commented on how the proximity of the audience to the players enhances the experience.
"It's neat because you get very involved in the play," patron Leila Hall said.
Hall attended Fusion's performances of "The Taming of the Shrew" and, more recently, "Doubt," she said.
"The players are right in front of you, so you can see every facial expression and emotion," Hall said.
Theater professor and actor Bruce Holmes attended the event with his family. Holmes performed in Fusion's most recent production, Martin McDonagh's "The Lieutenant of Inishmore." Holmes acted professionally in Seattle and Washington, D.C., before joining the Fusion Theatre Company.
"It's a great place to work," Holmes said. "They do a great job, and they're always trying to expand."
Information on auditions, tickets and play and film synopses are available at the company's Web site, FusionABQ.org.
Fusion Theatre has been producing plays since 2001 and has used the Cell Theatre as its primary venue.
