New Board member David Weidenfeld interviews Greg Matthew Anderson, who stars in one-man show Chesapeake. David Weidenfeld: Where do you get the energy when you don’t have other actors? Greg Matthew Anderson: That has been my biggest fear going into it. I have some friends who have done...

Artistic Associate Shawn Douglass speaks about his preparations to direct Chesapeake, the unique challenges of rehearsing a one-man show, and the opportunity to work with long-time associate Greg Matthew Anderson. What challenges do you feel a one man show will present? Shawn Douglass: Well, I...

How are arts funding cuts impacting cultral institutions around the globe and in our own backyard? Below are a few examples of cuts, closures and facinating proposals. GERMANY A proposal to cut funding to every second cultural institution creates a great debate. Is the benefit of cutting...

As Kerr becomes more and more animal, his human qualities along with his morals begin to disappear. What are the qualities that make humans different from animals? Below are various theories regarding the difference between man and beasts: how we not only define ourselves as Homo Sapiens,...

Man’s Best Friend In the second act of Chesapeake, Senator Pooley has a hard time adjusting to his new dog (a reincarnated Kerr) after the loss of Lucky. As he spends more time with his new dog, a bond between man and dog starts to grow, and once again he gains a new best friend. The bond...

Below are Artistic Movements or people mentioned in Chesapeake.   Dada was a movement started in 1917 by a group of artists led by Tristan Tzara and Hans Arpin. They mocked artistic and social conventions and highlighted the absurd and illogical. It involved art, literature, music,...

In the second act of Chesapeake Kerr returns as a dog. How and why did Kerr become a Chesapeake Bay Retriever? We see many types of religion mixing with one another in the second half of the play as the reincarnated Kerr (Hinduism) pretends to be a messenger from God (Christianity).  In this...

Chesapeake By Lee Blessing Directed by Shawn Douglass Featuring Artistic Associate Greg Matthew Anderson Presented March 28 – May 6, 2012   Lee Blessing’s Chesapeake was first performed one year after the Supreme Court upheld the Decency Clause in 1998. The Decency Clause was a...

What inspired Lee Blessing to write Chesapeake? Chesapeake was first performed in 1999, after a long fight between artists and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). It all started on the Senate floor in 1989 when Senator Alfonse D’Amato brought to attention the photograph Piss Christ by...

What was the arts funding debate all about? The following is an excerpt from The Contest for American Culture: A Leadership Case Study on The NEA and NEH Funding Crisis by Cynthia Koch. It illustrates the debate regarding government funding in the arts. What side are you on? Opponents: Should...

“I tend to write serious plays that use humor. Mostly I’m trying to get the audience to go through an experience, emotionally. It’s a subtle emotional thing that happens not altogether in the conscious mind when you watch a good drama. You realize you’re going through something that...

This is a timeline that features performance art and the many things that influenced it. The descriptions are quoted from Jeffery Byrd, Kevin Concannon, Linda Frye Burnham, Craig Kaczorowski, Cynthia Koch, and Kevin Sack.   1909 Futurism:  A movement officially started in 1909 by Filippo...

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company: Is it fair to say Chesapeake is a political play? How would you define “political play”? Lee Blessing: It’s important to Americans to think that plays can be divided into “political” and “non-political” plays.  They can’t. ...

As Chesapeake opens we are introduced to a very special dog, Lucky. Lucky is a Chesapeake Bay retriever, an all-American dog and the perfect senatorial sidekick. Kerr describes the Chesapeake Bay retriever as not the most popular, prettiest, or even friendliest of dogs. So what makes the...