Late Poway director honored by UCSD

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:03 PM PST ∞

Floyd Gaffney, the longtime Poway resident who died last year after a brief battle with cancer, will be honored Feb. 29 at UC San Diego, where he was a founding director of the theater and dance department in 1971 and where he taught as a professor until his retirement in 1994.

Gaffney was one of San Diego's most prominent champions of black theater. Through his own Common Ground Theatre (formerly known as Southeast Community Theatre) he helmed more than 80 black-themed plays and musicals over a 35-year period, and was directing a musical in the weeks right up to his death last July at the age of 77.

"Floyd was truly the city's father of African-American theater," said Allan Havis, a theater professor who had an office next to Gaffney in UCSD's Galbraith Hall for nearly a decade. "It was clearly fun and unpredictable to be the office neighbor to Floyd. He tapped me frequently to proof-read a chapter of text or a grant proposal. There was always the warm, human touch, not just a colleague knocking on the door. He made me laugh in unexpected ways. To know him and his wonderful family added life to my time and on campus and in the world of performance."

"An Evening of Theatre, Music, Song and Dance," at 7:30 p.m. Friday, will feature Gaffney's daughter Monique, an award-winning local actress and dancer; pianist and UCSD music professor Cecil Lytle; former Gaffney student James Avery (co-star of television's "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"); longtime Gaffney collaborator and actor Karole Foreman; and dancer Sandra Foster King.

"Floyd was one of the founding members of the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance and instrumental in its march toward excellence and international recognition," said Charlie Oates, the department's chairman. "He taught acting and movement, had a long background as a dancer and directed many productions in the department. Over the years, many of our students, even after his retirement, looked to Floyd as a mentor and advocate."

The tribute to Gaffney is free to the public and will begin with an outdoor reception from 6 to 7 p.m. in the courtyard of the Mandell Weiss Forum at UCSD. The formal program will take place at 7:30 p.m. inside the Mandell Weiss Forum. For information, call (858) 822-2199.

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National Public Radio fans can add their eyes to their ears on Friday when NPR's "Talk of the Nation" host Neal Conan will host a multimedia performance at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

Conan serves as writer and narrator for "First Person ---- Stories From the Edge of the World," a program that combines live Celtic music performed onstage by the Ensemble Galilei with slide projections featuring photographs from National Geographic magazine that depict the beauty, wildness and history of the world exploration.

"First Person" is the second collaboration between Conan and Ensemble Galilei. Their first project, "Universe of Dreams," has been performed all over the country. This latest piece, for which Conan wrote the script, features him reading first person accounts of exploration and discovery, illustrated by slides of maps, portraits and photographs, particularly of the Irish countryside.

Conan's script includes excerpts from Ibn Battuta's 14th century travels in Iraq; a letter home from Mount Everest by mountain-climber George Mallory; a letter written by Charles Darwin expressing his doubts during a harrowing voyage around Cape Horn; and thoughts by ocean explorer Robert Ballard about the mysteries of the deep sea.

The musical program includes traditional Irish and Scottish reels and airs as well as traditional Swedish folk music and contemporary music.

"First Person" will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Tickets are $37. Call (800) 988-4253.

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Oceanside's Star Theatre has announced the appointment of Michael Wallot as its new artistic director.

Wallot is the former artistic director of the Camino Real Playhouse and co-founder of the Young Performers Academy in San Juan Capistrano. His 20-year-plus career includes performing in more than 80 professional theater productions nationwide, including national tours of "The Phantom of the Opera," "Evita," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," ensemble work with opera companies in Chicago and New York and regional theater roles in Los Angeles and New York.

He launched his directing and producing career off-Broadway in 1990 in New York, served as managing artistic director of the Carbondale Repertory Theatre in Scranton, Pa., from 1993 to 1996, and worked as a freelance director in the Los Angeles/Orange County area in the late 1990s. He took over Camino Real Playhouse in 2005, and he directed his first production at the Star Theatre, "The Pirates of Penzance," last July.

As new artistic director at the Star, Wallot has just announced the Oceanside theater's 2008 season, which will get under way March 7 with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Proof." Other shows planned at the Star this season are the musical "The Wizard of Oz" (April 11-20), Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" (Aug. 8-16), "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (Nov. 14-23) and the musical "Annie" (Dec. 12-13).

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Yvette Freeman, best known as Nurse Haleh Adams on the long-running television series "ER," will return to North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach next month with her one-woman musical "Life and Loves of Dinah Washington."

Freeman's solo show, based on her award-winning off-Broadway play "Dinah Was," will feature performances of several songs made famous by the legendary blues diva Washington, including "What a Difference a Day Makes," "I Want to Be Loved," "Gambles Blues" and "I Can't Hear the Music." Although better known for her work on television, Freeman is the daughter of jazz pianist Charles Freeman, and she developed the show with his help. She made her Broadway debut in the musical "Ain't Misbehavin'" and has appeared in "Nunsense," "Show Boat" and "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" along with the national tours of "The Wiz," "Don't Bother Me," "Voices Inc." and more.

"Life and Loves of Dinah Washington" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. March 11 and 12 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach. Tickets are $35. Call (858) 481-1055.

Freeman is also scheduled to perform at North Coast Rep's annual fundraising gala on March 9. The gala at the Marriott Del Mar has been named "Rick's Supper Club, an Evening in Casablanca" and will re-create the 1940s atmosphere of the Oscar-winning 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The gala will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a silent auction and cocktail hour, followed by dinner and dancing to the John Rekevics Band and a live auction (the top auction prize will be a seven-day Holland America cruise for two and a wine-tasting supper aboard a yacht). Tickets are $200 each or $1,750 for a table of 10. For information, call (858) 481-2155, Ext. 11.

Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.