On September 7th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m., Collage Productions presented a concert of new music by its long-time music director and composer in residence Clayton J Horath. The evening featured Mr. Horath at the piano performing original music composed for Collage Productions’ staging of Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, as well as vocal compositions based upon passages extracted from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and Chicago-area poet David Gecic. Also included within the program were excerpts from Sign of The Times, a contemporary chamber operatic setting of a verse play by Jeff Helgeson which was included in “Chicago Calling” as a part of the 2007 “Chicago Artists Month.”

The final section of the program consisted of a musical setting and full presentation of
Fall From Grace, a one-man play that was originally produced at The Victory Gardens Theatre featuring Dr. William Graham Cole, the retired president of Lake Forest College, and was performed on this occasion by its author, Chicago-based playwright and novelist Jeff Helgeson.

Clayton J Horath began playing piano at an early age, “making it up as he went along,” while his father would improvise melodies on the guitar. Later, Mr. Horath would come home from church and try to play the songs he had heard while he was there. This was the beginning of a love for music that has blossomed in the years since. Clay attended Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN, where he was an active participant in the choir and other musical ensembles. There, his desire to create new music was encouraged. After Bethany, Clay went on to Concordia University, in River Forest, to complete a Bachelor of Music degree, studying Composition and Music Theory. At Concordia, he was given the opportunity to work with such Church Music composers as Richard Hillert and Carl Schalk. He composed several pieces there, including a piece for the Kappela choir of the university. Since college, Clay has worked as Associate Director of the Lutheran Festival Chorus and Musical Director for Collage Productions. In that time, he has written a setting of the Mass, arranged and orchestrated songs for a new musical by Huck Walton and Johnny Lombard, as well as several pieces for Collage. Currently, Clay is researching for two large operatic works: “Ithaca,” the story of Ulysses after the Odyssey, based on a play by Jeff Helgeson; and “Prometheus Unbound,” based on the dramatic work of Shelley.

after hours

Connection

In both 1999 & 2003, Collage was involved with the National Poetry Slam held in Chicago, Illinois.In each Instance, preliminary events at the Chopin Theater over three nights were managed by Collage Productions members. These events were included within a CBS “60 Minutes” broadcast and were widely covered by such notable publications as Time Magazine, The NewYork Times, The Los Angeles Times, and both the Chicago Sun Times and The Chicago Tribune. 

Chicago Royal Airs (2002/03)

In 2002, Collage Productions took on the responsibility of public relations for the reunion of the alumni of The Chicago Royal Airs. After a period of over forty years, members of what has been described as the “greatest drum and bugle corps – ever” reunited for a season and then continued during 2003, recreating the style of performance which had won the organization the distinction of gaining three national championship titles within a single year during 1965. Performances of this reunion group were broadcast nationally on the ABC-TV program “A Day of Music In America,” hosted by Peter Jennings, as well as on FOX-TV, and feature articles also appeared in numerous local and national publications.

In 2003, Collage Productions founder, Jeff Helgeson, an alumni member of the 1962 -68 Royal Airs, won an individual national championship as a brass performer on the mellophone.

100th Anniversary “Bloom’s Day” reading from James Joyce’s

Ulysses

On the 100th Anniversary of Bloom’s Day, Collage Productions presented readings from James Joyce’s “Ulysses” at Chicago’s Red Line Pub on June 16th 2004. In addition to readings by members of the cast of ” The Man Who Came To Dinner”, an open mic with audience members was conducted. Music was supplied by Collage Production member Vince Rock. The event was co-sponsored by “Puddin Head Books”.

Bloomsday is a secular holiday, celebrated annually on June 16.

The day both celebrates the life of the Irish writer James Joyce and commemorates the fictitious events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on a single day in Dublin: June 16, 1904. The name Bloomsday is derived from Leopold Bloom, the name of the central character in the book.

The day is commemorated by activities such as academic symposia, re-enactments and readings from Ulysses, pub crawling and general merriment. One often sees enthusiasts dressed in Edwardian costume to celebrate the day. Joyce chose June 16 because he first went out with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, walking to the Dublin village of Ringsend on that day.

The first celebration took place in 1954 and a major five month-long festival (ReJoyce Dublin 2004) took place in Dublin between April 1 and August 31, 2004. On the Sunday prior to the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday (2004) 10,000 people in Dublin were treated to a free open air breakfast on O’Connell Street consisting of sausages, rashers, and black and white puddings.

 “Bloom’s Day in Chicago”

Originals

 Originals was a script development series conducted in cooperation between Collage Productions and The Boxer Rebellion Ensemble within a theatre space on the north side of Chicago. Within this series, new scripts submitted to the theatre were reviewed and selected for further development through workshop and staged readings. Using members of The Boxer Rebellion Ensemble, these works were read, discussed, revised, and given full staged readings, as well as discussed with audience members following their presentation as a way to provide immediate feedback to the participating playwrights.