Ray Bradbury Comes To The Mountain

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"Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for."

Ray Bradbury's name is synonymous with imagination. No need to categorize him, he defies description. Long after his death, the author of classics like "" has assumed immortality, a label he probably wouldn't like, and occupies an exalted place with those who want to love life more each day.

Bill Oberst, Jr. channeled Bradbury for 90 spellbinding minutes in the opening performance of "Ray Bradbury Live (forever)", running Thu-Sun at the Art Station Theatre in Stone Mountain Village. Oberst took the audience on a tour-de-force of Bradbury's own spoken and written words. The result is comparable to the heralded portrayal of geodesic dome inventor R. Buckminster Fuller in D.W. Jacobs' "The History (and Mystery) of the Universe."

Three segments, all comprised of Bradbury's words and excerpts from his works, are presented: Beginnings, Seductions and Second Chances. Ray's wife, Maggie, played here by the talented Dina Shadwell, appears for a dream dance and some light-hearted banter, which add romance and sensitivity, important because Bradbury could overwhelm with his exuberance and intellectual daring. The show's large-screen projections and original music score aid in the exploration of the ideas of a man who said, "I don't predict the future. I try to prevent it."

Oberst has said that this authorized portrayal "is about Ray Bradbury's ideas, not his life. It's a show about what he has left us to ponder. Is there reason to hope? Ray says yes."

Hope reigned supreme Thursday evening, inspiring a standing ovation. 5/31/2019 Review: 'Ray Bradbury Live' delves into the human condition | Spoleto | postandcourier.com

Review: ‘Ray Bradbury Live’ delves into the human condition

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Stacy Rabon and Bill Oberst Jr. in “Ray Bradbury Live (Forever).”

“Ray Bradbury Live (Forever)” is an exercise in rediscovering one’s love of dinosaurs, rocket ships and all the things that capture children’s hearts and minds before they lose their sense of wonder. Written and performed by Emmy-winner Bill Oberst Jr., the show is just as much a description of childlike imagination, as it is a demonstration of it.

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Oberst plays legendary science ction and horror writer Ray Bradbury, as well as some characters in his novels and short stories. It’s not entirely a one-man show. Stacy Rabon joins the stage as Maggie McClure, Bradbury’s late wife, for a sentimental walk down memory lane. These stories serve as life lessons that Bradbury tries to instill within his audience. Included are the importance of keeping the mind in motion (“”), the dangers of abandoning one’s loves and dreams (“”), the pitfalls of lusting for life instead of actually living (“Something Wicked This Way Comes”) and the power of looking toward the horizon (“The Million Year Picnic”).

“Live (Forever)” is carried by Oberst’s unyielding enthusiasm. The three years he put into the script is evident from the beginning. He wouldn't be mistaken for the late writer on the street. But for the almost minutes he occupies the stage, Oberst captures the spirit of the man and the worlds he invented.

Whether it’s riding a bicycle onto the stage, waltzing with Maggie, cowering in fear in the face of an imaginary Tyrannosaurus, or traipsing about the oor as the famously sinister “Something Wicked” character Mr. Dark, Oberst throws himself into Bradbury and his characters with total sincerity.

Christopher Cooksey provides some psychedelic visuals for the show, reminiscent of early-’s CGI music videos. It’s not “Avengers”-level graphics, but the old-school look added to the show’s irtation with nostalgia. The backdrop for “Something Wicked” stood out in particular as it transformed from a warm library into a warped crimson nightmare, setting the mood for one of Bradbury’s most frightening works.

There were a few hiccups during the show. The inconsistent lighting often left Oberst in limbo between light and darkness for no discernible artistic reason. This was most evident when Oberst, playing the role of Mr. Dark, steps into the crowd to search for his victims in hiding. Instead of oering a glimpse of Mr. Dark’s wicked smile, the light rested somewhere between his chin and chest. The shoddy lighting subverted the tension and dread that Oberst — who is most known for his work in Hollywood playing horror movie villains — had built throughout the scene.

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The sound levels were touch-and-go early on, and when Rabon came on stage. But even a few buzzes and cracks from their microphones couldn’t sully the chemistry Oberst and Rabon displayed as the elder married couple regaling in the love they had shared.

Oberst propels “Live (Forever)” onward and upward. He provides a thoughtful, poignant and honest look into the human condition. Call it a storybook version of Bradbury if you choose, but at that moment within the black box of Threshold Theatre, Bradbury’s stories were Oberst’s stories. Then they became our stories.

Reviewer Mike Zawisza is a Goldring arts journalist at Syracuse University.

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3/3 This actor played a 'Criminal Minds' killer. Now he'll be a science fiction legend in Indianapolis.

Domenica Bongiovanni, Indianapolis Star Published 5:00 p.m. ET April 30, 2019

Bill Oberst Jr. has a face you know you've seen before but can't figure out where.

The actor played the inbred West Virginian killer with sunken eyes and suspenders in "Criminal Minds" on CBS. He made the network show's list of the 14 most iconic serial killers.

Oberst was the Facebook stalker with a grungy T-shirt in the viral "Take This Lollipop" video commentary on social media privacy, which won a Daytime Emmy Award.

He played Clark in "Scream Queens" on FOX and won the first Lon Chaney Award For Outstanding Achievement in Independent Horror Films in 2014.

And while Oberst has carved out a niche in horror, he has portrayed Jesus in places of worship as well as historical figures, including Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard.

Now he's playing science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury, the famous author of "Fahrenheit 451" and "," at The District Theatre in Indianapolis, IN. "Ray Bradbury Live (forever)" is Oberst's 90-minute play, authorized by the Ray Bradbury Estate, in which he, as Bradbury, assumes all of the roles, except for Ray's wife Maggie Bradbury. Indianapolis is the second stop on the tour, which began in March in Los Angeles, CA. The show debuted at the South Pasadena Public Library in South Pasadena, CA.

It's not a biographical show, but instead wraps the actor's lifelong love of the famed author with bits of Bradbury stories, reflections and interviews. And the actor is sinking his heart, soul and resources into making audiences feel more hopeful when they walk out.

"I wanted to avoid, especially in the case of Ray Bradbury, doing what I call the 'Wikipedia Dead Celebrity Show,' in which a famous deceased person recites their biography onstage. I'd rather get inside the ideas - the work - that made that this life matter" said Oberst.

Bill Oberst Jr. will play Ray Bradbury in the touring stage production. (Photo by Anne de Haas) 'It gave me hope'

A 14-year-old Oberst met Bradbury's words for the first time during a walk through the woods in Georgetown, South Carolina.

"There was something that was glinting down there in the pine needles, and it was the sun reflecting off the cover of one of Ray's books titled 'S is for Space,' " Oberst said.

"I picked it up and here was this man on the cover looking upward, gazing upward past me up into the trees, and the cover said 'tales of imagination from the master of imagination, Ray Bradbury.' "

The hopefulness captured Oberst, who called himself a misfit in almost every way. The actor said he was heavy, had bad acne, couldn't throw a football, earned straight A's and knew all the answers in Sunday school. It added up to a recipe for unpopularity that he fought by entertaining his tormentors so they wouldn't bully him.

But Bradbury's language offered a world that blessed a lonely Oberst's spirit.

"It gave me hope … through words and through language, that I might be able to have a life that soared in some way. Ray makes your spirit want to soar," said Oberst, who now splits time between Los Angeles and Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

From then on, Oberst ordered paperbacks from the back of "S is for Space," a collection of short stories that combined science fiction, fantasy and small towns.

The actor still has the original copy he found in the woods that day. He'll bring it on stage with him in Indianapolis.

Not 'the Wikipedia dead celebrity show'

In creating a show that doesn't lean on Bradbury's biography, Oberst put together a thoroughly footnoted script for "Ray Bradbury Live (forever)." The actor used the author's stories, speeches, essays, interviews — whatever (Photo provided) Bradbury said about his work.

"When playing a person whose family is living, and especially an author with the legacy of a Ray Bradbury, one has a strong responsibility, and I feel that responsibility" said Oberst, who had previously performed theatrical readings of Bradbury's "Pillar Of Fire" Off-Broadway and in Los Angeles.

The actor spent days inside the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said Jon Eller, who is the center's director and served as an adviser for the script. The center, which is preparing to become a full-fledged museum, includes a re-creation of Bradbury's office, with his desk, paints, book collection and awards.

"You could tell that Bill was absorbing that atmosphere, he was absorbing that mood, he was slowly becoming Ray Bradbury in a very quiet way," Eller said. "He's a listener, he's a watcher, he studies things."

"That's one of the things that really impressed us about (Oberst's) vision of Ray and the material," said Michael Congdon, the president of Don Congdon Associates Inc., which gave permission for Oberst's stage portrayal. Bill has been able "to translate the written part of Ray's work and make it come alive on the stage. You can really tell that from his expressions and his passion."

Michael's father, Don, was Bradbury's longtime literary agent.

Throughout the play, Oberst weaves in Bradbury's most-beloved stories and characters, like Mr. Dark from "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

"Ray had a signature anecdote, a sort of origin story, about meeting a carnival magician named Mr. Electrico who sat in an electrified chair and touched Ray's head with a blue sparking sword.… and told him, 'Live forever,' " Oberst said.

"So that's the core of the show. Can you do that? Should you want to do that? How do you do that?"

Along with another theme in Bradbury's work — what impact will you leave after you're gone? — is a section with what Oberst calls 1940s-style movie banter. The author and his wife, Maggie Bradbury, played by Stacy Rabon in the show's Los Angeles debut and by Jenni White in the Indianapolis a production, talk about their meeting and relationship while sharing a dream-like dance. 'What are you leaving behind?'

Oberst doesn't look a thing like the bespectacled Bradbury. To that end, the actor has struck a careful balance with makeup and black glasses.

"I do try to capture his vocalizations and movements and energy," he said, "but I only need to suggest him. Ray Bradbury's spirit, and his words, are so strong that they perform the magic - they are the stars. This isn't about me at all. This is about Ray. My job is to just be faithful to his presence."

Oberst keys into his characters' psyches, regardless of whether they're the "Criminal Minds" killer or Abraham Lincoln, by finding their woundedness and humanity, he said. He does the same with Bradbury.

"Ray's vulnerability was that I don't know that he ever wanted to grow up. He always wanted to be a child, and he always extolled the things of childhood and the values of childhood in an adult body," Oberst said. "You know, many of us have that dual nature."

Behind the actor during the play will be a movie with animated footage that's meant to show what's going on in Bradbury's mind. Videographer Christopher Cooksey, who worked on a documentary about the author, put it together.

Actor Bill Oberst Jr. searched for the right look with his makeup to become Ray Bradbury. (Photo provided)

When Oberst takes the stage in Indianapolis, he'll continue a soul-enriching project that became clear to him while walking a red carpet at a 2014 runway show in Los Angeles. The entire experience — the smiling, the strutting, the celebrity — forced him to question the impact of his life.

"Of all the red carpets I did in LA, thank God I did this one. A homeless person was on the street not 20 feet away, and here we are on the other side of the velvet rope, at our own personal mirror maze, with sumptuous spreads of food. I'll never forget the lowness of that moment. It was a nadir of my soul and it drove me back to Bradbury." Oberst said. "I re-read the piece from 'Fahrenheit 451' in which Ray which says everyone must touch something, and everyone must leave something behind when they die, and I thought, 'Billy, what have you touched? What have you done? What are you leaving behind?' This show is the result of that moment. I think Ray Bradbury matters, because he embodies hope. His belief in us makes us believe in one another." Oberst continues to act in movies and on TV, but he's contributing as many resources as possible to "Ray Bradbury Live (forever)" now.

"It's not just another project for me," Oberst said. "It is meaning and it is soul." 5/16/2019 Stage Portrayal of Ray Bradbury Begins National Tour

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Stage Portrayal of Ray Bradbury Begins Hot Stories BroadwayWorld TV National Tour

RAY BRADBURY LIVE Portrayal Is Authorized By Late Writer's Estate HADESTOWN Tops the Outer Critics Circle Winners - by BWW News Desk May. 15, 2019 Tweet Share Full List Announced! EVAN HANSEN Super Standby Star Author Ray Bradbury, lauded for half a century Video on book covers as "The Worlds Greatest Living Science Fiction Writer" (a blurb he hated) is getting the solo stage treatment in a new Polec, Bennington, and More multimedia show authorized by the writer's Set For BAT OUT OF HELL at City Center estate. Ray Bradbury Live (forever) features Emmy-winner Bill Oberst Jr., best-known for playing monsters and monstrous humans on CBS' Criminal Minds, FOX's Scream Queens and in over 100 horror lms, in a performance composed entirely of Bradbury's own words. Exclusive Photos: Get A First Look At THE FLAMINGO KID The show begins a national tour this month, at Hartford Stage following a successful Off-Broadway staged reading and Los Angeles debut.

Besides excerpts of classic Ray Bradbury works

(including The Martian Chronicles and TV: Check Out Clips From Something Wicked This Way Comes) performed This Year's STARS IN THE by "Ray" himself, the show uses large-screen projections designed by Christopher ALLEY Cooksey and an original score by Brian Lee to explore the ideas of a man who often said, "I don't predict the future - I try to prevent it."

Oberst, who spent two years assembling the script from Bradbury's Vote For The 17th Annual Theater Fans' Choice Awards! vast body of published works, interviews and speeches, with script advice from IUPUI's Center For Ray Bradbury Studies Director Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, says he wanted to avoid what he calls "the Wikipedia dead celebrity show" and so took a non-biographical, non-linear approach to the material. "This is about Ray Bradbury's ideas, not his life," said Oberst, "It is a show about what he has left us to ponder. Is there reason to hope? Ray says yes. I say yes. And I'm grateful that his family and "I don't predict the future - I try to estate said yes to this project." prevent it" ~ Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is performed by permission of Ray Bradbury Literary Works and Don Congdon Associates, Inc. Bradbury, who died in 2012, would have been 100 years old in 2020. Information on the show and its touring schedule may be found at RayBradburyLiveForever.com

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https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/RAY-BRADBURY-LIVE-Portrayal-Is-Authorized-By-Late-Writers-Estate-20190515 1/4 Ray Bradbury Character Actor Draws A Crowd Touring Stage Production Has First Performance at South Pasadena Library

Actors Bill Oberst Jr. and Stacy Rabon, as Ray & Maggie Bradbury, greet library guests before the performance (left) and take onstage bows at the show’s conclusion. Photos courtesy of Joaquin Montalvan By Steve Fjeldsted March 29, 2019 Emmy-Award winning actor Bill Oberst Jr. earned a prolonged standing ovation from an audience of more than 175 at the dynamic conclusion of his performance as legendary author and visionary Ray Bradbury in the South Pasadena Public Library Library Community Room Friday evening. The event was the debut performance of a touring stage tribute. The 90-minute characterization, presented by the library, the Friends of South Pasadena Public Library, the Bissell House Bed & Breakfast, and the Living History Centre Fund, contained excerpts from the author’s books, interviews and essays.

Bradbury’s words were delivered arrestingly by Oberst as he crouched, climbed, and pointed across the stage before a screen that displayed swirling complementary images. Dramatic sound e ects and original soundtrack music punctuated the proceedings. The result was a dazzling tour de force.

Oberst’s script was polished through 19 drafts over three years before “Ray Bradbury Live (forever)” was ocially authorized for performance by the Bradbury estate, Ray Bradbury Literary Works, and Don Congdon Associates, Inc., the prolic author’s longtime literary agency.

Over the years, Bradbury’s plays were regularly performed at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena, and Bradbury himself made public appearances in the same room at South Pasadena Public Library in which Oberst performed, including a 90th birthday celebration at which viewing screens had to be set up outside in Library Park to allow an overow crowd to view the event.

Since Bradbury’s passing, the library has presented many events to honor him and his works. The second-oor meeting space has been renamed the “The Ray Bradbury Conference Room” and some 200 rare Bradbury items are being added to the room’s special reference collection, with an eye on surprises to come during 2020, the Centennial of Bradbury’s birth. B is for Bradbury: Theatre Row NYC: Bill Oberst Jr’s Staged Reading of Ray Bradbury Live (forever)

Posted April 13, 2018 By Mark L. Blackman

(New York, NY) As we approach his centennial (born August 22, 1920), there’s renewed interest in iconic fantasist Ray Bradbury. This is, in some part, due to next month’s fresh adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, starring Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon. For his loyal following of readers, though, Bradbury’s appeal has never flagged.

Back in September, I caught Emmy-winner Bill Oberst Jr.’s masterful and haunting adaptation of Bradbury’s Pillar Of Fire for the solo stage. (In addition to New York, it also played Los Angeles.) On Thursday Oberst returned to the same Off-Broadway venue, Theatre Row, with a staged reading of his new show, Ray Bradbury Live (forever). The script, written by Oberst, adapting Bradbury’s own words, was approved by the Bradbury Estate and vetted by Bradbury scholars and authors Dr. Jonathan Eller and Dr. Phil Nichols. Oberst stars as Ray Bradbury ca. 1970. “It’s like The Belle of Amherst meets Mark Twain Tonight – with dinosaurs,” said Oberst, further describing the show as “a mix of Epcot ride, Planetarium show and dream.” To suggest Ray Bradbury, in his portrayal, Oberst relied on an old brown suit, Ray’s characteristic glasses, and a Midwestern accent (Bradbury was originally from Waukegan, IL), but the illusion was ultimately powered by captivating excerpts from his works brilliantly brought to life onstage by Oberst. Interspersed with selected lectures of Bradbury’s (I was privileged to hear him at the 1986 Atlanta and 2006 LA Worldcons), we were treated to readings of scenes from A Sound of Thunder (the story that gave the world the phrase “the butterfly effect”), Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles and the lesser-known The Murderer.

Once described as writing ghost stories without ghosts and science fiction without science (one word: Mars), Bradbury was, above all, a lyrical word-painter and the audience was held firmly in his (their) grip as we were swept along from a face-to-face in the jungle with a T-Rex to a confrontation in a small-town library with the demonic master of a dark carnival to the fabled canals of Mars amid the end of the world. Oberst’s “Epcot ride” whirled through story-worlds variously eerie, terrifying, satiric, bittersweet and genuinely funny....his Bradbury is, like Norman Rockwell, on the surface nostalgically vivid Americana, but subtly subversive.

Ray Bradbury Live (forever) is, at heart, Bill Oberst Jr.’s love letter to Bradbury, so it’s only fitting to close with Bradbury’s own philosophy of life and love:

“If life is going to be worth a damn, love and imagination have to be at the center of it. How can you not be in love with something? The things you love should be things you do and the things you do should be things you love. Never let anyone make you feel ashamed of your love. To hell with them. You love what you love.”

That’s the fruit at the bottom of the bowl. 5/4/2019 Plays with John & Wendy | Review: Ray Bradbury Live (forever)

Travel from Waukegan to Mars on a bicycle.

May 4, 2019 / Review by John Lyle Belden: Ray Bradbury Live (forever) at The District Theatre

When one has access to an age-altering carousel, why let a little thing like death stop you? After all, Mr. Electrico told him he would “Live forever!” To understand what I mean, catch the excellent Midwest premiere of Ray Bradbury Live (forever) at The District Theater, presented by IndyFringe, in just two more performances, today and tomorrow (May 4-5), before the show continues its national tour.

It's a dream. Ray Bradbury wheels onto the stage, played by lifelong fan and Emmy-winning actor Bill Oberst Jr., pulls a tarp from a lecture stand, places it on his bicycle, and proceeds to commune with us: about life, about writing, about love, about rockets and dinosaurs and of course, about libraries. We get glimpses of his boyhood in Waukegan (“nothing is ugly to a child,”) and Los Angeles. We even get a glimpse of his charming wife, Maggie (played locally in lovely fashion by Jenni White). We hear such nuggets as, “I don’t predict the future, I try to prevent it;” “I write fantasy because I believe in fantasy;” and from a poem: “Give book, Give smile.” The “science fiction writer who never drove a car” also engages us with mesmerizing dramatic excerpts from “A Sound of Thunder” (from whence we get the term “butterfly effect,”) “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” and “The Martian Chronicles.”

Oberst makes Bradbury’s words come alive, helping us feel the greatness embedded in these stories, and what they say about our desire to tamper with what we barely understand. It really is something to see an actor this skilled who is this well-suited to his subject and material. There's power in that, and even a bit of majesty.

Oberst crafted the entire show from the words of Ray Bradbury: his published works, his letters, his speeches and interviews. The script was vetted by the Ray Bradbury Estate, as well as Dr. Jonathan Eller, Director of IUPUI’s Center For Ray Bradbury Studies, who attended the opening performance.

Oberst said after the show that he tried to convince actor friends who more resembled Bradbury to portray the writer on stage before deciding to create the show. In a comfortable suit, appropriate hairstyle, trademark black-frame glasses, and exuding Bradbury's friendly and enthusiastic demeanor, Oberst captures the man's mind and spirit, getting us close to genius. He made the right decision.

Behind him is a large screen which shows facts and trivia about Ray Bradbury prior to the show (come early,) and animations, scenes and illustrations during the performance. This excellent premiere – the first performances since the show's opening in Los Angeles – came about through IndyFringe CEO Pauline Moffat, aided by the perfect synergy with the IUPUI Bradbury Center here in Indianapolis. For devoted fans, casual fans, or anyone interested in discovering this American literary master, you have two more chances in Indy: 8 pm today and 4 pm Sunday at The District, 627 Mass. Avenue downtown. Call 317-308-9800 or visit IndyDistrictTheatre.org. For info on future performances visit the show site at raybradburyliveforever.com

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