Success of video clip could open doors
A 90-second video may make or break Carlene Meredith Cogliati’s future as a musical director. CARLENE has been working on the production for more than half of her life. HELPING her write the songs is Mat Bingham, an area musician.
The Iola native, now of Humboldt, Calif., has written a musical that she hopes will someday see the big stage. A 90-second segment of the musical is now posted on YouTube where judges for America’s Got Talent will pick 40 video spots among thousands of submissions.
“It was hard to find a 90-second segment that represents the essence of a two-hour production,” said Carlene in a telephone interview earlier this week.
Carlene’s hope is that the audition will adequately pique judges’ curiosity and her two cast members will get a shot at being on the reality TV show that sometimes gives budding artists a long-awaited break.
“If we get a shot at national TV, then the hope is that my play will draw interest for someone to produce it,” she said.
Carlene’s musical is more than some local theater group could perform. The cast is “easily 40 to 60,” she said, not including orchestra. And there are 10 main songs with twice that many variations on those core melodies.
Carlene figures a minimum of $30,000 is needed to get a bare-bones version of the play produced. Two years ago she staged a few of the songs and has since done a lot of rewriting.
“I’m really pleased with the new version,” she said.
“I developed the initial idea over 30 years ago,” she said. “Twenty years ago, I did a little bit of writing. For the past five years, it’s basically consumed my life.”
Carlene graduated from Iola High School in 1974. Her parents are Phyllis Meredith Shetlar, a local artist, and the late Leslie Meredith, a biology instructor at Allen Community College.
After IHS, Carlene attended ACC for two years. From there she attended Emporia State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in directing with a minor in design.
She had jobs in Texas and Louisiana before moving in 1982 to California to pursue a master’s in fine arts at Humboldt State University in northern California.
“My boss at a theater in Baton Rouge recommended Humboldt,” she said. “I had learned from attending Emporia not to go to a big university if you want a hands-on experience. I wanted somewhere small. And I needed the countryside to refresh my brain.”
She received her master’s in 1985 and never left the area. “I have the mountains, the ocean and Redwoods all within 10 minutes of my house,” she said. It’s also where she met her husband, Anthony, who also was involved in the Humboldt theater scene, which for a small community, is extremely active.
“We have three community theaters, and a junior college and a university with theater departments,” she said. A typical season sees eight to 10 musicals, she said.
Writing the narrative, the libretto, for the musical came more naturally than writing the music, Carlene said.
“I had to stretch my brain more for the music,” she said. “Sometimes the lyrics just seem to bring the music with them.”
Carlene said she was raised with a love for music and that the female side of her family was musically inclined.
As a youth, Carlene studied piano under Jean Barber, Grace Myers and Vivian Singer.
“He’s amazingly congenial, unlike a lot of artistic types,” Carlene said. She also credits her theatrically inclined community for helping with the production.
“It’s rewarding to work with creative people. It’s kind of like stone soup. It’s interesting to see what they each bring to the production,” she said.
Two Humboldt-area high school seniors, Mira Weidman and Riley McFarland, perform the song “I Think I Should Know You,” on the YouTube sight. To find the clip, enter “Humboldt Musical” on the America’s Got Talent site on YouTube.
“Please give it a thumbs up,” Carlene said.
An official title for her production has yet to be released, she said. “I want it to first get to the production stage before the name is out,” she said.
The current title also gives credit to “all the people of Humboldt County who have helped with the show,” Carlene said. “I owe them. This is everyone’s show.”
