1940s Radio Hour at Harlequin Productions

An old-fashioned Christmas musical

By Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 27, 2018

From left: Edsonya Charles as Ann Collier, Miguel Pineda as B.J. Gibson, Bruce Haasl as Clifton Feddington, Xander Layden as Wally Fergusson, and Christie Murphy-Oldright as Ginger Brooks, photo courtesy Harlequin Productions

Christmas might be over, but Harlequin Productions continues celebrating the season until New Year’s Eve. For this year’s holiday show, Harlequin dove deep into their archives to re-stage their first holiday show, The 1940s Radio Hour. First performed in 1993, this is the one that inspired the theater’s “Stardust” series, the ever-popular series that has run for 22 seasons.

It is Dec. 21, 1942, one year into WWII, in the Algonquin Room of Manhattan’s Astor Hotel where the radio show “The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade” is being broadcast. Station manager and show host Clifton Feddington (Bruce Haasl) is frantic because most of the performers and band members are late or are not doing what they’re supposed to do, house manager Pops Bailey (Gerald B. Browning) is running a bookie operation in the station, featured singer Johnny Cantone (James Dean) is nowhere to be found, and young and pesky delivery boy, Wally Ferguson (Xander Layden) is begging him to let him sing on the show.

But the show must go on, and go on it does, complete with a cavalcade of hit 1930s and ’40s songs including “I Got a Gal from Kalamazoo,” “Blue Moon,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and Christmas standards including “Jingle Bells,” “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” with on air commercials and a live broadcast of “A Christmas Carol” complete with sound effects by sound man Lou Cohen (Nathan Rice). Drummer Biff Baker (Andy Garness) provides a note of sentimentality and patriotism because he is in the Air Force and it is his last night. Tomorrow he is being shipped overseas to fight in the war.

Throughout the broadcast there are endless miscues and other silliness, and star Johnny Cantone gets increasingly drunk.

The play is lighthearted, shmaltzy and outdated. The Cantone character is a shame, because drunkenness ceased being funny a long time ago, and Dean is too good an actor and singer for that unfortunate role. His voice is clear, deep and resonate — a crooner to equal the best of the big band era or any other era.

Compensating for the dated script, the music is outstanding, the commercials are funny, and the radio play-within-a-radio-play is a joy to behold. Singers Carolyn Willems Van Dijk as Connie Miller and Christie Murphy-Oldright as Ginger Brooks both have strong and melodious voices, Miguel Pineda as singer B.J. Gibson is outstanding, Layden as Wally is the comic hit of the show.

As always, the band is outstanding with Garness on drums, Rick Jarvela on bass, David Steadman on trumpet, Aaron Wolff on saxophone, and show Director/Musical Director Aaron Lamb on piano.

1940s Radio Hour, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 31, State Theater, 202 4^th Ave. E., Olympia, $49 general. $45 senior/military, $25 student/youth, 360.786.0151, http://www.harlequinproductions.org/.

Plein Air panting at American Art Company

The Journey

By Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly  Volcano, Dec. 27, 2018

 “Falling Through the Cascades,” oil painting by Patricia Clayton, courtesy American Art Company

Now on view at American Art Company is The Journey, an exhibition of Plein Air Washington Artists.

I can’t honestly review this exhibition without stating my personal bias — and yes, critics always have personal biases, no matter how they might try to be objective. The paintings in this show are of a type I usually disdain. They are slick, commercial, calendar art: warmed-over Impressionism, a kind of art that has been done to death over the past century.

Having stated my bias, I will now talk about some of the better pieces in the show. But first, one more general statement: This show does something I have never seen. It shows plein air paintings next to identical or almost identical paintings of the same subject that were painted back in the artists’ studios, as opposed to out in nature, which by definition is what plein air painting is. The only difference in most cases is the size and the price. 

Patricia Clayton’s “Falling Through the Cascades” holds down a prime spot, making it the first thing most visitors see when entering the gallery. It is a large painting at 30-by-40 inches. It depicts a rushing waterfall with luscious, heavy paint strokes applied with some kind of knife or scraper — heavy globs of paint that look as wet and shiny as the rocks and rushing water depicted. It is a highly dramatic picture. There are three other paintings by this artist, one a smaller but similar painting of a waterfall and two paintings of golden sunsets over the ocean, one with misty skies and one with golden water. Like “Falling Through the Cascades,” these are bold and dramatic paintings that are executed with great skill, even though the scenes are clichéd it might be noted that heavy paint application is typical of many paintings in this show. There is also a preponderance of mist, water, and sunset themes. Brilliant orange, gold, pink and violet are everywhere to be seen.

Kathryn Townsend’s “Miner’s Cabin” and “End of the Road” have the same kind of heavy impasto, brilliant colors and dramatic scenery as Clayton’s paintings, but with richer color combinations. The brown tones in the foreground look like rich chocolate, and the tiny blue roof on the outhouse dead center in the combination is a real attention grabber.

Karen Bakke’s two paintings of a lighthouse remind me of Edward Hopper’s paintings of lighthouses, but a comparison with Hopper would be unfair to Bakke, because Hopper’s honesty and inerrant sensitivity to spacing and composition is beyond the reach of mortals.

Perhaps my favorite painting in the show is an unpretentious little watercolor by Felicity Chastney called “Silence in Echo Bay. It is quiet, soothing and not so showy as many of the other paintings in this show.

The Journey, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Jan. 26, closing reception 3-5 p.m., Jan. 26, American Art Company, 1126 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma, 253.272.4327, http://www.americanartco.com/.

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol

A joyful ghost story for all ages

by Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 20, 2018

Note: It has been announced that remaining performances of this show are sold out.

John Serembe as Ebenezer Scrooge and Zachary Clark as Tiny Tim, courtesy Olympia Family Theatre

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol is a not-just-for-children adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas ghost story. Olympia Family Theater shortened the play to one hour plus a 15-minute intermission, reimagined all the scary stuff and used puppets for ghosts to make the tale child friendly. Which it is. But it is equally and wonderfully enjoyable for adults thanks to terrific acting and singing, a delightful set (the design team of Jeannie Beirne, David Nowitz and Jill Carter), and Mark Gerth’s non-scary puppets — which don’t have a lot of moving parts but look terrific.

The cast is headed up by the one and only John Serembe as Ebenezer Scrooge. It is highly unlikely that there has ever been a more loveable Scrooge. From his perfect timing to a range of voice and gesture from the subtlest (like blowing out an electronic candle) to the most histrionic (like his reactions when his door knocker turns into the ghost of Jacob Marley), Serembe makes acting the part of this bigger-than-life character seem as natural as downing a delicious mug of tap water. Yes, he even makes the simple act of drinking water hilarious.

In this version of the story, Tiny Tim (Zachary Clark) is 15 years old and no longer needs his crutch. He tells the story of what happened the night mean of Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Be. It turns out it was all a trick played on the old man by Tim, his cousin Charlotte (Emma Thomas), and his friends the bookseller (Peter Rushton) and pie seller (James Wrede) and puppet seller (Andrea Weston-Smart), who pretend to be ghosts.

Clark, previously seen in Charlotte’s Web, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and 3 Impossible Questions, is a 10^th grader at River Ridge High School. He is excellent as a sweet, articulate and almost grownup Tiny Tim.

Thomas is also a youth actor, a student at Olympia High School. She is delightful as the teenage Charlotte.

Rushton and Wrede are each over-the-top funny with exaggerated voices and Cockney accents, and Weston-Smart is a natural as the London street vendor and puppeteer.

There are so many versions of A Christmas Carol that no matter where you may be there is sure to be one or more near you, so many in fact that Serembe has now played Scrooge in five different adaptations. This version by the writing team of Ken and Jack Ludwig and directed by Michael Christopher is one of the more enjoyable. It is a funny and heart-warming story filled with good holiday cheer, and it flows so quickly that it is over almost before almost before you know it.

During the run of Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol, OFT is doing a Winter Coat Drive. Donated coats will be given to folks in the community who are without one. Most needed are youth and teen sizes. Bring a gently-used warm coat and get a concessions voucher!

Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol, 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, with one Thursday performance Dec. 7 at 7 p.m., through Dec. 23, $15 $20, Olympia Family Theater, 612 4th Ave E, Olympia, http://olyft.org/tickets 360-570-1638.

Roads and Rivers Unseen

Perspectives from Around the World

By Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 21, 2018

untitled oil painting by Brian Ebersole, photo courtesy the artist

Former Tacoma Mayor Brian Ebersole is a painter and owner of Art Above Gallery, located upstairs in the back of Minka on Pacific Avenue. Ebersole pursued painting in his twenties, and after entering politics he started collecting art in his travels around the world. The current show at Art Above, Roads and Rivers Unseen: Perspectives from Around the World, features landscape and portrait paintings in oil and acrylic, many by Ebersole and many by other artists whose work he has collected over the years.

The paintings are in a style similar to works from the Ash Can School of artists from early 20^th century America — Robert Henri, Theresa Bernstein, George Luks, John Sloan and others whose work was a gritty kind of post-impressionist realism not so much celebrating as documenting the real world of working class Americans, warts-and-all portraits and landscapes not of grand scenes but of city streets, working waterfronts and non-idealized vistas. The paint application is heavy and opaque, and their colors tend to be darker than the Impressionists who preceded them.

Along the left-hand wall of the gallery are nine acrylic paintings by Ebersol. Most are landscapes depicting everyday scenes, some of which are almost totally abstract, with clouds and bushes depicted as blurs of color. At the time of the Ash Can School, such paintings were revolutionary in that they pictured subjects that had seldom before been considered worthy of fine art, but today they are more run-of-the-mill. I do wish Ebersol and the others in this show used more vibrant colors and perhaps approached their scenes from more radical viewpoints.

There are two untitled portraits in this group of paintings. My guess is that he did not title them because he did not want to call attention to the subject, which in turn calls attention away from the painting. One of these pictures a strong woman with black hair and black clothing on a dark background. The lighting is like that of a Rembrandt or Carravagio, single source from one side with strong chiaroscuro. There is also a Madonna by Ebersol on another wall who looks rather fierce.

The other walls feature works from Ebersol’s collection and more of his own paintings. There are small luminous landscapes by Vova DeBak and one strong abstract by K.R. Moeher with orange clouds and a slash of bright crimson representing hills.

There are two interesting paintings of boats by Vahe Yeremyan, one picturing fishing boats painted with short, choppy brushstrokes with blue sky and orange-pink clouds, and another with dark brown boats on a yellow beach and hazy sailboats in the background. Many people on the beach are painted with an economy of short brushstrokes. Elements of these paintings remind me of van Gogh (the angular boats on the yellow sand) and of a less turbulent J.M.W. Turner (the misty background scene).

The paintings in this exhibition are neither bombastic or exciting, but they are painted with confidence and quiet dignity. 

Roads and Rivers Unseen, noon to 5 p.m., Thursday-Sunday and by appointment, through Jan. 31, Art Above Gallery, inside Minka, 821 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.961.5220

Review: Rapunzel” a Holiday Pantomime

By Alec Clayton

Published in The News Tribune Dec. 14, 2018

Joshua Jerard as Prince Caspian and Jessie Selleck as Rapunzel, photo courtesy Centerstage

Few people in the United States know about British pantomimes, also known as pantos, but they have been a beloved holiday in London for decades and at Centerstage Theatre in Federal Way for the past 11 seasons.

For those who still do not know, a panto is an outlandish fairy tale retold as an extended Vaudeville routine for children and adults with stock characters. There is always a fairy godmother and a friendly character who narrates the story , and one or more overly ugly “women” (men in outrageous drag), sometimes beautiful women playing men, a handsome prince (often played by a woman); bad jokes and worse puns; tons of local references and topical humor such as slams on places like Rife and Enumclaw and jokes like being mad because the Seahawks traded Richard Sherman to the Forty-niners; a lot of audience participation; and finally a lot of rocking music, often popular music updated with comical lyrics.

“Rapunzel” is the story of the beautiful princess, Rapunzel (Jessie Selleck) who was locked in a tower all her life and grew her hair absurdly long – it has to be seen to be believed – and how she was rescued from her imprisonment by the handsome Prince Caspian (Joshua Jerard).

The humor, which is both topical and local, begins with the names of some of the characters, such as Dame Fanny Smalls (Brad Cerenzia), Fairy Good (Jenna McRill) and Fairy Nuff (Michelle Abad).

Cameron Waters as the narrator Sammy Smalls (Dame Fanny Smalls’ son) primes the audience like an announcer on a TV show warming up the audience. He tells them when to applaud and cheer and to boo and hiss whenever the evil fairy, Gothel (Deanna Martinez) comes on stage. These two, Waters and Martinez, are the life of the performance. Martinez nails the stereotypical evil witch character with her snarling and sneering and her attempts to romantically snare willing and/or reluctant men in the audience. She is big, brash and wonderful. And Waters is as loveable as a character can be in the role of the narrator. His energy and his range of expression is perfect.

Selleck as the title character displays an ability to run words together in breathlessly long sentences that will rattle your head, and she sings beautifully – especially mesmerizing in her solos on “How far I’ll Go” and “When Will My Life Begin”. Jerard as Prince Caspian also sings terrifically and is funny and loveable.

Also notable are performances by John Kelleher as King Bertie; Barrett Penrod, a member of the large ensemble whose dancing and broad gestures are delightful; and Leila Neidlinger as the Fairy Queen and a member of the youth ensemble. Neidlinger is a fourth grader with acting chops worthy of an experienced adult. Watch for her to light up stages for years to come.

The wild antics appeal to children in the audience, while the ridiculous puns and topical humor appears to the adults. In previous years a lot of the adult humor took the form of slightly risqué barbs and double entendre, but not so much this year.

Two warnings: first, you might not be able to escape the audience participation, and second, at almost three hours including intermission it is long for a show appealing to children – but it did seem to wholly hold their rapt attention.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, through Dec. 23

WHERE: Centerstage at Knutzen Family Theatre, 3200 SW Dash Point Road, Federal Way

TICKETS: $35 adults, $30, Seniors, Military: $15; Youth (18-23): $12 17 and younger (plus 5% City of Federal Way admission tax)

INFORMATION: (253) 661-1444, www.centerstagetheatre.com

Kanani Miyamoto’s ‘The In-between’

A new kind of print installation at Feast Art Center 

by Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 13, 2018

Detail of Kanani Miyamoto’s ‘The In-between’, photo by Alec Clayton

Currently on view at Feast Art Center is an installation called The In-Between by Kanani Miyamoto. It is an installation of printed images that is nigh on impossible to describe because to the best of my knowledge it is a print process that’s seldom if ever before been done. According to the Feast Website, “Miyamoto pushes the standards of printmaking in the form of large-scale mixed-media original prints and installations. She combines copper plate etchings with screen prints and wooden block prints to create rich and unique installations.” What ends up on the walls are images that look for all the world like paintings executed directly on the walls — but unlike mural paintings, they can be removed without doing damage to the images or to the wall and installed again on other walls or in other configurations. (I would love to see Miyamoto come into the gallery weekly or even daily and remove the images and rearrange them.)

Also printed and mounted on the wall, presumably by Miyamoto, is a statement describing “the in-between” as “a mysterious place maybe a place of tension, maybe a place to create new stories. A place between now and the next thing.” That description would certainly hold true if Miyamoto did in fact change the work on display.

Also printed on the wall is a quote from filmmaker Sabaah Folayan: "I'm tired of seeing pictures of men with flowers and the title is Redefining Masculinity. Boy if you don't put that bouquet down and start demonstrating emotional respect, communication skills, and support for women.” These statements are printed in all capital letters and are quoted here with punctuation transcribed verbatim.  

How this relates to the printed murals on display is left to the viewer to interpret.

The printed images are of flowers and vines with heavy, snake-like tendrils that bend around corners and expand onto the ceiling. Could this be called “redefining masculinity?” Perhaps. The heaviness of the vines could be perhaps be viewed as masculine and aggressive, but I will not make that assessment.

It looks like paint, but it is not. The edges of leaves and vines appear hard and precise as do the lines. The leaves and flowers look like watercolor paint, and the patterns on the vines look like snakeskin. Only upon close — very close — inspection does it become clear that what looks like flat areas of color is actually transparent, and other forms, shapes and colors can be seen below the surface as if things seen through colored glass.

The images are sensual, and there is much more to them than appears at first glance. They can be easily dismissed as decoration, but should not be.

This exhibition is part of a yearlong project in partnership with yehaw celebrating indigenous artists in cities across the Puget Sound area. For more information of yeehaw, go to https://yehawshow.com/.

Kanani Miyamoto’s The In Between, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, and by appointment, through Jan. 11, Feast Arts Center, 1402 S. 11th St., Tacoma, www.feastarts.com 

barry johnson at 950 Gallery

by Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Dec. 6, 2018

untitled painting by barry johnson, courtesy 950 Gallery

barry johnson’s paintings at 950 Gallery are unlike art seen anywhere else in Tacoma. Judging from what I was told, johnson is self-taught and has been painting only five years. There is an amateurish quality to his paint application, which I suspect is more intentional than not, but his sensibility and his honesty are  those of a seasoned professional.

johnson says the show is “built atop of the backbone of soul music from the past 30 years.” He further describes the show as “life growing up in the ’80s and ’90s and the party lifestyle that accompanied it.”

The gallery is jam-packed with paintings. Most are large portraits, presumably of family and friends. Some are painted directly on the walls, and some painted on canvas or other supports and hung on the walls. In the smaller front gallery hangs a group of figure paintings. The faces and clothing are painted with flat areas of lush colors with little or no modeling, and the backgrounds are colorful abstract patterns in flat geometric shapes. Painted directly on the walls around them are more geometric patterns that appear to be coming out from behind the paintings. At first glance — until you notice the edges of the canvases — the entire wall appears to be one large mural painted on the walls. There is a fascinating contrast and blending of positive and negative shapes on and around the paintings.

As you entire the larger gallery space, you’ll see three large portrait heads to your right with chunks of wood, mirror and other materials glued onto the surface. The faces are almost featureless silhouettes, and the collaged materials interact with the shape of the faces in ways to make the spaces in between become positive abstract shapes. This is especially evident in the one with the chunk of mirror in the upper right corner.

Also in this larger room are a number of abstract paintings with zig-zag shapes and open spaces where the white of the wall bisects the paintings to create an interesting dance between inner and outer or positive and negative shapes.

There is one wall-size mural that differs from all the rest because instead of figures and faces it is filled with cartoon ghost figures in a jazzy dance of bright colors. All of the shapes in this one are rounded, in contrast to the more angular and geometric shapes in all the other paintings. It is a joyful, celebratory image.

johnson’s use of space and color is sensitive and strong. His colors are vibrant. His paint application tends toward crudity and sloppiness, but as indicated earlier, that looks to be intentional, as if he’s making the point that precise painting skill is not the point. His sloppiness is, in fact, a celebration of the naturalness and exuberance of painting, although in a few of the paintings he’s right on the edge of pushing the slap-dash quality right to the edge of bad painting.

I’m F.I.N.E, 1-5 p.m. Thursdays (until 9 p.m. Third Thursday), or by appointment, through Dec. 20, 950 Gallery, 950 Pacific Ave. Suite 205, Tacoma, 253.627.2175, www.spaceworkstacoma.com/gallery.

Tis the season

 Holiday shows around town

By Alec Clayton

Published in The News Tribune, Nov. 22, 2018

John Serembe as Scrooge and Zachary Clark at Tiny Tim in "Tiny Tim's Christmas Carol" at Olympia Family Theatre

Ready or not, the holidays are coming, and South Sound stages are promising quite a few live shows in celebration of the season.

Tacoma Musical Playhouse will do Irving Berlin’s classic “White Christmas” directed and choreographed by Harry Turpin. "’White Christmas’ is such a timeless classic,” Turpin says, “The challenge and opportunity is how to manage audience expectations with what they know and love while looking at the story with a fresh set of eyes. I think the audience will be pleased. This is such a wonderful, warm, cozy show, filled with energetic dance numbers, great songs, and of course, THE song – the one that melts our hearts every time. It's truly been a treat to work on this show.”

Turpin has worked on both local and national levels, with appearances and work seen at the 5^th Avenue Theatre, Village Theatre, Seattle Musical Theatre, Tacoma Musical Playhouse, and Reboot Theatre Company, where he currently serves as president of the board. As a performer, he has performed with the 30^th Anniversary cast of “Annie” (National Tour/Special Broadway engagement). He is the 2018 Gregory Award's People's Choice Winner for Outstanding Director, and Outstanding Musical for “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Lead actors in “White Christmas” include Josh Wingerter, Jake Atwood, Kaitlyn Terrill-Rose, Tasha Smith and Gary J. Chambers.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 16

WHERE: Musical Playhouse at The Narrows Theatre, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma

TICKETS: $22-$31

INFORMATION: (253) 565-6867, http://www.tmp.org

Lakewood Playhouse brings to life the most famous Christmas letter ever written in “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Clause.”

The true story: More than100 years ago 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun asking if there really was a Santa Claus, and the newspaper’s response became an instant classic.

This production will mark Lakewood Playhouse’s debut of director Aaron Mohs-Hale, who also serves as the theater’s technical director, and it features an all-star roster of local actors of all ages including: Tom Birkeland, Parker Dean, Christine Choate, Kyle Yoder, Audrey LaRoy, Ed Medina and many more.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23 to Dec. 16, Special Showings 8 p.m. Nov. 29 (pay what you can) and Dec. 6 (pay what you can actor’s benefit)

WHERE: Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood TICKETS: $20-$26

INFORMATION: (253) 588-0042, https://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org/ 

The ever-popular “Scrooge! The Musical” is Tacoma Little Theatre’s Christmas offering, directed by Micheal O'Hara, musically directed by Zachary Kellogg and choreographed by Eric Clausell. Get ready for ghosts and the well-known tear-jerking story and great music. For those who might not know the story by Charles Dickens – as if there can possibly be someone who doesn’t know it – the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of a Christmas Eve night, after being visited by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Andrew Fry plays Scrooge, TLT artistic director Chris Serface plays The Ghost of Christmas Present, Evie Merrill is Tiny Tim and Joseph Woodland is Jacob Marley.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 30 with added performances 2 p.m. Dec. 15 and 22 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 26-27

WHERE: Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 North I St. Tacoma

TICKETS: $22-$27

INFORMATION: (253) 272-2281, www.tacomalittletheatre.com

For the eleventh year running, Centerstage in Federal Way is doing a traditional English-style Panto for its Christmas show. Panto’s are fractured fairy tales with raucous rock and roll music, cross-dressing characters and lots of audience participation – all based on popular children’s stories. The characters and costumes appeal to children, as does the throwing of candy into the audience, while the puns and sexual inuendo appeal to adults. It’s the kind of thing everybody should see at least once, if not over and over. This year’s Panto is “Rapunzel.” Guaranteed to have audiences laughing out loud from start to finish.

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 30 to Dec. 23

WHERE: Centerstage at Knutzen Family Theatre, 3200 SW Dash Point Road, Federal Way

TICKETS: $29 adult, $25 senior and military, $15 student, $12 under age 17

INFORMATION: (253) 565-6867, http://www.centerstagetheatre.com/

 “Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol,” is Olympia Family Theater’s holiday offering. It is a child-friendly updating of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Tiny Tim (Zachary Clark) is now 15 years old and Scrooge (John Serembe) is still a greedy old bah humbug. When Scrooge refuses to give Tim’s father Christmas day off, Tim dreams up a spectacle involving pie sellers and booksellers and puppets and ghosts to scare the old curmudgeon back into the Christmas spirit.

“Who could pass up the opportunity to play Scrooge during the holidays,” Serembe said. “It’s been a joy to work with this cast and director and in this great theater. This is my fifth go-round at the role of Scrooge, but all have been in vastly different versions of the classic.”

Serembe moved to Olympia a few years back after working in film and television in Los Angeles. He was in popular television series including “Cheers” and “Scrubs” and has been in many shows with Harlequin Productions.

OFT founder and artistic director Jen Ryle said of this show, “There will be puppets and carol singing. It should be a festive holiday show, perfect for the whole family.”

WHEN 7:00p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. SaturdaySunday, Nov. 30- Dec. 23, one Thursday performance Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.

WHERE Olympia FamilyTheatre, 612 4th Ave. E, Olympia

HOW MUCH $15-$20

LEARN MORE (360) 570--1638 , https://olyft.org/

Easily one of the top three Christmas stories of all time is the eponymous “A Christmas Story” by the great Jean Shepherd. It’s the laugh-filled story of little Ralphie Parker, who more than anything wants a Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas. In a clever twist, Olympia Little Theatre offers this adaptation by Philip Grecian updated to the 1970s and presented as a live radio play.

“Hear amazing voices and watch as we create all the classic sound effects right in front of your eyes in the KOLT studio in the Holiday classic. Come see this fabulous twist on the beloved story of a boy, his family, his friends and, of course, the leg lamp,” said irector and OLT artistic director Kendra Malm.

WHEN 7:25 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 1:55 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 23, one Thursday performance Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.

WHERE Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave., NE, Olympia

HOW MUCH $11-$15, available at Yenney Music, 2703 Capital Mall Dr.,

LEARN MORE (360) 570-1638, http://olympialittletheater.org/

Traditionally Harlequin Productions does a musical review wrapped around the performers and workers at New York’s Stardust nightclub. The Stardust series started in 1993 and has delighted audiences almost every years sense, first with 1940s music and then moving up to the 1960s. This year they go back to the beginning with a new version of “The 1940s Radio Hour,” the show that started the series. A (fictional) live radio broadcast is taking place in the Hotel Astor’s Algonquin Room on December 21, 1942. With top songs of the day such as “Strike Up the Band” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” 

WHEN 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29-Dec. 31

WHERE Harlequin Productions in the State Theatre, 202 4^th Ave. E., Olympia

HOW MUCH $25-$49

LEARN MORE (360) 786.-151, http://www.harlequinproductions.org

In the Shadow of the Master

Alfredo Arreguin and Doug Johnson at Tacoma Community College

by Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 21

“El Joven Zapata” oil painting by Alfredo Arreguin, courtesy Tacoma Community College

Learning art by copying the masters is as old as art itself. Artists of the Italian Renaissance traditionally did it, and even today European artists continue to copy paintings in the Louvre. Peter Paul Rubens as a prime example, painted a version of Titian’s “Venus at the Mirror.” Both artists’ “Venus” hang in major museums; stylistically, they are almost indistinguishable, but one is a back view of Venus and the other is a front view, and in Rubens’ version there is a servant standing by who does not appear in Titian’s version. Thus it is with the many paintings of the same subjects and in similar styles by Alfredo Arreguin and Doug Johnson in the show at Tacoma Community College. 

Arreguin is an internationally recognized artist, born in Mexico and now living in Seattle. His paintings are in the collections of two Smithsonian museums: The National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery. Johnson is a multi-talented artist, a writer who learned to write by copying sentences from Raymond Carver’s stories, a musician who learned to compose symphonies by copying Beethoven, and a painter who learned by copying his hero, Arreguin. 

There are a few paintings and ink drawings by Johnson is this exhibition of works by the master and the student, and there are — to our delight — many more paintings by the master.

Arreguin’s paintings are dense, exciting and exotic. His color, especially his liberal use of deep midnight blue and shining ultramarine blue and velvety shades of purple, is indescribably lush. He paints portrait heads that are made up of floral patterns and letters in the background and in the faces, much in the manner in which Chuck Close creates realistic faces out of dots and circles. In the most elaborate of Arreguin’s paintings, figure and ground become almost indistinguishable as faces, figures, animals and flora weave in and out in peekaboo fashion on the canvas. The painting is precise, tight and controlled, a little too controlled in my estimation, which gives it a cold or calculated feel (but alleviated or at least balanced by the warm colors).

Many of the patterns that fill his canvases are made up of words in Spanish and English. Many of his paintings depict Mexican life, folklore and mythology, and many of them depict religious iconography.

“Family Portrait” presents an energetic swirl of plants, animals, human figures, masks, butterflies, parrots and monkeys — many of which are hidden in the dense imagery. Most striking, there is a large monkey with a man’s face perched on a tree limb and the artist’s name spelled out but hidden on the major figure’s forehead.

There are many portraits of famous people, including revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata and artist Frida Kahlo. “Frida and the Wolf” is a large portrait face almost completely hidden in the swirling patterns of trees, river, deer and wolf.

There’s also a quadruple portrait of Frida with versions by both Arreguin and Johnson.

Johnson paints with loose, brushy strokes with thin paint. No matter the media, they look like watercolor sketches. Many of them appear unfinished. His pen and ink drawings are tight and controlled. They employ stippled ink marks, as in “Portrait of Juan Rulfo,” a large portrait head in tiny dots and dashes with repeated smaller heads making up the background, which overlaps the edges of the larger face.

Much of the enjoyment of Arreguin’s paintings is in seeing what you can find in them — true also of Johnson’s art, but to a lesser degree. 

In the Shadow of the Master, noon to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, through Dec. 15, Tacoma Community College, Building 5A, entrance off South 12th Street between Pearl and Mildred, Tacoma, visitor parking in Lot G. 

Raven and the Box of Daylight

Preston Singletary at Museum of Glass

by Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 15, 2018

 “Wealth Eagle Rattle” blown glass, hot-sculpture and hand-carved glass, cedar bark, by Preston Singletary, photo courtesy Russell Johnson

Internationally renowned Native American glass artist Preston Singletary returns to Museum of Glass with Raven and the Box of Daylight. The exhibition narrates in glass art the Tlingit story of Raven and his transformation of the world, bringing light from the stars, the moon, and sun.

In addition to stunning artwork, the exhibition includes multi-media immersive storytelling in which the Tlingit story unfolds during the visitor’s experience. 

Like the best of Northwest Indian artists, Singletary’s work blends the traditional art of his tribal ancestors with the innovative methods and aesthetic principles born of contemporary art movements, in his case the Pacific Northwest glass art movement. He studied glass art with Seattle area artists Benjamin Moore and Dante Marioni, and he studied in Europe, where he learned the methods of Lino Tagliapietra and other European masters. His artworks feature themes of transformation, animal Spirits and shamanism with blown glass and sand-carved Tlingit designs.

Raven and the Box of Daylight is the Tlingit story of Raven and his transformation of the world—bringing light to people via the stars, moon, and sun. This story holds great significance for the Tlingit people. The exhibition features a dynamic combination of artwork, storytelling, and encounter, where the Tlingit story unfolds during the visitor’s experience. 

Tlingit objects were traditionally used to show wealth and tell stories by representing elements of the natural world, as well as the histories of individual families. By drawing upon this tradition, Singletary’s art creates a unique theatrical atmosphere in which the pieces follow and enhance the exhibition narrative. Art objects and exhibition text are supported by audio and video elements, including recordings by storytellers, music, recordings of Pacific Northwest coastal sounds, and a backdrop of shadows and projected images

Singletary’s blown-glass animal figures such as “White Raven,” are classical in their simplicity and elegance and include carved designs in the Tlingit tradition. His baskets and other containers combine simple textural contrasts and geometric designs. The human and animal figures on the title piece, “Raven and the Box of Daylight,” cast lead crystal and glass, are like totem figures only shorter and more compact. These works of art and the stories they illustrate should provide for a wonderfully enlightening visit to Museum of Glass.

Raven and the Box of Daylight, Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., through September 2, 2019, $5-$15, free to members, free Third Thursday, Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock St. Tacoma, (866) 468-7386 http://museumofglass.org.

Familiar Faces & New Voices

Surveying Northwest Art at Tacoma Art Museum

By Alec Clayton

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 8, 2018

“Minidoka No. 5 (442nd)” acrylic on canvas by Roger Shimomura, Tacoma Art Museum, gift of George and Kim Suyama, photo by Richard Nicol

The exhibition Familiar Faces & New Voices: Surveying Northwest Art has been on display since this past spring but has not received the fanfare of blockbuster shows like Art AIDS America or Hide/Seek or 2015’s Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition. But it is a solid and historically important show highlighting works by some of the Pacific Northwest’s best artists, as well as many little-known but worthy artists with more than 55 works from the museum's collection of PNW art from the 19th century until today. Included are works by Louis Crow, Morris Graves, Kamekichi Tokita, William Ivey, Jacob Lawrence and many more.

One of the earliest works in the show is Vincent Colyer’s oil painting “Home of the Yakimas.” This moody, hazy landscape offers a precious view of a Yakima Indian village on the banks of a river in 1875. The light is veiled and mysterious — a misty scene typical of the Northwest.

In Walter Isaacs’ 1936 “In the Paddock” we get a glimpse of the artist’s Cezanne influence prior to his more abstract modernist works associated with the famous Northwest School of painting made famous by Morris Graves, Guy Anderson and Mark Tobey. “In the Paddock” is a painting of horses depicted in flat planes of color.

From these early works, the show carries viewers to bold contemporary art such as Patti Warashima’s “Amazed,” a maze of human and animal figures in porcelain and Plexiglas. Nude female figures perch on shelves in a wall-size maze. Some seem to be falling, while others appear to be ascending or descending on ropes, and there are larger-than-human rats prowling through the maze. The obvious message is that modern humans are caught in a rat race in which there are no winners and from which there is no escape.

Among the more interesting contemporary works are Joseph Park’s “Chess,” a delightful painting of rabbits playing chess, painted in an almost photorealist manner but all in tones of brown, and Roger Shimomura’s “Minidoka No. 5 (442nd),” a Pop Art picture of a fierce warrior painted in a style reminiscent of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in tribute to the Japanese interred at the Minidoka relocation center in Idaho.

And fascinating to study is Sutton Beres Culler’s “Convenience Booth,” a telephone booth with everything a person could need in it, including a gum machine, first aid kit, a clock, and a condom and tampon vending machine.

"When we talk about art history we often reduce it to a few orderly lines, a few key figures, so that it's easier to get our arms around," say TAM Curator Margaret Bullock. "But in reality it's messy and changeable."

Expressing similar sentiments, Chief Curator Rock Hushka said, "Exhibitions such as this one share the multifaceted art history of the Northwest with our visitors and are key to TAM's work of studying and celebrating that artistic heritage."

 If there is any downside to this exhibition it is that it is too heavily weighted with 19^th century landscapes that look alike.

Notice: some works on view will change during the run of the show.

Familiar Faces & New Voices, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, $15 adults, $13 students and seniors, free for military and children 5 and younger, free Third Thursday from 5-8 p.m., Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, 253.272.4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org.

Birds of a Feather

 

Chris Maynard’s feather creations at Childhood’s End

By Alec Clayton

All photos by Chris Maynard, courtesy Childhood’s End Gallery

"Morning Crow 6" turkey and small parrot feather

Chris Maynard’s feather art at Childhood’s End begs the questions, how do you distinguish between art and craft, and when does cleverness become trickery? Bev Doolittle’s famous paintings of horses hidden in trees because the spots on their coats match the spots on trees in snow are clever gimmicks. But her oeuvre becomes a one-trick pony through repetition, and thus her painting’s value as art are lessened. Maurits Cornelis Escher employs similar tricks in his paintings of flocks of birds that morph into schools of fish and negative spaces that become positive and paintings of buildings with disorienting architecture, yet his work is generally considered greater art than Doolittle’s paintings. The difference might be hard to quantify. It has to do with the greater variety in Escher’s work and his larger vision.

"Swallow's World" turkey feather

'Pluck 2" argus pheasant feather

Maynard’s feather art has a lot in common with both Doolittle and Escher. He even blatantly borrows from Escher with repetitive images of birds becoming fish or stars and vice versus. But his vision is unique to him and conveys a deep love for the world of nature he depicts. And as in Escher’s work, there is a lot of variety in his imagery.

Maynard cuts images out of feathers and mounts them under glass. He cuts out the shapes of birds and fish and mounts them along with the feathers with the negative shapes he has cut out to create inventive worlds of his imagination — literally in the case of one piece called “Swallow’s World,” in which he created an entire world, including a globe made of turkey feathers.

In these pictures he employs many fine art elements such as unity created through repetition and a sophisticated interplay of positive and negative shapes.

In “Pluck 2,” an eagle hovers in attack more at the top of a feather, and as the eye travels down we see schools of fish. As in many of his pictures, the feather from which the pictures are made becomes a part of the picture.

Also on display are wire and metal sculptures of animals by Colleen Cotty. These are created by twisting wire into animal shapes and mounting them on driftwood and stone and other materials from nature. The most interesting one of these one called “The Becoming,” which is a mass of twisted and overlapping wire inside a shell form made from a bent sheet of brass. Only upon close inspection does it become clear that the tangled wire is in the form of a horse lying on its back with its legs in the air. It is most interesting when seen as a purely abstract shape playing off the contrasts between the brass shell and the twisted wire.

Also showing are pastel landscapes by Mary Denning.

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, through Nov. 11, Childhood’s End Gallery, 222 Fourth Ave. W, Olympia, 360.943.3724.