Four actors, 21 roles in Harlequin's gritty ‘Six Hotels'

Intense emotions, humorous moments mix

The News Tribune/The Olympian, May 14, 2010
Pictured at top: David Nail, Caitlin Frances and Helen Harvester
Large cast photo: Nail, Frances, Harvester and Brian Claudio Smith
photos by torstudios.com

The love affair between Harlequin Productions and Israel Horovitz continues with Harlequin’s production of the Horovitz suite of one-act plays, “Six Hotels.”

The six short plays with four actors in 21 parts are loosely connected only in that each play happens in a hotel, and that some of the same running jokes and references reverberate throughout. There are numerous jokes about actors working as waiters or bellboys, the best of which is the one about the waitress who says waitressing is her dream job but sometimes she has to act for money.

There is a lot of comedy – thoroughly contemporary, adult, biting comedy. But there also is harsh reality, politics, love, sentimentality and some of the grittiest realism since Brando in “Streetcar Named Desire.”

Even the comedy is gritty and harsh. These are not easy plays to sit though, but they are brilliantly written with realistic situations and dialogue, and played out with amazing skill by the four-person cast.

Two of the cast members, Brian Claudio Smith and David Nail, were in Horovitz’s “Sins of the Mother” last year at Harlequin and went on to reprise their roles under Horovitz’s direction in productions with Gloucester Stage Company (Nail) and Florida Stage (both). Their fellow actors are Caitlin Frances, who was outstanding in Carl Sagan’s “Contact” at Centerstage this year and has been seen in “Measure for Measure” and “The Last Night of Stardust” at Harlequin, and Helen Harvester, who mesmerized Harlequin audiences as the werewolf in “Mating Dance of the Werewolf.” Under the able direction of Scot Whitney the cast masters had the difficult task of transitioning from character to character – with differing accents and skill sets and attitudes.

The opening story, “Speaking of Tushy,” is about two ridiculous and pathetic drunken men who meet in a hotel bar and exchange stories of their failed love lives with a hilarious comic twist at the end. The rapid transitions between the bar scenes and bedroom scenes with their girlfriends are beautifully staged. Unfortunately, from my seat on the left, it was hard to see some of the action in the dim lighting. I couldn’t see the actors’ faces clearly and had a hard time hearing dialogue, which was directed obliquely to my seat.

The next story, “Lovers and Fiddleheads,” was a similarly absurd comedy of love, woe and betrayal but with sweet undertones.

Then came the blockbuster drama, a 180-degree turn to a tense political drama about four American students trapped in a Beirut hotel awaiting evacuation during the bombing of Beirut. One of the students is a New York Jew (Smith) and the other is an American-born Palestinian (Frances) whose parents were killed by Israelis. As they start to express hatred for each other’s heritage, their clash becomes as intensely emotional as anything I’ve ever seen on stage. The night I was there, four audience members walked out at this point, offended by the harsh language or the raw political rage or both. They had sat through numerous uses of the same offensive words in the earlier scenes, but combined with the raw emotionalism, this scene was apparently too much for some to handle. You have been forewarned, and you should know this is incredibly powerful and amazing theater.

After a much-needed 20-minute intermission, they start back with the lightest play of the six, “The Audition Play,” in which Frances tap dances and speaks to an unseen director out in the audience. This is followed by “The Hotel Play” in which Harvester plays a woman jilted by her lover and tempted by the bellboy (Smith), and “2nd Violin” with the women playing musicians getting ready for a performance.

If you like cutting-edge drama and contemporary adult humor, don’t miss “Six Hotels.”

When: Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through May 29, pay what you can May 15 at 3 p.m.
Where: State Theater, 202 E. 4th Ave., Olympia
Tickets: $22-$33
Information: 360-786-0151; www.harlequin productions.org

Nice "Flow"

Andrea Erickson and Maureen McHugh at mineral

Published in the Weekly Volcano, May 12, 2010


The show is called Flow, and the drawings by Andrea Erickson and Maureen McHugh at mineral do present a nice flow of contrasting and blending styles. Their art is billed as calligraphic, which is highly descriptive of Erickson's sumi paintings, but McHugh's abstractions in ink are not so much calligraphic as they are evocations of Mark Toby's "white paintings" - only the marks are not white, they are black.

Classically trained as a sumi painter, Erickson is showing a group of ink drawings on rice paper, many of which look like brush-drawn Asian letters. They combine the elegance and simplicity of traditional Asian brushwork with the stark power of a Franz Kline abstraction. In her more traditional and calligraphic pieces it looks like she has loaded her brush with ink and drawn the character with a single, smoothly flowing line that goes from fully loaded (wet and black) to dry and empty. Looking at these works you can almost feel the act of painting and picture it as it might be seen in an animated film.

The one piece that does not fit is a black and white painting with ink and - strange as it may seem - milk, which shows a group of figures in various tones of gray, black and white floating over a field of loosely brushed gray marks. The floating figures look like writing but also like human or animal figures. This painting is interesting but lacks the impact and clarity of her other works.

McHugh, co-owner of Mad Hat Tea Company, is showing a group of ink drawings that employ the trope of grouping and overlapping freely drawn geometric forms such as squares, triangles and circles to form overall fields or to create other geometric forms. She cleverly uses this device of grouping forms in a pattern to create other forms in a group of three small drawings called "Ceci Nest Pas Un ..." (triangle, square or circle). The title is based on the famous painting by René Magritte, "Ceci N'est Pas Une Pipe." In one, a group of triangles creates a larger triangle, next a group of squares, and then circles.

In a radical departure but with a similarity of drawing style, McHugh is also showing a comical drawing of an octopus with a page full of words underneath. It's a list of things found (possibly underwater?) including such weird objects as K-Y Jelly, seven plastic green army men, brass knuckles and a broken drummer boy. The list ends with an adjective, indicating it was arbitrarily cut off.

Also showing at mineral, as usual, is jewelry by owner Lisa Kinoshita.
Flow

Through June 1, noon-5 p.m.,Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (hours may vary, so call first)
mineral, 301 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma
253.250.7745, www.lisakinoshita.com

Intergalactic cheese, anyone?

“The Brain from Planet X”
Pictured (top) The cast of “The Brain from Planet X”
middle, left to right: Yoni (Lauren O'Neill), the brain (Matt Flores) and Zubrick (Paul Purvine)
bottom: Fred (Dave Beacham), Joyce (Heather Christopher) and Professor Leder (Russ Holm)
Photos by David Nowitz

Theatre Artists Olympia continues its tradition of outlandish spring musicals (remember “Vampire Lesbians from Sodom” and “Cannibal the Musical”?) with “The Brain from Planet X.” Written by Bruce Kimmel and David Wechter, directed and musically directed by Josh Anderson, “Brain” is a spoof of cheesy 1950s sci-fi thrillers. If it wasn’t written by Kimmel and Wechter and produced by TAO, you might think it was written and directed by Mel Brooks and performed by the cast of “Saturday Night Live.”
This may not be everybody’s bottle of beer, but if you like this sort of thing in general, this one is fabulous, from the cheap sets (the whole of which cost $46.35, or was it $43.35? I can’t remember, but if you donate that much you can become a TAO set sponsor) to the creepy music with Anderson on piano, Christina Collins on the Theremin, Nick Van Kirk on bass and Heather Matthews on drums.

Heather Christopher is terrific as the Stepford wife, Joyce, who is transformed by an alien will-bender ray from being the slave of her husband, Fred (Dave Beacham) to being the slave of “The Brain” (Matt Flores). Christopher has great big eyes that she uses to great advantage in this role, and she masters a deep metallic robotic voice and sings with authority. Joyce and Fred’s precocious, sex-starved daughter, Donna, is played with high-voltage energy by a diminutive Amy Shepard, who leaps on her beatnik boyfriend (Harrison Fry) like a horny jackrabbit.

Speaking of horny, there’s little interest in sex on Planet X, they’re too advanced for that, but on earth the alien woman Yoni (Lauren O’Neill) becomes insatiable. O’Neill, who was hilarious in a similar role in “Poona the Fuck Dog,” plays Yoni in a style reminiscent of the great Carol Burnett. And she has a lovely voice.

Flores is ideal as the leader of the alien invaders with a mincing walk and big pink brain on his head.

Russ Holm, who has built a reputation for himself playing outlandish characters, most often at Harlequin Productions, is indescribably funny as the mad scientist Professor Leder. His voice keeps trailing off into an amazing kind of wheeze that is breathtaking, and his timing is impeccable.

Paul Purvine sings and dances maniacally as the alien Zubrick.

Paul Parker plays General Mills as a kind of cross between Napoleon and George C. Scott as General Patton. The play on his lack of stature offset by his tall and sexy aide, Louise Morgan as Private Partz is a running joke that could have been used more. When they first appear on stage he stands on a box to make himself taller than her, and when they walk together she squats. After the first time she drops the squat; I think she should have kept it up.

Musical highlights include Joyce and Fred singing “Here on Earth,” in which they rhapsodize about how wonderful life is in the suburbs and the big tap dance number “The Brain Tap” with Zubrick, Yoni and the ensemble.

Another scene that deserves special attention is the beach scene with two muscle man in well stuffed gold lame shorts. They are Rob Taylor, who doubles as the narrator, and Tyler Quinn Stewart, who has never before been on stage (hard to believe). I hope we will see him in other productions.

“The Brain from Planet X” is scheduled for a final performance on Saturday, May 15, but it is rumored that it might be extended beyond that.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday through May 15
WHERE: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Black Box, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
INFORMATION: 360-943-2744

Tough to beat Wilde's wit

Published in The News Tribune, May 7, 2010
Photo COURTESY OF PARADISE THEATRE
The cast of “The Importance of Being Earnest” dress the part for this period piece.

I’ve seen Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” several times, and the performance at Paradise Theatre is as good as any. It’s thoroughly delightful. Beginning with the first droll dialogue between the conniving Jack Worthing (Nathaniel Jones) and arrogant, self-indulgent Oscar Wilde avatar Algernon Moncrieff (Luke Sayler) I was captivated. And then the lovely Gwendolen Fairfax (Shannon Burch) made her first appearance with a smile like fireworks, and I was utterly charmed.

I might add at this point that I am not easily enraptured by period pieces. Hoity-toity people and upper crust British accents tend to be off-putting. In this instance, the actors seem perfectly natural and comfortable in the skins of their characters – the only exceptions being Donna Long as Lady Bracknell and Duane Petersen as Jack’s butler, Merrimen, both of whom seemed to strain to convey the called-for touch of pomposity.

The sets and lighting by Jeff Richards, costumes by Vicki Richards and direction by Mike Wilkinson are outstanding.

The set consists of appropriate period furniture in front of simple flats backed by a black curtain. The flats are stark white with subtle designs that from my seat in the front row seemed to be curlicues or flowers. Two of them had sensuously curved edges.

Strangely, they evoked images of Stonehenge, but they proved practical if not downright ingenious in quickly changing the set to a garden and a drawing room in acts two and three.

Vicki Richard’s costumes were lush and rich-looking. The women’s dresses are beautiful, and some of Jack’s outfits are outlandishly silly looking. If he is supposed to be a fop with bad taste, his clothes certainly fit the bill.

One of the world’s best comic writers, Wilde fills this play with witty dialogue and improbable situations. No woman would fall in love with a man solely because his name is Earnest, yet not one but two women do so in this play.

And it is highly unlikely that a young woman would create and believe in a fantasy engagement to a man she has only heard about, yet here it happens, and Wilde’s wit makes the audience want to believe such improbabilities.

The principal female characters, Gwendolen and Cecily Cardew are among the most lovable women characters in all literature – though they are certainly also quite silly. Burch as Gwendolen and Julia Sinnott as Cecily bring awesome talent to bear in playing these women.

When they mistakenly think of one another as rivals, their thinly veiled animosity is like static electricity hidden by a scrim of proper gentility. Both are wonderfully expressive, as are Jones and Sayler as Jack and Algernon. Jones paints Jack with a broad brush (his fake grief in mourning clothes more like a ridiculously exaggerated pout, but otherwise spot-on depiction of an absurd character), while Sayler almost underplays the droll Algernon. These four major characters are wonderfully cast.

Two other actors who shine in smaller parts are Kristen Hulscher as Miss Prism and Peter Knickerbocker as Lane. Rounding out the cast are Long, who does a commendable job as the snotty Lady Bracknell, despite flubbing a few lines, and Jon Elston, who is believable but not very engaging as Reverend Chasuble.

This is the last weekend to see “The Importance of Being Earnest.” For intelligent, lighthearted family entertainment it’s hard to beat.


When: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Paradise Theatre, 9911 Burnham Drive N.W., Gig Harbor
Tickets: $20-$22 adults, $17-$19 seniors and military, $10-$12 students
Information: 253-851-PLAY, www.paradisetheatre.org

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/07/1177504/tough-to-beat-wildes-wit.html#ixzz0nFz7R0uu

Mecca Normal

Political artists from Vancouver at Northern

Published in the Weekly Volcano, May 5, 2010

Pictured: THE LYNCHING OF WESLEY EVEREST: An acrylic painting by David Lester

Guitarist David Lester and singer Jean Smith are the underground musical duo Mecca Normal. They are also visual artists, and they have curated and are featured in a month-long exhibition at the all-ages club Northern in Olympia. The show is called The Black Dot Museum: Political Artists from Vancouver, and though I have yet to see the exhibit (something came up this weekend, and I didn't want to put this column off a week) - it seems pretty awesome.

In addition to Lester and Smith, the show features works from Gord Hill and Brian Roche. The Black Dot Museum functions online with touring exhibits focused on political art and music.

Lester authored the graphic novel The Listener, and he is a painter of historical subjects specializing in picturing events and people most historians (except for the great Howard Zinn) ignore. I watched a video of Lester talking about his painting "The Lynching of Wesley Everest," which depicts the 1919 lynching of an Industrial Workers of the World union member in Centralia. Everest was dragged from his cell and lynched on the bridge over the Chehalis River. No one was charged with the murder. In the video Lester talks about why he chose not to show the hanging but rather to picture the murderers looking over the edge of a bridge to survey their handiwork after they lynched Everest. We see the rope, not the body, and we get a peek into the souls of the murders.

Lester said his work has more to do with subject matter than style, but I see in this a style very much like that of the American Scene painters of the 1930s and '40s, particularly Walt Kuhn.

Smith is a novelist, lyricist, singer and painter. Her series of self-portraits from age 13 has been included in several Ladyfest art exhibits. I was intrigued with her painting "Discovering Utopia #3," a fantasy vision of floating cones or hills in the sky with, on the ground beneath and stretching as if to reach Utopia, the crippled Christina from the famous Andrew Wyeth painting "Christina's World." On the Black Dot Museum Facebook page she says she was surprised to discover that Wyeth's painting was much "looser" when seen in the original than it appears in reproduction. Likewise, Smith's paintings may appear much different in person than on a computer screen, which is why you should see this show and not just settle for seeing the images online.

Gord, a writer, political activist, and co-director of the American Indian Movement of Colorado, is the author and illustrator of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, a graphic portrayal of Indigenous resistance to the European colonization of the Americas.

Roche is a painter of a kind of odd genre of Pop Art combining historical figures with cartoon images and other icons of popular culture such as (seen in a number of his paintings) sections from Picasso's "Guernica." Stylistically he reminds me a lot of David Salle, who I used to hate but have come to appreciate. I perused a gallery of Roche's paintings and was intrigued enough to want to see more, meaning I definitely intend to get down to Northern and see this show, and I think you should too.

[Northern, The Black Dot Museum: Political Artists from Vancouver, through May 28, most Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays, 2-4 p.m. or by appointment, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]

The title delimma

I'm looking for help, suggestions, brilliant ideas. Since about September of last year I've been working on a new novel, and I can't decide on a title. Here are some I've tried:

The Neighborhood
Wolf, He Cried
Miss Martin and the Polyamorous Libertine
Slugger Martin and the Polyamorous Libertine
Killing the Queens
The Greatest Drag Queen in the World
The World's Greatest Drag Queen
Look What They Grew Up to Be

Here's what the book is about:
Fifty years ago Alex Martin was a tomboy. The other kids called her Slugger. Now she's a handsome, intelligent woman.
Jim Bright was voted Most Handsome and Most Likely to Succeed in high school. After college he became a locally famous drag queen. He's also notorious for spinning tall tales, thus the title "Wolf, He Cried."
Fifty years after high school they meet in Barney's Pub and renew their friendship. Barney's is where a famous riot took place in 1970 and where Jim used to perform in drag. Now somebody is killing off all the old queens who were there the night of the riot.

‘Drum Song' tapers off after a strong start

Published in The News Tribune, April 30, 2010
Pictured:(top) ensemble cast of "Flower Drum Song" (bottom)April Villanueva as We Mei-Li and John Olson III as Wang Ta, photos by Kat Dollarhide.

I enjoyed Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse. It’s not a great performance but it has great moments.

The opening musical number, “A Hundred Million Miracles,” sung by April Villanueva with highly stylized backup singing and dancing by the ensemble cast, is breathtaking. It is done with a simple and dramatic set, lighting and abstract imagery.

Jeffrey Stvrtecky’s large orchestra sounds more full than I’ve ever heard them. If the entire play was as good as this opening number it would be marvelous beyond description. But it’s not. It gets silly and predictable, but it is still highly entertaining.

“Flower Drum Song” has proven to be one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s more controversial musicals. It opened to great success in 1958 but soon fell out of favor because of stereotypical racist depictions of the Chinese characters.

The book was rewritten by David Henry Hwang (author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama “The Dance and the Railroad” and the popular musical “Madame Butterfly”) for a 2002 revival that played to mixed reviews. Hwang restored some of the darker elements from the original novel that had been taken out, updated it to get rid of the outdated racial stereotypes and threw in a lot of topical humor.

This musical is seldom produced because it calls for a large orchestra playing difficult music and an all-Asian cast. We’re fortunate that TMP was able to answer both challenges.

Villanueva stars as the beautiful Wu Mei-Li, a new immigrant from China who struggles to fit into the Chinese-American society in San Francisco’s Chinatown. TMP audiences are familiar with Villanueva, whose clear voice stood out in “Footloose,” “Miss Saigon” and “South Pacific.” She is at her best in this production. Joining her on stage are her father, Robert Villanueva, as Uncle Chin in his very first show, and her sister Alexa (ensemble) in her first main-stage production at TMP (she starred as Eponine in the TMP Camp Youth production of “Les Misérables”). Robert Villanueva is outstanding both as an actor and a singer, and I hope to see more of him.

The other leading lady is Karina Choe as the vivacious stripper Linda Low. She has a powerful voice and is a great dancer. The “striptease” is highly stylized and done in good taste, but is rather bland. There is nothing licentious about it.

John Olson III as the romantic lead Wang Ta holds his own on stage with these two dynamic leading ladies who dominate every scene they’re in. Olson’s stage presence is strong, and he is convincing as the son torn between love and shame for his father, between respect for tradition and infatuation with the new American way, not to mention his love for both Mei-Li and Linda Low. My only disappointment is that his voice sounds strained on some of the songs.

Comic relief is provided by Jessilyn Dumapias Carver as Madame Rita Liang and James Fesalbon as Harvard. Carver struts with loads of attitude, and is thoroughly delightful. Not so Fesalbon, who plays Harvard as an overdone fey stereotype.

The sets by Jon Douglas Rake, who also directs and choreographs this production, are beautiful. So is the lighting by John Chenault and the costumes by Joan Schlegel. Many of the costumes are authentic Chinese articles and others are a colorful combination of traditional Chinese and 1950s American.

Rake comments in the program that the choreography was challenging because it combines authentic Chinese opera movement with 1960s-style jazz steps. I found the choreography to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of this show.

alec@alecclayton.com ‘Flower Drum Song’

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through May 9

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

Tickets: Adults $25, students/military $23, children 12 and younger $18

Information: 253-565-6867, tmp.org

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/04/30/1168618/drum-song-tapers-off-after-a-strong.html#ixzz0mb8M4UYo