Jim plays Jim

For some reason I envision Jim Patrick as a British actor. Why is that? I don't know. Something about his carriage and demeanor. He is dignified no matter what role he's playing, and I've seen him in a number of roles, most recently in "Carl Sagan's Contact" at Centerstage in Federal Way and most memorably in "Amadeus" at Lakewood Playhouse and doing a silly running joke of a song in "Broadway's Fabulous Fifties" at Tacoma Little Theatre.

I've noticed that in programs he is usually listed as James Thomas Patrick, a moniker that seems to fit his dignified looks, but I like him as plain Jim -- especially as Jim Bright, the hero of my novel, Reunion at the Wetside. Jim Bright is one of the more complex characters I've ever written. He's a liar and something of a nasty jokester, and his politics are diametrically opposed to everything I believe in; yet there's something inherently likeable about him -- so likeable, in fact, that the smartest and most decent woman in the book falls in love with him.

In the one reading we've already done Jim played that Jim beautifully. I think he even looks the part, (voted most handsome in high school many years ago). While looking the part is not necessary in a staged reading, it doesn't hurt.

I invite you to come see Jim Patrick and the rest of the fine cast interpret selections from my book.

Also featuring Jennie Jenks, Chris Cantrell and Dennis Rolly.

And by-the-way, Jim is not British. He's from San Francisco.

March 21 at 7 p.m.
Comic Books Ink
Lakewood Cinema Complex
2510 S. 84th
Suites 15A-B
Lakewood, WA

A Q&A and book signing will follow the reading.
More information on the book including reviews and an excerpt for you reading pleasure at  http://www.claytonworkspublishing.com/Reunion.html

Dennis Rolly plays "the author"

I’ve been a Dennis Rolly fan since I first saw him perform with the Washington Shakespeare Festival back in the early 1990s. He seems to specialize (to be typecast) in playing some of the more quirky roles in Shakespeare plays as well as in contemporary dramas and comedies – meaning that for a guy who is often typecast he is pretty damn versatile. His range and passion as an actor is amazing.

Dennis is well known in the Olympia area for his many performances with Harlequin Productions, but some of his more exciting roles in recent years have been in lesser known productions – as the immortal Leporello  in the hilarious comedy “Don Juan in Chicago” at the Midnight Sun performance space and as Marley in “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” at Olympia Little Theatre.

Now he takes on a more sedate role as “the author” in the reading from my novel Reunion at the Wetside. When casting for the reading, Dennis was my first choice for the author, and I was overjoyed that he accepted my invitation. Essentially he’s the narrator, a story teller; i.e., he’s playing me, the author of the book. He provides the exposition that sets up the dialogue -- a necessary evil because Reunion at the Wetside was written as a novel and not a play. In lesser hands his part could be boring, but in our one and only rehearsal and in our recent reading at Orca Books, Dennis’s narration was the spark of life to the story.

Please come to Comic Book Ink in Lakewood on March 21 to hear Dennis and a fine cast of actors in this brief reading.

March 21 at 7 p.m.
Comic Books Ink
Lakewood Cinema Complex
2510 S. 84th
Suites 15A-B
Lakewood, WA

A Q&A and book signing will follow the reading.

Meet Alex Martin

Jennie Jenks is wonderful in the part of Alex Martin in the reading of Reunion at the Wetside.

Alex is an old hippie who has fond memories of the sixties and of Jim Bright – Mister Everything in high school and the kid she had a crush on.  Tall, beautiful, and wise, but not very sure of herself, she doesn’t know how to act when she runs into Jim some 40 years after she last saw him. In a gay bar, no less.

Jennie is neither old enough nor tall enough to play the part of Alex. But she does have the dashing good looks and the charm. South Sound theater goers will remember her from her recent performance as Sheree in “The Dixie Swimclub” at Olympia Little Theatre.

Come to Comic Books Ink in Lakewood, Washington to hear Jennie read the part of Alex Martin in a staged reading of from my novel, Reunion at the Wetside. Also taking part are Dennis Rolly as “the author,” Jim Patrick as Jim Bright and Chris Cantrell as the mysterious crime reporter Harry Drews.

March 21 at 7 p.m.

Comic Books Ink

Lakewood Cinema Complex
2510 S. 84th
Suites 15A-B
Lakewood, WA

A Q&A and book signing will follow the reading.

Java Tacoma Episode 37

It’s always a pleasure to welcome a new theatrical company to town. The latest in Tacoma is Dukesbay Productions, and their maiden voyage is a live sit-com set in Tacoma. It’s called “Java Tacoma: Episode 37 Ashes to Ashes, Cup to Cup.”

Were there really episodes one through36? I doubt it, but what do I know? Maybe the first 36 episodes took place in another realm. But why, then, did their press release call it the first installment of a comedy series? Sly folks, these Dukesbay folks.

Now playing at The Trinity Fellowship Hall, 1619 6th Ave. Tacoma, “Ashes to Ashes” is all about Tacoma folks, and it takes place not in a traditional theatrical setting, but in a coffee shop setting. Small tables and chairs are arranged to suggest a coffee shop, with audience members seated, coffee and pastries in hand, to watch an original comedy series that’s all about their hometown. I’m told that one of the characters is a reporter for The News Tribune. I wonder what other thinly-disguised locals may appear.

“Ashes to Ashes” was written by Federal Way playwright Curtis B. Swanson. “Java Tacoma” is the continuing tale of three best friends who meet daily for hot coffee and even hotter gossip. The series is recommended for ages 13 and up, due to language and mature content.

“Java Tacoma: Episode 37” continues Friday and Saturday, March 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15/person, which includes an assortment of coffee and tea, and locally-prepared pastries by Corina Bakery in Tacoma.

Reservations can be made by phone: (253) 267-0869 or email: info@dukesbay.org

About Dukesbay Productions
Dukesbay Productions is a brand-new company founded by Tacoma theatre artists Randy Clark and Aya Hashiguchi Clark.  Their mission is to showcase the works of local playwrights and theatre artists of all ethnicities.  Java Tacoma: Episode 37 is directed by Randy Clark and features the talents of Mick Flaaen, Joseph Grant, Aya Hashiguchi, Betzy Miller and Laurie Sifford.

Pictured, L-R:  Betzy Miller, Aya Hashiguchi and Laurie Sifford. Photo by Jason Ganwich

My Name is Asher Lev

DEAN LAPIN/COURTESY OF LAKEWOOD PLAYHOUSE
From left, Leslie Foley (violinist/composer), Elliot Weiner, Jeffrey Alan Smith and Paige Hansen star in “My Name is Asher Lev” at Lakewood Playhouse.

This has been the best theater season since I began writing this column seven years ago.

I’ve seen one great play after another this year. The latest is “My Name is Asher Lev” by Aaron Posner, adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok, directed by Marcus Walker and starring Paige Hansen, Jeffrey Alan Smith and Elliot Weiner.

This is a powerful, emotionally draining and ultimately satisfying play. If there is anything to fault, it is that it sometimes verges on being overly melodramatic.

That’s fitting because the characters in this play are passionate people struggling with conflicts involving deeply held beliefs and traditions. Wrenching emotional conflicts are believable.

Asher Lev is a Hasidic Jew and an artist. His talent is a gift, acknowledged as such by all, but even he wonders: Is it a gift from Ribbono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe) or from the Sitra Achra (the Other Side)?

The play is a single act with no set changes. The beautiful thrust stage designed by Henry Loughman has a few pieces of dark wood furniture on a beautiful wood floor with a wall of backlit floor-to-ceiling windows as a backdrop. Violinist Leslie Foley sits in the background and plays lovely and stylistically appropriate music during the performance – music she composed for this show.

The unchanging set serves as the home of Asher and his parents, as the Rebbe’s office and as an art gallery. Lighting effects designed by Mark Thomason indicate changes of scene and time. Dispensing with scene changes allows the story to flow smoothly throughout Asher Lev’s life, from the time he is 6 until his maturity.

Smith plays the part of Asher. He tells the story in the first person. The writer’s decision to use first-person narration allows for a long novel to be condensed into an hour-and-a-half play. Smith is a newcomer to Washington stages. He comes from Minnesota, where he graduated from Minnesota State University in Mankato. Through tone of voice and expression, he compellingly plays the conflicted and loving son and artist at different ages.

Hansen and Weiner rise to the challenge of playing many characters using only simple costume changes and variations in voice and manner. Hansen plays Asher’s mother, a gallery owner and an artist’s model. Weiner is all of the other male characters including Asher’s father, the Rebbe, and the eccentric and autocratic artist Jacob Khan, who is Asher’s mentor.

The character changes are clear: Asher’s mother and the gallery owner look nothing alike, even though the only physical change is a wig, and when Weiner enters in the guise of the Rebbe, his voice and walk are so different that we immediately know we are looking at someone else. Weiner expresses violent emotion with a modicum of restraint. Hansen shows controlled intensity in conveying the inner conflicts of a mother trying to mediate between her husband and son.

Very seldom do we see timing, lighting, acting and music come together so well to create another world. There is an otherworldly feel to this play as if it’s far away and a long time ago, but it is set in America within the lifetime of many of us. It’s a world and a way of being that is both universal and specific. Kudos to director Marcus Walker, the actors and to everyone who worked to bring Asher Lev to Lakewood’s lucky South Sound audiences.

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 20
Where: Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood
Tickets: $27.50, $24.50 seniors and military, $21.50 students younger than 25
Information: 253-588- 0042, www.lakewood playhouse.org

American Chronicles

Norman Rockwell at Tacoma Art Museum

The Weekly Volcano, March 2, 2011

"The Problem We All Live With": Oil on canvas by Norman Rockwell, 1963 - an Illustration for Look, Jan. 14, 1964. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum

2
Tacoma Art Museum is the only Northwest stop for American Chronicles, an exhibition of the works of American icon Norman Rockwell.

For almost as long as I have been alive, Rockwell has been idolized by most of the American public while being ridiculed by most art critics. I can easily see why on both counts. When I was a kid I wanted to be Norman Rockwell. I even signed up for the Famous Artists correspondence school because he was one of the artist-teachers. By the time I was an art major in college I had come to think of him as a joke. After that I dismissed him completely as not worth bothering with. But I have to admit that I was surprised by the beauty and power of a few of the paintings in this show - only a few, but those few knocked me out.

If Rockwell had spent his career making serious paintings instead of working at being America's most popular illustrator he could have been great.

A few of the paintings in this show are absolutely stunning. In many of his paintings the paint is thickly layered using the technique of over-glazing to create rich surfaces with an inner glow. The colors in "Christmas Eve in Bethlehem," which depicts tourists lining up to see the supposed birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, are ablaze due to the contrasts of the brilliant yellow surfaces of buildings against a deep cerulean blue night sky with foreground figures dramatically backlit.

"Murder in Mississippi," illustrating the infamous murder of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss., is a dull monotone that looks like a weathered newspaper clipping. It is accompanied in this exhibition by a number of preliminary studies illustrating Rockwell's working technique.

The texture on the stone wall that serves as background to the little girl in "The Problem We All Live With" is amazingly realistic. You feel like you can reach out and feel the stone. This image depicts a little black girl being guarded by U.S. Marshalls as she enters a previously segregated school.

These paintings show Rockwell's amazing talent - his dramatic flare, the translucent light in his paintings and the amazing attention to detail, little of which is apparent in reproduction. These paintings and a few others are comparable to the very best of Renaissance paintings. Everything else in this show confirms my contention that he was just an illustrator who capitalized on flash and easy sentiment.

Rockwell didn't consider himself a painter. He was an illustrator. In purely visual terms, illustration falls short of art because the visual elements - line quality, color, composition, harmony, etc. - are sacrificed on the alter of storytelling; this is painfully evident in nearly every one of the 323 original Saturday Evening Post magazine covers in this show. Some of them are cute, some touch the heart, but most are overly simplistic glorifications of small town America, family values, religion and patriotism. Only those few paintings about the civil rights struggles in the South acknowledge that there might be a dark undertone to some of those vaunted American values.

I may not like his sentimentality and corny humor, but this exhibition has shown me that the man could really paint.

Through May 30, Wednesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
third Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
admission $8–$9, children free, Third Thursdays free
Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.272.4258

The greatest artists in the world

Every day the Weekly Volcano's blog Spew posts bunches of new articles including my weekly ramblings. I haven't been posting my articles for Spew on this blog, but -- slow thinker that I am -- it finally dawned on me that I shold at least post links to them.

On Feb. 22 They published the first of a two-part article under the heading "Lunchtime Thinker" in which I talked about which artists I consider among the greatest in the world, knowing, of course, that I could never do justice to such a grandiose topic in the few words allowed. Anyway, you can read it at here.

Part two in the series was published here on March 1. You'll have to scroll down a bit to read it.

Pictured: The Venus of Willendorf / photo courtesy of multi-license with GFDL and Creative Commons CC-BY 2.5