‘Psychopathia’ really just a delightfully witty jaunt

Published in The News Tribune, August 29, 2008
pictured, top: Russ Holm and Brandon Petty; bottom: Anne Kennedy. Photos by Tor Clausen

Psychopathia Sexualis” has to be one of the most misleading titles ever. Borrowed from the book “Psychopathies of Sexuality” by Richard von Krafft-Ebing, the title implies a dark and brooding look into sexual perversion. But this play is a witty, urbane comedy written by John Patrick Shanley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Doubt” and screenwriter of the hit comedic films “Moonstruck” and “Joe Versus the Volcano.”

It is now playing at Harlequin Productions’ State Theater in Olympia.

It is a short play and fast moving. With snappy dialogue and minimal set changes, it is over so quickly that it almost feels like a television sitcom – but it’s more intelligent than most sitcoms.

Arthur (Ricky Coates) is a painter. He is engaged to Lucille (Anne Kennedy), a sexy, John Wayne-worshipping Texas cowgirl who reminds me so much of Marilyn Monroe in “Bus Stop,” although she doesn’t ooze quite so much innocent sexuality as Monroe. And when she does flaunt her sexiness, it is with much more contemporary self-awareness.

As the wedding date approaches, Arthur becomes panic stricken because of his one big sexual flaw: He can’t make love unless he has his father’s argyle socks within reach, and his psychiatrist, Dr. Block (Russ Holm) has stolen his socks – all of which Arthur tells his best friend, Howard (Brandon Petty), who immediately blabs it to his wife, Ellie (Casi Wilkerson), who in turn “innocently” lets it slip to Lucille.

The play is tightly constructed with a series of mostly two-person face-offs – first Howard and Ellie at home, then Howard and Arthur (when Arthur confesses his fetish), then showdowns between Howard and Dr. Block, and then between Lucille and Dr. Block.

The cast is excellent. Coates, Petty and Wilkerson are all skilled professional actors who bring their characters to life, although I thought Petty would have been better if he had toned his acting down just a little. The brightest sparks in this modest little comedy, however, come from Holm and Kennedy.

Holm is well known to Harlequin regulars. Going back at least to 1995 and Harlequin’s first production of “The Rocky Horror Show,” in which he played Riff Raff (a role he reprised this year), Holm has been a favorite actor in more than a dozen Harlequin productions. He pulls out all the stops in this performance, painting Dr. Block as the most demented psychiatrist imaginable, a kind of hybrid between Hannibal Lecter and Sigmund Freud.

His gestures and timing are spot-on, pushing right up to the edge of playing the evil doctor as a stereotypical, mustache-twisting evil villain, but never quite stepping over that line.

This is Kennedy’s first outing with Harlequin, but she’s no stranger to Puget Sound-area theater, having performed at Taproot, Seattle Rep, Centerstage and others. She is charming and vivacious. She first appears onstage sitting at a desk with her feet propped up, wearing a white wedding dress and red cowgirl boots while looking worshipfully at a portrait of John Wayne. She puts on a believable Southern drawl, and you know from the moment she opens her mouth that she is smarter and more self-possessed than her cowgirl demeanor would imply – like a savvy modern woman hiding inside Annie Oakley. The confrontation between Lucille and Dr. Block in which she melts his evil heart is the most delightful scene in the play.

First-time Harlequin director Marianne Savell does a great job with this one, as does scenic designer Jill Carter. Carter’s set is a New York apartment, which doubles as a psychiatrist’s office. The walls are painted a warm green and decorated with a kind of modern-day hieroglyphics comprised of symbols and psychological terms. I particularly liked the doors and windows, which get larger at the top as if seen from a worm’s-eye view.

The crowd opening night was rather sparse. I suspect that was because nobody knew what to expect. If more people find out that this is a witty and intelligent romantic comedy and not the dark play about sexual perversion suggested by the title, they should be able to fill the seats.


WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 23
WHERE: State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
TICKETS: $24-$33, rush tickets $12-$15 half-hour before curtain
INFORMATION: 360-786-0151; www.harlequinproductions.org

Mindy Barker impresses at Fulcrum Gallery

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Aug 28, 2008
installation photos courtesy Fulcrum Gallery

Mindy Barker’s Slice at Fulcrum Gallery is a series of five paintings on glass that hang from the gallery ceiling, two more paintings done directly on the gallery windows, five separate and slightly different paintings in the front gallery, and four smaller paintings and a series of 25 painted compact discs in the small back gallery. Let’s look at them part by part.

But first, let’s look at what they all have in common: photographs and/or pieces of photographs either collaged or photo-transferred onto the surface of the paintings and sandwiched between large rocklike forms. The rock shapes dominate the picture surfaces and are painted with soft value changes, which give them a fully rounded appearance and are often combined with dark, cavelike openings. The photographs are jammed into these openings and often look as if they are in danger of being crushed. In some of her paintings these forms appear to all be on the same plane; in some there is an illusion of depth; and in at least one, Red Java, the rock shapes are bulbous, breastlike forms that appear to advance forward as if visually bursting out of the confines of the canvas. This painting, by the way, is my favorite in the show.

These paintings are inventive and intriguing, begging the question: What is the meaning of these photos of people and objects, and why are they placed within abstract paintings in such strange ways? Barker’s use of illusory space is problematic. In some, the depth and the density are almost overwhelming, creating holes that disrupt the composition. But in most she pushes right up to that precipice without falling in. It’s a dangerous and effective balancing act.

The paintings on glass represent a new direction for Barker, something I’m told she has never done before. They are hung as a group and lighted in such a way that each painting is duplicated in its reflection against the gallery wall; plus, all of the paintings can be seen through one another so that the five hanging glass panels and their reflections and shadows become a single work of art. But that’s not all. The paintings on the window are in the same style, so when looking through the windows from outside they also become part of a unified installation.

Unlike the paintings on canvas, the works on glass have no illusory space. There are amoeba-like cells in flat black acrylic with photographs trapped inside the cells. The overall effect is powerful. And the technical skill with which they are constructed and painted is much in evidence, but when the paintings on glass are viewed individually they are not as effective as are her paintings on canvas. The big difference is that the modulation of tone from dark to light in the works on canvas is much more visually appealing than the flat and brittle black forms in the paintings on glass.

In the Best of Tacoma issue of the Weekly Volcano I chose Fulcrum as the best gallery. Its last show and this one are proving me right. There will be an artist’s talk Sunday, Aug. 31, from 6 to 9 p.m.

[Fulcrum Gallery, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Thursday 6-9 p.m. and by appointment, through Sept. 14, 1308 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253.250.0520, fulcrum@oliverdoriss.com]

BALLET OF CITY VEHICLES TO AIR ON TCTV, CABLE CHANNEL 3

This was posted on the City of Olympia's Arts Digest. We saw it when it first happened, and it was awesome.

Have you ever seen the Ballet of City Vehicles? Now is your chance - read on!


(Olympia, WA) The Olympia City Council is on summer break the next two weeks, which means no televised Olympia Council meetings on Tuesday.

Instead, the City and Thurston Community Television will telecast a frequently requested video – the 1991 “Ballet of City Vehicles.” The 30-minute Ballet video will air at 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. on TCTV Olympia Cable Channel 3, Tuesdays, August 26 and September 2. By the end of next week, the video will also be launched on the video streaming service accessed via the City of Olympia website, www.olympiawa.gov.

The Ballet of City Vehicles was performed October 12, 1991 at the intersection of Capitol and Legion Ways in downtown Olympia as part of the Arts for Life festival organized that year by the City of Olympia Arts Commission.

The Ballet, set to the score of “On the Blue Danube,” features 65 City employees and volunteers, garbage and dump trucks, bicycles, backhoes, and much more. The prima ballerina is pushing a broom and her dance partner is a street sweeping machine. Professional choreographer Linda Matthews orchestrated the dance steps.

The Arts Digest is an e-mail announcement list for arts events in Olympia. For more info e-mail: sjohnso1@ci.olympia.wa.us

More on the heart procedure

It was all research anyway. Me going to the hospital, I mean. OK, not really, but … One of the characters in my new novel has a heart attack and when he fails to recover as well as expected his doctor goes back in with a catheter and finds a blocked artery and puts in a stent. Having undergone that procedure before – thus refreshing my memory – I might be able to rewrite that scene and make it a little more vivid. And more comical. There were definitely some comic aspects.

I haven’t said anything about my earlier bouts with heart disease, but for those who don’t know, I had open heart surgery in October 2002 – a triple bypass – and went back to the hospital with complications repeatedly over the next few months, getting a balloon angioplasty and having two stents put in.

It wasn’t much fun. During one of the angiograms my heart stopped and they had to shock me with the paddles to get it started again – just like in the hospital shows on TV. It’s scary to think about it but I was totally unaware when it happened. The doctor had told me to let him know if anything felt odd during the procedure (yes, it has to be done with the patient completely awake). And there was a moment when something felt not right, and I started to say something, but then the next thing I knew the doctor was saying “Well that was unexpected” and I think he said he was sorry and asked if I was all right. I had no idea what he was talking about – the memories are fuzzy.

I’ve had small bouts of angina almost every day since the operation back in 2002, and I’ve talked to my cardiologist and had numerous stress tests, etc., and it’s never been anything to worry about, so when I started having pain in my chest and arm Tuesday night, I figured it would go away, and I didn’t say anything. But it didn’t go away, and it started getting stronger. It had started before dinner (we went out to El Sarape, a great Mexican restaurant), and it was 10 p.m. when I finally asked Gabi to call 911. She was pissed at me for not telling her sooner.

They gave me lots and lots of medicine – pain meds, nitro, oxygen, and I slept through the night and went in to the cath lab Wednesday morning. They shaved my groin on the right side and poked around a bit, then for some reason decided the left side would be better, so they shaved the left side and went in with the catheter.

During the procedure I started feeling like I had to pee. You know how sometimes when you can’t get to a bathroom and you have to pee so bad that it hurts and you can’t hold still? That’s the way it was, but they were poking around from my groin to my heart. It didn’t seem like a good time to take a leak. Finally I said something to the doctor about it and he told a nurse to give me a urinal. She placed a urinal between my legs and positioned me in it. (You have to put aside any sense of shame in the hospital.) Once I was in position, the doctor said, “Let her rip if you can.”

Ooh, what a relief it is!

After it was over and they showed me before and after pictures of the blockage and wheeled me back to my room, I had to lie on my back and not move my leg for two-to-four hours until they could remove what is called a vascular closure device. It’s like a very thin straw about six inches long that is inserted into the femoral artery. Removing it always takes at least two nurses (in my case a third one was observing). They have to put tremendous pressure on the insertion point to keep it from bleeding while they pull it out. I recall that it was extremely painful the first time I had this done, but this time it wasn’t very painful. One of the nurses noticed that I’d been shaven on both sides and commented on that. I joked that now I could wear a Speedo, and one of the nurses said she saw an old man wearing a Speedo once and it was a horrible sight to behold. I guess I won’t try wearing one anytime soon.

As I said in my previous post, I had to lie on my back without moving my leg for another six hours. It wasn’t so bad. They gave me morphine for pain and I managed to sleep fairly well. They sent me home the next morning. And that’s about it. Right now I feel fine.

Oh, BTW, did I mention that when I had the bypass surgery I was released from the hospital on Halloween day? My nurse, a male nurse, came to work in drag that day dressed as Nurse Ratched from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

P.S. After my surgery Gabi posted updates on her website without any links but she gave family and friends the url so they could keep up with my progress. If anyone really wants to read all the gory details, it’s still posted at http://www.gabiclayton.com/alecs_heart.htm

My aching heart

I'm sorry if I was a day or two late posting my latest theater and art reviews, but I was in the hospital with a broken heart -- almost. An artery almost completely blocked. I went to the hospital with chest pain Tuesday night about 10 p.m., and Wednesday morning I went into the cath lab to have a stent put in. The procedure itself is just a little bit painful, but the recovery is horrible. You have to lay on your back for up to 8-10 hours (I think it was 10 this time). The main thing is you can't move your leg where they inserted the tube in the femoral artery from the groin up to the heart, because if you do it might start bleeding, and from what I hear that ain't any place you want to be bleeding. Once out of danger of bleeding out from the femoral artery, however, the recovery is quick and easy.

They discharged me about 10 a.m. Wed. Wednesday night I went to the State Theater with my son, Noel, to see Harlequin Production's "Psychopathia Sexualis," which I will review for my TNT column next week. Here's a sneak preview: It is -- despite the weird title -- a comedy, and it is really good.

Top-notch talent makes up for ‘Fair’ script

"My Fair Lady" at Encore! Theatre


Published: August 22nd, 2008 01:00 AM
picture, top: Henry Higgins (Ted Fredericks), Eliza Doolittle Mandi (Wickline) and Alfred Doolittle (Darrel Shephard); bottom, ensemble cast. Photos by
Eric Emans.

Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle traipse South Sound stages once again, this time on Encore! Theater’s outdoor stage at Impact Church International in Gig Harbor. As in the earlier performance this year at Centerstage in Federal Way, I was impressed with many of the principal actors and once again enjoyed hearing those classic Lerner and Loewe songs. But also, as in the earlier performance, I found myself during much of Act II wishing they would just hurry up and get to the end. Unfortunately, they can’t rewrite copyrighted material to make it more palatable to impatient modern audiences. But three hours is a long time to sit through anything, and scenes such as the upper crust waltzing at the ball get awfully boring.

On the other hand, Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle still comprise one of the most entertaining couples ever dreamed up by a playwright, and Ted Fredericks as Higgins and Mandi Wickline as Eliza are terrific – especially Wickline. I can’t imagine anyone being a better Eliza Doolittle. Her handling of the various accents, her expressive face and her voice are all perfect. When she begins her first song, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” she sounds like Julie Andrews, but when she goes into showstoppers such as “The Rain in Spain” and “I Could Have Danced All Night,” she proves to have an even stronger voice than Andrews.

Fredericks does not carry the show with quite as much style and grace as does Wickline, but he is a talented actor who really throws himself into his comedic bits. He comes across as crotchety and pompous (even while belittling the pomposity of others) and self-centered, but loveable despite his many flaws – which is exactly how the character should be portrayed. He also has a very interesting singing voice that goes from mellow and sweet to harsh and gravelly. This is particularly effective in songs like “I’m an Ordinary Man,” in which he sings about the many contradictory aspects of his personality. I personally found the harsher aspects of his voice to be irritating in places, but overall entertaining. I think he’s at his best in tender love songs such as “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”

Henry and Eliza carry the show. The secondary characters are good but not outstanding. Sylvia Shaw is great as Henry’s mother, and Eric Emans as Freddy Eynsford-Hill sings up a storm on his one big number, “On the Street Where You Live.” Also turning in commendable acting jobs in minor roles are Phyllis Kappus as Mrs. Pearce and Sharon Eason as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill and in various ensemble roles.

I have mixed feelings about Darrel Shephard as Alfred Doolittle. He’s good in spots but just doesn’t put enough oomph into it. And Patrick Gerrells has a hard time pulling off the role of Colonel Pickering. Throughout the play, there are uncomfortable pauses in his dialogue, and I couldn’t tell whether that was from an attempt to play Pickering as shy and bumbling or if he was struggling to remember his lines.

Pianist Meredith Shanley is also to be commended, and I thought the balance of her piano playing with recorded background music is well done.

The costumes by Becky Michalski, Sylvia Shaw and Deborah Emans are great. The main part of the set, which is Higgins’ home, is also excellent. Designed by Jim Cave and Dave Michalski with scenic painting by Kristi Riker, it features a wonderful painted backdrop and converts nicely into an elegant ballroom. Off in the wings – actually in the grass in this case – is another set representing the street scene with opera house and pub, which they didn’t pull off as well – it is tacky, thrown together and cheap looking.

The outdoor stage is huge, and I often wish the people at Encore! Theater didn’t feel like they have to use every inch of space, including the grass in front of and to the sides of the stage. It often spreads the action out too much, thus destroying a sense of intimacy. It also means it takes actors forever to get on and off stage. The flip side to that is that without spreading out so much they may not have sufficient seating for the audience.

Bring blankets, folding chairs, mosquito spray, food and drink and be prepared for a long night.

Glass half full

Summer installations in the Woolworth Windows

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Aug 21, 2008

pictured: "Wallow," intallation by Megan Berner


I thought half of the installations now gracing the Woolworth Windows were fascinating — meaning Denise Bookwalter’s Dimensional Airship Print and Shannon Benine’s Peaceful Endurance. The other two installations, Jordan Starr-Bochicchio and Victor Bochicchio’s Curb Appeal and Megan Berner’s Wallow Installation, left me cold and uncaring.

Benine’s work is beautiful and fraught with meaning although the “meaning” would be meaningless without the explanatory wall text. Two-hundred and sixty-seven unfolded photograms are placed together in a quilt-work pattern that completely covers one wall and folds out onto the floor. The pattern is like a great big kaleidoscope with bright orange, brown and white starburst patterns on a black background. It is strikingly beautiful as an abstract pattern, and then when you read the wall text you discover that each section is a peace crane, the total of 267 representing the number of people with Washington state ties killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003.

Bookwalter’s work is an exhibition of images screen printed onto sheets on transparent latex rubber, exploring the basic forms of the five convex regular polyhedrons known as the Platonic solids. There are five works filling the back walls in the largest of the windows. The geometric forms are printed in red, white and blue with illusions of depth created by overlapping and juxtapositions of lighter and darker lines. These are very complex forms made up of simpler forms — triangles and pentagons. The latex sheets are cream colored, and the white lines in particular have the illusion of being behind the sheets and showing through in a ghostlike manner. The overall effect is that of geometric forms randomly floating in space and eventually coming together to create more coherent patterns. Quite fascinating. The press release says, “Bookwalter is interested in showing the viewer that all of humanity’s technological innovations have evolved from something as simple as a triangle.”

The Bochicchios’ Curb Appeal is intended as a commentary on the troubled housing market. It’s the back side of a house, painstakingly constructed with a small deck and even such minute details as electrical outlets. “By showing the most ignored part of a house,” the press release states, “the two hope to expose some of the more neglected aspects of territorial consumer culture.” Perhaps some other viewers will get it, but to me it seemed like an awful lot of work with no appreciable result.

The same holds true, in my estimate, for Berner’s Wallow installation in the Commerce side windows. It is a surrealistic and fanciful depiction of nature invading the interior of a house. It looks like a set for the stage version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.

Against the back wall is a large picture window, curtained, with nothing showing through. Are we looking inside-out or outside-in? It’s impossible to tell, and that’s the only intriguing thing about this installation. In front of (or outside of?) the window, birds or butterflies hang from the ceiling. Plastic plants sprout on the floor, and there is a big, old easy chair with grass growing out of the seat cushion. That’s about it. It’s an imaginary concept, and if it looked more realistic it would be marvelous. But it just looks like plastic flowers and origami birds and a very fake looking window. Sorry. Good try.

To give credit where credit is due: I may have been left cold by the Berner and Bochicchio installations, but at least they treated the windows as installation space and not just any old place to exhibit their art, and their works were cohesive expressions of concepts. I just thought they lacked visual impact.

[The Woolworth Windows, Commerce and Broadway at 11th, Tacoma, open 24/7]

The Backside of Nowhere

I am so stoked about my latest novel. I’ve been writing like a man possessed. In a fraction of the time it took me to reach the same point with my earlier books, I have written a first draft and a first re-write. And I sent the manuscript to people who helped me edit my earlier books. After reading the first two chapters, my friend Larry — who is a fantastic poet and a harsh critic who never lets me get away with crap — said: “Finally an expert is in charge.”

And my friend Margaret wrote back: “I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo impressed. I read and reread sections just poring over the word pictures. I really, really, really like this aspect of the writing on this one. I shall return to the story now and see what happens but I can tell you now this is word-wise (don't know about the plot) definitely the best.”

I will have to do at least one more read-through and revision after all of my wonderful, volunteer, no-pay editors get through with it. By the way, the title is The Backside of Nowhere. It is set in the fictitious town of Freedom, somewhere near the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There’s a lot of action in it. There are two hurricanes, a flash flood, two football games that each end in riots on the field — and, oh yes, a love story involving a movie star who returns to his old hometown and reconnects with his old high school sweetheart.

While waiting for my friends to finish reading it, I’m editing Bill’s story for Gabi.

As everyone knows, our son Bill committed suicide after a gay bashing. Gabi posted his story on her Web site. It began as a simple, one-page site with a picture and a brief statement. At first hundreds and then thousands of people responded to it, and it snowballed into decades of activism. For years Gabi has been saying she was going to compile it all into a book, but she’s never had the time to even get started. However, in a way, she has already written the book. It exists on her Web site and in hundreds of saved e-mails and letters. Writing the book is simply (Ha! Simple my ass) a manner of putting it together in a coherent fashion. That’s what I’m working on now. That will be the next ClaytonWorks Publishing venture.

Stay tuned for updates.

Paradise Theatre presents terrific ‘Urinetown’

Published in The News Tribune, August 15, 2008
Pictured, top, Little Sally (Krista Curry)and Officer Lockstock (Ian Lamberton); bottom, ensemble cast

I have seen three performances of “Urinetown” presented by three different theater companies, and all of them were wonderful – which is a tribute not only to a terrific script with fabulous music, but also to the wealth of talent to be found in the South Sound.

The latest performance of this gem is at Paradise Theatre in Gig Harbor, and believe you me, this cast knocks itself out. The direction by Jeff Richards – especially the blocking of the ensemble cast – and the choreography by Vicki Richards are outstanding.

This husband-and-wife team also does a great job on lighting (Jeff) and costumes (Vicki). The costuming and makeup on the rebellious rabble is particularly effective – both believable and comic, except for the very fake-looking beard on Old Man Strong (Dennis Caswell, who did a good job of acting in a small part even with the ludicrous beard). Watch for the eerie otherworldly lighting effects when a certain character appears from beyond the grave.

Good material brings out the best in good actors, and Paradise Theatre’s “Urinetown” certainly has both. The story is complex and nuanced yet easy to follow, with a mixture of satire, slapstick and heroic and tragic drama. It is a love story in the “Romeo and Juliet” mold, a dramatic epic a la “Les Misérables” and a parody of Broadway musicals that could have been, but wasn’t, written by Mel Brooks (book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, music and lyrics by Mark Hollman). And it spoofs such popular musicals as “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Les Misérables.” And most of all it spoofs itself.

Stepping in and out of character to serve as narrator, Officer Lockstock (Ian Lamberton) tells the audience that what they’re witnessing is not real; it’s a musical, and not a very happy musical at that. Prodded by the impertinent and lovable Little Sally (Krista Curry), Lockstock explains that of course Hope loves Bobby. She has to because he’s the hero of the story; and when things get complicated and Sally is worried, Officer Lockstock assures her that everything will work out in the big musical number in the second act, because that’s what musicals do. You gotta love it.

The story is set in some future time in which the giant UGC Corporation, aka Urine Good Company, controls all public amenities, and the masses are forced to pay to pee. If anyone is caught sneaking off into the bushes to relieve themselves, they are exiled to Urinetown (which really means they’re thrown off the roof of the high tower that is home to the UGC corporation).

A young man named Bobby Strong (Ryan Demerick) leads the rag-tag masses in a revolution against the powerful UGC, which is run by the evil Caldwell B. Cladwell (Howard Knickerbocker). Cladwell’s innocent and idealistic daughter, Hope (Katin Jacobs-Lake), who has just graduated from “the most expensive college in the world,” falls in love with Bobby and becomes an unwitting pawn in the struggle between Bobby and her father.

You’d think the good guys would win out. Isn’t that what always happens in musicals? But remember that Officer Lockstock has repeatedly reminded us that this is not a happy musical.

The whole cast, with a few minor exceptions, is excellent.

Carrie Nelson is Penelope Pennywise, a rough, no-nonsense woman who has sold out to the UGC Corporation. She is big, brash, and strong. She belts out songs like “Privilege to Pee” with a powerful voice and a vicious sneer. You’d think this role was written with her in mind.

Demerick also comes across as tough, but with a heart of gold as the hero, and he has a nice jazzy singing style. He harmonized beautifully with Jacobs-Lake on ballads like the touching “Follow Your Heart” and rocks out on the gospel tune “Run, Freedom, Run.”

Jacobs-Lake is believable as the multidimensional Hope, who is torn between the opposing factions. And she has a lyrical soprano voice that carries well over the chorus.

Curry is funny as Little Sally. She plays this child something like Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann on “Laugh-In,” and she dances with wild enthusiasm.

Lamberton makes a great Officer Lockstock, playing this absurd character with great seriousness.

Knickerbocker interestingly resists the obvious temptation to play Cladwell as a stereotypical bad guy, which I think is a good move.

Finally, Stephanie Ronge in the double role of Little Becky Two Shoes and Ms. Millennium is simply fabulous. Her energy and facial expressions put her right up there with Little Sally as the most lovable characters in the play.

Kudos to Paradise Theatre. This show is a must-see.


WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 24
WHERE: Paradise Theatre, 9911 Burnham Drive N.W., Gig Harbor
TICKETS: $20 general, $17 seniors, $10 students 25 and younger, group discounts
INFORMATION: 253-851-PLAY, paradisetheatre.org/

Bombshell exhibition

’50s erotica hangs at Rebecca V Gallery

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Aug 14, 2008

Pictured: vintage pinup photography, untitled, photographer unknown


Ever see a bombshell up close and personal? It will blow you away.

Half a century ago the word bombshell was slang for a buxom broad, a big-boob beauty. Marilyn Monroe was called a blonde bombshell. Get the picture? Well, you will starting Saturday, Aug. 16, at Rebecca V Gallery on Sixth Avenue.

The Bombshell exhibition features vintage pinup photography from the ’50s selected from gallery owner Tony Valenzuela’s private collection. “These photographs exude a fun, innocent and even humorous sensuality that you don’t get from today’s work. There’s nothing perverse here, just a beautiful form of art,” says new gallery director Odessa Poole — who is herself quite a beauty, but in a slim and hip 21st-century fashion, which is quite different than the standards of beauty exemplified in this show.

Noting such differences in what was considered beautiful then and now — not to mention the vast differences in what was considered erotic and what was allowed back then — is one of the things that makes this show so fascinating.

Poole and Valenzuela were kind enough to give me a preview of the show. At the time, Valenzuela was in the process of printing photographs. He had completed about half a dozen large prints on canvas, all in black and white except for one that was printed both in black and white and in sepia tones (none are color photos). In a small room off the main gallery were a few smaller framed prints. Valenzuela says the show will include 25 to 30 large prints on canvas ranging from 24 by 30 inches up to seven or eight feet and approximately 20 smaller prints (12 square inches on paper, framed). All of them date from the 1950s. Many of the photographers are unknown; most were from California, but some come from England and other countries.

Very little retouching went on back then. Cosmetic imperfections that would never be allowed in glamour photography today are quite evident. Dirty feet are especially noticeable. There are a lot of blondes, and most of them are big breasted. And they wear heavy makeup, especially lots of mascara and dark lipstick to accentuate pouting lips.

Most of the models are seminude, and in very few does pubic hair show, because that was not allowed in the “girly” magazines of the day. A lot of them are wearing garter belts and stockings and fancy dress gloves. Most of the poses are very carefully set up to look natural as if these women were caught off guard lounging in their bedrooms or playing in their backyards — as if they regularly slither so seductively atop their satin sheets at home.

One set of four photographs I saw looked particularly candid. The model was caught dancing in her backyard with a set of castanets and wearing nothing but a floral-print skirt. Another photo, obviously not candid, pictured a naked woman playing an arcade game with a group of clothed men. She seemed perfectly unaware of her nakedness, and not a one of the men was looking at her size 40-D breasts.

Studio lighting is used to simulate natural light, and every prop is carefully composed. The focus is soft but not blurred to create a luxurious feel. Among the samples I saw, only one would be considered inventive today. It’s a picture of a model on a railroad track bending over to create an A shape with her body. The rest are excellent examples of what was considered artist nude photography in the 1950s.

There will be live pinup models, classic cars and refreshments at the opening event Saturday, Aug. 16, starting at 4 p.m.

[Rebecca V Gallery, noon-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday or by appointment, opening reception Aug. 16 beginning at 4 p.m., show runs through Sept. 5, 3010 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.9111, http://rebeccavgallery.com]

ManeStage didn’t choose wisely for third production

Bye Bye Birdie at ManeStage

Published in The News Tribune, August 8, 2008

pictured, back, left to right - Austen Case as Kim MacAfee, Connor Hagen as Conrad Birdie, Paul K. Hill as Albert Peterson; front, Brenda S. Henson as Rose Alvarez in "Bye Bye Birdie." Photo courtesy Manestage Theatre Company.

ManeStage Theatre Company in Sumner is a new theater company in its first season. It’s described as “a family of creative artists committed to producing dynamic drama that enhances the moral imagination.” ManeStage offers amateurs and beginners in theater an opportunity to work with and learn from more seasoned actors and directors. As stated in the program, some of the actors and staff are “mothers and daughters, cousins, school friends or husbands and wives.” As such, professional-level performances should not be expected, and that is fine.

Unfortunately, in their third production of their first season, I’m afraid they chose a silly musical that is not well written and is filled with lightweight music of the type often referred to as bubblegum. The play is “Bye Bye Birdie,” a 1960 Broadway musical with book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams that was made into a movie starring Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke and Ann-Margret in 1963.

People who are old enough can remember when Elvis Presley was drafted into the Army. The music industry thought it would be the death of rock ’n’ roll. Fans were devastated. This is a story of a rock ’n’ roll star in the Elvis mold, Conrad Birdie (played by Connor Hagen), who is drafted into the Army. His manager, Albert Peterson (Paul K. Hill) dreams up a publicity stunt involving a last kiss from Conrad before he goes off to the Army. The lucky girl who is to get kissed by him is Kim MacAfee (Austen Case), the president of his fan club in the little town of Sweet Apple, Ohio. But complications arise because she has a jealous boyfriend and an over-protective father. And there is a subplot involving Peterson’s secretary Rose Alvarez (Brenda S. Henson) who is in love with him and how that does not sit well with his overbearing mother, Mae Peterson (Diane Lee Bozzo).

Henson is the co-founder of the theater and the wife of the director, Jay Henson. Her professionalism is obvious. She acts with conviction and has a full, throaty singing voice. I noticed that a lot of the female singers sounded shrill on the high notes and crescendos, some of which may be the fault of the sound system, which was awfully loud. Case also has a beautiful voice, but she also sounded too shrill at times.

I also thought that there was a lot of overacting. That’s a tough judgment call because some of the comedic bits were supposed to be broadly acted. Bozzo as the mother and Tyler Lockwood as Mr. MacAfee were characters who called for, if not overacting, at least pushing it right up to the edge. At moments, their antics were funny but at times, especially in the case of Lockwood, I thought it was overdone. I also thought Hill overacted. In the opening scene, for instance, he did a lot of running up and down stairs and all around the set, none of which seemed appropriate to the scene.

There were good things, too. I thought Hagen was good in his musical numbers, especially “Honestly Sincere” – a song in which he is anything but honestly sincere – and also on “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” which was recognizable as a takeoff on the Elvis song with the same title. Hagen played his part with a good Elvis sneer and hip thrust.

Bozzo did a really nice job of playing the stereotypical meddling mother, playing the martyr when she feels rejected by her son.

A couple of young actors who really shined were Andrew Reed as Randolph MacAfee and Brooke Aker-Inabnit as the sad girl. Her dance number with Hill to the tune of “Put on a Happy Face” is one of the sweeter moments in the play. And Reed’s antics on the song “Kids” (and even more so on the “Kids” reprise) was the comic highlight of the play. Also outstanding in a smaller role was Paige Mitchell as Ursula who was vivacious overall and a standout in her opening song.

The teen chorus was good overall, and most of the production numbers involving the whole cast were well done.

It’s silly, lighthearted and flawed, but there are certainly some entertaining moments, and as this new theater ages it might prove to be a welcome addition to the South Sound theatrical community.


When: 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 10
Where: Sumner Performing Arts Center, 1707 Main Street, Sumner
Tickets: $10
Information: 253-447-7645, www.manestagetheatre.com

Here Today

A monthlong public art event in Olympia

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Aug 7, 2008

pictured, Top: Detail of Dana Squire's installation. Bottom: George Kurzman talks to tour group in front of his installation; among the onlookers are Dana Squires (second from left) and Alec Clayton (in red shirt).


The Here Today public project art sponsored by the City of Olympia features temporary art installations in various locations throughout downtown Olympia and along the boardwalk at Percival Landing. Including visual, performing art, literature and music, these works by local artists “celebrate a sense of place through reflection and response to our physical and social environment,” according to promotional materials from the Olympia Arts Commission. Some of the works are one-time-only events such as Bill Fleming’s dishwashing performance (that’s right, dishwashing; more to come on that later) and some are installations that will remain in place throughout the month of August, such as Dana Squire’s Leaf and Twig and George Kurzman’s Would it Be. While still others, such as Shaw Osha’s Public Private Eyes will be in different places at different times — you never know where these eyes might pop up and stare you down.

The event kicked off this past Saturday with public painting of plates at Olympia’s Farmers Market in preparation for Fleming’s dishwashing performance and a tour of both temporary and permanent art installations along the waterfront. The permanent installations are not part of the project but were included in the tour.

Squares is a painter who dabbles in many other art forms. You may remember her Japanese bento boxes that were featured in the “Food as Art” article in the June 12 Weekly Volcano. Along the boardwalk, she has decorated three trees with spice-infused paper leaves, flowers, poems, and recipes, referencing the spirit trees of Asia. Each tree presents a signature spice mixture from one of three different areas: garam masala from India, advieh from Persia, and ros el hanout from Morocco. She describes the installation as “an environment of color, movement and scent.” The trees are festive with their hanging paper leaves, as if they are all decked out for a party. And the whole thing is interactive. You can touch them, smell the aromas, and watch them twirl and flutter in the breeze. Many of the leaves have little spice packets attached.

Kurzman is a sculptor who often works with found wood objects. He is also a boat builder and boat restorer by trade. Here he has combined his trade and his art. There was an old boat left to rot in the woods during a restoration project when the boat’s owner, a fireman, died of work-related cancer. Kurzman was asked to remove the boat. It had rotted beyond restoration, and the artist was allowed to do with it what he could. He cut the 30-foot sailboat into pieces, sanded and painted sections and stood them up like sails billowing in the wind on a grassy field in front of a clump of trees. It is a majestic piece of sculpture that you can walk around and through to discover endlessly interesting shapes and textures. It is truly a beautiful work of art. I wish it could be permanently installed in this location.

Now to the dishwashing. During the kickoff event the public was invited to paint plates, which will be used to serve food at the Farmers Market. Then on Aug. 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the artist will wash the dishes. There will be music, and he will give away plates.

Shaw Osha is a painter. She has selected pictures of eyes from her own paintings and has placed them in different locations around town. Viewers who have the energy and dedication to do so can wander around town in search of her Public Private Eyes, or they can be surprised by them as they go about their business. The surprise element is, of course, part of the fun and of the mystery.

Tony Perkins’ Like Everyone Else is a one-time-only event, a reading from his novel, which is set in present day Olympia. It happens Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Yashiro Japanese Garden.

Faith Hagenhofer’s Rising Tides calls attention to an environmental disaster that is projected for the year 2100 when rising waters will flood much of downtown Olympia. She has placed 40 small monuments along the projected high water line. Wow! That’s scary. Look for the future Olympia shoreline south of Fourth Avenue.

Jenn Kliese and Jeff Shannon’s Bus Station at the Intercity Transit Station is described as “an auditory landscape that activates the mind and our internal worlds, that encourages us to explore our imagination and to feel a public and personal ownership of the space, whether it be on the streets or in our own heads.” Sounds intriguing.

Also happening at various times and places is Trudes Tango’s A Bird in the Hand: Lessons in Letting Go. The artist will “release” 100 handmade clay birds throughout the city and throughout the month. If you find one of the birds, it’s yours to keep or give away or throw away. As the title implies, you should probably let it go.George Kurzman talks to tour group in front of his installation at Here TodaDetail of Dana Squire's installation. Photos courtesy Olympia Arts Commission and Dana Squiresy opening while Dana Squires (second from left) and I (red shirt) look on. Bottom:

The Here Today public project art sponsored by the City of Olympia features temporary art installations in various locations throughout downtown Olympia and along the boardwalk at Percival Landing. Including visual, performing art, literature and music, these works by local artists “celebrate a sense of place through reflection and response to our physical and social environment,” according to promotional materials from the Olympia Arts Commission. Some of the works are one-time-only events such as Bill Fleming’s dishwashing performance (that’s right, dishwashing; more to come on that later) and some are installations that will remain in place throughout the month of August, such as Dana Squire’s Leaf and Twig and George Kurzman’s Would it Be. While still others, such as Shaw Osha’s Public Private Eyes will be in different places at different times — you never know where these eyes might pop up and stare you down.

The event kicked off this past Saturday with public painting of plates at Olympia’s Farmers Market in preparation for Fleming’s dishwashing performance and a tour of both temporary and permanent art installations along the waterfront. The permanent installations are not part of the project but were included in the tour.

Squares is a painter who dabbles in many other art forms. You may remember her Japanese bento boxes that were featured in the “Food as Art” article in the June 12 Weekly Volcano. Along the boardwalk, she has decorated three trees with spice-infused paper leaves, flowers, poems, and recipes, referencing the spirit trees of Asia. Each tree presents a signature spice mixture from one of three different areas: garam masala from India, advieh from Persia, and ros el hanout from Morocco. She describes the installation as “an environment of color, movement and scent.” The trees are festive with their hanging paper leaves, as if they are all decked out for a party. And the whole thing is interactive. You can touch them, smell the aromas, and watch them twirl and flutter in the breeze. Many of the leaves have little spice packets attached.

Kurzman is a sculptor who often works with found wood objects. He is also a boat builder and boat restorer by trade. Here he has combined his trade and his art. There was an old boat left to rot in the woods during a restoration project when the boat’s owner, a fireman, died of work-related cancer. Kurzman was asked to remove the boat. It had rotted beyond restoration, and the artist was allowed to do with it what he could. He cut the 30-foot sailboat into pieces, sanded and painted sections and stood them up like sails billowing in the wind on a grassy field in front of a clump of trees. It is a majestic piece of sculpture that you can walk around and through to discover endlessly interesting shapes and textures. It is truly a beautiful work of art. I wish it could be permanently installed in this location.

Now to the dishwashing. During the kickoff event the public was invited to paint plates, which will be used to serve food at the Farmers Market. Then on Aug. 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the artist will wash the dishes. There will be music, and he will give away plates.

Shaw Osha is a painter. She has selected pictures of eyes from her own paintings and has placed them in different locations around town. Viewers who have the energy and dedication to do so can wander around town in search of her Public Private Eyes, or they can be surprised by them as they go about their business. The surprise element is, of course, part of the fun and of the mystery.

Tony Perkins’ Like Everyone Else is a one-time-only event, a reading from his novel, which is set in present day Olympia. It happens Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Yashiro Japanese Garden.

Faith Hagenhofer’s Rising Tides calls attention to an environmental disaster that is projected for the year 2100 when rising waters will flood much of downtown Olympia. She has placed 40 small monuments along the projected high water line. Wow! That’s scary. Look for the future Olympia shoreline south of Fourth Avenue.

Jenn Kliese and Jeff Shannon’s Bus Station at the Intercity Transit Station is described as “an auditory landscape that activates the mind and our internal worlds, that encourages us to explore our imagination and to feel a public and personal ownership of the space, whether it be on the streets or in our own heads.” Sounds intriguing.

Also happening at various times and places is Trudes Tango’s A Bird in the Hand: Lessons in Letting Go. The artist will “release” 100 handmade clay birds throughout the city and throughout the month. If you find one of the birds, it’s yours to keep or give away or throw away. As the title implies, you should probably let it go.

Locations can be found at http://www.olympiawa.gov - click on Here Today.

Promote your art

… or, so you want me to review your art?


People often ask me how I decide what art exhibits to review. It’s an interesting question, but I probably don’t have an equally interesting answer. It’s often a seat-of-my-pants/spur-of-the-moment decision. For starters, I try to review shows that I think I will like and shows that I think the readers will be interested in. I do not get a big thrill out of trashing other artists, and I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. So if I’m pretty sure I’m not going to like it, I avoid it.

You may well ask, “If you haven’t seen it, how do you know you’re not going to like it?” That’s a judgment call based on previous experience with the particular artist or gallery. Web sites and press releases also provide pretty good indications of what to expect. If your press release contains the words “watercolor” or “still life” or “landscape,” then you’d better have something else in that press release to really make me sit up and take notice. I’m kind of a snob that way. I’m also much more likely to want to review installation art or painting or sculpture or works that claim to be cutting edge or avant-garde. But don’t try to fool me by calling your watercolor pictures of kitty-cats avant-garde art.

References to previous shows at reputable museums or galleries also help — if you’re lucky enough to have had them. Likewise, quotes from previous reviews help.

As you may have noticed, I started out addressing readers who simply may be curious but segued into addressing artists who hope to get their shows reviewed. If you’re an artist and you hope to get your shows reviewed, I can offer a few suggestions.

If you are showing with a museum or commercial gallery, ask what kind of publicity it provides, but don’t rely on the venue to do it all. Get your own announcements out to as many outlets as possible. Contact every newspaper and bulletin board and arts-related e-mail list you know of. And if you have the contact information (it shouldn’t be hard to find), send announcements to both the editor and the reviewer. Don’t worry about duplication. Why does such duplication help? Well, let me give you an example. Say I have information on a show by Joe Blow and another by Nancy Fancy. Their announcements are equally attractive, and I can’t decide which one I want to review. If my editor sends me a note saying, “I heard about this show by Nancy Fancy, and I think you might want to look into it,” guess which one I’m more likely to write about.

I can’t speak for other critics, but I prefer e-mail to other forms of communication. I’m liable to forget something important that you tell me over the phone — like your name or how to contact you. Besides, I’m hard of hearing. And snail mail just clutters the world with too much paper.

What information should you include in your press release? Who, what, when, and where, and how to contact you. You might be surprised at how many people forget such vital information. You also might be surprised at how many critics are turned off by bad grammar and spelling. You might think that’s unimportant because, after all, you’re not submitting a short story for publication. But remember: critics are writers. We care about good writing. Also, and this is very important, include photographs of your art and a link to your Web site if you have one. Pick the best photos you have and make sure they’re big enough to see clearly but not so big that it takes forever to load. Again, I can speak only for myself, but I prefer jpg or png format at 300 dpi with a print size about five inches in the largest direction. It drives me crazy when I have to scroll to see the entire picture.

Another thing I highly recommend to anyone who is trying to promote his own art: subscribe to area e-mail lists and post your announcements there. That’s the purpose of these lists. The Tacoma Arts listserv is a great way to promote your art. To subscribe, go to
http://smtp001.tacoma.lcl/cgi-bin/mailman/ listinfo/tacomaart
.

Critic's Choice

South Sound theater season full of highlights

Published in The News Tribune, August 1, 2008

It’s time for my Critic’s Choice selections for the best in community theater in the South Sound. My selections are purely a matter of personal opinion based on performances I have reviewed in this column during the 2007-2008 theater season. I’ve tried to acknowledge all who are deserving of best-of recognition without making it into a winner-takes-all competition, so in many categories I have chosen more than one person or show. Congratulations to all for a great season of theater.

Best Actor in a Musical (male): Two need to be recognized: Sean Mitchell as Professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” at Centerstage; and Matt Posner for three roles this season: Joe Hardy in “Damn Yankees,” as Danny in “Grease” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse and as Buddy Foster in “Side Show” at Capital Playhouse. Posner is a newcomer to the area and has burst onto South Sound stages with an abundance of talent and energy.

Best Actor in a Musical (female): April Villanueva as Kim in “Miss Saigon” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse. She was fabulous.

Best Direction of a Musical: Jon Douglas Rake (director and choreographer) “Miss Saigon” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse.

Best Musical: This one’s a tie: “Side Show” at Capital Playhouse and “Miss Saigon” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse.

Best Dramatic Actor (male): Another tie: Anders Bolang as John in “Shining City” at Harlequin Productions and Scott C. Brown for his performance as Randle McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at Lakewood Playhouse.

Best Dramatic Actor (female): Pug Bujeaud as Sara in “The Ascetic” at Theater Artists Olympia.

Best Direction of a Drama: Linda Whitney for “Intimate Apparel” at Harlequin Productions and Dennis Rolly for “The Ascetic” at Theater Artists Olympia.

Best Drama: Two shows: “Intimate Apparel” at Harlequin Productions and, for a great job on making an old show seem new again, Lakewood Playhouse for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” directed by Marcus Walker.

Best Comic Actor (male): This goes to both Justin Carleton as William Detweiler in “How the Other Half Loves” at Lakewood Playhouse and Dennis Rolly as Leporello in “Don Juan in Chicago” by Prodigal Sun Productions in Olympia.

Best Comic Actor (female): Ingrid Pharris as Dona Elvira in “Don Juan in Chicago.”

Best Comedy: “Don Juan in Chicago” by Prodigal Sun Productions. I didn’t even get to review this play, but I did see it, and it was fantastically funny.

Best New Play: “Nightmare of a Married Man” at Centerstage, written and directed by Alan Bryce. This revision of a play Bryce wrote and produced in London in the late 1970s is new to us.

Best Supporting Actor: Jason Haws as Mr. Marks in “Intimate Apparel” at Harlequin Productions and Mark Wenzel as Billy Bibbit in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at Lakewood Playhouse.

Best Set Design: This honor is shared by Judy Cullen for “Miss Saigon” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Jeff Kingsbury for “Sweeney Todd” at Capital Playhouse and Linda Whitney for “Intimate Apparel” at Harlequin Productions.

Best Lighting: Matt Lawrence for “Sweeney Todd” at Capital Playhouse.

Best Costumes: Darren Mills and Asa Brown Thornton for “Intimate Apparel” at Harlequin Productions.

Special category (Best Old-Fashioned Song and Dance Production Number): The title tune “Anything Goes” by the All Saints Theatrical Repertoire Association in Puyallup.