Shipwrecked in Federal Way

Donald Margulies’ “Shipwrecked” at Centerstage Theatre

L to R: Terry Edward Moore, Elinor Gunn, Chris Shea

L to R: Elinor Gunn, Chris Shea, Terry Edward Moore

Terry Moore. Photos by
Michele Smith Lewis

I’ve never seen anything quite like Shipwrecked! by Donald Margulies at Centerstage in Federal Way. The full title is Shipwrecked! An Entertainment. The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as told by himself.) I like that it’s called “an entertainment” rather than a play. That tells us something important about the writer’s intent and the manner in which this entertainment is presented.

It is like something wild put on by a traveling troupe of actors in the days of Shakespeare performed from a wagon whose sides drop down to become a stage complete with thunder machines and other fantastical contraptions with which actors create sound effects as they went along.

Before even mentioning the story and the actors, I need to make it clear that Benjamin Baird’s set, lighting by Amy Silveria and clever costumes by Rachel Wilkie set this performance up as something more like a Vaudeville entertainment than a traditional comedy or drama. And believe you me, it is a comedy.

It is billed as a true story told in first person by Louis de Rougemont (Terry Edward Moore). But whether or not it is a true story, indeed, becomes a major point of contention.

Louis (French name but raised by his mother in London) steps onto a makeshift stage in front of a pair of bed-sheet curtains and introduces himself to the audience and proceeds to tell the tale of his adventures while a pair of thespians (Elinor Gunn and Chris Shea) act out the parts of everyone else in his life from his mother to his pet dog.

Louis was a sickly child nursed by a loving mother whom he loved. But his love for his mother didn’t stop him from leaving home with no plans for ever returning as soon as he was old enough to go out into the world seeking adventure. He signs on with a ship hunting pearls, is shipwrecked in the Coral Sea and washes up on shore in Australia where he saves a lost Aboriginal woman and her children, marries her, spends 30 years in Australia where, among other things, he rides giant sea turtles like horses, and finally goes back home to London where he writes the story of his life’s adventure which becomes a worldwide sensation resulting in his telling his tale on stage throughout the land—which is what the “entertainment” we’re watching purportedly is.

Ably directed by Roger Curtis, the three-person cast is outstanding. Moore is totally believable as the fanciful Louis de Rougemont. His voice ranges from majestic (great projection and enunciation) to tender. No matter how fantabulous the adventures he relates, he makes it seem as if he absolutely believes it. Gunn and Shae are a whirlwind of frantic action as they circle through many parts from Louis’s mother and the swashbuckling sea captain (Gunn) to Louis’s pet dog and a myriad of men and women (Shae) with quick costume changes, and meanwhile operating all of the Foley equipment which amazingly captures the sounds of swishing waves at sea, thunder, and the myriad city sounds of the streets of London.

I cannot praise this entire production enough. I drove up from Olympia, and it was definitely worth the trip. I loved every minute of it. It runs 90 minutes with no intermission, and the time flies by.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through April 4

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

TICKETS: $30, seniors and military $25, youth 25 and younger $10

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

Also see Michael Dresdner’s review.

Chihuly Drawings at Museum of Glass

 Published in the Weekly Volcano, March 19, 2015

Steel Blue Ikabena, drawing by Dale Chihuly

Venetian Drawing by Dale Chihuly. Photos courtesy Museum of Glass

I have always thought Dale Chihuly’s drawings were more impressive than his glass creations, but I have never seen enough of his drawings to say so until now. “Chihuly Drawings” at Museum of Glass makes the case quite emphatically. One hundred and eighty-six drawings fill the main gallery at MOG, and the impact is overwhelming.

What makes the drawings stand out is their energy, their directness and their dramatic presentation. Chihuly glass — the bowls, the flowers, the massive chandeliers - for all their impressive size and brilliant color come across as slick and commercial in comparison with the drawings. And I don’t believe it is just that the drawings are less ubiquitous. I believe they are more honest. There is an immediacy and spontaneity to the drawings that can’t possibly be matched by the glass that is created by studio assistants in slow, laborious processes. 

The drawings do not have the assembly line look of the glass. They are done by hand by Chihuly himself, not assistants, and they are done quickly. There is a quality to them reminiscent of Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, and photographs of Chihuly at work give evidence that their working methods are much the same. He works in pencil, charcoal, colored inks, acrylics and other media. Many of his “drawings” are really large scale paintings, but it is fitting to call them drawings because of the emphasis on energetic mark making.  Like Pollock, he often works on the floor. He spreads his colors with brooms, mops and sponges, and he drips and slings paint out of buckets and squeeze tubes. He even burns them with acetylene torches — anything for a unique surface texture. The majority of the drawings are 30 by 22 inches, and there are a number as large as 60 by 40 inches.

For many of the same reasons that I find his drawings more impressive than the work in glass, I find his work in pencil and charcoal more impressive than the more “finished” look of the works with acrylic and other painterly media. As you enter the gallery you’re faced with a wall of some 20 pencil drawings on paper, some with colored inks. They are all sketches of bowls (all of his drawings are either studies for glass works or drawings of the same subjects that show up in his glass). These bowl drawings feature large, looping pencil lines that are impressive in their energy, texture and smoothness. They appear to have been drawn lightning fast yet with absolute control. 

Tacomans will recognize many sketches done in preparation for the window displays at Union Station and for the Bridge of Glass, many with notes to himself and/or his assistants. There is one entire room plastered floor to ceiling with faxes to his assistants with notes, instructions and drawings, offering a fascinating look into the workings of his mind. There are also a couple of walls filled with biographical statements, Chihuly quotes and photographs of the artist at work.

As you walk through the galleries, the scale and audaciousness increases, as does the brilliance of his colors, culminating in a suite of seven floor-to-ceiling drawings on light boxes on a slightly curved wall. This wall is a knockout. Perhaps too much of a knockout. Perhaps too showy. As I contemplate these and some of the other larger works, I wonder whether, if I were subjected to constant exposure to these if I would soon tire of them. There is a sameness and a formulaic quality that I suspect would wear thin over time, which brings me back to the combined delicacy and strength of his charcoal and pencil drawings, which may be the real knockout  work in this show.

Chihuly Drawings, Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., through June 30, admission $5-$15, free to members, free Third Thursday, Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock St. Tacoma, (866) 468-7386 http://museumofglass.org]

Review: Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Tacoma Little Theatre

Published in The News Tribune, March 20, 2015

From left: Rodman Bolek, Jacob Tice and Bryce Smith. Photo courtesy DK Photography

Tacoma Little Theatre’s current show, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, is a quirky little comedy written by Steve Martin and directed by Rick Hornor that cleverly skews history and makes fun of theatrical traditions by breaking the fourth wall in unexpected ways. The writing is outstanding, and it is full of surprises, most of which I can’t mention without spoiling it. I can’t even tell you who some of the characters are without spoiling it — but I will give one hint. Chad Russell comes on stage like a rock star from a most unexpected place (literally and figuratively). He is billed in the program as “A visitor (from another era).” And like “Star Trek” characters messing with the space-time continuum, he changes history.

From left: odman Bolek, Jacob Tice and Ana Bury. Photo courtesy DK Photography

The Lapin Agile is a actual bar that was famous as a hangout for artists and other creative types at the turn of the 20^th century. Pablo Picasso (Bryce Smith) and Albert Einstein (Rodman Bolek) meet at the Lapin Agile and exchange witty barbs. It is 1904, two years before then 23-year-old Picasso painted “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and a year before Einstein published his “Special Theory of Relativity.”

In addition to these two geniuses, the bar is populated by a number of eccentric characters including Gaston (played with great nuanced style by John Saunders), an old man who has to go to the bathroom every few minutes; Suzanne (Ana Bury), Picasso’s latest conquest (he slept with her the night before but now barely remembers her); and an inventor named Charles Dabernow Schmendiman (Dan Lysne), an outlandish character who brings to mind any number of the wild and crazy characters author Steve Martin created on the original “Saturday Night Live.” Martin hilariously got away with such over-the-top acting. Lysne does so as well, but barely.

Bolek is outstanding as Einstein, parodying rather than copying the look and gestures of the famously eccentric genius. Smith’s takeoff on Picasso does not work as well. I don’t know if it was Smith or the director who decided to portray Picasso in such an oddly lethargic manner, but Picasso was generally known to be energetic and explosive, not the lackadaisical character portrayed here.

Jacob Tice is outstanding as the owner and bartender, Freddy. He and his waitress/girlfriend, Germaine (Colleen Bjurstrom), are likeable and down-to-earth. Tara Jensen is comic gold in a couple of small roles as the Countess and an unnamed fan of Picasso.

The set designed by Blake York and lighting by Pavlina Morris with set dressing and props by Jeffery Weaver is simply marvelous. The dark brown colors of old wood, the paintings on the walls and the many knick-knacks on the shelves behind the bar, and most beautifully the elaborately carved bar with brass foot rails create a warm and comfortable atmosphere. I’ve never seen the real Lapin Agile, but I felt that this set perfectly captured the feel of a bar these characters would hang out in. The only thing missing might have been chess players at a corner table and Hemmingway and Fitzgerald arguing literature.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is an adult comedy recommended for ages 13 and older.

WHAT: Picasso at the Lapin Agile

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Sunday, through March 30

WHERE: Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N “I” St., Tacoma

TICKETS: $22-$15

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

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Eloquent Objects at Tacoma Art Museum

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887−1986), Black Patio DEoor, 1955. Oil on canvas, 40⅛ x 30 inches. Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Gift of the artist. (Georgia O’Keefe 1283). © Copyright 2014 Amon Carter Museum of American Art.©2015 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy International Arts®.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887−1986), Mule's Skull with Pink Poinsettia, 1936. Oil on canvas, 40⅛ × 30 inches. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gift of The Burnett Foundation. 1997.06.014. (O'Keeffe 876)  © 2015 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy International Arts ^®.

Maurice Sterne (1878−1957), New Mexico Still Life, circa 1919. 0il on canvas, 10½ × 23½ inches. Lent by Denver Art Museum, Colorado. William Sr. and Dorothy Harmsen Collection, by exchange. 2013.5. © Maurice Sterne. Courtesy International Arts ^®.

Getting the show “Eloquent Objects: Georgia O’Keeffe and Still-Life Art in New Mexico” is a major coup for Tacoma Art Museum. TAM is the only West Coast stop for this major national touring exhibition featuring 22 of O’Keeffe’s paintings and 42 paintings by her contemporaries who, like O’Keefe, lived and worked in New Mexico for a while. Over a period of approximately 30 years, the deserts of New Mexico were a Mecca for modernist artists including the likes of Stuart Davis and Marsden Hartley and, the most famous of all, O’Keeffe.

“It has been a decade since the Pacific Northwest has seen so many O’Keefe paintings under one roof, and this is the first exhibition to focus on the role of the still life as a means for exploring New Mexico’s culture and diversity,” says TAM Director Stephanie Stebich.”

The paintings on view comprise an all-inclusive interpretation of the term “still life.” The works chosen are still life in spirit and approach to subject even when not specifically so as subject matter. Included are landscapes, interior scenes and abstract paintings categorized as still life because the subject matter is treated as an arrangement of objects, usually up close in tight space with little or no linear perspective. They encompass a time period from about 1920 to 1950 and are arranged according to themes: bones; blossoms; fruits, vegetables and domestic objects; cultural artifacts; architecture and abstractions. 

A seventh overriding theme not explicitly stated is space — the vast open spaces of land and sky in the Southwestern deserts, the cramped spaces of objects interior objects, and most importantly the modernist spatial arrangement of shapes inside the four sides of a picture frame, a sense of space inherited from Cezanne and from cubism. Many of the earliest works in the show are hugely influenced by Cezanne. 

The cramped space and the solidly painted fruit in Jozef Bakos’ 1926 “Still Life with Self Portrait” could easily be mistaken for a Cezanne. His “Kitchen Window” not only has an upward-tilted table like Cezanne’s, Mt. St. Victoire, the mountain Cezanne painted countless times, can be seen through the window. The arrangement of objects and space is purely abstract, and there is the fascinating inclusion of a specific issue of Life magazine on the table. Another example of a Cezanne-like still life is Maurice Sterne’s 1919 painting “New Mexico Still life.” The perspective of the cane chair (which must surely remind viewers of van Gogh’s “Bedroom at Arles) is pushed up to the surface like a Cezanne table and the peppers, specifically Southwestern, look like Cezanne’s fruit.

Harry Paul Burlin’s untitled still life with guitar looks like a copy of a cubist still life by Picasso or Braque. 

The one group of paintings that do not show such an aesthetic concern with visual space are the paintings of cultural artifacts, and speaking generally these are less successful as art than many of the other works. They are more concerned with subject matter than with composition and color.

Other outstanding non-O’Keeffe works in this show include Hartley’s “Santos, New Mexico” and Alexandre Hoque’s “Studio Corner-Taos.”

Almost every painting in the show employs similar modernist and cubist space, none more beautifully than O’Keeffe’s many paintings. In all of her paintings the main objects are seen up close and all of the shapes are classically balanced yet ever so slightly asymmetrical. The placement and relationship between the objects in her paintings and the frame are influenced by the cropping of modernist photography. She was, after all, married to the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz, and similar cropping was common among most of the modern artists of the early 20^th century. She even went so far in her awareness of the format as to instruct her framer to change the color or materials of frames at the horizon line. 

The paintings for which O’Keeffe is most famous, the large flowers, are stupendous. Her paintings of bones are beautiful and mystical. Her color variations range from striking contrasts to the most subtle of hue and value modulations. O’Keefee’s paintings are ubiquitous in reproduction on everything from calendars to placemats, but her original works are seldom shown outside the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. This exhibition will be for many a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see so many of them in the flesh. They are absolutely stunning.

Eloquent Objects: Georgia O’Keeffe and Still-Life Art in New Mexico, Tue.-Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Third Thursday 10 a.m. to –8 p.m., through June 7, $12-$14, Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/