Haiku: "Shower America"

 

Egyptian cotton

transported through Chinese hands:

my worldly washcloth.

C. G. Wagner, 2013

Women to Watch: Ringgold, Niffenegger, Hall, DeBuys

Another full arts day yesterday, courtesy of National Museum of Women in the Arts's current exhibitions (closing November 10) and the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Measure for Measure (closing today - sorry).

At NMWA, the juxtaposition of Faith Ringgold's stark, political work against the tumultuous dreams uncovered by Audrey Niffenegger (best known as the author of The Time Traveler's Wife) was startling and fresh.

detail: Faith Ringgold, American People Series #1: Between Friends, 1963; Collection Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York - See more at: NMWA

The Time Traveler's Wife, original cover art by Audrey Niffenegger, via Tower Books

We see two different female points of view - one outer directed but filtered through an individual's journey into the world. A quote by Ringgold on her early portraits was shaking: She said that, in art school, no one could teach her how to paint black skin, so she had to invent a process of mixing black into colors, creating a rich, graphic style.

In Niffenegger's self-portraits, there are unsettling images and ideas of a woman being defined and controlled by a man, a lover who chops her hair off because it displeases him. It is little wonder that her dreamscapes become intertwined with what look like death wishes, skeletons lurking within and among the female forms.

Audrey Niffenegger, Observation (detail), 2010; Collection of Larry and Laura Gerber, Highland Park, Illinois - See more at: NMWA

Niffenegger's lighter dreamscapes are epitomized in the delightful fantasy book, Raven Girl, which was not available as promised in the museum shop.

Raven Girl, original cover art by Audrey Niffenegger, via Amazon.com

And so on over to STC for Measure for Measure, for a Meetup event with a few of the same folks I got to share Henry V with over at Folger last season.

Just as Ringgold and Niffenegger demonstrate two approaches to art--external, loud, in your face versus internal, solemnly despairing, reflective--we find in Measure two different approaches to being a successful actress on stage in the work.

This Measure gives us, in the lead, Gretchen Hall as Isabella, the strong, wise, moral heroine, and Katie deBuys, melting unrecognizably into a minor part (Juliet, the beloved of Isabella's brother).

Gretchen Hall, via About the Artists

Katie deBuys, via About the Artists

You may notice right away that this Isabella is not the one portrayed in the poster art, nor included in the rehearsal photos on Facebook. Gretchen lists "standby" for this production as her most recent credit. But this 5'10" stunning redhead (a lookalike for a young Rebecca de Mornay), made her mark for me in the recent ReDiscovery Series reading of Rutherford and Son. Her character was the strong, moral woman standing up against dominating, immoral man. Both Gretchen and her characters are memorable in every way.

Katie is different. The fact that our Meetup gang did NOT recognize her in what is a tertiary role is a testament to her craft. Just as astonished as we all were that the same actress could be both the mesmerizing and playful Katherine of France and the young boy, just a soldier under Henry, here again, she astonishes, turning herself inside out to be who she needs to be.

"Meeting" these four women artists at once validates all our points of view, our approaches to life. Some of us speak out, shout, get noticed, seen, heard. Some of us reflect and project, melt meaningfully into our worlds, work with the tools we are given--our spirits, minds, and souls.

Love, hosaa

just juxtaposing

memo from maintenance

I unpublished a few posts to get the vampires and other fakers from reporting nonexistent hits. I'll republish them in a few days. ~hosaa

Art of Devastation

I loaded up a little too much on experiences today and probably won't say all I want to. Rather than delay (i.e., procrastinate long enough to forget), here goes.

First discovery this weekend was the photography of Brad Pogatetz, on display with a ton of other artists of various media at the annual Bethesda Art Festival just down the street from me. Brad's booth was the only one that really caught my eye as I wandered through yesterday.

Brad Pogatetz. Credit: C. G. Wagner

I don't want to disparage the various sculptors, fiber manipulators, glass blowers, jewelry makers, wood workers, painters, and what not, but I just wasn't captivated as I was with Brad's reflections on abandoned and decaying artifacts of civilization.

The subject matter may not be unique or new; what drew me to Brad's booth was that his work reminded me of the piece I recently saw in the Huffington Post on the photographs of Detroit's abandoned theaters. Unlike the more documentary approach of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, Brad seeks patterns and light, color and humor, in his subjects. And he finds hope. He doesn't document our despair only to abandon us again. He rescues our humanity from what we have left behind, what we have let happen to us.

My next stop today was the Portrait Gallery to see the "Dancing the Dream" exhibit, detouring through "Democracy of Images" photography exhibit at Smithsonian's American Art Museum. More on these later. My real destination for the day was Ford's Theater's production of The Laramie Project.

The Laramie Project, cast. Photo by Carol Rosegg (via Facebook)

I've already covered Ford's "Not Alone" exhibition of the letters that came in response to Matthew Shepard's brutal murder 15 years ago. I was prepared to be just as moved, but the play was more powerful than I expected, even knowing what it was about.

Like the photographs by Brad Pogatetz, the artists composing The Laramie Project began with the beauty of the Wyoming landscape, journeyed through horrific inhumanity, to eventually end again in beauty and hope, with Dennis Shepard's epiphany that Matthew did not die alone. He died with his friends: the stars, the sun, and God.

As for the production: The dramatization of interviews gave Laramie the same kind of staging as shows I've previously discussed, like ReEntry, wherein the actors do very little acting with each other. That staging normally drives me bats, but it worked for this production because, as one of the interviewees kept reminding the troupe of actors who came to tell their story, "You have to tell it correct." The goal was to convey the townspeople's stories in their own words, and that was how it was staged.

Holly Twyford, Kimberly Schraf in The Laramie Project. Photo by Carol Rosegg

One other great thing (for me) was to see Kimberly Gilbert in another role so soon after The Beauty Queen of Lenane over at Round House. It wasn't her fault I hated the play. I just hated the play.

Kimberly Gilbert in The Laramie project. Photo by Carol Rosegg

Kimberly was just one of a very strong cast that slid fluidly among multiple roles--townspeople, media invaders, and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project (led by Moisés Kaufman). We are all the observer and the observed. Tell the truth, correctly, and our humanity will prevail.

The Laramie Project, Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C.
Written by Moisés Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic Theater Project
Directed by Matthew Gardiner

Cast
Kimberly Gilbert 
Mitchell Hébert
Paul Scanlan 
Kimberly Schraf
Chris Stezin 
Katherine Renee Turner
Holly Twyford
Craig Wallace

Scenic Design: Beowulf Boritt
Costume Design: Helen Huang
Lighting Design: Rui Rita
Original Music and Sound Design: John Gromada
Projection Design: Clint Allen

This without Borders

Last night's preview performance of This at Round House Theatre gave me some confidence for the rest of the season after the dismal Beauty Queen start. (Yeah it got great reviews, but I'm not a critic. I'm audience. Look at the subtitle of this blog. Hehehe I said "blog.")

The premise is sort of Big Chilly, with college friends growing up, getting tired and cranky, playing their petty-competitive word games, and wanting sex with each other. So it's pretty familiar psychographics here.

The emotional fragility of the central character, Jane (Lise Bruneau), and how it affected her friends was the focal point; in some ways, her breakdown at the end, over loss and guilt, resembled that of the "beauty queen" in the previous play, but the touchstone of honesty and integrity leading to growth is what lifted the story.

Plus the word play in This is good fun, and the cast was energetic.

Via Facebook: Today's rehearsal of THIS featured a guest actor – three-month old Charlie Bassett. Two characters in the play have recently had a child. Charlie offered his services for a one-day appearance so our actors could experience what it was like to hold an actual baby onstage as their characters. Charlie won’t, though, be appearing onstage during the run of the show and his part will be played by a fake (but realistic looking) baby. Pictured here: (front row) Todd Scofield, Felicia Curry, Tia Shearer Bassett (Charlie’s mom), Charlie Bassett, (back row) Ryan Rilette, Michael Glenn, Will Gartshore, Lise Bruneau.

I particularly liked the singing of Felicia Curry (as Marrell), a smoky, bluesy voice well-suited for the sad, torchy piano bar scenes underscoring the play's emotional landscape. (Original music by Peter Eldridge and arrangements, sound design by Eric Shimelonis.)

I also really enjoyed the scenic design by James Kronzer, who engineered set transitions on mesmerizing concentric merry-go-rounds.

Via Facebook

A little off topic, it was interesting to read the program note from producing artistic director Ryan Rilette reflecting on the financial and technological challenges plaguing the theater upon his arrival last year and the upgrades made since.

By the time I arrived last year, the need for new technology had become acute. Staff struggled to work with dying desktops and Internet that was too slow to even watch a promotional video for our shows. Our ticketing and donations software didn't talk to one another, and ... [e]ven worse, the technology we use to create the work you see on stage was on its last legs.

Been there. Oy.

Luckily for RHT, they had a capital campaign that actually told donors they needed new computers. It seemed to me that similar suggestions made here were either ignored or rejected as an embarrassing admission of incompetence. (How is it incompetent to be frugal with members' dues as long as humanly possible?) And this "nobody donates money for your staff's computers" suggestion is clearly an unsupported opinion. I feel a little vindicated for reaching out to our own board for handouts. We finally got our upgrade last year, too.

This
Written by Melissa James Gibson
Directed by Ryan Rilette

Cast:
Jane: Lise Bruneau 
Marrell: Felicia Curry 
Tom: Todd Scofield 
Alan: Michael Glenn 
Jean-Pierre: Will Gartshore 

scenic designer: James Kronzer 
costume designer: Ivania Stack
lighting designer: Daniel MacLean Wagner 
original score/arrangements/sound design: Eric Shimelonis
original music: Peter Eldridge

October 9 - November 3, 2013, in Bethesda, Maryland

 Love, (that) hosaa

[published October 11, 2013, republished without changes October 25]

Discovering ReDiscovery Readings

Sadly, it looks like The Laramie Project at Ford's is not the next event on my calendar, after all. Bad government, bad! Hoping to reschedule. It would have been a bitch to get there on Sunday anyway, since Metro will be doing track work in the middle of my route.

While waiting for the government to shut down this past Monday night, I got to head down to the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Lansburgh venue for a staged reading of a play called Rutherford and Son. No, I never heard of it either. I'll confess that the main reason I wanted to go to this reading was because it was directed by Tom Story, one of my favorite local actors. I might have mentioned him a time or twelve.

I met up with one of my Shakespeare Reader friends, and we huddled in the frosty theater, down close but not too close. Front row is great for a Clay Aiken concert, but nowhere else do we want to be looking up the performers' noses or getting rained on by saliva-soaked soliloquies. Anyway, we sat and waited for the reading.

And waited. And waited. Well, Tom did a great job introducing all the actors, but then he brought out a scholarly prologue, which whipped us into a torpor. The scholar was clearly thrilled to be on stage, but preceded her speech with speeches describing what would be in the speech. She needed an editor.

I will say something of the actor's behavior during this sequence, though I didn't witness it myself: one of the actors on stage, behind the scholar's back, apparently was doing a bit of eye-rolling and watch-checking. Another audience member mentioned it during the intermission, declaring that behavior a "hoot." I would have found it rude, had I seen it.

If you're on a lecture panel with someone else, who is giving the speech of a lifetime (or several), there has to be a polite way of encouraging them to wrap things up for the sake of those who've come for the main event on a weeknight.

So anyway, we had the historical and cultural analysis of the play but no plot summary unless you were able to squint through the four dense paragraphs in the four-page program. I did not. But I did read a Wikipedia version of the story, which called to mind the relationships of the Child Trumps to the Donald, as seen during Celebrity Apprentice. Those kids clearly know where their bread is buttered; while the Rutherford sons and daughters also were aware of the patriarchal power wielded by the elder Rutherford, most of them survived by fleeing.

I really enjoyed hearing the stripped-down version of the play. I was surprised by how much acting the actors actually did, given that they only had five hours to rehearse. My friend said that it was like a radio play. (I will confess here, also, that the preliminary academic torpor, combined with the soothing effects of a nice stuffed flounder and a bright sauvignon, made it impossible to fully enjoy the first half. After intermission, with a drink and a pee, we're on to Act Three.... Twooo and a Half, my attention had been revived.)

So, squinting at the back of the program, I see:

Works for the ReDiscovery Series are chosen by Artistic Director Michael Kahn and presented by members of the artistic staff. Guest artists join actors from the Shakespeare Theatre Comapny and the Washington theatrical community to investigate these great but lesser-known plays of world literature.

The actors participating were:
Robert Hogan (Rutherford)
Fred Arsenault (John)
Gretchen Hall (Mary)
Eric Martin Brown (Richard)
Colleen Delany (Janet)
Catherine Flye (Aunt Anne)
Chris Genebach (Martin)
Jennifer Mendenhall (Mrs. Henderson, a fleeting but powerful presence)

There are three more TBD readings scheduled this season, so I hope to see them, too.

Love, hosaa
watching art get made