Membership Has Its Rewards

What a nice little surprise in the mail today - a "token" of appreciation from the Kennedy Center for being a member for 25 years. Keen! Nice to have an anniversary to celebrate.

I'm trying to remember "where" I was in my life and career 25 years ago that I decided I had enough moolah to start contributing it to arts organizations, which are, after all, not curing cancer or providing shoes to ailing orphans. I'd been at my job going on eight years and so must have just begun putting the "salad years" behind me. (Trust, me it's still rather famished around my checkbook even today.)

Anyway, recognizing the joys, and even meaning, that theaters, museums, and concerts have given me, that's about when I began signing up. The membership benefits are pretty nice, though I don't always take advantage of them. At the Kennedy Center, only in the last couple of years have I done the Thursday morning NSO dress rehearsals. At my level, I'm entitled to bring a pal, but everyone I know works at that hour of the week. I myself never took that Arts Day Off until last year. If I'd known how fun it was, I would have done it sooner. (Another benefit I was too shy to take advantage of on my own was a recent reception and backstage tour of the Eisenhower Theater.)

Ford's Theater is another one with nice member benefits. I get the annual Ford's Theater calendar, which is beautifully photographed and printed, but which I always give away because I make my own calendars every year (two, in fact--Clay and non-Clay).

The sweetest benefit at Ford's is the personal touch. If you're a member, and you buy your theater tickets through the box office instead of Ticketbastard, you get a nice envelope taped to your seat, with a thank-you note on letterhead and a slim box of mints with Lincoln's face (on the box, not the mints). This last time, when I went to 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, I even got a handwritten "enjoy the show" message from the staff member I've been harassing to find me a recording of either Clay Aiken singing "Sarah" at the 2008 gala or Edward Duke during any of his Jeeves appearances, 1984-89.

Ford's also sends invitations to lots of events, most of which, again, I'm too shy to attend on my own. (If I were to give my theaters a little tiny suggestion: do Meetups.)

Museums and galleries also offer social events as membership benefits, but I get more out of the magazines, even if they do pile up in my "reading" tray. Some good ones are Folger Shakespeare Library, the Phillips Collection, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, American Indian, and of course Smithsonian (which, ironically, somehow missed sending me the May issue, on science fiction and futurism. Maybe they were too ashamed!)

Also noteworthy in the member-benefits department is the fabulous Shakespeare Theatre Company, though I have to say I've mostly been mooching off a friend's STC member benefits. Yes, it's probably about time I invested in my own.

So anyway, thank you, Arts, for letting me join you once in a while. And Happy Anniversary, dear Kennedy Center.

Love, hosaa
Member of a civilization worth supporting

"Commit" Is a Verb

I'm "stuck" with an extra ticket to see Sabrina Fair at Ford's Theatre in a couple of weeks because an acquaintance who said she wanted to see it with me suddenly remembered a prior commitment with her daughter.

I'm clear on the concept of family coming first, but unclear on the concept of making a commitment you can't keep.

At first she just wanted me to change the date. Sorry, honey, Ticketmaster doesn't do exchanges. That's why being a subscriber and buying from the box office makes a difference. I have to exchange dates at Round House Theatre at least twice a season.

Anyway, in the process of apologizing and proclaiming how much she loves Ford's Theatre, she said (for about the eleventeenth time) that she is going to join Ford's as a member.

Commit to join or not to join. It's a commitment either way. Just saying you're going to do it doesn't count.

As I was walking to work today, I started counting some of the organizations I currently support (mostly arts and culture). In addition to the nonprofit association I work for, World Future Society, there are my alumni associations, Grinnell College and Syracuse University.

In the adventure of being a Clay Aiken fan, I have also supported the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, now known as the National Inclusion Project (NIP), as well as Unicef USA. I've gone along with a lot of Clay's "asks," including donating to Unicef recently for aid to children victimized by the floods in Pakistan.

I also went along with that Cookie company promo last year, wherein you rounded up as many of your e-mail addresses as possible to vote for NIP in a competition among thousands of nonprofit groups. The good news is that NIP won $10,000. The bad news is all the e-mail spam I get from the Cookie company.

I chose not to participate in this year's corporate scheme (Pepsi's) to collect active e-mail addresses, in spite of the fact that NIP and other worthy organizations had the potential to win some money. I also chose not to attend this year's gala "Champions of Change" fundraiser, because when I did so last year, it was a lot of money that I could not divert to the other organizations I've committed to.

Again, these are my choices. Other people have committed to these activities. Good! I'm certainly not saying other people shouldn't do it. I'm just saying I'm not doing it.

Anyway, here's my own little roundup of current commitments (not just Facebook fandoms):

World Future Society (where I've worked for 29 years)
Grinnell College alumni
Syracuse University alumni
USS Emmons Association (my father's shipmates)
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Theatre Communications Group
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Round House Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Phillips Collection
WETA (Public Television and FM classical music)
MPT (Maryland Public Television)

love, hosaa
committing

A Picture of Mr. Ripley

Back from the Round House Theatre's first show of the 2010-11 season, The Talented Mr. Ripley, adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel by playwright Phyllis Nagy and director Blake Robison.

I'm sorry to say I was disappointed in the production, a faint echo of last season's opener, the similarly themed A Picture of Dorian Gray. Whereas the Oscar Wilde classic had complexity and a cunning charm (not to mention RHT's stunning production, a spiffy Sixties rendering of Warholian decadance), the talents of this Ripley guy eluded me.

Nothing wrong with the acting (Karl Miller in the title role), but the static set and dreary, low-key direction couldn't keep me from drifting off.

Maybe it was just me. Tired, achy, a long day at work, and a good full meal before the show. But maybe it wasn't me. Who knows. Last year the Washington Post hated "A Picture of Dorian Gray," whereas I loved it and thought it one of the bravest productions RHT had ever done. So probably WaPo will love their Mr. Ripley--the couple sitting next to me did.

Anyway, that's my recap. Time for bed.

love, hosaa
wondering if I am officially a little old lady, with endurance only for the Sunday matinees anymore....

Wandering Souls: Winter's Tale Well-Told

I cannot praise Wandering Souls highly enough, a small troupe of players bringing to passionate life both the comedy and drama of Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale." It was a seven-actor, 20-character tour de force by the peripatetic Wandering Souls, performing their "outreach" production in the beautiful art deco Bethesda Theatre in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, for a limited three-show engagement.

Pared down to its 90-minute essence (the play is perhaps best known for having the greatest stage direction of all time: "Exit, pursued by a bear"), "The Winter's Tale" was accessible to the small audience who was privileged to see it. Though the company did its own marketing, the booking at the between-seasons theater was apparently spur-of-the-moment; the first signal of its existence was the change on the marquee on the day of the first performance.

The vibrant young cast (could any of them have yet seen his or her 30th year?) brought conviction and energy to their multiple roles; the awkwardness of female casting in male roles was deftly handled (Kristen Garaflo as Florizel, Karen Novak as larcenous rogue Autolycus, and puckish Kelsey Meikeljohn as sons of a king and a shepherd), all effusing great charm. One could even hold a warm spot for the irrationally jealous Leontes (JJ Area), for his beliefs, though misguided, were so utterly heartfelt.

The soul of Shakespeare's tragicomedy belongs to the gracious queen Hermione, unjustly condemned for that very graciousness, and her outcast daughter Perdita raised as a shepherdess, parts played with equal helpings of irreproachable nobility and pastoral gaiety by Betsy Rosen.

Kudos to director Adam Jonas Segaller's smart adaptation and clever "stripped down" staging. As actors dart behind a curtain to make a costume (and character) change, or sit on folding chairs off to the side to await their next entrance, there is no attempt for realism except through our connection to the emotions portrayed. This was how Shakespeare often introduced audiences to the staging of his works--suspend your need to see the great battlefields or the passage of time--and the beckoning to use our imaginations is a compelling invitation to adventure.

Kudos also to the Bethesda Theatre and facilities director Tom Davis for offering Wandering Souls the run of the place. The use of the professional venue was intended to show the larger theater-going community what this intrepid band of players is committed to doing elsewhere on its tours of churches, homeless shelters, nursing homes, detention facilities, and community centers.

According to the Wandering Souls' mission statement, printed on the back of the single-sheet program, the troupe is driven by "a belief that the arts can fuel our imagination, engage our personal growth and help unite individuals and communities. Yet, the richness of the arts is often considered a luxury. By bringing stripped-down, high quality, energetic performances to those who have little or no access, we hope to break down that misconception and provide opportunities for a broader cultural exchange."

As the company's Artistic Director Becky Peters was giving her introductory speech before the play--explaining how important it was not just to make the arts more accessible but to actually go into the communities who would not otherwise benefit from these experiences--I commented to my companion, "This was what I wanted to do 30 years ago."

The final performance at Bethesda Theatre is tonight (September 19) at 8 p.m.

links
Bethesda Theatre
Wandering Souls

love, hosaa,
soul still wandering

Stimulating Arts and Minds

Gosh. I thought I was done tirading about supporting the arts, and could go back to talking about what matters: futurism and Clay Aiken.

The Washington Post this morning carries an editorial by David A. Fahrenthold, entitled "Very Clever. But Is It a Stimulus?" Don't get me wrong - I don't automatically think anyone asking practical questions is a jackasss.

In fact, Fahrenthold does a good job at illustrating the main concerns that people have about investing any money into the arts: what's in it for us? What's the payoff? And how will artists really use the money? (And will I approve?)

He asked a poet how she would spend the money, and unfortunately the answer was a little self-absorbed: she'd buy more notebooks and spend more time on her poems. Fahrenthold goes on to lament:

But it's unclear what kind of ripples she would create in the broader economy. ...And if you think that there's a big commercial market for good poetry -- dense, crystalline stuff that gives up its meaning only with time, like the bitter juice that seeps from a grated onion . . . then you are unaware that the No. 1 song in the country recently was Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You."

BIG opportunity missed here by Fahrenthold, his poet interviewee, and arts supporters in general. If the government is going to put strings on its "investment" in artists, instead of demanding "Tell us how many jobs you'll create and convince me your art is worthwhile," it should be demanding that the artist take a week and go teach a workshop in a school where arts funding was cut.

It isn't fair to blame it all on the success of Kelly Clarkson's current pop trifle. I guess you could applaud the stimulus she's giving the dying record and radio industry. But it's sort of like giving CPR to a corpse. There's more than the economy that needs stimulating.

Showing young people that there are higher forms of expression is an investment in a future of not just better art, but better minds. We're not necessarily teaching them to be artists, but to be thinkers and creators. It stops the decay of moribund minds, which don't just wither from neglect, but turn toxic if we let it happen.