Theory/Practice - A Performance Blog | Jessica Wallenfels

Rumpus Room Dance Breaks Wallenfels' Blogging Silence!

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:48:43 -0700

I'll spare you the "why I haven't blogged lately" speech - you've read those before. I caught the prequel to Rumpus Room Dance's new show, "Resa," at Ace Cleaners tonight, thanks to my friend Gina who's apparently on the "cool people" list I'm not. And thank God for the forward button, because Stephen Laks and Rachel Tess' modern dance troupe is as good as Tim DuRoche promised me - buncha Julliard grads quixotically united in Portland for a piece about journeying (translation of Resa, apparently). If you didn't happen down to the Ace Hotel's ultrahip extra gallery space tonight, catch them at Disjecta starting July 24th.

It was like watching five really good dancers doing Viewpoints, which could be torture for some but exactly the antidote to several hours of gnashing through the budget for my upcoming project and its associated grant. Thanks to a quick vent with Betsy Cross over the stress induced by large sums of money, and the responsibility that comes with it (and coincidentally her paying my way), I was ready to observe outlandishly dressed dancers interacting with a space - a beautiful space, I might add, that reminded me of what Trisha Mead told me about weddings: entrust your friends with jobs, because even if it isn't pro, it will be artful and beautiful.

Rachel Tess started out stretched lengthwise on a table encrusted with leaf-filled glassware, under bunches of branches tied and hung upside down. Her journey was to scooch down the table without breaking anything, and by the time her upper body was upside down, they had begun. Luis Rodriguez was mystifying as he struggled to hide under fabrics, either inside a dress-up trunk or half submerged under a rug. Stephan Laks is just beautiful. The literature said they'd be doing a piece every 20 minutes - and maybe it was that length of time when Tess told everyone watching they were welcome to stay. But nothing stopped and nothing started over - and if you're planning a five-hour movement improv, well, I'm gonna stick around to see how it goes.

It reminded me of tripping with my friend Melinda, except in a much more beautiful environment than we'd ever had the chance to - relationships formed and dissolved, people worked out their own shit, people took breaks and disappeared, became fascinated with objects, got engaged in repetitive motions, such as writing the same sentence over and over - and the space offered furniture which eventually blurred the line between audience and performer, as observers (including myself) became emboldened to cross to different vantage points in the space, as well as lights to get under and desks to get inside, wherein lay pieces of paper which when read from, revealed odd prop lists with lots of lamps and pillows. Mary Oslund looked on with bemusement and what looked like pride.

At one point two men found an entrancing duet on either side of the Ace Cleaners' plate glass windows. Rodriguez began telling a story about dating in Stockholm, introducing humor into the piece along with his description of the dislocation of a professional dancer's life: many countries, many people, much alienation. Later, Issac Spencer spoke of Portugal, and Rodriguez chimed in unexpectedly; the two bantered in high vowels. All accompanied by dancers reacting to the voice, to the music, to the space, and to the audience, which included an adorable little girl who tried to join in.

Called onto the Carpet. Or Carpa, as the Case May Be.

Mon, 25 May 2009 09:57:11 -0700

Yesterday I went to

"The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa"

at Miracle Theater

and the post-play panel discussion on "Seeds of Latino Identity: The Art of El Teatro Campesino," featuring the Center Theatre Group's associate director and director of new play production, Diane Rodriguez, as well as Portland-based regional director and Amy Gonzalez and 'Pancho Villa' actor Elrubiel Valladores, founder of Woodburn's newest youth theater through PCUN, Oregon's farmworkers union.

Where to begin? The panel, for me, was like a scroll tracing back and intertwining the roots of all the theatrical forms that have pulled on me throughout my life, and seeing how it all goes back to the same tree, where those roots were once joined.

I was lucky enough to have met Diane in LA circa the late '90s, when she was the head of the Mark Taper Forum's Latino Theater Initiative - this was a time where the Taper had arms to specifically grow theater speaking to Latino, African American, Asian American and I think, physically-disabled populations. Diane was and is a vibrant and approachable artist/producer working for diversity and great art in LA's most vaunted theatrical institution. My friend had told me, "Diane's the real deal. She was an actress with Teatro Campesino in the 70s." I knew enough to be impressed by that thanks to Mady Schutzman, who'd schooled me on Campesino's grassroots, taking-theater-to-the-migrant-farmworkers-in-the-fields-where-they-worked aesthetic. Of course this led to Cesar Chavez's legendary organization of those farmworkers, with help from Campesino and another of his favorite outfits, Los Lobos. I got re-schooled on all this from interviewing Dan Guerrero, who's "Gaytino," performed at Miracle last year, Diane directed; Dan couldn't rave enough about Diane.

Hearing Diane talk story about those days was like "Everything you've ever wanted to ask Diane but were afraid to ask," as I told her: her insistence on wearing platform shoes and short, short skirts even as she climbed in and out of the flatbed trucks that served as the Campesino's stages; performing with no tech, meaning "your props and the sun," as she described it, in broad daylight, or under a carpa.

Like 'Pancho Villa,' written around 1962, the Campesino's work used a broad, comic style to communicate its social commentary on issues like underpaid workers, unacceptable working conditions, and the larger struggle of Latino assimilation in America. The company would improvise, and the young playwright Luis Valdez would write from their improvisations; conversely, he'd bring in dialogue and the company would work it, morphing it into something else. Re-Theatre Instrument is doing that same process right here right now with their rewritings of 'Lear' and 'Much Ado' from actors' improvisations, and our reinvention even of the classic text by using 20s dances to suit the roaring New Orleans era.

Amazing that that tradition continues today - a process Diane cited as then being inspired by the San Francsico Mime Troupe

and Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, the founder/mad genius behind Dell'Arte International, which I attended 03-04 and which continues to churn out graduates every year for the past 30 years. For Valdez, we're talking Italian commedia dell'arte tradition, Mexicanized. Now there is some food for a fundraiser: Mexican Italian. Chicano theater tradition even has its own version of circus - Diane described doing sommersalts (!) in the aisles as the audience took its seats (stands?) in the house. Like any living organism, the work was in constant rewrites - with any one work, they had The Delano version, the San Jose version, etc., all company shorthand for the way the piece had changed from town to town and how they'd do it next.

Of course for D'A the Mime Troupe's work is still alive and well, and Carlo has near Godlike status (he even haunts the place as a ghost). Diane also connected it to her later studies with Peter Brook, who had everyone sit on the same piece of carpet in a circle and would invite them in one by one to die in front of one another. Representing your willingness and ability to leave it all behind the moment you step on stage, a complete shedding of your own life and personality for the character who must live completely; "that you come half empty and half full" to the work, Diane said. Of course Valdez was more or less doing the same thing Julian Beck and Judith Malina were doing with The Living Theater in New York, where (Mady's father arrested them for tax evasion, but that's another post, and) their work was totally avant garde if orgiastic. It follows that this stuff goes back to Boal and even Brecht, and you could say Moliere, and dare I say "Mutt,": it's all social satire delivered through laughter. 'Pancho Villa,' written while Valdez was still a college student, certainly delivers on both ends: the metaphor of Pancho's insatiable appetite for justice and slapsticky slurs live side by side. Director Olga Sanchez brought it all together for a tight and funny production.

Amy Gonzalez connected with El Teatro Campesino in the 90s, when it had become more of a community based theater. She described Luis and his family members as still involved (one of Luis' sons has taken over as artistic director), but the company/community members perform the works created twenty years before. The work is passed down to them like lore that they they revive. Interesting that during the q & a when Diane was asked by 'Pancho Villa' castmember Yolanda Suarez (also in "Mutt") 'What are you doing to make your theater accessible to Latino population in your community?' Diane was very clear: I brought theater to the people at one time in my career; now I make theater for people who want to come to it. (For recent examples, see "Lydia" and 'Bengal Tiger.') Valdez himself went on to write for large regional theater, even getting close to Broadway with "Zoot Suit" and directing a film version. How do these roots inform their work today? No one wanted to speak for Luis, but Diane mentioned writing a play that is about a middle class Latina woman, where the play is not directly about the woman's ethnicity - because, like Valdez, she wants to create what isn't being seen or represented. A regular middle class woman's struggles and challenges, who happens to be Latina.

The feeling of Teatro Campesino now as described by Amy reminded me of Cornerstone Theater Company in LA, where I'm proud to be an associate artist and a better artist for having worked with pros and community members in many productions. Elrubiel Valladores carries the torch forward with his new youth theater group, who as Olga and Diane pointed out, believe that they can do theater as a result of the work that's gone before by El Teatro Campesino and others.

Your Money Your Business: Chekhov Edition

Thu, 21 May 2009 06:44:48 -0700

Kudos to ART's PR manager, because Joe Smith of KGW was at the curtain of "Three Sisters" last night facing the light with a very excited Jon Kretzu. Is it because the NYT reported that adapter and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' new show, "Superior Doughnuts" is moving from Steppenwolf to Broadway? Or is Joe a closet Chekhov lover?

In any case, in the Steppenwolf production of 'Doughnuts' last summer, Michael McKean (“This is Spinal Tap,” “Laverne and Shirley”) played the main character, the proprietor of a run-down doughnut shop in Chicago. Tina Landau (ah, "Contact" in LA, anyone? Remember our pre-9/11 preoccupation with life in outer space?) will direct.

Back at the Portland ranch, I had a random thought during 'Sisters': what would it be like to see real Russian people doing Chekhov? I mean, not to play into stereotypes, but you know how Eastern Europeans are like, different from Americans? How would it be different to feel and see a specific, cultural expression of Slavic passion and expression through those lines?

I must tell you I love the blog Culture Shock. What a lively, if slightly guilty discussion ensued over "Glee." I like the local local theater flav and the offbeat voices. Check it out!

Update to yesterday's post: did you see the sneaky, perfect guerilla marketing tagged to the O's announcement that 'Joe Turner' is getting yanked from PCS? The not-so-cryptic comment by "damebovary" read:

Look out for a new theatre company premiering in February 2010.

BaseRoots Theatre Company (BTC) is founded by African-American Portlanders, including professional actors Bobby Bermea, Kimberly Howard, Kevin Jones and Victor Mack.

www.baserootstheatre.blogspot.com

Ooooooooh!

Whatup with this?

Wed, 20 May 2009 07:30:43 -0700

The O's Portland Arts Watch has rocked me today with this news: Theater news: Center Stage, Artists Rep and OSF, in which it announces that PCS is doing some cannodling with its previously announced season, most notably doing away with "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Whatup with that? The venerable Rose Riordan will see her "The Receptionist" in the mighty tower (will it have the same cast?) on account of 'Thurgood Marshall' may go on a Broadway Tour (preventing production regionally), and "The Best So Far" got yanked for "aesthetic sharpening and fundraising purposes." Whaaaa????

The best news is that "The Receptionist" is a damn fine show (Sharon Lee and Laura Faye Smith are pictured below in the Coho Production). The bad news is that Mead Hunter's carefully planned season legacy is being tampered with. My buddy Aaron Posner's adaptation of "The Chosen" will move to the mainstage and two news shows, "Ben Franklin Unplugged" (a one man show) and "Mike's Incredible Indian Adventure" (about doing Neil Simon in India) have been added.

In other news, OSF's "Twelfth Night" will be directed by The Old Globe's resident artistic director Darko Tresnjak with scenic design by hotshit of the hotshittest, David Zinn. Curiosity: piqued.

But back to Joe Turner. Gone already and not even come. Thoughts?

3 Lucky 13s and Collaboration

Tue, 19 May 2009 07:45:26 -0700

Last Wednesday, May 13, was my last day at a pr firm. Nuff said. The next day, I turned onto SW 13th to navigate my way toward Portland Actors Conservatory, where I will officially take the post of Marketing Coordinator as of June 1. Later that day, I took exit 13 off the 205 to get to the Clackamas DEQ station - where my slightly battered '95 Nissan Pathfinder passed its smog check, allowing me (after the DEQ fee) to the right to pay my $54 for another two years of car registration. Now, can you beat that?

On to more pertinent news: all this talk of collaboration at the Portland Arts Summit, covered comprehensively by the O here and here. My good friends Bill Rauch and Michael Rohd spoke, two venerable practitioners of the art. What did they have to say? My subjective summary:

1) It's uncomfortable

2) One doesn't know where its leading

3) It's inclusive

One of the striking things was the group's articulation of what collaboration is not: led by Michael, attendees did an exercise in small groups at their tables completing the sentence "It's not collaboration if..." What they came up with? Think of it as a checklist for your workplace:

"It's not collaboration if... you think you know the answer already" and..."It's not collaboration if you're afraid to fail." Other tables volunteered useful sentences, too: "if someone has to win", "if it's compulsory," "if there's no talking and/or no listening," "if there's no trust."..."You need to create a safe space to go to dangerous places."

It makes me think of Janea Dahl and the Young Player's Academy's upcoming presentation on techniques for bringing creativity to corporate environments.

Questions: if Barry Lopez says he has no gift for collaboration, why did he speak? I guess since he's an author (a lonely business), he's off the hook.

Big to Small

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:34:27 -0700

In New York, theater marketers are taking desperate measures to fill seats - allowing, even encouraging texting during Neil LaBute's "Reasons to be Pretty," (pictured) which has been box office challenged to the tune of 30% capacity despite positive reviews and award noms.

In the texting game, you rate your own attractiveness as well as the attractiveness of those seated next to them on a scale of Carrot Top to Angelina Jolie. How very LaBute of them. In the Company of Men, anyone?

In little old Portland, Culture Shock drew the eye of Oregonian writer Barry Johnson with its breathless update on Profile Theater's 09-10 season.

Personally, I'm slaving away on Re-Theater Instrument's production of "Much Ado About Nothing" which opens this Friday, as well as a brand new dance/camp/phys theater piece for Untrained I, (creator of Fertile Ground's "Kick/Ball/Change") which goes off next Friday at Someday Lounge.

Numbered List! Numbered List!

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:38:47 -0700

In an homage to the business world I work in, I thought I'd do a post that disclosed

The Five Eight Things To Think About Before You Start Choreographing a Play

(I'll even include some stock photography.) It was inspired in part by Chris Brogan's many numbered lists on social media, and in part by a conversation with my friend and collaborator Kristin Olson, who is branching out from dance choreography to choreography for theater with an upcoming PSU production of "Imaginary Invalid." She asked me about my process, and here's a much pithier version of what I said.

1. What Purpose Does this Dance Serve To Tell The Story of This World?

What's it doing there? How does it need to further the story? Does it draw the audience in? Give them a break? Does it change the course of the main character's choices?

2. Know the Play

Inside and out, backwards and forwards. Can't have number one without number two.

3. Ask About Length

It only takes a little bit of dance to go from serving the piece to getting in the way of the play, and it takes a shocking amount of time to craft even a minute of choreography, much less teach it. Make sure you're on the same page as the director - which may change of course - but somewhere to start.

4. Technical Considerations

If you don't find out about shoes, dresses, floor covering for the stage, set, rake, props, and all of the other physical implications on the dance, you will be choreographing in a vacuum, and you will be sorry. Even better? The cast needs to complete a set change sometime during the dance. Think it through.

5. Feel the Room

If you don't know the cast, get into rehearsal asap or at least get a contact sheet and some pictures of the actors. For me, it's important to have some sense of their movement in real life to know what I want to do with 'em in the dance.

6. Research, Research, Research

This can go on as long or as short as you have time and patience for. Especially if its a period piece, or you're working in a genre you're not up on. For instance, doing "Romeo & Juliet" at OSF in 2007, Bill asked for high Elizabethan Renaissance dance, as well as hip hop of the present day - neither of which I felt I could roll out of bed doing, if you know what I mean. I took private lessons with Renaissance Dance experts, read a ton of books, watched videos, took hip hop for a few months at Vega Dance Lab - which meant the hip hop for Distracted came a lot easier - and even chaperoned a high school dance to see what the kids were doing. Incidentally, it was pretty dirty - which was great on stage, IMO (you know who you are, Rene Millan).

7. The Troubled Child

Every cast has one person who feels as though they are terrible with choreography and dancing. Be ready to break it down for this person, simplify where you can, throw stuff out, work around and find their strengths.

8. It Ain't About the Choreography

In the end, choreography for theater is not one whit about the steps. It is about the actors' ability to act through the steps. This is something you usually reveal to them at the end, letting them struggle over the minutiae of every nuance until 2nd dress, when you realize, "Oh my gosh, if they don't come to life out there, my dance is going to fall flat on its ass." Then you rally and cry and tell them to "throw it all away" and "I don't care about the steps," which confuses but excites them. You bang the drum to have them bring the emotional qualities to the dance, whatever they may be, because by then they have the steps as good as its gonna get. And they remember, oh yeah, it's still acting.

Just Josephine

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:06:51 -0700

Came upon this in researching ReTheatre's upcoming "Much Ado."

In Praise of Softness.

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:17:03 -0700

Friday to Imago for Holcombe Waller's "Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest." Alright already, I thought, PICA has been hawking this guy for years! I suppose it was the WNYC interview that finally did it for me, that and the fact that I was surprised to find his voice pleasingly reminiscent of a gay, white, 70s styled Jose Gonzalez. (Wait a second, is Jose Gonzalez gay? It doesn't say so here). Sidenote: WNYC interview aside, Holcombe said during the show banter that his recent OPB interview has been lifechanging - people think of him differently, his yoga teacher hugged him, etc. Publicists, take note!

Anywhoo, not only is Waller's voice pretty incredible, his Healers are beautiful too - it all comes on so softly. French horn, banjo, cello, violin. Believe it. Not to geek out, but I think their amplification was one of the most standout features of the show. They were all body miked Broadway style, which afforded them the ability to be so light and delicate with their voices, it was sort of like aural filigree. Ultimate control and sensitivity with volume and breath, sort of like being powdered with a puff. Also, 'Hope Chest' has what I'd call the most successful use of projections in theater I've ever seen. This is partially because they're really nicely done (Waller went to Yale for video), and partially because his form of presentation - a blend of music and visuals, both live and filmed - welcomes the subtly-cut, often still-life-like video, rather than having it compete with actors in a play, or give the audience whiplash. It was a natural pairing with the music, a la music video, but still in support of the live event happening right then. I liked Waller's stories and presence onstage, liked him sort of despite myself. I was wary of his banter when it started, but by the end the transparent fishing line between his songs and his stories had won me over. Shoutout to Faith Helma and the appearance of Undine as an opening act! Undine rocked the soft sounds as well, backing herself up with pedal delay. Last thought: loved Waller ending the show by shaking his person and his maraca, which shoot his voice, and the rawness of that. Just him, percussion and the song - it cut the music, the performance, the act down to the bone, and showed us what it looked like in there.

Sat night saw a work in progress showing by Lucy Yim, who in her few months in Portland has gathered a lot of fans already. All of them were crammed at one end of a living room in North Portland, where she and dancers Lena Sradnick, Jin Camou and Sara Naegelin performed - as well as live musicians who were born to perform music for Yim's piece. Their name escapes me - bells, a laptop, some children's toys. Yim too had a delicious softness about her work. There were theatrical touches, surprises, and as promised, some aching awkwardness when two women attempted to reinvent slowdancing together over a period of beautifully bumbling minutes. Sara's mom, Anna, used the Spanish word for salon - not the hair doing kind - for the event. Lost the word. Anyone? There should be more of that around, whatever you call it.

Lastly, me and other former NBS peeps Kyong Johnson, Madika Owens, and Marianne Majors - with help from Kim Wade - did a little photo shoot for Lava's stock portfolio (pictured right). It was good fun. A video of Ms. Owens' unforgettable star turn - and I quote, "I quit this bitch!" - coming soon.

My, What a Busy Week!

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:24:37 -0700

Between meeting with Untrained, I, Staged! and ART, I can't seem to stay awake past 10pm this week.

Untrained, I (pictured) has a show at Someday Lounge on May 10, for which we're talking about a slow syrupy power soul ballad for three chicks - in addition to some of their greatest hits and new works. Untrained I is the awesome breakout company from this year's first Fertile Ground Festival, which presented Kick/Ball/Change with its special blend of untrained dancers meets drag/cabaret aesthetic. Watch for Cattitude...nuff said.

Staged! has a fantastic Sondheim Intensive planned, for which we're going to do "Into The Woods." Lava Alapai will be directing and I'll be doing movement. The sweet as pie Andrew will be doing musical direction and FYI, Chanda Hall is my hero. She's been bringing high quality musical theater instruction to Portland through outreach and in house teaching at NWCTS, OCT and OBT since 2005 or so in addition to forming her own theater company which produces professionally - and we're talking big shows like Secret Garden and Les Mis here - as well as providing Triple Threat Bootcamps to the kids in summer. Plus, she has two darling children of her own AND has time to get obsessed with research on strollers, vaccinations and other parent threads online.

Last night I dipped into ART's Distracted rehearsal to work with the fabulous Steven Rathje. It also stars the equally fabulous Kimberly Howard and Leif Norby. I saw this play at OSF two (?) years ago and really enjoyed it - calls into question not only our kids' propensity towards ADD but the parents' as well. Does everyone have it now, simply due to our culture? Distracted opens April 14. Shout out to playwright Lisa Loomer, who I got to work with on Cornerstone Theater Company's "Broken Hearts" back in - er, 1999ish? She's a funny lady, and a wry commentator on popular culture and what it means to be alive today.

All this, a stressful week at work, and still somehow managed to give some attention to the truly pressing things in life: taxes, and getting Lava's Birthday invite out.

Also - Kevin Nealon!

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:02:20 -0700

What do you do when you see Kevin Nealon's computer in your Finder?

He's staying at the Heathman Kirkland - and last night I told him I love him. I was so surprised I didn't know what else to say.

He said he loved me too! Hope you had a great show last night, Kevin. He's at Laughs Comedy Spot tonight as well!

Weekend Getaway to Seattle...and Kirkland.

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:24:19 -0700

I've never been to Kirkland, Wash., even though I grew up in Tacoma going to Seattle frequently. I like the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge but had only been on it a couple of times. This morning while foraging for coffee in Kirkland, I saw a model train shop, an antique store with gnomes or off-brand smurfs painted on the side of the building, a consignment shop with a mirror mosaiac-ed dress form in the window, hair shops, Design Within Reach (who knew?) Greek/Italian and Asian Veg, old minimalls and new condos. In the Starbucks was a tall girl in a teal booty huggin velour sweatsuit and Uggs, her form arched like a modern day pinup fantasy.

Anyways...last night moms and I saw "That Night Follows Day" at On the Boards. I love Tim Etchells and would crawl across four states for him, but the staging of his play was supersnore. The kids stood in a line for most of the time, then draped themselves forlornly on the swingset set, then stood in a line again. Movement, people! The script was great and the kids were rather amazing - its just that I thought Vancouver company Theatre Replacement didn't DO anything with them.

However, after looking at the YouTube (below) of the Flemish production with Tim, I guess maybe its written that way - for the kids to do nothing. I'd thought maybe the Canadian directors spent all the time making sure the kids knew their lines and working on quality of delivery? I think the lines could be "woken up" - tenfold - by some physical patterning or simple imagery/interaction either upstage or around the speakers that would really deepen the experience - add some layers, instead of kids yelling at us. Which I'm thinking is kind of the point.

Sidenote: if all the kids get out of the experience is how to feel the impulse of when to speak together chorally with a group without looking at each other, that's something they can take with them throughout their lives.

Below, me eating complimentary chocolate. Thanks, Les!

Blog Survey

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 09:46:27 -0700

So I'm mounting this huge project to check out all the theater blogs in existence. This on a Saturday morning before driving to Seattle...anyway. Most are critics and major newspapers, which is what you'd expect. Finding those undaground blogs of theater types proves a little trickier - something about theater and technology not usually mixing. But there are great exceptions to the rule! Like culturebot is ultra mo-DERN. And did you hear that Mary Zimmerman got booed? Holy crap! But here is a true find: Playgoer. In "Last Weekend for Chagall @ Jewish Museum," Mr. Playgoer includes this fabulous pic:

Which totally reminds me of that line in "Waiting for Guffman," where Eugene Levy says, "my grandfather... uh, Chaim Pearlgut, who was very very big in the, um, Yiddish, uh, theater, back in New York. He was in the, the very... the sardonically irreverent... ”Dybbuk Shmybbuk, I Said 'More Ham'"... and that revue I believe was 1914, and that revue was what made him famous. Incidentally, the song "Bubbe Made A Kishke" came from that revue."

YOUR favorite theater blogs? Cough 'em up.

How Much Do I Love This Guy?

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:19:59 -0700

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

O Says Ashland Not Immune

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:31:59 -0700

But I say its always been like this for actors:

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/03/ashland_rogue_valley_bank_on.html

For actors, employment anxiety is part of the culture, says Jessica Wallenfels. "They don't get a respite, no matter what the economy is like." Wallenfels, who lives in Portland, choreographed "Dead Man's Cell Phone." Over lunch at Harper's, a sunny and homey new restaurant on Second Street, she explains that cutbacks forced one less trip to work on the show. "But I still had time to do what I needed to do."

(Above, from the slideshow with the article - is this the scene shop or the prop shop Marty?)

Fun Facts

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:19:42 -0700

Tonight, THE Linda K. Johnson conducted a focus group for Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) members on how they like their art, and feelings about local dance presenter White Bird. If you don't know Linda, she's the mad scientist genius behind the Artist in Residence series at the South Waterfront 2007-2008, as well as a choreographer and teacher.

The AiR series, as she called it, was the perfect coup: instead of big business art-ing up a place to make it cool (think real estate developers planning a jazz festival in Vancouver's Esther Short Park to raise the value of the surrounding real estate), Linda went to The Man - sorta, really just developers Homer Williams of Williams & Dame Development and Mark Edlen of Gerding Edlen Development (as reported in this Portland Trib story). Are they The Man? I don't know. Did they choose to fund some art to make the South Waterfront a little more vital? Yes. Are they still? Not sure. Linda?

I'm sure the story is more complicated than that, but it did result in some amazing performances, (and a collaboration was with visual artist Bill Will and a site specific piece exploring life on the South Waterfront by Sojourn Theater) of which I caught embarassingly few. One I did - Ten Tiny Dances at the South Waterfront - is depicted in the pic at right, a gorgeous duet from who I think is POV Dance. POV Dancers, I want you! Where are you! Call me!

These days Linda is playing anthropologist for WESTAF, a coalition of Western US arts funders and the NEA. She's trying to get to the bottom of why the kool kids think White Bird is too expensive, why they find the Schnitzer intimidating, and where they WILL bike to (yes, to Oaks Park for live organ while they roller skate).

Better get to the point, I'm losing battery. Which is that art is a funny thing, and nobody knows why some gets made and some gets seen and other of it doesn't. Me personally, I'd kill for White Bird's audience, old and grey as they may be; I still go to SW to see stuff all the time, pain as it is, and I thought all of the kids in the focus group were really cute and I wanted their cards, old fashioned as it is. (Got one: CoG, a queer artists collective on SE Belmont. Tell Smitty I sent you.)

On Broadway, year over year sales are UP slightly (but they were down last year for the strike), but today's New York Times article points out that all the shows up right now got their financing long before the sky started falling. Seems that there may be some lag time on this whole downturn thing for theater folk. Having called EVERY LORT THEATER IN AMERICA over the past few weeks, I can tell you that some artistic directors are more in touch with it than others. I figure, if they're not feeling it, more power to 'em. But will they?

"Memphis" is slated to go to Broadway, what of that? You tell me, below.

Pics from Ashland

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:26:06 -0800

Backstage at the ballet.

Report from Ashland

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:54:00 -0800

This was a very funny post that disappeared somehow.

Christmas Was a Long Time Ago

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:03:41 -0800

This is from the snazzy camera I got for Xmas!!! Videos coming soon?

Crushed

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:54:02 -0800

If you're like me, you start doing research on grants and quickly become 1) angry, 2) discouraged, 3) jealous, 4) anti-establishment, and 5) morose. Did I mention jealous? Why would I be mad at Marc Bamuthi Joseph for doing what he does and getting noticed? Because I go, I can do that.

Or mad at Bodyvox for having money in the first place? Good for them!

I mean come on. Doesn't ILYA CHAIKEN (right), in her photo on the Princess Grace awards web site, look incredibly self-satisfied and nonchalant about how brilliant she is, what an uninterrupted flow of art her life is, and how that's so blindingly clear to the rest of the world they throw money at her?

Sorry, Ilya, it's been a long night of grant research, and you're bearing the brunt of it.

Seeking a fiscal sponsor by January 20, if you know of anyone.