Just In Case It Matters: Agnieszka Holland Ignites Burning Bush

June 13, 2014, 11:43 am

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Sometimes a revolution can be started by a seemingly futile act. That's the premise behind the Czech miniseries Burning Bush, which made its American debut this week. It's playing theatrically in New York and can also be viewed on Fandor.com. Kino Lorber will be distributing the DVD release.

Burning Bush follows the aftermath of Czech patriot Jan Pallach's suicide in 1969. He literally set himself on fire to protest the Soviet invasion that crushed the Prague Spring. Twenty years later he became a symbol for the movement that led to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The film follows a court case in which Pallach's mother filed a Quixotic defamation lawsuit against a Communist official who libeled her son. The attorney who represented her, Dagmar Buresová (played by Tatiana Pauhofová), later became an official in the free Czech government.

Three-time Oscar-nominee Agnieszka Holland directed Burning Bush, and she has a unique perspective on the events that followed. She was a student at Prague's FAMU film school--where Milos Forman (the director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus) taught--and took part in the protests that drove the Prague Spring.

I contacted Holland, who has been corresponding with me for about 20 years, in her native Warsaw, where she recounted how the events of 1969 affected Czechoslovakia (later The Czech Republic) and eventually the rest of the world.



All Images © 2014 Kino Lorber, Used by Permission

Official Trailer

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How I Wrote a Novel at Work

June 13, 2014, 12:48 pm

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Photo credit: Adams , Jeffrey. "Orson Welles's "The Trial": Film Noir and the Kafkaesque." College Literature.

Many years ago I used to work in the automobile insurance industry. It was probably the most corporate 9-5 job I ever had, and also the most tedious. It was the type of job where you always had to arrive at a very specific time, log into your computer system with a seven minute grace period, give or take, get decked out at the height of fashion to sit in an office cubicle for hours without ever seeing customers. It was the type of environment where you got micro-managed daily. Lunches were always one hour and if you went over you would get penalized, the occasional Saturday would have to be worked, usually hung-over after a heavy night of drinking, and often the office manager would walk around and sneak up on people just to give them the 'once over' -- like a real life Panoptican.

I look back at this period of my life and I remember always being tired. During breaks and lunches I would take naps in a resting area and would always get woken up by a supervisor or co-worker that surely led to a management decision of some sort of blemish on my work record. I even went so far as to get a doctor's note that allowed me to get up from my desk as often as needed because of a medical condition, which could not be questioned.

Perhaps I was depressed in the work environment, considering I had graduated from college two years prior with a degree in political science, which had nothing to do with automobile insurance, or perhaps I was depressed because of the failed relationship I was coming out of -- it was obviously a combination of both. A co-worker recalls the work ethic I had at the time when on a Friday afternoon I logged out of my computer and sent an email to my supervisor -- I am leaving for lunch and will not return, I have a book signing this afternoon and it looks like we have a problem with the venue. See you on Monday!

I thought of the main character in Quadropehnia -- Jimmy Cooper, a London Mod who's dealing with teenage angst and the boredom of his work environment by channeling it through music, drugs, and scooters. I too was going to many mod clubs and driving around in the 69 Camaro Super Sport, mashing all over the City of Los Angeles in my fingerless gloves with northern soul tunes in the background. At the time I also remember reading about Franz Kafka and how he worked in the insurance industry as well. I read The Trial and Metamorphosis and thought about how he used the tedium of his work environment to create surreal and existential situations in his short stories, how he complained about the work schedule, and how he manifested what he experienced into his body of work.

After all, many bread and butter jobs are in direct conflict with the writer, or creative people for that matter in any genre. If Kafka could do it, so could I. So instead of complaining and wallowing in my depression, I turned my focus into something more creative. I began to develop a character who worked in the insurance industry, who would often take naps, who often arrived to work hung over, etc... you get the picture. And in order to avoid exposing my personal vulnerability, I made the character a female and made her take the trajectory of my life for a few years.

Not long after I was excited to go to work, but it had nothing to do with my work duties, it was to develop my character. I no longer slept during my breaks, and in between work duties I simply drafted and edited, and used all work situations to my advantage. In retrospect, I have always been distracted in the work environment because I have always written, but the goal is to understand the bigger picture and use all situations in your life for creative purposes.

Stella awoke that morning from unsettling dreams. She felt an overwhelming insecurity about her legs, her ass, and her decreasing bra size because of the sudden loss of weight. She thought about a wedding ceremony, about walking down the aisle, how the wedding dress would fit uncomfortable and loose. At times she felt anorexic, at others obese. Neither was true, but she couldn't help feeling awkward, more so during sex. After all, her ex-boyfriend had betrayed her by sleeping with her supposed friend Morgan -- a gregarious, voluptuous perky-type. But it was the same old story, there was always competition wherever she looked. It could've been her neighbor or her best friend...it didn't matter.

-- A Grave Situation

For my latest novel, recently launched at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach go here.

Skip the Hangover: How to Have Fun Without Taking a Sip

June 13, 2014, 1:00 pm

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A lot of people may wonder how people who don't drink have fun. I know, it's hard to imagine, but I promise you it is possible. Whether you want to take a break from drinking or just don't drink at all, here are some ways to have fun with your friends without the alcohol.

Go ice skating: The last time you went to the skating rink was probably for a friend's tenth birthday party, so why not give it another go? Ice skating is really fun, especially if you get a bunch of your friends to tag along. It's always good to have someone at the same level as you, so you're not speeding away or clinging to the wall all by yourself.

A lot of rinks have night skating, where they blast music, turn off the lights and have a disco ball. When the employees aren't looking, you can scrape up some "snow" that starts to build up on the ice and throw it at each other. For those of you that never get any snow, I've found this to be a decent alternative.

Tip: Go on a cold day. I know the instinct is to go when it's hot, but that's when the rink will be packed. Going when it's cold means not being packed in with a bunch of people. You can also check online for admission deals and such.

Go to a concert: Who says you need alcohol to enjoy some good music? Concerts are always an awesome way to spend your day/night. If you've never been to a music festival, that is officially on your bucket list. It's always fun to discover new bands that you never would have heard of otherwise, and to see your favorite if they happen to be playing.

You can even make a trip out of it. If the band that you want to see is playing in another city, grab some friends and road trip out. With some junk food, loud music and good people, you're bound to make tons of great memories.

Go to the beach: The beach is free and at your disposal, so why not take advantage of it? Whether you have a knack for surfing, love the water, or simply want to catch some more color, the beach is the perfect place to hang out with people. Some even allow you to have a bonfire, so why not make it a whole day excursion? Pack the marshmallows, the blankets, the guitars and enjoy a day of surf and sand.

Have a dog? Take them to the dog beach! Your pup can meet other dogs and discover how fun the ocean is. Most dogs, even if they don't like water, won't mind getting their paws a little wet.

Go to the movies: I mean, who doesn't like the movies? Movies are great for when you want to hang out but don't really feel like all the talking. Whether you want to see a movie that looks good or bad, both generate some awesome conversation afterwards. My roommate and I will purposely go see the overly cheesy movies and complain about the poor quality afterwards. Or if an ending to a movie we thought would be good sucked, we think up better endings and say how we totally should have written the movie.

Go on a hike: Sound body, sound mind -- getting that fresh air and stretching those legs will do you wonders. Pick a hike that you can manage, but that also pushes you, so when you make it to the finish, you'll be exhausted but so proud of yourself.

If that dog that you took to the beach is up for it, you can bring it on the hike too. I've noticed that pets always make everything better, and will take your mind off the fact that you are doing a 2 hour long hike.

Have a kickback: Kickbacks don't necessarily need alcohol to be fun. Invite some friends, slap some tunes, break out the chips, and ta-da, you have yourself a good time. If you have a pool, tell people to bring their suits and chill in there. That will pass a lot of the time.

You could also set up your Wii and have a dance-off to the Wii dance games; those are always hilarious. Having a big sleepover also makes for some great times, so tell your guests to pack a sleeping bag and sprawl out wherever there is room.

Go to a talent event: There are lots of awesome things on campus where fellow students are performing, and they will definitely be worth your while to check out. Whether it's a talent show, theater performance, art show or dance show, watching those talented students do what they love is always mesmerizing. You can learn about these events on your campus website, or by joining a group on Facebook with your peers in it -- one of them is bound to post about the current events happening.

There are so many things going on that you probably had never heard about, so pick one that looks interesting and get your booty over there. The best part? Most of them are free. You'll be cheering on and supporting your fellow college mates, having a good time and saving money!

And who said you can't have fun if the booze isn't present?

By: Francine Fluetsch, UC Santa Cruz

Juilliard's 109th Commencement Speech

June 13, 2014, 1:08 pm

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Chairman Kovner, President Polisi, most distinguished honorees, dedicated family, friends, faculty, and to EACH of the talented, ambitious, courageous, adventurous Juilliard graduates of the class of 2014 before us here today, thank you!

I stand before you this morning, duly humbled, and in awe of the distinguished and hard-earned accomplishment awarded to each and every single one of you on this unforgettable and long-awaited day of your graduation. Look at you! You are gowned and tassled and you're ready to take on the world! Through that first nerve-racking audition, all those subsequent sleepless nights, the painstaking preparation for your recitals, the endless hours of reed-making and memorization, the blisters and the tears, and now here you walk side by side with the life-long friendships you have now forged, you are about to be Alumni of the acclaimed Juilliard School! I invite you to breathe that in. You, my friends, are living the dream! I wish I had had the foresight when invited to speak here today, to ask them to break with tradition and print my old biography from when I was your age instead of my current one!A great example of contrasts, it would have shown you that despite my "star turn" as the off-stage lover in Il Tabarro with my ONE, single, SOLITARTY line (did I mention it was OFF-STAGE?), and that despite being the only young artist of my class to fail at securing management until the ripe age of 29, and DESPITE my evaluation sheet for the Houston Opera Studio which simply declared me to possess "not much talent" and that despite WAY more rejections and easy dismissals than actual "yeses", despite ALL of that, I am somehow, miraculously standing before you all today, regaled in an admittedly different kind of designer gown, dispensing tidbits of "wisdom" before a group of artists who - and this is honestly no exaggeration - artists who I never could have been classmates with, because there truly is no way I could have gained admission to your school back in the day. I simply wasn't ready back then. That is the truth. One never, EVER knows where their journey will lead them. But YOURS has led you here.



There are a few more hard-earned truths - as I have come to know them - that have arisen on my personal odyssey as a singer and at first glance, they may seem like harbingers of bad news, but I invite you to shift your thinking just a bit (or perhaps even radically) - you guys are artists, so thankfully you're already brilliant at thinking outside the conventional box! I offer these four little observations as tools to perhaps help you as you go forward, enabling you to empower yourselves from the very core of your being, so that when the challenges of this artistic life catapult and hurl themselves directly and unapologetically into your heart and soul - which they will do, repeatedly - you will have some devices at your disposal to return to, to help you find your center again, so that your voice, your art and your SOUL will not be derailed, but you will instead find the strength to make yourself heard, and seen, and FELT. Then you will have the power to transform yourselves, to transform others, and, indeed, to transform the world.

My first observation:

You will never make it. That's the bad news, but the "shift" I invite you to make is to see it as fabulous, outstanding news, for I don't believe there is actually an "it". "It" doesn't exist for an Artist. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, in this single, solitary, monumental moment in your life- is to decide, without apology, to commit to the JOURNEY, and not to the outcome. The outcome will almost always fall short of your expectations, and if you're chasing that elusive, often deceptive goal, you're likely in for a very tough road, for there will always be that one note that could have soared more freely, the one line reading that could have been just that much more truthful, that third arabesque which could have been slightly more extended, that one adagio which could have been just a touch more magical. There will always be more freedom to acquire and more truth to uncover. As an artist, you will never arrive at a fixed destination. THIS is the glory and the reward of striving to master your craft and embarking on the path of curiosity and imagination, while being tireless in your pursuit of something greater than yourself.

A second truth:

The work will never end. This may sound dreadfully daunting - especially today when you are finally getting out of here! But what I have found is that when things become overwhelming - which they will, repeatedly whether it's via unexpected, rapid success or as heart-wrenching, devastating failure - the way back to your center is simply to RETURN TO THE WORK. Often times it will be the only thing that makes sense. And it is there where you will find solace and truth. At the keyboard, at the barre, with your bow in hand, articulating your arpeggios - always return to your home base and trust that you will find your way again via the music, the pulse, the speech, the rhythm. Be patient, but know that it will always be there for you - even if in some moments you lack the will to be there for it. All it asks is that you show up, fully present as you did when you first discovered the magic of your own artistic world when you were young. Bring that innocent, childlike sense of wonder to your craft, and do whatever you need to find that truth again. It will continually teach you how to be present, how to be alive, and how to let go. Therein lies not only your artistic freedom, but your personal freedom as well!




Perhaps my favorite truth:

It's not about you. This can be a particularly hard, and humbling lesson to face - and it's one I've had to continue to learn at every stage of my own journey - but this is a freeing and empowering truth. You may not yet realize it, but you haven't signed up for a life of glory and adulation (although that MAY well come, and I wish with every fiber of my being, that it WILL come in the right form for every single one of you - however, that is not your destination, for glory is always transitory and will surely disappear just as fleetingly and arbitrarily as it arrived.) The truth is, you have signed up for a life of service by going into the Arts. And the life-altering results of that service in other people's lives will NEVER disappear as fame unquestionably will. You are here to serve the words, the director, the melody, the author, the chord progression, the choreographer - but above all and most importantly, with every breath, step, and stroke of the keyboard, you are here to serve humanity. You, as alumni of the 109th graduating class of The Juilliard School are now servants to the ear that needs quiet solace, and the eye that needs the consolation of beauty, servants to the mind that needs desperate repose or pointed inquiry, to the heart that needs invitation to flight or silent understanding, and to the soul that needs safe landing, or fearless, relentless enlightenment. You are a servant to the sick one who needs healing through the beauty and peace of the symphony you will compose through blood-shot eyes and sleepless nights. You are an attendant to the lost one who needs saving through the comforting, probing words you will conjure up from the ether, as well as from your own heroic moments of strife and triumph. You are a steward to the closed and blocked one who needs to feel that vital, electric, joyful pulse of life that eludes them as they witness you stop time as you pirouette and jettè across the stage on your tired legs and bleeding toes. You are a vessel to the angry and confused one who needs a protected place to release their rage as they watch your eyes on the screen silently weep in pain as you relive your own private hell. You are a servant to the eager, naïve, optimistic ones who will come behind you with wide eyes and wild dreams, reminding you of yourself, as you teach and shape and mold them, even though you may be plagued with haunting doubts yourself, just as your teachers likely were - and you will reach out to them and generously invite them to soar and thrive, because we are called to share this thing called Art. You are also serving one other person: yourself. You are serving the relentless, passionate, fevered force within you that longs to grow and expand and feel and connect and create; that part of you that craves a way to express raw elation and passion, and to make manifest hard-core blissful rapture and - PLEASE, I beg of you, never forget this - fun! Don't ever abandon that intoxicating sense of fun in your art. Thought that, you are serving your truth. My hope for you is that you will let that truth guide you in every moment of your journey. If you can find that, you have everything. That's why "making it" is, in the end, utterly insignificant. LIVING it, BREATHING it, SERVING it ... that's where your joy will lie.

I want to share with you a quick email from a soldier on the front lines of our Arts: an elementary/middle school teacher from Salt Lake City, Ms. Audrey Hill, who is fighting the great fight! She brought her students to the recent HD telecast of "La Cenerentola", and wrote the following note to me:

"One of my boys ... a 5th grader... wrote in his review this morning that one of his favorite parts (besides the spaghetti food-fight scene) was where at the end you were singing about getting revenge, and how he really liked that your revenge was going to be forgiveness.   This boy was new to our school this year, has a beautiful singing voice, and has been teased a lot. I have seen him getting more and more angry as the year was coming to a close and today it seemed like all that had disappeared.  It was very moving for me to experience."

This is exactly who you are serving as you now go out into the world. How lucky are you?!

Ah, so OK, I lied ... I think this may be my favorite truth:

The world needs you. Now, the world may not exactly realize it, but wow, does it need you. It is yearning, starving, dying for you and your healing offer of service through your Art. We need you to help us understand that which is bigger than ourselves, so that we can stop feeling so small, so isolated, so helpless that, in our fear, we stop contributing that which is unique to us: that distinct, rare, individual quality which the world is desperately crying out for and eagerly awaiting. We need you to remind us what unbridled, unfiltered, childlike exuberance feels like, so we remember, without apology or disclaimer, to laugh, to play, to FLY and to stop taking EVERYTHING so damn seriously. We need you to remind us what empathy is by taking us deep into the hearts of those who are, God forbid, different than us - so that we can recapture the hope of not only living in peace with each other, but THRIVING together in a vibrant way where each of us grows in wonder and joy. We need you to make us feel an integral PART of a shared existence through the communal, universal, forgiving language of music, of dance, of poetry and Art - so that we never lose sight of the fact that we are all in this together and that we are all deserving of a life that overflows with immense possibility, improbable beauty and relentless truth.

What an honor it is to share in this day with you - savor every single moment of it - and then fly out of this building, armed with the knowledge that YOU make a difference, that your art is NECESSARY, and that the world is eagerly awaiting to hear what YOU have to say. Go on, make us laugh, cry, dance, FEEL, unite, and believe in the incredible power of humanity to overcome anything!

Ragnar Kjartansson's "Me, My Mother, My Father, and I" at the New Museum

June 13, 2014, 1:10 pm

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The Raging Pornographic Sea

Iceland is known for its extensive history of epic sagas and mythology, which informs Ragnar Kjartansson's new exhibition "Me, My Mother, My Father and I" at the New Museum in New York. The name references the film included in the performance piece, a video of his parents allegedly conceiving him. Former Sigur Ros singer Kjartan Sveinsson composed a 10-part polyphony to replace the dialogue of the video, which is performed live every day the show is open.



Installation Shot of "Me, My Mother, My Father, and I"



Installation Shot of "Me, My Mother, My Father, and I"

Bridging the event of his birth to contemporary artist worship, the performance consists of ten musicians continuously playing in a troubadour-like fashion. Strewn around them are cigarette butts and empty beer bottles, as Kjaransson provided an unlimited amount of both for his performers. An uncovered mattress sits in the middle of the room for those wishing to take naps. A couch sits against the far wall. Kjaransson's The Raging Pornographic Sea, a series of drawings of the sea the artist made with his father, hangs on the back wall. Their drawing styles are so similar, it's impossible to tell who made which.

The dissonant sounds of Sveinsson's composition complement the video and artworks beautifully, as the polyphony conflates the distinction between reality and fantasy, past and present, myth and identity. Though the line between artist and viewer is usually severe in performance art, the intimate space of this room allows for interaction with the musicians. Each daily performance is unique, as you could find yourself experiencing the work alongside a group of tourists, or, alone as one of the musicians spookily serenades you.

"Me, My Mother, My Father and I" will be on view at the New Museum through June 26.

This article was first published on Whitewallmag.com. Read the full article here.

Korakrit Arunanondchai's Transformative 2012-2555 at MoMA PS1

June 13, 2014, 1:35 pm

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Installation view of 2012-2555

Go to MoMA PS1, lie back on the giant denim tie-dye pillows, and watch Korakrit Arunanondchai's transformative two-screen video installation, 2012-2555. The hyperreal reflection on the cyclical nature of memory, death and rebirth was inspired by the death of the artist's grandparents, who are featured in the short film. Between the two screens is a life-sized mannequin shrouded as a dead body. Around it, fake flowers, reflective surfaces and a disco rendition of a gothic cathedral in the background.

Sound overwhelming? It is. But at the same time, the work is calming, meditative, and mesmerizing, allowing the viewer a portal into the afterlife that is not dark or foreboding, but instead colorful and peaceful.



Installation view of 2012-2555




Installation view of 2012-2555

The video is also a funereal monument to Arunanonchai's older work, which focused on painting. His denim paintings, like Muen Kuey, include burned images collaged into the paintings. The series deals with themes of westernization using the symbol of the American jean. The video Painting with History in a Room Filled With Men With Funny Names (2013) shows the original paintings.

The Bangkok-raised artist examines history, ritual, and self-representation through the lens of a cultural outsider, creating a common artistic ground.

Korakrit Arunanondchai will be on view at MoMa PS1 through September 14.

This article was originally published on Whitewallmag.com. Read the full article here.

Top Chef Daniel Humm Collects Pop Stars and Michelin Stars

June 13, 2014, 2:24 pm

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Rolling Stones by Robert Altman

Art and music are two of the unexpected ingredients that fuel the culinary success of chef Daniel Humm, winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. As proof, look no further than the kitchens of his two top-rated New York restaurants, run with partner Will Guerrara. For Eleven Madison Park, Chef Humm selected classic Miles Davis prints ("so cool, fresh, innovative and collaborative"), while the more raucous Rolling Stones photos preside at NoMad, which he calls "our looser, louder sibling."



Miles Davis from the Columbia Records Archive

Sample all of the top chef's favorite images from Rock Paper Photo in this tastefully edited collection. We hope they inspire you to equally creative heights.



Bob Marley, Mick Jagger & Peter Tosh by Michael Putland



Kurt Cobain by Joe Giron



Joey Ramone by Roberta Bayley



Notorious B.I.G. by Chi Modu

Portraits of Sunbathers as You've Never Seen Them Before

June 13, 2014, 2:34 pm

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Young master photographer and printer Michael Massaia's Deep in a Dream series has until now shown us images of Central Park made in the wee-est hours of the night. Sometimes up to the top of his waders in the lake, or being cruised by guys, chattered to by rats or growled at by dogs, the long-exposure photographs he takes are finessed to within an inch of their beautiful lives in his homemade darkroom where he spends days mixing chemicals to outstanding effect. His prints need to be seen to be believed.



Although he is just releasing them now, Massaia has been making the Deep in a Dream - Sheep's Meadow sunbather photographs since 2006, concurrently with his other long-exposure series (which include the streets of suburban New Jersey; Seaside Heights before and after Hurricane Sandy; long-haul trucks at rest; and vintage pinball machines). All I could imagine was him laying flat in a hide in camo (I couldn't understand how he'd get his 8x10 in there), but in fact, he's in plain sight. Following are excerpts from an interview with Michael in May, 2014.



It's hard at first to work out what is going on in these images. The subjects have surrendered to their environment and must have no pretensions of privacy; they look as if they are sunbathing in the dark.

Though people are the focus, my objective was to wait to capture the moment they turn into unassuming sculpted objects.

The conversations these days are about how much less intrusive an iPhone is to taking photographs. Michael Massaia, however, started out with the largest format.

For about 1/4 of the portfolio I used an 8x10 camera. It was not a fancy modified one, just a standard Sinar F2. It became quickly apparent that I simply could not handle the pressure of getting so close to the subject while using such a large camera. I literally felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown when I was using the view cameras for this portfolio, but it was tempered by my excitement over the results I was getting.

The problem was also, not so much the people I was photographing, but all the people surrounding me. It was pretty clear I had to change my working method, so that's when I switched. I basically used every camera I could get my hands on to accomplish this job at the highest quality. I was able to borrow Leica's flagship medium format digital camera - the S - to also use on the portfolio. I've been very impressed with the results from that camera, and while it's a digital camera, I still create analog negatives from the files that are in turn contact printed on traditional fiber based silver gelatin paper.

The inspiration came from simply trying to create a portfolio that involved people in some way. In 2006, I saw these people laying out in the Sheep Meadow and was very drawn to how "out of their bodies" they appeared. All of the pretense was gone, and what remained was this perfect unassuming figure. I found myself being very connected to the honesty of the people at that moment.

My goal was to then figure a way to photograph the people in the most exacting/intimate way. During the printing process is where I started to severely "burn" out everything surrounding the subject. This way, there is no distraction. It is just the viewer and the person.

To this day, no one I've ever photographed, has noticed me. The last thing I ever want to do is to make someone feel uneasy or uncomfortable, but no matter what, I have to see my ideas through until the bitter end. Hopefully my luck keeps up...

The final prints are lovely, small gold-toned silver prints. See more at Michael Massaia's website or visit Gallery 270, in Bergen, New Jersey.

---

Happy Father's Day, Bruce Springsteen

June 13, 2014, 2:39 pm

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This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of "Born in the USA." At the time I was working as a copywriter for what was then the biggest employer in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I wrote speeches for executives, a magazine about office furniture, tag lines for ad campaigns, and formulaic press releases. I was a latter-day Peggy Olsen sporting shoulder pads and, two nights a week, at aerobics class, ankle warmers. I had just bought a duplex. And my life had recently been a mess.

My brother had come out of the closet, and my family was in a nasty place that felt like the end of the world. We were stumbling around, trying to find our way together and as individuals. We continued to love each other, but we weren't very good at it.

Also recently, I had turned 30. I spent my birthday weekend with my boyfriend and his family at their summer vacation spot. A week later he broke up with me by going to Chicago for a couple of nights with someone blonder. I found out about it from his secretary, whose job included opening his mail, thus saving him valuable envelope-slitting time. She didn't know we'd been dating for a year, and showed me, while convulsed with laughter, the misspelled romantic thank-you note the blonde had sent to him at the office. (This did not come from the mind of Matt Weiner, but he's welcome to use it.)

Anyway, I got dumped. Why? Because (according to him) all unmarried women over the age of 30 were insane, due to the fact that they were 30, and unmarried, which made them insane. Because my odds of getting married or getting killed in a terrorist attack were pretty much even. (This was in the news, so it had to be true.) He talked about putting "queer repellent" on his lawn, an attempt at levity that I'm sure he regrets.

Musically, my ex-boyfriend and I had very little in common. (He thought 'Imagine' was by Air Supply.) The upside of our breakup was that once I got past the humiliation, I was able to go back to being me. I'd come home from work and put Elvis Costello, the Talking Heads or Springsteen on my turntable and crank it up.

A few months later I was peeling the cellophane off of "Born in the USA." I got goose bumps (still do) just looking at the cover: it's patriotic, rebellious and sexy all at once. The title track inspired me and other people my age to re-evaluate our identity: we were grown-ups, Vietnam was over, like it or not Reagan was about to be re-elected, our fists were in the air and Bruce was, not for the last time, telling us to figure out what it means to be American.

Okay, maybe some people just liked the music, and didn't think about any of that.

I saw Bruce on tour that summer with my dear friend Gigi at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I bought two Born in the USA sleeveless T-shirts, one for me, one for the cute, smart guy I'd been dating. He just happened to live in the other half of my duplex, always paid his rent on time, and liked the music that he heard coming from my apartment.

My father, who had retreated into massive anger when he learned his only son was gay, began to gradually return to us. That summer, when I made a passing reference to my ex-boyfriend, my dad locked his blue eyes on me and said, "I knew the second you brought him out to meet us that you were worth ten of him."

Fathers everywhere: This is a great line. If someone breaks your child's heart, you can start mending it by saying something similar. Ten is a pretty big number; choose what works for your offspring and your credibility.

In the spring of 1985, my new boyfriend, who knew that to love me was to love or at least respect The Boss, took a photo of me wearing my Springsteen T-shirt, and hung it in his office. Then as now the humidity is doing weird stuff to my hair, I've got glasses tucked into my neckline, and I'm sporting a camera. We got married a little over a year later.

My husband died in 2003, so Father's Day is hard. No gifts to buy or cards to sign, no waiting to fire up the grill when he gets back from golf, no worrying that he'll come home in a bad mood because of his putting.

This year, instead of ignoring Father's Day, I'm celebrating a bunch of guys. While these men know they can never replace my daughters' father, they are a significant presence in our lives. They include my surviving uncles, who continue to make me feel that I'm a wittier, nicer person than I actually am. They are in their seventies and early eighties, and they have health issues, but if I had a problem they'd be here in an instant, possibly with weapons. Ditto for the cousins I grew up with.

My brothers are uncles who show my girls how to live honorable, happy, productive lives. To a man they have overcome loss and learned to move beyond grief. They are great storytellers and funny as hell. All but two of them are good cooks. And like my own uncles, they'd do anything for us.

I miss my husband and the never-ending challenge and romance of our relationship. I miss my dad, who died in 1996, and the flickers of connection that I had with him. I am closer than ever to my brother, who is in a decades-long relationship with a wonderful man who helps me to calm down several times a year.

"Magic" is in the CD player in my car, and this week, now that warmer weather is finally here, I find myself playing 'Radio Nowhere' really loud sometimes, with the windows down. I'm not insane (as far as I can tell), and while I have nightmares about terrorist attacks, I've beaten the odds, conventional wisdom of the early 1980s be damned.

"Born in the USA" is still a big deal for me. I am glad that Bruce's life, like mine, went on to encompass a successful relationship and that biggest of big deals, parenthood. Happy Father's Day, Mr. Springsteen.

It's summer. What are you listening to, and how will it make you feel when you hear it ten, twenty, thirty years from now? Take some notes.

Music for Your Years: Improving Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease

June 13, 2014, 2:44 pm

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One of life's challenges is communicating with older adults in later stage Alzheimer's disease and finding ways to afford them some quality of life. In nursing homes they often are found slumped in wheelchairs, seemingly unresponsive or asleep. This situation is all too common and troubling for the staff who cares for them and families when they visit. Because Alzheimer's disease affects millions of Americans and will affect millions more as the Baby Boomers age, many families are touched by the tragedy of Alzheimer's or a related disorder. This is the reason why the movie, Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory , shown at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March captivated the audience of several hundred people.

The compelling film by director Michael Rossato-Bennett portrays the power of music to engage and enliven these nursing home residents to the amazement of staff and family members. The idea was Dan Cohen's, a social worker who found a way to bring residents to life using an iPod with a personally customized playlist. Once the headset is on and the residents are listening to their favorite songs from the 1940s or 50s, their eyes open wide, smiles appear, and some even clap their hands or tap their feet. The music triggered wonderful memories for one resident named Henry and he actually could carry on a conversation about them afterward.

It seems like such a simple and relatively low cost way to bring pleasure to nursing home residents with dementia. Medicaid pays for the care most nursing home residents receive and disallows reimbursement for iPods which retail for about $50. But, Medicaid will pay for much more costly prescription drugs used to quiet and control these residents. During a panel discussion after the film's screening, members of the audience were incensed that this situation exists. They questioned why private and public health insurance programs are not paying for and encouraging the use of non-pharmacological interventions, such as music and other arts activities, which research shows have significant health and well-being benefits for older adults. This is an excellent question deserving of an answer.

If you want to lend your support to giving older adults greater access to the arts, check with your local Area Agency on Aging or state unit on aging to find out what, if anything, is available in your geographical area. You also can go to Dan Cohen's website and volunteer to support personalized music for the elderly and learn how you can make it happen.

Playing in the Spaces

June 13, 2014, 2:50 pm

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In Harvey Fierstein's Tony-nominated play, Casa Valentina, men embody women. Or rather they reveal themselves through women's clothing, mannerisms and identities. Set in 1962 and based on real events at a Catskills resort, the story follows (self-identified) straight men who escape the constraints of their everyday lives through opposite gender identifications. Under the masterful direction of Joe Mantello, the varied, mellifluous, and vibrant ways these men come to life as their alter egos emboldens us to question the word identity itself. And the roles gender plays in it.

As psychoanalyst Adrienne Harris writes, "Some... are caught up in the losses and emptiness of identity, some in the deep enmeshment of body and psyche, and some in the sliding and playful paradoxes of performance and authenticity."

The men in the play are initially caught up in the deep enmeshment of body and psyche, as their coherence as a group depends upon strict rules when dressed in their female embodiments: e.g., they must address each other by their chosen female names. This doesn't leave room for recognizing the losses and emptiness of identity, as we witness the novice newcomer, Jonathan, getting ignored as (s)he makes her/his virginal entrance as "Miranda," fumbling to the dinner table unkempt. But when Miranda attempts to make a coy exit, empathy and a strong sense of play spontaneously take hold of the seasoned cross dressers. They all agree to give her a makeover together, emphasizing the playful paradoxes of performance and authenticity with regard to identity, despite their rules.

And here is where the production becomes magical, luring us into the characters' secret, enchanted world; their "Garden of Eden," as one of them refers to it. This is not RuPaul's Drag Race; they are not trying to outperform one another. During this sequence you get the sense that these men-as-women are being rather than doing. As each of them delights in decorating Miranda in their own unique, authentic, and playful way, we begin to forget who's a man, who's a woman, and who cares. One could appreciate here Adrienne Harris' suggestion that gender is not rigid, fixed or binary, but rather that it is "softly assembled." We become absorbed in the the shared playfulness among the characters, particularly in the ways they shower Miranda/Jonathan with loving recognition. As Harris writes, "There is a deep expansiveness that comes from recognition and belonging, and there are the quirky spurts and frissons when the unexpected, the transgressive, the novel emerge into view."

But as with any story with a "Garden of Eden," a snake must slither in to keep things real. Before dinner is over, the game of dress-up becomes one of Axis and Allies as a discussion about a rule to ban gays from joining their revelry fractures the group. The two leaders rigidly defend the "no queer's allowed" policy, effectively turning the soft light of their rarefied, idyllic play space into one more common and harsh.

Founding psychoanalyst Melanie Klein's theories may help to explain this split between "good" straight crossdressers and "bad" gay men. As I have written elsewhere, Klein theorized that in states of anxiety -- such as being a "straight" man who feels the need to secretly dress as a woman -- we split self and other. We create a them-versus-us, pushing away feelings of vulnerability, dependency and need. In such moments, we fail to hold both "good" and "bad" feelings -- we continue to split and project rigid notions of "good" versus "bad," "masculine" versus "feminine," "straight" versus "gay." A current example of such splitting is the palpable transphobia that runs through the LGBTQ communities.

The climax of Casa Valentina erupts in Act II, during a festive dance party when one of the men kisses Miranda, causing her to instantly split by turning back into Jonathan with an aggressive, defensive, punch. The party is over.

In 1991, nearly 30 years after the play takes place, psychoanalyst Virginia Goldner argued that "gender coherence, consistency, conformity, and identity are culturally mandated normative ideals" and that "to conform to their dictates requires the activation of a false-self system." The play makes this point as its unsettling conflicts are born out of the characters' rigid conformity to normative ideals, causing them to uphold a brittle, ultimately destructive, "false" sense of self: e.g., as unquestionably "straight" men by day and as women with entirely different biographies by night. They could take a page from Goldner, who suggests that "the ability to tolerate the ambiguity and instability of gender categories is more [desirable] than the goal of 'achieving' a single, pure, sex-appropriate view of oneself." Twenty some odd years after Goldner penned her article we are still in need of its message.

Thinking back on the enchanting, dreamy delights of the play's Act I reminds us that the characters had within them the capacity to tolerate the ambiguity of gender categories that Goldner envisions. To "stand in the spaces" between genders, to invoke psychoanalyst Philip Bromberg, or as I say, to play in the spaces: maintain reverie while also embracing the painful need to negotiate self states. How can we find this capacity within ourselves?

Perhaps playing in the spaces becomes possible when play is inclusive (of men, straight or gay, and of women, however they dress, behave or identify). When Jonathans are allowed to wear dresses and heels without being forced to be called Miranda. When unkempt rookies can be engaged -- playfully, empathically -- without the shaming pressure of being either a dapperly dressed man or a glamorously dressed woman and nothing in between. When play can take the form of a mellifluous dance of various bodies, minds, experiences, conflicts, and identifications, all at the same time, without having to crescendo to one abrupt, violent, necessarily definitive climax. Such a climax makes for an evocative ending to a great, thought provoking play, but as inspiration for our own lives we might look to the gauzy-lit, ambiguous, revelry, of Casa Valentina's Act I.

The piece first appeared in Mark's column Quite Queerly on PsychologyToday.com.

The Artist to Watch

June 13, 2014, 3:58 pm

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I have written from time to time about different artists I come across in my random forays to theatre, dance, music and galleries here in NYC. From time to time, I write this piece when someone's work grabs my attention; not only for what they do, but how they are doing it.

Matthew Kourie is a child of the 80s with a great love for the iconic movies, TV shows, characters and music of the decade. His involvement in music was sparked at a young age by an adoration for his multi-instrumentalist and Big Band leader grandfather, Ben Filippone, a love for Charlie Chaplin and the obsessive use of his mother's boombox recorder. As a child, he recorded countless character voices, jingles, videos and on the spot songs with his three brothers. Kourie grew up studying and playing guitar, training and sharpening his skills on the instrument to ultimately begin composing his own original music. Honing his vocal skills while playing in numerous bands on Long Island, Kourie added other instruments to his arsenal including bass, drums and piano.


Kourie's one-man electronic-rock project the When has been hitting the NYC music scene with shows popping up in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island. The When fuses nostalgic dark synth-tronics with grand 80's movie scores and seamlessly stitches alternative rock and electro-pop for a unique but infectious sound.
 
The When isn't just about the music to creator, Matthew Kourie: "Its a "living, breathing life force" he states. What Kourie dubs: "The Living Story", plays out daily to over 5,000 Instagram fans, dubbed the "dreamers." Kourie shares his hard earned perspectives in inspirational posts called "When Moments" that the dreamers have embraced and share widely on the platform.

I had struggled with a severe depression for over seven years before my wife of three years and best friend of 13 years decided to leave our marriage.  For me it was unpredictable, I was so branded with my perspective of the words we spoke like 'true love,' 'soul mates' and 'best friends' that I was truly unprepared for what I experienced as a harsh blind sight. The irony here of being handed a life experience, that in time, would change me through and through was that four days prior to this news I had felt that I was out of my depression and on my way to being my old passionate self again. I knew it for sure. That go getter and social butterfly who loved to meet new people and make them laugh and forget about their troubles.

"I see that most people and at all ages are struggling with some form or degree of depression, loss, insecurity, hatred, separation, anxiety and disconnection."

Instagram has given me a platform to connect with my following whom I call, the Dreamers. I am compelled to share these simplified perspectives I think that create a happier reality for them from my hard earned experience. I believe in the importance of multiplying positive energy and joy by giving it to others. The Dreamers do the same by sharing, 'When moment' posts.

The When isn't just about the music to creator, Matthew Kourie; its a "living, breathing life force." Kourie shares his hard earned perspectives in posts called "When Moments" that the dreamers have embraced and share widely on this platform and "The Living Story" plays out daily to over 5,000 Instagram fans, dubbed the "dreamers."

When Kourie performs live, he focuses on creating an experience. He achieves this with mood evoking sound design, atmospheric keyboards, masterful guitar skills and a captivating vocal delivery. He will be performing tracks from his EP "Cycles of Time" (2013), as well as new unreleased original songs, along with surprises like 80s gem "Top Gun Theme" and a rousing, electronic version of Billy Joel's "The Down'easter Alexa."

In November 2013 The Dept Records released "Cycles of Time" and Kourie continues to work on new material for new EP due out this Summer, while performing and developing the live show.


Visit me at: http://www.donnafish.com

Debunking the Myths of Kara Walker's Sugar Sphinx

June 13, 2014, 5:44 pm

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Kara Walker's sugar sphinx descended upon Brooklyn last month, bringing well over 35 tons of sweetness to the cavernous darkness of the old Domino Sugar Factory. It's the same abandoned, 11-acre refinery that's set for total demolition later this year, a tear-down that will pave the way for condos, leaving behind one lone red brick building as memory of the 19th century fixture.

Walker, via the public art patron Creative Time, has managed to give the structure a summer send-off to remember. She packed in 15 resin-and-sugar statues -- tiny characters with masterfully carved characteristics, that harken back to bygone eras, from Egyptian labor practices to medieval design to the 16th century Caribbean sugar trade to early African American history. Then, of course, there's the sphinx. A massive, naked woman, perched in that familiar mythical stance, with a face reminiscent of the Mammie archetype.


Kara Walker, A Subtlety, 2014. Photography by Jason Wyche, Courtesy Creative Time, 2014


There's a host of hidden imagery stashed in and around the provocative body. Read any review of "A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby An Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant," and you'll see nods to Saartjie "Sarah" Bartman, the Khoi woman who toured the world as the Hottentot Venus, or the "figa," a bit of Brazilian decor seen in jewelry and homes.

Much of it points back to America's sugar slavery, and the decades of consumption that came before and after. The images contradict each other, pointing to vintage edible sugar sculptures (aka "subtleties) of high society on the one hand, and the stereotypes we associate with "black memorabilia" and racist collectables on the other. "Confronting the viewer with the contradictory desires and interpretations that s/he cannot bear to acknowledge, my work reveals images that I too am shocked to encounter in dark alleys of my imagination," Walker proclaimed. "You may be seduced, you may be outraged. Therein lay the unspeakable trappings of our visual codes."

The installation is, essentially, layer after layer of historical references, pleading visitors to peel back those layers, lest they mistake the wildly popular art attraction (the opening alone saw 4,000 people) for this season's "Rain Room." While Walker has imagined a sensually appealing construction -- it's a visual feast to say the least, and even the air tastes like sugar -- it's on the viewers' shoulders to educate themselves on what the sphinx's finger gesture means or what the basket-toting children signify. It's not enough to traipse around the ruin relic mouth agape, Walker's sculptures need you to dig deeper.


Kara Walker, A Subtlety, 2014. Photography by Jason Wyche, Courtesy Creative Time, 2014


And dig deeper the Domino adventurers have. By that, I mean they find their way to the Creative Time badge-wearing volunteers tasked with being docents, and ask away, about the lack of rats, the fate of the smokestacks and the internal organs of the glistening giant. I have been one of those volunteers and, for the record, I'd like to dispel some of the folklore clouding our perception of Walker's complex homage to race and exploitation. So here's an attempt at answering the questions I've come across in the presence of the sphinx.

The Sphinx is not pure sugar. And neither are the figurines... most of them, at least.

Though we wish the crystalline giant was pure sugar, like a giant piece of candy lording over the complex, it's simply not the case. The sphinx is made of 330 foam blocks, carved to fit perfectly together by Digital Atelier and a group of sculptors on site. The body, once puzzled in place, was then covered with 35 tons of white sugar. The result is a 35-foot high and 75-foot long woman, wearing the kerchief of a Mammie character, a black woman of the American South who looked after white children. It took two months and 20 people to do the job. And the colossus has yet another reference hidden inside.

"What we're seeing, for lack of a better term, is the head of a woman who has very African, black features," Walker explained to NPR. "She sits somewhere in between the kind of mammy figure of old and something a little bit more recognizable -- recognizably human. ... [She has] very full lips; high cheekbones; eyes that have no eyes, [that] seem to be either looking out or closed; and a kerchief on her head. She's positioned with her arms flat out across the ground and large breasts that are staring at you."

Walker was partially inspired by a 1920s monument approved by Senate to memorialize "the faithful slave mammies of the South." Not surprisingly, the proposal incited anger and protests among African Americans and the monument never came to be. The accompany figurines at the Domino Factory are another story, though.

The 15 "processional figures" are like the carvings you'd see in the hallways leading to Egypt's temples. At five-feet tall, the children are modeled after small figurines Walker found on Amazon.com, bits of cultural memorabilia that seem both controversial and bittersweet today. A few of them are solid sweet, built from a mixture of sugar, corn-syrup and water, and cooked at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, while the rest are resin coated in molasses and sugar. They were all built from molds and they're meant to make you think about the child labor balled up in American industry.

As for the sugar on the columns, in the corners and between the walls, that's decades of old sweets. Left over from when the factory churned out mountains of white gold. It's not decoration. And it reminds us that this place is not a playground. Sure, your children will learn a lot basking in the glory of the sphinx, if you so choose to explain it to them. (And it's been wonderful to hear thoughtful parents explain the female anatomy to kids who genuinely seem interested in learning what the word "labia" means.) But the refinery is a tomb, of sorts, and you shouldn't expect to let everyone run wild. Warning: Scooters are not allowed.


Kara Walker, A Subtlety, 2014. Photography by Jason Wyche, Courtesy Creative Time, 2014


There's a simple explanation for why there are not pests.

This by far the most frequently asked question on the Domino property. "Why aren't there [insert pest here: rats, mice, ants, bees] attacking the sculptures. People seem to lavish the creativity of the quandary, and up until recently, I'd heard only that rats don't really like sugar. Cue your friendly neighborhood Arts blog.

"How Are They Keeping Rats Off Kara Walker's Sugar Sculptures?" Hyperallergic's Claire Voon posed. And the she answered. Turns out, the sculptures are left uncovered at night and the Creative Time team did not spray insecticides. Two Trees, the company destined to take the building down, did lay poison and traps last year. CT continued to lay traps during the sculpting process, but claims they really haven't seen any scurrying rodents. A couple of ant colonies (that seem to have vacated the premises now) and a few pigeons later, exterminators hypothesized that the affluent neighborhood just doesn't have a pest problem.

There ya go.

Finally, I didn't know how molasses is made, but I do now. Just ask me.

All in all, there are no placards at the Domino Factory, only a vague introductory bulletin, and it makes you wonder whether Walker had more in mind to connect the audience to her web of history, or if the simplicity and the toned-down shock of racial issues was just a more palatable package for Williamsburg. Creative Time must certainly be relishing the exposure of the public artwork, but the more I visit, the more questions I hear.

It's a lot of responsibility for volunteers armed with only an exhibition brief. And there's no denying the more information we have, the more illuminating and haunting Walker's intricate works become -- preferably when that information comes from the woman, Kara Walker, who's so poised to retell history through provocative work. It will be interesting to see how the throngs adapt to the rumors and myths circulating... and maybe that was Walker's intention. Walker's cutouts didn't need explanation, but then again, those two-dimensional forms told a story of slavery many of us are familiar with.

Questions beget questions, as someone somewhere said. And if "A Subtlety" is about contradictions and the ways in which we negotiate around them, perhaps we never needed placards in the first place.

Go ahead, visitor, ask me about the rats again. Or the molasses.

"At the behest of Creative Time Kara E. Walker has confected: Kara Walker - A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant." will be open from May 10 until July 6, 2014. It is free and open to the public. See more photos, courtesy of Brooklyn Street Art, here.

Papa, Can You Hear Me?

June 13, 2014, 11:52 pm

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As politicians and pundits ponder America's diminishing middle class, more than one baby boomer has noticed a peculiar phenomenon afflicting younger generations. While the parents of baby boomers may have worked hard to ensure that their children enjoyed more opportunities than their parents had been able to provide, a surplus of riches has resulted in a curious form of paralysis.

Many baby boomers grew up in a time when their choices were pretty obvious. Sure, there were chores to be done and goals to be met for their children (piano lessons, ballet classes, summer camp, etc.) But not a lot of money could be squandered on meaningless frivolity.

By contrast, today's young consumers have so many options at their fingertips that much more time is spent in pursuit of instant gratification than being productive. Easily distracted by mobile devices and a celebrity-driven media, many young adults have money to spare.

Those enjoying newfound wealth through high-paying jobs or their professional success don't feel the same kind of urgency their parents did with regard to managing their time or dealing with financial matters. Some have developed into entrepreneurial toxic cartoons.





Despite their constant braying about the need to have marriage defined as being the relationship between one man and one woman, the conservatives who espouse traditional family values have been forced to acknowledge that new kinds of families exist in America.

• Many women have embraced artificial insemination in order to create a child of their own with the help of a sperm donor.


• Others have chosen to remain single, occasionally having more than one baby daddy in their lives.


• In some families, the father figure may be physically or emotionally unavailable due to military service, workaholism, substance abuse, incarceration, or other factors.


• Young widows and widowers frequently face the challenge of raising children on their own.


• Following the United States Supreme Court's decision in United States vs. Windsor, an increasing number of state supreme courts have found state bans on same-sex marriage inspired by 1996's Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional, thus paving the way for marriage equality. A key factor in the legal fights for marriage equality has been securing equal protection for the children of same-sex couples (whether those children be natural born, adopted, the product of a previous marriage, or created with the help of a sexual surrogate).

For many families, the unsung hero in a child's life may be a teacher, coach, or mentor who provides the kind of role model or trusted friend that may not be available at home. The following YouthFX short, Inside the Ring (which was screened at the 2014 San Francisco International Film Festival), was filmed at a boxing club in Albany, New York where Jerrick Jones has been an inspiration and mentor to generations of aspiring athletes.





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Alas, there are also men who, though they remain at home and function as breadwinners, are not the most loving people in the world. A prime example of this would be Troy Maxson, the protagonist in August Wilson's poignant Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences (which had its world premiere at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut in 1983).

I first saw Wilson's play during its 1987 pre-Broadway tryout at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco with James Earl Jones in the lead role. At the time, I found it difficult to appreciate Wilson's play. Numerous factors might have affected my experience that evening.

• My first exposure to James Earl Jones had been his bravura performance in The Great White Hope on Broadway in 1969. While Jack Johnson was a powerfully heroic figure, Troy Maxson was not what anyone would call a sympathetic character. A garbage collector in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who, after finally being promoted to a truck driving position, saw no reason to get a driver's license, he was an old-fashioned macho bully. Troy cheated on his wife and didn't particularly like his children. But, hey, it was the 1950s.


• By 1987, many San Franciscans were living in a constant state of mourning due to the AIDS crisis. People's politically correct nerves were frayed, to say the least. Listening to African American men calling each other "nigger" onstage may have been one more depressing use of language that I could have lived without that evening.

But times change. Audiences change. And as new actors step into the shoes of the characters a playwright has created, their personalities, physiques and professional training reshape the dramatic experience. The following clip allows viewers to compare two markedly different portrayals of Troy Maxson:

• In the first clip, shown during the 1988 Tony Awards show, Troy (James Earl Jones) confronts his son, Cory (played by Courtney B. Vance), under the direction of Lloyd Richards.


• In the second clip, taken from the 2010 Broadway revival that was directed by Kenny Leon, Denzel Washington seems much less brutal in his confrontation with Chris Chalk.

Fences was the sixth installment written in Wilson's 100-year "Pittsburgh cycle" or "Century cycle" of plays set in Pittsburgh's Hill District (each play takes place during a different decade). Wilson received Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990). On October 16, 2005, the Virginia Theatre was renamed the August Wilson Theatre in honor of the playwright who had died two weeks earlier at the age of 60.

So far, I've seen productions of Fences, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Radio Golf, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Seven Guitars. The Marin Theatre Company, which has set a goal of producing all ten plays in Wilson's Pittsburgh cycle, recently offered an exquisitely staged new production of Fences.




Margo Hall and Carl Lumbly in Fences (Photo by: Ed Smith)


Directed by Derrick Sanders on a simple unit set designed by J.B. Wilson, MTC's production was one of those rare achievements in ensemble acting where audiences leave the theatre gobsmacked by the high quality of what they have just experienced. One of the factors which made MTC's production so interesting was that every member of its cast had strong ties to the Bay area.

• Steven Anthony Jones, who portrayed Troy's co-worker, Jim Bono, was a core company member of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater for more than two decades. Currently serving as artistic director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, his Bono was an affable, middle-aged man who tried to warn his stubborn friend about the dangers of seeing other women. A solid family friend for many years, the last thing Bono wants is to see Rose hurt by her husband's infidelity.


• Adrian Roberts (Gabriel) is a familiar face on Bay area stages. As Troy's younger brother (who sustained a head injury during the Korean War which has left him mentally impaired), his behavior was often childlike, filled with an odd mixture of paranoia and wonder.


• Tyee Tilghman (Lyons), who is frequently seen onstage at CalShakes, portrayed Troy's son from a previous marriage as an aspiring musician who is much more interested in following his passion than paying his bills. As the son who shows up every Friday hoping to borrow money from his father, Lyons is a surprisingly sympathetic character whose ambition keeps him going.


• Eddie Ray Jackson (a San Francisco native) portrayed Cory, the teenaged son of Troy and Rose. A high school student who is being courted by a college recruiter, Cory is frustrated by his father's refusal to sign the papers that would allow him to apply for a football scholarship.

Eddie Ray Jackson and Carl Lumbly in Fences (Photo by: Ed Smith)


The evening's two powerhouse performances come from actors who never fail to impress Bay area audiences with their depth and versatility.

• Carl Lumbly (Troy Maxson) is a powerful, athletic actor who has no trouble commanding a stage. As Troy (a talented former baseball player who has spent several years in prison) he embodied the kind of middle-aged man who is determined to be respected as the alpha male in his family. Sexually selfish and stubborn as a mule, he is keen on lecturing his sons about responsibility. While Troy remains financially responsible to his family, he's standing on increasingly shaky moral ground.


• Margo Hall (Rose) is one of the Bay area's dramatic wonders. An actress, singer and playwright with an uncanny ability to create complex characterizations, she has a great talent for gaining an audience's sympathy by underplaying a role. An artist who often paints sorrow with knowing silences, Hall communicated the utter sadness and despair of a woman who had tried to remain loyal through 18 difficult years of marriage only to be hit with the ugliness of her husband's betrayal when Troy informed her that he's about to become a father (with another woman). Where other actresses might have used Rose's big scene in Act II to show their vocal fire, Hall's eyes and body language revealed a woman who, fearing her husband's anger, had always forced herself to remain in control of her feelings.

Eddie Ray Jackson, Margo Hall and Carl Lumbly in Fences
(Photo by: Ed Smith)

MTC's production of Wilson's play packed a solid set of dramatic punches. Here's the trailer:





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While doing some research on YouTube, I came across a wonderful clip of August Wilson discussing the state of theatre in America with Charlie Rose.





Although Wilson is correct to complain about the lack of African American professionals in the higher echelons of many American theatre companies, the Black Theatre Network is "dedicated to the exploration and preservation of the theatrical visions of the African diaspora." Thanks to the Bay area's diversity and thriving theatre community, local audiences have the opportunity to attend performances and readings at three African American theatre companies.

• The African American Shakespeare Company was launched in 1994 by Sherri Young and is now under the artistic leadership of L. Peter Callender.


• Founded in 1981 by Quentin Easter and Stanley E. Williams, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre was forced to downsize for economic reasons, but still offers readings and educational outreach programs.


• Now celebrating its 49th season, the Black Repertory Group in Berkeley "provides opportunities to develop individual and young artists, and for our youth to discover a rich, black cultural heritage."

On the company's website, its Executive/Artistic Director, Dr. Mona Vaughn Scott, notes that:

"If my Mom, Nora Vaughn, were alive today, she'd tell you that the Black Repertory Group Theater is a revolutionary theater; that both of my parents initially started using theater as a means to impart knowledge about the rich history of Black Americans way back in Vicksburg, Mississippi where Mom and Dad were also high school teachers. After three aborted attacks from the Ku Klux Klan, (Mom told me that one bullet just missed my head in my baby bed), Mom finally convinced my Dad to leave so he could scout out and find a new home for us in California. Dad reluctantly left us behind in Mississippi. Mom continued to boldly use her 'drama to inform and educate,' joining Dad in California almost a year later when I was three years old.

Running my late parents' theater and cultural center is the most revolutionary thing I've ever done. My family has always been involved in civil rights and revolutionary acts from the 'Gate' because Mom and Dad taught us to be revolutionaries early on. My mother was fierce. The power brokers at that time gave Mom so much resistance to building her new theater in the early 1980s that, after three dates that were not met and promises not kept, Mom picketed City Hall (right outside the Mayor's office). We display her picket sign that states: HERE I SIT, TILL BLACK REP STANDS. Needless to say, Mom received the 'Approval' for construction to begin the very next day."

To read more of George Heymont go to My Cultural Landscape

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War

June 14, 2014, 1:53 am

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At the University of Southern California (USC), in the lobby of the Doheny Library, a giant story of Jewish history has been writ large in a small exhibition titled "Lives of the Great Patriotic War: The Untold Story of Soviet Jewish Soldiers in the Red Army during WWII." On display through July, it contains just 10 kiosks, including two multimedia displays with snippets of a new video archive.

In Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union, World War II is referred to as "The Great Patriotic War." More than 30 million Soviet citizens served in the war, and more than 8 million died. Soviet casualties from the war have been estimated at more than 26 million, a deep wound in the Soviet national consciousness that touched every family and every citizen.

Until now, little attention has been paid to the 500,000 Jews who fought the Nazis as part of the Red Army, more than 160,000 of whom received medals for their bravery and their service. Until now, the stories of those Soviet-Jewish soldiers have been absent from Holocaust archives, memorial museums, survivor testimonies and historical accounts. This exhibition is part of an effort by the New York-based Blavatnik Archive Foundation to change all that.

Established in 2005, the Blavatnik Archive Foundation was funded by the Blavatnik Family Foundation of Len Blavatnik and his brother Alex, Jews born in Odessa who immigrated to the United States in 1978 and whose successful company, Access Industries, has investments in oil and petrochemicals, as well as media and real estate, including the 2011 purchase of the Warner Music Group.

Julie Chervinsky, director of the Blavatnik Archive, explained in a recent phone interview that the archive includes a collection of Judaica, historical materials, ephemera and posters. Also in the collection are many letters from the front during the war that gave great insight into the personal dramas of Jewish soldiers fighting in Soviet territory -- a chapter of Jewish history that, Chervinsky said, "had not been captured at all." Collecting the testimonies of Soviet-Jewish participants in World War II became the archive's mission and its priority. Although by the time its research began, many of the survivors had died or were quite old, yet more than 1,100 survivors currently living in 11 countries have been interviewed. This exhibition is assembled from those testimonies.

Organized both thematically and chronologically, the exhibition describes each phase of the war in both English and Russian texts, through personal photos of the survivors (then and now), as well as propaganda posters and postcards. It tells of the role of Jews in the first Soviet generation, who were also witnesses to and participants in the Russian Revolution. It shows how they felt on the eve of the war against the Germans, and how Russia stoked fear with propaganda films, such as the 1938 "Professor Mamlock," which is one of the first films to address Nazi anti-Semitism. Boris Tsalik speaks of his "love of the motherland," which led him to volunteer for the Red Army. Abram Byakher recalls that the longest day of 1941 was June 22, the night of his high-school prom -- and the night Germany invaded Russia.

Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa," the invasion of Russia, was very successful at first. By mid-July 1941, the Germans had moved more than 200 miles inside Russia, and some 4 million Soviets had been captured or killed. It was then that the Soviets made a strategic decision, as shown here, to evacuate, forcing a retreat by some 16 million Soviet citizens. As the Germans advanced farther and farther away from their supply lines, only to find little to no resources on the ground, they became overextended, leaving an opening for the Soviet counteroffensive to launch.

At Stalingrad, Soviets were ordered to cede "not a step back!" Under Stalin's orders, the Red Army used its infantry and tank units to turn the tide of the war. The exhibition features Alexandra Bochalova, Igor Blinchik and Ida Ferrer, some of the Soviet Jews who fought there. According to the Blavatnik Archive, another 20,000 to 30,000 Jewish partisans also fought the Nazis on Soviet soil, helping to liberate Russian territory, as well as Poland, Hungary and eventually fighting all the way to Berlin.

Mark Altshuller was among the Soviet troops who liberated the Majdanek concentration camp. He recalls seeing barracks full of children's hair, shoes and other belongings, the corpses barely incinerated. The sight filled the troops with such rage, they began to execute the remaining German officers on the spot and continued to do so until Stalin ordered them to stop.

There is something both heroic and tragic about the Jewish experience in the Soviet Union. For many Jews in that first generation of revolutionaries, the Soviet Union not only afforded greater rights and the social mobility to leave the shtetls and ghettos of provincial life, it also offered opportunities for education and to pursue professions previously denied to Jews. In return, however, those Soviet Jews had to give up religious observance; being Jewish became merely an ethnic nationality. Then, under Stalin, Jews became doubly cursed: They could not practice their religion, and being identified as Jewish on official documents nevertheless led to discrimination and distrust.

It is heartbreaking to read of Jews who fought at Stalingrad and yet whose hope of a transformed Russia were dashed when they returned home to find their patriotism doubted, their homes and possessions looted, and anti-Semitism officially sanctioned.

I know this truth firsthand from my relative Michael Sherwood, born Meyer ("Misha") Teichholz in Tarnopol, in what was then Poland, who lived this history. When the Germans invaded, he fled to the Soviet Union, and though he was just a teenager, he joined the Red Army and served at Stalingrad. Then he was arrested and sent to the gulag (which probably saved his life) simply for the crime of being a Jew. In 1947, the Soviet officials repealed their decision and released him. He made his way back to Poland, where the Jewish population had been liquidated. He emigrated to Israel, and then to New York, where he lives today. He calls himself a "double survivor," having survived the Holocaust and the gulag -- but because he fled to Russia, he was not considered a Holocaust survivor by the European Holocaust organizations; and the United States' organizations looked askance at the fact that he'd served in the Red Army before being falsely imprisoned in the gulag. A few years ago, I was able to help him publish his story, "Odyssey," which is available in print versions and as a free e-book download from lulu.com.

Chervinsky told me one of the most gratifying aspects of the Blavatnik Archive's work comes from the survivors' gratitude that "somebody came and listened to them and treated them professionally." In short, what makes this so meaningful, Chervinsky said, is their "response to not being forgotten." Which is why after seeing this exhibition, I put Sherwood in touch with the archive, so that my own relative's knowledge of the Jewish experience during World War II can be expanded to include the experiences of those ignored for so long, those Jewish heroes of "The Great Patriotic War."

This post originally appeared in print in The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles

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First Nighter: 'Titus Andronicus,' 'Antony and Cleopatra' Expand the Globe

June 14, 2014, 3:04 am

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Scholars aren't certain when William Shakespeare wrote Titus Andronicus, although they favor 1593. They are more certain that it was considered his first major success. This says something about Elizabethan taste, since the play is such a non-stop blood bath. Whether it's the seminal revenge tragedy isn't clear. They didn't become prominent for another decade at least, and then it wasn't Shakespeare, moving on to his romances, who penned (quilled?) them.

Nevertheless, Lucy Bailey, who directed the slay-'em-flay-'em production at the Globe in 2006, has brought it back, and through it she pulls no punches. Nope, in a production that can often be both blood-curdling and rib-tickling, she doesn't shy from graphic examples of hands severed or heads rolling or other ruder eviscerations.

It's all called for in a script, of course, where warrior Titus Andronicus (William Houston), having conquered the Goths, sentences the eldest son Alarbus (Nicholas Karimi) of Goth empress Tamora (Indira Varma) to death. Not taking that lightly at all, Tamora marries Saturninus (Matthew Needham), the son of the late emperor and now emperor.

Her plan is to work from within to get her retribution. To that end she sets her surviving sons Demetrius (Samuel Edward-Cook) and Chiron (Brian Martin) as well as Aaron, a Moor (Obi Abili) loose. One of their undertakings is the rape, be-handing and be-tonguing of Titus's daughter Lavinia (Flora Spencer Longhurst).

Before long but not before Lavinia is reduced to a trembling, handless scarecrow, Titus decides it's his turn to make mincemeat of the marauding Goths. This leads to a cauldron of horrors, including another hand-slicing and the serving of dramatic literature's most chilling blood pudding as a dish fit to be put before an emperor and empress.

So there's not much subtlety going on as Shakespeare charges on, and Bailey only plays that up from the first metallic bangings of the returning soldiers, many also given the task of pushing the prominent victors around on tall rolling platforms. Ratcheting up the scarifying aspects, set and costume designer William Dudley covers those defeated but far from obsequious Goths in tattoos and grime.

Dudley also covers the top of the Globe, which is open to the elements with a splayed velarium. The idea is to darken the venue to match the play's dark intentions. He and Bailey want no mistake made about their maximizing the relentless menace. So Dudley also covers the two pillars on the thrust stage with black fabric and drops a black curtain against the upstage wall.

As Bailey sends her players -- and plenty of smoke -- throughout the groundling area and even into an upper level of the stalls, there's one bright element. It's the Roman drunk, whom Shakespeare pointedly names Bacchus (David Shaw-Parker), but don't think he gets away unscathed. Eventually, scathing is the least of his worries.

Bailey's cast is every bit as bold as their director wishes. Houston is harsh in the early scenes and steely devious in the later ones. Varma seizes all chances to render Tamora superficially the loving wife but all the while cruelly vengeful. Abili steals his sequences as the manipulative Aaron, who does have his way with Tamora. The entire cast goes at it almost literally hammer and tong.

Incidentally, when Marcus Andronicus (Ian Gelder) reports the rape and other ignominies forced on Lavinia, Shakespeare unleashes some of his most thrilling poetry. With everything that's going on, he doesn't stint on the mesmerizing language.

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Director Jonathan Munby wants to be certain his production of Antony and Cleopatra is red-hot. So he's had designer Colin Richmond paint the back wall of the Globe's stage red and send the welcoming musicians out in red costumes. Dancers follow in order to heighten the orgiastic atmosphere prevailing in an Egypt where Cleopatra (Eve Best) and Marc Antony (Clive Wood) are grandly and injudiciously ruling.

They're on fire, too, as Best and Wood bar no holds while playing the great persons relentlessly lusting after each other to their eventual detriment. Thick-chested Wood is a virile, imperious Antony, and Best is a commanding, quick-to-anger Cleopatra. Together, they bring out everything passionately volatile in a love affair that Octavius Caesar (the grand Jolyon Coy), their eventual nemesis, takes time to praise and rightly predict will make them long remembered.

Munby uses the venue fully -- as do all directors understanding the Globe's potential for immersive entertainment. Both Antony's and Caesar's armies (both armies small and representative) constantly thread though the groundling area. The crucial battles, nicely stylized, do take place on the stage. In other special effects, smoke billows, confetti falls, as they do in Titus Andronicus.

The beauty of Antony and Cleopatra is how Shakespeare pits the eventually prevailing direct approach of Octavius and the Romans against the eventually defeated Antony and Cleopatra and yet strongly hints, almost winks, that he favors the torrid Egyptians against the Romans' cool logic.

Perhaps the big giveaway to that sentiment is the fate to which Enobarbus (Phil Daniels) comes when, having abandoned Caesar, he realizes the mistake he's made. And he's the one who delivers the great speech about Cleopatra and her "infinite variety" -- infinite variety that Best does her, uh, best to conjure.

The irony of Shakespeare's tragedies when they're presented at the Globe, which is how he intended many of them to be presented at the earlier Globe, is that they're so entertaining. Obviously, he knew his audiences and knew he could shock and frighten them with his vision of damaged humankind but at the same time realized he needed to provide them with a good time.

That's what Munby provides. He's got singing (Jules Maxwell's music, sung by Melanie Pappenheim and Victoria Couper). He's got the Aline David choreography. He's got a big, capable cast, some of whom play both Caesar's followers and Antony's and all of whom are in on the fun that can still be inherent in tragedy.

As Shakespeare's fifth act unfolds, he's also got two marvelous death scenes. First, Caesar throws off his mortal coil in Cleopatra's arms, with Wood and Best making the romantic most of it. Then Cleopatra, faced with being led to Rome and paraded as a spoil of war, calls for her asp. That's where Munby has Best do a slow fade that's gorgeously eerie. Has any Cleopatra ever expired in quite this regal a fashion? Doubtful. It must be seen to be believed.

Among the other coups de theatres, there's a moment as the final battles are about to be waged when a tattered, hole-riddled, altogether stunning map falls into view. It's ravaged much like Antony and Cleopatra have allowed their lives to become ravaged by indulgence. Munby's achievement, along with his players and creative team, is that this is all simultaneously made manifest and exhilarating.

Chekhov Shorts, Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre

June 14, 2014, 8:06 am

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Photos courtesy of Mike Hardy.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a writer and a doctor. He said that "Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress." It makes perfect sense, then, that Chekhov Shorts, directed by Diane Benedict for the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, should prescribe laughter as the best remedy.

It's a clever arrangement of three short stories. The Bear and The Marriage Proposal are sandwiched between The Bet. The Bear tells the story of recently widowed Elena Ivanovna Popova (Andrea Gwynnel Morgan). She's got property, she's got a footman, Luka (Loren Bidner). But her husband's death leaves her unable to repay a debt to the bear that is Grigory Stepanovitch Smirnov (Timothy Fitzgerald). In The Marriage Proposal Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov (Brett David Williams) asks Stepan Stepanovitch Chubokov (Barry Silver) for his daughter Natalia's (Sarah Klein) hand in marriage. In The Bet banker Kolya (Floyd Riggle) debates a lawyer Vlad (Mike Daze) as to what's more humane, capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Like the short stories, the direction is crisp. Three intermissionless, standalone vignettes that present the depth and breadth of human nature in all's its imperfect glory.

It's the telling of the stories, though, that makes this a memorable evening. Benedict could have played it as straight and respectable as Andrew Vonderschmitt's and Donna Fritsche's late 19th century Russian gentry set design and costumes. Lucky for us, she didn't. With the exception of The Bet, the other two pieces are Laugh In hilarious and raucous, much more so when you consider the period in which they're set.



"The Bear's" Elena isn't just a damsel in distress widow; she's a melodramatic diva. Morgan is over the top funny. She's passionate, has perfect comic timing, and her gestures and facial expressions befit a silent film star. She doesn't just grieve her husband's death; she mourns it like she herself is about to die. Likewise, she responds with grand histrionics to the demands of Fitzgerald's Smirnov. She saves the best for last, though. The way she shows how her anger with Smirnov could just as easily become affection is nothing short of miraculous.



A similar melodrama can be seen in the three protagonists of The Marriage Proposal. The humor is not just in the fact that Lomov and Natalia bicker throughout the proposal; it's in the way the characters trump up their respective idiosyncrasies. Silver's Chubokov is over the moon at the news of his daughter's pending marriage. He skirts across the stage like he's dancing a jig. Williams' Lomov isn't just a timid hypochondriac, he's like Redd Foxx in Sanford and Son clutching his chest and telling his dead wife that he'll soon join her. And Klein's Natalia, on the floor, feet in the air, throws a tantrum more worthy of a sit-com brat than a Russian aristocrat's daughter.



All this humor is set up by Riggle's Kolya and Daze's Vlad. Theirs is a serious debate topic presented as something out of Rod Sterling and Edgar Allan Poe. Both Riggle and Daze are straight laced and sober. The tone they set is the furthest thing imaginable from the tone of the other two stories. It's as if Benedict (and Chekhov) want to remind us that, sure, love and marriage and everything that goes into it are funny but, in the final analysis, there's more to life. Much more.

Performances are 8pm, Friday and Saturday, 2pm, Sunday. The show runs until July 12. Tickets are $14 - $21. The Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90802. For more information, call (562) 494-1014 or visit www.lbplayhouse.org.

Powering Up: Theater Breaking Through Barriers's Power Plays

June 15, 2014, 7:23 am

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Whenever I see Theater Breaking Through Barriers listed in a season, I always get excited. When I see this company's name together with those of playwrights Bekah Brunstetter, Bruce Graham, John Guare, David Henry Hwang, and Neil LaBute, I get extra excited. You see, as someone interested in the bodily act of live theatre, I respect TBTB's mission of changing the images of people with disabilities from dependence to independence. This company produces plays with actors with disabilities performing alongside those seen as able bodied. The resulting collaborations always leave me with the distinct desire to see a greater variety of bodies on all stages across the board in the theatre community.

The biggest deal about TBTB is how being disabled is not such a big deal. Their version of Merchant of Venice was so good that I actually liked that problematic play in a way I never had before. Normally I see TBTB perform plays from the canon, but their current offering is something new. Power Plays, now playing at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre, is an evening of five world-premiere short plays, several of which are specifically written to feature actors with disabilities.


(l-r) Anita Hollande and Pamela Sabaugh in Bekah Brunstetter's MURDER. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

The evening starts with Bekah Brunstetter's Murder. Pamela Sabaugh's Lonnie and Anita Hollander's Bridget are friends, but are now encountering a phase of competitive jealousy over their careers. The realistic dialogue is peppered with a few surreal moments that make it really enjoyable.

This is one of three two-handers for women in this evening, and the differences between these three scenes are fascinating. I will talk about Neil LaBute's I Dare You in a bit, but John Guare's Between brings back Sabaugh, this time with Melanie Boland. The storytelling in this piece is very strong, and it has a great many more levels than the other plays in the evening.

We also have a two-hander for men: Bruce Graham's The Happy F&*#@ing Blind Guy. This is a lighter piece, about a blind man named Tim (David Rosar Stearns) who is so good at his job that his boss Larry (Nicholas Viselli) has to have a talk with him. Stearns's Tim is incredibly charming and this piece is a lot of fun.


(l-r): Nicholas Viselli (Larry) and David Rosar Stearns (Tim) in Bruce Graham's THE F&*#@!G HAPPY BLIND GUY. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

The only play of the evening that involves more than two actors is David Henry Hwang's Underground, which involves the Wizard of Oz-like journey of Marin (Ann Marie Morelli), who is in a wheelchair, and her husband Jake (Nicholas Viselli), who are now stuck underground because of a lack of working elevators in the subway. It is a rare opportunity to see Hwang's skill for social commentary through comedy at work for disabled bodies rather than racialized bodies. It is just as successful, focusing on a real problem through a lens of whimsy.

Before I discuss Neil LaBute's I Dare You, I need to say that I have never been a fan of LaBute's work. I think that the two actresses in this piece, Morelli and Samantha Debicki, did the best they could with a script that, like most LaBute, lacks any sort of depth. LaBute's world is always populated with people who have incredibly manipulative, sneaky, malicious intentions.

Women bear the brunt of LaBute's apparent disgust with the human race, and so to see that he had written a play featuring two women alone was kind of a shock. Yet there aren't really two women in this script. There is a woman who behaves aggressively in a way that is reserved for men. LaBute also manages to fetishize lesbian and bisexual women in a way that would be shocking to me if it came from any other playwright. It does not shock me any more. The premise of this piece could have a great deal of potential in someone else's hands, but even the likable actors of TBTB could not overcome the sexism lurking in LaBute's lines.


The company of TBTB's POWER PLAYS: (standing, l-r): Lawrence Merritt, David Rosar Stearns, Melanie Boland, Pamela Sabaugh, Anita Hollander, Nicholas Viselli, Samantha Debicki and Mary Theresa Archbold; (seated, l-r): Ann Marie Morelli, Artistic Director Ike Schambelan, Jamie Petrone. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Despite LaBute's unfortunate script, Power Plays is an overall enjoyable, light night at the theatre. The 75 minute runtime and affordable price make this an easy night of live theatre for those who want to support a company doing really great things for the overall theatrical community. If you want to power up before the summer is in full swing, see Power Plays, which runs through June 29th at the Clurman Theatre in Theatre Row.

The 17 Best DIY Blogs

June 15, 2014, 11:01 am

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Makeovers are only as good as the people behind them. Presenting, in no particular order, our favorite do-it-yourself crew.


We celebrate great design all the time, but there's a specific part of it that we're addicted to: makeovers. A tiny breakfast nook transformation. An easy kitchen redo. Entire home renos. It's the element of surprise. And it's about time we acknowledge those gutsy bloggers who keep us on our toes (and in suspense) while opening up their homes to us each and every day.

Vintage Revivals
What do you get when you combine a fearless do-it-yourselfer, a passionate believer, and a stop-taking-yourself-too-seriously attitude? Mandi Gubler, that's who. Her no-project-is-too-big attitude has us checking in daily and wondering what she will think of--or make over--next. Our only regret? That she doesn't live next door. Love her as much as we do? You must-see this makeover she created just for domino. (Oh, how we love thee.) See it here.

Young House Love
Are you hooked on YHL? We are too. Our can't-get-enough-of-it addiction with Sherry and John Petersik was kicked off in the very beginning. Sure, while we're constantly amazed by their creations (how do they pull it off?), we're also totally smitten with their ability to admit when projects have gone wrong. As far as DIYing diehards go, the Petersiks have the passion, soul, and skills to run the show.

Old Town Home
Mandatory pit stop: Alexandria, Virginia. That's where you'll find Alex and Wendy, who open their home to passionate makeover addicts all over the world. We've been stopping by and following the adventures behind their Victorian revival since 2011. While there's no renovation too big or small for this tag team, they're also always ready to share when they hit some bumps along the road. And that's why we wish they lived around the corner.

The Design Confidential
Certain transformations tell a story all by themselves. That's how we feel about everything Rayan Turner gets her hands on. Her infallible eye, attention to detail, and smart on-the-fly decisions (how does she always nail it?) make us swoon. And her friendly, witty nature has us wishing she had a hotline for when we needed pointers or a pep talk. Check out this DIY project she created just for us. Talk about a rockstar. Love this wallpaper?

Manhattan Nest
We've been watching Daniel make over places, from an uptown Manhattan apartment to an upstate New York fixer-upper, since 2010. This guy has a knack for flipping things upside down and turning them into brand-new sparkly spaces. While we like to think we can keep up with him when he's in his supercharged "Obsessive Renovation Mode," the reality is we're just as content sitting back and following along.

Remodelaholic
Most couples would say the perfect date night is dinner and a movie. Ask Justin and Cassity, the power couple behind Remodelaholic, and they'd say it's ripping down a wall. And so goes the story of a DIYing duo who is constantly thinking outside the box, re-creating spaces, and sticking to a tight budget. Don't believe us? Check out their $5,000 house transformation.

House*Tweaking
As Dana Miller's mission statement says, home doesn't happen overnight. And we couldn't agree more. Home is a work in progress, and she's managed to win us over with the projects she takes on every day. Square inches don't get in the way of this do-it-yourselfer. If only those little tweaks were as easy as she makes them seem. One day...

320 Sycamore
Some blogs you drop in on every day like clockwork, similarly to how you might drop in on a good friend who lives down the road. That's how we are with 320 Sycamore. Melissa invites us into her full house (she's a mom of five) to share her passion for making things over on a budget. After all, the best home renos are an everyone-pitches-in family affair.

withHEART
Jen's got heart. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. And she doesn't mind a little elbow grease either. (Yet another reason she's on our list.) Everything this blogger touches with her make-it-over gusto has us watching closely and wishing for more. Want to make a coffee table like in this in this photo? Get the how-tos here.

Centsational Girl
We're hooked on the countless remodels by Kate Riley, a lawyer turned DIY fanatic, who gives us a reassuring nudge to go ahead and try this project at home. Her adventures ring true for both the pros and the not-so-handy at heart.

DIY Playbook
Casey and Bridget call themselves rookies. We beg to differ. Any challenge--a budget-friendly cabinet makeover, refinishing a desk, an IKEA hack--that this all-star team takes on always results in a victory. They inject a spirit in each project that makes us feel like we're talking to our BFF--with a hammer in hand, of course. See the special project they've dreamed up for domino.

For the Makers
Sometimes it's comforting to meet do-it-yourselfers who take projects at a sensible pace. You know, so the rest of us can keep up. Janet recognizes that holding a glue gun isn't for everyone and reminds us how great it feels to create something that you want to live with. And we think that's pretty darn cool. Love these votives? Get the how-tos here. (Thank you, Janet!)

Dream Green DIY
Carrie Waller has this brilliant ability to make you feel like you can do anything she does. And that's why we're some of her biggest fans. She attacks every project, big or small, with a down-to-earth approach that keeps us tuning in and picking up the glue gun.

Cuckoo 4 Design
It's Julia's before-and-after projects (button-tufted chaise, dresser makeover, painted curtains) that have us immersed in her projects on a regular basis. Her even-keeled approach to the big and small projects convinces us that we can actually jump in and follow along any day now.

Damask Love
Transformations come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The best in our DIYing binders are the ones with thoughtful teachers (hello, Amber) who don't hold back when sharing their projects with smarts and step-by-step how-tos. Her vision for turning anything (please check out this creation) keep us coming back for more.

Almost Makes Perfect
Perfection is overrated in our books. That's exactly why we make it a point of seeing what Molly's cooking up every morning. Her sharp style, relatable voice, and candid approach to tackling projects have us 100 percent hopeful that we can join her one day.

Killer B Designs
A few reasons we heart Brooke: the I-don't-mind-giving-it-a-shot mentality, her penchant for color (you know how we feel about ROYGBIV around this office), and how she pulls it off without breaking the bank. There's no doubt that we've caught her makeover fever.


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Celebrate #BroncoDay With an Exclusive Clip From OJ The Musical

June 16, 2014, 6:58 am

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Courtesy of FilmBuff

What were you doing 20 years ago this week? Well, if you were in the U.S. (and at least, let's say, 10 years old at the time), you were probably glued to the television, watching the most infamous car chase in history. We didn't know it then, but we were living in a time of innocence: before Kato Kaelin became a household name (as history's daffiest houseguest), before we could identify an Akita by its bark, before the "trial of the century" and its results divided the country in awkward shock and awe.

Yes, June 17 was the 20th anniversary of OJ Simpson's long, sad ride in a white Bronco, following the (still unsolved) murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. If you're like me, you know just where you were -- I was a bridesmaid at a rehearsal dinner for a friend's wedding in DC, sneaking away to the bar to watch a split screen featuring "the chase" on one side and the NBA finals on the other. (The Knicks won that night, but eventually lost to the Rockets in Game 7. Of course.)

There will be a lot of reminiscing and 'memory lane' pieces this month -- for a refresher, check out Vanity Fair's 'Where Are They Now' piece, which reminded me that the OJ trial was also our introduction to the Kardashians, though we didn't know the consequences of that yet, either -- but nothing else quite like a new mockumentary that drops on VOD and digital platforms on Tuesday, aka #BroncoDay.

OJ The Musical -- think Waiting for Guffman with lawyers -- features Jordan Kenneth Kamp as a theatrical misfit with a sudden inspiration. He moves from NYC to Los Angeles, where he challenges a mismatched cast and crew to create a modern-day musical version of Othello. The kicker? It's based on the life of OJ Simpson. Spoiler: the gloves don't fit.

Before you download the movie on Tuesday (do it for Lance Ito), check out this exclusive clip, featuring Kamp and comedian Paul Scheer (Best Week Ever) as Dr. Love:



And here's the full trailer, complete with the casting of Mark Fuhrman as Iago:



Directed by Jeff Rosenberg, making his feature debut, this wacky farce is fresh off the festival circuit, where it has delighted moviegoers from Woodstock to Santa Barbara; it won the Audience Award at the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival.

Pre-order OJ The Musical on iTunes.
Like OJ The Musical on Facebook.
Follow @OJtheMusical on Twitter.