A fixture in the Bellingham arts community for 13 years, Morrison Glass Art is moving to a new studio. All of the art at the studio at 122 Ohio Street must be sold.
Please come and purchase art February 27th 10am-4:30pm. Celebrate the art and history of Morrison Glass Art. The event is family friendly and free.

Christopher Morrison created the glass sculpture that hangs in Village Books. His professional affiliations include Vice Chairperson of the Bellingham Arts Commission and a member of the Whatcom Museum Board. In March of 2005, he was honored to be the recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award, which recognized him as an outstanding individual artist in Bellingham, Washington.

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If you are looking for a fun way to help the Red Cross with their relief efforts in Haiti or an excuse to eat out on Saturday night, come to the Grand Opening at the New Slo Pitch Sports Grill on Saturday the 30th. All of the proceeds from the restaurant will go to the Haiti relief efforts through the American Red Cross. So, if you spend $20 on a meal, they will donate the whole amount to the Red Cross. Please invite all of our friends to take part and give a little to help make the world a better place. They also have numerous prizes and cash giveaways throughout the day.

Vanity, insanity, calamity, Oh my!
By Sally Lubetich

Intrigue reigns supreme in Stone Town Theatre Works premier production of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Heather Dyer.

David Cox stars as King Lear in the Stone Town Theatre Works production at the Firehouse Performaing Arts Center in Fairhaven. Photo credit - Sean Stockburger

David Cox gives a masterful performance as King Lear, a vain man pushed to insanity by betrayal at the hands of his two eldest daughters. Cox deftly meets the challenges of this demanding, high-energy role with the stalwart grace of a King. Keeping it in the family are the delightfully evil elder daughters played by Mikael R. Kenoyer and Katie Cole. They are so good at being so bad. Sarah Modesto does a wonderful job portraying the fatally misunderstood youngest daughter, Cordelia. Donald Drummond and Rob Slater are excellently cast as the King’s sons-in-law. One is virtuous and one villainous; both are brilliant at defining the struggle between good and evil.

The betrayal doesn’t stop there. The King’s very good friend, Gloucester, has his own family intrigue to deal with. Christopher Key is outstanding as a father whose loyalty to the King blinds him to the deception brewing in his own home. Cail Musick-Slater plays the good son who is thrown out into the wilderness and struggles to keep his own sanity. His extraordinary crossing into lunacy is fascinating and reminiscent of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Christopher Ballou gives an exceptional performance as the ambitious son with a thirst for power. Conniving and treacherous with a beguiling smile, his scheming and betrayal is a guilty pleasure to watch.

Jeff Braswell plays the Fool. He gives us a delightfully playful and jovial Fool whose message isn’t lost in his foolery. The Fool is great fun to watch, but listen when he gives warning.

As the ever-loyal Kent, Lucas Naylor presents us with another skillful transformation from guarded gentleman to rough-and-tumble servant, all the while maintaining his own deceptions and intrigue.

Rounding out the cast are several actors in multiple roles. Rossner Gideon is delightful as the snide, self-serving, and arrogant Oswald. Robin Stift gives a fine performance as the King of France. And then there are the Goddesses: Shelby Ford, Jill Likkel, Sarah Mickelson, and Linda Telfer. They are the ethereal messengers in the King’s hallucinations, heralds, officers and servants that shape the background to this epic Shakespearean tragedy.

King Lear plays March 6-7 & 12-14, 7:00 p.m., at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Fairhaven. Tickets are $10 across the board and reservations may be made by calling (360) 201-5922.

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WCC sells Strindberg
by Christopher Key

August Strindberg doesn’t sell a lot of seats at the local community theatres. All the more reason to be grateful that Whatcom Community College has a drama department unafraid to tackle the playwrights who can make audiences squirm and laugh at the same time.

Swedish-born Strindberg was one of the leading proponents of naturalism in the theatre, a radical concept in the late 19th century. It may have shocked audiences used to Victorian melodrama, but it has served to make his works relevant into the 21st century. Creditors is just as fresh and pertinent today as it was in 1888. I doubt Strindberg would bat an eye at the pre-nuptial agreements that are so intrinsic to our post-modern marital arrangements. Indeed, given his somewhat cynical view of romance, he might have embraced them and possibly have saved himself a lot of trouble. Look up his bio.

The WCC production of Creditors takes place in one of my favorite venues, the Black Box Theatre at the Syre Student Center. Its intimate dimensions are perfect for this in-your-face examination of how people confuse relationships with financial transactions. It’s all about who gives and who takes, who wins and who loses, who charges too much interest and who doesn’t charge enough.

The characters risk too much in an overextended market and don’t risk enough on conservative investments. Sound familiar? They suddenly find themselves in an emotional recession and are desperately seeking someone to blame it on when they should be looking in a mirror. And there are no bailouts coming from the government.

Director Gerry Large deserves enormous credit for guiding his young actors through this emotional bull market and the resulting downturn. It is very tempting for inexperienced actors to pull out all the stops too soon and have nowhere left to go when it’s time for the coda. Large conducts them like an orchestral maestro and makes sure they don’t peak too soon.

Trevor Van Houten has an unusual gift for physicality and uses it to maximum effect in his portrayal of Adolph, whose bodily handicaps effectively reflect his emotional ones. Shu-ling Zhao has demonstrated her enormous range in many productions and expands on that as Adolph’s manipulative wife.

I have reviewed both these actors before and am therefore unsurprised, but delighted, at their continued development. Jared Greene, however, was an unknown quantity for me. I wondered if he had the chops to play on the same field as these two proven actors. He does, in spades. Not only does he hold his own against these superb actors, he carves out his own niche as a player to be reckoned with. I was particularly impressed with his emotional control when it was needed and his lack of control when that was called for. Greene is yet another example of the amazing talent that makes the WCC drama program so impressive.

Shu-ling Zhao and Jared Greene negotiate an emotional transaction in the Whatcom Community College production of August Strindberg's Creditors.

Strindberg’s play is totally dependent on words, with very little physical activity. This is a particularly difficult challenge for actors because they have to sell every word. They do and I bought every one.

Creditors plays March 4 – 7, 7:30 p.m., at Whatcom Community College’s Syre Student Center Black Box Theatre. Tickets are $5 at the door.

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BTG show perfect for the holidays
by Christopher Key

One of the things that happens when you reach the ripe old age of 79 is that you sometimes get locked into old habits. It’s refreshing to see that the Bellingham Theatre Guild isn’t letting age countermand flexibility. With their current production of The Velveteen Rabbit, they’ve wisely chosen to move their curtain times back to 7:00 p.m. for evening performances and added 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturdays. This is called being audience-friendly and it should assure full houses for this production.

Playwright Phil Grecian based the script on the classic tale by Margery Williams and it is faithful to the spirit of the original. Director Pam Mueller thoroughly understands how to make magic onstage and it’s very evident in this show.

Like W. C. Fields, many adult actors are reluctant to appear onstage with children because they invariably steal the show regardless of how good (or bad) they are. The adults in this production avoid that pitfall by engaging their inner children and relating to the kids on a level playing field. That doesn’t mean the kids don’t steal the show, but it does mean that the adults occasionally steal it right back.

Riley Penaluna gives a sensitive performance as the Skin Horse and Josef Shaffer is wonderfully funny as Bulka, the Rag Puppy. Brittany Goldsmith bustles about the stage with authority as Nana and Jaimee Everman is luminous as the Toy Fairy. Jared Anderssel sneezes his way through a solid performance as Timothy, the Lion, and Jim Wilson portrays The Doctor.

As The Velveteen Rabbit, Julianne Kimmel delivers a heart-wrenching portrayal of a stuffed toy who wishes nothing more than to be “real.” The “real” rabbits are portrayed by twins Michelle and Brianna Purdie with a professionalism that belies their age.

Michelle and Brianna Purdie encourage Julianne Kimmel to become a

Aaron Helms and Max Shmotolokha share the role of Alex, the boy who is rescued from scarlet fever by the Velveteen Rabbit. Helms played the role on preview night and was professional enough to remain in character despite some technical glitches.

This production relies on some technical wizardry and the ingenious set built by Joe Super and crew has characters popping out of some very unexpected places. Choreographer Wendy Setter made the Scarlet Fear come alive with her imaginative movement settings.

Costumer Alecia Forrester and her assistant Susie Smith deserve high praise for what was obviously an extraordinarily demanding task. Makeup is far more important in this show than in most and Julie Zavala-Marantette came through like the pro she is.

As usual, space considerations prevent me from naming all the people who deserve credit. Suffice it to say that The Velveteen Rabbit exceeded my expectations and my expectations are pretty high for a BTG show.

The Velveteen Rabbit plays November 28 through December 14. Tickets are $11 for adults, $9 for students/seniors and $7 for children. Reservations can be made by calling the BTG box office at 733-1811.

My gut feeling is that show will sell out early and you should trust that feeling.

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Auditions for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-the Musical will be held on Saturday, Dec. 13th, from 9 a.m. to Noon (the entire time) at BAAY, 1059 N. State St., for young people ages 8-10. No preparation necessary. Show will be performed Feb. 26-March 8. If cast, instructional fee required, scholarships available. For more info write david@baay.org or call 360-306-1543.

Holocaust survivor triumphs
by Christopher Key

There is a quaint myth that I was raised with. It’s called journalistic objectivity. It is a myth because journalists are human beings and incapable of objectivity unless they have lost touch with what makes them human. In an age when objective journalism is a laughable oxymoron, it comforts me to know that I don’t have to pretend to pay homage to that standard. Trying to do so after hearing a talk by Holocaust survivor Noémi Ban would be an exercise in futility and a waste of words.

The immensely talented German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl is best remembered for what has been cited as the greatest propaganda film of all time, The Triumph of the Will. The cosmic irony is that the real triumph of the will is demonstrated by survivors of the Holocaust Riefenstahl helped create. Noémi Ban exemplifies that triumph. The triumph of love over hate.

Tonight, she brought that triumph home to a standing-room-only audience at Western Washington University. I cannot begin to imagine the strength it takes for one who has survived such horrors to refuse the temptation to return the hate. Ban not only does that, but uses her immense talents as a teacher to bring it to an audience that only knows the Holocaust through history books. I am one of them. I was born after World War II. It is an immense and very moving privilege to hear history from one who experienced it firsthand. There are very few Holocaust survivors left and it behooves us listen to those who are still here, reminding us of the consequences of hate and how Holocausts still happen. Ban’s presentation was sponsored by the Northwest Center for Holocaust, Genocide and Ethnocide Education, www.wce.wwu.edu/nwche/

The presentation began with a trailer from the upcoming movie “My Name is Noémi,” directed by the immensely talented WWU professor Jim Lortz. That film will debut on January 20, 2009, surely not a coincidence given the significance of that date

A native of Szeged, Hungary, Noémi Ban was 21 when the Nazis marched into Debrecen, Hungary, on March 19, 1944. Ultimately her father was sent to a forced labor camp and she and her family were sent on a transport to Auschwitz arriving on July 1, 1944. Immediately separated from her family (where they became victims of the Nazi genocide) Noémi spent nearly four months in Auschwitz before being picked by Dr. Joseph Mengele to be transferred to a sub-camp of Buchenwald to work at a bomb factory. Escaping during the forced march to Bergen-Belsen in April of 1945, Noémi and eleven of her campmates were found by a soldier from Patton’s army who informed them of their freedom.

Her story tonight ended at that point, but there’s a lot more to tell. She went back to Hungary after the war only to see the invasion of her country by the USSR in the 1950s. Once again, she escaped tyranny in rather dramatic fashion and once again she refused to hate those who made her life a continuing torment.

That triumph of the will caused tonight’s audience to break into spontaneous applause at many points and resulted in a standing ovation at the end. That’s gratifying because our society continues to live in denial of genocide. We deny that it can happen in America, but it did. Just ask any Native American. We deny that it can happen now, but it does, in Uganda, in Iraq, in Darfur.

Leni Riefenstahl died in 2003 at the age of 101. Her undeniable gifts as a cinematographer were overshadowed by how she used those talents to create the fear that is the basis of hatred. Those twisted gifts live on in the right-wing media that poisons our political and social dialogue in America today.

My companion for the evening was a dear friend who grew up during World War II and vividly remembers being called a “dirty Jew” on the streets of her hometown. Ban’s presentation had her in tears and provoked my own tears at how badly we treat each other. But Ban’s message is one of hope, one of forgiveness and redemption.

I asked my companion how I could possibly write about this. “Oh, my God,” I said.

“Precisely,” she said.

http://www.sharingishealing.com/

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