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Theater
Community Art:
Free Shakespeare at Amazon Park.
Marriage & Mayhem:
Revamped classic offers something old, new, borrowed, blue.
Special Features
Wine: Local
wizards of wine sniff out the genuine.
Community Art
Free Shakespeare at
Amazon Park.
By Quail
Dawning
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Titania, Bottom
& Fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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In 1999, I scored the dream role in William Shakespeare's As You
Like It. The character was Rosalind, and the company was Free Shakespeare In
The Park. I was 16 years old, lying on my back in the soft, flat grass of Amazon
Park, with my eyes tightly closed against the late afternoon sun, when I was brought
back to Shakespeare's day during a warmup. Director Sharon Mann sent my imagination
chasing after her words, twisting their way through medieval marketplaces
and rutted roads, beneath ancient oaks and around the bannered walls of old castles
and forts. I envisioned a bright, loud town square, alive with color and merry voices,
and in the center of it all I found Rosalind, Shakespeare's most presumptuous heroine
and my first lead character, who would become permanently ingrained in my heart and
in my mind.
Mann also began her education at a young age, 19, when she apprenticed
at Shakespeare & Company in Lennix, Mass. That summer, she learned about every
chaotic aspect of Shakespearean theater, from backstage dressing to onstage dancing.
She received her bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the renowned New School for
Social Research. Then, on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts' intensive Shakespeare
Program, where she learned everything one needs to know to be in a Shakespearean
performance, from fencing to the King's English.
Mann then learned the business end of things through some San Francisco
interning, before moving to Eugene. Once here, she worked with Eugene Playback Theater
and became increasingly interested in youth-oriented theater. Finally, in 1999, it
all gelled, and Free Shakespeare In The Park was born, sparkling into life with
As You Like It, its first production.
Mann followed that success with Twelfth Night last year.
This year, on Saturday, Aug. 4, the company will open its own rendition of
A Midsummer Night's Dream on the community stage in Amazon Park.
As Free Shakespeare In The Park gains popularity and builds itself
a local legacy, Mann remains wholeheartedly dedicated to creating Shakespearean productions
as the Bard would have created them: outdoor performances of his most uproarious
comedies, and press releases and flyers inviting audiences to bring "a picnic,
blanket, friend, family and dog to enjoy an open air performance."
Shakespeare's comedic plays, which often deal with finding oneself
lost in a vast wilderness, are quite aptly placed outdoors, and this year, the midsummer
nights of Amazon Park will be transformed into the enchanted woods of Athens in order
to host a young foursome of squabbling runaway lovers, wee twinkling fairies, a ragtag
company of diligently rehearsing actors, the mischievous creature Puck and the regal
fae Oberon and Titania, who have heated lover's quarrels by pranking each other with
delightfully funny enchantments.
This unique production of A Midsummer Night's Dream promises
to bring new delights and surprises to the Amazon Stage. There are child fairies
who attended "fairy camp" for a week, where they did character development,
learned their lines and the fairy lullaby, and made their own wings and costumes.
Mann has also been working with the Mask-Maker's Guild of Eugene to create the show's
masks. And Mann herself will be playing Peter Quince, the director of the play-within-a-play.
Also, the 2001 Arts & Communities grant the program has received has enabled
Mann to create the costumes she desires for the production.
The company is made up of 26 multi-skilled actors who range in
age from 7 to 60. In past years, the audience has been equally diverse. Free, family-oriented
theater draws folks from every corner of our community to sit on the lawn together
and bask in the sun (or in rare instances, clump beneath umbrellas and brave the
drizzle) and watch the actors bust it out.
A Midsummer Night's Dream plays every Saturday and Sunday,
Aug. 4-26, at 6 pm at Amazon Community Park.
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Marriage &
Mayhem
Revamped classic offers
something old, new, borrowed, blue.
By David
Beck
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The Best Medicine
continues at Lord Leebrick Theatre.
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If you like the "Benny Hill Show" or Tom Arnold sit-coms,
then you should enjoy The Best Medicine , now playing at the Lord Leebrick
Theatre. On the other hand, if your prescription calls for thoughtful satire and
rich dialogue, the production will yield only a sugary placebo. K. J. Ray's adaptation
of Moliere's The Doctor in Spite of Himself bears no more relation to the
17th century original than, say, Monty Python and the Holy Grail does to Arthurian
legends. Gone is the sophistication of Moliere's language. In its place, shticks,
pratfalls and pithy one-liners abound, which, while appealing on a base level, will
leave fans of the French playwright hungry.
The play opens with a rousing quarrel between the shrewish Martina
(Nancy Hopps) and her layabout husband, Chanterelle (Kelly Ray), a woodsman who'd
rather waste his days boozing and composing guitar medleys about how much he hates
work. When the landlord comes for rent, Chanterelle hightails it into the forest.
Soon after, Martina is visited by two gentlemen, Valentine and Lucas (Ken Hof and
Bill Reid), who are desperate to find a doctor. On a lark, she tells them the woodsman
is in truth a renowned, nay, miraculous physician, and points them in the right direction,
but not before making heavy love eyes at Valentine.
The two men find Chanterelle and offer him work: Their boss, Gerard
(Chris Pinto), is looking to profit by marrying his daughter to money, but the betrothed
Lucinda (Donzelle Richardson) has become incapable of uttering a coherent word, let
alone "I do." She must be healed quickly and money is no object. Not one
to refuse a chance at riches, Chanterelle agrees to cure the young woman. Of course,
the woodsman has only debauchery on his mind. Arriving at Gerard's mansion, he meets
the jiggling Jocelyn (Ariel Pearlson) and is at once eager to ply his alleged medical
skills on the well-endowed wet nurse in a walk down mammary lane. This displeases
her husband, Lucas. The matter becomes compounded when Lucinda's malady seems to
be rooted in the appearance of a scheming suitor, Leandre (Nick Poublon), of whom
Gerard disapproves. When Martina turns up at the mansion, chaos ensues.
The convoluted plot makes for a good deal of frenetic action that
at times seems more suited to children's theater than to adult fare. The several
youngsters in Friday's audience appeared entertained by the sight of grown-ups acting
silly and wrestling around on the floor. Make no mistake, though: This play is not
quite rated "G." There's a lot of sexual innuendo, some breast grabbing
and a few swift knees to the groin. Take the kids only if you're confident that lines
like "toxic douche powder" will sail over their heads while they giggle
at the sight gags.
As for the performances, the ensemble as a whole is appropriately
over the top. It's clear that Kelly Ray has grown (or devolved, as the case may be)
into the part of the lecherous and goofy Chanterelle. Reid turns in a vigorous performance
as Lucas the lummox. Pearlson makes a delightful strumpet and Hopps, as always, is
graceful on stage. Pinto delivers a fine blowhard patriarch deserving of a monogrammed
mug.
Working in the round can be a daunting task and while director
Patrick Torelle has experience in this format, here he seems at times to overcompensate,
moving his actors to fill the space without a consistent regard for character motivation
or social rank. This keeps the action flowing nicely, but at the expense of Moliere's
subtext. However, if your response to the above is "subtext, shmubtext,"
then The Best Medicine should, as its author hopes, "relieve some of
your wordly cares," which ain't bad for 10 bucks.
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Truth & Juicetus
Local wizards of wine
sniff out the genuine.
By Lance
Sparks
Informants, snitches, grassers, sussers, stringers, scouts, spotters,
snoops: As a wine detective, I depend on many people to keep watch, to listen, to
sip and spit through many wines then pull my coat with the right word, what's hot,
what's not. Column readers already know my main dude, Mole, butterball with beak,
and the dapper Mouse; there are many others. I can't do my job without these women
and men who operate at -- and often behind -- the front lines of the wine biz. They
work in many roles: servers in restaurants, wine retailers, passionate amateurs and
collectors. I include even wine reps and wine pimps, because among them are palates
I trust; some even tell the truth. Some of these might taste 50 or more wines a week,
far more than I have time or chance to sample.
Case in point, my old podna, Dan Cooley, big guy, chest like a
wine barrel but handshake tender as a child's. For years he hustled vino for a hefty
wholesaler, used to flash me his favorites when I was procuring for a major restaurant.
I could always trust Dan to steer me straight to good juice, never hyping schlock.
Now, he's a player, one of the partners in Eugene Wine Cellars. Last week,
he rang me up, invited me to drop in and taste EWC's new releases. We sat down and
Dan poured through some beauties (retail prices not yet available but always reasonable
for value). The highest notes: '99 Chardonnay -- honeyed, forward fruit, full
body; 2000 Pinot Blanc -- citrus/floral aromas, burst of fruit in the mouth,
crisp acidity in near-perfect balance; 2000 Pinot Gris Reserve -- yummy pear/apple/melon
flavors with a honeyed creaminess; '99 Pinot Noir -- nose full of roses, cherries,
raspberries with bright, fresh flavors, round in the mouth, will be a bargain for
this stellar vintage (and the Reserve is superb at the price).
Before opening his own shop, Sheldon Glassberg (Sheldon's Fine
Wines, Gateway Marketplace, near Kinko's) developed a loyal following in his years
at Oasis. He knows his wines and works for his customers. His words on wine are good
as gold. He likes Evesham Wood 2000 Gewurztraminer ($13) for its floral scent,
flavors of grapefruit, honeysuckle, spice, crisp acidity for summer foods. Believe
it, a lovely wine. Bargain Oregon Chardonnay? Foris 1999 Rogue Valley ($9),
buttery, loads of fruit, great value.
Angus James (Broadway Market) is a nice young man caught up in
the romance of wine (as so many of us are), and he displays and dispenses his passion
openly on shelves of carefully selected labels and varietals. Again like so many
of us, he's fascinated by the rare and unusual, like La Bete 1999 Aligoté,
a French (Burgundy) varietal, grown in Washington (Newhouse Vineyard, Yakima Valley),
wearing an Oregon label ($15). For value, he offers Villa Mt. Eden 1998 Chardonnay
($9), specially made for a California restaurant, would have retailed for $30, showing
peach/melon flavors and gobs of buttery oak, "a tremendous value."
Wine fiends like me often prowl the aisles of Sundance Wine Cellars
and quickly learn that the staff are among the area's most knowledgeable and eccentric.
(Spend a few minutes yakking with Mario, longtime waiter at Hilda's Latin American
but originally from Mars; it's an experience.) Greg Wells is one of the fairly normal
people at Sundance and rarely describes a wine as "fantastic," the word
he chose for Perrin 2000 Reserve ($10), a white Cotes du Rhone bursting with
flavors of peaches, honeysuckle, ripe pear, faint hint of herbs. Yeah, fantastic,
particularly at this price. A real wine. Shakespeare would cast this wine as Romeo
and find some halibut to play Juliet, then mop up the stage with both.
In detective fiction, the sleuth often knows the perfect little
neighborhood restaurant where he/she can play fingertips with the lovely/handsome
client/suspect. The joint's almost empty, but it's got soul and the food is sublime.
OK, it's Humble Bagel, 24th and Hilyard, now serving dinners, possibly the best dining
value in the valley. Co-owner/chef Jill Katz cooks food with love; husband/partner
Gary Katz runs the floor and has assembled a modest little wine list strung with
pearls at great prices. Gary's been smart, trusts his own palate to find flavor,
looks for value pricing, sets the ticket for diners at a scale that allows for a
bottle on every table, lovely flavors to match tasty fare. Tonight, Gary proffers
two wines from Zancanella Importing, Portland (Greg Zancanella owns one of the best
palates anywhere for Italian wines), two Italians from Trentino, first Pravis
1999 Pinot Grigio ($13), light, crisp Italian style that emphasizes bright fruit,
crisp acidity, aromas/flavors of white flowers, pear, delicious with light salads,
soup of chilled crab celery, oh my. Burgers and pastas and chicken pot pie matched
beautifully with Pravis 1998 Merlot ($4/glass, $14/bottle), rich but fresh
with flavor notes and scents of black cherries, raspberries, even a whisper of chocolate,
a shocker. There's treasure here. Don't miss.
So many others -- Jeff at Marché, Steve Johnson of PC Markets,
Tom Robinson at Jiffy -- too many to list all at once here, but heavy credit is due
and I'll always try to mention the names/places where lovers of good wine can slide
and catch the straight scoop on true juice from the best of snoops.
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