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Visual Arts
Multi-Faceted Show:
MKAC's sculpture plus two.
Performance
MacStake:
The first in a series of reviews from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Morsels
On Golden Eggs:
Mini-reviews of area dining spots.
PLUS: Booknotes.
Multi-Faceted
Show
MKAC's sculpture
plus two.
By Lois
Wadsworth
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Sisters I and Sisters
II.Steel, copper and wire by Stephanie Dal Pra, now through March 22 at Maude
Kerns Art Center.
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The Maude Kerns Art Center's new sculpture show shows three-dimensional
work by nine artists. Sizes range from tiny (individual glass figures by Serena Smith)
to quite large (Steve Jensen's carved wood poles). Additionally, the exhibit also
includes graphite drawings on paper by two artists. This eclectic showcase will be
at the gallery through March 22.
Jensen's very large totemic sculptures vie for the viewer's attention
with Stephanie A. Dal Pra's large steel, copper and wire pieces. The Seattle sculptor's
eight Island Poles rise eight feet from their base. The wood is carved in flowing
geometric patterns that add fluidity to the stark verticality of the piece.
Dal Pra's work dominates the stage area in the front gallery, expressing
a strength that can contain opposites as well. While her six steel, brass, glass,
copper and wire sculptures take forms readily recognizable as feminine, they are
neither yielding in texture nor rounded in form. A central stove-like, upright object
is flanked on either side by four-feet-tall matching dress-like, stand-alone pieces,
Sisters #1 and Sisters #2 pictured here. On the stove's hammered copper
plates, stitched together with wire, words such as these are stamped: "On Wednesday
May 30 in the morning there came to Joan in her cell Brother Martin Ladvenu to inform
her of the fate ..." Smaller but no less beautiful is Dal Pra's copper and steel
Blue Vest.
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Guardian of Kindness.
Graphite on paper by Nan Weed, at Maude Kerns Art Center through March 22.
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Truly Ball's three porcelain pieces express an abstract, formal beauty,
as do Tatiana Garmendia's graphite and silver leaf drawings hanging nearby, while
three other artists use whimsy in their work. Harold Hoy's plumber's strap constructions
juxtapose fabulous elements, such as the aptly named "Man's Shorts and Lizard,"
Girl's Dress With Humming Bird," and my fave, "T-Shirt and Toucan,"
in which a large bird with claws of rebar and a copper beak perches on a galvanized
steel T-shirt. Likewise, Christy Puetz's small beaded, mixed media sculptures are
playful and clever.
Serena Smith of Portland creates sculpted fused glass figures,
tiny figures caught in motion. Four acrobats leap or balance in midair in an untitled
piece, while two figures assume a fighting stance in Head Games. But Smith
also embraces opposites in three diorama-like works that are both athletic and fragile.
Sea Life is the most complex of these colorful, kiln-dried scenes. Three figures,
heads above the water line and bodies below, catch a ball, raise a hand or swim away.
A yellow-suited swimmer, a couple of divers and two fish explore the water above
the pond's grainy bottom. Smith's work, which is not kitsch, illustrates the charm
of miniature glass art.
Local artist Nan Weed is showing a number of numinous graphite
drawings on paper. Her work, which she said is like a lengthy meditation, reveals
mysterious forms. You can see the patience in her work as figures, creatures, organic
structures or landscapes quietly define themselves. Weed has worked with graphite
for several years now, drawing in her studio with the windows open to natural sounds
or listening to music.
Graphite provides "the subtlety and qualities of stillness
and simplicity" she said she wants to express. These qualities are palpable,
I believe, in the work she calls Guardian of Kindness, a close-up drawing
of a tranquil face, eyes closed, hand gently cupping the chin. Weed's work has a
very calming effect, even in pieces such as the gorgeous Pollination, which
shows an ecstatic figure framed by a profusion of life, or the contemplative Cactus
Woman, where rocks and pillars reach into a sky dotted with flying birds.
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MacStake
The first in a
series of reviews from
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
By Aria
Seligmann
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Lady Macbeth (BW Gonzalez)
learns of the death of Macduff's child (Julie Oda).
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Libby Appel decided
she would tempt fate and open Ashland's newest theater, "The New Theatre,"
on March 1 with the Scottish one, that most cursed of all shows. And the curses came
upon her.
The New Theatre replaces the Black Swan and allows for larger audiences
to attend the more experimental works it offers. It's an intimate space as well,
with the ability to adapt to three quarters thrust with 270 seats, arena style with
352 seats, or avenue configuration with 228 seats. Getting the theater, and its adjacent
parking garage, off the ground took years of wrangling between the OSF and locals
who didn't want more growth in their town. Up it finally went, but not without glitches.
First, the theater caught fire on Sept. 10. No big deal, a minor
fire; only about $12,000 worth of damage. No one got hurt. But it did delay work
on the building.
By November, construction was clipping right along. The master
electrician had everything under control, so much so he didn't bother writing down
any of his plans. Unfortunately, he and his wife were undergoing a divorce and, according
to rumor and an OSF board member, the 35 year old committed suicide.
Or b) was shot by his ex-wife, according to an OSF director, or
c) was shot by his ex-wife's lover, according to an OSF actor.
His name? John McBeth.
In late February, a grand jury declared that McBeth was shot by
his ex-wife's "friend," who killed him in self-defense.
Poor McBeth had met an untimely demise. The general contractor
had to come in and sort everything out.
Unfortunately, the contractor couldn't sort out the directorial
choices Appel made, and the unkindest curse of all is that it's hard to find anything
positive to say about her play. In a stroke of tragic hubris, Appel has worked it
out that her play will run for a very, very long time (through Nov. 3).
The bloody deed of programming will no doubt ensure that thousands
will flock to her show anyway. In fact, my bet is that most will go just to see how
bad it could possibly be.
The cast consists of only six actors. G. Valmont Thomas is Macbeth;
BW Gonzalez is Lady Macbeth; and Jeffrey King is Banquo. The other three are all
women and perform the rest of the roles. Suzanne Irving is First Witch, Duncan, Ross,
Porter, Second Murderer and Doctor. Terri McMahon is Second Witch, Angus, Attendant,
Macduff, First Murderer and Lady Macduff. Julie Oda is Third Witch, Malcolm, Lennox,
Fleance, Old Man, Macduff's Son, Waiting Woman and Seyton.
If that sounds exhausting, you're on the right track. What's exhausting
for the audience is keeping up. You have to know this play extremely well to know
which character is currently speaking which line. That challenge is intensified by
the fact that so much of the text has been slashed. If you love the three witches,
you'll hate this play. The witch part consists of only a few lines, and you'll find
no eye of newt here.
The action is fast-paced. Characters are entering, exiting and
switching roles as quickly as they flee to England and back again.
Appel says it doesn't really matter if you can't figure out which
character is currently speaking or what is happening at each exact moment because
her version focuses on the psychological toll the murders have on Macbeth and his
Lady. That's easily seen as they go madder and madder during the hour and 50 minutes
(with no intermission -- to force
people to stay?).
The play is done arena style, with a minimalist set design -- a
simple circular stage with a round pool of blood in the middle.
The blood is the star of this show. The costumes are long, flowy
white affairs that get added to (tunics, scarves, etc.) or taken away from as the
characters demand. The blood gets spattered all over them.
The question of the night becomes, gee, how do they wash all that
blood out of those pretty white costumes? And the answer is that it's a magical blend
of movie blood that's been diluted 50 percent and the costumes have been made of
special washable material. Although the blood is used liberally, Thomas (Macbeth)
says hours of rehearsal time went into blocking the blood spattering because, 1)
the bucket of it costs $400 per show and 2) they have to be really careful not to
get it on the patrons sitting in the front row.
The hours of rehearsal time spent blood blocking explains a lot,
like how the swordfight scene can be so amateur.
It's effective, showing just how bloody this whole affair of Macbeth
and his ego becomes, but it raises yet another challenge for the audience: making
the switch along with the actors to the next character when a particular actor is
still dripping with blood from the previous scene. This was a problem when Julie
Oda as Macduff's son gets stabbed, then quickly becomes Malcolm. The audience hasn't
yet finished grieving for the little boy when suddenly there he is -- no wait --
it's Malcolm, please ignore the rivulets of blood cascading down his neck.
The costumes also become confusing. One kind of funny time is when
Suzanne Irving turns in a heartfelt speech as Lady Macduff in a long, flowing tunic,
exits, then enters just minutes later as oh-so-masculine Macduff, with a vest over
that long, flowing tunic. I felt I'd walked in on Macduff trying on his wife's lingerie.
The acting is good. And godspeed to the actors for putting up with
this show. Some may question having three women play the parts of several men, but
remember, in Shakespeare's day, men played all the parts including female characters,
so it's not like it hasn't been done before. Besides, it's the mark of a great actor
to break beyond the boundaries of breasts or balls and be the other gender believably.
The other shows that opened are Julius Caesar, Noises
Off and Idiot's Delight. JC and Noises Off have themes of
war and hubris that are uncannily timely, and Julius Caesar is more morbid
than usual. Interestingly, the season was picked before Sept. 11, and many of the
design concepts were already in place.
The saving grace of the season is the hilarious Noises Off,
which is a much needed laugh fest after seeing the other shows. The rest of the plays
will be reviewed in the coming weeks. Next up is Julius Caesar.
Magical Merger: ESO and the Rep present the Bard and Mendelssohn on love.
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Book
Notes
...Fight Club meets Cuckoo's Nest when Chuck
Palahnuik (Choke) reads at 7 pm on March 14 in UO Bookstore, upstairs.
His new novel, Lullaby, will be released by Doubleday in the fall. ...David
Starkey reads from his book, Elizabeth, at 7:30 pm on March 14 at OSU
Bookstore, LaSalle Stewart Hall, Corvallis. ...Karen Karbo (Generation
Ex) and R-G columnist Bob Welch will read at 7 pm on March 19 at
the Eugene Public Library, upstairs. ...Pushcart Prize-winning poet Naomi Shihab
Nye reads at 7:30 pm on March 19 at the Wieden Kennedy Atrium at 224 NW 13th
Ave., Portland, (503) 227-2583. ...Various authors including Oregon Book Award finalist
Doe Tabor will read about women and class at 7 pm on March 20 at Mother Kali's.
...Merry Pranksters and "Further" at 3 pm on March 23 at Tsunami
Books.
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On
Golden Eggs
Mini-revies of
area dining spots.
Broadway
Bistro and Wine Bar
200 W. Broadway. 685-0790
7 am-9 pm M-TH, SA, 7 am-10 pm F, 7 am-8 pm SA. $-$$$
The downtown may look like an endangered wasteland, but one jeweled
corner still offers gourmet deli food, courtesy of master chef Andrew Trieger.
The Broadway Market, owned by the Rich Hardy family, is holding
on after Symantec's cruel abandonment and has expanded to offer even more catering
and to-go items.
Breakfast is still one of the best deals in town -- $4.99 for fresh
squeezed OJ, tea or coffee, and choice of two entrees, such Pane Como French Toast
or the frittata du jour.
For dinner I had a totally yummy Pinenut Crusted Chicken Breast
with Caesar Salad for $10.99, and then sampled my companion's Tandoori Chicken Skewer
($8.99) with chutney, rice and yogurt cucumber sauce. Eating Indian food outside
an Indian restaurant can be a dicey gamble, but Trieger's expertise extends to a
variety of authentic ethnic offerings. -- Jule Wind
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Guardian of Kindness.
Graphite on paper by Nan Weed, at Maude Kerns Art Center through March 22.
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Bene Gourmet
Pizza
225 W. Broadway, and 4 Oakway Center. 284-2700
11 am-9 pm M-F, 4-9 pm SA-SU downtown, 11 am-9 pm M-F, Noon-9 pm SA-SU 4 Oakway
Center. $-$$$
Bene Gourmet Pizza has two locations, though you might have spent
a lifetime and never known there was more than one. The first's downtown and the
other's at Oakway Center. I like their pizza.
They use all these gourmet toppings. The Asiantico pie's got Teriyaki
chicken and bean sprouts, and the Insaccato E Portabella is laid with those yummy
big mushrooms and Italian sausage. They also cater to veggies, from fresh spinach
to romas to red peppers to forest mushrooms. They do a lot of business with the local
Emerald Fruit and Produce, so the gourmet ingredients are fresh, and even organic
on occasion.
At noontime $6.50 gets you a slice, a salad and a drink. It's a
bright, airy joint, painted with those new creamy yellow and brown colors you see
around.
Did I mention it was gourmet? I vouch only for the downtown location.
They do take-out and catering, and when you've got room for just one more slice,
manifest restraint -- and order the tiramisu. A great place to take the relatives
when they come to town with their kids. -- BF
Marche Restaurant
296 E. 5th St. 342-3612
11:30 am-2:30 pm M-SU, 5:30-9:30 pm SU-TH, 5:30-10 pm F-SA. $$-$$$$.
Some folks build a house and it serves, but it's not beautiful
or astonishingly utile. The roof leaks and some of the doorways are tilted. The builders
may be fine people, but they're lousy carpenters. Others craft with vision and skill,
and most importantly understanding (through experience and talent) that gives wood,
stone and glass previously unrealized angles of beauty. Restaurants and food are
no different.
Stephanie Pearl Kimmel, long the hub of Eugene fine dining, would
no sooner birth anything but a super restaurant than to squat low, cluck and
produce an egg. Yet it's a golden egg that she's laid in Marche«.
The yolk consists of a menu that changes in time with the fine
crops of local and environmentally responsible farmers. The shell is an attentive
staff, dedicated to providing a dining experience that somehow mirrors the cuisine.
The tenderloin and kumquats could, in theory, exist on their own, outside the shell,
but it would be a miracle. It took Pearl, and Marche -- to make it happen here.
Some consider this the best food in town. For now, imagine the
full bar, the open kitchen where spectators dine on foie de gras, fresh oysters and
mango sorbet (it's incredible) and the warm, bistro-like atmosphere. Reservations
recommended. -- BF
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