 
|
|
|
|
Performance
Artful Anarchy:
Timely play questions authority.
Art for Everyone:
Community dance festival offers a little of everything.
Books
Inside the Hothouse: Plant politics
and more. PLUS: Booknotes.
Morsels
Headline:
Mini-reviews of area dining experiences.
Artful
Anarchy
Timely
play questions authority.
By Aria Seligmann
 |
| Inspector
Pisani (Scott Weddell, left) and Superintendent (Lester B. Hanson,
Right) keep Inspector Bertozzo (Ken Hoff, center) from telling
the truth. |
A maniac is being interrogated inside a
police station in Milan, Italy. The year is 1970. Inspector Bertozzo
(Ken Hof), an intimidating sort who has no use for Maniac's (Dan Pegoda)
histrionics, conducts the interrogation. A straight-faced Constable
(Nick Poublon) watches the proceedings. Bertozzo grows increasily
frustrated as Maniac dodges his questions, makes up incredulous stories
about his identity, and in general, appears to be out of his mind.
Bertozzo dismisses him, finally fed up with his nonsense.
But Maniac doesn't go away. He sneaks back into the
office, uncovers evidence of a coverup surrounding an anarchist's
"accidental" death by a fall out of the police department's fourth
floor window, and remains to sniff out the facts.
As the Maniac takes on various guises to elicit the
truth from the anarchist's actual killers — Inspector Pisani
(Scott Weddell) and Superintendent (Lester B. Hanson) — his
role becomes symbolic of what playwright Dario Fo is doing in this
1970 play, Accidental Death of An Anarchist, using the medium
of theater to reveal the truth.
In 1969 an actual anarchist named Guiseppe Pinelli
was arrested in Milan for bombing a bank. During his interrogation,
he died falling from a fourth story window. The police claimed Pinelli
threw himself out of the window.
The play's premiere run coincided with an actual trial
in which Police Commissioner Luigi Calabresi sued a progressive newspaper
for libel for implicating him in the anarchist's death.
As facts were revealed in the trial, Fo incorporated
them into his play. As the events coming to light became more absurd
and extraordinary, the play become more farcical. The audience members
laughed from start to finish, but at some point realized they were
laughing at actual events, witnessing, like the jury, the unexposed
corruption of a system so vile police were implicating and accusing
those who dared to question authority.
(Several years after the play was written, it was
discovered that right-wing extremists, working with the government,
had planted bombs to set up left-wing activists.)
The pretensions of Milan's police department are obvious
in Maniac's foolish disguises, which change as quickly as the police's
version of events. His superficial props include an eye patch, a fake
hand, a bishop's hat and a judge's robe.
While pretending to be a judge, Maniac re-enacts the
anarchist's death scene, wherein he turns Pisani and Superintendent
to jelly, getting them to admit they abused and goaded the anarchist.
Finally, journalist Maria Felletti (Valerie McMahon) enters the scene,
hot on the trail of the coverup, under deadline pressure and ready
to break the scandal, except for a few small facts. But Felletti gets
mislead by Maniac, now pretending to be a bishop, and drops her story,
much as Milan's mainstream press dropped its coverage of the trial.
While the play is about serious issues, the current
Lord Leebrick production is hysterical. Funny from start to finish,
it sends a very clear message about state corruption and power. That,
plus its emphasis on anarchy, makes this play especially pertinent
and timely in Eugene.
Dan Pegoda gives a fantastic performance. Maniac is
a physically and mentally demanding role, and Pegoda measures up to
the challenge. He is insightful, humorous, manic and off-balance enough
to keep everyone guessing whether he's crazy or not. Ken Hof's Inspector
Bertozzo is the perfect foil to Maniac, and together they set up the
relationship between the madman and the police. Lester B. Hanson turns
in a delightful run as Superintendent. Because he often plays the
part of the strict authoritarian, it's fun to see him cave in with
fear when Maniac has him pushed up against a wall. Scott Weddell is
believable as the hotheaded Inspector Pisani, who's capable of easily
flying off the handle. As Felletti, Valerie McMahan shows how easy
it is for a competent reporter to have the story then lose it. Nick
Poublon's straight-faced Constable, who shows no emotion until sexy
Felletti enters the scene, is very cute.
The show is tight, and director Corey Pearlstein made
wise choices — an excellent cast that creates a strong ensemble,
editing the text to a tight and flowing 90 minutes, and giving each
actor enough freedom to flesh out their characters with their own
mannerisms. Skip Hubbard's set design is quite impressive, as well.
The show continues through June 15. Accompanying presentations
include:
June 5: Anti-Authoritarian Movements In Defense Of
The Environment. Earth Liberation Front: Green With A Vengeance
documentary and talk by Craig Rosebraugh.
June 12: A History Of Anarchist And Anti-Authoritarian
Movements. Various speakers will discuss the history of anarchist
and anti-authoritarian movements for social change.
Admission into the events are $3-$6 sliding scale.
Back to Top
Art
for Everyone
Community
dance festival offers a little of everything.
By Aria
Seligmann
|
Schedule
of events
Saturday,
June 1
10:30
am-12:15 pm Group Drum and Rhythm Circle with Jill Sager.
12:30-2:15
pm Enthusiastic Theater with Judith "Sparky" Roberts. 2:30-5
pm DanceAbility with Alito Alessi.
8 pm Celebration
Bash with LaZoo. Dancing and short performances by Joint Forces
& friends.
Sunday,
June 2
10:30
am-12:15 pm Contact Improvisation with Margo Van Ummersen and
Alito Alessi.
12:30-1:30
pm "KidsCan" with Joan Gunness.
1:30-3:30
pm "Dance Kaleidoscope" with Pamela Lehan-Siegel and Marc Siegel.
4-6 pm Contact
Jam. Gerlinger Annex, UO. FREE
|
You can dance if you want to. Or act, or drum…
Two days of dance, music and theater for "Every body" will occur this
weekend, June 1 and 2 at WOW Hall. The Eugene Community Dance Festival
is presented by Joint Forces Dance Company, which has hosted Danceability
and other performances for disabled and abled dancers in the past.
This year, founder Alito Alessi has invited various
teachers of dance, drumming and theater to present introductory workshops
for anyone who has ever wanted to learn various performing arts. Alessi
specifically asked dancers/teachers Pamela Lehan-Siegel and Marc Siegel,
actor/teacher Sparky Roberts, dancer/teacher Margo Van Ummerson and
drummer/teacher Jill Sager, and Joan Gunness to help with the festival
because "they are skilled, beautiful people who have put years of
work into this community and have open minds," he says.
The diversity of offerings, from movement workshops
with Alessi, creative dance for kids with and without disabilities
with Joan Gunness, and theater training with Roberts, is designed
so those of various ages and with varying interests can participate.
Alessi says he hopes that by bringing together the
different art forms, "a hybrid thing will happen," and says he's excited
about creating a space where that can occur.
The cost is $6-$20 sliding scale per festival event,
and includes free admission to the Saturday night party with LaZoo.
Scholarships are available. Pre-registration an info: 342-3273 or
alito22@yahoo.com.
Back to Top
Inside
the Hothouse
Plant
politics and more.
Orchid Fever:
A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy
by Eric Hansen. Pantheon Books, 2000. Hardcover, $23. Methuen Publishing,
Australia, 2001. Paperback, $16.50.
When travel writer Eric Hansen's third book, Orchid
Fever, was published by Pantheon in 2000, expectations among literary
critics were very high because Hansen's previous works — Stranger
in the Forest and Motoring with Mohammed — were both
critically acclaimed and popular successes. Stranger won the
top French literary prize in 1991. But perhaps neither the author
nor publisher were prepared for the controversial nature of Orchid
Fever's success.
A firestorm of opinion erupted, focused primarily
on this book's exposé of the intricate regulations governing
CITES (the 1973 Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora), which places orchids under the same rules
that protect elephants, rhinos and whales. Hansen also raised questions
about the orchid curator of the U.K.'s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew,
Dr. Phillip Cribbs, when he showed that orchids seized in U.K. smuggling
raids ended up in Cribbs's herbarium.
The big-business world of orchids that Hansen describes
includes other exciting characters besides righteous smugglers and
corrupt botantists, because these flowering plants have inspired passion
wherever cultivated and collected. It's a $9 billion a year industry,
with about 400,000 orchid collectors in the U.S. and four million
worldwide. Chapter titles such as "Bodice Rippers," "The Fox Testicle
Ice Cream of Kemal" and "Orchids, Guns and Harpsichords." inspire
confidence that Orchid Fever is no ordinary treatise.
While the author himself notes that "there is a very
fine line between a visionary orchid grower and what I think of as
the horticulturally insane," Rochester, New York commercial orchid
grower Joe Kunish spells it out: "You can get off alcohol, drugs,
women, food and cars, but once you're hooked on orchids, you're finished.
You never get off orchids ... never."
Hansen speaks on this fascinating subject at a public
lecture on "Orchid Fever" at 8 pm on Thursday, May 30 in Gerlinger
Alumni Lounge.
Book
Notes
May 30 - June 29: Congratulations to Continuation
Publishing of Eugene for winning the grand prize in the Writers
Digest 2001 self-publishing competition for its first book, Continuation.
...Novelist, poet John Reed reads from The Kingfisher's
Call at 7pm on June 6 upstairs UO Bookstore…La Verne
Gagehabib and Barbara Summerhawk, authors of Circles
of Power: Shifting Dynamics in a Lesbian-centered Community, read
at 7 pm on June 7 at Mother Kali's Books. ...Eugene poet Erik Muller
will read his poems and Portland poet Robert Davies reads from
his new collection, Timber, at 3 pm June 9 in the Art Gone
Wild Gallery in Stayton. ...Nora Beck will read from her novel,
Fiametta, at 7 pm on June 10 at Mother Kali's Books. …Eugene
poet Joseph Miller and Corvallis poet Clem Starck read
at 7pm on June 13 in UO bookstore, upstairs...Author, photographer
Tee A. Corrine shows slides of overtly sexual, darkroom-altered,
black-and-white images from her new book, Intimacies, a Lambda
Literary finalist, at 7 pm on June 14 at Mother Kali's. ...Nye Beach
Writer's Series brings Corvallis novelist Alison Clement (Pretty
Is As Pretty Does) and novelist Bart Schneider (Secret
Love) to Newport's Studio Theatre of the Performing Arts Center
at 7 pm on June 15. ...Russell Rowland, author of In Open
Spaces, will be at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm on June 18. ... Carol
Wagner works with women's organizations and humanitarian groups
in Cambodia. She will present slides of Cambodia and read from her
new book, Soul Survivors, at 7 pm on June 19 at Mother Kali's
Books. ...Portland poet Robert Davies reads from his new collection,
Timber, at 3 pm on June 22 at Tsunami Books. ...A writer's
group from San Francisco that published Wild Writing Women
will stop by Mother Kalil's on June 24. ...Professor Emeritus in Russian
and East European Studies Albert Leong will read from his new
biography on Russian sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, who taught spring
term 1983 at the UO. The reading is at 3 pm on June 29 at Tsunami
Books.
Back to Top
Filling
Grilling
Mini-reviews
of area dining experiences.
Philly
Grill
860 E. 13th Ave. 687-7511.
11 am-9 pm SU-TH, 11 am-12:30 am F & SA, $-$$. — MT
There's always something new on 13th Avenue. Ordinarily,
we'd be competing with thousands of students, but now summer is nearly
here. Those more introverted individuals who don't love crowds, lines
and near-death bicycle experiences have a chance to try out the latest
offerings.
One of those is the recently opened Philly Grill.
It still has that new shine, that super-clean, over-produced urban
look. The décor is all galvanized steel, rusty iron-looking plastic
laminate, eggplant purple walls, big televisions. A huge tree, fake
upon inspection, rises out of a grill that looks like it came from
a New Orleans sidewalk. The menu focuses mainly on food that can be
grilled and placed between bread: meats and veggies. The bread was
a little pale, but the fillings were flavorful and, well, filling.
Humble
Cafe
2435 Hilyard St.
Lunches 11 am - 3 pm; dinners Wed.-Sat. from 5:30 - 9 pm. $$
Humble (Bagel) Cafe is a boggling bargain for fine
dining. Jill and Gary Katz remodeled space next to the bakery into
a cozy eatery — soothing colors of pale salmon, celadon green;
tables, booths, cute Art Deco bar — with a broad menu of special
salads (Greek, Israeli Avocado, Warm Chevre), seasonal soups (chilled
crab/celery), pizzas, blue cheese burger, pastas. Not to be missed:
homemade chicken pot pie ($7), roasted salmon ($13). Half-dozen brews
on tap, fine little wine list, exceptional prices. GREAT cheesecake.
-LS
Misako
5 E. 8th Ave., 686-3464
12–2 pm, 5–9:30 pm M-Th, 12–2 pm, 5–10
pm F, 2–10 pm Sat., 530–9 pm SU. $$-$
At this varied-atmosphere sushi bar you might one
day experience Japanese flute-music wafting past kimonos and porcelain
kittens. On another day enjoy Billy Joel while you nibble a California
roll. Lunches have a bistro feel, while dinners provide intimacy,
either by chat with the dapper sushi chefs, or by nose-rubbing under
the mood-lit booths. Enjoy rich Meguro (yellowtail tuna) or
try the Ebi-metal roll: a mouth-watering combination of avocado, cooked
shrimp, barbecued fresh-water eel with flying-fish roe covering the
nori (seaweed) and rice. Steak lovers will drool over the tender Niku-tataki,
and the delectable miso soup is a dinner-starter must, especially
in the cold months. Dropping in a little of your rice is an advanced
technique. -BF
Oregon
Coast Bakery & Coffee Café
327 Laurel St., Florence 902-8901
9 am to 4 pm M-SA, lunch 11 am to 3 pm. $-$$ — TJT
Jack cooks, Kathryn bakes and life on the dismal coast
takes an upswing. Just off 101 north of the bridge, an old cottage
that rattles in the wind, a cozy lunch locale for locals and savvy
travelers. A neon OPEN sign beckons through the drizzle. Nothing quite
like it in Florence. Fresh, healthy ingredients. Spicy salads with
tender greens, baked potatoes, veggies, fish, chicken, delicate soups.
Full City Coffee. Plan to spend some time, cuz all dishes are made
to order. Lemon blueberry muffins, date bars, cookies and other bakery
delights catch your eye as you pay your modest bill (cash only, please).
-TJT
The
Great Hummus Contest
4-8 pm Sunday, June 9th. Sliding scale donation $5-$25.
Not really a restaurant so much as a great cause,
the Eugene Middle East Peace Group is nevertheless sponsoring a Hummus
Contest Sunday, June 9 at the Hillyard Community Center. There will
be speakers and raffles, music and a Middle Eastern feast, and bets
are on to see which hummus comes in the richest and creamiest, lightest
and most succulent. Here is a cook-off worthy of Eugene!
Morsels is a revolving feature that tries to capture
the atmosphere as well as the cuisine of some of our favorite places
to eat in and around Eugene, along with food news. Suggestions? Call
Ben or Marina at 484-0519 or e-mail cal@eugeneweekly.com
Back to Top
Table of Contents
| News | Views | Arts & Entertainment
Classifieds | Personals
| EW
Archive
|