 
 |
|
|
|
Dance
Dancing to Shakespeare Eugene Ballet presents
Romeo and Juliet.
Theater
Family Dysfunction Exploring the ties that
bind.
The Art of Daring Boldness Festival
unleashes creative will.
Literary Arts
New Literary Review Local poets celebrate
publication.
Treadmarks
Flameout! The final days of the Camaro
and Firebird.
Dancing
to Shakespeare
Eugene
Ballet presents Romeo and Juliet.
BY
MARTHA ULLMAN WEST
Young, headstrong, irresponsible
love; feuding families, political strife
and lots of opportunities for virtuoso dancing; sword fights and comic
relief, all ending in tragedy. It's no accident that Romeo and
Juliet is a repertory staple for just about every ballet company
in America and a good many more in Europe besides. Most are performed
to Sergei Prokofiev's highly dramatic, emotionally manipulative score.
Toni Pimble's version, with sets by Jerry Williams and costumes by
Amy Panganiban, which the Eugene Ballet Company will revive at the
Hult Center's Silva Hall this weekend, is no exception.
|
Romeo
and Juliet
Sat.
Oct. 12, 8 pm
Sun.
Oct. 13, 2:30 pm
Hult
Center Silva Hall
|
But it is exceptional. Many choreographers, including
Oregon Ballet Theatre's James Canfield, emphasize the Veronese setting
of Shakespeare's play, presenting it as an expression of hot-blooded
Italian temperament. Pimble's interpretation is both British and bilingual,
a rendering of Shakespeare's language using the vocabulary of classical
ballet.
Romeo and Juliet is, after all, an Elizabethan
play, no matter what its setting, and Pimble has choreographed the
ballet accordingly. In the balcony and bedroom pas de deux,
you can hear Shakespeare's lyrical language. In the market place scenes
where the comedy is broad, bawdy and extremely funny, you can hear
it again, in a contrast that sharpens the sadness of the unhappy fate
of the young lovers.
"It's an unusual production," David Makhateli commented
in a recent telephone interview from his home in Houston. The Houston
Ballet principal, who was last seen in Eugene as Basilio in Don
Quixote in the fall of 2001, is again a guest artist with the
company and looking forward to dancing his first Romeo. "I see him
as fearless, a romantic who will do anything for love," Makhateli
said when asked how he would interpret the role. Those who saw his
Basilio will remember that the Georgian dancer has a high jump, beautiful
line and what Wall Street Journal critic Robert Greskovic has
described as a "delicately intense" style of performing.
Makhateli comes from a ballet family. His father,
Nikoloz Makhateli, is a ballet teacher and both his brother and sister
are dancers. Makhateli is as eager to dance in Pimble's work as he
is to do a Romeo that will be uniquely his. "It's nice to watch famous
stars, but not before I do it," he says. "I don't want to be influenced
or lose the spontaneity. It will be interesting to see what I can
find inside of me."
Makhateli has danced at Houston and elsewhere —
including the Royal Ballet in England — in the work of George
Balanchine, William Forsythe and Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato.
He's enjoyed performing in their various styles, but Makhateli considers
himself fundamentally a classical dancer. In Houston he has performed
lead roles in much of the work of Ben Stevenson and Kenneth MacMillan
and just opened in MacMillan's Manon. However, those who might
think that because he is Russian, Makhateli only likes classical roles,
are mistaken. "That is not correct," he said. "The work must be classically
based so I can use my training. I want to make as much as I can make
from [it]. I love this thing. That's why I do it."
Jennifer Martin, one of the strongest classical dancers
in this region, will dance Juliet on Saturday night. The role is as
challenging a one as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty or Odette/Odile
in Swan Lake, not only for its technical demands but also its
dramatic aspects. Juliet in the first act is a young girl going to
her first ball, falling in love for the first time. She rapidly becomes
a grown-up wife, a transformation that must take place in her dancing.
Martin, judging from past performances, as well as
her partnership with Makhateli in Don Quixote, will be a knockout.
The pivotal role of Mercutio will be danced by Jonathan Guise, who
comes to the company this season from Jacksonville, Fla., where he
performed principal roles with Florida Ballet and was a guest artist
with Boston Ballet in The Nutcracker.
Bret Mills will dance on Sunday as a more vulnerable
Juliet, partnered by Hyoung Il Jung, who joined the company last season
and was a memorable matador in Don Quixote. Other new dancers
in the company include Daniel Alsedek, who trained at Central Pennsylvania
Youth Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and the School of American Ballet;
Adam Cargo, who appeared as a guest dancer in Pimble's Rite of
Spring last season; Juan Carlos Amy-Cordero from the Boston Ballet;
and new ballet master Peter Pawlyshyn, a Canadian who has danced with
many companies and most recently was on the staff of the Boston Ballet
School.
Back to Top
Family
Dysfunction
Exploring
the ties that bind.
BY
SHARLEEN NELSON
There's dysfunction and then
there's Dysfunction. Even though nearly all families harbor
at least one black sheep and maybe a secret or two, Canadian playwright
George F. Walker's urban family in the Lord Leebrick production of
Escape from Happiness raises the bar in family breakdown. Well
beyond quirky; Escape from Happiness is a dark, slice-of-life
comedy that follows a family thrust into the throes of chaos following
a violent incident.
The play opens in the shabby kitchen of a home located
in the east end of a large East Coast city, owned by family matriarch
Nora (Kathy James LaMontagne). Nora's youngest daughter Gail (Katie
McClatchey) has discovered her husband, Junior (Liam Drumm) lying
in a pool of blood — evidently the victim of a beating at the
hands of neighborhood thugs. When a pair of detectives arrive on the
scene to investigate what they believe is linked to organized crime,
we get a glimpse into Nora's psyche.
 |
| KATHY
JAMES LA MONTAGNE (NORA) AND ACHILLES MASSAHOS (TOM) IN LLTC'S
ESCAPE FROM HAPPINESS. |
Nora's husband Tom (Achilles Massahos), an ex-cop
who abused his family before walking out on them, has returned after
10 years. Suffering from dementia, Tom is shunned by the entire family,
with the exception of Gail and her husband, Junior. Nora chooses to
ignore his existence altogether, claiming that her husband
is dead and that this Tom person merely resembles him. Meanwhile,
Gail calls her two sisters to the home for a family meeting. Neurotic-as-hell
middle sister Mary Ann (Kim Donahey Miller) spins dizzily around in
her self-absorbed universe where she is perpetually "at a crossroads."
The oldest sister Elizabeth (Susan Tate) is a lawyer and the family's
shining star. The family thrusts their redeeming hopes upon Elizabeth,
who clearly harbors her own set of complicated "issues."
Things really start to spiral out of control when
the detectives, searching for clues about Junior's assailants, instead
discover drugs stashed in the family basement and Nora is arrested
for possession. What follows is a complex account of a carefully hatched
plan gone terribly awry, of bumbling robbers and police brutality,
and the strength of the family's women who endeavor to clean up the
mess that the misguided, though well-intentioned male members of the
family have created; and the universal message that a family's love
can prevail through name-calling, wrestling, hair-pulling, belly blowing,
and no end of countless quirks.
Director Corey Pearlstein has assembled a fine cast
for Escape. Kathy James LaMontagne's Nora is sometimes bitter,
always funny, and most of the time wise. She typifies the inner strength
and humor of mothers everywhere. Kim Donahey Miller is the perfect
Mary Ann. Not only does she elevate anxiety to a hilarious higher
level, but her ability to annoy, yet endear us to her small victories
is exceptional. Susan Tate is convincing as elder sister Elizabeth,
and especially entertaining to watch as she dissolves from cock-sure
lawyer at the beginning of the play to the later frazzled, unsure
daughter forced to deal with old issues she'd hoped to run away from.
As the youngest sister, Gail, Katie McClatchey does an admirable job
as peacemaker aiming to restore and maintain harmony in her woefully
dysfunctional family.
Achilles Massahos is charmingly adorable as the prodigal,
soup-eating father Tom, and Liam Drumm draws both sympathy and laughs
in his role as the ever fearful and incompetent son-in-law, Junior.
In partner roles, Bill Reid (Rolly) and Jon E. Younkin (Stevie) are
delightful as the bumbling; over-the-top father and son crime duo;
and Ken Hof and Angela Denise Wright play well off each other in their
respective good cop/bad cop roles.
With the minor exception of the seemingly inappropriate
music during scene changes and a malfunctioning can opener, the play
was top-notch — from the actors' performances to the superbly
detailed set design. And if the laughter emulating from the audience
and the buzz afterward is any indication, Escape from Happiness
is a hit. Escape runs through Oct. 26.
The
Art of Daring
Boldness
Festival unleashes creative will.
BY
QUAIL DAWNING
If the impending gray of the
rainy season is leeching summer's bright color out of your life, the
boredom doesn't have to win you over quite yet — if at all!
If you know what's up in Eugene, you may have already become an eager
visitor of the official website of the Boldness Institute at www.boldnessinstitute.org.
And if you haven't seen the site yet, or heard the tantalizing whisper
wafting through the local arts grapevine, it isn't too late to learn
about it.
 |
|
THEATER
WORKSHOPS AND MORE FOR ALL AGES WILL BE OFFERED THIS WEEKEND
AT THE BOLDNESS FESTIVAL.
|
The Boldness Institute is a positive, new non-profit
organization, offering workshops and classes in support of the notion
that a life lived boldly is an open-hearted celebration. To introduce
its mission, the Institute has planned the groundbreaking Boldness
Festival, taking place this Saturday.
The Boldness Festival promises a full day of enthused
performances, enticing presentations, and unique flair that will set
it apart from other arts events in Eugene.
"The event will be filled with fun activities for
the whole family," says Lola Broomberg, event organizer. Onsite will
be free chair massages, an art area where participants can make costumes,
wind-chimes and all sorts of mischief; theater games and performances;
storytelling; and a panel discussion on How to Live with Bold Integrity
in this world.
"This," says Broomberg, "is one of the events I'm
most excited about. We have Teresa Harter, founder of Camp Avalon,
a beautiful place that assists girls in finding their own ways to
being women; Peggy Grace Luke, a counselor who treats artists like
visionaries, rather than compulsives; Ethan Hughes, the spearheading
force behind the Superheroes Alliance, and Joan Davis, the primary
kundalini instructor at Yoga West and Howard Newman, un unordained
monk of sorts. They all come at the concept of living boldly from
very different points of view. It should be quite interesting."
The festival also includes a fashion show, touted
as being "for residents who have long thrown their hands in the air
at the boring comfort gear sported en masse." The fashion show is
hosted by comedic genius Rick Brissenden and kicks off at five, and
alluringly invites the audience to be dazzled and intrigued by the
fantastical coutoure of area costume designer Suzanne Glick, followed
by an open-invitation, anything-goes fashion show for the locals to
show off their own boldly fashionable duds.
There will also be door prizes; sensual belly dancing;
sophisticated beat poetry; salsa dancing; opportunities to sign up
for classes and learn more about the Boldness Institute. Lots of informational
displays will be on hand for a wide variety of organizations and businesses
in our area dedicated to inducing boldness in our community –
sky-diving, rock-climbing, scuba-diving, and street theater.
Entertainment will be provided by members of the Sugar
Beets; the Laughing Spirit Women's Chorus; and The Flaming Panties.
Add to this face painting and hair polka-dotting available for the
spontaneous trek into bold territory.
The Boldness Festival launches this Saturday at Agate
Auditorium from 2-8 pm. Admission for the entire day is $8-$10 sliding
scale, $15 for families or $5 for anyone bold enough to come in costume.
All ages are welcome.
Back to Top
New
Literary Review
Local
poets celebrate publication.
BY
LOIS WADSWORTH
THE
CANARY RIVER REVIEW: Bi-annual literary review. First issue: November
2002. Josh Edwards, publisher and executive editor. Jennifer Meagher,
managing editor. Tony Robinson, associate poetry editor. $10 first
copy, $8 each additional, at Canary River, P.O. Box 51210, Eugene,
OR 97405. Contributors include Matthew Rohrer, Timothy Liu, Jane Mead,
Nick Flynn, Ben Doyle, Ai, Alpay Ulku, Beth Gylys, Mike Topp, Dorianne
Laux, Sparrow, Howard Zinn, Carl Dennis, Peter Johnson, Luis Urrea,
Joyelle McSweeney, Dale Smith, Bernard O'Donoghue, Ron Padgett, Robert
Pinsky, Aaron Belz, Matthea Harvey, Vincent Katz, Rick Barot, Greg
Glazner, Rebecca Wolff, Jim Daniels, Garth Greenwell, Ilya Kaminsky,
Natasha Saje and others.
 |
| EDITORS
OF CANARY RIVER REVIEW: ANTHONY ROBINSON, JOSH EDWARDS AND JENNIFER
MEAGHER. |
The brainchild of Joshua Edwards, a young poet
now living in Eugene, the first issue of The Canary River Review
has just gone to the printers, where its 192 pages will be perfect-bound.
It's an exciting moment for Edwards, who has been deeply involved
in selecting and editing submissions for most of a year now, while
also juggling work, school and travel.
"I feel there's a need for more eclectic poets, more
poets like [singer/songwriter] Greg Brown, songwriters like the Slam
poets. Mix them in with prize winners," Edwards said quietly, the
ideas tumbling out in a rush. The second issue will come out in April
2003, and it will feature more young writers and more Southern poets,
he said.
Besides publishing Canary River, Edwards has
lined up the first of a series of poetry readings featuring local
poets and MFA students that he called "younger, early to mid-career
poets." From 5-7 pm on Sat. Oct. 12, various poets will read at Tsunami
Books as a benefit for the first issue. Guitarist, songwriter Justin
King will provide the music.
Edwards was excited to persuade award-winning poets
Matthew Rohrer and Joshua Beckman to read from their new, collaborative
collection, Nice Hat. Thanks., published by Verse Press. A
transcription of improvised poetic pieces recorded by Beckman and
Rohrer, the book contains poems that range from just a few words to
several pages. "Clever, often funny, and stylistically subtle ...
a record of two innovative poetic voices engaged in serious play,"
Verse announces at its website.
Beckman, a graduate of Hampshire College, taught there
and at Rhode Island School of Design, and his work has been published
in Harper's and other magazines. He won the American Poetry
Review-Hoenickman First Book Prize for his collection, Things Are
Happening (American Poetry Review, 1998). In his introduction
to the collection, Gerald Stern writes of his interest in how Beckman
"asserts his own individuality," noting that "inclusivity and openness
... characterize his poetry." Beckman performed his work at Carnegie
Hall in New York last year.
Here's a taste of Beckman's unique writing style from
an excerpt of "Winter's Horizons," in which he traces the effects
on a family of a father who left them:
"You are young, maybe twelve, you write a story. /
Your mom wants to know exactly what does it mean / for a kid to write
a story about his father off and riding / the lawnmower into the sunset.
You are puzzled by your own affection / for the story, but will fight
her, saying 'This story is great. / This story is full of meaning.'
She will think then, / and reflect later, on children's absurd little
ways / of poking their heads right into the middle of the meanings
/ of everything."
Matthew Rohrer's first collection of poetry, A
Hummock in the Malookas, was selected by Mary Oliver for the 1994
National Poetry Series and published by W.W. Norton. It was also chosen
by Publisher's Weekly as A Best Book of the Year (1995). He
is poetry editor for Fence magazine and has appeared on NPR's
"All Things Considered." Like Beckman, Rohrer's voice is unique and
enjoyable, as in this stanza from "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence"
from Satellite (Verse Press, 2001):
"I'm writing upside down with the space pen / listening
to the rain. / My wife is writing about the Black Death / and its
effects on Art, and asks me / 'Where are your pants?' / They are on
the floor in front / of our new couch, where I arranged them / to
spell out L-O-V-E. A vegetable / mystic thrill runs through me —
/ the couch is something's antenna. It bears / good love to us here
over the laundromat."
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from and interact
with a new generation of poets. Beckman and Rohrer will perform collaborative,
improvisational poems based on ideas suggested by the audience. To
support Canary River Review or to learn more about it, talk
to the editors who will be present or go to their website: www.canaryriverreview.com.
Back to Top
Flameout!
The
final days of the Camaro and Firebird.
BY
JIM MOTAVALLI
When the Oscars are announced,
the camera cuts away from the happy,
shining face of the winner to the stunned reactions of the also-rans.
An analogy could be made to the Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds
still sitting on dealers' lots next to the company's better performers.
General Motors has already pulled the plug, leaving these poor orphans
with an additional handicap in their search for host families.
 |
| THE
2002 CAMARO, LAST OF THE BREED. |
The Camaro and Firebird are leaving us in early middle
age, with their appeal still fairly high in certain circles. These
cars have a rep, and they will be mourned. Listen to this pre-ax commentary
from the shell-shocked folks at www.CamaroZ28.com:"We
as Camaro and Firebird owners take [this] as a threat to our hobby
and our lifestyle. While a current market analysis may show that performance
car interest is less than perfect, it would not be in GM's best interest
to even consider such changes to America's best sports coupe. There
is still a large amount of profit to be made from this vehicle line."
Two things killed the ponycar pair: The continued
strength of Ford's Mustang, and sales lost to sport utility vehicles.
One macho obsession has been traded for another, as four-wheel-drive
passion left the rear-wheel-drive dinosaurs in the dust. In 1978,
GM sold 448,413 Camaros and Firebirds; in 2001, it sold just 61,196.
The Camaro made its debut in 1966, a rush job intended
as a response to the huge success of the 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang. The
Firebird followed in 1967. The early models had a grand swagger that
proved irresistible to muscle-car-crazed youth. They cast a spell
with huge mag wheels and deeply throbbing V-8s under their hoods.
There's one aspect of the Camaro/Firebird tag team
I definitely will not miss: the cars' tendency to experience death
at an early age. "The Camaro, Corvette, Firebird and Mustang all have
large engines, appeal to a young demographic, and are relatively cheap
for the performance you get," points out David Champion, director
of the Automotive Testing Division for Consumers Union. So mix the
bravado of youth, inexperience behind the wheel and a whompin' engine
and what do you get? Accidents. As CNBC reports, "That combination
of power, price and appeal when mixed with a healthy dose of testosterone
has racked up horrifying death rates." The Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety (IIHS) says that sports cars have nearly twice the
average of occupant death rates.
But some sports cars are safer than others. BMW's
3-Series experienced a national average of two deaths per 10,000 registered
passenger cars in 1989. Meanwhile, Corvette drivers died at two-and-a-half
times that average, with Camaro and Mustang pilots close behind. In
a 1991 follow-up to the study, IIHS found the Corvette to have the
country's highest death rate, followed by a tie between the Mustang
and Camaro, and then the Firebird in fourth place. The safest car
then was the Volvo 240 station wagon. By the time of the most recent
1995 to 1998 survey, the Camaro and Firebird had taken the dubious
distinction of replacing the Corvette as most frequently involved
in fatal crashes.
Of course, young hotheads are considerably more likely
to drive a Camaro or Firebird than they are an ultra-square Volvo,
so the nut behind the wheel has to be given his due. Most sports car
drivers are young men: For the Camaro and Firebird, 70 percent of
crashes involved under-30 drivers, 70 percent of them male.
The Camaro and Firebird will fade gradually from the
scene, slowly slipping from their natural habitat, the all-American
strip. Last I looked there were still some there, resplendent in primer
paint, circling the Dunkin' Donuts and filling the air with their
pumpin' stereos. Soon, the sound of these cars peeling out on wet
pavement will be a retreating echo.
Jim Motavalli is editor of E The Environmental Magazine.
Questions or comments? jimm@emagazine.com
CONTENT PROVIDED BY THE AUTOMOTIVE
MARKETING DEPARTMENT.
Back to Top
Table of Contents
| News | Views | Arts &
Entertainment
Classifieds | Personals
|
EW
Archive
|