strong>See ART in the original French, then in Translation
Sponsored by Tacoma Arts Live (formerly the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts) Theater on the Square will open ART by Yasmina Reza, using Christopher Hampton’s English translation. The English version will open exactly one week after Rue du Hazard’s French production opens in Kirkland. It makes for a great experience for theatre goers to see the show in the original French and then in translation.
Black Brilliance
The 16th Annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, opening Thursday April 25 and running through Sunday the 28th , will showcase stories from the African Diaspora through the lens of over 25 independent filmmakers.
Festival at 18th & Union Arts Space SpringShot is a grouping of live shows as fresh as a dewy morning
Marisol Soledad opened a one-person show at 18th and Union, Here at Home, as part of the Springshot festival. The highpoint was her costume, which demonstrated that with a little big of imagination, an effective costume can be put together on a low budget. I think the basic idea, was that she was trying to present her clown persona as a bird. Her costume and her physicality certainly were effective in suggesting that.
However, she used a funny squeaky voice in this interactive show which drew on mime, storytelling, humming Edith Piaff’s La Vie en Rose and a bit of TV Talk Show type questions. Some people liked it. It was amusing in part but, in my opinion, as she seemed to be a talented performer, I was disappointed by the lack of form and structure. There just was not enough to hold audience’s attention for a full hour.
Welcome to For-Profit Hospital
One of the seven shows as part of Springshot A gue, (noun a fever or shivering fit,) opened this past weekend at 18th and Union. Written and performed by José Amador, it tells the tragic tale, which we hear so often in contemporary times: that of being laid-off, loosing health-care benefits, slowing sinking from couch-surfing to homelessness, while being seriously ill without health insurance.
Michel just can’t get a break
The Eastside French Language Theatre & Improv Company, Les Seagulls, will present their third show, Florian Zeller’s Une heure de tranquillite, directed by Sebastien Plisson. former comedian at “La DBoussole” in San Francisco. Following last year’s Le Prènom, Tranquillité (Do Not Disturb) is the third show in the Seattle area produced by Les Seagulls. The cast consists of members of the French expat community: Jonathan Garcia, Melissa Kordahi, Katya Samoylenko, Jérôme Vasseur, Nicolas Moreau and Cédric Barnet.
For their first public performance, the French language theatre company ‘Rue du Hazard’ will stage Art, a three person dramatic comedy by Yasmina Reza, directed by Trinity Daudenthun. The play Art is the most frequently performed play in the French language.
Once again, Seattle Shakespeare Company has creatively updated a classic play and produced a masterpiece. She Stoops to Conquer, one of the 18th Century’s perennial favorites, written by Oliver Goldsmith, was superbly directed by Mikaela Pollock. Emphasizing the essence of the play, comedy and not, because of its age, the museum quality, (needing to be treated with solemn reverence) Ms. Pollock added many brilliant touches: the set, the music, the costumes and especially the topical asides, which both honored the text and animated it.
Tragic Tale dished up with large Helpings of Comedy
Based on the real story of a chimpanzee named Travis, who was raised as a human, and had worked in Hollywood as an “actor,” the play Trevor, by Nick Jones, is a semi-fictionalized recounting of the last days of his life. Although Trevor is billed as a comedy, ultimately it is a tragedy, revealing profound truths about the selfish nature of narcissistic pet owners, as well as their parental counterparts. In spite of the tragic ending, the play is uproariously funny due to the witty script, ludicrous situation and the incredible comedic genius of Brandon Ryan, the star, who plays the adolescening champ, with all the frenetic energy of Robin Williams at his looniest.
The Shotglass Heard Round the World
Was a line in Sara Geiger’s Church of Christ N’Pals solo performance part of Intiman’s Festival of Emerging Artists. It referred to Marsha P. Jones who started the Stonewall riot of 1968 in New York City, which ignited the Gay Liberation Front by throwing a shotglass at the N.Y. City vice squad. The image was great and it was a great parody of a famous patriotic line in a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson about the Battle of Lexington. 
