World premiere debuts in free noontime concert Wednesday

Bianca Garcia will play at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in a free noontime concert

 

The public is invited to the world premiere of a work for flute and organ featuring Native American music March 6 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

Bianca Garcia, newly elected member of the New Hampshire state assembly, will play the flute, and Michael Lodico will play the organ for Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana, starting at 12:10 p.m.

Stephen Cabell

The musicians and composer promise if everything goes according to plans, the music about the flute playing of the Southwest deity, Kokepelli, will "sweep away winter and herald the spring" on a day when snow is predicted for Washington.  Come and find out.

 

Also on the program are the Titanic Theme Song with glass flute, a shepherd song for piccolo and organ by Hans-Andre Stamm, and Frank Martin's Sonata da Chiesa.

Michael Lodico, choir director and associate organist at St. John's Episcopal Church

 

Mr. Cabell, Mr. Lodico and Ms. Garcia are graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music.  Mr. Cabell teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, and Ms. Garcia, a recent Fulbright Scholar, has performed in 16 countries.  Mr. Lodico, the associate organist and choir director at St. John's, is also a Fulbright Scholar.

Other performances coming up in St. John's First Wednesday series are:

Apr. 3: Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's, plays Organ Treasures Old and New

May 1: Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with James Madison, president from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/ Patricia Leslie 

Who:  Bianca Garcia and Michael Lodico performing Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana

When: 12:10 p.m., March 6, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks:  Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: 202-270-6265 or 202-347-8766

TOP DEAL__Save on Cancun Vacations

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Women walk the Suffrage Centennial March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Theta members march down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013 to commemorate the Women's Suffrage March 100 years ago on the same route/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On a cold and blustery day, thousands of members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority from around the world turned out to herald the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Arkansas on Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members from Germany, England, and Bermuda mixed with their U.S. sisters, most wearing red coats, scarves, hats, pants, or gloves which seemed to warm up the marchers who walked, talked, and celebrated the day with smiles and knowledge of how far they have come, and ongoing efforts to make more aware of their common goals. 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Washington, D.C. walk the walk March 3, 2013 down Pennsylvania Avenue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The website says Delta Sigma Theta was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 women at Howard University who "wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need."  The sisterhood's first public act was participation in the March 3, 1913 women's suffrage march when 5,000 women marched to the White House.

1913's march was quite different from 2013's.  In 1913 a woman on a white horse led the women who were "jeered, tripped, grabbed, [and] shoved" and pelted with vulgar language by men along the route who were seemingly encouraged by police, one of whom, according to a report, said "women should stay at home where they belong." 

Upon request from the chief of police who sought assistance in 1913 to help control the crowds, the U.S. Secretary of War authorized troop reinforcements.  The women were forced by the crowd size to march single file in some parts of the route, and 100 were taken to hospitals.  (Read more of the details here in a Library of Congress document.)

Hello from England and Florida, say Delta Sigma Theta members/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

And Georgia.  Don't forget Delta Sigma Thetas from Georgia/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Fortunately, none of that was observed today.  "We've come a long way, baby," but we ain't there yet.

Delta Sigma Theta has more than 200,000 members and 900 chapters whose mission targets economic and educational development, international and political awareness and involvement, physical and mental health.  On March 3, 2013, they talked the walk, strengthened by numbers, energy, and enthusiasm to never abandon the quest for common good.

Children and babies walked (or rode) in the Delta Sigma Theta 100th anniversary walk/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" asked Delta Sigma Theta members from Germany and behind them, members from Hawaii said "Aloha!"/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

"Anybody heya speak 'Suthern'?" Delta Sigma Theta members from Louisiana wanted to know, celebrating their centennial and the Women's Suffrage Centennial, too, on their walk down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Stretching all the way to the U.S. Capitol, the crowd looked like it numbered more than 20,000/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Mamet's 'Glengarry Glen Ross' leaves this weekend

Alexander Strain (Richard Roma) and Rick Foucheux (Shelly Levene) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

For theatregoers who can’t get enough, this is the last weekend to see David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross now on stage at the Bethesda Round House.

It is outstanding theatre with some of the best acting seen in the Washington area, and I am not just talking about a portion of the cast, but the entire cast.

Starring in the all male production are Jeff Allin, Conrad Feininger, Rick Foucheux, Stephen Patrick Martin, KenYatta Rogers, Alexander Strain, and Jesse Terrill.

This is not a performance for those only musically inclined and/or who like happyeverafter endings. Prepare to be shocked by coarse language which is not sprinkled here and there, but runs the gamut of the show which is harsh reality.  The speech is germane. 

It's all about a real estate office populated by desperate men who employ desperate measures to save themselves from the bleak economic environment. 

Mamet (b. 1947) worked in a real estate office in Chicago, where he grew up, and likely observed similar verbal exchanges (on a reduced level) to those he wrote about in Glengarry, as have any of us who have worked in a real estate office, or in any office for that matter.

Driven into a corner, the crazed salesmen respond like animals, like most humans would. How about you? 

The set by James Kronzer is marvelous and surely will gain a Helen Hayes nomination.  A Chinese restaurant starts the play and is so lifelike, I could almost smell Chinese. The backdrops and the clinking of china stage the play in the 1970s but it could be any time.

Conrad Feininger (George Aaronow) and Jeff Allin (Dave Moss) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

The next scene is the real estate office, typical of any office "back then": an unkempt business filled with wooden desks, doors, filing cabinets, and paper, lots of paper.

It's a short play (80 minutes) which never languishes. Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer for Best Drama and New York Drama Critics Circle for Best American Play in 1984.

Helen Hayes would also do well to nominate Glengarry's lighting designer (Daniel Maclean Wagner) in addition to all the actors (is this what the Outstanding Ensemble Award is about?) and, certainly, the director, Mitchell Hebert.

Plus, (another plus) the Bethesda Round House was a marvelous venue.  It was my first visit there, and I was delightfully surprised by the accommodations, the services, and the ushers, one of whom told me the actors would be disappointed with just a half-full house on a Saturday afternoon, but it was more than a respectable showing, I thought, considering all the competition for time in Washington, D.C.

My only regret is my tardiness filing this post.  Professional theatregoers will not want to miss it. 

P.S. The Paris Review has a great interview with Mamet from 1997.

Prices at the Round House start at $26.

Bethesda Round House Theatre

4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
Ph. 240-644-1100

Metro station:  Bethesda (one block away)

Primary

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Suffragists celebrate March 1 - 3, 2013, Washington, DC

The cover of the 1913 program for the National American Women's Suffrage Association/Library of Congress, Wikipedia

Hundreds of expected women (and men) will walk this Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. from the West Lawn (mall side) of the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the women’s right to vote march which culminated in 1920 with the passage of the 19^th amendment. 

Many other events are scheduled to honor this significant piece of American history:

Saturday, March 2, 2013:

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Panel discussion: Modern Day Activism and the Role of Social Media with UniteWomen.org, the American Association of University Women, and PunditMom at AAUW, 1111 16^th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036. Ph. 202-785-7700. Metro station: Farragut West

12 p.m.  Iron Jawed Angels (2004 film; may be too intense for some audiences) about the 1913 suffragists with discussion, McGowan Theater, National Archives, no charge . Use the Constitution Ave., NW entrance, between 7th and 9th Sts., NW. Metro station:  Archives-Navy Memorial

12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Activism training at AAUW, 1111 16th St., NW

2 p.m. – 4 p.m.   Book talk: Winning the Vote with Robert Cooney at AAUW

2:30 p.m. Book talk:  Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World with Matthew Goodman at the Newseum, included with museum admission ($21.95 + tax, adult) 555 Pennsylvania Ave., at 2nd St., NW, Washington, DC 20001. Ph. 888-639-7386

Sunday, March 3, 2013:

9 a.m. The march begins at the Capitol's West Lawn and continues 3.1 miles to the Washington Monument. Sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta

10 a.m. - 2 p.m.  National Park Service rangers and volunteers will reenact the 1917 "silent sentinel" demonstrations outside the White House.  Hear about mob violence and police brutality.  For more information:  202-208-1631, ext. 215 or 202-822-5080, ext. 25. Metro station: Farragut West or Farragut North.

11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Rangers and volunteers from the National Park Service will give formal talks in front of the White House about the historic protests that led to the passage of the 19th amendment.

2:30 p.m.  Book talk:  Women of the Washington Press with Maurine Beasley, at the Newseum, included with museum  admission ($21.95 + tax, adult)

Exhibits:

The 1913 Woman Suffragist Parade

National Museum of American History, no charge

On the National Mall, Constitution and 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Open 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. every day. Metro station: Federal Triangle or the Smithsonian

A 30-foot long display recreates the mood of the parade and illustrates its impact using costumes worn by participants along with banners, sashes, postcards, letters, and photographs.

The 1913 Suffragist Parade and the Role of the Press
Through March in the lobby of the National Press Club, no charge
529 14th St. NW (just south of F St.), 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045. Ph. 202-662-7500

Metro station:  Metro Center
Learn about key figures in the historic suffrage movement and the role of the press in helping to turn public opinion in favor of women’s voting rights. Created by the National Women’s History Museum with support from the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum.  

Fashioning the "New Woman" 1890-1925

Through August 31, 2013 at the Daughters of the American Revolution,  no charge

1776 D St., NW, Washington, DC 20006. Ph. 202-628-1776. Open Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  Metro stations:  Farragut West or Farragut North

The exhibit traces the evolution of women’s fashion and how it reflected the changing societal roles and activities of women during the Progressive Era.  The “New Woman” represented women venturing from the home where society had confined them, to offices, sporting events, working for social reform, and the pursuit of a higher education.

Historic newspaper front pages and photos from the period
In the outdoor display cases through March 14 at the Newseum, no charge

555 Pennsylvania Ave., at 2nd St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001. Ph. 888-639-7386

Metro stations: Archives-Navy Memorial, Judiciary Square, the Smithsonian, or Gallery Place-Chinatown

Sewall-Belmont House, the home of the National Woman's Party

2nd St. NE and Constitution Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002.  Ph. 202-546-1210.
Adults: $8.  One of the nation's premier women's history memorials.

Open 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., March 1 - 3

Metro station:  Union Station or Capitol South

Information:

American Association of University Women, 1111 16th St., NW. Building is open Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. with archivist on site for public tours. Other organizations will have information available at AAUW.

In addition to those named above, other sponsors of the centennial suffrage celebration are: the Alice Paul Institute, Cultural Tourism DC, and Turning Point Suffragist Memorial.

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'Metamorphosis' was cool theater at Nordic cool

Gisli Orn Gardarsson became a flying insect in Metamorphosis at the Kennedy Center/Vesturport

 

Metamorphosis has come and gone after playing for just three nights as part of the Nordic Cool 2013 arts celebration now underway at the Kennedy Center, and it was some of the best theater I have seen in years.

A friend said he found Kafka depressing, but my purpose in attending was to enjoy drama and the artistry of the production, and that’s what I got, and a lot more.

If you've read the "novella," you must wonder how a producer would go about metamorphosing a man, a family's primary breadwinner, into an insect, but Gisli Orn Gardarsson, who plays the insect/man, and David Farr, both adapters and directors, had no problems bringing it all together.

The set for the play is a portion of a family’s house on two levels:  the sitting room downstairs and the bedroom of "Gregor" (Gardarsson) upstairs whose mother, father, and sister don’t take too well to the changed physical and mental state of their relative. They grow increasingly weary of putting up with the pest, and their tolerance of him who grows more different from them day by day diminishes.  Only the fittest shall survive.

In Metamorphosis only the fittest survive/Vesturport

 

Except for the mother (Edda Arnljotsdottir) who frequently shouted to project her voice, the performers performed their characters with aplomb, but it was Gardarsson who, of course, stole the show.  His metamorphosis into insect was so captivating that lack of bug costume and fur, 1,000 legs, and wings to soar over the house went unnoticed while watching.

Over time, his bedroom, which the audience views from a ceiling perch, becomes a cage where Gregor explores in his creepy, crawly way, sometimes on an invisible trapeze as he leaps from wall to wall.  Always crouched on boomerang appendages, he hangs from the ceiling, and jumps upon tables which become landing pads.

The insect's bedroom metamorphed into a cage/Vesturport

 

When his sister Greta (Selma Bjornsdottir) comes to beat him in one memorable scene, the lights go out and Gregor's domicile immediately changes into a black and white torture chamber, illuminated by one big bright light shining on the room from the back and exposing prison bars behind the wrestling silhouettes while Greta strikes her brother repeatedly. It is a painful scene but hardly worse than Gregor's parents' behavior toward their only son: Get rid of him, and let's move on. Gregor's father (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) pelts him with fruit.

The show included a ballet of sorts by Ms. Arnljotsdottir who often pirouetted from one side of the stage to the other in gentle solos, rolling across the dining room table at one point, just like Gregor, except the mother was a tad more jubilant, not racing to escape her captors, and uplifted subconsciously perhaps, by the knowledge the upstairs occupant was dying and would soon cease to be a bother.

The lighting (Bjorn Helgason) conveyed in the gloomy but homey set (until Gregor's room is metamorphed) and the music (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) (think: Hitchcock on ice) were spectacular. (Alas, unseen musicians and the volume made it seem taped.) Split-second cues for sounds and buzzers were never missed.

 
Presenting the play were Vesturport Theatre of Iceland and Lyric Hammersmith of the U.K., companies which pride themselves on producing exceptional experimental theater which has earned them several prizes.  Gisli Orn Gardarsson is one of the founders of Vesturport, and David Farr, a screenwriter and director, is associated with Lyric Hammersmith.

This Metamorphosis, staged around the world, was presented at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, the smaller theater size which makes reception more enjoyable, however, do avoid Row Y in Orchestra since the leg room is about a third less than that found in other rows, and we just a little better off than insects crammed in a cage.

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Cool Nordic jazz at the Kennedy Center

In the distance at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night was Ibrahim Electric/patricia leslie

Guests stood 14 deep behind the filled seats at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night to hear Ibrahim Electric from Copenhagen play cool Nordic jazz, part of KenCen's Scandinavian arts festival now underway through St. Patrick's Day, March 17. 

That's Jeppe Tuxen of Ibrahim Electric on the Hammond B3 on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with the ceiling lights overhead but not that close/patricia leslie

Doses of Janis Joplin and Eric Clapton infused the chamber, mixed with Electric's acid rock sounds, soul and jazz.  The group has only three members but its distinctly northern lights music from a guitar (Niclas Knudsen), Hammond B3 (Jeppe Tuxen), and drums (Stefan Pasborg), made it seem like six were on stage.

Niclas Knudsen of Ibrahim Electric was on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with overhead ceiling lights, and a bed frame in the rear(?)/patricia leslie

The group charged up the young, old, and in-between crowd, happy to be ignited for the weekend's start.

Happy Socks Free Ship

Stefan Pasborg of Ibrahim Electric was on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with overhead ceiling lights/patricia leslie

Check here for more Nordic Cool 2013 festival events at the Kennedy Center whose blue lights make the news every night.

Text_Downpour.com 2 audiobook downloads for $9.99

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A trifle of women at the National Portrait Gallery

The exhibit, A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic at the National Portrait Gallery/Patricia Leslie.  That's Mrs. Murray centered on the wall, and Phillis Wheatley's book in a case in front of the Murray portrait.

In an alcove at the end of a hallway at the National Portrait Gallery is a tiny exhibit, A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic which features "eight [although a guard and I could only find seven] remarkable women from the early days of this nation."

As you enter the Portrait Gallery on F Street and turn right on the first floor, you'll spy in the distance, the portrait of Judith Sargent Murray surrounded on adjacent walls by the other women in the show. 

 

John Singleton Copley (1738–1815), Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois. Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund.  Mrs. Murray wrote “On the Equality of the Sexes” in 1790, arguing that women were just as capable of intellectual accomplishment as men and that an education would liberate women from economic dependence. In 1798, Murray became the first woman in America to self-publish a book: The Gleaner.

Where was Margaret Todd Whetten (1739-1809) whom I discovered later on the website?  We could not find her.
Does it matter?

Margaret Todd Whetten whose home in New York City housed American spies during the American Revolution.  President George Washington sent her a "thank you" letter.

On the upcoming 100th anniversary of the suffragists' march down Pennsylvania Avenue which will be commemorated by another march March 3, 2013, one would think the Portrait Gallery could have done better.

Especially since one of its Smithsonian sisters, the National Museum of American History, is one of the presenters of the Suffrage Centennial Celebration.

The Portrait Gallery says its exhibit is about "the struggle for women’s rights," and these "portraits showcase the important achievements of women during this period. Together, they also demonstrate the early efforts to gain gender equality in America."

Prithee, how did Theodosia Burr Alston (1783-1813) "demonstrate the early efforts to gain gender equality in America"? 

She was well-educated and the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr and wife of wealthy landowner Joseph Alston, and that qualifies her to be "a woman of achievement"?  Oh, and she was a "hostess" and lost at sea.  I guess I am missing something.  A struggle by the Portrait Gallery to come up with meaningful women of the era from its collection, perhaps.

John Vanderlyn (1776-1852), Theodosia Burr Alston, 1802, Yale Library/Wikimedia Commons. This portrait is not in the show.

Of the eight portraits listed, six belong to the Portrait Gallery which helps reduce costs for an exhibition.

In checking six websites* for notable American women in history, only four of the eight women in the show are found, and they are not listed at every site:  Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) was listed on four; Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784), three; Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821), two; and Patience Wright (1725-1786), one.

Anne Catharine Hoof Green (c.1720-1775) is also included in the exhibition.

Pages from Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) by Phillis Wheatley. She came to the colonies as a slave from Africa and became the first African American to publish a book. (The white splashes in the picture are lights reflected in the glass.)
 

For women of that era, where are Molly Pitcher, Deborah Sampson, Sacajawea, and Hannah Adams?  Just asking.  Or why focus on “early women” only?

The Portrait Gallery's website says "the eight women who are highlighted here did not produce a collective movement for women’s rights, but they were important in sowing the seeds for future progress." 

 

In the meantime, I hope readers participate next month in Women's History Month and the events of March 1-3 and march in the centennial parade.  After the 1913 parade, it took eight more years before the 19th amendment was ratified, and women gained the right to vote. How long will it take to elect a woman, president?

The Terra Foundation for American Art sponsored the Portrait Gallery's exhibit and all the related publications and programs.

Whenever I visit the National Portrait Gallery, I usually stop by the second floor to see the reproduction of Augustus Saint-Gaedens's 1891 memorial to Clover Adams which her husband, Henry Adams, commissioned after her suicide in 1885. The original is at Mrs. Adams's gravesite in Washington's Rock Creek Cemetery.

What: A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic

When: 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. every day now through September 2, 2013

Where: The National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW, Washington, D.C.  20001

How much:  No charge

Metro station:  Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

For more information: 202-633-8300

*The six websites checked were:   Women in History,   Discovering American Women's History Online,  
75 Suffragists, the Hip Forums, Important and Famous Women in America,  and American Women in History


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