Saturday, May 5, 2018

Olney's 'Crucible' is unforgettable

Olney Theatre Center presents Arthur Miller's The Crucible now through May 20, 2018.

A theater classic, The Crucible, is a play to see before you die, or to see again, especially during this trial of national turmoil, and I'm glad to find Web lists agree with me on its importance.
Mia Rilette (Betty Parris), Guadalupe Campos (Mercy Lewis), Dani Stoller (Abigail Williams), and Yakima Rich (Susanna Walcott) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

The show, the Tony Award winner for Best Play of 1953, is presented at the Olney Theatre Center for the first time and chosen, the artistic directors told me, in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election.  

When a recent poll says the majority of Republicans believe the press is the enemy of the American people (quoting Donald Trump), it's time to sit up and take notice that the freedoms we value are under attack, like they were when Joseph McCarthy attacked persons he deemed suspicious, two who were executed.


Scott Parkinson as Reverend John Hale and the girls of Salem. (Photo: Stan Barouh)
   
Arthur Miller (1915-2005), the Crucible writer and usually considered one of the world's greatest playwrights, places a mid-1950s American tragedy in the context of an earlier crime, the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials of 1692 and 1693 when 20 were executed, their deaths stemming from hysterical young girls.

In his metaphor, Mr. Miller skillfully weaves the girls' frenzy as substitutes for those which gripped the nation during the McCarthy years of the 1950s and the "Red Scare." After The Crucible debuted and largely because of it, Mr. Miller was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify. Various organizations banned and boycotted his plays.


 Shpend Xani (Judge Hathorne), Dylan Fleming (John Willard), Dani Stoller (Abigail Williams), Chris Genebach (John Proctor), Jonathan Atkinson (Ezekiel Cheever), and Miranda Rizzolo (Mary Warren) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

He began working on his play the day he heard his good friend and director, Elia Kazan, at HUAC name actors and playwrights, including Miller, who Kazan thought had ties to leftist causes. (Read a fascinating account of their relationship and their back-and-forth productions here.)

Although Mr. Miller claimed that all his characters in The Crucible were actual persons from Salem, he blended some of their personalities and changed ages for others to better accommodate his script which took him about a year to write, according to a 1996 article for the New Yorker.


Scott Parkinson (Reverend John Hale) and Lilian Oben (Tituba) in The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center (Photo: Stan Barouh)

Olney's director Eleanor Holdridge deserves credit for the strong, persuasive performances she draws from the 19-member cast, notably, Dani Stoller as Abigail Williams, Chris Genebach (John Proctor), Scott Parkinson (Rev. John Hale), Rachel Zampelli (Elizabeth Proctor), and Paul Morella (Deputy Governor Danforth), the latter deserving special recognition for his realistic portrayal of a despised person who quickly conjures up hate from the audience.
 

To introduce the show and set the tone, scenic designer Andrew R. Cohen crafted angled pieces of wood to hang mid-air in stark fashion to greet theatergoers. Minimalist visuals throughout the performance permit the dialogue to dominate, as it should, including the second act when
ugly, low-hanging fluorescents give the stage a prison-like environment and grilling room, as the accused hear and argue their sentencing.

Applause to the graphic designer for the excellent logo for the play and to the choreographer, Kelly Crandall d'Amboise, whose dancing girls and antics never miss a beat in original composition, and none from director's notes, artistic directors Jason Loewith and Jason King Jones told me.

Excellent period costuming by Sarah Cubbage, effective lighting by Nancy Schertler, and original music by Patrick Calhoun all contribute to the success.
  

Other Crucible cast members are Jonathan Atkinson, Guadalupe Campos, Brigid Cleary, Dylan Fleming, Jessica Lefkow, Craig MacDonald, Bolton Marsh, Lilian Oben, Yakima Rich, Caroline Rilette, Mia Rilette, Miranda Rizzolo, Michael Russotto, and Shpend Xani.

Dori Beau Seigneur was wig and hair consultant, and John Keith Hall, production stage manager.

Today in Africa, "witch camps" exist, used to rid communities of older women who practice "witchcraft," reminding me of similar places in our own United States, like the Weston State Hospital in Weston, West Virginia, now called the Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum, a convenient place for men to dump the wives and "witches" they wanted to expel from their lives. The hospital closed in 1994, but you may tour it now (highly recommended).

Wikipedia defines crucible as "a severe test or trial; alternately, a container in which metals or other substances are subjected to high temperatures."

There was a whole lot of shoutin' goin' on.

What: The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

When: Now through May 20, 2018, Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 p.m., weekend matinees at 2 p.m., a 2 p.m. matinee Wednesday, May 9, and a sign-interpreted performance on Thursday, May 10, at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets: Begin at $47 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students.

Ages: Recommended for ages 13+ due to mature themes, extreme emotions, actions, and political allegories.

Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutes (which flies by) and one intermission

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

Parking: Free and plentiful on-site

Post-show discussions: After matinees on May 12 and 19

For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485

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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Angelic organ music plays at free Wednesday concert, St. John's, Lafayette Square

Sebastiano Ricci (Venetian, 1659-1734), The Ecstasy of Saint Francis, 1706-1720, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Saint Francis turns and sinks into the supporting arms of angels as he is pierced with rays from an apparition above, on view at the National Gallery's Heavenly Earth exhibition through July 8, 2018. 

Angels everywhere is the program set for the free noontime concert Wednesday, May 2, at  St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.



Heralding their arrival will be a new arrangement of Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound  by Craig Phillips, the composer for much of the program which will begin at 12:10 p.m. and last about 35 minutes.


Michael Lodico, the organist and director of music ministry at St. John’s, will be the guest artist.
Michael Lodico, organist and director of music ministry, St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.

The composer is the director of music ministry at All Saints’ Church in Beverly Hills whose works are performed throughout the world.  Dr. Phillips has won and judged many competitions and has received numerous commissions including that from the Washington National Cathedral.   He earned his master and doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. 

Craig Phillips, composer


Mr. Lodico, recently promoted to head St. John’s music ministry, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and recipient of a Fulbright grant for graduate study in the Netherlands.

The program, part of St. John's First Wednesday Concerts, is:



Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
  
Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound  arrangement by Craig Phillips (b. 1961)

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Lobe Den Herren)              arr. Phillips

Archangel Suite                                   Phillips                                                             

 I.  Michael  "...there was a war in heaven.  Michael and his angels fought          against the dragon."  - Revelations 12:7
  
II.  Gabriel  -  Messenger of God, and messenger of the Annunciation

III.  Raphael - Archangel of healing
  
IV.  Uriel - Archangel of Light


Fugue on the Carillon d'Alet                Phillips                       
St. John's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

The church was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services at the church, and several have been members. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

Benjamin Latrobe, known as the "father of American architecture" and the architect of the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House porticos, designed St. John's Church in the form of a Greek cross.

The church bell, weighing almost 1,000 pounds, was cast by Paul Revere's son, Joseph, in August, 1822, and was hung at St. John's that November where it has rung since. Wikipedia says two accounts report that whenever the bell rings on the occasion of the death of a notable person, six male ghosts appear at the president's pew at midnight and quickly disappear.

Dolley Madison, wife of President Madison, was baptized and confirmed at St. John's, according to the National Park Service, which calls the church "one of the few original remaining buildings left near Lafayette Park today."

For those on lunch break Wednesday, food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.

Who: Organist Michael Lodico plays heavenly angels in a Craig Phillips concert

What: First Wednesday Concert

When: 12:10 p.m., May 2, 2018

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

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information:
Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265 or Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org or 202-347-8766
 
The last First Wednesday concert of the season, beginning at 12:10 p.m. and lasting until 12:45 p.m., is:

June 6: Music by Women Composers, including Margaret Sandresky's Dialogues for Organ and Strings by Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler, organist, with the U.S. Air Force Strings
 
Attend May 2 and come away with joyful music and a sprinkling of angel dust to savor.

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Saturday, April 21, 2018

The 2016 Smoky Mountains wildfires 18 months later

Burned trees from the Great Smoky Mountains 2016 wildfires on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the packed Great Smoky Mountains Sugarlands Visitor Center in Gatlinburg last Saturday, a National Park Service Ranger told us the 2016 fires had swept about 10 percent of the park with winds gusting at 87 mph and hopscotching from one mountain top to another.  On our weekend trip everywhere we saw natural and human destruction.
 
A view on Ski View Drive from the now obliterated Gardens cottages looking down on the burned out Highlands Motel, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On Ski View Drive, blackened trees stood near remains of homes and a motel, burned to their cores.

The ranger said it would take 80 years for the area to return to its natural state, but already, healthy greens cover many pieces of ground, in contrast to burned out trees and blackened bark. 
The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee which would make a great movie site or Halloween adventure in its present condition/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The former Highlands Motel on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Parts of Ski View Drive were reminiscent of cemeteries, quiet and sad, with no signs of life, save the sprouting greens on the ground quickly coming back.

 
Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
A view from the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 Burned trees from the Great Smoky Mountains 2016 wildfires on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  This one used to be for rent at Mountain Rentals and Chalet, according to the sign/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Remains of the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Fourteen people and one bear died in the tragedy started by arson by juveniles. The ranger said jurisdiction over their crime is still in a squabble between local authorities and the federal government. About 2,400 properties were damaged or ruined and 150 persons, injured.
From the Gardens cottages on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
At the Gardens cottages on Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
At the Gardens cottages on  Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said only one bear was known to have been killed in the 2016 wildfires, and we saw this yearling with its mama upending trash cans at a cabin at dusk on Ski View Drive in Gatlinburg. The cabin occupants blew a whistle to frighten them away.  Poor bears!  Searching for food, bold enough to approach human activity during daylight hours/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Scarred hillsides with reconstructed homes coming up as life returns to overtake desolation, a view from Ski View Drive, April, 2018, Gatlinburg, Tennessee/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Where there is life, there is hope for recovery and fun, like hiking  the Alum Cave Trail to Mt LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains. and climbing through Arch Rock. Hikers were aplenty but not too many to reduce the pleasures of being outdoors on a spring day!/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 A bridge over Alum Cave Creek on the Alum Cave Trail/Photo by Patricia Leslie
I believe this is Inspiration Point on the Alum Cave Trail about a half hour beyond Arch Rock on the way to Mount LeConte.  In the distance are burned out mountain tops/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Tourists have returned, thank goodness, but the stark pictures remind us of what man and weather can do to our valuable natural resources.  

Another reminder on the eve of Earth Day to take care of our planet, and Mama, don't let your young ones grow up to be arsonists. 

As Smokey the Bear used to say more often than we hear now:  

Only you can prevent forest fires.

 patricialesli@gmail.com

Friday, April 13, 2018

The Russians came to town


While the officer sleeps during the opera, a back seat irritant a la Buster Keaton keeps tabs in  Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I loved, loved, loved it!  

"It" would be the Russians who came to D.C. and threw a hilarious party of ten Anton Chekhov short stories at the  Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

At the door, proof of Chekhov scholarship was not required.
Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Non-stop laughter filled the SRO auditorium for 90 minutes with a promised "happy ending" as in the title, Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending.  

It was.

Washington, D.C. needed it.
The reflections in the picture are "ocean waves" in Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending presented by the Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie

From scene to non-sequitur scene the transitions flowed as smoothly as clouds changing colors on a March day while Chekhov played on. 

Excellent music, sound effects, lighting, and costumes all contributed to the dynamism of the production beginning with a beach scene where an actor in swim gear sang on the shore, soon occupied by other beachgoers, some to doff their clothes and "dive in."

Splashy lighting magnified the reflections of ocean ripples amidst the always welcome sound of waves that echoed throughout the chamber.

And there was music.
The wife and the mistress fight over the goods in Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Although the actors promised a "happy ending," alas, there was none until they made it so:


"You have a splinter in your finger? Be happy it's not in two fingers!"


“You don't live in downtown DC?  Be happy you live nearby!”

All this and more (Buster Keaton slapstick, action, opera, lots of sex) by a cast which wove in and out of changing sets and roles in gaily colored costumes wearing huge smiles.
It's not what you think (and certainly not at the Kennan Institute!) but merely a dentist extracting a tooth in Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie
It was all a very happy ending at Lady With a Lapdog With Jokes and a Happy Ending by Russian Arts Theater & Studio at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars/Photo by Patricia Leslie

They do have a good time which rubs off on the audience and doesn't that make for a fine performance? Enjoy!
 
The Russian Arts Theater & A Studio are based in New York City where members direct acting classes and present old and new works at the new soon-to-be home at the former McAlpin Hall, West 86th and Amsterdam.

Their mission: “To preserve, promote and advance Russian arts and heritage in New York City” and “train a new generation of imaginative, innovative, and sincere artists capable of servicing the mission for generations to come.” TRATS was founded in 2004 and its studio is modeled after the Moscow Academy of Theater Arts. 

Aleksey Burago adapted Chekhov's stories and directed Michael Dona, Roman Freud, Conor Andrew Hall, Ariel Polanco, Flavio Romeo, Luisa Menzen, Tom Schubert, Lana Stimmler and Di Zhu, managing director

These are Russians? Sad, colorless Russians? Nyet!

My next stop in NYC:  86th West and Amsterdam! 

patricialesli@gmail.com