Roundup

February

• Feb. 26-28: Music Theatre of Idaho presents Seussical, the Musical, which brings together such favorite Dr. Seuss characters as the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle. The show runs Feb. 20-21 and 26-28 at 7:30 and Feb. 21 at 1:30.
• Feb. 27: Stage Coach Theatre presents Brooklyn Boy, a witty drama about a writer whose novel has just hit the best-seller list while his wife is leaving and his father is in the hospital. The show runs Feb. 27-28 and Mar. 5-8 and 12-14 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday-Saturday and 2:00 Sunday at the theater in the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland in Boise.
• Feb. 27: Boise Little Theater presents Foxfire, a musical about an Appalachian widow deciding whether to sell the farm and home she shared with her husband to a real-estate developer and live with her son in Florida. The show runs Feb. 27-28 and March 5-8 and 11-14 at 7:30 Wednesday, 8:00 Thursday-Saturday and 2:00 Sunday at the theater on Fort Street.
• Feb. 28: The Boise Philharmonic presents Sounds Like Fun! concerts for woodwinds at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Feb. 28: Ballet Idaho presents A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mendelssohn's adaptation of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, at 2:00 and 8:00 at the Morrison Center on the BSU campus.
• Feb. 28: The Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit of early works by photographer Ansel Adams.
• Now through March 1, 2009: Boise Art Museum presents an exhibit of photos of Idaho Special Olympics athletes called Let Me Be Brave: Portraits in Courage by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette.
• Now through March 1, 2009: The Boise Art Museum presents Small Wars and 29 Palms, two documentary photo series by Vietnamese photographer An-My Lê that explore the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Now through March 8: Company of Fools presents Souvenir, a comedy about real-life musical laughingstock Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy, high-society woman who believed herself to be a great opera soprano even though she couldn't carry a tune. The show runs at 8:00 Feb. 20-21, 27-28 and March 6-7; 7:00 Feb. 25-26 and March 4-5; and 3:00 Feb. 22 and March 1 and 8 at The Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
• Now through March 20: Immigrant Shadows: Tracing The Herders' Legacy, an art installation by artists Amy Nack and Earle Swope recreating a grove of aspen trees from paper, is at Rosenthal Gallery at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Now through May 2009: The Boise Art Museum hosts a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.

March

• March 1: Boise Baroque Orchestra performs Vivaldi and Rossini at 2:00 at the First United Methodist Church/Cathedral of the Rockies at 717 N. 11th St. in Boise.
• March 1: The Treasure Valley Youth Symphony performs its spring concert at 7:00 at Borah High School at Curtis and Cassia in Boise.
• March 3: Pianist Alexander Ghindin performs at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium at College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• March 5: The Boise State University Theater Arts Department opens Pippin, a musical set in France at the time of Charlemagne. The show runs at 7:30 March 5-7, 10 a.m. March 6, and 2:00 March 8 at the Morrison Center.
• March 6: Harley's Angels, a spoof about the Angels and their attempts to prevent a sinister plot by the French to take over the world, opens at Prairie Dog Productions. The show runs March 6-8, 13-15, 20-22 and 27-28 at 7:15 Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00 Sundays at the playhouse at 3820 Cassia in Boise.
• March 6: Starlight Mountain Theatre opens the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. The show runs March 6-7, 13-14, 20-21 and April 3-4, 10-11 and 17-18 at 7:30 at the Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• March 6: The Illustrious Onion Skin Players present the melodrama Ruckus at Cowboy U, or Who's Hugh. The show runs March 6-7, 13-15, 17, and 20-21 at 7:30 at the Star Theater on State Street in Weiser.
  
• March 7-8: Opera Idaho presents Cosi fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at 8:00 March 7 and 3:00 March 8 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main.
  
• March 14: Boise Art Museum opens Higher Ground, a juried art exhibit of works by Boise and Meridian high school students, and Bloated Floaters, Snouted Sappers and the Defense of Empire, a series of drawings of bloated, blimp-like figures by Idaho artist Garth Claassen.
• March 15: The Langroise Trio -- violinist Geoffrey Trabichoff, cellist Samuel Smith and viola player David Johnson -- and guest artists Robyn Wells (piano) and Jack Koncel (double bass) perform works by Tovey, Gliere, Clarke and Vaughn Williams at 7:30 in the Langroise Recital Hall at College of Idaho.
  
• March 16: Joan Didion, author of Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Year of Magical Thinking, and the scripts for A Star is Born and Up Close and Personal, reads her work at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theatre at Capitol and Main.
• March 16: Boise Contemporary Theater presents a reading of Beautiful American Soldier, a story about two sisters lost in war-torn Iraq who find a man peddling junk, and an Iraq war veteran who discovers how much he has in common with a homeless man. The reading is at 7:00 at the Fulton Street Theater on Fulton between 8th and 9th Streets.
  
• March 20: Alley Repertory Theater and East Indian Follies present Love Person, an exploration of the role of language and love in various cultures, couples and communities, using English, Sanskrit and American Sign Language. The show runs through March 20-22 and 25-28 at 8:00 at the Visual Arts Collective behind the Woman of Steel Gallery on Chinden in Garden City.
  
• March 20: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre opens Once on This Island, a musical featuring calypso music about a young peasant girl who is sent on a journey by the gods to test the strength of her love even in the face of death. The show runs March 20-21, 26-28, and April 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18 at 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays, with dinner served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is located on 9th Street between Myrtle and Front.
• March 28 and 30: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Alice in Wonderland, performed by students in grade school through high school, at 7:30 at Capital High School in Boise.
  

Much Ado About Nothing

I enjoyed Knock 'Em Dead's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. But I was a little bit disappointed by how much of it seemed to borrow from the Kenneth Branagh version. I recognized the music immediately, and after that, even though I haven't seen the movie in a while, I was sure I recognized some of the blocking, particularly in the scenes with the watchmen. I even recognized the delivery of some of the lines. I could swear Matt Hansen's mocking "M'sieur Love" was an exact replica of Branagh's own delivery of the line -- and there were a few others that seemed familiar as well. Branagh's production is a fine production, but the very fact that the instantly recognizable music from his production was used invited comparison in all other aspects of the production -- and when other factors were similar, that invited further comparison. It got to the point that when I did see something that was obviously different from my memory of the movie, it really stood out. It's kind of a shame. You see, there are some extremely talented actors in Knock 'Em Dead's production, but it seems unfair to compare them to the likes of Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington. (Though Steve Martin might actually come out quite favorably compared to Keanu Reeves. :) I'm such a hater.) I wish the similarities hadn't been quite so ... obvious.

It was a good production all round, though. Director Kevin Kimsey has assembled a strong ensemble. In the major roles, Becky Kimsey and Matt Hansen were strong as the quick-witted, scornful Beatrice and Benedick. Steve Martin was deliciously evil as the villain Don John. Marc Militello (who I don't think I've seen before, but who I've been assured is a KED regular) was excellent as the lovelorn Claudio, and Maggie Sierra showed great emotion as Hero, Claudio's bride-to-be. Randy Webster had the audience laughing uproariously with one of the funniest running gags Shakespeare ever penned -- "masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass." Those are really the primary roles, but the rest of the 18-member cast did fine, fine work. There were a couple of nitpicky things with the acting -- for instance, Becky Kimsey tends to rush her monologues when they are angry, which definitely adds intensity but sometimes loses a little in making them easy to understand, and Andy Neill (Leonato) has a hard time seeming truly furious with Don Pedro (Jeff Thompson) and Claudio since he seems to have difficulty projecting. I reiterate -- these are nitpicky. Their performances were excellent overall.

There were a few innovative things in the production -- notably, the well-designed and versatile set pieces, which could be rearranged to form low walls, archways, and even sort of a chaise. (Kudos to set builder Tim Schmidt, who also played the friar.) Also, Kevin Kimsey had told me long ago about his plans to have the actors move throughout the audience, notably in the scenes where Beatrice and Benedick eavesdrop on their friends and relatives as they play matchmaker.
It was definitely a nice touch.

Joan of Arc (a secondhand review)

I haven't had the chance to see a lot of productions lately because my show, Any Body Home?, ran until last weekend. (Thanks to everyone who came to see it!) But my mom did get tickets to see the Boise Philharmonic and Boise Master Chorale perform a fairly recently composed score for the old silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, and I thought I'd pass on her thoughts.

Mom was blown away by the intensity of the production. The film was absolutely haunting, she said. The experience was so intense that she and Dad were completely silent on the drive home -- they couldn't process into words what they had just seen. Mom couldn't get to sleep that night. All she could see were the eyes of the actress playing Joan of Arc. The girl's expressions in scenes like the one where Joan of Arc is shown the torture chamber, or when, resigned to her fate, she picks up a dropped rope and hands it to the man tying her to the stake, stayed with Mom.

Mom said the music was excellent -- at least what she could pay attention to. Sometimes everything going on in the production was a bit overwhelming. Between the film's visuals, its subscripts, the instrumental music and the choirs, it was a lot to take in and sometimes it was hard to absorb everything. She definitely wants to go back and see the Philharmonic when the only thing to pay attention to is the music.

Overall, the production was powerful and thought-provoking. It really made Mom ponder the idea of dying for a cause.

Dead Body FAQ

People ask me a lot of questions about what it's like to play a dead body, which I'm currently doing in Any Body Home? at Stage Coach Theatre. I thought I'd post answers to some of the most frequent questions here:

Q: How do you not move?

A: I just practiced not moving until I got really good at it.

Q: How do you not laugh?

A: Actually, the rest of the cast doesn't laugh either. It helps that we've rehearsed the play as much as we have, but when you get down to it, it's the same way you manage not to laugh at inappropriate occasions such as funerals.

Q: Do you ever get hurt getting dragged around like that?

A: Luckily for me, I'm working with a director who's played a dead body before, so he knows how to keep an actor playing a dead body safe. That's important because when you're dead, you can't move or adjust yourself or say anything if someone's carrying you in a way that hurts. I'm also working with dedicated actors who are very careful with me and make sure to carry me in ways that won't hurt me or themselves. That said, yes, I do have some bruises from a fall I do every night. But they're not any worse than, like, bumping into furniture. Which I pretty much do on a daily basis. Because I'm a klutz.

Q: Is your character really alive and just pretending to be dead, like the guy in Saw?

A: No. And you have terrible taste in horror movies.

Q: Do you ever fall asleep onstage? (I have been asked this on more than one occasion.)

A: No. All these people keep walking around in my apartment, talking and screaming.

Q: Do you get really drunk before the show to make yourself more limp? (Again, I have been asked this on more than one occasion.)

A: No. That seems like a bad idea on so many levels, but I'll just give one example. That fall I do has to be done with a relative amount of precision, or I'll get hurt a lot more than I do. I think being drunk could impede that.

Q: How do you audition to be a dead body?

A: I didn't, actually. My director, Kevin Labrum, decided to call up the most lightweight actress he knows. That'd be me.

Q: Do you ever get itchy?

A: Yes. Oh God yes.

Can't believe I forgot this one....

Q: Did you have a hard time learning your lines?
A: Ha ha ha! I've never heard that before!

Roundup

January

• Jan. 15-16: Chicago's Second City performs at 7:00 at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
• Jan. 16: Boise Little Theater presents Open House, a comedy about two elderly women living together in the same home until one day when the son of one of the women concocts a scheme to sell the home and keep the money for himself. The show runs Jan. 16-17, 22-24 and 29-31 at 8:00, Jan. 25 at 2:00 and Jan. 28 at 7:30 at the theater on Fort Street.
• Jan. 16: An opening reception for Immigrant Shadows: Tracing The Herders' Legacy, an art installation by artists Amy Nack and Earle Swope recreating a grove of aspen trees from paper, takes place from 4:00-7:00 at Rosenthal Gallery at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Jan. 16-17: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Always ... Patsy Cline, a musical about the country singer and one of her biggest fans, at 7:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Jan. 19: Boise Contemporary Theater presents its a reading of This is Our Youth, a story about three wealthy, disaffected teenagers who get into theft and drug-dealing during the 1980s. The show takes place at 7:00 at the Fulton Street Theater.
• Jan. 23: An Dochas and Haran Irish Dancers will perform at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Jan. 23-24: The Boise Philharmonic and Boise Master Chorale present The Passion of Joan of Arc and Voices of Light, an opera composed to serve as the score for the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. The production takes place at 8:00 Jan. 23 at Northwest Nazarene University's Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and 8:15 Jan. 24 at the Morrison Center at Boise State University.
• Jan. 23: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre opens Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's comedy about Beatrice and Benedick -- and the circle of friends and relatives who play matchmaker between them -- and Hero and Claudio, an engaged couple whose wedding nearly breaks up because of malicious interference and deception. Show dates are Jan. 23-24 and 29-31 and Feb. 5-7, 12-14 and 19-21. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Jan. 23: Prairie Dog Productions presents Phantom!, a spoof of The Phantom of the Opera, on Jan. 23-24, Jan. 30-31, Feb. 6-7 and Feb. 13-14 at 7:15 and Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 at 2:00 at the theater at 3820 Cassia St. in Boise.
• Jan. 28: Boise Contemporary Theater presents I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, a play about a woman from Rwanda who wants to write a book about how her family was killed in the genocide and the creative writing teacher who helps her. The play was inspired by the real life experiences of refugees in Britain. The show runs Jan. 28-31, Feb. 4-7 and Feb. 11-14 at 8:00 and Feb. 7 and 14 at 2:00 at 854 Fulton St. in Boise.
• Jan. 29-Feb. 1: Idaho Dance Theater presents No Hesitation at 8:00 Jan. 29-31 and 2:00 Feb. 1 at the Boise State University Special Events Center.
• Now through Jan. 31: Stage Coach Theatre presents Any Body Home, a comedy about a real estate agent trying to sell a condo despite the fact that the owner is dead and laid out on the sofa. The show runs Jan. 15-18, 22-25 and 29-31 at 7:30 Thursdays, 8:15 Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:00 Sundays at the theater at Orchard and Overland in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
• Jan. 31: The Boise Philharmonic presents its Sounds Like Fun! strings concert for families at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Now through Feb. 8, 2009: The Boise Art Musuem presents an exhibit of ceramic sculptures, drawings and paintings by Japanese artist Jun Kaneko. Some of Kaneko's ceramic pieces are up to 13 feet high and 5,000 pounds.
• Now through March 1, 2009: Boise Art Museum presents an exhibit of photos of Idaho Special Olympics athletes called Let Me Be Brave: Portraits in Courage by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette.
• Now through March 1, 2009: The Boise Art Museum presents Small Wars and 29 Palms, two documentary photo series by Vietnamese photographer An-My Lê that explore the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Now through May 2009: The Boise Art Museum hosts a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.

February

• Feb. 4: Aimee Bender and Anthony Doerr will hold a literary reading at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theatre at Capitol and Main in Boise. Bender, who writes stories in the vein of magical realism, is the author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, An Invisible Sign of My Own, and Willful Creatures. Doerr is Idaho's Writer in Residence.
• Feb. 5: Treasure Valley Youth Symphony performs Musical Movies at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main. The Treasure Valley Youth Symphony will perform live music to three silent films: Charlie Chaplin's "The Immigrant," Buster Keaton's "Cops," and Fatty Arbuckle's "Wished on Mabel."
• Feb. 6: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Death By Chocolate, an interactive murder mystery. The show runs Feb. 6-7 and 12-14 at 7:30 at the Star Theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Feb. 6 and 8: Boise Baroque Orchestra performs at 8:00 at Feb. 6 at the Nampa Civic Center and at 2:00 Feb. 8 at the First United Methodist Church/Cathedral of the Rockies at 717 N. 11th St. in Boise.
• Feb. 7: Shanghai Quartet performs at 7:30 at Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum.
• Feb. 13: CAN-ACT presents Desperate Ambrose, a comedy set in the wild West in which two vaudeville performers are mistaken for gunslingers. The dinner show runs Feb. 13-14 and 19-21 at 8:00 and Feb. 14 at 2:00 at the theater at 214 7th Ave. in Caldwell.
• Feb. 14: The Boise Philharmonic presents Sounds Like Fun! concerts for brass instruments at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Feb. 14: Just Married! (the Musical), a musical revue about love and same-sex marriage, will be performed at 7:00 at the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church at 6200 Garrett St.
• Feb. 16: Boise Contemporary Theater presents a reading of The Squirrel, a black comedy about a woman, her oversensitive husband, overbearing sister, and a man she just hit with her car. The reading takes place at 7:00 at the Fulton Street Theater.
• Feb. 18: Company of Fools presents Souvenir, a comedy about real-life musical laughingstock Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy, high-society woman who believed herself to be a great opera soprano even though she couldn't carry a tune. The show runs Feb. 18-March 8 at The Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
• Feb. 20: Music Theatre of Idaho presents Seussical, the Musical, which brings together such favorite Dr. Seuss characters as the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle. The show runs Feb. 20-21 and 26-28 at 7:30 and Feb. 21 at 1:30.
• Feb. 20-21: The Boise Philharmonic performs An Evening in Vienna, a concert with works by Schoenberg, Mozart and Schubert, at 8:00 Feb. 20 at the NNU Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and 8:15 Feb. 21 at the Morrison Center on the BSU campus.
• Feb. 20-21: Caldwell Fine Arts hosts Missoula Children's Theater's production of the musical Pinocchio at 7:30 Feb. 20 and 3:00 Feb. 21.
• Feb. 27: Stage Coach Theatre presents Brooklyn Boy, a witty drama about a writer whose novel has just hit the best-seller list while his wife is leaving and his father is in the hospital. The show runs Feb. 27-28 and Mar. 5-8 and 12-14 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday-Saturday and 2:00 Sunday at the theater in the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland in Boise.
• Feb. 27: Boise Little Theater presents Foxfire, a musical about an Appalachian widow deciding whether to sell the farm and home she shared with her husband to a real-estate developer and live with her son in Florida. The show runs Feb. 27-28 and March 5-8 and 11-14 at 7:30 Wednesday, 8:00 Thursday-Saturday and 2:00 Sunday at the theater on Fort Street.
• The Boise Philharmonic presents Sounds Like Fun! concerts for woodwinds at 10:30 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Feb. 28: Ballet Idaho presents A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mendelssohn's adaptation of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, at 2:00 and 8:00 at the Morrison Center on the BSU campus.
• Feb. 28: The Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit of early works by photographer Ansel Adams.

Any Body Home

I'll try to get to a few shows in January, but if I don't see too many, there are two reasons:

1) I'm starting school again soon. For computer science! Which has nothing whatsoever to do with creative writing (my first bachelor's degree) or journalism (the last eight years of my life)! Why? Well, I was pretty good in math and science in high school (I aced calculus), and I've often wondered what would have happened if I'd taken that route. Also, the journalism industry is in deep doo-doo, and I can't get a new job as a full-time reporter in Boise to save my life. Classes start Jan. 20, and then I get tons of homework. Hooray!

2) I'm acting in Any Body Home at Stage Coach Theatre, which opens tonight and which you should definitely come see. It's going to be really funny. I play the title role! The body. Since I'm in it, I won't be reviewing it, but I will say I think my castmates are doing an awesome job. The show runs for four weeks. I might be able to see one other show this month, but overall there's going to be a lot of overlap between production schedules.

Jany-Rae Seda at the Basement Gallery

I liked these pictures by Jany-Rae Seda so much I sketched three of them. There's a preciseness to the lines because of how sharp the pencils are, but that's contrasted with how quick, gestural and imprecise the actual forms are, and how softly and subtly they're colored. Seda told me she draws them all in 15 minutes or less, then does a water wash over the pictures, then adds color the wash.


Seda saw me sketching some of her pictures, including this first one. "I take it as a compliment that you love the pubic hair," she said.


I wanted to color my sketches while I was in the gallery, so I used my pastels for the colors and rubbed a dirty shading tool on the gray areas. It's as close as I could get without actually using her technique; I didn't have watercolors there, and even if I did it would have been impractical to whip them out in a gallery.

"I rip pictures out of magazines and imagine the people naked," Seda told me. "You should do that."