Roundup

June

• June 4: Encore Theatre Co., Etc., opens Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The show runs at 7:30 June 4-6 and 11-13 at the Nampa Civic Center and 6:30 June 20 at the Ashley Inn on Main Street in Cascade.
• June 5: The Idaho Shakespeare Festival presents The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare's tale of twin brothers who are reunited after 30 years, and the hijinks that ensue due to the mistaken identities. The show runs at 8:00 June 5-6, 16-17, 20, 25-26, 30, July 1, 4, 14-15, 18, and 23-24, and 7:00 June 7 and 21 and July 5 and 19 at the theater on Warm Springs.
  
• Now through June 6: Boise Little Theater opens Bleacher Bums, a play about die-hard Cubs fans rooting for their team at Wrigley Field. The show runs June 4-6 at 8:00 and June 3 at 7:30.
• June 6: Boise Art Museum opens Kid Stuff, an exhibit of art geared toward children by artists Deborah Barrett, Alexander Calder, Michael Corney, Benjamin Jones, Marianne Kolb, Marilyn Lanfear, David Gillhooley, Marilyn Lysohir, Renda Palmer and others.
• June 12: Music Theatre of Idaho presents their fundraising gala, Some Enchanted Evening, a tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, at 6:00 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• June 12 and 14: Opera Idaho presents Opera Under the Stars, a selection of songs from operas and Disney movies, at 7:00 June 12 and 5:00 June 14 at the Idaho Botanical Garden on Old Penitentiary Road in Boise.
  
• June 12: The Idaho Shakespeare Festival presents The Seagull, a drama by Anton Chekhov about a young ingenue, an fading actress, a famous author and a symbolist playwright. The play runs at 8:00 June 12-13, 18-19, 23-24 and 27 and July 2-3, and 7:00 June 14 and 28 at the theater on Warm Springs.
  
• Now through June 13: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre opens Oscar Wilde's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, about two men who become engaged to women while claiming to be the same man, named Ernest. The show runs June 4-6 and 11-13 at the theater on 9th Street between Front and Myrtle. Show times are 7:00 on Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays.
• Now through June 13: Stage Coach Theatre opens Leading Ladies, a farce about two down-on-their-luck Shakespearian actors who attempt to pass themselves off as a dying woman's nieces in order to inherit her fortune. The show runs June 4-7 and 11-13 at 7:30 Thursdays, 8:15 Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:00 Sunday.
• June 13: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents The Boyfriend, a musical romantic comedy about an heiress who poses as a secretary and falls in love with a delivery boy who happens to be the missing son of the wealthy Lord Brockhurst. The show runs at 8:00 June 13, 18, 22 and 27, July 1, 6, 9, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 30, and Aug. 5, 8, 11 and 14 at Starlight Amphitheater in Garden Valley.
  
• June 19: Music Theatre of Idaho presents The King and I, a musical about a king of Siam who hires an English woman to tutor his children and help reform his image in the West. The show runs at 7:30 June 19-20 and 25-27 and 1:30 June 20 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• June 20: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Annie Get Your Gun, Irving Berlin's musical about Annie Oakley and her romance with the trick shooter in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The show runs at 8:00 June 20, 26 and 29, July 2, 7, 10, 13, 16, 22, 25, 28 and 31, and Aug. 3, 6, 12 and 15 at Starlight Amphitheater in Garden Valley.
• June 20: Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit called Devorah Sperber: Threads of Perception. Sperber arranges spools of colored thread in such a way that, when viewed through an optical device, recreates a famous work of art.
• Now through June 21: Prairie Dog Productions presents My School Musical!, a spoof of High School Musical. The show runs at 7:15 June 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 and 2:00 June 7, 14 and 21.
• Now through July 4: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the story of Joseph's coat of many colors. The show runs at 8:00 June 5-6, 12, 15, 19, 25 and 30, and July 4 at Starlight Mountain Amphitheater in Garden Valley.
• Now through Oct. 11: Tying It Together, an exhibition of drawings by Garden Valley artist James Castle, opens at the Boise Art Museum along with a short documentary about Castle, who was born deaf, never learned to read and write, and prefers to make his drawings on discarded scraps of paper and cardboard.
• Now through Nov. 8: Boise Art Museum opens an exhibition of sculpture by Ann Weber called Corrugated. The pieces are made from cardboard, are woven into giant gourd-like spires, and are up to 16 feet tall.

Leading Ladies

Not one, but two guys in drag. Need I say more?

Probably not, but I will anyway. Leading Ladies is a scream. I didn't take many notes because I was too busy laughing. But it's got everything a great farce should -- lots of slapstick, great one-liners, quick changes, mistaken intentions, perfect timing and a superb cast.

The play revolves around two penniless Shakespearean actors, Leo Clark and Jack Gable, who decide to impersonate the nieces of a wealthy old woman in order to claim the inheritance. Kevin Kimsey and Jeff Thomson are perfect counterpoints to each other: Kevin Kimsey as the brash, scheming Leo, and Thomson as his reluctant accomplice, Jack.

Becky Kimsey plays vivacious Meg, and Sarah Hull stars as dim-witted and busty Audrey -- the women Leo and Jack fall for and attempt to woo, despite the fact that they must frequently appear in female form. Becky Kimsey created some wonderful chemistry between her character and Leo Clark/Maxine. Hull delivered her one-liners and her Brando impersonation with gusto. Both women had marvelous reactions during the scene where Leo and Jack unintentionally reveal themselves to be men, and their reactions help make it one of the funniest scenes in the play.

Sean McBride was every inch the sanctimonious, stick-in-the-mud Southern preacher. I loved Bonnie Peacher as Florence Snyder, the ailing yet spunky aunt whose search for her nieces (and heirs) sets the plot in motion. Although Patrick Schow stumbled on a few lines the night I saw the show, he and theater newcomer Owen Havey had some wonderful moments of physical comedy, and their attempts to woo Stephanie (Thomson) had the audience in stitches.

The play runs May 29-31 and June 4-7 and 11-13 at Stage Coach Theatre. Check it out if you're ready for a good laugh.

Artist blogs

I've been meaning to call attention to Luma Jasim, one of the bloggers for The Grip, Boise Weekly's new blog by and about refugees from around the world who have settled in Boise. Jasim is a graphic artist originally from Baghdad. She says she will be illustrating her blog posts. Her first post, The Mesopotamian Treasure Valley, includes a striking piece called Lonely Soul.

I'm curious whether there are other visual artists in the Treasure Valley who post art on their blogs. I know there's David R. Day's BoiSee photo blog. And there's photographer Thomas Lea's blog Boise Style. But I really wish I knew of more. If you know of a local artist who puts art on their blog, drop the link in the comments section. Thanks!

Update: We've also got Blue Planet Photography, by Mike Shipman.
Update 2: Just remembered my friend Zach Hagadone's moderately clever cartoon art.

Alex Vega

This awesome monkey-brain-robot thing was created by Alex Vega, who calls it Zinj. I scanned it in in black and white before I remembered he'd painted it with a color gradient, so I think I'll post both versions:


Alex was at the Modern Hotel for Modern Art at the Modern Hotel. When he saw me sketching, he said, "I take it as a great compliment that you're doing that."

Brian McGuffey

Last week for First Thursday I took my sketchbook down to the Modern Hotel, which was hosting visual and performance artists in a number of its rooms and even having people paint murals on the exterior walls. Brian McGuffey had a room there with a number of pieces like this one (I think another was of a bighorn sheep wearing a dress and skipping rope) and also several very nice shadow box-type things with cattails and the like. Brian was so excited by the fact that I was sketching his pink giraffe that he gave me his address and asked me to send him the original once I was done scanning it in for the blog. (He said he has a place where he keeps a lot of kids' drawings that inspire him and that he'd put it with those.) He promised to send me something back. I am excited to see what it is! I will be sure to tell you all.

I'll post more sketches from my visit to the Modern next week.