Marianne Konvalinka

This is "Soaring" by Marianne Konvalinka. It's mixed-media, so that's an actual piece of sheet music and a real map in the original. It's currently in Art Source Gallery.

Bill Carman at the Basement Gallery

This is my rendering of Bill Carman's picture, "Oh crap, sorry," which was hanging at the Basement Gallery. He's been a longtime favorite at the Basement, so it's nice to see the new owners haven't changed that. I love this little narwhal-headed guy.

2010 Idaho Triennial at BAM

I went to the Boise Art Museum last weekend and sketched a few pieces by Idaho artists for the 2010 Idaho Triennial. This is "Delusions" by Matt Bodett. I like the horrific, detailed mouth on the figure on the right compared to how rough everything else is.


And this is a partial rendition of "Snorkels with Floating Prison" by Garth Claassen, one of my art professors at College of Idaho. I think he'd be pleased that I'm still sketching in galleries.

Ego and Kelly Packer

This exhibit actually just closed at the Basement Gallery. I came in Friday afternoon, the second-to-last day of the exhibit. But I wanted to post these anyhow. Above is A Comparative Reading of the Past by Kelly Packer. I liked the blocky shapes in the background and especially along the spine.


This is Forgotten Monarch by an artist called Ego. I like the kind of ancient, but not deadened look to him.

Noises Off (quick and dirty)

I saw Noises Off at Stage Coach Theatre opening night, and it's very funny. Great cast, great set, great comic timing. It continues Sept. 9-12 and 16-18.

Metapost -- No more formal theater reviews (for now)

When I started this blog, I was unemployed. I had no prospects and a lot of free time. Today, I'm going to school full-time for a computer science degree and working part-time at a software company I really like. I'm taking 300- and 400-level classes, so my homework load is getting bigger and more challenging. This summer I had a full-time internship and a part-time job, and I never said word one on this blog about the show I was directing at the time. My life has gotten much more complex, and I need to scale back some of the ancillary things I'm doing. Theater reviews is one of them.

I might still post my reactions to shows on this blog, but when I do, it's going to be quick and dirty. Like a couple sentences. I'll be posting one of those shortly.

I still enjoy doing the sketching, and I'll keep posting drawings I make of other artists' work in Boise galleries. I may even try to do that more often. I'll be posting one of those Monday morning.

If you see value in formal, long-form theater reviews and would like the chance to do them, let me know in the comments. I could make you an admin for this blog. And if you miss the lists of upcoming shows, check out the link to Larry Dennis' site "Theater in the Boise Valley" in the left column.

Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon

Oh boy oh boy oh boy robots and art! Two of my favorite things! I've been telling myself since I saw this exhibit was coming to BAM that I had to see it. I finally saw it a couple weeks ago, and it actually lived up to my grand expectations for it. Lots of cool fine art and multimedia stuff, plus some actual robots from local FIRST Robotics Competition teams. This is a sketch of part of Michael Mew's "Robot 4," and it actually combines three of my favorite things: art, robots and comic book characters. I recognized the guy on the right as a Marvel superhero from the Avengers who was married to Scarlet Witch. (Apparently his name is The Vision. Thank you, Wikipedia.)

This exhibit closes on Sunday, May 16, so if you like robots and art as much as I do and you haven't seen it yet, you'd better high-tail it down to Boise Art Museum.

Panache

Stage Coach Theatre's production of Panache is an inventive, heartwarming romantic comedy between two unlikely characters: socialite Kathleen Trafalgar and Brooklyn diner cook and artist Harry Baldwin.

The show was filled with fantastic performances. Jodi Nelson Deerfield was delightful as the perfectly polished Kathleen and brought a lot of humor through her poor attempts to relate to the lower classes by talking about the time she roughed it at a Holiday Inn. Randy Lord did an excellent job portraying Harry as he tries and sometimes fails to wrestle his inner demons and come to grips with the losses in his life. The two achieve a real believable romantic connection onstage. Liam Tain was very funny as Jumbo Dombroski. Bradley Campbell had an infectious enthusiasm as Irwin Alcott, an old college friend Harry set up on a date. And Robina Bant was sweet as Laura Baldwin.

The show has excellent acting a great script -- not at all a cliche romantic comedy. It closes this weekend, but if you see it, you're in for a treat.

Fiction

Steven Dietz became one of my favorite playwrights after I read the script for his play Rocket Man and the script for Stage Coach Theatre's current production, Fiction. His plays have smart, witty dialogue, and Dietz has a way of telling a great story.

The play is about a married couple, Michael and Linda Waterman (played by Andrew Ebert and Teresa Rodrick), who are both authors. Linda has been diagnosed with cancer, and she tells Michael that when she dies, she wants him to read her diaries. She also wants to read his. He's reluctant, but agrees. The secrets that spill forth from the pages take a few twists and turns when we see the prominent role that another woman, Abby Drake (Autumn Kersey), plays in both authors' journals.

Director Claudia Scott and Ebert, Rodrick and Kersey did a wonderful job of bringing the script to life. One of the really key elements to pulling it off was the tight pacing. At times, the actors -- particularly Ebert and Rodrick -- talk right over each other. You can make out what they're saying, and even if you can't, you can make out the meaning. But the way they interrupt each other really adds to the tension. The concerns over Linda's health, Michael's fears about her reactions to what he's written -- those really come through in those little interruptions and the halting dialogue. The fast pacing keeps the show moving along and keeps the audience eager to see what's coming next.

Ben Wilson, Erin Ruiz and John Warfel in the Basement

I sketched this rendering of "Pink Lemonade" by Ben Wilson, which is currently hanging in the Basement Gallery, on the Friday before last. I got about a third of the way into it before I really thought about what I'd gotten myself into. Holy crap, hands are hard to draw. I think it came out okay, though. I like the spot color.


This is "Floating" by Erin Ruiz. As usual, I started a little too far down the page and didn't give myself quite enough room. As you might guess from the title, her right sock foot is not touching the ground.


This is just a partial from John Warfel's "PB & J 4 Life" (I think the rest of it had the sandwich flying off a lunch counter that also contained a wormy apple). If I ever get a tattoo, I want it to be of a flying sandwich.

For those who don't know, the Basement Gallery is under new ownership. The new owners plan to continue showcase a lot of Idaho artists, but will also show work from around the Northwest and from their other gallery in East Sussex, England. I think it's a win for local artists, though, because the owners will also be showing Idaho artists in their gallery in England.

I've already been drawing pictures on and off from exhibits at BAM, whether they've been created locally or not -- the idea being to show what you can see in Boise -- so I don't think the ownership change will affect my sketching practices.

Roundup

February

• Feb. 6: Ballet Idaho presents Cinderella at 2 and 8 p.m. at the Morrison Center on University Drive in Boise.
  
• Now through Feb. 6: Encore Theatre Company presents Bridge to Terabithia, the story of a boy and girl who imagine a magical kingdom. The show runs Jan. 29-30 and Feb. 5-6 at 7:30 and Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 at 2:00 in the old Northwest Nazarene University science lecture hall on 550 Holly St. in Nampa.
• Feb. 6: The Boise Art Museum opens Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon, an exhibit of robot iconography in fine art.
• Feb. 7: The Boise Baroque Orchestra performs a concert of music by Vivaldi, Locatelli and Bach at 2:00 at the First United Methodist Church/Cathedral of the Rockies on 717 11th St. in Boise.
• Feb. 12-20: Boise Little Theater and The Broken Illusion Project present This Is Our Youth, a story about three wealthy, disaffected teenagers who get into theft and drug-dealing during the 1980s. The show runs at 9:00 Feb. 12 and 19 and 8:00 Feb. 13 and 20 in the black box theater at Boise Little Theater on Fort Street.
  
• Feb. 12-14: Music Theatre of Idaho presents I Do! I Do!, a musical about a couple who weather a 50-year marriage together, at 6:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Now through Feb. 13: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Footloose, a musical based on the 1984 Kevin Bacon movie, at 7:30 Feb. 11-13 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Feb. 13: The Trey McIntyre Project will perform a world premiere of one of their dance programs at 8:00 at the Morrison Center on University Drive.
  
• Feb. 13: As part of its Sounds Like Fun! Concerts for Families series, the brass section of the Boise Philharmonic will present a concert at 10:45 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
  
• Now through Feb. 14: Prairie Dog Productions presents The Adventures of Sheerluck Holmes and Dr. Snotson at 7:30 Jan. 15-16, 22-23 and 29-30 and Feb. 5-6 and 12-13 and 2:00 Jan. 24, 31 and Feb. 14 at the theater on 3820 Cassia St. in Boise.
• Feb. 15: As part of its 5x5 Reading Series, Boise Contemporary Theater will present a staged reading of The Carpetbagger's Children, a play about three sisters and the struggles they faced trying to preserve the Southern plantation that their father, a Union soldier, bought. The show runs at 7:00 at the theater on Fulton and Ninth.
• Feb. 16: The Log Cabin Literary Center presents a reading by Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News, at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main.
• Feb. 19-20: The Boise Philharmonic will perform a concert of music by Antonin Dvorak and guest composer Jennifer Higdon, who will be at the event. The concert is at 8:00 Feb. 19 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell and 8:00 Feb. 20 at the Morrison Center on University Drive in Boise.
  
• Feb. 19-27: Music Theatre of Idaho presents Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, a musical about a would-be nun who becomes governess to seven children around the time of the Nazi invasion of Austria. The show runs Feb. 19-20 and 26-27 at 7:30 and Feb. 20 and 27 at 1:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
  
• Now through Feb. 20: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents The Murder Room, a comedy about a gold-digger who attempts to bump off her rich husband. The show runs Jan. 22-23, 28-30, and Feb. 4-6, 11-13 and 18-20 at 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays at the theater's new location on 415 E. Parkcenter Blvd. in Boise. Dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays.
  
• Now through Feb. 20: Boise Contemporary Theater presents At Home at the Zoo, a play by Edward Albee about three New Yorkers whose lives are changed forever by a confrontation one afternoon. The show runs at 8:00 Jan. 27-30, Feb. 3-6, 10-13 and 17-20, and 2:00 Feb. 6, 13 and 20 at the Fulton Street Theater on Fulton and Ninth.
• Feb. 20: Caldwell Fine Arts presents the Missoula Children's Theatre production of The Pied Piper at 3:00 and 7:30 in Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Feb. 24-March 14: Company of Fools presents Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, a drama about the tensions that arise in a family when a mother convinces her son to bring home a suitor for her introverted and insecure daughter. The show runs at 7:00 Feb. 24-25 and March 3-4 and 10-11, 8:00 Feb. 26-27 and March 5-6 and 12-13, and 3:00 March 7 at the Liberty Theater on Main Street in Hailey.
• Feb. 26-March 13: Boise Little Theater presents Almost, Maine, a comedy about the residents of a mythical town in Maine who find themselves falling into and out of love with each other one midwinter night. The show runs at 7:30 March 4 and 11, 8:00 Feb. 26-27, March 5-6 and 12-13, and 2:00 March 7 and 13 at the theater on Fort Street.
• Feb. 26 and 28: Opera Idaho presents Rossini's Cinderella -- which has a few twists on the classic fairy tale, including a fairy godfather -- at 7:30 Feb. 26 and 2:30 Feb. 28 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main.
• Feb. 27-March 13: As part of The Big Read, Stage Coach Theatre presents Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The show runs at 8:15 Feb. 27 at the theater in the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland, at 1:00 March 6 at the Borah Post Office on Eighth Street in downtown Boise, and at 10 a.m. March 13 in Hayes Auditorium in the youth services department of the Boise Public Library main branch.
  
• Feb. 27: As part of its Sounds Like Fun! Concerts for Families series, the woodwinds section of the Boise Philharmonic will present a concert at 10:45 a.m. at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy at Ninth and Myrtle.
• Feb. 28: The Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will perform their spring concert at 7:00 at Timberline High School on Boise Avenue in Boise.
  
• Now through March 14: Boise Art Museum presents Patchwork, a collection of quilts from the early 1800s through the mid-20th century.
• Now through April 18: Boise Art Museum presents Idea as Art: Contemporary Works on Paper, a selection of abstract drawings by such artists as Sol Lewitt and Mel Bochner.
• Now through April 25: The Boise Art Museum presents Vogel 50x50, a selection of 50 works from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel collection, including minimal, post-minimal and conceptual drawings, paintings and sculptures.

Dilemmas with Dinner

If Fools is a dumb frat boy, Dilemmas with Dinner is someone who's smart enough that I could see possibly dating for a while. Which is not to say that it's overly intellectual or anything -- it actually contains a lot of slapstick, malapropisms, impressions and the like -- but some of the humor is a little more subtle and it's nice for audiences to be able to get it without being hit over the head with it. It's the whole package, really -- smart and funny with a lot of character.

Megan Barsness plays Brooke Williams, a career woman who's trying to win a major promotion and asked her boss and his wife over for dinner so she can ask for the job. But her house is in a state of chaos and everything that can go wrong does. It's all she can do to wipe the bleach off her upper lip and get dressed, let alone deal with broken plates, broken heels, her husband's broken back and the constantly ringing phone.

The entire cast was excellent. Barsness did a wonderful job of degenerating during the evening from merely frazzled to practically homicidal. Paul Kersey, who plays Donny, Brooke's sarcastic husband, and Kevin Tuck, who plays Stephen, Brooke's assistant's flirtatious boyfriend, stole the scenes they were in. Genny Ulmen (Caren the caterer) had some particularly nice exchanges with Eric Johnson, who played Donny's hapless, klutzy assistant Max. Brittany Buckner (Brooke's assistant Julia) added some excellent tension to her scenes when she discovered some things she hadn't known about her boyfriend. Karl Johnson and Shelley Ward were positively irritating as Brooke's boss and the boss's wife -- exactly as they were supposed to be -- but pulled it off in a way that wasn't just a caricature of someone annoying.

The night I went had some technical difficulties with the phone -- and unfortunately it's a central source of much of the chaos in the show, so the cast had to play along and answer it even when it wasn't ringing. It was really a relief when the phone started ringing again. Hopefully those kinks have been worked out for closing weekend.

Fools

If Boise Little Theater's production of Fools was a person, he'd be a big grinning frat boy who's learned to balance a spoon on his nose while belching The Star-Spangled Banner and pouring you a boilermaker. Yeah, he's really dumb, but he throws a good party. And yes, the show may just be the dumbest thing Neil Simon ever wrote, but you'll have fun nonetheless.

Jason Roper plays Leon, an enthusiastic schoolteacher who has taken a job as schoolmaster in the village of Kulyenchikov. When he arrives in town, he meets several villagers, played by Andy Neill, Sean McBride, Joey Maxey, Steven Lanzet and Becky Kimsey. They inform him that the village has been cursed with stupidity for 200 years. Really stupid. Like, not being able to tell the difference between a cow and a duck stupid. Legend has it that if he stays in the village for 24 hours and cannot break the curse, he too will become stupid. Leon meets Dr. Zubritsky (Don Mummert) and Lenya (Jo-Ann Jones), who have hired him to educate their daughter Sophia in the hopes that that will break the curse, and falls in love with Sophia (Allison Terenzio) in the process.

It's pretty dumb -- which the actors and director themselves readily acknowledge -- but there's a lot of good schtick that keeps it entertaining, and the brisk pace of the show keeps it from being dumb in a mind-numbing way.

Roper's numerous asides to the audience were a bit hammy and sometimes rather distracting, but I suppose that's primarily a problem I have with the script. Pretty much everything he says in the asides is something he could have (and did) easily demonstrated with his acting, so mostly they just seemed unnecessary and I would've rather the play just continued with the action.

One really nice element director Kevin Kimsey and the cast added to the show was to have several of the cast members come out into the lobby during intermission in character. Lanzet, who played the postman, delivered mail to the audience (I accidentally got something addressed to William Shakespeare. Apparently someone was trying to sell him a vacation tour of the Yampa River). Becky Kimsey sold some unusual-looking fish to audience members who remembered to bring their kopecks. And Neill kept asking people if they'd seen his two dozen sheep; he'd managed to lose all 14 of them.

Roundup

January

• Jan. 8-30: Stage Coach Theatre presents Dilemmas with Dinner, a farce about a woman trying to win a major promotion by hosting an elaborate dinner for her boss. The show runs Jan. 8-9, 14-17, 21-24 and 28-30 at 7:30 Thursdays, 8:15 Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00 Sundays at the theater in the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland in Boise.
  
• Now through Jan. 9: Company of Fools presents A Year with Frog and Toad, a musical based on the popular childrens' books by Arnold Lobel in which Frog and Toad learn life lessons and the value of friendship. The show runs at 7:00 Jan. 2, 3:00 Jan. 3, and 11:00 a.m. Jan. 2 at the Liberty Theater on Main Street in Hailey. The show also runs for two days in Twin Falls at 7:00 Jan. 8-9 and 11 a.m. Jan. 9 at the College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Theatre.
  
• Now through Jan. 9: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Irving Berlin's White Christmas, a musical about two friends in show business who find love while putting on a show at an inn in Vermont. The show runs Jan. 1-2 and 8-9 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Jan. 9: As part of its Sounds Like Fun series, The Boise Philharmonic presents a percussion concert for families at 10:45 a.m. and noon at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy.
• Jan. 15-16: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents A Starlight Evening of Cabaret, a performance of hit songs from more than 25 Broadway shows. The production takes place at 7:30 Jan. 15-16 and 2:00 Jan. 16 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Jan. 15-30: Boise Little Theater presents Fools, a Neil Simon play about a man who lands a job teaching in a Russian village whose residents have been cursed with stupidity for the last 200 years. The show runs Jan. 15-16, 22-23, and 29-30 at 8:00, Jan. 21-28 at 7:30 and Jan. 24 and 30 at 2:00.
• Jan. 15-Feb. 14: Prairie Dog Productions presents The Adventures of Sheerluck Holmes and Dr. Snotson at 7:30 Jan. 15-16, 22-23 and 29-30 and Feb. 5-6 and 12-13 and 2:00 Jan. 24, 31 and Feb. 14 at the theater on 3820 Cassia St. in Boise.
  
• Jan. 16: Daisy's Madhouse is organizing Will Act 4 Food, a 24-hour play festival to raise funds for the Idaho Foodbank. The event takes place at 8:00 p.m. at the Danny Peterson Theatre in the Morrison Center on the Boise State University campus. (If you want to form an acting team and participate, you have through Jan. 8 to sign up.)
  
• Now through Jan. 17: Boise Art Museum presents A Survey of Gee's Bend Quilts, a collection of abstract quilts created by women in the African-American community of Gee's Bend, Alabama.
• Jan. 18: Boise Contemporary Theater presents a dramatic reading of Atlasing Sodom, a play about the secrets shared by two young men in a romantic relationship and how one boy's father obsesses over those secrets years later. The show runs at 7:00 at the theater on 9th and Fulton.
  
• Jan. 21-31: The Boise State University Theatre Arts Department presents Master Class by Terrence McNally, a show based on a series of Julliard classes given by the opera singer Maria Callas. The show runs Jan. 21-23 and 28-30 at 8:00 and 24 and 31 at 2:00 in the recital hall at the Morrison Center on the BSU campus.
  
• Jan. 22-23: The Boise Philharmonic and Opera Idaho present the Philharmonic's Salute to Opera Idaho, including performances of Mozart's Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" and Leonard Bernstein's Suite from Candide. The concerts are at 8:00 at the Northwest Nazarene University Swayne Auditorium on Jan. 22 and 8:00 at the Morrison Center on the Boise State University campus on Jan. 23.
• Jan. 22-30: CAN-ACT presents Nuncrackers, a musical in which the nuns from Nunsense decide to tape a Christmas special in their convent basement studio for cable access TV. The show runs at 8:00 Jan. 22-23 and 29-30 and at 2:00 Jan. 30 at Grace Episcopal Church at 411 10th Ave. S. in Nampa.
  
• Jan. 22-Feb. 20: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents The Murder Room, a comedy about a gold-digger who attempts to bump off her rich husband. The show runs Jan. 22-23, 28-30, and Feb. 4-6, 11-13 and 18-20 at 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays at the theater's new location on 415 E. Parkcenter Blvd. in Boise. Dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays.
  
• Jan. 27-Feb. 20: Boise Contemporary Theater presents At Home at the Zoo, a play by Edward Albee about three New Yorkers whose lives are changed forever by a confrontation one afternoon. The show runs at 8:00 Jan. 27-30, Feb. 3-6, 10-13 and 17-20, and 2:00 Feb. 6, 13 and 20 at the Fulton Street Theater on Fulton and Ninth.
• Jan. 28-31: Idaho Dance Theater presents its winter production, Figuratively Speaking, in the Boise State University Special Events Center at 7:00 Jan. 28, 8:00 Jan. 29-30 and 2:00 Jan. 31.
• Jan. 29-Feb. 6: Encore Theatre Company presents Bridge to Terabithia, the story of a boy and girl who imagine a magical kingdom. The show runs Jan. 29-30 and Feb. 5-6 at 7:30 and Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 at 2:00 in the old Northwest Nazarene University science lecture hall on 550 Holly St. in Nampa.
• Jan. 30: As part of its Sounds Like Fun series, The Boise Philharmonic presents a strings concert for families at 10:45 a.m. at the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy.
• Jan. 30: The Boise Art Museum opens the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, a selection of 50 works of minimal, post-minimal and conceptual drawings, paintings and sculptures.
  
• Now through March 14: Boise Art Museum presents Patchwork, a collection of quilts from the early 1800s through the mid-20th century.
• Now through April 18: Boise Art Museum presents Idea as Art: Contemporary Works on Paper, a selection of abstract drawings by such artists as Sol Lewitt and Mel Bochner.