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“Bird’s Eye View” by Darren Jekel from the “Living Color” exhibit at the Middletown Art Center in Middletown, Calif. Courtesy image.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Join artists and community to celebrate “Living Color,” a new exhibit at Middletown Art Center on Saturday, March 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The event is free and open to everyone.

“This is such an appropriate way to welcome spring,” said Lisa Kaplan, director of MAC. “To see the exuberant use of color in such interesting and diverse ways is a real treat. So peel away your winter layers, come join us at the opening, and feast your eyes on color!”

Artists, friends, and friends not yet met, will all gather at the MAC Gallery to share a love of art and creation while enjoying each other’s company.

The exhibit includes paintings, prints, photography, mixed media sculpture, ceramics, and glass by Lake County artists. Libations and refreshments will be available.

The MAC is located in downtown Middletown, at 21456 Highway 175 at the corner of Highway 29.

Be a part of the growing arts and cultural scene in South Lake County by attending one of the many events and classes at MAC or by becoming a MAC member.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or “Like” Middletown Art Center on Facebook to stay up-to-date.
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UKIAH, Calif. – The Mendocino College Theatre Arts Department will present the musical extravaganza Once upon a Mattress March 22 through 31.

This delightful family-friendly show with music by Mary Rodgers (daughter of the famous American composer Richard Rodgers) is based on the classic story of “The Princess and the Pea.”

Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, at once hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship provides for some side-splitting shenanigans. It promises fun for all ages!

In addition to Rodgers’ enchanting score, the show features lyrics by Marshall Barer, and a book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller.

The original production premiered in 1959 with Carol Burnett in the leading role of Princess Winnifred (played in the Mendocino College production by Blare Elliott). The show launched Carol Burnett’s career.

Later in 2005, Disney released a television movie of the musical, this time featuring Carol Burnett as Queen Aggravain, played in the Mendocino College production by retired Ukiah High School Choral Director Denise Doering.

In that movie version, the role of the silent, but very expressive King Sextimus was played by Tom Smothers; Mendocino College Theatre Conservatory Cohort student Schuyler Marcier plays the hilarious role of King Sextimus in the Mendocino College production.

“Once upon a Mattress” presents a revisionist version of the classic tale of the “Princess and the Pea,” one in which the princess is far more strong and bold than in the original fairy-tale. Her brash demeanor appeals to the young Prince Dauntless (played in the Mendocino College production by Ukiah High theatre student August Kaster).

When director Reid Edelman initially announced that he hoped to produce this play at Mendocino College, he discovered that Ukiah High School theatre director Maria A. Monti had similarly planned to do the show at the high school in the same year.

Rather than mounting two productions of the same musical in the same year, Edelman and Monti decided to join forces. The play is now being produced by the Mendocino College Theatre Arts Department, but with tremendous collaboration and support from Ukiah High School.

Monti is not only playing the central role of the Minstrel, the narrator of the fairy-tale, but she is also collaborating with college Dance Instructor Eryn Schon-Brunner on the choreography for the production. Additionally, the musical will feature eight high school students in the cast of 25.

According to Edelman, “producing a major musical, such as ‘Once upon a Mattress,’ is always exciting. It is a joyful opportunity to collaborate with our wonderful dance and music faculty and to involve a large cast of enthusiastic performers. This is a delightful show, featuring lovely music, hilarious plot and characters, and great roles for our students.”

In addition to those mentioned above, the cast features Lindsey Chapman and Eddie Haehl respectively as the romantic leads Lady Larken and Sir Harry.

College theatre and dance major Jas Byerley is highlighted in the solo singing and dancing role of the court Jester, and theatre major Shannon Sawyer plays the magical court wizard (spoiler alert … the show involves some wizardly moments of stage-magic!).

The company includes an energetic chorus of singing and dancing knights and ladies, featuring high school students Luci Allende, Sophia Butler, Kenzie Hanssen, Sara Richardson, Martin Henebury, Philip Henebury, and Logan Runnings, and college students Gabriel Baca Meza, Yves Charles Browne, Rickie Emilie Farah, Sandra Moreno, and J. Marcus Morning.

The cast is enhanced by the additional talents of local community performers Frank Braverman, Ben Miranda, Janet Noe and Rick Rader.

In all, the radiant and enthusiastic cast includes 26 talented singers, dancers, and actors as well as a full orchestra (under the direction of music director and retired Mendocino College Professor Les Pfutzenreuter). Philip Lenberg, the new full-time music professor at Mendocino College, also collaborated on the musical direction of the show.

Mendocino College music faculty members Janice Hawthorne Timm and Marilyn Simpson served respectively as the show’s choral director and singing coach.

College Technical Theatre Professor Steve Decker is designing scenery and lighting which will be brought to fruition with the assistance of an enthusiastic crew of students in the college’s growing program in technical theatre, while college costuming instructor Kathy Dingman-Katz is creating the many costumes with the assistance of her dedicated costuming students.

College Theatre Technician David Wolf will design the sound reinforcement and effects, as well as serve as the show’s master carpenter. Devoted community volunteer Gary Hudson is stage-managing the entire elaborate production. Brittany McKemy is the assistant director.

This show is expected to be a crowd-pleaser, so audiences are encouraged to purchase tickets early. “Once upon a Mattress” opens Friday March 22 and runs through March 31 in the Center Theatre on the Mendocino College Ukiah campus. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 31, at 2 p.m. There is also a special discounted performance on Thursday, March 28, with all tickets costing only $10 for that performance only.

Tickets are available now at the Mendocino College Bookstore on the college campus, at the Mendocino Book Co. in downtown Ukiah and also online at www.artsmendocino.org. Prices are $20 for adults and $15 for students, seniors and ASMC cardholders.

For more information, call 707-468-3172 or visit http://www.mendocino.edu/the-arts/theatre. The Mendocino College Ukiah campus is located at 1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah.
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Ted Kooser. Photo credit: UNL Publications and Photography.
One of my many peculiarities is a fascination with deserted places, especially old houses, and I've written far too many poems about them.

But that doesn't mean that I don't love it when others take on their own depictions.

This poem by Richard Jarrette, a Californian, takes on not only the description of an old house, but what might have happened there and what might happen anywhere.

It's from his book “The Beatitudes of Ekaterina,” from Green Writers Press of Brattleboro, Vermont.

Happiness

Abandoned house roofless three walls
no floor a ruin if you think house—

to brown towhees a place to scratch
in the leaves for bugs and worms,

for the male to sing a territorial song
from what remains of the chimney—

an imagination problem like the time
friends said we must be very happy

in the beautiful house we built because
they couldn't see the ruins inside us.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2017 by Richard Jarrette, "Happiness," from The Beatitudes of Ekaterina, (Green Writers Press, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Richard Jarrette and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2019 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
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Hannah Alkire and her husband, Joe Scott, are Acoustic Eidolon. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Acoustic Eidolon will take the stage at the Soper Reese Theatre on Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $20 open seating.

A moving combination of Celtic, classical and contemporary folk, described by critics as pure musical poetry. That’s the art of classically trained celloist, Hannah Alkire and her husband, Joe Scott, who plays on his own double-neck string invention, a cross between a guitar and banjo.

This promises to be a performance of passionate, ethereal and lush acoustic instrumentality.

The duo are experienced and gifted musicians who quickly connect with an audience through Joe’s quick humor and Hannah’s wall-to-wall smile.

Their show has been called “a sumptuous instrumental feast” by Dirty Linen, and “contemporary instrumental music par excellence offering warm, emotional melodies,” by CD Review.

Tickets are available at www.soperreesetheatre.com; at the theatre’s Box Office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, two hours before show time; at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, Monday-Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The theater telephone is 707-263-0577; Travel Center phone is 707-263-3095.
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Alisa Rose, violin, and Amy Zanrosso, piano, are RossoRose. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – In the third concert of a four-part series produced by Beth Aiken, the RossoRose violin-piano duo will perform at the Soper Reese Theatre on Sunday, March 17, at 2 p.m.

Seating is open, and tickets are $20 for adults. Children 18 and under are free.

Alisa Rose and Amy Zanrosso are two expressive and powerful musicians intent on exploring what it means to be a piano and violin duo making music in the 21st century.

Striking and dramatic in their musical choices, these two women seamlessly meld their classical training with the rhythms and musical freedom of a variety of traditions that include tango and American roots music.

The pair are not shy about breaking rules in order to communicate with an audience so look forward to experiencing clashing movements of different sonatas along with Alisa's original compositions, and maybe some drums thrown in for good measure.

Sponsored by Kirsten Olson. For tickets go to www.soperreesetheatre.com or to The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main, Lakeport, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 707-263-0577.
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‘STAN & OLLIE’ Rated PG

Not all movies get a wide release. Some appear to be limited to large urban areas or art-house cinemas.

“Stan & Ollie” falls into the category of a worthwhile film that requires a careful search for a venue or the patience to wait for the DVD release.

This writer laments the immutable fact that many younger moviegoers lack familiarity with one of the world’s greatest comedy teams.

Laurel and Hardy, known for their slapstick comedy, worked together to delight audiences in numerous short and feature length films.

To watch their short film “The Music Box” (a personal favorite), where the odd couple of comedy play piano movers struggling up steep steps in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, is nothing short of delirious wonder at their comic brilliance.

“Stan & Ollie” is set mostly in 1953, long after the comedy team has retired from show business, when the duo undertake a variety hall tour of Britain, hoping to connect with adoring fans.

British actor Steve Coogan in the role of Stan Laurel and John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy are first introduced in 1937 at the peak of their film career when salary talks with producer Hal Roach (Danny Huston) go badly.

A decade and a half later, the prospect for a new film deal runs into money trouble and the tour of Britain gets off to a rocky start, considering the promoter (Rufus Jones) is initially inept at his job of filling venues until publicity stunts work some magic.

The film’s story has it that Laurel and Hardy had been estranged for some time after Laurel’s falling out with Hal Roach. Reuniting in 1953 provided an opportunity for the old friends to come together to rekindle a movie career.

Though on screen he was the hapless dupe to Hardy’s domineering superior, Laurel was a talented writer who wanted to turn a script spoofing Robin Hood into a film vehicle for them.

The British tour seemingly offered a chance to obtain financing for their proposed cinematic comeback, but it failed to materialize even after the comedy team was selling out venues in London and elsewhere.

Eventually, the duo’s spouses arrived in London, with Laurel’s fiery Russian wife Ida (Nina Arianda) and Hardy’s solid Texan wife Lucille (Shirley Henderson) often sparring with verbal jabs that are quite amusing.

During the tour, old resentments turn up for Laurel and Hardy when they engage in an argument during a reception which seems so much in character with their film personas that the party guests are left wondering if it is all a performance.

What is not an act is when Hardy takes ill while judging a beauty pageant. Hardy’s failing health serves in some respect as a way for the actors to put aside differences and solidify their old friendship.

Above all, “Stan & Ollie” is a comic gem because Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly seize their roles with an authenticity that pays lofty homage to great comedians.



‘WHISKEY CAVALIER’ ON ABC NETWORK

A television series about international spies that is fun and light-hearted brings back memories about “Get Smart” and the British show “The Avengers” starring Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee.

That appears to be the vibe the ABC network is going for with “Whiskey Cavalier,” starring Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan, respectively acting as FBI agent Will Chase and CIA operative Frankie Trowbridge.

The good news is that agents, cut from different cloth, make for a great mismatched pair with clashing agendas, even though both are tasked with the same mission of tracking down a terrorist suspect in the first episode.

Will Chase’s agent is humiliated by his recent breakup with fiancée Gigi (Valerie Huber). He’s so despondent over the split that fellow agents are mocking him for his weepy emotional vulnerability.

On the other hand, Frankie Trowbridge is an aggressive, hard-nosed field agent who proves to be anything but sympathetic to Will’s romantic plight.

She’s all about the mission, and yet he tears up when spotting a loving couple in the middle of a marriage proposal.

“Whiskey Cavalier” has the advantage of taking place in scenic locales throughout Europe. Their target is the wisecracking Edgar Standish (Tyler James Williams), an NSA agent with compromising government secrets who might have gone rogue or has been double-crossed by a superior.

Whatever the case may be, there’s ample intrigue with Will and Frankie initially not trusting each other. In the early going, she places him in handcuffs before Will turns the tables. Soon enough, they tentatively form a working bond for self-preservation.

True to the tropes of any spy thriller, plenty of gunplay, betrayals, and car chases underline the action to a satisfying degree. Throughout it all, witty banter and comedic elements make for a whole lot of fun.

“Whiskey Cavalier,” a strange title, is actually the code name for Agent Chase. Trowbridge goes by the handle of “Fiery Tribune.” No matter, as cohorts they are delightfully entertaining to watch.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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