Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK
by Dr. Thorn Schwa



FINALIZE: Dr. Kahn himself, Director Emeritus of the Alfred Kahn Clinic, complained about this word last year, while delivering the Samuel Bacon Lecture at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired. 

His clinic treats patients, often educationists and public employees, who suffer from William F. Buckley Syndrome.  Some of these poor souls even say initialize instead of start or begin.  We fix that and also retrain them to say finish or complete.



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One of Ithaca's premier live theaters will open the doors to its new, spacious building for the first time next Wednesday, September 1st.  The move has been a long time in coming, and while the new space offers amenities back stage and in the front of house alike, the design of the new theater reflects the mission and appeal of the old Clinton House space.  That 'in your face' focus on material and performance and the improved version of the old thrust stage with its three-sided auditorium make it clear that while the Kitchen Theatre Company may have moved out of the kitchenette, they are still the Kitchen.

"I think our audience will be excited at what has not changed in terms of intimacy," says Managing Director Stephen Nunley.  "And also excited about what has changed that has enhanced what we thought the theater was about."

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SMART TALK
by Dr. Dot Pilcrow



FIGHT AGAINST: The Institute for the Linguistically Impaired doesn't fight against the use of redundancies.  Nor does it protest against the practice.  It does, however, fight their use.

"Against" is understood unless otherwise specified.  You can fight for something, but notice how the meaning changes when you take out the "for."  Proof that fight against is redundant.

Notice how much wimpier one sounds shouting, "I protest against it!" rather than "I protest!"  And if I say, "I'm going to fight you," do I need to clarify the threat? 

Therefore, we protest the use of redundancies.  They make solid language watery.

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The smash-hit musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, will be on the Hangar stage from August 19th to September 5th.

The Hangar Theatre wraps up the summer season with the smash-hit musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This Tony Award winning show encompasses a time-honored American tradition, as we follow the competing middle-school winners as they compete and spell their way into Putnam County history. 

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The Piano Lesson, by famous American playwright August Wilson plays at the Hangar Theatre from August 4th to the 14th. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama portrays both the uniquely African-American and universal struggle of family strife and love.

Wilson begins the story of The Piano Lesson in the 1930's Pittsburgh living room of Berniece Charles and revolves around the family heirloom, an elaborately carved piano, bearing portraits of their ancestors, sculpted by their great-grandfather after it was sold in trade for his wife and son. 

The CRS Barn Studio has changed the date of its upcoming dance event, Moving Landscapes III: New Choreography. Originally scheduled for Saturday, August 14, Moving Landscapes III will now take place on FRIDAY, AUGUST 13 at 7:30 pm, at the CRS Barn Studio, 2622 North Triphammer Road in Ithaca.

Moving Landscapes III: New Choreography continues the CRS Barn Studio tradition of bringing innovative dance and music partnerships to Ithaca audiences. Many of the dances shown here are premiers, or works that would not otherwise be seen in this area. This year's event will showcase a variety of new and repertory work by dance artists from around the Finger Lakes.

The Kitchen Theatre Company is beginning its 20th Anniversary Season on September 1st in a brand new space.  Private Lives runs from September 1st to 19th at the Kitchen Theatre’s newly renovated building at 417 W. State / W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street.

Renovations to the new building include a bright, attractive lobby with space for art installations, comfortable new theater seating, well-appointed audience amenities, and a quieter and more efficient heating and cooling system.

When MacRorie Dean (Denison University ’12), managing director of Up A Creek Cabaret Company, came home to Ithaca for the summer, she was dealing with the aftermath of a national campus epidemic:  rape.  Near the end of spring semester she was raped by another student, a total stranger who cried 'hook up' to avoid criminal consequences. 

So when Dean was approached by fellow Running to Places Alum, Eliza Vann (Fredonia State University ’13) to do a musical revue, she choose to comment on the full range of male female sexual encounters, including assault. The result is "Can’t Live With(out)Them," performed as a 1900s style cabaret:  funny, politically significant, and, at times, uncomfortable.

'Can’t Live With(out) Them' deals with dating, falling in love, relationships, and sexual assault. Directors Anya Gibian (Cornell University ’12), Travis Jones (Bates College ’13), and Tessa Cannon (Ohio Wesleyan ’13), along with Dean and Vann explore the deeper themes of relationships; those we create and those that shape our lives. 

"The show also includes monologues and scenes from our own voices," says Gibian.  "We started having conversations about what it means to be a man or a woman, how that makes us behave, what is it like to fall in love…and then we created theatre out of those conversations."

Can’t Live With(out) Them, a musical revue to benefit Running To Places, will be performed, one night only, on Thursday, August 12, at 10PM in the Gallery at the Community School of Music and Art, 330 E. State Street, Ithaca.  The show welcomes audience members ages 16 and up.

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Running to Places Theatre Company will perform Guys and Dolls, its annual summer musical, at The State Theatre of Ithaca on August 13 & 14 at 7pm and August 15 at 2pm. 

Sarah Brown (Sarah Steurer, Candor) runs an honest mission and Miss Adelaide (Valerie Kilmer, Ithaca) just wants to be made an honest woman. But will their Guys come through? Sky Masterson (Adam Beckwith, Lansing) never expected to fall for a "mission doll" like Sarah, but he did -- what's a bettin' man to do? And Nathan Detroit (Jeremy Pletter, Ithaca) is wild about Adelaide, but... marriage???

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