Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Tartuffe (Brendan Hammond) is a scam artist, a kind of seventeenth century version of the worst stereotype of a televangalist.  He has fooled Orgon (Max Mackenzie) into signing over his home, his wealth, and his daughter Marianne (Chelsea Weidman Fanders), who is in love with Valere (Ben Veaner).  But the family's servant Dorine (Jess Uhrovcik) in on to him, and in fact on to all of them.  And that's no mean feat!

ITHACA, NY: The Kitchen Theatre Company's KITCHEN COUNTER CULTURE series, featuring cutting-edge, outside-the-box work by guest artists from around the country, continues in November with a political satire by virtuosic New York City actor Darian Dauchan. Dauchan will perform Media Madness for three performances only: November 16, 17, and 18. All performances will be followed by a talkback with the artist.

What happens when a local reporter in a plain-Jane ordinary American small town uncovers the political shennagans of a greedy mayor, unsavory businessman, wannabe pop-star and more? Join in the laughter of MEDIA MADNESS when writer/performer Darian Dauchan portrays a gaggle of more than a dozen characters in this fictional story of the runaway press.

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Smart TalkSMART TALK
By Dr. Parley Speake

INUNDATED BY FLOOD WATERS:  Journalists, especially in Los Libidos, home of Bedspring Tech, seem almost gleeful to report that American education is in crisis.  These are the same writers who don't know the difference between that and which, so need to watch their tone.

Here at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we wish they'd cover the excellent local high school writing program.  Every year, local high school students win regional or Texas-wide recognition for prose and poetry.  Mrs. Shirley Markem Lowe teaches them well.

Meanwhile, "Scoop" Johnson writes in the Underbelly Prerecorder of peasant farmers seeking safe havens before they're inundated by flood waters. 

Most of Mrs. Lowe's students would immediately strike out the redundancies, remembering her mantra, "Make it tight, make it tight, make it tight.  Simpler is better."

Scoop's edited copy would describe farmers seeking safety [or havens] before they're inundated. 

And why is always flood waters?  How many waters are we talking about?  Flood will do, anyway.  We're smart enough to infer the water, thank you very much.

There.  I feel better now.

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The Kitchen Theatre stage fills with music with the world premiere of The Adventure in Apartment G Sharp, opening October 27 and playing Saturdays at 1pm & 3pm, Sundays at 1pm, through November 11. This new musical features a story full of surprises coupled with everyone's favorite opera hits.

The Adventure in Apartment G Sharp tells the story of 9-year-old Bernadette, who is excited to be spending the weekend with her Uncle Howard in his Manhattan loft apartment and looking forward to the wonderful desserts he creates especially for her. In fact, a weekend with Uncle Howard would be perfect except that he listens to opera constantly and Bernadette is not an opera fan. Shortly after Uncle Howard sings her a lullaby, tucks her into bed and tiptoes away, some strange things begin to happen-an operatic dream, or a singing nightmare? Bernadette is transported back in time to a faraway land where she is mistaken for a servant girl and finds herself sorting out the complicated lives of two sisters, two brothers, and a father who is determined to see at least one of his daughters married to one of those brothers! Lots of zaniness and lots of beautiful singing ensue.

Aurora, New York - The Wells College Theatre Department proudly presents Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as this fall's student drama production. The performance will be featured on Friday, October 19 and Saturday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall. There will also be a 2:00 matinee on Sunday, October 21. Prices are $3 for students and children, $5 for senior citizens and the Wells community, and $7 for the general public. Tickets are available from the box office the week preceding the show, and at the door the night of the performance. Please call 315/364-3456 to reserve.

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ITHACA, NY - What do you get when you mix three bedrooms, four couples, a brewing divorce, and a party? Alan Ayckbourn's comic play Bedroom Farce. Nominated for two Tony Awards, this frenzied farce focuses on the marital problems of the troublesome Trevor and Susannah as they wreak havoc on the lives of their couple friends at a weekend housewarming party. Bedroom Farce opens Wednesday, October 17, at the Cornell Schwartz Center.

Smart TalkSMART TALK
By  Dr. Molto Breve

I SHARE YOUR CONCERNS:  At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we don't usually divulge private remarks about patients, but this deserves publication.  The staff treasures this memo from Dr. Alfred Kahn, Board Member Emeritus:

"How many times have I heard this!  Sounds like a prissy YMCA secretary.  Concerns are so much more refined than fears, anxieties, irritations, anger, disgust.  When someone has me saying, unctuously, ‘I share your concerns,' it make me want to swear loudly and make obscene gestures."

We feel the same way when someone writes I read with interest whatever it was.  The writer doesn't have the backbone to say I hated what you wrote without pretending to soften the blow, much as the Brit who says meaning no disrespect just before an appalling insult.

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