Category Archives: We Love Arts

Entertainment, Essential DC, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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National Geographic Live: May 2010

Adventures Among Ants, by Mark Moffett

©Mark Moffett, courtesy National Geographic

The 2010 National Geographic Live series continues in May with a mix of lectures, authors, and food. The National Geographic Museum is offering up another two pairs of tickets for WeLoveDC readers, unless otherwise noted. Simply comment below (PLEASE use a legit email address and your first name) with what two events – in preferred order – you’d like to attend. We’ll do a random drawing on Monday, May 3 at 2 pm and get the winners set up with their first (or second, if your first choice is full) selection. Keep in mind that tickets are for single events only; both food events are unfortunately not eligible for the free tickets.

In the Empire of Ice ($18)
May 4, 7:30 pm

For a National Geographic-supported expedition, writer Gretel Ehrlich circumnavigated the Arctic Circle to document the indigenous cultures inhabiting its starkly beautiful landscapes, as advancing climate change threatens traditional ways of life. In her new book, Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape, and in this presentation, she tells the story of her journey to explore the “ecology of culture.”

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Entertainment, Life in the Capital, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Helios, Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge, Horses. Running. Phryne L. Plate 40, 1879, from The Attitudes of Animals in Motion, 1881. Albumen silver print. Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon 2006.131.7.

Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change at the Corcoran is the world’s first, comprehensive study of the photographer’s influential and inspirational career. Reigning over the field of photography for much of the second half of the 19th-century, Muybridge was a pioneer of the visual medium – bringing together both science and art in a seemingly effortless fashion.  The exhibition includes over 300 elements, spanning from books – to albums – to stereographs (and even a Zoopraxiscope), all of which portray pieces of a process, establishing the foundation of the Muybridge legacy.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Bowen McCauley Dance

Bowen McCauley Dance performs to Stravinsky's Mass with the Cantate Choral Singers. Courtesy of Bowen McCauley Dance.

As a young balletomane, I was fascinated by the story of the explosive performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, performed by the Ballet Russes on a night that basically produced mass hysteria in its audience. Star dancer Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed, and apparently had to stand on a chair in the wings shouting out counts for the dancers, who could not hear the music over the outraged audience’s uproar. The music and movements were so revolutionary, the elite had a collective heart attack that erupted into a riot.

Saturday night I had the privilege of attending the world premiere of a piece by Bowen McCauley Dance, set to Stravinsky’s Mass with the Cantate Chamber Singers led by music director Gisele Becker. Stravinsky’s music is notoriously difficult, but we no longer expect the audience to scream in protest and throw punches at each other as they did that night for The Rite of Spring (though, wouldn’t that be an interesting evening at the Kennedy Center?)!  When Becker approached BMD artistic director Lucy Bowen McCauley about collaborating on a piece of music never before choreographed to, by a composer many consider impossible if not painfully hard to tackle, her first reaction was -“What have I got myself into?”

Luckily, the company was well up to the task. No riot occurred, just a beautiful evening of vibrant dance and song.

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We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: [Title of Show]

Erin Driscoll, Sam Ludwig, James Gardiner and Jenna Sokolowski
in Signature’s production of [title of show].
Larry, as always, was excluded from the shot.

[title of show] is a musical that purports to be the actual events revolving about four people writing a musical about writing a musical.

Or something like that. Or more accurately, sometimes like that. The self-awareness of the characters that they are, at that moment, performers, comes and goes. I can only think of one moment where someone actually breaks the fourth wall but there’s many moments where the characters discuss the fact that what they’re doing will later be performed in front of said fourth wall.

If you’re already annoyed by this description you might want to skip it. [title of show] is sometimes painfully meta and if you’re irritated at just how twee it is in its description then you certainly aren’t going to enjoy it being milked for laughs for over an hour. If you’re willing to let the show wink at you fairly incessantly and prepared to overlook some imperfections in both the production and the underlying material then it can be a good time.

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The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Fiddler on the Roof

05 Fierstein and Company © 2009, JOAN MARCUS

What is the best way to teach the daily struggles of family life and change to a modern generation: physical comedy or unadulterated sincerity? Harvey Fierstein’s Tevye does both. On the other hand … he has some competition what with the starlet vocals of his three daughters in-production. On the other hand … he’s Harvey Fierstein, part of the reason this run of Fiddler on the Roof at the National Theatre has been so successful.

Fierstein first starred as Tevye during the critically acclaimed Broadway revival, having previously won four Tony Awards, including Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy, with his most recent win in 2003 for Best Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. Now, he’s filling seats for sold-out crowds of all-ages at the National Theatre, reprising the role as Tevye and doing justice to the name while still maintaining his sense of self on stage. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Funding for the Arts to See Cuts


knife by youngthousands

When times are tough and governments start cutting their budgets, arts programs are often the first to feel the pain.  Case in point, Arlington County is planning on cutting arts grants by 36% next year, an equivalent of $100,000, while DC is proposing a 10% or $1 million cut (PDF) to its operating budget.  As a patron of the arts, this isn’t something I like to hear about, but understand that other spending generally takes precedence over the arts.  Susan Kalish of Arlington County’s parks and recreation department says, “Arts or cops? The county’s got to make a tough decision.”

My hope is that as the economy improves in the years to come, arts funding will go back up.  If you’d like to speak your mind about the arts budget cuts in DC, stop by to testify at the budget hearing for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities on April 27th at 10AM.

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Kafka’s Metamorphosis

John Milosich in Synetic Theater's production of "Kafka's Metamorphosis." Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw

I’ve always had a fascination with insects – the hive brain, the rigid delineation between workers and soldiers, queens and drones, a repulsive caterpillar breaking out of a hard cocoon as a delicate butterfly, the viciousness of praying mantis sex, spider babies eating their mother… just your average day in a realm all around us, a kingdom we barely notice.

Gregor Samsa, the unfortunate center of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, leads a life not unlike that of a worker drone, slaving away at a clerical job so that his family may live, in particular his beloved sister Greta. His creator, writer Franz Kafka, lives in a body progresively weakened and diseased while pining for his beautiful love Felice. Director Derek Goldman takes these two and morphs them together in his adaption for Synetic Theater of the story of a man waking up one morning to find himself transformed into a nasty and unwieldy insect body. Here, Kafka’s internal rage at his body’s weakness and his psychological wounds are directly manifested as he creates Gregor’s world.

Now through May 22, you can witness this grostesque and haunted world (“creepy,” as artistic director Paata Tsikurishvili said at opening) at Rosslyn Spectrum, where the stage has been incredibly and nauseatingly transformed into wild angles by designer Natsu Onoda. Your stomach will also be turned by the sound design of James Bigbee Garver, evoking a gooey, icky insect world. It’s all lit with eerie unnaturalness by Colin K. Bills. The production design is top notch.

The adaptation itself? It’s brave, and filled with some startling imagery, but ultimately left me cold. You may feel differently, but splitting the main character dropped the stakes significantly – I found myself unable to care for Gregor’s plight, and just wished Kafka would stay behind the writing desk. That being said, it’s an intriguing production whose merits I’m still debating. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Art After Hours 4/9

Photo courtesy of
‘Hirshhorn After Hours #57’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

The Hirshhorn Museum rocks.  I keep trying to think of a better description for the place, cause as writer – that is my job; however, no other term seems more fitting or more appropriate as a means to express my resulting state of euphoria that occurs following a visit to the Museum.

Whether it is the eclectic architecture of the building or an inspiring artist on display – I am consistently enamored.  And the Hirshhorn Museum’s After Hours party on Friday night, with its award-winning entertainment and international feel, just made it official.

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The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Free Fun at the Corcoran

Photo courtesy of
‘Corcoran Gallery of Art’
courtesy of ‘dcjasmine’

This just in…

This Sunday the Corcoran is open to the public, FREE of charge.

And as if this couldn’t get much better, it does.  Starting Memorial Day and lasting all summer, the Corcoran will be having FREE Summer Saturdays.  Join the Corcoran for gallery tours, workshops, and performances galore all for FREE.  Here is a link to check out all of these awesome events.

I am particularly looking forward to checking out the new exhibit Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change — opening this Saturday!

The Corcoran is located at 500 Seventeenth Street NW.

Dupont Circle, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: In Darfur

Erika Rose in Theater J's "In Darfur," photo credit: Stan Barouh.

“Plays like this make me so grateful I was born at the time and place I was,” my friend says as we exit Theater J Saturday night. We’d just seen In Darfur by Winter Miller, and as a Western woman who’d spent the day shopping for frivolities, I felt the cold twist of shame in my stomach. But this isn’t a preachy production. Its simplicity provides the horror, and it’s truthful. These things happen. We ignore them. Then we see a simulation of a woman’s legs being cracked apart like a wishbone, and our silence feels culpable.

This is a hard sell, no denying it, but I urge you to go see In Darfur, playing now through April 18. The play is inspired by Miller’s own trip to refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border, in the company of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. Strangely, its flaws have to do with that prism of experience, as the two Westerners who serve as our entre to this world – an American journalist and an Argentinian aid worker – are simply not as compelling as the Africans they encounter. But I still urge you to see it, for Erika Rose’s central performance as Darfuri refugee Hawa is absolutely riveting.

The action unfolds in 2004, the aftermath of the initial atrocities committed during the conflict between the Darfur rebel groups, the Sudanese government, and the government-armed militias known as Janjaweed. Hawa, a Darfuri Muslim, has lost her entire family and been brutally raped – she is then further brutalized for being raped. Pregnant and wounded, she becomes the central pawn in hardened journalist Maryka’s (Rahaleh Nassri) quest to get Darfur on the front page, blocked by aid worker Carlos (Lucas Beck) in an ethical battle over whether endangering Hawa’s life to get the story out is worth the price she’ll pay. Continue reading →

The District, The Features, The Mall, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Josef Albers

Josef Albers, “Homage to the Square: Glow,” (1966). From the Hirshhorn’s collection.

“We must teach each other… education is not first giving answers but giving questions.”  – Josef Albers

Abstract art is void of narrative.  The composition often speaks only through the viewers mind.  A type of understanding through speculation, providing the sort of simple canvas that the imagination needs in order to thrive.

Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a master of the subjective canvas, an explorer of color and an ambassador for the abstract form.

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Downtown, Entertainment, Essential DC, Special Events, We Love Arts
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National Geographic Live: March 2010

America's Endangered Species, ©Joel Sartore; courtesy of the National Geographic Museum

The spring season of National Geographic Live – a series of dynamic lectures, concerts, films and more – continues this month, with more great offerings.

Thanks to the awesome response from last month, the National Geographic Museum is offering up two pairs of tickets to our readers for any of the following events. Simply comment below (PLEASE use a legit email address and your first name) with what two events – in preferred order – you’d like to attend. We’ll do a random drawing on Friday (March 12) at 10 a.m. and get the winners set up with their first (or second, if your first choice is full) selection. Keep in mind that tickets are for single events only.

Note that the photography exhibitions that open this month do not require tickets and are free for visitors to enjoy.

Okay, enough about rules. Check out the March offerings after the jump.

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The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Some Girl(s)

Clementine Thomas and Brian Sutow in No Rules Theatre Company's production of "Some Girl(s)" Photo Credit: C. Stanley Photography

It’s Neil LaBute’s birthday next week, so it seems fitting that relative newcomers No Rules Theatre Co. are performing his play Some Girl(s) now through March 21st. Many have called him a psychologist of the dark side of the human soul, others a misogynist (personally, I think he’s an equal opportunity misanthrope). LaBute was responsible for one of my favorite films, Your Friends and Neighbors, scenes of which still sting sharp in my mind. Fellow WLDC author Don and I ventured out to H Street Playhouse convinced we would be at each other’s throats at the end of the play, in fitting tribute to LaBute with a raucous “He Said, She Said” review.

Our bottom line? This is a tight production featuring great performances, guaranteed to cause debate afterwards. The play’s age is showing, and a key character seems miscast, but that shouldn’t stop you from heading out to H Street and laughing cruelly as LaBute holds the mirror up to our blighted interpersonal relationships. It seems a pretty simple plot – watch as a man revisits his most memorable flings and exes before his impending marriage. Fun times! Who hasn’t wanted to gloat a little over the ones you left behind? But it’s not that simple, of course.
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History, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Drawing Toward Home

DTH_Bowen House

Bowen House, Woodstock, Connecticut, c. 1846.  Joseph C. Wells, architect.  Courtesy Historic New England.

“A major component of the American pursuit of happiness has long been a home of one’s own (the automobile is a distant second: the one a castle, the other a chariot).”   – James F. O’Gorman, lead curator for Drawing Toward Home.

When talking about art we often highlight forms such as painting, theater, sculpture, dance, and photography – just to name a few.  However, often overlooked are the artistic endeavors of both the historic and modern architectural community.  The newest exhibition at the National Building Museum, called Drawing Toward Home, highlights the intricate and often-complex domestic architectural drawing.

As a traveling exhibition organized by Historic New England in celebration of their Centennial, the 100-plus drawings featured provide a unique look into the vast history of the New England Style home.  Ranging from the Federal to the International Style and spanning over 200 years, Drawing Toward Home “reminds us that the architecture of New England is a touchstone of American Architecture”.  The exhibition is uncomplicated; simple to follow and clearly displayed.  Organized chronologically into four sections, beginning circa 1800 and ending around 1980, Drawing Toward Home is much like the foundation of the architectural drawing itself – a cohesive way to convey pure information.

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Entertainment, Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Henry V

HNRYV_248_resized

Michael Hayden as King Henry V in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, directed by David Muse. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Now this is more like it.

From the first moments of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Henry V, there’s a feeling of power and potency that I found lacking in Richard II, playing in repertory at Sidney Harman Hall. This is a company in command, helmed by David Muse’s tight, almost economical direction which sets the play firmly on course.

Productions of Henry V can veer from pro-war to anti-war (most famously, see the contrast of two films – Laurence Olivier vs. Kenneth Branagh). Here, war is certainly horrible, but it’s simply what kings must do to reign. This exploration of duty is the key to Muse’s production, in my opinion, and to the performance that leads it – Michael Hayden’s superb Henry. He embodies not just Henry’s description of himself as “plain soldier” but also of a man whose study of humanity in his wild days serves him well as king.

He’s also a scrappy fighter and a man whose bad side you want to avoid. No matter how close or safe you think you are, cross him at your peril.

From the beginning, when Muse chooses to split the Chorus into three characters (wonderfully played by Larry Paulsen, Robynn Rodriguez and Ted van Griethuysen), we’re on alert that there’s something different in store. With enthusiasm, sadness and humor they guide us through the history play by connecting directly with the audience, controlling lights and sound as if performing a lecture. It’s a conceit already inherent in the play itself, and here it lends a sense of the magic of theater that is echoed in key brilliant choices – stirring singing, unfurling maps, ghostly helmets hanging in air, a bright red laser pointer.

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Entertainment, Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Richard II

RCHRDII_531_resized

Michael Hayden as King Richard II in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Richard II, directed by Michael Kahn. Photo by Scott Suchman.

I don’t normally write the kind of review that I’m writing today. But to be blunt, I’ve had enough. What is going on at Shakespeare Theatre Company? Inconsistent vocality, acting styles ranging all over from natural to downright hammy, condescending directorial choices, flubbed lines. With so much talent at its disposal, I can only attribute it to growing pains with the Harman Center. But even that excuse is not going to last much longer with me. I love theater and I love Shakespeare. I want everyone to succeed. But if you don’t start bringing it, STC, I’m going to lose faith.

My first hint something was not right with Richard II, now playing in repertory with Henry V as part of an exploration on leadership themes, was in reading Michael Kahn’s directorial notes. He had decided to add a prologue from an anonymously penned Elizabethean play called Thomas of Woodstock because “I’ve always been aware of how mystified the audience is for the first four scenes.” Um, what? The audience has to piece together what happens at the first scene of Hamlet too, but I don’t see anyone advocating giving the ghost’s secret away right off the bat. So this is a choice to enlighten the audience? Why, we’re too dumb to catch up on our own? The patched together prologue is interminable and unnecessary, giving us our first glimpse of Richard’s neurosis and paranoia far too soon, not to mention solidifying in my mind –

Ok, deep breaths. Let’s jump back for a minute. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Georgia O’Keeffe Abstraction

Black Door with Red, 1954.

Black Door with Red, 1954.  Oil on Canvas, 48 x 48 in. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia.  Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.63 (CR1271). Copyright, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense.” – Georgia O’Keeffe, 1976

When discussing abstract art of the 20th-century, the likes of Kandinsky and Matisse are often the works that most easily come to mind.  However, the newest exhibition at The Phillips Collection – Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction – suggests the need for a potential addition among the abstract ‘authority’.

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The Features, The Hill, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Evolve Urban Arts Project

Evolve at the Pierce School. Photo courtesy Eric Hope.

Evolve at the Pierce School. Photo courtesy Eric Hope.

Arts organizations tend to get hit the hardest in times of economic distress or, let’s face it, the current weather crisis. When galleries and theaters have to shutter their doors for even one night, it can be devastating. So consider this your PSA for Arts today: once we’re out of this mess, hit a play, see an exhibit, get out there and help the arts as much as you can. They’re really going to need it.

And there are so many worthy arts centers here in DC that go beyond the typical; we are truly lucky! One such unassuming place is Evolve Urban Arts Project in the H Street Arts District, with a special mission to promote local artists. Basically, says curator Eric Hope, “I’m trying to take some chances and give exposure to up-and-coming artists.” The recent exhibit by Dana Ellyn in December was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, and upcoming shows look to match that intensity. Let’s take a closer look at one of DC’s pioneering galleries.

Evolve Urban Arts Project came about when Chris Swanson and Jeff Printz bought the Pierce School in 2000 and renovated it to include a home for themselves and several loft units. A few years later, they started arts exhibits in the main foyer and throughout the public spaces of the building. Curator Eric Hope came on board in April 2009 and saw the potential to expand their profile in the DC arts community. The only steadfast rule, strongly encouraged by Swanson, is the promotion of local talent, and the exhibition space is free to the artists.

“Lowkey really describes us,” Eric explains, “I’m happy to have the freedom to work with artists who push boundaries and take chances.”

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Downtown, History, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Spring Offerings From ISM

Photo courtesy of
‘Boundaries’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

Every Friday for the next six weeks, the International Spy Museum (ISM) will be debuting a new exhibit within the museum, including the addition of several new rare artifacts from the shadowy world of espionage. These new additions (some for a limited time only) join the already-extensive collection regarding the world’s “second-oldest profession” and the new gallery dedicated to espionage in the 21st Century. Several of these exhibits will tie into special programs occurring at the museum over the next few months, covering not only the secret history of spying but also exploring today’s hottest topics that daily impact the world of intelligence. “Espionage deals with clandestine, hidden information and the best spies make sure their every trace disappears, which makes finding personal pieces of tradecraft very challenging,” says Anna Slafer, ISM’s Director of Exhibitions and Programs. “Many of our new artifacts have to come us from intelligence agencies and the families of these famous spies, giving us a detailed story of these object’s role in history.”

And the lineup, after the jump. Continue reading →

Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Antony & Cleopatra

GBS5766

Ben Cunis and Irina Tsikurishvili in Synetic Theater's "Antony & Cleopatra." Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw.

If you want to know why Synetic Theater has been nominated for 13 Helen Hayes awards for its productions last year, go see Antony & Cleopatra. Now. Everything this robust and vibrant company is beloved for is here on stage at the Lansburgh’s beautiful proscenium, as part of an alliance with Shakespeare Theatre that I hope means more Synetic productions at the Penn Quarter space. Their glorious athleticism, sensual energy and biting humor are all here, framed by what founding artistic director Paata Tsikurishvili calls their “art of silence.”

The characters of Antony and Cleopatra are full of lust – for life, for power, for each other. It’s a play highlighting the contradictory battle between masculine and feminine desires inherent in both sexes, and at its heart is the human ambition to seize the moment even at the risk of total loss.

Stakes are pretty high here, as director Paata Tsikurishvili makes clear by adding a prologue to the actual Shakespearean plot – the meeting of Caesar and Cleopatra, their ambition no less than to rule the entire known world together, uniting East and West. As they stand together, a map of the world splits up and swirls about them in an orgy of power. This is the ultimate gamble, player beware.
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