PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012
5
Larger than life Paradise Theatre follows rise, fall of Orson Welles BY DIANE URBANI DE LA PAZ PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT
PORT TOWNSEND — After a year-long hiatus, The Paradise Theatre School is back with a show about an artistic renegade. “Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles,” starring Erik Van Beuzekom, opens tonight for a three-weekend run in downtown Port Townsend. This is one lushly written story, said Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom, who, with her husband Erik, is co-artistic director of the Paradise. Many of us think of Welles as a large man who made Paul Masson wine commercials, Pattie added. You remember: “We will sell no wine before its time.”
Game changer
Readers Theatre Plus Presents
Erik Van Beuzekom plays the title role in “Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles,” a Paradise Theatre School production opening tonight in downtown Port Townsend. peninsuladailynews.com
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But for film buffs and theater lovers, Welles was an auteur who changed the landscape of the American stage and cinema. “From his legendary radio production of ‘War of the Worlds’ to his muchpublicized battle with tycoon William Randolph Hearst and his considered run for Wisconsin senator against Joseph McCarthy,” Pattie noted, “Welles made the most of his life as a social maverick.” Welles’ stories are packed into “Rosebud,” a 90-minute work by Welsh playwright Mark Jenkins.
The venue for “Rosebud” is studio 36 in the Mount Baker Block building at 211 Taylor St. Admission is $15, and tickets are available at the Port Townsend Food Co-op, 414 Kearney St., and at www.Brown PaperTickets.com. Curtain time for the one-man show is 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Sept. 29 — except on the Port Townsend Film Festival nights of Sept. 21 and 22. Those evenings, “Rosebud” will begin at 5 p.m. so patrons can go from the play to the film festival’s free outdoor cinema screenings, which take place right outside on Taylor Street at 7:30 p.m. This year’s outdoor movies are “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” on Friday, Sept. 21; “The Empire Strikes Back” on Saturday, Sept. 22, and finally “Tootsie” on Sunday, Sept. 23. “Rosebud” reveals Welles’ ascension as a brilliant artist, and then follows him to his downfall in Hollywood. In the process, Pattie said, the play invites us to look at our own willingness to risk; then it asks us to look at America’s attitude toward artists. Finally, it urges us to ask ourselves, “How is the creative life relevant?” This production has mature themes and is suitable for high school-age youngsters and older, Pattie noted.