The San Diego Union-Tribune: Arts+Culture, Sept. 11, 2022

T . GREENWOOD

On the surface, it’s easy to assume Tammy Greenwood’s writing was primarily shaped by her New England upbringing. At the moment, she’s summering in a cabin in Vermont her great grandfather built in the 1940s, taking time to write while enjoying nature. More to the point, most of the 14 novels she’s released over the last 25 years take place not in the Clairemont neighborhood she’s called home for nearly 30 years, but in Vermont and the northeast.

“I used to joke that my books were auto-geographical,” says Greenwood, who goes by the pen name T. Greenwood. “Where you grow up, of course, makes you who you are in a lot of ways.”

Weaving back and forth between present day and the late ’70s, “Such a Pretty Girl” (out Oct. 25 on Kensington Publishing Corp.), is something of a dream come true for the novelist in that she always wanted to write a book about “gritty, grungy” 1970s New York City.

“It’s set in the ’70s, but I do think it will resonate with the contemporary reader,” Greenwood says, and she has a point.

While the meat of the story — and the answers to its underlying mystery — take place in the past, both in Vermont and New York, the novel has a ripped-from-theheadlines feel to it. The protagonist, Ryan Flannigan, is a middleaged former child actress but wakes up one day to discover that

a provocative photo of her as a child has been discovered at the home of a rich investor after its revealed he’s long been a pedophile and sex trafficker. The scandals surrounding men such as Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein will immediately come to mind, but the novel attempts to peel apart the varying emotions that Ryan now has to reckon with, including whether or not her mother, Fiona, was complicit in the taking of the photo.

“ The bulk of the book is about that relationship between Fiona and Ryan,” Greenwood says. “I don’t want people thinking they’re going to be reading a book about sex trafficking, because it’s not that. It’s very much a story about growing up, a motherdaughter story and a story about friendship.”

Readers have come to expect layers within Greenwood’s novels how she effortlessly blends

coming-of-age fiction with elements of suspense and mystery. But she brings, however unintentionally, another common thread that unites her stories and one that is much more subtle and nuanced than a favored geographic location.

“I think that writing about mothers and daughters has become sort of par for the course for me,” Greenwood says. “I’m really interested in exploring the relationships between moms and daughters, specifically daughters who are performers or who have some sort of quality like that.”

Looking back on Greenwood’s oeuvre, beginning with 1999’s Breathing Water,” it becomes more clear that she wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She jokes in her bio that she “wrote” her first novel on her father’s typewriter at age 10. She has made a career out of exploring the tender and fraught family dynamics that make us who we are. When asked outright if she believes she is who she is as a writer not only because of where she came from, but also because she has raised daughters herself, Greenwood pauses but agrees that there might be something to that theory.

“Parental anxiety is something that has been explored a lot in my novels, because I know that feeling,” Greenwood says. “I am a wildly anxious parent, and I’ll be the first to admit it. Certainly my kids know it. I’m a writer, so I can

always imagine the worst-case scenario at all times, so that carries over into my life and then back again into my fiction. That’s my job as a writer: to tap into the roots of that anxiety.”

This anxiety is mined as Greenwood attempts to unravel the relationship between Fiona and Ryan in “Such a Pretty Girl.” In the end, it all comes down to whether the sins of the past, however harmless or acceptable they may have seemed at the time, can be forgiven in the present.

“ Yeah, Fiona is a problematic character, but she’s also very complex,” Greenwood says. “I wanted to explore the complexities of their relationship, because Ryan loves her mother, especially as a child.”

Greenwood will continue to explore these mother-daughter themes in her years-in-the-making novel “The Still Point,” which is set for release in 2023. She describes it as a “beast of a book,” her “ballet mom” novel, and “Big Little Lies” meets “Black Swan.” One distinct difference, however, is that this book will take place primarily in Southern California, not Vermont.

“ Vermont is just deep in my DNA, but San Diego is where I grew up in a lot of ways,” Greenwood says before adding: “It’s where I got married. It’s where I became a mom.”

Combs is a freelance writer.

ANA RAMIREZ U-T

San Diego author’s latest novel, ‘Such a Pretty Girl,’ deals in heavy themes and a troubled mother-daughter relationship

BY SETH COMBS

“Such a Pretty Girl” by T.

Greenwood (Kensington, October 2022; 304 pages)

I am who I am as an artist because of ...

“I am who I am as an artist because of the teachers who told me that I was a writer before I knew I was one myself. Because of the books my grandfather gave me and the stories the storytellers in my family shared. I am the writer that I am today because I grew up believing that books were magic, and the people who told me that I could make that magic with my own words.”

B OOK PICKS

BY SETH COMBS

Bookworms will have plenty of pages to turn this season. With in-person events back in full swing, bookstore calendars are already filled with authors who will be in town to promote their latest titles. From bestselling mystery and sci-fi writers to travel journalists and technology experts, there will be something for every type of reader.

‘Voices of Inspiration’

Three memoir authors — Shugri Said Salh, Jesse Leon and Jillian Haslam — come together for an afternoon of inspiration and motivation. All three will discuss their respective memoirs, which tackle issues such as immigration, addiction and poverty.

2 p.m. Saturday. Carlsbad City Library, Schulman Auditorium, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad. (619) 300-2532, adventuresbythebook.com

sign and discuss the latest “Longmire” mystery, “Hell and Back.”

7 p.m. Sept. 21. Coronado Public Library, Winn Room, 640 Orange Ave., Coronado. Free. (858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

her latest, “Cradles of the Reich,” a historical novel set in Nazi Germany and based on real-life events where German babies were taken away from their mothers.

6:30 p.m. Oct. 6.

Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave., Coronado. Free. (619) 300-2532, adventuresbythebook.com 2 p.m. Oct. 8.

Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad. Free. (619) 300-2532, adventuresbythebook.com

The

3 p.m. Sept. 18. Diesel, A Bookstore, 12843 El Camino Real, Suite No. 104, Del Mar. Free. (858) 925-7078, dieselbookstore.com

The

7

University

(858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

“Our

7 p.m.

University

5998

(858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

Bernhard Schlink

The internationally bestselling German author behind The Reader” will be in town to discuss and sign his latest novel, “Olga,” a historical novel about the life of an orphaned girl who is raised by her grandmother in Prussia. 4 p.m. Oct. 23.

7 p.m. Oct.

Mysterious Galaxy, 3555 Rosecrans St., No. 107, Point Loma. Free. (619) 539-7137, mystgalaxy.com

7:30 p.m. Oct. 27. Warwick’s, 7812

Ave.,

Free. (858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

7:30

Warwick’s,

Combs

Patricia Schultz

accomplished travel journalist will discuss and sign her evocative picture-and-essay book “Why We Travel: 100 Reasons to See the World.”

Craig Johnson

TV series “Longmire” has become quite the phenomenon, and Johnson, the creator of the mystery novels the show is based on, will be in town to

Scott Turow

The bestselling author is probably best known for legal thrillers such as “Identical” and “Presumed Innocent,” but his latest, “Suspect,” revolves around a private investigator and a police chief who team up to unravel a sexist conspiracy. Some admission prices includes a copy of the book.

p.m. Sept. 22.

of San Diego, Shiley Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park, Linda Vista. $10-$39.

Jennifer Coburn

The local author will be making two appearances to launch

Celeste Ng Readers are likely to remember Ng’s name from the huge bestsellers “Little Fires Everywhere” and “Everything I Never Told You.” Now she’s back with

Missing Hearts,” a novel about a young boy trying to find out the truth about his poet mother’s disappearance. Price includes a copy of the book.

Oct. 21.

of San Diego, Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre,

Alcala Park, Linda Vista. $29.

San Diego Central Library, Neil Morgan Auditorium, 300 Park Blvd., downtown. Free. (619) 236-5800, sandiego.librarymarket.com

Veronica Roth Roth is probably best known for the wildly successful Divergent” series of books, but her latest standalone novel, Poster Girl,” centers on a woman investigating the case of a missing child in a dystopic future.

24.

Orly Lobel

The distinguished USD professor will sign and discuss

Matt Coyle

The local bestselling author is back with his ninth Rick Cahill mystery novel, “Doomed Legacy,” which sees the damaged detective attempting to track down a serial rapist after a colleague is murdered.

p.m. Nov. 15.

7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Free. (858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

is a freelance writer.

Celeste Ng

KIERAN KESNER BUZZFEED

Veronica Roth

EVAN AGOSTINI AP

Orly Lobel

GRACE GERI GOODALE

Craig Johnson

ADAM JAHIEL

Jennifer Coburn

KILLIAN ROBERT WHITELOCK

Bernhard Schlink

LEONARDO CENDAMO

his new nonfiction book, “The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future,” which proposes that advances in technology can be used to achieve equality.

Girard

La Jolla.

I NESIRAWATI

part of what I do’

BY BETH WOOD

Many chamber musicians are asked how and when they started playing their instrument. Few have as dramatic an answer as pianist Ines Irawati.

Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, she needed her tonsils removed when she was 3 and was left alone overnight in a hospital room with eight other sick children. Her mother, Annie Irnanti, wasn’t allowed in to see her. Irawati’s screams were ignored.

It was so traumatic, I couldn’t be away from my mom after that,” the longtime San Diegan recalled. “I couldn’t even sleep without holding her hand. I couldn’t make friends.

She thought if I took lessons any lessons — I would get over this fear. I did dance, gymnastics, you name it. And then, f inally, piano. That solved the problem.

“ The teacher told my mom: Your daughter is very talented. Get her private lessons.’ That created my future in music. Music has saved me a lot of times, and that was the first time.”

Through the sheer will of Irawati’s mom — and support from Indonesians and Americans — the talented teenager entered the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music’s high school program, despite knowing very little English. She earned her bachelor’s degree there and went on to Yale for a master’s degree in piano performance.

Now 44, Irawati is a busy solo performer, chamber musician

and vocal coach. On Oct. 28, the Hidden Valley Virtuosi — featuring Irawati, violinist Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu and cellist Tanya Tomkins — will perform at La Jolla’s Athenaeum Music & Arts Library.

Another of Irawati’s musical collaborations is with British cellist Sophie Webber. Their new album, “Roots,” is due out in October on Sheringham Records. They hope to promote Roots” with a November concert.

Webber, also a San Diego resident, and Irawati showcase works from the romantic period.

All selections are pieces composed for other instruments and transcribed for cello and piano.

Most were transcribed by the composers themselves,” Irawati said. “These original works are reimagined. They become new inspired creations.”

Irawati is a longtime member of the Newport Beach-based Aviara Trio, which performed at Bodhi Tree Concerts in San Diego in April.

Also at Bodhi Tree last spring, Irawati served as music

director for the opera “Aftermath.” Although she is a soughtafter soloist, Irawati has a special affection for musical collaboration.

For me, it’s the connection I get with people in the process,” she said, speaking from her Del Mar home. “Working with amazing musicians and friends is the best part of what I do. The performance is the icing on the cake. Making music brings you so close to people without much talking.”

Jeremy Kurtz-Harris, the San Diego Symphony’s principal bassist, has performed with Irawati for almost 15 years.

Ines is an outstanding collaborator,” Kurtz-Harris said. “Whenever we prepare music for a concert, there’s always a lot of back-and-forth — exchanging ideas, discussing options, and challenging each other to try different things and take risks.

Her sense of humor is part of what makes Ines fun to work with. Even when one is doing ‘serious’ work, it’s not helpful to take oneself too seriously. ... Ines’ background as a vocal coach allows her to be particularly insightful about lines, phrases and colors.”

Up until the coronavirus pandemic, Irawati directed the San Diego Opera’s outreach concert series, Opera Exposed! From 2004 to 2017, she was a vocal coach and taught collaborative piano at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Soprano Michelle Law has studied with Irawati since that time and continues to see her as

Hidden Valley Virtuosi: Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, cellist Tanya Tomkins, pianist Ines Irawati

When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28

Where: Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla

Tickets: $50 members; $55 nonmembers; $15 students Phone: (858) 454-5872 Online: ljathenaeum.org/ chamber

I’m who I am as an artist because of ... Annie Irnanti, mom

“My mom, Annie Irnanti, 86. I learned so much from her. She doesn’t know the word ‘no.’ We didn’t have any money when I was growing up in Indonesia, but she bought me a piano and worked tirelessly to get me to America to study music. She’s passionate about being better, always growing.

Last year she had a huge stroke, and a year later she’s walking well and swimming every day. She talks like she used to. She’s the most determined woman I’ve ever met in life.”

a vocal coach.

“Ines helped me open my voice up, to release tension, to feel comfortable taking risks, to prioritize being musical and connecting with the audience while singing with my true voice,” Law said.

Irawati and her husband, Michael Krause, celebrated their 20th anniversary in May. She recently took their children — Glenn, 13, and Natalie, 10 — to the summer music program at Michigan’s Interlochen Art Center.

“All moms have superpowers!” Irawati said. “Having more than one kid, man, it’s a huge puzzle and the pieces are always moving. But I love being involved in their lives.”

Juggling family and her many musical pursuits takes energy, but Irawati has plenty of that.

My personality is fiery,” she said. “Fire doesn’t mean dangerous. My energy is very high without caffeine. Can you imagine me with caffeine? Oh, my God!

“I talk before my concerts about what I want the audience to listen for, and I’m connecting with them, exchanging energy. That g ives me the fire. Some musicians are nervous to speak to the audience before the concert. I get nervous without it. I like to make jokes. I have to make room in my life someday for being a stand-up comedian.

Pure joy. That’s why people come to my concerts — they know they will laugh, hear music and receive copious amount of joy. That’s how I perform and live life.”

Wood is a freelance writer

San Diego pianist is an in-demand soloist, but working with other musicians is ‘the best

DIEGO OPERA

San Diego Opera’s new look

BY PAM KRAGEN

San Diego Opera is celebrating its growing Hispanic audience and the upcoming world premiere of its Spanish language opera “El último sueño de Frida y Diego” with new branding logos and a series of show posters designed by prominent Mexican artist Raúl Urias.

The 57-year-old arts organization on Wednesday announced a new partnership with Esser Design, a national brand design company that has helped San Diego Opera create a new logo and graphic feel for the 2022-23 season. Single tickets for the season are now on sale.

The season kicks off Oct. 29 through Nov. 6 with composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz’s new opera, which translates as “The Last Dream of Frida and Diego.” It’s the fictional the story of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera praying for one last visit from his late wife, painter Frida Kahlo, who returns from the afterlife on the Day of the Dead to rekindle their passion one last time.

Pam Esser, partner and marketing director for Esser Design, said one of the primary goals of the rebranding campaign was to better align San Diego Opera with San Diego’s culturally diverse communities and reach out to new audiences.

“San Diego has a rapidly growing Hispanic population and with that in mind, we set out to explore illustrators who would provide that infusion of Latin culture to celebrate the new season and the world premiere,” Esser said in a statement.

The new logo has a playful, more youthful look and bright color scheme, and the new marketing tagline, “Every Voice Tells a Story,” reinforces the company’s mission to tell stories that celebrate the expressive power of the human voice.

At the same time, Esser was tasked with finding a new artist to design the 2022-23 season’s show posters. In recent years, the posters have been designed by

artist R. Black. For the upcoming season, San Diego Opera and Esser Design chose Urias, an artist based in Chihuahua, Mexico. His artwork and illustrations mix his own Mexican heritage with the influences of Alphonse Mucha’s art nouveau, ’60s psychedelic poster art, Austrian art deco, and graphic designer Milton Glaser.

Urias said in a statement: “I was excited by this project because it is the first time that I have worked on a project for an opera. When I researched this, I learned that there are already posters made 100 years ago for operas. I am excited to be part of that legacy and tradition.”

Matt Graber, who recently

joined San Diego Opera as chief marketing officer, said the company’s ticket sales are off to a strong start this year, which “already shows ... that our community is excitedly anticipating this incredible season. The work that Esser and Raul have done is only going to amplify this excitement.”

The season continues with The Puccini Duo: Suor Angelica/ Gianni Schicchi,” Feb. 11-19; Puccini’s “Tosca,” March 25-April 2; the world premiere of Nicolas Reveles’ “Ghosts,” a trio of horrorinspired one-act operas, April 14-16; and Zach Redler’s “The Falling and the Rising,” May 12-14.

For tickets, visit sdopera.org pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com

SAN

C LASSICAL PICKS

Mainly Mozart All-Star Festival Orchestra

After responding to the pandemic shutdown by establishing drive-in concerts and then pivoting to car-free outdoor events, Mainly Mozart is moving indoors to a new venue for three nights. Each will feature a piece by the thoroughly English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and, of course, Mozart. 7 p.m. Oct. 12, 14 and 15.

The Center at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, 14989 Via de la Valle, Del Mar. (619) 239-0100, mainlymozart.org

Camarada: ‘Interplay’

Exploring the interplay of percussion, piano, strings and flute, the musicians of Camarada will perform works by Haydn and living composers Michael Daugherty and Nathan Daugherty. Frank Bridge’s piano quartet is also on the bill. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13. Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. (619) 231-3702, camarada.org

ArtPower: ‘Six Seasons’

A special collaboration by University of California San Diego music professorcomposer Lei Liang, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and newmusic proponents Mivos Quartet. This world premiere of “Six Seasons” incorporates sounds of ice, waves, whales and seals, all captured by hydrophones deployed at the sea floor of the Arctic Ocean. 8 p.m. Oct. 15. Prebys Experimental Theater, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. (858) 534-1430, artpower.ucsd.edu

San Diego Symphony: ‘Made in America: Barber, Liang & Stravinsky’ The orchestra, led for this concert by Swiss-Australian

The acclaimed Paul Huang, 32, will perform Barber’s Violin Concerto. 7:30 p.m.

La Jolla Music Society: Time for Three With an intriguing com-

Center,

play Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina Park Way, downtown; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. (619) 235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org

La Jolla Music Society and San Diego Opera: Isabel Leonard and Pablo Sáinz-Villegas

This rare co-production pairs Grammy Awardwinning opera star Isabel Leonard with Spain’s classical-guitar phenom Pablo Sáinz-Villegas. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1. Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. (858) 459-3728, theconrad.org

aster of both organ and resent two full concerts of ach, each devoted to one 3 p.m. Dec. 4. erforming Arts Center,

ass St., Pacific Beach. sdems.org

he San Diego Symhony starts the season arly on Nov. 19 at Balboa heatre with the Vienna oys Choir. At The Shell, he popular “Noel Noel” oncerts return, as do the ive-orchestra versions of he movies “Love Actually” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Bach Collegium San Diego’s offering is “A Praetorius Christmas” at two churches Dec. 9 and 10, while Camarada plays “Charlie Brown

San Diego arts organizations keep bringing acclaimed classical musicians here. And excellent homegrown ensembles are constantly raising the sonic standards. Here are a few of many notable upcoming concerts.

conductor Elena Schwartz, will play pieces created in the U.S., including “Bamboo Lights” by composer and UC San Diego professor Lei Liang.

Oct. 19. Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina Park Way, downtown. (619) 235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org

Art of Elan: ‘Broken Windows’ With Justin Sterling’s multimedia work as a provocative backdrop, Art of Elan presents Kevin Puts’ string quartet “Credo” and two San Diego premieres:

an ensemble piece by noted African American composer-educator Jonathan Bailey Holland and a solo harp composition by Juhi Bansal. 7 p.m. Nov. 9. San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. (619) 678-1709, artofelan.org

bination of vocals, a double bass and two violins, this trio performs Americana, modern pop and classical music. (For a pure classical experience, catch Russian piano virtuoso Daniil Trifonov on Nov. 10 across the courtyard at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall.) 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Nov. 5. The JAI, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts

7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla. (858) 459-3728, theconrad.org

San Diego Symphony: Payare Leads Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 Music Director Rafael Payare conducts the orchestra in the works of romantic composers Brahms, Wagner and Liszt. Guest pianist Marc-André Hamelin will

Society: Benjamin Alard

Jingles and Jazz” at The Conrad. For times, dates and venues: sandiegosymphony.org; bachcollegiumsd.org; camarada.org

BY BETH WOOD

Elena Schwarz

PRISKA KETTERER

Benjamin Alard

BERNARD MARTINEZ

MarcAndré Hamelin

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

Daniil

Trifonov

STEPHANIE THOMPSON

Paul Huang

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

Isabel Leonard

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

Mivos

Quartet Time for Three

STEPHANIE THOMPSON

Rafael Payare

J HENRY FAIR

D ANCE PICKS

BY MARCIA LUTTRELL

The autumn season of plenty offers many choices for dance audiences. City Ballet breaks out a Balanchine work in radiant red costumes, San Diego Ballet goes wild with “The Jungle Book,” and modern dance companies showcase a variety of short, powerful works accompanied by a range of musical genres.

San Diego Ballet: ‘Signature Moves’ It’s all about sexy, swiveling hips and flaring skirts when classical ballet and Latin music meet in “Mambo Mania,” a favorite signature work by artistic director Javier Velasco. The romantic Que Bonito Amor” will be accompanied by Mariachi

Garibaldi from Southwestern College. Sept. 24 and 25. Southwestern College Performing Arts Center, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista. (619) 294-7378, sandiegoballet.org

San Diego Dance Theater: Trolley Dances 2022

The annual event, in

collaboration with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, brings original choreographic works by Jean Isaacs, Terry Wilson, Rachel Catalano and others to outdoor audiences at different trolley stops. Two-hour guided tours take audience members to different sites, where

community members and the company dancers take part in the dance performances. Sept. 24 and 25. Tours begin at the Nobel Drive Station (Blue Line), 3449 Nobel Drive in La Jolla Village Square parking lot, La Jolla. sandiegodance theater.org

Mojalet Dance Collective: ‘Stronger Together’

The company’s 30th anniversary concert celebrates its history with a performance of favorite dances by past and current performers. Works include “The Mercy Trilogy,” a work inspired by the theme of perseverance through crisis,

performed by a dozen dancers who fill the stage with sweeping patterns and partnering. “Nostalgic Radio Hour Montage” takes a playful look at vintage advertisements. Oct. 1 and 2. Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Road, Poway. mojalet.com

MANUEL ROTENBERG

Malashock Dance

DOUG MCMINIMY

Adance career for females can be tricky. Success is often impacted by body type, age, physical ability and, last but not least, the childbearing years.

LITVAKdance founder Sadie Weinberg credits her mom, San Diego modern dance pioneer Betzi Roe, for providing the tools that empowered her to navigate her own journey.

Weinberg is the oldest of three children, and growing up, she and her siblings recognized that their mom wasn’t like other moms.

When we were young, she would take us down to the studio on Fifth Avenue while she rehearsed,” Weinberg said.

I remember playing in the office with my siblings and hearing the creak of the floorboards while dancers in leotards made art. Even though I wasn’t so interested in being a dancer at that time, I was made aware of art and movement as a form of expression.”

That awareness made Weinberg different from other girls her age.

Once, she invited a friend to watch her mother perform at the Mandell Weiss Theatre accompanied by soprano Ann Chase.

I was about 11 or 12, and for me, it was normal to see avantgarde modern dance,” Weinberg said. “My friend wasn’t exposed to that kind of thing. Her feeling awkward about it made me realize it was different. We couldn’t stop giggling. I wouldn’t normally do that. But my friend influenced

me, and it was the first time I realized my family wasn’t mainstream.”

Weinberg was born in La Jolla, grew up in Solana Beach and now lives in Encinitas with her husband and two children, Maddie, 10, and Miles, 12.

She did not start dancing until she was in high school.

It was partly because I didn’t want to be like my mom,” she said. “ That was her thing, and I didn’t want to do that.”

Weinberg took ballet lessons at a few studios in town, but it wasn’t a good fit in terms of a career choice.

When I started training, my mom said, ‘Don’t let someone else dictate how you train and who trains you; take charge of your own learning.’”

Modern dance companies like Paul Taylor and Parsons Dance, both based on the East Coast, intrigued Weinberg, and she decided on a direction.

“I saw the dancers as people who were different shapes and sizes and colors,” she said. “There was a palette of humans. I wanted more. I knew myself, and I wanted

BY MARCIA LUTTRELL

to move to New York.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Purchase College SUNY and a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of California Irvine, Weinberg returned to San Diego, accepted a variety of teaching and performing positions and launched LITVAKdance.

Roe, now in her 70s, made a name for herself while raising her children. She co-founded 3’s Company & Dancers, the original San Diego-based contemporary dance organization and a precursor to San Diego Dance Theater.

In the 1980s, Roe left the company to become a touring solo artist and choreographed works for California Ballet, Moscow City Ballet and San Diego Dance Theater, to name a few.

Roe served as the chair for the dance division of Coronado School of the Arts before retiring in 2018, though she remains active in the dance community.

L ast summer, she choreographed an original work for Mojalet Dance Collective and, inspired by the phrase “dust unto dust,” she created a contemplative solo piece with a dress made of 100 yards of fabric, decorated with projections of sand dunes.

A bigger part of her time these days is spent caring for her grandchildren and helping Weinberg with her flourishing dance company.

LITVAKdance, a nonprofit contemporary company, currently has six athletic and diverse dancers who perform

locally and nationally.

In addition to creating dances with social themes, Weinberg commissions award-winning dance makers such as Micaela Taylor, Tamisha Guy and Joshua Manculich to create works for the company, an effort that keeps her dancers engaged.

She also curates events that support local and nationally known dance artists with performance opportunities. The recent “Dancing Outdoors Take 2,” for instance, featured companies from San Diego, Los Angeles and Mexico.

I’m not interested in being in the spotlight,” said Weinberg, who also serves as an adjunct dance professor at the University of California San Diego and MiraCosta College.

I feel more satisfied creating space for others and cultivating shows that nondancers will enjoy.”

The LITVAKdance fall concert in November will showcase works by a wide-reaching range of choreographers, including Ronen Izhaki from Israel and Rebecca Margolick, one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.”

My mom told me, ‘Do it your way’” Weinberg said.

“She invited me into her world and introduced me to so many artists, companies and dance schools. I also felt determined to do it my way, to follow in her footsteps, but at the same time to take charge and create my own name, my own reality.”

ANA RAMIREZ U-T

Malashock Dance: ‘Everyday Dances II’

The contemporary dance company performs a range of short, diverse works by nine choreographers that reflect the spirit of mingei, or art of the people. Performances will take place at two locales. Sundays are pay-what-youcan donation days. Oct. 7-9.

Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Oct. 21-23.

Malashock Dance Studio Theater, Liberty Station, 2650 Truxton Road, Point Loma. malashockdance.org

California Ballet:

“Awakening”

San Diego’s ballet professionals will perform in three premieres and in favorite dances from California Ballet’s rich history. The program, directed by Trystan Merrick, includes “Espresso,” choreographed by Thor Sutowski, Merrick’s “Walpurgisnacht,” a “Faust” ballet and contemporary works. Oct. 15. Joan B. Kroc Theatre, 6611 University Ave., San Diego. california balletschool.com

San Diego Ballet:

‘The Jungle Book’ San Diego Ballet’s modern take on the Rudyard Kipling tale is a blend of hip-hop, classical ballet and jazz. The family-friendly story stars Mowgli, the orphan, Kaa the snake, Shere Khan the tiger and giant puppets. Oct. 26.

Joan B. Kroc Theatre, 6611 University Ave., San Diego. (619) 294-7378, sandiegoballet.org

San Diego Dance Theater: ‘Up Close and Personal’

The company will introduce two new dancers and feature works by five choreographers and guest artist Ron Davis. A photographic exhibit by Doug McMinimy is inspired by the solo dance “Purposely Accidental,” and attendees can view the images before or after the concert. Nov. 4-6. Light Box at Dorothea Laub Music & Arts Center, Liberty Station, 2590 Truxtun Road, No. 205, Point Loma. sandiego dancetheater.org

City

of San

eographers.

the

LITVAKdance:

The

Ballet

Diego: ‘From Balanchine to Martins’ A celebration of masterworks by Balanchine and New York

City Ballet choreographer Peter Martins offers performances in San Diego and in North County. The company performs Balanchine’s “Rubies” in bejeweled,

lipstick-red costumes and the dramatic, he-loves-mehe-loves-me not “Divertimento From ‘Le Baiser de la Fée.’” Martins’ “Ash,” with its high-flying leaps and rapid footwork, rounds out

program. Nov. 12 and 13 at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., downtown. Nov. 17 at California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. (858) 272-8663, cityballet.org

Fall 2022 performance

autumn show by the contemporary dance company includes works by a far-reaching cast of chor-

Expect compelling dance works by Ronen Izhaki from Israel, the Los Angeles-based duo WHYTEBERG, Rebecca Margolick, Issa Hourani and LITVAKdance founder Sadie Weinberg. Nov. 19 and 20. San Dieguito Academy, 800 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas. litvakdance.com

Luttrell is a freelance writer.

City Ballet San Diego’s “From Balanchine to Martins.”

CHELSEA PENYAK

CANELA PHOTOGRAPHY

FROM

‘I I

hope to never intimidate people,” said University of California San Diego music professor Amy Cimini, whose down-to-earth nature belies her daunting array of professional pursuits.

Of course, some might be intimidated simply by the title of Cimini’s comprehensive new book: “Wild Sound: Maryanne Amacher and the Tenses of Audible Life (Critical Conjunctures in Music and Sound).”

Published in April by Oxford University Press, the 336-page tome takes a deep dive into the legacy of the late Amacher, a pioneering composer of largescale fixed-duration sound installations.

But there is nothing intimidating about Cimini’s fondness for belting out heavy metal in karaoke bars, where classics by Iron Maiden are her go-to jams.

My favorite Iron Maiden song to do is ‘Number of the Beast,’” she said. “I think music pulls people together in ways that are really interesting and complicated. And that happens in all the spaces that music is made, talked about or heard.”

A classically trained violist who specializes in electronically enhanced improvisations, Cimini cites such diverse artists as Velvet Underground, Bikini Kill and violinists Leroy Jenkins and Mary Oliver as some of her

key inspirations.

“As a teacher, I am drawn toward women and other understudied and marginalized f igures in experimental music,” she said.

Cimini will perform Oct. 9 at UC San Diego as part of BlueRail, a free concert of improvised music. It will feature up to 40 performers, split into smaller groups at different locations, who will move freely from one ensemble to another.

Cimini, a Pittsburgh native, earned her doctorate in historical musicology from New York University in 2011. Her undergraduate degrees, both from Oberlin College and Conservatory, are in English literature and viola performance.

Cimini cites several reasons why she had a double major at Oberlin. They include repetitive-stress injuries that made constant viola-playing painful

BY GEORGE VARGA

and her gradual shift from traditional classical music to far more challenging modern fare.

“I saw that I wouldn’t be able to have the (full-time classical performance) career I had envisioned — and I fell in love with late-20th and mid-20thcentury music,” Cimini said. Because of my hand injuries, I realized I needed to do something else. I didn’t realize it would be musicology until my last year of college.”

In between attending Oberlin and NYU, she lived in Chicago. She taught string and recorder classes to thirdand sixth-graders under the auspices of Chicago Opera Theater.

We transcribed pop songs that the students wanted to play. Mariah Carey’s (1993 hit) Hero’ was a big hit with the third-graders!” recalled Cimini, who lives in San Diego’s South Park with her calico cat, Dusty, and mixed terrier dog, Puppy.

It was while living in Chicago that Cimini embraced improvisation in a big way after teaming with fellow Oberlin alum Katherine Young, a bassoonist and fellow composer. They have since made three duo albums as Architeuthis Walks on Land.

Cimini also performs on

BlueRail

When: 2 p.m. Oct. 9

Where: Various locations in and around Conrad Prebys Music Center, UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla

Admission: Free, but advance registration is required Phone: (858) 534-3448 Online: music.ucsd.edu/events

In

Cimini

ment.

“I am the artist I am today because of my longtime friend, composer and bassoonist Katherine Young. Although we have collaborated in many bands, the commitment we made to learn to improvise about 17 years ago made creative work and mutual support inalienable from one another. Now that most of my work involves research, writing, teaching and mentoring, I return often to those early moments, with Katie, to think about the meanings and values that inform what I do and the communities I want my work to be accountable to.”

direc-

The undergraduate courses Cimini has taught at the school have included music history, culture, film music and research. The names of the graduate courses she has taught further underscore her broad range: Music, Sound and Biopolitics, Gender and Experimental Music, Arts of the Archive, and Music and Affect.

Telling people I’m a musicologist is usually really alienating,” Cimini said. “So, I tell them I study music, politics and culture, with a focus on experimental music. I’m a student of culture — and everything has something to teach us.”

ANA RAMIREZ U-T

2016’s “Trillium J. (The NonUnconfessionables),” the ambitious recording of an opera by cutting-edge music visionary Anthony Braxton. The four-CD release also features trumpeter Steph Richards, Cimini’s fellow UC San Diego music professor.

2013,

joined the faculty at UC San Diego, where she is an associate professor of music in the school’s integrated studies department. She is also the music department’s

tor of graduate studies and is an affiliate faculty member in the critical gender studies depart-

Park” films) is 43. Singer Charles Kelley of Lady A is 41. Actor Elizabeth Henstridge (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) is 35. Actor Tyler Hoechlin (TV’s “Teen Wolf”) is 35. Actor Mackenzie Aladjem (“Nurse Jackie”) is 21.

Monday: Actor Linda Gray (“Dallas”) is 82. Singer Maria Muldaur is 80. Actor Joe Pantoliano (“The Sopranos”) is 71. Singer-guitarist Gerry Beckley of America is 70. Original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood is 70. Actor Rachel Ward is 65. Actor Amy Yasbeck (“Wings,” “Life on a Stick”) is 60. Bassist Norwood Fisher of Fishbone is 57. Actor Darren E. Burrows (“Northern Exposure”) is 56.

Singer Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) is 56. Comedian Louis C.K. is 55. Guitarist Larry LaLonde of Primus is 54. Actor Will Chase (“Nashville”) is 52. Country singer Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland is 48. Actor Lauren Stamile (“Complications,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 46. Rapper 2 Chainz is 45. Actor Kelly Jenrette (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) is 44. Actor Ben McKenzie (“The O.C.”) is 44. Singer Ruben Studdard (“American Idol”) is 44. Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 41.

Actor Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”) is 36. Actor Emmy Rossum (“Phantom of the Opera”) is 36. Country singer Kelsea Ballerini is 29. Actor Colin Ford (“Under the Dome”) is 26.

Tuesday: Actor Barbara Bain (TV’s “Mission: Impossible”) is 91. Actor Eileen Fulton (“As The World Turns”) is 89. Singer David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears is 81. Singer Peter Cetera (Chicago) is 78. Actor Jacqueline Bisset is 78. Actor Christine Estabrook (“Desperate Housewives”) is 72. Actor Jean Smart is 71. Singer Randy Jones of the Village People is 70.

Record producer-musician Don Was (Was (Not Was)) is 70. Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“The Wire,” “BlacKkKlansman”) is 68. Actor Geri Jewell (“The Facts of Life,” “Deadwood”) is 66. Country singer Bobbie Cryner is 61.

(“General Hospital,” “One Life To Live”) is 54. Actor Dominic Fumusa (“Nurse Jackie”) is 53. Actor Louise Lombard (“CSI”) is 52.

Guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts is 47. Singer Fiona Apple is 45. Guitarist Hector Cervantes of Casting

Crowns is 42. Actor Ben Savage (“Boy Meets World”) is 42. Singer Niall Horan formerly of One Direction is 29. Actor Mitch Holleman (“Reba”) is 27. Actor Lili Reinhart (“Riverdale”) is 26.

Wednesday: Actor Walter Koenig (“Star Trek”) is 86. Singer-actor Joey Heatherton is 78. Actor Sam Neill is 75. Singer John “Bowzer” Baumann of Sha Na Na is 75. Actor Robert Wisdom (TV’s “Nashville,” “The Wire”) is 69. Saxophonist Steve Berlin of Los Lobos is 67. Country singer-songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman is 66. Country singer John

Berry is 63. Actor Mary Crosby is 63.

Singer Morten Harket of A-ha is 63.

Actor Melissa Leo is 62. Actor Faith Ford (“Faith and Hope,” “Murphy Brown”) is 58. Actor Michelle Stafford (“The Young and the Restless”) is 57.

Actor Dan Cortese is 55. Singer Mark Hall of Casting Crowns is 53. Actor Tyler Perry is 53. Actor Ben Garant (“Reno 911!”) is 52. Actor Kimberly WilliamsPaisley (“According to Jim”) is 51. Actor Andrew Lincoln (“The Walking Dead”) is 49. Rapper Nas is 49. Actor Austin Basis (“Life Unexpected”) is 46. TV

chef Katie Lee (“The Kitchen”) is 41.

Actor Adam Lamberg (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 38. Singer Alex Clare is 37.

Actor Chad Duell (“General Hospital”) is 35. Actor Jessica Brown Findlay (“Downton Abbey”) is 35. Actor-singer Logan Henderson (“Big Time Rush”) is 33. Actor Emma Kenney (“The Connors,” “Shameless”) is 23.

Thursday: Actor Tommy Lee Jones is 76. Movie director Oliver Stone is 76.

Drummer Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger is 70. Actor Barry Shabaka Henley (“Bob Hearts Abishola”) is 68. Drum-

mer Mitch Dorge of Crash Test Dummies is 62. Actor Danny Nucci (“The Fosters”) is 54. DJ Kay Gee (Naughty by Nature) is 53. Actor Josh Charles (“The Good Wife,” “Sports Night”) is 51. Actor Tom Hardy (“The Dark Knight Rises”) is 45. Actor Marisa Ramirez (“Blue Bloods”) is 45. Guitarist Zach Filkins of OneRepublic is 44. Actor Dave Annable (“Brothers and Sisters”) is 43. Actor Amy Davidson (“8 Simple Rules”) is 43.

TV personality Heidi Montag (“The Hills”) is 36. Actor Kate Mansi (“Days of Our Lives”) is 35.

Friday: Actor-singer Janis Paige (“Please Don’t Eat The Daisies”) is 100. Actor George Chakiris (“West Side Story”) is 90. Singer Betty Kelley of Martha and the Vandellas is 78.

Drummer Kenney Jones (Small Faces, Faces, The Who) is 74. Actor Susan Ruttan (“L.A. Law”) is 74. Actor Ed Begley Jr. is 73. Singer David Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers is 72. Actor Mickey Rourke is 70. Comedian Lenny Clarke (“Sirens,” “Rescue Me”) is 69.

Jazz guitarist Earl Klugh is 69. Actor Christopher Rich (“Reba,” “Murphy Brown”) is 69. TV weatherman Mark McEwen is 68. Illusionist David Copperfield is 66. Country singer Terry McBride is 64. Actor Jennifer Tilly is 64.

Actor Jayne Brook (“Chicago Hope”) is 62. Singer Richard Marx is 59. Comedian Molly Shannon (“Saturday Night Live”) is 58. Singer Marc Anthony is 54. Talk show host Tamron Hall is 52.

Comedian Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation,” “Saturday Night Live”) is 51. Actor Toks Olagundoye (“Castle”) is 47. Singer Musiq is 45. Rapper Flo Rida is 43. Actor Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls”) is 41. Actor Sabrina Bryan (“The Cheetah Girls”) is 38. Actor Madeline Zima (“The Nanny”) is 37. Actor Ian Harding (“Pretty Little Liars”) is 36.

Actor Kyla Pratt (“Fat Albert,’” “Dr. Doolittle”) is 36. Singer Teddy Geiger is 34. Actor Bailey De Young (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 33. Musician-actor Nick Jonas is 30.

Saturday: Singer-turned-photographer

LaMonte McLemore of the Fifth Dimension is 87. Singer Fee Waybill of The Tubes is 74. Actor Elvira is 71.

Comedian Rita Rudner is 69. Puppeteer Kevin Clash (formerly Elmo on “Sesame Street”) is 62. Actor-director Paul Feig is 60. Director Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge”) is 60. Singer BeBe Winans is 60. Businessman Robert Herjavec (“Shark Tank”) is 59. Actor Kyle Chandler (“Early Edition”) is 57.

Rapper Doug E. Fresh is 56. Actor Malik Yoba (“New York Undercover”) is 55.

Singer Anastacia is 54. Actor Matthew Settle (“Gossip Girl”) is 53. Rapper VinRock of Naughty By Nature is 52.

Actor Bobby Lee (“MADtv,” “Harold and Kumar” films) is 51. Singer Marcus Sanders of Hi-Five is 49. Singer-actor Nona Gaye (“The Matrix” films) is 48. Drummer Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan is 43. Actor Billy Miller (“General Hospital,” “The Young and the Restless”) is 43. Actor Danielle Brooks (“Orange Is the New Black”) is 33.

Gospel singer Jonathan McReynolds is 33. Actor Denyse Tontz (“All My Children,” “Big Time Rush”) is 28. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Singer-guitarist Dave Mustaine of Megadeth is 61. Radio and TV personality Tavis Smiley is 58. Comedian Jeff Ross (“Sneaky Pete”) is 57. Actor Louis Mandylor (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 56. Drummer Steve Perkins of Porno for Pyros and Jane’s Addiction is 55. Actor Roger Howarth

Singer Jennifer Hudson, seen before throwing out the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game, turns 41 Monday.

MICHAEL DWYER AP

Musician and actor Nick Jonas will be 30 on Friday.

NBC

Actor and movie mogul Tyler Perry will be 53 on Wednesday.

EVAN AGOSTINI AP

Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, is turning 71 on Saturday.

RICHARD DREW AP

M USIC PICKS

BY GEORGE VARGA

The fact that there are more concerts this year than ever before is a direct result of pent-up public demand following the extended shutdown of live events in 2020 and 2021. Despite some upcoming sold-out shows here and nationwide, the market is becoming oversaturated and fans are being more selective — in large part because ticket prices have risen by a dizzying 33 percent since 2019. Our annual fall concert preview roundup focuses on artists worth hearing any year. Sold-out shows are not included — take a bow, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir, The Wallflowers, 10,000 Maniacs, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, et al.

Ibeyi, with Madison McFerrin French-born sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Díaz draw from Yoruba chants, electronica, hip-hop and the propulsive music championed by their late father, Cuban percussionist Miguel “Angá” Díaz. 9 p.m. Friday. Music Box, 1337 India St., downtown. (619) 795-1337, musicboxsd.com

‘Fandango at the Wall,’ featuring Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Since debuting in 2018 as a free, outdoor concert

on the Mexican side of the border wall that separates San Diego from Tijuana, the genre-leaping, socially stirring “Fandango at the Wall” has seen new life as a double album, a book and a film documentary. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Rady Shell, 222 Marina Park Way, downtown. (619) 235-0804, theshell.org

Wilco, with Kamikaze Palm Tree Now on tour to promote its latest album, “Cruel Country,” Wilco has rarely sounded as relaxed or as focused, let alone as eager to embrace the country

music roots the band turned away from back in the 1990s. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU, 5500 Campanile Drive. (619) 594-7315, ticketmaster.com

Rosalia

The long-overdue San Diego debut concert by Spanish vocal sensation Rosalia — a flamenco prodigy whose music deftly blends and blurs multiple genres — should be something to savor. 8:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU, 5500 Campanile Drive. (619) 594-7315, ticketmaster.com

At

The Bad Plus

What was for years one of the most distinctive piano trios in jazz is now one of the most distinctive piano-less quartets in jazz, thanks to the addition of ace guitarist Ben Monder and tenor sax dynamo Chris Speed. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12.

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. (858) 454-5872, ljathenaeum.org/jazz

Saucerful of Secrets

Pink Floyd is long defunct, but Nick Mason — the pioneering English quartet’s drummer and co-founder — is now paying tribute to his former band’s early, prestardom years with admirable flair. 8 p.m. Oct. 24. Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., downtown. (619) 615-4000, ticketmaster.com

Blacktronica: Where I Stand Festival, with King Britt & Tyshawn Sorey, Irreversible Entanglements, featuring Moor Mother, Xenia Rubinos, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Chimurenga Renaissance and 5HZ

Curated by University of California San Diego music professor King Britt, this free festival is most notable for featuring a rare duo performance by Britt and the masterful drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey. Noon Oct. 29. Epstein Family Amphitheater, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. (858) 534-2230, amphitheater.ucsd.edu

Diego El Cigala

One of the world’s great flamenco singers, Spain’s intensely charismatic Diego El Cigala is equally adept with Argentine tangos, Cuban boleros and Nuyorican salsa music.

7:30 p.m. Nov. 6. Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island.

humphreysconcerts.com

Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival, with Gwen Stefani, Zac Brown Band, Kings of Leon, Cam, Fitz & The Tantrums, Big Boi, Skip Marley, and dozens more There are a multitude of reasons the COVID-delayed second edition of this three-day San Diego festival merits attention, but we’ll go with just one: the first area appearance since 2016 by No Doubt singer-turned-solo-star Gwen

wonderfrontfestival.com

Ural Thomas & The Pain

Nick Mason’s

Stefani. Nov. 20. San Diego Bay, between Broadway Port Pier and Hilton Bayfront Park.

Ural Thomas

BRIAN CRIPPE

Rosalia

MATT SAYLES AP

Diego El Cigala

GETTY IMAGES

Tyshawn Sorey

RAYMOND BOYD GETTY IMAGES

Gwen Stefani

CHRIS PIZZELLO AP

Arturo O’Farrill

JACK VARTOOGIAN GETTY IMAGES

Jeff Tweedy of Wilco

PER OLE HAGEN REDFERNS

Naomi Diaz (left) and LisaKaindé Diaz of Ibeyi

JOEL SAGET GETTY IMAGES

The Old Globe: ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank’

The Globe commissioned this new play by Nathan Englander that Globe artistic chief Barry Edelstein will direct. It’s based on a short story about two old high school friends whose lives have dramatically diverged on the subjects of culture, religion and family. Edelstein describes the play as “fantastic, funny, audacious and kind of shocking.” Today through Oct.

S TAGE PICKS

BY PAM KRAGEN

From plays about Anne Frank and Atticus Finch to grand opera and camp comedy, there’s a bit of everything on San Diego’s fall theater schedule. Here’s a look at what’s coming to a stage near you.

23. The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego. (619) 234-5623, theoldglobe.org

La Jolla Playhouse: ‘Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord’

Named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this solo comedy written by and starring performance artist Kristina Wong is based on the true story of how, in the early months of the pandemic, she mobilized the Auntie Sewing Squad, a work-

from-home sweatshop of hundreds of volunteers who made thousands of face masks for those in need. Chay Yew will direct. Sept. 20 through Oct. 16. Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla. (858) 550-1010, lajollaplayhouse.org

CCAE Theatricals: ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show’ Ken Page, who won a

1978 Drama Desk Award for his performance in the original Broadway production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” is directing CCAE Theatricals’ production of this musical tribute to Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller, the 1920s jazz-era pianist, composer and singer. Sept. 23 through Oct. 8. Center Theater, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340

N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. $40-$85. (800) 988-4253, artcenter.org

San Diego Opera: ‘El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)’

San Diego Opera presents the world premiere of composer Gabriela Lena

Frank and Cuban-American librettist Nilo Cruz’s Spanish-language opera. The work takes place in 1957, when Mexican muralist Diego Rivera is weeks away from death and hopes that the spirit of his ex-wife, painter Frida Kahlo, will visit him on the Day of the Dead so they can relive their tumultuous love

K ristina Wong

JASON ARMOND LOS ANGELES TIMES

Sean Murray

KARLI CADEL

Ken Page

ROB GRABOWSKI AP SEE

T AYLOR

H ENDERSON

BY PAM KRAGEN

If there’s one thing you can say about San Diego actor Taylor Henderson, it’s that one thing would never be enough.

The versatile 31-year-old North Park resident doesn’t believe in putting limits on her career. She has worked as a stage, film and television actor, musical theater performer, singer, teaching artist, immersive and improvisational performer, producer, director, casting coordinator, stage manager, screenwriter and dresser. Still on her to-do list: directing a stage musical and turning her passion for playing Dungeons & Dragons into a marketable YouTube brand.

“I really enjoy having my hands in a lot of different things,” Henderson said. “It can be a double-edged sword, but there’s never a dull moment.”

In June and July, Henderson played the inebriated Navy captain at the Acey-Doucey Club, an immersive submarine Tiki bar experience in the Gaslamp Quarter. In August, she played Phoebe the shepherdess in New Fortune Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” And in October, she’ll play Ida, the costume designer for a 1940s-era theater troupe in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s “Into the Breeches!” Because the theater’s male actors have all left to serve in the war, the theater’s women step up to play the male roles in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” and “Henry V.” Henderson said she’s excited about “Into the Breeches!” be-

cause it features a strong feminine-presenting ensemble of actors, and there are interesting twists in the script. Ida is a Black woman who sews costumes at the Alabama theater in 1942. In those days, Southern theaters wouldn’t have put Black women onstage. So theater performers like Ida were “outliers,” which is a space Henderson said she’s very comfortable inhabiting.

Before the pandemic, many of the roles Henderson was offered were parts written for Black actors, like Joanne in Rent,” Gary Coleman in “Avenue Q” and the “typical slaves and maids.” But in the wake of the We See You White American Theatre manifesto published by artists of color in June 2020, theaters across the country began righting historic wrongs by offering new opportunities, both on and offstage, to BIPOC artists like Henderson.

I’ve been pleased to see, and to have benefited from, the fact that there are people that are letting traditional roles be told from a different perspective,” she said.

Henderson, who is queer, said she has also become much more confident in her talent and physical self-expression. The turning point came at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con when she auditioned for a character role in Amazon Prime’s live interactive event Carnival Row.” She went into the audition with her head halfshaved, a new piercing and all her tattoos on display and nailed the audition.

“When I booked ‘Carnival Row,’ I was thinking, ‘Why am I trying to fit into this idea of what people think I am?’ I decided to let my work speak for itself,” she said. “They told me, ‘You showed us a different side of what we thought this character could be.’ It was so reaffirming to know that even outside the canonical roles, I can play anything. That’s been really refreshing. And it makes the rest of the work worthwhile when people can see and listen and hear your ideas and different perspectives on how things can be done.”

Henderson grew up in Las Vegas, where the theater bug bit in grade school. She performed in school plays through high school, played saxophone in the middle school band, and honed her singing skills at karaoke bars in her teens. Because her family

“Tracie Thoms is the versatile, Emmy-nominated star of TV and movies, including the filmed musical “Rent,” where she played lesbian lawyer Joanne.‘Rent’ was the first show I ever saw on Broadway, and it had a huge impact on me. When the DVD of ‘Rent’ came out, I ate it up. I also like crime dramas like ‘Law & Order,’ and I saw this same beautiful woman in both places. The more I looked at all the things she did, the more I wanted to do it all.

When I moved to San Diego, the first musical I did was ‘Rent,’ and I got cast as Joanne. It was a full-circle moment.”

lacked the means to send her to a theater conservatory, she learned her profession on the job, landing ensemble and backstage roles at theaters around Las Vegas.

In 2013, she moved to San Diego and landed her first job at SeaWorld San Diego, where she walked around the park dressed as a starfish in a beehive wig. From there, she worked both onstage and behind the scenes at Ion Theatre, Sledgehammer Theatre, Cygnet Theatre, the Old Globe, San Diego Musical Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre, the Roustabouts Theatre Co. and North Coast Repertory Theatre. In between San Diego shows, she traveled back and forth to Vegas to sing in concerts and lounge shows. She also worked on some f ilm projects in Los Angeles.

When the pandemic shut theaters down in 2020, she move back to Vegas to wait things out. She was pleased to find new opportunities when she returned to San Diego earlier this year. Her next goal is to chair a panel discussion of female Dungeons & Dragons gamers at the 2024 Comic-Con. Some people may f ind that a bit nerdy, but she’s fine with that.

“People think I’m a lot cooler than I am,” she joked. “The choices that make you a more interesting person are worthy, as long as you’re not trying to be anybody else.”

ANA RAMIREZ U-T

Versatile San Diego artist co-stars this fall in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s ‘Into the Breeches!’

I am who I am as an artist because of ... Tracie Thoms, actress

story. Oct. 29 through Nov. 6. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., San Diego. (619) 533-7000, sdopera.org

Moxie Theatre: ‘The Children’ Moxie Theatre presents Lucy Kirkwood’s 2016 drama, inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011. It is about two retired nuclear physicists who live not far from the plant that had a near-meltdown years before. One day a fellow plant worker from years ago arrives for a visit with a mysterious motive. Kim Strassburger will direct. Nov. 6 through Dec. 4. 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Suite N, San Diego. (858) 598-7620, moxietheatre.com

‘As You Like It’

La

Christopher

and

Will Davis will codirect a reimagined version of William

pastoral comedy about a group of

nobles, farmers and shepherds looking for love in the Forest of Arden. A cast of trans, nonbinary and queer actors will explore this new forest world, where identities can be fully explored and romance can bloom in many forms.

Nov. 15 through Dec. 11.

Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla. (858) 550-1010, lajollaplayhouse.org

Nov. 17 through Dec. 10. Tenth Avenue Arts Center, 930 10th Ave., San Diego. backyardrenaissance.com

Cygnet Theatre: ‘A Christmas Carol’ Sean Murray, Cygnet Theatre’s co-founder and

artistic director, will take over the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the company’s eighth annual production of this Charles Dickensinspired holiday play with music. Murray wrote the script and lyrics for this “Carol” adaptation and has directed the play every year, but the role of Scrooge was always played by the beloved local actor Tom Stephenson. Stephenson retired from acting days after the 2021 run of “Carol” concluded and has since moved back to his native Michigan. Nov. 22 through Dec. 24. Cygnet Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town San Diego. (619) 337-1525, cygnettheatre.com

Broadway San Diego: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ “All rise ...” for the national touring production of Aaron Sorkin’s acclaimed 2018 Broadway stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prizewinning 1960 novel about racism and radical empathy in 1930s Alabama. Sorkin’s script focuses on the emotional journey of attorney Atticus Finch (played on tour by Emmy winner Richard Thomas) as he defends an innocent Black man in court. The New York production has sold the most tickets of any play in Broadway history. Nov. 29 through Dec. 4. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave.,

San Diego. (800) 9822787, broadwaysd.com

Diversionary Theatre: ‘The Mystery of Irma Vep’ Diversionary executive artistic director Matt M. Morrow directs this campy, queer 1984 Charles Ludlam murdermystery set on the English moors, featuring two actors playing all the roles in a comic sendup of the 1940s-era Gothic horror films. The play was first produced at Diversionary 20 years ago. Dec. 1-24. 4545 Park Blvd., Suite 101, San Diego. (619) 220-0097, diversionary.org

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com

La Jolla Playhouse:

Jolla Playhouse artistic chief

Ashley

transgender director-choreographer

Shakespeare’s

banished

Backyard Renaissance Theatre: ‘The October Night of Johnny Zero’ Backyard Renaissance Theatre presents the world premiere of Francis Gercke’s play based on events real and imagined in the Delaware Valley. It’s a true crime/science fiction tale about two high school classmates exploring the myths and monsters that lurk beneath the surface of small-town American life.

An artist’s rendering of the scenic design for San Diego Opera’s “El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego).”

SAN DIEGO OPERA

FROM E15

Matt M. Morrow

NANCEE E. LEWIS

Richard Thomas (left) and Yaegel T. Welch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

JULIETA CERVANTES

One of Marisol Rendón’s first series of artworks was a collection of nests she made out of human hair. The daughter of a teacher and a hairdresser in Manizales, Colombia, Rendón used some of her mother’s clients’ clippings to fashion bizarre cultural pieces that, in some ways, set the template for her future.

I think that was one of my most sincere approaches to things,” Rendón recalls. “My mom had the hairdressing salon in the back of the house. I was making nests, entire installations, I was making paper out of hair, all kinds of different things.”

Nearly 30 years later, Rendón’s approach remains similar to those initial forays in hair sculpture. That’s not to imply that she deals in found materials to create her majestical installation and sculptural work. Rather, she specializes in threading the line between conceptual, installation and interventionist art, never limiting herself in what kinds of mediums she uses or the materials she needs to make it. She thinks big, both literally and philosophically, and says she has a “love-hate relationship” with artists who work in one medium.

I respect it because they’re devoting their whole life to it, but I hate it because, well, ‘why?’ I think it’s because I’m so hyperactive and I get bored,” Rendón says. But this obsessiveness and

hyperactivity have resulted in some of the most astounding pieces of local art in the over 20 years Rendón has lived here.

From her home studio near Lemon Grove, she has created installation pieces that have ranged from dark and meditative to playful and interactive. She works just as deftly in fabric as she does in highly detailed charcoal drawings.

One through line within all her work, however, is her exploration of what she calls “the essential.” That is, what is essential to something, whether it’s a species or an object, and what is art’s function in exploring how we are deprived of those essentials.

I’ve always liked the idea of what is essential, especially objects,” says Rendón, who often collaborates with her husband, artist Ingram Ober, such as on the duo’s current Park Social installation, which will consist of a series of sculptures set to debut in October. “I am mesmerized by enclosed objects. Everything essential is a vessel. And I think

BY SETH COMBS

the concept of the vessel has been extremely important to human beings since primordial times.”

She plans on exploring these themes in “En la Riviera del Rio Cauca,” a new exhibition that references the region of Colombia she hails from and opens Nov. 12 at Bread & Salt. Rendón plans on incorporating the entire Logan Heights gallery space for a variety of installations. Inspired by her and her family’s experiences during the pandemic, Rendón is particularly fascinated by the themes of “decaying and preservation” and what she calls the “concept of value and the vulnerability of the coexistence of species.”

This is evident in pieces such as the one that is inspired by the “Poporo Quimbaya,” a pre-Columbian gold artifact that has become a beloved symbol in Colombia. She plans on constructing a sculptural piece fashioned to look like the “Poporo Quimbaya,” but built using hundreds of scratch-off lottery tickets collected by Rendón’s father. The top of the sculpture will be surrounded by what she describes as “disintegrated” pieces of the lottery tickets and fashioned to look like chaparritas (moths).

Another piece will be a multisectioned charcoal-and-paper piece that will be set up piece by piece to take up most of the entire wall of the main gallery. It is meant to resemble something of a tunnel complete with an LED

light and extending out and into full blackness. One of the more entertaining and ambitious undertakings is a video piece where Rendón plans to create what she calls a “sardine chandelier.” She plans on taking it to a beach, hanging it from a makeshift crane and recording the seagulls eating it. Once she has recorded the interaction, she will loop it backward in slow motion to make it look as if the gulls are building the chandelier bit by bit. These pieces, and others within the show, attempt to explore the concepts of value — what we value as a species, especially through the lens of the objects we covet and what we consider to be essential.

It’s the idea of home and the idea of making poetic references out of something that can be cruel or bad, something that can destroy you and your surroundings,” Rendón says.

With that mention of “home,” it becomes clear that this exhibition might be Rendón’s most personal statement yet. That while her practice may have been perfected in San Diego, she is who she is as an artist precisely because of where she came from.

I sometimes think about that: What would I be doing if I went back home? Maybe hair nests,” Rendón says with a laugh. “But my narrative is always going to somehow cycle back to looking for

a freelance writer.

ANA RAMIREZ U-T

V

ISUAL ART PICKS

BY SETH COMBS

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: ‘Alexis Smith: The American Way’

This is the first career retrospective of the revered L.A. artist, who is known for her conceptual and collage-based art that was largely informed by the pop art and feminist movements of the 1970s. On view Thursday through Feb. 5. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. Free-$25. (858) 454-3541, mcasd.org

Central Library Art Gallery: ‘San Diego Art Prize’

This year’s winners include artists working and focusing on the border, such as Alida Cervantes, Angélica Escoto, Carlos Castro Arias and Cog•nate Collective. On view Saturday through Jan. 7. San Diego Central Library Art Gallery, 330 Park Blvd., Ninth Floor, downtown. Free. (619) 236-5800, sdartprize. wixsite.com/mysite

Mesa College Art Gallery: ‘In Lak’ech: Tu Eres Mi Otro Yo’

Mexican American artist Maria de Los Angeles, known for wearable dress sculptures that question the idea of American citizenship,” will be featured in this exhibit. On view Sept. 26 through Oct. 13. Mesa College, I-300 Building (Life Sciences), Mesa College Drive, Kearny Mesa. Free. (619) 3882829, sdmesa.edu

Quint Gallery: Jean Lowe Fresh off a stunning exhibition at the Laguna Museum, Lowe returns home for this solo show, titled “Swank,” where she’ll be transforming the gallery into a performative car dealership, complete with a papier-mache Hummer and portraits of gallery staff as car salespeople. Oct. 1 through Nov. 26. Quint Gallery, 7655 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Free. (858) 4543409, quintgallery.com

Oceanside Museum of Art: ‘Legacy: 25 Years of Art and Community: The Recent Years’ OMA continues its 25th anniversary celebration with its second “Legacy” group exhibition, which will feature works from artists who have exhibited at the museum in recent years. While there, the “Early Years” portion of the exhibition will still be up through

Jan. 29. On view Oct. 1 through Feb. 19. Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. Free-$10. (760) 435-3720, oma-online.org

Sparks Gallery: ‘Duke

Windsor: Reverence’

Hopefully, readers caught our feature on Windsor’s highly detailed burger paintings that were inspired by Dutch masters. He will have some of those paintings and more from his entire career at this much-deserved solo gallery show.

On view Oct. 16 through Dec. 30. Sparks Gallery, 530 Sixth Ave., downtown. Free. (619) 6961416, sparksgallery.com

Mingei International Museum: ‘Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration’

The Mingei will continue in the playful spirit of its “Toying With Design” exhibition (up through Feb. 26) with a first-ever exhibition devoted to the art and design of this traditional craft. It includes over 80 works by dozens of Latinx artists.

On view Oct. 28 through April 30. Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Free-$14. (619) 239-0003, mingei.org

Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego/North: Cog•nate Collective

Here’s a chance to see new work from the 2022 San Diego Art Prizewinning Cog•nate Collective, a San Diego-Tijuanabased duo whose multidisciplinary works delve into issues of cultural consumption with a particular focus on the border region. On view Nov. 11

through Jan. 29. Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego/North, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas. Free. (760) 436-6611, icasandiego.org

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library: ‘Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio’

Known for her otherworldly charcoal murals and highly detailed figurative paintings, the local artist will have works that will take up both the library’s Joseph Clayes III Gallery and the Rotunda Gallery spaces. On view Nov. 12 through Dec. 31.

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Free. (858) 454-5872, ljathenaeum.org La Jolla Art+Wine Festival

Now in its 14th year, the annual fest promises over 160 local and regional artists, as well as boutique wine and craft beer tastings. Admission is free for the festival, but admission to the wine and beer garden is $45-$65. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 8-9. Girard Avenue, La Jolla. Free-$65. ljawf.com

Combs

From piñata exhibitions to retrospectives from legendary pop artists, there’s plenty of art to see this fall.

is a freelance writer.

Left: Photos by Angelica Escoto are part of the work she’s exhibiting as part of the San Diego Art Prize. SAN DIEGO ART PRIZE

Above: “Where’s the Beef” by Duke Windsor SPARKS GALLERY

Right: “Agarrate Papa” (“Hold on”) by Francisco Palomares (2020, oil on canvas)

FRANCISCO PALOMARES

Above: “Aperture” by Alexis Smith (2010, mixed media)

GARTH GREENAN GALLERY

“Fairy Tale” by Stephen King (Scribner): Wanting to write something that would make him happy during the early days of the pandemic, King concocted an escapist, enchanting tale of a place that’s familiar but feels entirely new. Princes and princesses, Goldilocks, Rumpelstiltskin and other foundational fairy tale figures are suffering under the leadership of the “Fair One,” who has laid waste to the realm and aims to expand his dominion. An unlikely hero, teenager Charlie Reade, inherits the task of keeping the evil ruler from conquering the human world, with Radar, a gray-muzzled German shepherd, at his side.

“The Red Widow: The Scandal That Shook Paris and the Woman Behind It All” by Sarah Horowitz (Sourcebooks): More than a century before Anna Delvey conned her first socialite, Marguerite “Meg” Steinheil orchestrated her rise into French society’s upper echelons. As she charmed her way into the parlors and bedrooms of powerful men, including a French president, she used secrets as weapons to protect herself from allegations of the double murder of her husband and mother. Horowitz deepens the allure of this true-crime pageturner by contextualizing how sexuality was used by and against women in belle epoque Paris, and how far police went to protect elites.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS

Fiction 1. “Babel” by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager) 2. “Girl, Forgotten” by Karin Slaughter (Morrow) 3. “All Good People Here” by Ashley Flowers with Alex Kiester (Bantam)

“Soul Taken” by Patricia Briggs (Ace) 5. “Fox Creek” by William Kent Krueger (Atria) 6 “The 6:20 Man” by David Baldacci (Grand Central) 7. “The Challenge” by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) 8. “Overkill” by Sandra Brown (Grand Central) 9. “The Hotel Nantucket” by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown) 10. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday) Nonfiction 1. “Breaking History” by Jared Kushner (Broadside) 2. “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy (Simon & Schuster) 3. “Diana, William, and Harry” by James Patterson and Chris Mooney (Little, Brown) 4. “Path Lit by Lightning” by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster) 5. “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner (Knopf) 6. “Finding Me” by Viola Davis (HarperOne)

“Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey (Crown)

“Life on the Mississippi” by Rinker Buck (Avid Reader)

“What Happened to You?” by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey (Flatiron) 10. “What We Owe the Future” by William MacAskill (Basic)

WARWICK’S TOP SELLERS

“Patchwork” by Matt de la Peña

“Citizen Justice” by M. Margaret McKeown

Soto Is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“Horse” by Geraldine Brooks

CALENDAR

ADVENTURES BY THE BOOK, (619) 300-2532,

In-person: “The Ways We Hide”: a Sunday Brunch Adventure with Kristina McMorris, 10 a.m. today. Parc Bistro, 2760 Fifth Ave., San Diego.

Virtual: Book Bingo (Fall Into Reading): a Virtual Adventure featuring Jeffrey Blount, Denise Heinze, Robert Kerbeck, Kerry Anne King, Gill Paul and Joe Stillman, 4 p.m. Wednesday.

MYSTERIOUS GALAXY, (619) 539-7137, mystgalaxy.com

Virtual: Trent Jamieson and Elijah Kinch Spector discussing “Day Boy” and “Kalyna the Soothsayer,” 4 p.m. today.

In-person (ticketed): Aiden Thomas (“The Sunbearer Trials”) in discussion with Lizz Huerta, 7 p.m. Tuesday.

UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO, bit.ly/pat-libby

In-person: Pat Libby discussing “The Empowered Citizen’s Guide,” 6 p.m. Thursday, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, Warren Auditorium, USD, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego. $15-$20.

WARWICK’S, (858) 454-0347, warwicks.com

In-person: Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry discussing “I Did It,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In-person: David Clary discussing “Soul Winners,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In-person: Weekends With Locals: Mark James discussing “The Interview Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Career,” noon next Sunday.

BETTMANN ARCHIVE

American women’s endless fight for equality

In ‘Formidable,’ Elisabeth Griffith takes an inclusive look at 100 years of feminist activism

BY MIRA PTACIN

On July 16, 1998, Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed an audience of 16,000 gathered at Seneca Falls, N.Y., to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first women’s rights convention.

“Imagine, if you will, that you are Charlotte Woodward,” Clinton preached, “a 19-yearold glove maker working and living in Waterloo. Every day you sit for hours sewing ... working for small wages you cannot even keep ... knowing that if you marry, your children and even the clothes on your body will belong to your husband.”

During her speech, Clinton claimed to hear the echoes of her predecessors — Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass — as she gripped a podium not far from the Methodist chapel where Elizabeth Cady Stanton first demanded voting rights for women to a crowd of 300. The church had since been converted into a laundromat and car dealership, and at the time, Clinton’s husband, then president of the United States, was having a sexual affair with a White House intern. Within months, he would be impeached. Within a decade and a half, Hillary herself would run for president of the most powerful country in the world.

This snapshot illustrates the merits of Elisabeth Griff ith’s engaging, relevant and sweeping chronicle of women’s fight for equality in the United States — and by examining 100 years of history through a feminist lens, a pattern emerges: Each blow from the patriarchy is countered by a well-aimed and calculated retaliation from American women.

Books of true feminist history are rare. More rarely are these histories intersectional; feminist history tends to be synonymous with White

women’s history. Not this book. Griffith delivers a multiracial, inclusive timeline of the struggles and triumphs of both Black and White women in America. “Historically, the white press has not covered the activism of Black women,” she writes. (Her previous book centered on the life of Cady Stanton.) Despite difficult-tof ind archival sources, Griffith says, “I’ve named as many women as possible.”

A profoundly illuminating tour de force, Griffith’s book begins with Susan B. Anthony and unfolds chronologically, sorted into chapters that track a “pink” timeline of history. Fifty years ago, when women’s history was struggling for legitimacy in academia,” Griffith explains, “feminists divided American history into ‘blue’ and ‘pink’ timelines. Conference panels debated whether Zachary Taylor’s presidency was more relevant to women’s lives than the invention of the tin can, or whether Jacksonian democracy deserved a chapter when the suffrage campaign did not.”

Formidable” is organized around major fights: voting rights, working conditions,

Marianne Reiner

Job: Bookseller, La Playa Books

She recommends: “We Share the Same Sky: A Memoir of Memory & Migration” by Rachael Cerrotti (Blackstone Publishing, 2021; 224 pages)

Why? When Cerrotti was a college student, she started to interview her grandmother Hana, who was the only Holocaust survivor in her family. Hana had dedicated her life to speaking and sharing her story, and much was already well-documented. However, after Hana died in 2010, Rachael felt the need to retrace her grandmother’s story by traveling through the different places where the horror of the Second World War took her grandmother — to meet the people who helped her along the way while putting their own lives in danger. The result of this intrinsic need to map out this shared family story is this unforgettable memoir in which Cerrotti manages to weave together Hana’s and her own story in one of the most compelling and haunting memoirs I have ever read.

education access, health care, racial violence, reproductive rights, race and gender discrimination, the wage gap, electoral office. In this immense survey, Griffith is inclined to examine every motivation of her subjects as she unearths long-buried intersectional archives. Most notable is her articulation of the malignant dysfunction as women struggle to find a unified, inclusive path to equality. She is not content to leave out the many moments of White women falling back to self-interested silos. “White women have always been complicit in slavery,” she says.

Griffith excels in examining each feminist cause and its accompanying downsides, starting with the first women’s rights convention, which also initiated the friction between the abolitionists and feminists. “Women are a complex cohort,” she writes. “The drive for women’s rights came from the abolition movement.

Enslaved African Americans suffered, struggled and sabotaged the system. A few other Americans sympathized and strategized to abolish it. White women were not exposed to the physical and sexual terror suffered by enslaved women, but their own physical vulnerability and legal subordination prompted comparisons.”

Yes, the suffragists fought for equality, but allegiance with the abolitionists was elusive. “White women wanted the same rights as white men. Black women wanted the same rights as white citizens; theirs was never a women-only movement.” Griffith does not skim over the spots when the suffrage movement splintered. Rather, she understands the assignment: All are invited but no one is off the hook.

There is power in Griffith’s writing — not the style, which is factual and straightforward, but in the cumulative efforts of the hundreds, if not thousands, of characters that she acknowledges. At times, the book’s sheer scope is over-

whelming, like listening to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” — a fire hose of information, names and actions, protests and pantsuits. Ida B. Wells and Eleanor Roosevelt. Rosie the Riveter and Rosa Parks. Josephine Baker and Aretha Franklin. Ella Baker and Flo Kennedy. Miss America and the vexation of Phyllis Schlafly. Title VII. The 19th Amendment. Roe v. Wade. Anita Hill and Alix Kates Shulman and Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers Union. Fannie Lou Hamer. Angela Davis and Alicia Garcia. Women’s soccer and the Black bra. Patrisse Cullors. Tamika Mallory. Carmen Perez. Linda Sarsour. Bob Bland. The result is a memorial of female freedom fighters, long overdue, and the emergence of a set of instructions for the next generation. Thus, the reader is carried not by the storyteller but by the tale and takeaway: Success comes not from short manic bursts of effort, but from a constant carrying of the torch. As America descends deeper into paralysis and polarization, Griffith’s subtle and accessible examination shows that victories arise through the miracle of cooperation. Not by factional division but through unity and perseverance.

Feminist history is written every day, and Griffith leaves us with the reminder that there is much work to do, as always. That the work for equal rights is more than just hitting “like” on a supportive post, a reactionary retweet, or donning a pink knit hat at the occasional protest. Feminist work must be ongoing and unified, a long and steady lifetime commitment that will continue to propel the movement.

Formidable” is a shock and a lesson, a reminder that if we want to persevere we must be ready to begin again and again, again and again.

Ptacin wrote this for The New York Times.

Isabella Wood

Job: Youth Services Librarian, North Clairemont Library, San Diego Public Library

She recommends: “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin (Alfred A. Knopf, 2022; 401 pages)

Why? “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is a book about two things: video games and love. This novel is a beautiful ode to artistry and collaboration, and it masterfully depicts many different expressions of platonic and romantic love, emphasizing how rare it is to find someone that inspires you to create. The central relationships in this narrative are complex and evolve drastically over time, which makes them feel real and relatable. Zevin also explores the many dualities of video games: how they serve as an escape from and a model for the real world; how they allow players to either isolate from or connect with others; and the false duality of marketability and easy entertainment versus games that are compelling works of art in their own right. The intricately crafted narrative and unique protagonists in “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” will keep you absorbed until the very end.

RECOMMENDED READS Welcome to our literary circle, in which San Diegans pass the (printed) word on books.

“Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 19202020” by Elisabeth Griffith (Pegasus, 2022; 493 pages)

“Formidable” begins with suffragist Susan B. Anthony, pictured in 1898, and unfolds chronologically.

Broad mix of literary and commercial favorites

BY HILLEL ITALIE

Anticipation for one of the fall’s likeliest bestsellers has been g rowing all year.

For months, Colleen Hoover’s millions of fans on TikTok, Instagram and elsewhere have been talking up and posting early excerpts from her novel “It Starts With Us.” By summer, the author’s sequel to her bestselling “It Ends With Us” had already reached the top 10 on Amazon. It might have climbed higher but for competition from other Hoover novels, including “Ugly Love,” Verity” and, of course, “It Ends With Us,” the dramatic tale of a love triangle and a woman’s endurance of domestic abuse that young TikTok users have embraced, helping to make Hoover the country’s most popular fiction writer.

Hoover’s extraordinary run on bestseller lists, from Amazon to The New York Times, has been Beatle-esque for much of 2022, with four or more books likely to appear in the top 10 at a given moment. “It Starts With Us” had been so eagerly desired by her admirers — CoHorts, some call themselves — that she broke a personal rule: Don’t let “outside influences” determine her next book.

I never allowed myself to entertain a sequel, but with the amount of people emailing me every day and tagging me in an online petition to write about (those characters), their story began to build in my head in the same way my other books begin,” she told The Associated Press in a recent email. “Eventually I craved telling this story as much as I did my other stories, so I owe the readers a big thank you for the nudging.”

Hoover’s new book should help extend what has been another solid year for the industry. Booksellers are looking forward to a mix of commercial favorites such as Hoover, Anthony Horowitz, Beverly Jenkins and Veronica Roth alongside what Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt calls a “really strong” lineup of literary releases, including novels by Ian McEwan and Kate Atkinson. The fall also will feature new f iction from Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Pulitzer Prize winners Elizabeth Strout and Andrew Sean Greer. Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts” is her first novel since “Little Fires Everywhere.” Story collections are expected from George Saunders, Andrea Barrett and Ling Ma, along with novels by Percival Everett, Barbara Kingsolver, Kevin Wilson, N.K. Jemisin, Lydia Millet and Yiyun Li.

Cormac McCarthy, 89, has new f iction coming for the first time in more than a decade with “The Passenger,” and its companion Stella Maris.” John Irving, who turned 80 this year, is calling the 900-page “The Last Chairlift” his last “long novel,” a description that could apply to much of his career.

Russell Banks, 82, has completed the elegiac novel “The Magic Kingdom,” and former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, 81, has written the autobiography “Jersey Breaks,” in which he addresses what he calls the “tribalism” and “nationalism” of the current moment by reflecting on his childhood in Long Branch, N.J.

“I realized that I am not a g reat sociologist or political sage, but I thought I could deal with this by going back to growing up in a town that was segregated, biracial and lower middle class,” Pinsky says. “I felt that whatever answers I might have would be found there.”

Joe Concha’s “Come On, Man!: The Truth About Joe Biden’s Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Presidency” is the most colorfully named of the latest round of books attacking an incumbent president — a long and profitable publishing tradition. But the most high-profile works of political reporting dwell on Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, among them “Confidence

Michelle Obama’s “The Light We Carry” is her first entirely new book since her worldwide bestseller from 2018, “Becoming.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s “Bibi” is the first memoir by the former Israeli Prime Minister, while American politicians with new books include Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke.

The fall will feature numerous posthumous releases, from the letters of John le Carre and the diaries of Alan Rickman to fiction by Leonard Cohen and memoirs by Michael K. Williams and Paul Newman, whose “The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man” restores a project the actor abandoned years before his death in 2008.

Victory Is Assured” compiles essays by the late critic and novelist Stanley Crouch, and “Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story” includes the influential Greg Tate, who died last year. Assorted works by Randall Kenan, the award-winning fiction writer who died in 2020, are collected in “Black Folk Could Fly.” His friend Tayari Jones, author of the acclaimed

novel “An American Marriage,” wrote the introduction.

Reading over the manuscript pages, I sometimes spoke to him, asking why he never told me this or that thing,” Jones told the AP. “Sometimes I laughed out loud and said, ‘Randall you are so crazy!’ — as though we were having a drink — boulevardiers! and he had just related a hilarious anecdote. Other times, his brilliance underscored the breadth and depth of our loss, and I sat at my kitchen table and wept.”

Celebrity books include Bono’s Surrender,” Matthew Perry’s Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” and Geena Davis’ “Dying of Politeness.” Bob Dylan reflects upon an art form he helped reinvent in “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” while the title of Jan Wenner’s memoir invokes the Dylan classic that helped inspire the name of the magazine he founded, “Like a Rolling Stone.”

Memoirs also are scheduled from Steve Martin, Linda Ronstadt, Constance Wu and Brian Johnson. Patti Smith’s “A Book of Days” builds upon the words and images of her widely followed Instagram account, on which she might post anything from a statue of Leonardo da Vinci to her cat staring at the cover of Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot.“

“I love doing my Instagram;

it’s the only social media I really engage in,” Smith says. “The book was actually quite laborious. It takes time to write a short caption. You have to find a way to impart a lot in a few sentences.”

In poetry, one notable release is a work of narrative prose: Nobel laureate Louise Gluck’s “Marigold and Rose” is a brief exploration into the minds of infant twins, inspired by the author’s g randchildren. It’s the first published fiction by the 79-year-old Gluck, whose previous releases include more than 10 poetry collections and two books of essays.

New poetry includes works by Pulitzer winners Jorie Graham and Sharon Olds, Saeed Jones, Jenny Xie, former U.S. poet laureates Billy Collins and Joy Harjo, L inda Pastan and Wang Yin, the Chinese poet whose “A Summer Day in the Company of Ghosts” is his first work to come out in English.

History books will cover the famous and the overlooked. Among the former are Pulitzer winner Jon Meacham’s “And There Was Light,“ the latest entry into the canon of Abraham Lincoln scholarship, and Pulitzer winner Stacy Schiff’s biography of Samuel Adams, “The Revolutionary.” Fred Kaplan, who focused on Lincoln’s prose in “Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer,” now assesses Thomas Jefferson

It was really hard to research because many of them had been working on top-secret projects, and, even after they had been discharged, were reminded that they were under the National Security Act and that military secrets had to be kept,” Henderson says. “We had to do a lot of digging and contact families and see what the veterans had left behind. Of the six guys that I follow in my book, only one was still alive.”

Man,” by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, and “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” by Peter Baker of the Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker.

in “His Masterly Pen: A Biography of Jefferson the Writer.”

Releases highlighting those less remembered include Kevin Hazzard’s “American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America’s First Paramedics,” and Katie Hickman’s “Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West.” With the overturning last summer of Roe v. Wade, Laura Kaplan’s “The Story of Jane” is a timely reissue of her 1995 book about the underg round abortion counseling service founded in Chicago in 1969, four years before the Supreme Court’s historic Roe ruling.

Bruce Henderson’s “Bridge to the Sun” centers on the recruitment of Japanese Americans, some of whom had been in internment camps, to assist in U.S. intelligence gathering during World War II.

Italie writes for The Associated Press.

This fall brings high-profile books by celebrities, fiction legends, and one author who has TikTok and Instagram abuzz

BY DIRK SUTRO

Whether you see it from the air, from across the water, from a neighboring high-rise or up close during a concert, the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park provides a jolt of nirvana. In daylight, the band shell for which the venue is named seems like a mysterious artifact washed ashore from San Diego Bay. At night, when its 3,386 programmable LED lights come alive with color and the music blooms with astounding power and depth, the ribbed shell transforms into a living entity that calls out to the masses.

Art, architecture and engineering come together in a package wrapped in stretched fabric that defines its distinctive look. Structures featuring fabric are becoming a signature for San Diego’s waterfront skyline, as seen at San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 2 (2013) as well as its sizable Rental Car Center, and, within view of The Shell, the San Diego Convention Center’s second phase (2001).

The Rady Shell’s basic form was established not long after San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer took the job in 2014. The symphony had already been working for years with architects Hal Sadler and Greg Mueller of Tucker Sadler on ideas for a new waterfront venue.

Gilmer recalled that she and Mueller, the CEO and design principal at Tucker Sadler, paged through a portfolio from U.K.based SoundForms that included images of its mobile acoustic performance shells (MAPS). A prototype was unveiled at the 2012 Olympics in London, and the portfolio included a standard design in three sizes. Gilmer and Mueller were taken with the simple beauty of these white fabric structures. SoundForms joined the team, as well as Flanagan L awrence, its fabric shells division.

San Diego’s $85 million venue is a drastically upsized version of SoundForms’ standard shells. It accommodates a full orchestra and chorus and an audience up to 10,000. While it may look light enough to float on water, the stage and shell weigh 236,000 pounds.

“ The organic curved forms emerged from rapid hand sketches which were translated into geometrical studies using the computer,” said Jason Flanagan of Flanagan Lawrence, recalling how the shape of its performance shells evolved. “Simple parametric models allowed us to tune the form, and we also 3D-printed them to visually check them. And yes, the form is directly inspired by natural organic shells and pebbles but also carved sculptures by (Barbara) Hepworth and (Henry) Moore.”

Flanagan Lawrence’s standard

How the Rady Shell took shape

shells and the Rady Shell take the same basic form: six riblike steel frames over which white fabric stretches to form five scallops. Inner and outer layers of fabric enclose and conceal much of the essential equipment. The inner layer is light fabric that has no impact on sound, but the Tefloncoated outer fabric does.

When (symphony conductor Rafael Payare) and I stood onstage for one of the first times under the canopy, a microburst of rain came and it was like being inside a drum,” Gilmer recalled.

“He said, ‘the acoustics are going to be amazing.’ It occurred to us that we were going to call it ‘the shell,’ and this is where form and function are a piece of art. It is very symbolic that there is this taut outer layer that protects the organic material in between: in nature, the animal, in our case the musicians and the music itself.”

Unique in many ways

Gilmer credits Academy Award-winning sound engineer Shawn Murphy (“Jurassic Park,” Disney Concert Hall, Hollywood Bowl) as her “sounding board.” He advised her through the process of selecting and coordinating the sound team.

“What we did was make the stage acoustically inert,” said Jason Duty of Salter, the San Francisco acousticians responsible for the onstage array of white panels affixed inside the shell around the edges of the stage to mediate the sound’s diffusion, absorption and reflection. These variables determine what live music sounds like to musicians and conductors. In early tests, for instance, Duty said that steel catwalks used by stagehands reflected sound enough that they were wrapped in fabric-covered acoustic padding.

Murphy recommended Meyer Sound’s Constellation system to provide rich amplified sound onstage, so musicians and conductors hear the same mix. The Constella-

tion incorporates 27 self-powered speakers and 20 suspended microphones and employs Meyer’s patented variable room acoustic system (VRAS) to adjust details such as reverb — the music’s depth. The mics and speakers spread sound evenly across the stage.

Without amplification, music from the band shell would carry only to the first few rows. Hence the powerful PA system by LAcoustics, with speakers concealed behind the section of fabric ringing the front of the shell, as well as speaker clusters suspended onstage facing the audience and additional arrays in white towers surrounding the audience. The sound is balanced by software so that all listeners experience high quality.

Also vital to the design team was Burton Landscape Studio in Solana Beach. Burton finessed the contours of the venue’s gently sloped bowl, with curved edges that Mueller says “embrace” an audience. The slope also provides good sight lines. Behind the venue at the entry, steps carry concertgoers to a summit at the back of the bowl with a dramatic view of the stage and bayfront. Concealed beneath the rise are restrooms, utility rooms and mechanical equipment.

The Rady Shell may be the only outdoor venue of this size in California set in a public waterfront park. Through its work on the airport, convention center and other large projects, Tucker Sadler had plenty of experience interacting with the Port of San Diego and the California Coastal Commission. Gilmer credits Mueller with providing the architectural tweaks and reassurances these agencies required to sign off on the project. She said the venue occupies only 10 percent of its public site. Those who don’t have tickets can listen to concerts for free from permanent benches along its edges and grassy areas outside.

The details of wrapping the shell fell to Australia-based Fabri-

tecture, which specializes in tensile fabric structures. Fabritecture opened its U.S. office in 2018 and quickly hit the big time with the Rady Shell. The fabric is a Tefloncoated material called PTFE, much the same as at the convention center and airport. It is light but extremely durable. One of the f irst tensioned fabric structures in the world is the Campus Center at the University of La Verne east of Los Angeles. Completed in 1973, it is still going strong with the original fabric.

Bjoern Beckert, head of Fabritecture’s U.S. branch, was originally a surveying engineer who mapped the skin of the Earth using mathematical formulas that also define fabric structures. On paper, he said these maps appear as “nets” of points connected by lines. On computers, architects and engineers use algorithms to refine the shapes. Beckert said that a fringe benefit of Tefloncoated fabric is that debris such as seagull poop slides away.

Setting new standards

For Mueller, the shell is a high point in a career that included his early job with Frank Lloyd Wright’s former apprentice Vern Swaback (Mueller spent time at Wright’s Taliesin West studio compound in Scottsdale, Ariz.), and his years at Tucker Sadler, where he was mentored by and collaborated with Hal Sadler, who co-founded the company in 1957.

Under Sadler, the company’s extensive portfolio encompassed San Diego high-rises, the San Diego Central Library (in collaboration with Rob Quigley) and countless other significant projects, including the airport terminal and convention center buildings (with their prominent fabric elements).

Mueller’s interest in distinctive outdoor venues includes the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, circa 1956, a curved and tapered structure of nested forms that looks like a distant cousin of the Rady Shell.

prohibitively expensive and probably unbuildable. The Rady Shell is nothing like it, but both capture the sort of energy one senses along the waterfront.

Mathematics connects nature, music and architecture. Mueller’s father was a mathematician, and he is fascinated by the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical formula named for a medieval mathematician that describes forms found in nature. His early sketch for the Rady Shell includes the smaller utility structures flanking the stage. He attributes their shapes and proportions to Fibonacci.

It seems safe to say that the Rady Shell sets new standards in architecture, sound and engineering for large outdoor performance venues. The Hollywood Bowl holds twice as many people, but in its current state, after several remodels, it has none of The Shell’s visual appeal. The Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, designed by Frank Gehry, is spectacular but does not possess The Shell’s simple organic elegance. Berkeley’s Greek Theatre is beautiful, especially if you like neoclassical architecture.

One night in August at the Rady Shell, the crowd waited for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to hit the stage. As dusk turned to darkness, the fabric structure appeared to float on its spit of land in San Diego Bay. Although The Shell is symmetrical, its wide beveled front edge makes it appear strikingly asymmetrical from some angles, a surprising visual bonus.

From a seat inside, one could scan a 360-degree panorama of changing skies, Coronado, container ships, sailboats, clouds, stars, birds and high-rises that took on the look of giant lanterns. Then spotlights came on and Plant and Krauss emerged with their band to perform music mostly from their new album Raise the Roof.” Suddenly listeners were enveloped within a rich invisible atmosphere of voices, g uitars, fiddles, mandolin, keyboards, percussion and resonant acoustic bass, in a style that brought together bluegrass, folk and rock with mesmerizing North African and Indian tones and rhythms.

Bold and intricate, the music was as mysterious as The Shell, and the audience seemed in awe of the spectacle.

Sutro writes about architecture and design. He is the author of the guidebook “San Diego Architecture” as well as “University of California San Diego: An Architectural Guide.” He wrote a column about architecture for the San Diego edition of the Los Angeles Times back in the day and has also covered architecture for a variety of design publications.

At Tucker Sadler, prior to Gilmer’s arrival at the symphony, Sadler, who died earlier this year only months after attending The Shell’s opening concert, had collaborated with San Diego artist Malcolm Leland to propose a sailboatinspired venue with a “mainsail” behind the stage that would hinge down to cover the audience in the event of rain. It proved

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

S AN DIEGO CITYSCAPE

Smiling and singing along

BY GLENN WHIPP

Jean Smart just pulled her car over to the side of the road. She needed a moment. Whitney Houston’s soaring power ballad “I Have Nothing” is playing on the radio, a song that ranks as Smart’s “all-time singalong if you want to cry,” and she had to call and tell me this because a couple of days earlier we had been talking about singing in cars, which she loves to do — always to what’s on the radio, because “then the song catches you by surprise and it’s more intense.”

The day before, it was Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” a rock song about self-confidence that could easily double as an anthem for Deborah Vance, the legendary stand-up comedian Smart plays on “Hacks.” Tomorrow it could be Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You” (“Dusty Springfield always makes me so very happy and definitely inspires a high-decibel singalong”) or maybe Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” the Elton John and Dua Lipa mash-up “Cold Heart,” or anything by Hall & Oates (“oh, my God!”), but right now, it’s Whitney.

You have to put that on right now, and you have to crank it!” Smart tells me.

“And then you have to let me know if you don’t cry, you have no heart. I’m sorry.”

Smart has a heart, a big, generous, thoughtful, open heart. When we initially spoke recently, she was in her rental house in the San Fernando Valley and, after making a comment about the home’s vintage midcentury bar, she later wanted to clarify that she thought it was absolutely lovely, so as not to offend her landlord. When we were trying to remember how many Emmy nominations Hacks” had earned this year (was it 20? 17? “17 thousand,” Smart cracks), she called later, thinking that the “17 thousand” quip might have been a little flip, and then went into great detail to sing the praises of each and every one of those 17 Emmy nominees.

Such small, deliberate acts of kindness are a rule of thumb with Smart. When they were screen-testing women to play Ava, Deborah’s protégé and comedy co-conspirator on “Hacks,” Smart called each of the actors to introduce herself and get to know them before they read together.

Having been an actor for so long, she knew how nerveracking that screen-testing process is, so she just wanted to call these women to try to make them feel a little more comfortable,” says Jen Statsky, who co-created “Hacks” with Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs.

Adds Downs: “She’s very old-school, just like Deborah on the show. She doesn’t text. She calls.”

Keeping things positive Our most recent call, the one following her “beat-yourbreast, good-cry” Whitney Houston singalong, found Smart embarking on her millionth” drive from her rental house to her L.A. home of two decades, which she’s selling so she can be closer to work and closer to her teenage son’s new school.

It’s the house she shared with her late husband, actor Richard Gilliland, who died from a heart condition last year, and the house she raised her children in. (She also has a 32-year-old son with Gilliland.)

Moving isn’t easy. (“I’ve got to clear out 20 years of crap,” Smart says, “pardon the expression.”) Moving while raising a teenager and after unexpectedly losing your partner of more than three decades can sometimes be overwhelming. Smart, 70, has enjoyed some of the greatest triumphs of her long career in the last couple of years — an acclaimed turn on “Hacks” that won her another Emmy, her first as a lead actress, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — but there have been rough stretches too, some of the hardest in her life.

“I’m trying not to be jaded,” Smart says. “I’m a very optimistic person, but I can feel that going away, and that scares me, because I don’t want to lose that optimism. Once you become jaded, that’s permanent, kind of like losing your virginity. It’s not coming back. That’s why it’s so scary to see kids getting jaded at such a young age, because they have no idea that they’ve been cheated out of the most wonderful part of their life, and they don’t realize that they’re being just robbed, just robbed blind.”

Smart pauses, reflecting for a moment and then affirming that she’s holding on to optimism and believes that being an actor pushes her to maintain that outlook, saying it helps her take people as they first present themselves.” The character she played on the hit sitcom “Designing Women” for five seasons, the sweet, trusting Charlene, was very much like that, a woman who, in the words of co-star Annie Potts’ Mary Jo, would have dated Lee Harvey Oswald in high school.

I don’t know why that’s funny,” Smart says, letting out a huge laugh. “But it was true. She saw the good in everybody. I remember the episode when Charlene ran into Monette, a friend from her small town. She hadn’t seen her in years, and Monette has changed. And Dixie Carter and Delta Burke and Annie confront me, saying, ‘Charlene, don’t you know what Monette does? We have reason to believe she’s practicing the oldest profession in the world.’” Smart pauses before delivering Charlene’s response. “Monique’s a carpenter?”

“I’m not that bad,” Smart says. She does often admit to being a bit gullible,

BY LYNN ELBER

Are you ready for some football? Fine, but the return of the NFL is why the 2022 Emmy Awards have been drop-kicked from their usual Sunday berth to Monday.

Television’s top awards show rotates among the top four networks, and this year’s broadcast home, NBC, has reserved the second Sunday night in September for Tampa Bay vs. Dallas. After the Emmys slogged through two years of pandemicrestricted ceremonies, a day’s delay seems a minor annoyance.

The industry is expected to put on its Monday best, swan down the red carpet and celebrate itself and the wealth of shows across streaming services, cable and, to a degree that pales compared with years past, old-school network fare.

But what’s a Hollywood awards show without a TV audience? A low-rated disappointment, and that’s where you come in. If you decide to do your bit and tune in, here’s a road map to everything you need to know about the 2022 Emmys.

When are the 2022 Emmys?

The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards are set for Monday at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. The roughly three-hour ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. Pacific and air live on NBC and, for free, on the streaming

telling me her husband could get her to believe just about anything. “He’d come home and say, ‘I was just at Starbucks, and you’ll never g uess who was at the table next to me. Soupy Sales and Jane Goodall!’ And I believed him! Jane Goodall ... I wanted to be her so bad when I was a kid. Anyway, with him, I bit every time.”

But when magic regularly finds you, how can you not believe that almost anything is possible?

Hacks” has won many fans during its two brilliant seasons on the air, among them Harry Styles, who, after enjoying the episode in which Deborah tasks Ava with buying an antique pepper shaker from a reluctant seller, sent Smart a bouquet of flowers along with a beautiful, Old World salt shaker.

“Harry and I are thick as thieves,” Smart says with a laugh. She took her younger son, Forrest, to a Styles concert late last year and had a great time, grooving on the energy that the singer put out. “I’ve never seen anybody look more like he was just having the time of his life,” Smart says.

Could she relate to that vibe, maybe just a little bit, g iven all the scenes in Hacks” featuring Deborah performing stand-up onstage to appreciative (and, occasionally, hostile — remember the lesbian cruise?) audiences?

I certainly can’t keep up with Harry physically, but, oh, my gosh, I’m having a blast filming those,” Smart says.

Her turn to sing

The lesbian cruise episode from this past season gave Smart a chance to sing on the show, something she had requested. But when the time came to actually do it — she performed “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” — she told the show’s creators to never listen to another one of her suggestions again.

“I had envisioned months of work with my vocal coach and draped across a piano at a nightclub,” Smart says. “My voice has gotten so out of shape. I used to sing quite well. But I thought, ‘Oh, just go for it. Just make a fool of yourself.’ And it shouldn’t have sounded like Broadway. It

should have sounded like someone who’s not a singer for a living.”

We talk some more, touching on the powerful gossip columnist she plays in “Babylon,” Damien Chazelle’s upcoming drama about Hollywood’s transition from silent movies to talkies (“It’s going to blow people away”), her anxiety about getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (“it’s so permanent”) and her hope that, now that Deborah Vance has found redemption, she might realize her dream of hosting a late-night talk show when “Hacks” resumes for a third season.

But the conversation always returns to song, with Smart serenading me during various calls through decades of hits. (Full disclosure: I egged her on. Or as she put it: I continued “enabling” her.) I’m a little surprised she has never been to a karaoke bar, conf ining most her her singing to the car, sometimes to annoy Forrest, but mostly just to enjoy herself.

“I hope that the people in the next car don’t see me or recognize me,” Smart says. I share my belief that you’re

invisible behind the wheel, so she needn’t worry.

That’s not true!” she counters. “I saw a woman driving and eating a salad the other day!”

L ater, she leans into the wistful jazz standard “Some of These Days,” reminding her of the days she taught both her children when they were toddlers to be able to identify which legend — Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and the like — was singing a particular song.

My oldest thought Ella Fitzgerald’s name was Elephant Gerald,” Smart remembers. “One year he asked me to play ‘Jingle Bells,’ and I asked him which one — Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, I have them all. And he said, ‘Elephant Gerald.’ I said, ‘I don’t know who that is. Is he a character on “Sesame Street”?’ ‘No! Elephant Gerald! You play it all the time!’ ‘Honey, I’m not sure what ... ooooh.’”

Smart cracks up at the memory. “I wish she were still alive so I could tell her that story.”

service Peacock.

But the Emmys, with 118 total awards, aren’t a one-day affair. Winners in 25 key categories including best drama and comedy series will be announced during the broadcast ceremony, while the rest were divvied up last weekend.

Who is hosting the ceremony?

The honor usually goes to a comedian with a link to the network airing the event, and NBC stayed the course: It chose “Saturday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson, a first-time Emmy host who’s been preceded in the emcee job by a number of “SNL” stars. The ceremony has tried going without a host, most recently in 2019, but the results weren’t always pretty. Or entertaining.

Which shows are nominated?

Some previous winners are vying again for best series honors, including “Ted L asso,” a freshman when it won 2021’s best comedy series, and “Succession,” which claimed the 2020 best drama award. (The series didn’t air during the eligibility window for 2021, when “The Crown” won.)

There are also formidable newcomers, including the dystopian drama “Squid Game” and comedy crime romp “Only Murders in the Building.”

Among the nominated actors, those hoping to be repeat victors include Jason

What were the most surprising Emmy nods?

So many, where to begin? The farewell season of “This Is Us” got a single nomination, for original music and lyrics, after reaping Emmys for several cast members in years past. It was a similar case for the last year of “Black-ish,” which ended its groundbreaking run with just two creative arts nominations. On the flip side, it was far from a slam dunk that Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer,” with its controversial anti-transgender comments, would earn a best variety special nomination. It did.

Who decides the winners?

The more than 17,000 voting members of the TV academy are eligible to decide nominees and winners in 14 categories, including drama, comedy and limited series. The acting awards, including lead, supporting and guest actors, are determined by peer groups, as are directing, writing and other individual areas of achievement. The number of nominees in most categories is generally tied to the number of submissions, with exceptions including best comedy and dramas series: They get eight nominees each.

Sudeikis of “Ted Lasso,” Jean Smart of Hacks” and Zendaya of “Euphoria.”

Elber writes for The Associated Press.

“Saturday Night Live” veteran Kenan Thompson will host the 74th Emmy Awards on Monday at 5 p.m.

MARY ELLEN MATTHEWS NBC

Whipp writes for the Los Angeles Times.

Jean Smart, who won an Emmy for ‘Hacks’ last year and is nominated again, discusses her favorite songs and staying optimistic

KAREN BALLARD HBO MAX

“I’m a very optimistic person, but I can feel that going away, and that scares me, because I don’t want to lose that optimism.”

Jean Smart • who plays Deborah Vance, the legendary stand-up comedian on

“Hacks”

Sunday

“9/11 Memorial Programming

Marathons : History, beginning at 7 a m ; Nat Geo beginning at 4 p m Today, History and Nat Geo commemorate the 21st anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks on America with several hours of mostly encore presentations of specials that the networks have aired in previous years History s day features more than 21 hours of encore programming beginning early this morning with America s 9/11 Flag: Rise From the Ashes” and also including other poignant productions such as “9/11: The Legacy ” “9/11: Escape From the Towers, “9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93, 9/11: Four Flights, 9/11: I Was There 102

Minutes That Changed America and more Nat Geo s 14-hour lineup begins later this afternoon and is highlighted by the premiere special National Geographic Investigates: The Fall of Osama bin Laden at 10 p m Encore specials that Nat Geo will be airing include

Inside 9/11: War on America, “Inside 9/11: Zero Hour ” 9/11: Voices From the Air and others

“Finding Love in Big Sky”: UPtv 7 p m Original film Independent country girl Paisley (Hedy Nasser) takes on the task of refurbishing her adored grandfather s Montana ranch After being denied the funding needed for the restoration Paisley is reintroduced to her ex-boyfriend Josh (Jonathan Stoddard) a big-time marketing executive stationed in Denver, and she reluctantly accepts his help

“The Serpent Queen”: Starz, 8 p m New series This edgy historical drama tells the story of Catherine de Medici (Samantha Morton, The Walking Dead s Alpha) who against all odds became one of the most powerful and longest-serving monarchs in French history Catherine s

tale unfolds through flashbacks as she defends her actions and imparts the lessons she s learned to her new servant girl Rahima (Sennia Nanua) At 14 the young orphaned Catherine (Liv Hill) marries into the 16th century French court Despite her commoner status her uncle Pope Clement (Charles Dance) has negotiated a large dowry and a geopolitical alliance in return for the union However Catherine learns quickly whom she can trust both within her personal entourage of courtiers and the members of the royal court while outmaneuvering anyone who underestimates her determination to survive at any cost

“The $100 000 Pyramid”: ABC 9 p m In an all-new episode Joshua Malina ( Inventing Anna”) challenges actress Erika Christensen; and later Michael Ealy from Hulu s Reasonable Doubt plays

comedian/author Iliza Shlesinger

Monday

“Don’t Forget the Lyrics!”: Fox, 8 p m Season finale In the season finale The Marine Mom and Karaoke King a U S Marine single mom continues her march to the $1 million prize, and a nurse with karaoke superpowers shows off her skills

74th Primetime Emmy Awards”: NBC, 8 p m “Succession” leads this year’s nominees for prime-time television’s most prestigious award with 25 Emmy nominations followed by Apple TV+ s “Ted Lasso” and HBO’s “The White Lotus with 20 nods apiece; HBO Max’s “Hacks” and Hulu s Only Murders in the Building with 17 each; and HBO’s “Euphoria” with 16 This year s ceremony airs live coast-to-coast and will be hosted by Saturday Night

Live star Kenan Thompson War of the Worlds : EPIX, 9 p m Season premiere The sci-fi drama based on H G Wells classic alien-invasion novel set in modern-day France and the United Kingdom returns for Season 3 The season picks up as the war between the survivors and aliens reaches a new turning point and a terrifying phenomenon grips countless people across the globe Gabriel Byrne returns to lead the cast; new cast members include Molly Windsor and Ernest Kingsley Junior Following tonight’s special premiere the series will air regularly on Sunday nights beginning with Episode 2 on Sept 18

The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family”: KPBS 9 p m Series finale The three-part docudrama about Britain s famed Boleyn family concludes with The Fall The episode follows Anne Boleyn s (Rafaëlle Co-

hen) journey as she becomes queen and changes the course of British history But it is a dangerous game that the Boleyns have become a part of, and they have no idea the high price they will have to pay

Independent Lens : KPBS, 11 p m Season premiere After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this past summer filmmaker Byron Hurt’s “Hazing kicks off Season 24 of this documentary anthology series Building on years of countless hazing-related tragedies and grappling with his own experiences, Hurt explores the function politics and consequences of pledging rituals at universities and colleges across the U S Through a series of intimate interviews with victims families survivors and his fellow fraternity brothers, Hurt and his subjects reflect on the realities of hazing, and question their purpose

“Ghostober Preview Party”: Travel Channel, 10 p m Travel Channel s annual Ghostober event will be returning in October, and this hourlong preview special will get you in a spooky mood with glimpses of some of the paranormal programming you can expect next month

Tuesday

The Academy of Country Music Honors”: Fox, 8 p m The 15th annual ACM Honors at Nashville s Ryman Auditorium celebrate special honorees Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton Shania Twain Morgan Wallen and the “Yellowstone TV series in this two-hour event Scheduled performers include Kelsea Ballerini Dierks Bentley Brooks & Dunn the Warren Brothers and Trace Adkins Country star Carly Pearce hosts

America s Got Talent : NBC, 8 p m The two-night Season 17 finale, starting tonight and concluding tomorrow evening finds the top 11 finalists competing one last time for America s vote and the chance to win a $1 million prize The winner will also perform in “America’s Got Talent Las Vegas LIVE at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Vegas

“Deadliest Catch: The Viking Returns : Discovery Channel, 9 p m New series In this “Deadliest Catch” spinoff when the Alaskan Red King Crab fishery shuts down for the first time in 25 years, Bering Sea veteran Capt Sig Hansen is forced to look for opportunities elsewhere Deciding to risk it all he sets his sights on a promising new fishing ground where the king crab is an invasive species: his ancestral home of Norway “The Come Up”: Freeform, 9 p m New series This unscripted series is a glimpse into the wildest feelings and vibrant moments that define coming-of-age in a postpandemic New York It follows six young disrupters as they emerge from downtown New York to chase their dreams and pursue love and art on their own terms giving viewers an exclusive look into how the next generation of icons define themselves and how culture is created

“Reasonable Doubt”: Investigation Discovery 10 p m Garrett Arrowood was convicted of killing his aunt during a robbery gone wrong despite the family insisting that two con men were involved Retired homicide detective Chris Anderson and criminal defense attorney Fatima Silva reexamine his case to see if they can determine the truth

Wednesday

“MasterChef: Back to Win”: Fox, 8 p m Season finale The three remaining chefs rush against the clock to complete their final entree and whip up a gourmet dessert with the help of former judge Christina Tosi A new MasterChef champion is crowned in “Finale Part 2 Special Guest Christina Tosi

“Password”: NBC, 8 p m Season finale The first season of Jimmy Fallon s reboot of the classic game show concludes on a special night and at a special time as celebrity guests Yvette Nicole Brown Joel McHale and Chrissy Metz face off with Fallon over two games to play on behalf of their chosen charities Players

from each team guess secret passwords using only oneword clues for a chance to win up to $25 000 Actress Keke Palmer hosts

“ABC Fall Preview Special”: ABC, 8:30 p m The network gives viewers a sneak peek of its fall prime-time lineup including the new drama series “Alaska Daily ” “The Rookie spinoff The Rookie: Feds and returning favorites like “Grey’s Anatomy” and Abbott Elementary The cast of “Home Economics ” returning for a third season, hosts the special

The Challenge: USA : CBS, 9 p m Season finale The reality competition series featuring stars from Survivor The Amazing Race ” “Big Brother” and Love Island wraps up its first season with the two-part finale Home of the Brave

Thursday

“Press Your Luck”: ABC 8 p m Season finale In The Curse of the One More Spin the biggest and best season comes to an end with another nail-biter on the season finale Host Elizabeth Banks is joined by contestants Aleen Kojayan (hometown: La Habra Heights Calif ), Jeremy Owusu (Bronx, N Y ) and Barry Lander (San Diego)

“Ghost Adventures”: Travel Channel, 8 p m Making its linear Travel Channel debut this two-hour Ghost Adventures special finds Zak Bagans and his crew returning to where it all began to settle the score with sinister spirits at the infamous Goldfield Hotel in Nevada the site of one of the investigations featured in their original 2007 TV special Disturbing new evidence reveals a dark and deadly presence on the premises and it has a personal vendetta against Zak

Generation Gap : ABC 9 p m Season finale In Party in the Nude ” host Kelly Ripa and the contestants are about to do a 360 when Anderson Cooper makes a special guest appearance and big prizes are on the line

“Renovation Impossible”: HGTV 9 p m An expecting couple is eager to renovate his childhood home but their budget is tight with a baby on the way Russell J Holmes team forms a plan to give the old space new life by creating a more open and functional layout for this growing family

Friday

“Secret Celebrity Renovation : CBS, 8 p m Aaron Donald of the L A Rams returns to Pittsburgh to turn his childhood home into the ultimate clubhouse for his father including a major upgrade to the home gym

CMT Giants: Vince Gill : CMT 9 p m A star-studded lineup celebrates the career of country music legend Vince Gill in this 90-minute special Brad Paisley Carrie Underwood Keith Urban Reba McEntire, Sting and more will share their favorite stories about Gill who will also be interviewed

Dynasty : The CW, 9 p m Series finale The drama and reboot of the prime-time soap opera of the same name following the wealthy Carrington and Colby families comes to a close after five seasons

Saturday

Wedding of a Lifetime : Hallmark Channel, 8 p m

Original film High school sweethearts Darby and Jake are an engaged couple living in a small mountain town Over the years they have drifted apart When their entire community nominates them to compete for an all-expensespaid wedding in a nationally televised contest it just might be what the couple needs to rekindle their romance Stars Brooke D’Orsay and Jonathan Bennett

“Girl in Room 13”: Lifetime 8 p m Original film This rippedfrom-the-headlines film explores the dark underworld of the $150 billion human trafficking industry Anne Heche stars as Janie, and Larissa Dias stars as her daughter Grace who is abducted for human

against

trafficking The film brings to light important issues and continues to drive messaging for the network s Stop Violence Against Women campaign

“Monarch”: Fox, 5 p.m. Sunday New series. Tonight marks the first part of the series’ two-part premiere (Part 2 airs Sept. 20). “Monarch is an epic, multigenerational musical drama about America’s first family of country music. The Romans Dottie (Susan Sarandon) and Albie (Trace Adkins) are passionate and fiercely talented, but while their name is synonymous with honesty the very foundation of this family s success is a lie When dangerous truths bubble to the surface, the Romans’ reign as country royalty is put in jeopardy

TRAVEL

BLUE RIDGE BRILLIANCE

BY ANNA MAZUREK

With more than 100 species of trees, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a prime spot for a fall getaway and leaf-peeping. The 469-mile roadway passes through six mountain chains in the Appalachians in Virginia and North Carolina. Operated by the National Park Service, the parkway is a planned landscape, unlike most national park areas. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a plan for a “park-to-park” highway to connect Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Construction started Sept. 11, 1935, and was completed in 1987.

The parkway’s 45 mph top speed limit allows visitors to slow down to enjoy the scenery. There is a plethora of opportunities to get out of the car and hike the parkway’s 369 miles of trails, along with

places to bike, camp and explore cultural sites. Due to efforts to preserve historical structures, including log cabins and railways, the scenic roadway is considered a museum of the American countryside.

Best time to visit We usually tell folks to expect peak leaf color in mid-October,”

says Amy Ney, communications coordinator for the Blue Ridge Parkway Association, the marketing partner for the parkway. She adds that multiple factors can affect the timing of the leaves changing.

The parkway’s elevation, which ranges from 670 feet to 6,053 feet, is one of the main indicators. Leaves start turning first at

Fall foliage photo opps along the Blue Ridge Parkway

The

Waynesboro, Va., and ending in Cherokee, N.C., with limited entry and exit points.

To assist with travel planning, the Blue Ridge Parkway Association website and free app offer a detailed guide of each of the four regions, with interactive maps, and include lodging information for nearby communities. Along the parkway, there are two lodges, Peaks of Otter Lodge and the Pisgah Inn, and several campgrounds.

At least one section of the parkway is closed for construction near Roanoke, from Milepost 121.4 to 135.9. A list of all road and facility closures can be found at nps.gov/blri, as well as regulations about occupancy limits for indoor spaces.

Here are some of the most photogenic spots for fall foliage, organized by region from north to south:

Ridge Region (Milepost

0-106)

Humpback Rocks (Milepost 5.8-9.3): In the 1840s, a rock-formation landmark guided wagons over the Howardsville Turnpike. This rock outcrop, known as Humpback Rocks, is a popular hike and provides views of the Rockfish and Shenandoah valleys. To avoid crowds, consider starting your hike on the Appalachian Trail from the Humpback Rocks Picnic Area (Milepost 8.5) rather than at the busy Humpback Rocks trailhead (Milepost 6). At Milepost 5.8, there’s a visitor center and an outdoor farm museum with a late 19th-century log cabin and outbuildings.

Yankee Horse Ridge (Milepost 34.4): One of the lesser-known photography spots in the Ridge Region is Yankee Horse Ridge, the site of the Irish Creek Railway, a logging railroad that operated from 1916 to 1939. Part of the narrow-gauge track has been reconstructed near the overlook of a small stream. A 0.2-mile trail leads to Wigwam Falls, one of the easiest waterfalls to access between Waynesboro and Roanoke. Although the waterfall is small, it’s tucked into

a hemlock forest and is extremely photogenic. Picnic tables and a large parking area make this a great rest stop.

Plateau Region (Milepost 106-217)

Rocky Knob (Milepost 167-174): Rocky Knob is one of the more rugged areas of the parkway with four major hiking trails, ranging in difficulty from the strenuous 10.8-mile Rock Castle Gorge Trail to an easy 1-mile loop at the picnic area. The 4,800-acre area includes a campground and visitor center.

Mabry Mill (Milepost 176): One of the mostphotographed spots on the parkway is Mabry Mill, built in 1908 by Ed Mabry, an entrepreneur who built and operated it for 25 years. The site overlooks a pond and includes a sawmill, wheelwright and blacksmith shop, along with a two-story house. The best time to photograph the mill with the reflection in the pond is roughly an hour before sunset.

Highlands Region (Milepost 217-339)

Linn Cove Viaduct (Milepost 304): The Linn Cove Viaduct — an S-shaped elevated road-

higher elevations and on the northern slopes,” Ney says. “So the lower elevations and drier southern slopes experience fall color change later. The amount of rainfall, daytime sunshine and nighttime temperature also add to the equation, and fall storms can often blow the leaves right off the trees.”

She recommends that trav-

elers visit a long section of the parkway with a variety of elevations: “Any trail or overlook that has a long-range view will be great in fall, because you can see foliage at different elevations and have a greater opportunity to see fall color in some level of progression.” Elevation can change dramatically in just a few miles. From the lowest portion of the parkway at the James River in Virginia, the elevation increases nearly 3,300 feet over a 13-mile distance to Thunder Ridge.

How to avoid crowds

During the pandemic, the Blue Ridge Parkway has been extremely popular, with 15.9 million visits in 2021, the highest number in the national park system “Weekdays and early in the day are both good options to avoid crowds,” Ney says. “But I also recommend looking for less-busy places along the parkway, like Wigwam Falls,” near Montebello, Va.

She also suggests starting a trail in an atypical location and downloading the Blue Ridge Parkway Association’s free travel planner app. The app works offline for Android and iOS devices, and it provides a detailed list of attractions and services.

Mazurek is a freelance writer. This article first appeared in The Washington Post.

rock, where photographers will probably be gathered.

Linville Falls (Milepost 316): The headwaters of the Linville River begin at Grandfather Mountain and form the tiered Linville Falls, which plunges into Linville Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of the Southern Appalachians.” The two main hiking trails lead through a hemlock forest mixed with white pine, oak, hickory and birch trees that cover the trails with a colorful blanket of leaves every October. There are 4 miles of trails; the best views of the falls are from the Chimney View and Plunge Basin overlooks.

Pisgah Region (Milepost 340-469)

way that hugs the side of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina — was one of the last sections of the parkway to be completed. The 1,243-foot-long viaduct was delayed for 20 years while officials struggled with solutions on how to build a road at 4,100 feet while minimizing damage to the environment. The structure is now designated as a National Civil Engineering Landmark. To reach the viaduct, which is best photographed in the morning, park in the lot at Milepost 303.9, then follow the trail that parallels the outer edge of the guardrail to the start of the viaduct. For an elevated view, cross the road and climb the large

Craggy Gardens and Pinnacle Trail (Milepost 364.6 and 364.2): This high-altitude portion of the parkway has two short but beautiful trails located a half-mile apart. Due to the harsh environment, both trails are lined with twisted and gnarled trees. The 0.7-mile Craggy Pinnacle Trail leads to a panoramic 5,892-foot viewpoint, while the Craggy Gardens Trail leads through the forest from the visitor center to a picnic area with a short spur trail that offers views of the nearby town of Montreat and the Black Mountain Range. Even if the weather is clear at lower elevations, fog and clouds can obstruct views on both trails.

Mount Mitchell State Park (Milepost 355.4): Towering at 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in North Carolina and the Eastern United States. The mountain is located in a 1,855-acre North Carolina state park and is accessible only from the parkway via a state highway. Visitors can hike or drive to the observation deck for 360-degree views. The expansive picnic area at the top is a wonderful lunch spot

Mabry Mill, built in 1908, is one of the most-photographed landmarks along the parkway. It has a pond, sawmill, wheelwright, blacksmith shop and a two-story house.

ALEX ARMSTRONG

The Linn Cove Viaduct, an elevated roadway on the side of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, is a designated National Civil Engineering Landmark and provides sweeping views.

ANNA MAZUREK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Wigwam Falls, an easily accessed small waterfall within a hemlock forest on Yankee Horse Ridge, makes for a great rest stop

ANNA MAZUREK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

TRAVEL

In lavender capital of U.S., purple reigns supreme

BY ANDREA SACHS

At Victor’s Lavender Farm, my nose was inches from its target, a cluster of purple buds as fragrant as a French perfumery, when a commanding voice called out from behind the planters.

“Not those,” warned an employee with a crisp English accent.

In Sequim, Wash., the lavender capital of North America, I had chewed, sipped and crunched the aromatic shrub; face-scrubbed and body-soaked in it; and cooked and cleaned with it. I had leveled its stems with scissors, pinched its buds with my pincers and hung it upside down like a trapeze artist without a net. After taking so many liberties with lavender, I had finally stumbled on a line I dared not cross.

“Don’t buy Spanish lavender. You can find it everywhere,” advised Sarah Donaldson, one of the farm’s lavender experts, as I backed away from the specimen with dimpled buds. “Look at the French and English varieties.”

She motioned toward hundreds of lavender plants make that hundreds of English and French lavender plants — their tiny heads bobbing in the breeze as if in agreement.

If Provence is the sun king of lavender fields, then Sequim is the rain shadow queen. The Sequim-Dungeness Valley, about 65 miles northwest of Seattle, has the highest concentration of lavender plants in North America, according to the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. This summer, 16 farms were open during blooming season, roughly Memorial Day through L abor Day, depending on the variety. During the Sequim Lavender Weekend which falls on the third weekend of July, additional growers, artisans and lavenderphiles participate in the annual celebration.

We are America’s Provence,” said Jordan Schiefen, who owns and runs Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm with her husband, Paul. You’re transported to another place.”

Sequim’s lavender industry is a curious attraction in this heavily squeegeed corner of the Pacific Northwest. The fragrant shrub typically f lourishes in sunny and dry environments, such as southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It thrives here because of the Olympic Mountains, which act like a defensive line, blocking the storms blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. Cultures from as far back as 2,500 years ago used lavender to combat infestations, infections, insomnia and strong odors, among other ills. Its history in Sequim is much shorter and less homeopathic. In the mid-1990s, civic leaders f loated the idea of introducing agritourism to the area

and chose lavender as the star crop. In 1995, five lavender farms opened; two years later, the festival debuted.

Homemade lavender products arrived around the same time, and the sheer variety and volume would knock the sandals off the plant’s original customers in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Today, Sequim visitors can stock up on essential oils, lotions, soaps, candles, cookies, bath salts, spices, teas, honey, body mists, sachets, multipurpose cleaners, eye masks, body wraps, dried bouquets and live plants. The herb also appears in ice cream, hot and cold beverages, balsamic vinegar and cocktails.

You can use lavender literally from the inside out,” said Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm co-owner Ashley Possin, as I followed her through her stuffed gift shop, careful to not topple the jars and bottles stacked like Jenga puzzles.

My goal for the weekend of the festival in early July was to consume as much lavender as I could. If all went well, my bug bites would no longer itch, my cheeks would glow and my sneakers would smell like a florist shop. Most important, I would feel tranquil, as I floated on a bed of lavender with what I hoped would have the retention properties of a memory foam mattress.

Lavender [oil] is antibacterial and antimicrobial. It helps you sleep and makes your skin feel like silk,” Possin said, “and it’s calming.”

I started the morning as I often do — with coffee. While the barista at Hurricane Coffee Co. foamed the oat milk for my lavender latte, I wondered which ingredient would tag my neurotransmitters first: the stimulating caffeine or the soothing lavender. (After a few sips, I felt serenely energized.) The lavender ice cream wasn’t available yet, and because it wasn’t 5 p.m. anywhere in North America, I couldn’t rationalize a lavender lemon drop at Salty Girls Sequim Seafood Co. However,

across the street, I discovered a nearly intact tray of lavender peach cupcakes at That Takes the Cake.

Peach has light lavender and chocolate has medium to heavy lavender,” said co-owner Paul Boucher, explaining the difference between today’s and yesterday’s flavors. “You want the combination to be a good marriage and not overwhelming.” A philosophy that applies to love as well as cupcakes, I thought as I vowed to return the next day for the lavender cherry special.

The Sequim Lavender Experience, a consortium of local businesses and enterprises, produced a free brochure with a map of the Sequim Lavender Trail Downtown is just a few blocks long, and I hit up several stops. At Forage Gifts & Northwest Treasures, I asked the owner if she could point out her lavender items. She demurred and suggested I try the lavender farm stores, which sell items infused with their own harvest. I thanked her for her generous community spirit by buying up her lavender inventory: a candle, a sticker and a cedar puzzle of g iant buds.

Only one farm is within

city limits, Purple Haze Lavender, one of the original five. The others sit on the outskirts of town, strung together like charms on a loose bracelet. Though they all have lavender in common, each property is unique, a reflection of the owners who are young couples and families, first-generation farmers and seasoned growers who have spent a lifetime coaxing beauty out of the hardscrabble terrain.

We were living the corporate life, working in insurance,” Schiefen, of Jardin du Soleil, said when I asked whether she had a farming background. “We had one lavender plant in Santa Barbara [in California] and gardeners who cared for it.”

Ten years into their (ad) venture, the Schiefens now run the only organic-certif ied lavender farm in Sequim. Their 10-acre farm, on which dairy cows once roamed and free-range chickens now strut, features four varieties of lavender, a mix of French, which is used in body and bath products (because of the presence of camphor), and English, which ends up in culinary products (milder and more palatable). Later, a tour g uide at B&B Family Lavender Farm would share an

easy method for remembering the difference: French is fragrant, English is edible.

After taking a spin through their shop, I determined that wine is the only product that has slipped the grip of lavender. So I ordered what was on the menu: a lavender raspberry Italian ice and a can of lavender cucumber seltzer. I set up my picnic in the lavender f ield, surrounded by bees happily humming while they worked on this year’s vintage.

I had wanted to spend the night in a lavender field, imagining the plants swaying me to sleep. On my first evening in Sequim, I bunked in a lavender-themed caboose at the Olympic Railway Inn, a collection of restored train cars. The railway car was tricked out in all things lavender. There was pastel bedding, sprigs of dried lavender in rustic containers, a lavender festival poster from 2006 and rosemary lavender hand soap by the kitchenette sink.

The George Washington Inn, a reproduction of Mount Vernon a few miles away in Port Angeles, is run by a couple who care as much about lavender as they do about George and Martha. Dan and Janet

If you go

WHERE TO STAY

George Washington Inn: The Mount Vernon-inspired inn has five rooms set amid lavender fields and along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which offers clear views of Canada’s Vancouver Island. Owners Dan and Janet Abbott sell their handmade lavender products at the hotel and in a small shop outside the front gates. The herb also appears in the breakfasts, which are included in the rate. Rooms from $325 a night. Add a lavender package for $30 to $50 more. 939 Finn Hall Road, Port Angeles, Wash.; (360) 452-5207; georgewashingtoninn.com

Olympic Railway Inn: Bunk in one of 11 renovated cabooses decorated by theme, such as Grape Escape, Wild West and Lavender Limited, which comes with a bathroom with a whirlpool tub, a kitchenette, elevated seating for “conductors” and lots of lavender touches. Nightly rates from about $100. 24 Old Coyote Way, Sequim, Wash.; (206) 880-1917; pikehg.com

WHAT TO DO

Ben’s Bikes: The shop rents bikes for $50 per day for manual styles and $75 for electric. The staff will help you plot a route to the lavender farms or along the car-free Olympic Discovery Trail. Bikes come with lights, bell, lock and rack bag, for carrying all of your lavender goods. 1251 W. Washington St., Sequim; (360) 683-2666; bensbikes sequim.com

Abbott put me in the Sureyor Retreat room, which verlooks their lavender ields, a purple carpet unurling toward the snowusted Olympic Mountains. t check-in, Dan told me to eep an eye out for even ore lavender at breakfast. t could show up as a topper n fresh fruit, as seasoning n egg dishes or as a one-two unch in the rhubarb jam nd biscuits.

We bake Royal Velvet uds in the biscuits,” he aid, referring to an English ariety. “After eating lavener biscuits, you don’t want o go back to regular bisuits. They’re too boring.”

anet is the creative force ehind the lavender prodcts, which she makes by and and sells under the artha’s Own label.

n my second morning t the inn, I decided to bike o the farms. I was about to sk Dan for rental recomendations when I was erailed by a giant spider ite on my arm. Janet overeard my medical issues rom the kitchen. “Use the rosso,” she advised. I grabbed the tester off the counter, rolled the essential oil on the inflamed patch of skin and sighed with relief.

The nearly 6-mile route from Ben’s Bikes to the farms on Old Olympic Highway was straightforward and fairly flat. Before I had even broken a sweat, I saw purple flags flapping at the ends of driveways, the welcome mat of the lavender farms.

Many of the properties allow visitors to cut their own bouquets. Farmers harvest with scythes; at Victor’s, I was handed a pair of injury-proof scissors. I returned to the checkout counter with my bounty and was immediately sent back into the field. “Come back with an adult-size fistful,” Donaldson instructed, “not a kid-size one.”

I loaded the bike’s carrier with the plants and pedaled off. I continued onward, to Rain Shadow Lavender Farm, which designed a labyrinth out of lavender, to B&B Family Lavender Farm, which leads free tours throughout the day, and to Fleurish Lavender of Lost Mountain, which has a sample garden with nearly 90 varieties

I returned to the inn assuming that I had reached my lavender saturation point. But then I met the Lavender Lady, who was weaving wands filled with buds and festooned with purple ribbons. She explained that the batons, a centuries-old French tradition, can stave off fleas, mice, rats, moles, scorpions and spiders; deodorize your bathroom; help you sleep; and calm your raw nerves. I’ll take three, I told her, preparing for whatever may come.

Sachs writes for The Washington Post.

The Sequim-Dungeness Valley, about 65 miles northwest of Seattle, has the highest concentration of lavender plants in North America. GETTY IMAGES

The owners of the George Washington Inn, modeled after Mount Vernon, grow lavender on the property and use it in homemade products.

ANDREA SACHS THE WASHINGTON POST

The Sequim Lavender Trail highlights businesses and enterprises in the area that feature the plant. GETTY IMAGES

9 dream trips in offseason

BY NATALIE B. COMPTON

The best time to travel is when most people aren’t. With a few exceptions — like Carnival season — hordes of people can ruin your experience; no one wants to be in a soulcrushing line for the Louvre museum or stuck in a swarm of tourists on a beach in Hawaii.

Most people travel during predictable time periods (summer, the holidays, spring break) out of habit or necessity, so it’s easier to dodge them if you travel during the “off” or shoulder season.

We’re approaching one such season: fall. Unless you’re going to peak leaf-peeping destinations, many of the world’s loveliest places have fewer travelers around September, October and November.

It’s not like no one is traveling this fall. Ben Julius, founder of the travel planning platform Tourist Journey, says his company is seeing a 25 percent growth in searches for shoulder season trips across Europe. That makes sense: Fall weather (in many popular travel spots) is more comfortable than summer, the crowds have dispersed and prices are “far more accessible,” Julius said.

So where should you go this fall? For your brainstorming pleasure, here are nine ideas to consider.

1 National parks

This is a particularly good time to see the country’s most famous national parks, such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Acadia, Zion.

With the crush of peak season tourists gone, you have a better shot at exploring the parks in peace.

Camp. Glamp. Make a weekend getaway or all-out vacation week out of exploring some of America’s greatest outdoor treasures.

2 Portland, Ore.

One of the West’s food capitals, Portland is a yearround destination for travelers who love to eat. But for Ben Jacobsen, founder of Jacobsen Salt Co. in Netarts, Ore., the tail end of summer and early fall are his favorite times of year in the region. Tomatoes are still lingering, early apples are starting to ripen and “ the daytime is warm with just a slight chill in the air,” he said.

If you rent a car for your trip, Jacobsen recommends taking a day trip to drive the Fruit Loop through Hood River, stop at Hiyu Wine Farm and get back to the city in time for dinner at Kann, the long-awaited Haitian restaurant from “ Top Chef” star Gregory Gourdet.

Mara. Laura BurdettMunns, managing director of the travel company Journeysmiths, says visitors can expect to see huge herds of elephants, wildebeest and zebras in temperate dry season weather.

Burdett-Munns expects prices at safari lodges to go up next year, with hotels attempting to make up for lost pandemic revenue. But for now, this fall is still a great value for visitors. “It is also possible to fly direct from JFK to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, making your journey to East Africa much easier,” she said, adding that the country no longer has COVID-era entry requirements for vaccinated travelers.

4 Palm Springs

It’s too hot to go to Palm Springs in the summer anyway — and winter is high season. Enjoy something in the middle by going between October and November, when temperatures drop into the 90s and 80s by day and the 60s and 50s by night. For day trips, visit Joshua Tree National Park for hiking or the Salton Sea for an unexpected art scene.

5 Italy

According to Instagram, everybody went to Italy this summer. Don’t feel left out; going in the offseason is your opportunity to have a different Italian adventure than the bulk of tourists. “It’s such an amazing coun-

try, but most people see it in the summer with the density of the people and high heat of the summer,” said Kristen Slizgi, travel adviser from the Luxury Travelist. Trust us, there’s more to Italy than its iconic beach culture. Spend a fall trip exploring Italy’s historic sites, sipping Aperol spritzes and watching locals dress impeccably for the season, whether you’re in Tuscany or Trani.

6 South Korea

With COVID-era travel restrictions loosening in the region, it may finally be time to get back to Asia. South Korea is welcoming back travelers, and a fall trip to Seoul promises radiant foliage (in October), street food, festivals, shopping and spas. For side excursions, use Korea’s extensive bus and train network to get to hiking destinations, picturesque islands and historic sites.

7

Caddo Lake, Texas

For a rustic trip, visit Caddo Lake, Texas, a protected wetland decorated with otherworldly bald cypress trees covered in Spanish moss. The 26,810-acre lake and bayou on the border between East Texas and Louisiana is popular for fishing, boating and kayaking; Caddo L ake State Park has more than 50 miles of paddling trails for visitors. Those interested in seeing fall foliage in Texas should aim for later in the fall. Rough it and camp (October here means average highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s) or look for a lakeside cabin rental.

8

Come

9 La Paz, Bolivia For a more adventurous fall break, Matt Berna, president for Intrepid Travel’s North America operations, recommends heading to La Paz in the Bolivian Andes. Located in a volcanic crater at 11,893 feet, “you’ll feel like you’re on top of the world in La Paz,” Berna said. “It will literally take your breath away.” September, October and November are dry season, meaning visitors can expect a comfortable climate for exploring the market-filled streets, museums and cathedrals.

Washington, D.C.

fall, mosquitoes, middle school tourists and humidity release their vise grip on the nation’s capital city, making it a more pleasant time to visit its outdoor attractions. Once

you’ve taken in the most famous sites, rent a kayak or canoe for a close-up view of the Anacostia or Potomac rivers.

Compton writes for The Washington Post.

During the annual great migration, more than 2 million animals move to the Masai Mara reserve in Kenya for better grazing. Peak season is July through October.

ANDREW LINSCOTT GETTY IMAGES

Scott Wolfe and his wife, Jane Wolfe, watch the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine.

MATT MCCLAIN THE WASHINGTON POST

The landmark N Seoul Tower, in Seoul, South Korea, offers a bird’s-eye view of the city and a panorama of changing fall colors across the area.

GETTY IMAGES