Seattle Gay News
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Issue 4, Volume 43, January 23, 2015
John Ulman
David Anthony Lewis and Cindy Im in Measure for Measure
by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer MEASURE FOR MEASURE SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY Through February 1 This is already the best play of 2015 and while that doesn’t mean it couldn’t get knocked off its perch, it will likely take a while.
While people proclaim Measure for Measure Shakespeare’s problem play, and it is not nearly the funniest of his comedies, the current production at Seattle Shakespeare Company hits all the right buttons in the production and makes it as intelligible and justified as it might possibly be. It also is a beautiful example of post-racial casting (if you will), or
even intentional use of people of color in ways that augment a script. This is the kind of production many of us have been hoping for. Director Desdemona Chiang cast a beautifully nuanced group of actors that subtly reinforce other messages Shakespeare might never have intended, but in this production can be pondered and witnessed. The main white charac-
“THREEFOLD: THREE CONTEMPORARY DANCE PREMIERES” WHIM W’HIM CORNISH PLAYHOUSE AT SEATTLE CENTER January 16 In an artists’ conversation with the audience following Whim W’Him’s exciting premiere of three new dances last weekend, choreographer Lori Landon compared the job of creating a commissioned work to being on “Chopped,” the Food Network show where chefs open their baskets and find mystery ingredients to make the best dish they can in half an hour. The artistic process is not long and leisurely, she said – “You work with what you have in the time allowed!” Artistic Director Olivier Wevers allowed fifty hours of studio and rehearsal time for each choreographer to create a new work using as many or as few of Whim W’Him’s dancers as they chose. Out of this pressure-cooker situation came works that the sold-out audience at Cornish Playhouse found both savory and intriguing.
pregnant. Sex before marriage is an old forbidden law, and Claudio’s life is suddenly forfeit because they did not have the dowry to marry and Angelo wants to make Claudio an example. Claudio’s low-life friend Lucio (Tim Gouran in top clowning form) encourages Claudio’s sister, novitiate Isabella (Cindy Im) to advocate mercy. Angelo finds himself so attracted to Isabella that he offers a twisted deal: if Isabella will bed him, he will pardon Claudio. The rest of the play focuses on whether Isabella will agree, or if there is hope in what looks to be a hopeless situation. Since it’s a “comedy,” we know that somehow Claudio will live, but Shakespeare throws in plot twists like: Angelo had a fiancée that lost her dowry and he dumped her (see the parallel to Claudio’s situation?) and the pretend-priest manipulates the outcome to reveal himself the Duke, but not before he manipulates pretty much everyone else. The underlings mentioned above are Sylvester Kamara as Escalus and Marcel Davis as Provost, roles that often disappear into the play, yet here take on deeper significance.
by Paul Torres SGN A&E Writer
In the wake of the tragic death of Leelah Alcorn, it is especially poignant to see young people embracing their individuality in a loving and supporting environment. It was an evening for celebrating differences. Artistic Director Jared Brayton Bollenbacher led the group who soared through exquisite renditions of “Matchmaker,” “Falling Slowly” from the film Once, and the Willie Nelson penned “Crazy.” John Sparkman was the accompanist. Other songs included covers of Adele (“Love Runs Out” vs. “Rumour Has It”), Sting (“Fields of Gold”), Green Day (“Good Riddance”), George and Ira Gershwin (“Someone to Watch Over Me” and “The Man I Love”), Marvin Hamlisch (“What I Did for Love”) and The Beatles (“When I’m Sixty-Four”). The fun songs kept the audience smiling and foot-tapping. The moving songs put the audience in a reflective mood. One scene focused in on a young man’s death from HIV/AIDS. It is an
see Shakespeare page 17
www.whimwhim.org
by Sharon Cumberland SGN Contributing Writer
ters, the Duke, the Duke’s secondin-command, and two ne’er-dowells who get away with far more as whites than other characters would if people of color, demonstrate that their skin color creates an offhand sense of entitlement that couldn’t possibly have been envisioned by Shakespeare. Two men in support roles, who here happen to be black, are forced to carry out arbitrary edicts from above, but both demonstrate restraint and concern for those orders. Their struggle to manage the orders in humane ways bring to the fore these smallish roles and give them depth. The story, here transposed to a vaguely 1960s society, tells about a Duke (David Anthony Lewis, wearing his privilege lightly at first) who experiments with revamping his society’s rules by going on vacation and appointing his second-in-command Angelo (Bradford Farwell, as anguished and rule-bound), who immediately imposes a much harsher adherence to “rules.” But the Duke disguises himself as a priest and watches to see what happens. Immediately, a young man (Moses Yim) is arrested for making his fiancée (Ayo Tushinde)
“THE LIFE OF LOVE” DIVERSE HARMONY January 16
Cast of Whim W’him
As dance lovers in Seattle already know, Whim W’Him is a collective of artists founded by Wevers in 2009. He was then a principal dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet with a strong interest in choreography and innovation. Now, as the artistic director of a company of seven, he exercises his own dance-making skills as well as creating a platform for new choreographers. In this year’s season Whim W’Him will present nine new dances by seven up-andcoming artists – an accomplishment of artist-support as welcome as the
dances themselves. Wevers and his team of donors and supporters have pulled off a wonderful act of managerial creation by enabling young and emerging dance-makers to create new projects, to build their bodies of work, and to be seen by audiences in a first-class venue. In the competitive world of dance, where a handful of successful choreographers tend to dominate major companies, this is a rare gift indeed, see Whim w’him page 6
The creative and fun-filled spirit of youth is expressed in Diverse Harmony. They are the United States’ first queer-straight alliance youth chorus. Their recent performance was titled “The Life of Love” which was presented at Broadway Performance Hall. As the program notes stated, the concert told the story of relationships and how we yearn for love, pursue love, fall in love, and the different possible outcomes of love all told through Broadway, pop, classic, and country music. 22 songs, including the encore, were sung. It was entertaining, heartening, and an inspirational evening. Diverse Harmony now has 60 members of youth age 13 to 22 identifying as allied, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Queer, and questioning, and Transgender. Their aim is to promote respect and dignity.
see Diverse page 4