Potomacgaz 081413 by The Gazette

THE GAZETTE

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 p

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‘Medieval Story Land’ lacks magical punch Story falls short in unsuccessful parody

Parodies, when done correctly, can be highly entertaining. One needs only to look at “Monty Python and The Holy Grail” or even John Landis’ 1977 cult

THEATER REVIEW BY WILL C. FRANKLIN classic “Kentucky Fried Movie” for great examples of the form. Creating a successful parody is a lot harder than one might imagine. Every detail, from the writing to the acting to even sound and lights, has to be spot on. Everything has to click. If something is missing — well, it brings everything else down. This brings us to the story, presented by the Washington, D.C.-based Red Knight Productions, of how the one true Todd was able to save all of Medieval Story Land from the Dark Black Darkness. I’ll give you a second to let that one sink in. “Medieval Story Land,” written by Red Knight’s artist director Scott Courlander, ﬁrst played to audiences at the

PERFECT

Continued from Page A-13 see a rock and I would just bring it home,” Gerskovic said. When her collection started to overwhelm the family’s already cramped apartment, Gerskovic said her parents told her to stop bringing things home; there wasn’t enough room. So Gerskovic started cutting photos from newspapers and magazines. “I didn’t know I wanted to be a photographer, I just knew I liked doing these things,” Gerskovic said. Just one year shy of completing her degree, Gerskovic decided she belonged in the U.S. “Both of my parents were very sad ...” Gerskovic said. “My mom was very disappointed and sad and that was difﬁcult.” But Gerskovic took a risk and

VISARTS

Continued from Page A-13 Austria, Oklahoma and most recently in Philadelphia. When she and her husband, a medical researcher, moved to Rockville three years ago, she decided one way to connect with the community was to apply for a two-month residency at VisArts. Her three Playtime paintings all show the familiar block pattern for hopscotch, which she said is played around the world. “It’s played with the same [design], but with different rules,” she said at an artists’ reception Friday. Gestin said she wants her paintings to connect to people’s lives and not be something that just hangs on a wall. “It’s important to ﬁnd meaning in the world that we’re living in,” she said. Gestin has organized a public hopscotch event during VisArt’s open house on Sept. 8, which will take place at VisArts and in Rockville Town Square. Children will have a chance to learn and play international variations of games such as hopscotch, cat’s cradle, and cootie catcher. Gestin also has written and illustrated a children’s tale, “The Story of Lulu,” which is posted on her web page.

AUTHOR

Continued from Page A-13 unsuspecting villain — Santa Claus. “The book takes place during the holiday season and I always like the idea of nothing appears as it seems,” Waldman said about why he chose Santa Claus. “ ... Santa is kidnapping presents and Mac is hot on his trail.” There may be a new villain, but Waldman said in book two, Mac is still struggling with some of the same eighth-grade woes that plagued him in “Mighty Mac.” “The bully in book one hasn’t taken the hint and is still bothering him,” Waldman said. It was shortly after “Mighty Mac” went on sale last June that Waldman said he started to feel pressure to write a second book. “WhenIwrotetheﬁrstbookand I actually got a deal [with Comfort Publishing], after I got through the excitement, I’m sitting around one day and I panicked,” Waldman said. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to

2012 Capital Fringe Festival. It is currently being remounted at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, featuring an all-new cast led by director Jason Schlafstein. The story revolves around Todd the Elf from Elf City. We learn over and over again that although Todd is quite strong, he has “elf rocks for brains.” Todd’s father hates him because Todd’s mother died giving birth to him. We’ll discuss this more in a minute. Todd is greeted by a mysterious wizard — The Millennium Wizard — who tells him he is the one true Todd who must take this sword called Phoenix Falcor and save all of Medieval Story Land from the Dark Black Darkness. On his quest, Todd meets the Red Knight, who harbors a cowardly secret, and Whisker-Toe, the extremely feminine bearded dwarf. Later in the play there would be some discussion as to whether it’s “dwarf” or “dorf” for some reason, but much like the play, I digress. Todd continues to meet random people, even making a bridge troll his “slave” after besting him in a challenge of wits. “Medieval Story Land” is not without its merits. The lighting used at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg is well done. Actors are used as set pieces for a majority of the show and that is done rather masterfully.

relocated to Gaithersburg where she started taking English classes at Montgomery College. She eventually earned an associate’s degree in graphic design. In the U.S., Gerskovic found herself collecting things on her walks, much like she had as a child in Croatia. “I started doing the same thing, bringing things back,” she said. But even as she began to photograph the objects she found, Gerskovic said she was hesitant to share her work. “I was very secret about it,” she said. “I didn’t want people to laugh, like, ‘What does she know?’ People started questioning me ... does she have a boyfriend? A secret job?” Gerskovic said it was a local radio program that eventually convinced her to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional photographer.

MEDIEVAL STORY LAND n When: To Aug. 25, call for speciﬁc dates and times n Where: The Arts Barn, 311 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg n Tickets: $16, $14 for Gaithersburg residents, $9 for students through 12th grade n For information: 301-258-6394, gaithersburgmd.gov/artsbarn

Teddy C. Nagel, who played the one true Todd out of many Todds in the show, isn’t bad. In fact, he has a Fran Kranz vibe going, but unfortunately without the sharp Joss Whedon dialogue. Sadly, the writing is what inevitably kills this show. When the biggest laugh of the night comes when percussionist Vaughn Irving — who does a wonderful job, by the way — provides a quick “meow” for the stuffed cat, you might have lost your way a little bit. “Medieval Story Land” is billed as being “Forrest Gump meets Lord of The Rings.” I’m sorry to say it is neither. Other than Todd being dumb, there is no connection to “Forrest Gump.” Other than the group going on a quest,

“One day, I was in my car and listening to [National Public Radio],” Gerskovic said. “Diane Rehm was talking about how in this country, you can be whatever you want to be ... if you believe, if you work really hard ... you can do it. I just started crying and crying. And that’s how it happened. I was a photographer.” After taking some photography courses at Montgomery College, Gerskovic realized not only did she love the art form, but she had an eye for it. “Everybody is taking photographs,” Gerskovic said. “There are a million photographers who are taking photographs, who are taking portraits and landscapes and still life. My love for photography is taking photographs of surfaces and the shapes and the different things around me.” And just like when she was a child, Gerskovic is able to see the

Also on view at VisArts are paintings, prints, sculptures and other works by the late Neena Birch of Potomac, who died in August 2012 after a battle with cancer. An artist for more than 40 years, she was a member of the Washington Printmakers Gallery in Silver Spring and exhibited around the country. Her husband, Ronald Birch, an attorney, said she began painting when they married and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. They lived there for 14 years. “I think it was the majesty and scale of Alaska that started her,” said Birch, who attended the reception Friday with friends and family. Birch later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from George Washington University and a certiﬁcate of Botanical Art and Illustration from the College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C. Always creating, she left more than 900 works of art, which she kept track of in notebooks. Going through her works after she died brought back memories of family life for her husband and children. “We are a very close family, and there were no surprises,” said Ronald Birch, who delighted in some of her more humorous works, including “Grassland Dreams,” a little bed textured with a grassy surface where animals

and humans live. “It was more like we rediscovered her,” said her daughter, Sonnie Birch, who found works she hadn’t seen in years. Artist Ching Ching Cheng from Los Angeles expresses in her mixed-media works her interest in the photographic and video technology that produces personal memories. In one installation she creates a vine-like structure with petals made from videotape, ﬁlm negatives and blueprints. She also glued together pages from old books to form blocks that she carved and shaped to look like box cameras, with print still visible, evoking the idea of stories through pictures. Also featured are two installations by Baltimore artist Martin Weishaar, who works with card-

write a second.’” But this time around, with some experience under his belt and armed with feedback from readers young and old, Waldman said he felt more prepared. “There is a formula,” Waldman said. “Writing the second book was easier.” Just like he had with “Mighty Mac,” Waldman said he outlined all of his ideas for “Mac is Back.” “The outlines were a little more detailed, a little more focused,” he said. Waldman said improvements in the outlines led to improvements in the story. “In ‘Mac is Back,’ the storylines are a lot tighter,” Waldman said. “‘Mac is Back’ is a lot tighter and ﬂows a lot better than ‘Mighty Mac.’” As he wrote the second book, Waldman also took into account the critique he received from readers. “Kids and grown-ups were telling me they liked the pacing,” Waldman said. “They liked that Mac is a guy you can root for and

that there is a lot of action.” The author said readers can expect much of the same in the second book. They can also expect a similar message. After the release of “Mighty Mac,” Waldman said he hoped young readers would feel like “anything is possible” after they read Mac’s story. “Dream big and go big, that’s what I want people to take away from it,” he said last year. Waldman said the message in “Mac is Back” is more or less the same. “There’s nothing you can’t do,” Waldman said. “I think Mac embodies that.” Entering his 12th year of teaching at Kingsview, Waldman said this message is one he, too, tries to live by. “I dream big,” he said. “The neat thing about writing a book is that if you can write it down, it can happen. There are some things in [the book] that Santa Claus can do that can never happen, but you can write about it, so why not? Mac is a superhero, we’re not going to be able to ﬂy but hopefully

VISARTS EXHIBITS n When: Though Sept. 8 n Where: VisArts, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville n Tickets: Free n For information: 301-3158200; www.visartsatrockville. org, www.josettesimongestin. com, www.chingchingcheng. com, www.martyweishaar.com

RED KNIGHT PRODUCTIONS

2012 Capital Fringe Festival participant “Medieval Story Land,” a parody of the fantasy genre, is being remounted at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn through Aug. 25. there is no parallel to “Lord of The Rings.” In fact, it more closely resembles “The Wizard of Oz” than anything else. Some of these things, however, could be forgiven if not for Todd’s alcoholic and verbally abusive father and Todd’s dreams from his dead mother. Watching the waning minutes of this show felt like someone had crammed all the jokes they could think of into an hourlong event (it actually ran an hour and 20 minutes) but forgot they wanted

beauty in everyday objects. “It can be something small: a leaf, a part of a building ... things around us that we don’t see because we sit in the car and go from point A to point B,” she said. “I walk around and I see all of these things and I think everyone else sees them, but apparently not ... I found out that I have some special way of seeing things.” Thanks to the support of her husband, who she said told her: “ ... It’s a crazy idea, but I’m in,” Gerskovic is now pursuing photography fulltimeandwillbecomethenewest member of the Artist Foundry Gallery in Dupont Circle on Aug. 1. Gerskovic said she feels she is living proof that the American dream is a very real possibility. “It doesn’t really matter where you’re coming from,” she said. “ ... If you work, it’s going to happen.” chedgepeth@gazette.net board. Originally from upstate New York, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and painting at American University in Washington, D.C. His installation shows two cardboard mountains with gaping holes and tunnels that bring to mind coal mining and the practice of taking the tops off mountains. On the mountain sides are wooden frame-like structures and pipes that evoke fracking, a method of shooting chemicals and water into layers of rocks to tap pockets of natural gas. Weishaar said the work can be seen as something whimsical, but also something more serious. Encircling one mountain are letters — evoking the “Hollywood” sign in the hills above Los Angeles — that ask, “What side are you on?” The words are from the lyrics of a song written by the wife of a coal miner in Harlan County, Ky., during the Depression, when coal miners were struggling to unionize. Weishaar said his goal is not to take sides but to stimulate discussion. “I’m not necessarily trying to preach, but it is something that’s happening,” he said. vterhune@gazette.net people will think about challenging themselves.” As for Waldman, a father of two — Jake, 4 and Sarah, 2 — he said his next challenge will be a fourth “Mac” book. The third one is already done. “I started writing the [third] book in November or December,” Waldman said. “The third book is ﬁnished; it’s called ‘Mac and Cheese.’” The third book in the series is about Edgar Allan Poet, a bad guy writing cheesy poems and planting them in the Washington Post as clues for Mac. With the ﬁrst three books already behind him, there seems to be no stopping Waldman. “I’m starting to think about book four,” he said. “I kind of know where I want to go with it.” “Mac is Back,” Comfort Publishing, starting at $8.99, is available online at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com chedgepeth@gazette.net

to shoehorn in a point to all this at the last second. It doesn’t work and it insults your audience. Overall, this isn’t a completely terrible experience. For children and youth who enjoy Renaissance fair-type things, this is probably something they would enjoy. For adults, however, $16 is probably a little too much to spend on such Dark Black Darkness. wfranklin@gazette.net

IN THE ARTS DANCES Hollywood Ballroom, Aug. 14, free International Tango Routine lesson at 7:30 p.m., Social Ballroom dance at 8:15 p.m. ($15), Aug. 15, 29, Tea Dance from 12:30-3:30 p.m. ($6); Aug. 23, Drop in lessons from 7:30-9 p.m., West Coast Swing Dancing with Dance Jam Productions at 9 p.m. ($15); Aug. 24, Latin Night with Mr. Mambo, workshops from 8-10 p.m., dancing from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. ($18 for workshop and dance; $15 for dance only after 10 p.m.); Aug. 25, free East Coast Swing lesson at 7 p.m., Social Ballroom Dance at 8 p.m. ($16); Aug. 28, free International Tango Routine lesson at 7:30 p.m., Social Ballroom Dance at 8:15 p.m. ($16), 2126 Industrial Highway, Silver Spring, 301-326-1181, www. hollywoodballroomdc.com Glen Echo Park is at 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Blues, Capital Blues:

Thursdays, 8:15 beginner lesson, 9-11:30 p.m. dancing to DJs, Glen Echo Park’s Spanish Ballroom Annex, $8, www. capitalblues.org. Contra, Aug. 16, Ron Buchanan calls to Love Mongrels; Aug. 23, Janine Smith with In Wildness; Aug. 30, Louie Cromartie with Honeysuckle Rose, 7:30 p.m. lesson, 8:30 p.m. dance, Glen Echo Park Spanish Ballroom, $10, www.fridaynightdance.org. Contra & Square, Aug. 18, Ann Fallon and the Narrowminded Naysayers; Aug. 25, Delaura Padovan with a Graham DeZarn Joint, 7:30 p.m., Glen Echo Park Spanish Ballroom, $12 for general, $9 for members, $5 for students, www.fsgw.org. English Country, Aug. 14, Caller: Michael Barraclough, 8 p.m., Glen Echo Town Hall (upstairs), www.fsgw.org. Scottish Country Dancing, 8-10 p.m. Mondays, steps and formations taught. No experience, partner necessary, T-39 Building on NIH campus, Wisconsin Avenue and South Drive, Bethesda, 240-505-0339. Swing, TBA, lesson at 8 p.m., dancing at 9 p.m., Glen Echo Park, $15, www.ﬂyingfeet.org. Waltz, Aug. 18, Waverly Station, 2:45-3:30 p.m. lesson, 3:30-6 p.m., dance, $10, www. waltztimedances.org.

MUSIC & DANCE Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club, Griff Kaz, 7:30

p.m. Aug. 14 ($10); Temika Moore, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 ($20); Graﬁtti: Dennis Chambers, Gary Grainger, 8 p.m. Aug. 16 ($25); Jazz Funk Soul with Jeff Lorber, Everette Harp & Chuck Loeb, 8 p.m. Aug. 17 ($40); I & I Riddim, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18 ($10); Matt Ulery’s Loom/CD release event, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21 ($10), 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, 301-634-2222, www.bethesdabluesjazz.com

The Fillmore Silver Spring, The All Stars Tour with Every Time I Die, Chelsea Grin & More, 2:50 p.m. Aug. 14; Technicians of Distortion Tour featuring Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, 8 p.m. Aug. 18; The Cult - Electric 13, 8 p.m. Aug. 20, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, 301-960-9999, FillmoreSilverSpring.com, www.livenation.com. Strathmore, Free Summer

Outdoor Concert: UkeFest 2013, 7 p.m. Aug. 14, call for venue, Locations: Mansion, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda; Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, 301-5815100, www.strathmore.org.

ON STAGE Adventure Theatre, “Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat,” to Sept. 2, call for prices, times, Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, 301-634-2270, www. adventuretheatre-mtc.org. Do or Die Mysteries, “Art of Murder,” Saturdays, to Aug. 26, 6:30 p.m. buffet, 7:30 p.m. show, $47.50 buffet and show, Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle, 4844 Cordell Ave., Bethesda, 443-422-3810, www.ﬂanagansharpandﬁddle.com Imagination Stage, “Lulu and the Brontosaurus,” Sept. 25 to Oct. 27, call for prices, times, Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda, www.imaginationstage.org Olney Theatre Center, “A Chorus Line,” to Sept. 1, call for prices, times, 2001 OlneySandy Spring Road, Olney, 301-924-3400, www.olneytheatre.org. The Puppet Co., “Circus!” to Sept. 1; Tiny Tots @ 10, select Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, call for shows and show times, Puppet Co. Playhouse, Glen Echo Park’s North Arcade Building, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., $5, 301-6345380, www.thepuppetco.org. Round House Theatre, Bethesda, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” Aug. 21 to Sept. 15; 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. 240-644-1100, www.roundhousetheatre.org. Round House Theatre, Silver Spring, TBA; 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, $15 for general admission, $10 for subscribers, patrons 30 and younger and seniors, 244-644-1100, www.roundhousetheatre.org. Silver Spring Stage, OneAct Festival, to Aug. 25, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Woodmoor Shopping Center, 10145 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. www.ssstage.org. The Writer’s Center, Poets Bateman, Riegel, and Sukrungruang, 2-4 p.m. Aug. 18, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, 301654-8664, www.writer.org.

VISUAL ART Adah Rose Gallery, Randall Lear and Ellyn Weiss, to Oct. 6, vernissage on Sept. 21, 3766 Howard Ave., Kensington, 301-922-0162, www. adahrosegallery.com Glenview Mansion, Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Greater Washington, to Sept. 30, Rockville Civic Center Park, 503 Edmonston Drive, Rockville. www.rockvillemd.gov. Marin-Price Galleries, “Abstraction,” to Sept. 10, 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, 7022 Wisconsin Ave., 301-718-0622. VisArts, Nancy Bullough: Neena Birch: Retrospective Response and Reception, to Sept. 8, Kaplan Gallery; Marty Weishaar, to Sept. 8, Common Ground Gallery; “Ching Ching Cheng,” to Sept. 8, Gibbs Street Gallery, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville, 301-315-8200, www.visartsatrockville.org.