IN ITS STAGING of Charles L. Mee's "Full Circle," the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company not only breaks down the "fourth wall" — it builds entirely new rooms. Throughout the course of the play, the cast guides audience members throughout Woolly's facility, performing scenes in every nook of the venue including the theater lobby.
Set in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall, the principal plotline of "Full Circle" follows an American socialite (Naomi Jacobson) and a young German protester (Jessica Frances Dukes) who set out to save an abandoned baby amid the turmoil.
"Rather than sit in the theater and watch this voyage, we're staging the production throughout the Woolly building, inviting audiences to navigate the story with us and have their own experience of changing rules and shifting perspectives," said director Michael Rohd.
OVER THE PAST FOUR DECADES, painter Brice Marden has created monochromatic paintings, examined linear networks and found inspiration in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. The abstractionist comes to the National Gallery of Art on Sunday to converse with Harry Cooper, curator and head of the department of modern and contemporary art. Marden has five paintings and two drawings on display in "The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works," on view until May.
The show contains 126 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints that the Meyerhoffs collected between 1958 and 2004, and includes works by Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg. Marden says he knew the Meyerhoffs, and they would visit his studio to purchase paintings.
Of his works in the show, Marden says, "there's a very strong unifying vein that runs through the whole group, even though in a certain superficial way they all look very different from each other."
Continue Reading "The Collector's Art: Painter Brice Marden at the National Gallery of Art" »
SAVING THE DAY
Manga and anime fans are abuzz over the Freer Gallery's glittering showcase "Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, Father of Anime," celebrating the creator of the pint-size hero the Japanese call Mighty Atom but we know as Astro Boy. On Friday at 7 p.m., author of "The Astro Boy Essays" Frederik Schodt talks about Tezuka and his creation. On Saturday, Schodt appears alongside Helen McCarthy, author of many books about Tezuka and manga; and Ada Palmer, founder of Tezukainenglish.com, for a discussion after the 2 p.m. screening of "The Film Is Alive: Osamu Tezuka Filmography."
» Freer Gallery, Jefferson Drive & 12th Street SW; series runs through Dec. 13, free tickets distributed one hour before event time; 202-633-4880, Asia.si.edu (Smithsonian)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: The Superhero and the Outsider" »
THOSE BRITS -- so polite, so reserved, so murderous.
"Brit Noir" continues at the National Gallery of Art this month with screenings of Jules Dassin's essential "Night and the City" (Fri., 3 p.m.), starring bad guy Richard Widmark in an iconic role as a club owner who gets in over his head with even badder guys.
On Saturday, catch Joseph Losey's angular, jazz-tinged "The Criminal" (2 p.m.), based on the life and rough times of a real mobster.
» National Gallery of Art, 400 Constitution Ave. NW; series runs through Nov. 29, free; 202-842-6799, nga.gov. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Photo courtesy the Everrett Collection
PHOTO TECHNOLOGY of the digital age has yet to exhaust its filmless possibilities. But "In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes," at the National Gallery of Art, reminds us that technology's role in broadening aesthetic horizons isn't a modern phenomenon.
Chronicling image-development procedures from William Henry Fox Talbot's photogenic drawings to chromogenic realist masterpieces of William Eggleston and Edward Burtynsky to the impossibly rich hues of Harry Callahan and the surreal landscapes of Richard Misrasch, the collection observes the subtle distinctions achieved through organic elements of image production.
Whether cyan tone-salted paper prints, albumen treatments, gelatin silver or the photomechanical processes of photogravure or halftone, "In the Darkroom" celebrates the craftsmanship that afforded icons such as the late Robert Penn Warren to, quoting a recent New Yorker eulogy, contrive "a quality of deep color that was the envy of every other photographer."
Continue Reading "Surprises in the Dark: 'In the Darkroom'" »
THIS WEEK: This Day of the Dead has nothing to do with zombies. Well, very little.
It's customary in Mexico to honor the deceased by bringing their favorite food to an altar, and as usual, Oyamel is staying true to the holiday. They're decorating the place in traditional fashion — including an altar covered in candles and marigolds — and making food that would lure the dead from their graves.
Well, not really. Everyone knows that after death, we only crave braaaaaaaaaains.
A full menu of tasty tamales, butternut squash soup and avocado salad will be available only for this celebration. The restaurant is also brewing up a special cocktail of Plymouth Sloe gin, Presidente Mexican brandy, Green Chartreuse, lemon juice and an egg white, aptly named Sloe Dead Fizz.
» Oyamel, 401 7th St. NW; Mon., Oct. 26-Sun., Nov. 1; 202-628-1005. (Gallery Place)
Written by Express' Janice Leary
Photo courtesy Darko Zagar
THIS WEEK: Your mission, should you choose to accept it: find Waldo.
The DC Defenestrators (an group of urban pranksters a la Improv Everywhere) are going to be down at the Navy Memorial doing a different live-action Where's Waldo every night this week. It kicks off Monday night with a Renaissance theme and ends on Halloween with the typical final page and biggest challenge of all — find Waldo among all the fakes.
Anyone in costume is welcome to join the freeze-frame, the rest can race through the group and try to find that little guy and his red striped shirt.
» Navy Memorial, Mon., Oct. 26 - Wed., Oct. 28, 5-6:30 p.m., Thu., Oct. 29, 4:30-6 p.m., Fri., Oct. 30, 5-6:30 p.m., Sat., Oct. 31,5-7:30 p.m. Check their Facebook page for more info. (Archives)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
YOU REALLY CAN fool some of the people all of the time. At least that's the premise that drives the new-millennial spin on Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist" currently being performed by the Shakespeare Theatre Company at Lansburgh Theatre.
The farcical action centers on a butler — Face (Michael Milligan) — who enlists two ethically challenged, disguise-loving pals Subtle (Davis Manis) and Dol Common (Kate Skinner), to charm and cheat the neighbors out their money, women and silverware. To do this, the trio impersonate characters from a decorated army captain (Face) to a cymbal-clanging hippie healer (Subtle).
Jonson knew that sending up hypocrites, preferably in funny costumes, makes even rogues look like heroes. So, in a Georgetown-esque townhouse scene, Face, Subtle and Dol proceed to trick everyone from a Donald Trump-like moneyman, Sir Epicure Mammon, to a revival-meeting preacher straight out of Fox news called Tribulation Wholesome.
THE APPEAL OF a Bela Tarr film is like that of the slow-food movement; in fact, one could make, rise and bake a few loaves of artisanal bread in the time it takes to watch 1994's "Satantango" (seven hours), with the same resulting complexity and richness. The Hungarian director's latest, "The Man From London," is an exquisitely beautiful adaptation of a Georges Simenon detective novel and even features sorta-Hollywood actress Tilda Swinton in a role suited to her eerie beauty. And at a lean 132 minutes, it's a terrific introduction to this auteur's stunning formalism.
» National Gallery of Art, 400 Constitution Ave. NW; Sat., Oct. 17, 4 p.m., free; 202-842-6799. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
A Film Rainbow
Our very own gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender film festival turns 19 this year. Reel Affirmations kicks off on Thursday with a screening of "An Englishman in New York," a portrait of gay pioneer Quentin Crisp, and closes on Oct. 21 after a cavalcade of features, shorts, comedies, dramas and docs. The festival adds a new and swank screening venue this year; as it has been made a resident program of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, many of the films will be screened in Sidney Harman Hall. See the festival Web site, for the schedule and other venues.
» Through Oct. 21, $10 per film; $150 for 10-day pass; opening and closing night films $20, film and party $50.
Photo courtesy Fortissimo Films
WHEN LOCAL RESTAURATEUR Ashok Bajaj decided to renovate his Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant, 701, this past summer, he did so to appeal to younger diners.
"There are a lot more younger people in the vicinity of Penn Quarter than there were when we opened 19 years ago," he said.
Bajaj added two more private rooms as part of the $800,000 renovation. He also revamped the lounge, which is now a perfect place for one of the restaurant's tasty cocktails.
His interior designer in London helped him decide what he was looking for in creating a sophisticated room. That means a striped rug, blue and brown hues in the rug and chairs, tall windows and cream tablecloths.
The changes also brought in a new chef, Adam Longworth, and new pastry chef Roger Potter. Longworth, who previously cooked at Gotham Bar and Grill in New York, said that he's been redoing the menu at 701.
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