UMO Ensemble’s Maldoror: Absurd Lyricism Envelops The Senses
As with all of UMO’s productions, one particularly needs to forget the brand of kitchen sink realism that is often presented on our stages. Instead, in order to begin appreciating it, what is required is an openness of the senses, an awareness of what’s transpiring onstage, and let meaning appear cumulatively after the fact.
Upstart Crow’s Titus Andronicus: In Which We Learn That Women Can Also Be Vicious
Of Titus Andronicus it is known that it was once one of Billy Shakes’ least produced plays, because it is one of his more visceral, brute-force works. Its metered language is geared toward the barbarity of its story, and contains little of lyrical beauty usually associated with the playwright–that is to say, it is lyrical, but vicious instead of beatific. It is the work of Shakespeare during his crowd pleasing days, its pulpy purpose is to rouse the rabble.
Night and Day Film Noir Series Month Two: Remembering Memento
This week, the Star continues its conversation with Brandon Ryan, talking a bit about Christopher Nolan’s Memento, play a game of Noir/Not Noir, and discuss some of Ryan’s considerations regarding what films to select for the series.
In Loving Memory of Heather Artena Hughes, RIP
Today we mourn the passing of Heather Hughes, a young and vibrant woman, whose life came to an end early Wednesday morning, due to late-stage lung cancer one day before she would have turned 45. She is survived by her son, her fiancee, and her family.
Night and Day Film Noir Series Month Two: All About Touch of Evil
The Star continues its conversation with Brandon Ryan, the curator behind Central Cinema’s Night and Day film noir series, first by defining his criteria for what makes a film noir, and then delving into the convoluted and controversial production history behind the first of September’s offerings: Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, a film both Ryan and the Star’s José Amador consider to be one of the finest in the genre.
Seattle’s Shame: More Canadians Have Seen Le Frenchword’s Fancy Mud Than Seattleites
It’s a matter of fact: More Canadians have seen Fancy Mud than Seattle citizens. What makes this even more damning is that the Seattle trio have performed their debut production exponentially more times, and in more venues around town during the last couple of years than during their month-long tour of the Canadian Fringe.
The Paradise Theater School in Chimacum, WA: An Ideal and Idyllic Theater Company
Of all the places one would think one would encounter daring, rigorous and experimental theater, it is likely that Port Townsend, the charming Victorian harbor town on the Olympic Peninsula, would not be the first town to come to mind. It would be even more unlikely for anyone to think of Chimacum, WA, a tiny little burg ten miles South of Port Townsend, as anything other than an unassuming hamlet. Yet it is here that one could find The Paradise Theater School, an organization that is perhaps Washington theater’s best kept secret.
A Talk with Brandon Ryan, Curator of Central Cinema’s Night and Day Film Noir Series Part 2
Last week, we began a conversation with Brandon Ryan, the curator of the Night and Day Film Noir Series at the Central Cinema. The series is designed to feature two noir genre movies a month, a classic entry to be followed the subsequent week by a modern noir film. These conversations are comprised of general impressions and arcana attached to the movies in question, in order to whet the appetite and set some low key expectations going into a viewing
A Talk with Brandon Ryan, Curator of Central Cinema’s Night and Day Film Noir Series
The Star sat down with Night and Day Film Noir Series’ curator, Brandon Ryan, and discussed what he aims to do with the series, why he feels particularly drawn to Humphrey Bogart, and the unfortunate circumstance that the movie making process ended up driving some of the century’s best writers to self-destructive excesses.
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