Art by Zee

Review: The Beams Are Creaking (Taproot Theatre)

Matt Shimkus as Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a photo by Erik Stuhaug

Where is the line between undesirable and unacceptable? What do you do when that line is crossed? For Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer these questions stop being intellectual abstractions in Germany in 1933 as the Nazi party takes power and he must face head on issues of morality, political allegiance, and religious conviction in , onstage at Taproot Theatre through April 23.

Douglas Anderson’s play tells the true story of Bonhoeffer, not only a church pastor, but also a member of the Abwehr, the German Military Intelligence in Nazi Germany. Officially a defense organization, members of the Abwehr secretly organized to oppose the Nazi party and attack Hitler from within, both by working to counter his political initiatives and by plotting his destruction. Bonhoeffer’s position allowed him to gather knowledge within Germany and travel abroad to share information about the resistance to foreign sympathizers.

The play begins with the intelligent, articulate pastor devoted to an intellectual study of spirituality returning from a trip to the United States where he has been awakened to the suffering in social injustice and has fallen in love with African-American spirituals. This experience has filled him with a passion to make the church serve the needs of its people, a passion that drives his resistance to Hitler’s rise to power.

Two days after Hitler is elected Chancellor, Bonhoeffer gives a radio address attacking the Führer, only to be cut off while still speaking. Bonhoeffer speaks against persecution of the Jewish population and lobbies for non-Nazi officials in the church elections forced by Hitler. Bonhoeffer then becomes forced to rebel against his own church leadership who have accepted Hitler’s rule, something he cannot tolerate. Recruited into the Abwehr, Bonhoeffer gathers and shares resistance intelligence and joins in several plots to assassinate Hitler.

Bonhoeffer feels Germany’s despair on a personal level – his friends and colleague are arrested, he himself is declared an enemy of the state, and his beloved sister, married to a Jewish man, must flee with her husband to an uncertain future beyond Germany’s borders. No matter his pain, he remains steadfast to his cause; when he is finally imprisoned he continues his resistance, assisted as much as they are able by his family and his fiancee. While imprisoned, Bonhoeffer provides services for the other prisoners and is so well-liked that even the guards argue over the privilege of cleaning his cell.

Actor Matt Shimkus plays Bonhoeffer as the vital man that he was. His passion for following the path of righteousness is palpable, but he never comes off as one-dimensional hero. Even in the midst of such darkness there are still moment of light and sweetness, even some humor, and Shimkus and the rest of the well-selected cast (Don Brady, Gerald Browning, Robert Gallaher, Nathan Jeffrey, Rob Martin, Kim Morris, Simon Pringle and Sarah Ware) play these moments with humanity and respect.

Taproot’s productions are consistently well-staged, but The Beams Are Creaking is extraordinary – a fascinating story performed without flaw from start to finish. Everything about the show is superb. The story is thrilling, the performances are brilliant, and the set, lighting, and sound design are expertly applied. Director Karen Lund and her cast and crew have created a play this is not to be missed. The Beams Are Creaking is simply one of the best plays to be staged in the Northwest in recent years.

The Beams Are Creaking continues at Taproot through April 23; in response to the enthusiastic reception this play is getting, the theatre has added an additional performance on Tuesday, April 19. Don’t hesitate – get tickets now by calling the box office at 206.781.9707 or by visiting the box office online.

Need a last minute hotel room? HotelTonight can help

Hotel Tonight, an application for Apple users (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) to look for and book last minute hotel deals, has expanded their offering by incorporating a new feature that allows users to extend their same-day booking by up to four nights.

The mobile-only service has also partnered with new hotels in Seattle and Miami, expanding its base of available hotels. Hotel Tonight also features available last-second hotel bookings in major destinationsNew York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC.

HotelTonight has had 250,000 downloads in its first two months. The update is available now as a free download from the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – downloading the app gets users a $25 credit toward their first booking.

Per HotelTonight, the latest update, released today, allows travelers to extend their stay up to four additional nights (for a possible total of five nights). This was the most requested feature by HotelTonight users and extends the app’s reach to a broader group of people, such as last-minute business travelers who need a multi-night stay or couples seeking a spontaneous weekend getaway.

HotelTonight currently works with more than 130 notable hotel partners to offer last-minute deals, some of which are lower than any other bookable rate. Hotel partners include Thompson Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, Ace Hotel in New York, Amalfi Hotel in Chicago, The River Inn in Washington, DC, Copley Square Hotel in Boston, Pelican Hotel in Miami and Hotel 1000 in Seattle. Additional cities are on the way, with Dallas, Philadelphia and Atlanta launching soon.

HotelTonight is available for free on the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad at www.itunes.com/appstore.

Silent Movie Mondays: I love New York

Silent Movie Mondays return to Seattle’s Paramount Theatre tonight with a celebration of New York City during the Silent Era. Four classic films provide excitement, enterainment, and a flashback look at what it meant to be one of the largest cities in the world nearly a century ago. Once again Jim Riggs is behind the mighty Wurlitzer organ, lending a live soundtrack that transforms the film experience to magic.

April 4 – It

Clarence G. Badger, USA, 1927, 72 min.

The 1927 masterpiece, It, stars Clara Bow as Betty Lou Spence, a poor sales girl at a large department store. In this straight-forward Cinderella-esk story, Betty sets her sights on winning the love of the rich owner’s son, Cyrus Walthm Jr. (Antonio Moreno). Her smoldering glances grab the attention of Cyrus and she convinces him to take her on a date. Betty introduces him to the proletarian pleasures of life, taking him to early day Coney Island for rollercoasters, hot dogs and a grand old time. Then, drama strikes with lies, assumptions, wedding proposals and near-death-experiences. Will love conquer early New York social class barriers, or will both leave heartbroken?

This spring’s silent film series, I Love New York, is accompanied by live music from the historic Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, one of the last three remaining organs of its kind to reside in its original environment, played by critically acclaimed organist Jim Riggs.

Other films in the series include:

April 11 – Speedy

Harold Lloyd, USA, 1928, 86 min.

Speedy was both Harold Lloyd’s last silent film as well as his only film to get an Oscar nomination. A fine example of why Lloyd was even more popular than Chaplain or Keaton at the end of the silent era. This fast paced dramatic comedy explores the theme of modernization, pitting the last horse drawn trolley in the city against the evil forces of the transit monopoly. Filmed on location in New York, the film features the most extensive shots of Manhattan of its time. Many of the historically interesting sites include Coney Island’s Luna Park, Columbus Circle and Wall Street. Baseball legend Babe Ruth has a cameo role as a very harassed fare when Speedy is working as a cabbie. Their wild ride ends at the old Yankee Stadium, and the film captures one of the Bambino’s record-setting 60 home runs from the 1927 campaign.

April 18 – The Crowd

King Vidor, USA, 1928, 100 min.

This realistic, bittersweet drama of the day-to-day existence of an ordinary American is as relevant today as it was in 1928, just before the great stock market crash. In director King Vidor’s Academy Award nominated timeless silent masterpiece we see James Murray, an everyman white-collar worker, trying to make it with his wife in the big city of New York. Here Murray copes with cramped living conditions, a boring job, and a limited life of regret. Released on the eve of the Great Depression, Vidor’s sharp social commentary raises questions about both the dominance of industrialization and the rise of the modern metropolis. Although strongly influenced by the German Expressionist works of Murnau and Lang, The Crowd is notable for its extensive location shooting in New York City and its naturalistic visual style, both of which produce a vivid portrait of the city and its social stratification.

April 25 – The Cameraman

Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton, USA, 1928, 67 Min.

The first film he made after moving to MGM, The Cameraman is arguably Buster Keaton’s last truly great work before the studio system stifled him. Here “The Great Stone Face” is cast as an aspiring, but lousy, newsreel cameraman in quest of the perfect shot, and, of course, the requisite pretty but oblivious Keaton ingénue. Buster keeps missing the great shot, but we never do – the Tong War, the Yankee Stadium solitary baseball routine, the Coney Island sequence – these are all vintage Keaton and vintage New York.

Billy Elliot – dancing into hearts at the Paramount

Billy Elliot playing here in Seattle through April 3 at Seattle’s historic Paramount Theatre won 10 Tony Awards in 2009 and was called “The best show you will ever see” by the New York Post and there’s definitely a lot about the show to admire.

Adapted for the stage from the film of the same name, Billy Elliot tells the story of its title character, Billy, a young boy beaten down by life. His mother’s dead, his grandma’s dotty, and his coal-mining father and brother barely notice he’s alive unless he’s done something wrong. When Billy gives up on the boxing classes he never liked anyway to take up dancing instead that’s most indeed something wrong in their eyes. Even Billy isn’t sure how he feels about his newly discovered talent for dance until his dance teacher both recognizes the spark in him and kindles it, in the process restoring her own passion for the art. As this transformation within takes place, the world around Billy and his friends and family transforms, too, as the miner’s strike lengthens and becomes more brutal.

It’s an interesting, unusual story with a great theme at its heart – believe in yourself and you can do anything – but it’s also a long and complicated story and there may be nuances not understood by audience members who don’t know the film or the history of the English miner’s strike. The length of the play is an issue as well – its running time feels unnecessarily long and particularly near the end, time seems to crawl to a drip when it should be flying by.

That being said, the show has a number of strengths. Billy (performed by a rotating cast of young actors: Giuseppe Bausilio, Kylend Hetherington, Lex Ishimoto and Daniel Russell) is completely credible, from the uninspired kid who knows only that he doesn’t like boxing class to the budding artist who knows only how dancing makes him feel whole. Careful choreography wisely avoids the “instant genius” schtick of so many similar stories – Billy’s got natural talent but like any real dancer, he was to work hard at it. Billy’s closest friend, Michael, is another charmer – a young crossdresser who finds it only natural to wear his sister’s clothes but initially finds Billy’s dancing rather suspect. Their friendship is sweet and leads to one of the show’s best dance routines.

The cast as a whole is very good. Faith Prince’s performance as Billy’s dance instructor, Mrs. Wilkinson, shows exactly how she earned her Tony, with a dazzling performance that feels real. Patti Perkins keeps the not-quite-there Grandma of Billy funny without turning her into a parody.

While the show could probably use some trimming to keep it from fraying at the ends, it does remain an inspiring, emotionally honest tale with breathtaking dancing, excellent songs by Elton John, and a hero you’ll be glad to be rooting for.

Mark Your Calendars: NFTTY’s on its way

The National Film Festival for Talented Youth, NFFTY (pronounced “Nifty”, because it is) is the largest and most influential festival for young filmmakers out there today. Young filmmakers from all over the world submit feature-length and short films in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, experimental, and international categories in order to share their world view and learn from one another. NFFTY helps filmmakers aged 22 and younger come together with their global peers and gives them a special opportunity find their own voice.

NFFTY also gives audiences of all ages the opportunity to see great film from artists who are shaping the future today. The movies they are create are thoughtful, fun, silly, serious, scary, provocative, challenging, creative…just like the films made by more experienced filmmakers but with the special resonance that youth and discovery bring.

The festival runs in Seattle from April 28 – to May 1; schedule is available on the NFFTY website.

Environmental Adventure Race in West Seattle, April 14

Speaking of the environment, the Seattle Parks Department has partnered with the Neighborhoods Department and the Healthy Parks, Healthy People, Healthy Planet project to present the very first HP3 challenge.

The HP3 Challenge bills itself as “the first and only environmental adventure race of its kind”. Competitors will climb, pull, sprint and pedal their way through 5 vigorous Challenge Sites across a 16-mile course through and around West Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood. In the Elite Division, two-people teams will participate in events like pushing a wheelbarrow full of gravel .5 miles up the Soundway trail, carrying two buckets of gravel .5 miles at Camp Long, and planting native trees in Westcrest Park. In the easier (but not that much) Open Division, four people will split similar duties.

This is not a race for the faint of heart or weak of body; you’ve got to already be pretty tough to compete. But if you’re looking for a serious challenge that will push you to limits while you help preserve, protect, and improve Seattle’s environment, register for the race online and start getting ready now.

Lights out for Earth Hour, Saturday, 8:30 pm

On March 26, 2011, at 8:30 pm local time, the Pacific Science Center, the Space Needle, and the City of Seattle will join thousands of other cities, business, landmarks, and people around the world in turning out the lights for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million people and 2,100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour, reducing Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2% for that hour. Since then Earth Hour has grown into a global statement against climate change with more than 50 million people participating along with world renowned landmarks like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum.

Organizers and participants understand that simply turning the lights off for a mere 60 minutes isn’t going to change the world for long, but the goal is to get people educated about their energy use and how it effects our environment and motivated to make healthier change.

Check out the Earth Hour website for more information on the event and the Green Seattle Guide published online by the Office of Sustainability and Environment for ways you can help protect the natural environment of the Northwest.

Seattle Out and Proud launches new website, registration system

Seattle Out and Proud is launching a new website and parade registration system. From their press release:

Seattle, WA, March 11, 2011: Seattle Out and Proud (SO&P) is excited to announce that on March 15, 2011 we’ll be launching our new website and parade registration system. The new website is designed to be more user friendly and have an even smoother integration with our parade registration system.

Twenty-eleven is a year that will bring many firsts for SO&P. In addition to our new website and registration system we’re happy to announce that our Pride Idol singing competition will be hosted by Neighbours Night Club, and emceed by your favorite Diva Gaysha Starr. Join us March 11, 2011 as we partner with SAM REMIX for the new Nick Cave exhibit “Meet Me at the Center of the Earth” as we have one of our very own board members conduct a guided tour of some of their favorite pieces.

Be You. Be Proud. Express Yourself! Is the parade them for 2011 and is a celebration of the cultural diversity that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and ally communities express every day. Stand up and declare, “I AM! WE ARE!” This year’s theme is a celebration of our ability to create, innovate, influence, and express ourselves. We invite you to find new, exciting, and creative ways to express who you are. Declare your message loud and proud along 4th Avenue this June 26, 2011 as we kick off another great parade that draws over 450,000 spectators, participants and volunteers – Be You. Be Proud. Express Yourself!

Visit our website at www.seattlepride.org for more information and details about our events and programs.

Moisture Festival March 17 – April 10

The Aerialistas in a photo by John Cornicello

The Moisture Festival is a three week festival of live comedy/ variete performance. That is, it’s a collection of shows where anything might happen when artists are given the stage with a live band so that they can perform pretty much anything they can both imagine and make concrete. There are aerialists, can can dancers, rope acts, clowns, jugglers, and a long list of everything else.

The festival begins on March 17 with an opening night show at Hales Palladium and continues until April 10 with shows at the Palladium, ACT Theatre, Open Space on Vashon, and the Georgetown Ballroom. There are four burleseque shows over the weekend of March 25 – 26 and Variete shows as often as four or five times a week until festival end.

The Feminine Wiles of Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve – beautiful, personable, and one heck of an actor, able to be serious, silly or anything else she needs to be to make the characters she plays come to full, rounded life.

SIFF celebrates this magnificent screen star with a careful selection of some of her best films this weekend.

Friday, March 11 see Deneuve in Lars von Trier’s complicated, tragic fantasy drama Dancer in the Dark at 7:30.

Belle du Jour screens at 1 pm on Saturday, March 12. Hold on to your ticket and go see the second half of the double feature, 8 Women, at 3 pm. (Or just go straight to 8 Women if you like, as its a great film. Of course this means you’re missing an equally great film in Belle du Jour, so you may as well go to both.)

The series wraps up with a contemporary Denueve in 2010′s Potiche. Directed by François Ozon, Potiche gives Deneuve the opportunity to shine as the trophy wife faced with catastrophe – how will she handle things? Can she even take care of herself? Also starring French legends Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini and Karin Viard.