Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Smart Talk SMART TALK
By Dr. Parley Speake

TRIADS OF THREE PEOPLE: Professor Pompous Fatuous Failem is chairman of the Department of Tautology at Bedspring Tech, down the road in Los Libidos, Texas.

Like many social scientists, he often seems to value linguistic posturing over clarity. Just try to read his articles in the scholarly quarterlies, and you’ll see what I mean.

In his communications class, where he trains future public employees and more social scientists, Dr. Failem asks his students to form triads of three people for discussion groups.

I have to admire the triple play in only four words: two redundancies and a misusage. A triad is a chord of three notes. (I wonder: If the triad has a short student in the middle, does that make it a minor triad?) So triads of three makes one misuse and one of the redundancies, and people makes the other. Unless he has some nonhumans in his class. Reading The Journal of Sociological Research makes me wonder.

We need to get Dr. Failem into the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired and teach him to say groups of three or trios.

----
v2i46

ITHACA, NY: The Kitchen Theatre Company’s FAMILY FARE series continues on December 9 with the premiere of Rebecca Returns. The new musical’s book and lyrics are by Rachel Lampert with music by Lesley Greene. Rebecca Returns opens on December 9 and closes on December 23 with performances on Saturdays at 1:00 and 3:00pm and Sundays at 1:00 pm. This is the second of three world premiere musicals in this season’s Family Fare series.

Rebecca Returns begins three weeks after Rebecca, who is “nine, almost ten – almost double digits,” and usually responsible, spent the day at home alone for the first time in last year’s Family Fare musical Winter Tales. And what a day it was! Much more adventurous than Rebecca expected. Now Rebecca (Chunmei McKernan) and her rather large cat Muriel (Sarah Foster) are on their own again and, as in all cautionary tales, there’s a lesson that going to be learned before the day is done. Joining the cast is Kitchen Theatre favorite Karl Gregory, playing the mischievous son of the Ice Man who complicates Rebecca and Muriel’s lives quite a bit. Winter Tales was described by one reviewer as “perfect entertainment for children and a chance for adults to re-experience innocence and delight. One cold winter tale you won't want to miss." Rebecca Returns is the next installment in this inquisitive nine year-old’s way to learning life’s lessons.

ITHACA, NY: Techno-savvy Generation Y has its say as the Kitchen Theatre Company presents the regional premiere of Rolin Jones’s madcap comedy The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, November 30 through December 23.

22-year old whiz kid Jennifer Marcus has just been fired from her job at the mall. But her genius level computer skills and brain power have landed her a position as a satellite navigation systems specialist for a major defense contractor. There is one catch. Saddled with both Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and agoraphobia (a fear of open places), she is the ultimate telecommuter; she has set up camp in her bedroom. Not only is she isolated from the world outside, but she also feels disconnected from her adoptive family - her Type A mother who jets to trade shows around the country and her laid-back father retired from firefighting. Jennifer’s computer is her window on the world. Her on-line contacts include a Mormon missionary living in China; her employer, a military contractor from Georgia; and a wacky robotics genius, Dr. Yakunin, who recognizes Jennifer’s enormous talents. Off-line she depends on the comforts of her slacker pizza-delivery friend Todd.

November 13, 2007 – (ITHACA) The Hangar Theatre is welcoming a new full-time staff member to its Artistic Department. On November 20th, Jesse Bush will join the Hangar staff as the Associate Artist/Education and Outreach Coordinator. A former actor in Hangar Mainstage productions, Bush graduated with a BFA in acting from Ithaca College, has worked as an actor and director nationally, and was most recently the Assistant Artistic Director at the Kitchen Theatre Company.

Kevin Moriarty, the Hangar’s Artistic Director, is thrilled to add Bush’s talents to the Hangar staff. “Jesse is one of the most exciting, talented and dynamic theatre artists in our community,” he explains. “His work as a director at actor at the Kitchen has been thrilling to watch. In the following years Jesse will contribute to the ongoing artistic life of the Hangar by directing and acting in the Hangar’s Mainstage, KIDDSTUFF, and School Tour productions.” Moriarty is equally excited for Bush to engage with the many students and teachers who participate in the theatre’s nationally recognized year-round education programs. “In the classroom and on the stage, Jesse will make a vital contribution to the artistic and educational life of the Hangar,” Moriarty says.

Smart Talk SMART TALK
By  Dr. Molto Breve

TOXIC POLLUTION: We’re finally becoming aware of the environmental crisis, even here in Texas. Let’s hope it’s not too late to turn the situation around, or too late to clean up the way we talk about it.

All pollution is toxic, including noise, so just saying pollution is enough, thank you.

There’s no need to say environmental pollution, either. It’s obviously redundant, and saying it makes one sound fatuous.

Toxic poisons seems just as obvious, but some say it, and I’m trying to get them into the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired for treatment.

----
v2i45

November 13, 2006 – (ITHACA) This summer, five professional productions—a hit Broadway drama, two beloved musicals, a world-premiere plucked from the history books, and a comedic send-up of the classics—will make up the Hangar Theatre’s 2007 Mainstage Season. From June 6th to September 2nd, the Hangar will present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Hair, Bleeding Kansas, All the Great Books (abridged), and a recent hit Broadway drama still to be announced.

According to Artistic Director, Kevin Moriarty, it’s a season unlike any in the theatre’s 33-year history. “For the first time we’re presenting two large, classic musicals in one season, as well as a world premiere drama, an incredibly silly, witty and engaging comedy, and a recent hit Broadway play that we can’t announce until February 1,” enthuses Moriarty.

November 13, 2007 – (ITHACA) The Hangar Theatre is once again giving area families a full summer of fun with its Kiddstuff series. Running from June 13th through September 1st, the 2007 Kiddstuff Season provides an affordable way for parents and children to experience live theatre together with six family-friendly plays that will spark the imagination—The Ant and The Grasshopper, The Arkansaw Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, Cucumber Phil, Androcles and the Lion, and Alice in Wonderland.

“This year’s Kiddstuff season includes a wonderful variety of plays,” explains the Hangar’s Artistic Director, Kevin Moriarty. “The productions range from charming fables and original plays for young audiences to adaptations of classic works of children’s literature, including plays of joyful innocence, wacky comedy, and beautiful, deep insights.” Kiddstuff series producer Wendy Dann is excited by the opportunity to engage young audiences in discussions about experiences that speak directly to their lives: “Theatre can be a vehicle for young audiences to explore important themes, like the balance of work and play in Ant and the Grasshopper, how to become a good friend in Androcles and the Lion, or the challenge of accepting difference in Cucumber Phil.” Throughout the summer, the six productions will be presented on select Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays with performances at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon at the Hangar Theatre in Cass Park.

Smart Talk SMART TALK
By  Dr. Parley Speake

TWELVE NOON: At the Institute for the Linguistically impaired, we teach patients to say noon and midnight. The twelve is redundant, and thanks to digital clocks, which erode our concepts of time, we can no longer agree upon what 12 A.M. and 12 P.M. are.

Time was, we said 10 P.M., 11 P.M., 12 P.M., and then 12:01 A.M. But now, digital clocks display 12 A.M. at midnight, and many ovinely accept this as official. Transcend the controversy and just say noon or midnight.

Saying 12 noon and 12 midnight is as silly as saying three A.M. in the morning. Keep it simple. That’s smart talk.

----
v2i44