Idyllwild Arts student Caleigh Thompson Birrell is going to New York University for art next year, but before she goes, she’ll be getting a real life gallery experience.

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Her work was recommended by Kirsten Cunio, a staff nurse at Idyllwild Arts, who knew Amanda and Steve Taylor from Artisans Gallery in Oakwood Village.

“I liked Amanda right away, and I’m thrilled that she’s willing to give me a show of my work in April,” Caleigh said.

“Her work is great, very strong, and we’re happy to have her in our gallery,” Amanda said. Artisans Gallery features paintings, pottery, fiber art, sculptures, photography, and jewelry of mostly local artists. Both Amanda and her husband, Steve, are artists. Amanda creates jewelry, while Steve carves from Manzanita wood.

After Kristian’s recommendations, Caleigh brought in her portfolio to show the variety of her work over the years at Idyllwild Arts. Yet, it wasn’t until she brought in the two acrylic and mixed media paintings that Amanda could see the depth of her work.

Immediately, she placed the portrait of “Robert Towne” on the fireplace mantle, a place of honor.

“It’s the first thing that people see when they enter the gallery,” Amanda said. “Besides, when it’s cold, they want to get warm by the fire.”

The 20 x 30 inch portrait of “Robert Towne” is a mixed media painting that appears to have writing mixed into the paint.

“See how she blends the oranges and reds into the painting,” Amanda pointed out. “That’s technique that adds a lot of warmth to an otherwise black and white painting.”

The other portrait, which is untitled, depicts a man looking down in a somber mood.

“Caleigh said that she did that one from out of her head,” Amanda explained. “It’s not of any particular person, while Robert Towne was a writer, I think she said.”

Caleigh said that she liked the work in Artisans Gallery. It’s the first gallery she’s shown in besides the Parks Exhibition Center on campus.

Artisans will give her a one-woman show in April. The date has yet to be determined, but Caleigh said that she has enough pieces to show (generally 10-15 pieces). She’s not sure if the series is going to be all male portraits, or if her boyfriend, Nate Levonson, an Idyllwild Arts music student, is going to be one of the subjects of a painting.

“People’s reaction to Caleigh’s work has been positive,” Amanda added. “They really like her work.”

Visit Artisans Gallery in the Oakwood Village at 54425 North Circle Drive, call (951) 659-9091, or visit www.idyllwildartisans.com.

Howard Shangraw had a dilemma. He had to cast his next Idyllwild Arts student production, but it had to have a large number of female roles. He thought about “The Heidi Chronicles,” an award-winning Wendy Wasserman play about feminism, but the dialog was a little too “racy” for high school students.

“I can get away with a lot, but not that much,” Howard said with a smile.

The theater students had their own opinions. (After each play, Howard waits until the last minute to announce the next one, building up interest and anticipation.)

“The next musical is going to be ‘The Odd Couple’ with an all-female cast. I’m sure of it,” several students said.

The next play is about, well, Shakers.

“’As it is in Heaven’ is about religious persecution and a psychological cross section of humanity that is shrouded in simple purity,” Howard said.

According to various web sites, Shakers were a religious group that came from England in 1747. They believed that people could find God within themselves and not through rituals or clergy. They worshipped in plain meetinghouses where they marched, danced, sang, twitched and shouted. Many who didn’t understand their practices, considered them “heretics.”

“As it is in Heaven,” written by Arlene Hutton in 2006, explores generational conflict through the eyes of nine women in a Shaker village in Kentucky. Set in 1838, the play celebrates the music and dance traditions of Shakers, the “Society of Believers.” When three newcomers start to see visions, several of the older women, who haven’t seen any, begin to question their own devotions.

“You don’t know much about Shakers because they believed in strict celibacy. Since they didn’t procreate, they all died out,” Howard said.

Most people don’t know the difference between Quakers, Shakers, and Mennonites, Howard added. The play will showcase Shaker differences. For example, the men and women lived separately. “They ate and slept in different houses, and the only time they mingled was during service when they’d ‘shake’ away their lust,” he said.

He added that many of the songs in the play will be sung ‘acapella,” or without much music accompaniment. “They will be sung ‘like they were meant to be,’” he said.

For the music accompaniment, Howard asked several of the Idyllwild Arts music students to play in a small makeshift orchestra. Una Cheng, who plays percussion, was one of about 15 who played for the school’s musical last year.

“Howard gave us the music about a month before the musical began,” Una explained. As a percussionist, she didn’t have many solos, but had to pay attention to the play’s conductor. “It was fun, and Howard gave us pizza,” Una added.

Howard added that getting costumes for the musical would not be a problem because they plan to make most of them. “You’ve heard of the ‘Shaker’ bonnet, right?” he asked. Well, Shaker furniture, with its simple lines, has also come back into fashion with home decorators.

For more information about “As it is in Heaven,” the next Idyllwild Arts musical about Shakers, contact Howard at (951) 659-2171, ext. 2200, or visit www.idyllwildarts.org.

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In California and across the nation, funding for music and the arts has been cut drastically. And yet, the arts endure. Someone once said, “Artists are the first and last to speak.” In today’s economy, they just have to find creative ways of bringing their beloved arts back to the schools, especially grade schools.

On Saturday, Feb. 27, select students from the Idyllwild Arts music, theater and dance departments participated in the 3^rd Annual “Rock the House,” a fund-raising festival to benefit the Palm Desert Charter Middle School. Idyllwild Arts Academy was among the 35 schools from the Coachella Valley, Redlands, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indio and Idyllwild areas that showcased their talents.

“We’re here partly because it’s great publicity for our school,” said Marshall Hawkins, head of the Jazz Department, Idyllwild Arts, who hosted and participated in the event along with Paul Carmen. “Our kids get a chance to perform in front of a new audience. You can’t buy this kind of publicity!”

Those jazz music students who played with Marshall and Paul at “Rock the House,” included: Alejandro Barron, Jesse Berlin, Ashi Whatley-Manoff, Kathryn Schmidt, Benny Kleinerman, Reagan Schweers, Caleb Hensinger and Jacob Gershel.

The two 20-minute jazz sets, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. were held in the jazz tent outside. Kathryn sang “Body and Soul,” an old Billie Holiday tune, and the jazz band played several different jazz tunes.

“Look! We’re considered ‘headliners,’” said Ellen King, a senior dancer. “Strata,” their Circus de Sole-type modern dance performance with world music (choreographed by Stephanie Gilliland), stunned the crowd, but it wasn’t without its problems. Their music wasn’t cued up in time, and it skipped throughout the performance. Luckily, it wasn’t obvious to the audience.

For the final bit of the “Strata” performance, Shih-Ching “Cyndi” Huang wore a white top and twirled around in circles. But since the music was skipping, she kept twirling and twirling until they finally stopped the music.

“I thought Cyndi was going to throw up,” said Dakota Bailey. “She twirled too many times.” Besides Ellen, Dakota and Cyndi, the Idyllwild Arts dancers included: Leva Navickaite, Adrianna Audoma, Macarena Gomez, Justin Patchett and Geneva Winters.

At 3 p.m., Joey Jensen, Preston Pounds and Ruby Day, three Musical Theater seniors, each sang a song of their choice, and then collaborated on a trio. Daphne “Kitty” Honma, from the Music department, was their piano accompanist. Ruby and Preston sang songs from the musical, “Hair,” including “Easy to be Hard” and “Where Do I Go?” Joey’s song, “I’d Rather Be Sailing” came from “A New Brain.”

“I’m so proud of all of our students today,” said Bonnie Carpenter, Associate Dean of the Arts, who coordinated the trip.

The group braved torrential rain and snow conditions in Idyllwild to get to Palm Desert, only to be met by sunshine and warm weather. They also had a warm reception by those who attending the “Rock the House” event. Young and old alike came up to various Idyllwild Arts dancers, musicians and singers, and congratulated them on their performances.

Violinists Henry Chi and Minyeong Kim kicked off the Idyllwild Arts’ Junior Recital music series at 7:30 p.m. this evening (Feb. 23) at Stephens Recital Hall.  Each took turns showcasing their musical depth and adept fingering techniques.

Henry’s recital was first, and he warmed up to it by playing Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, seated in a semi-circle onstage with four of his friends: Ruo Gu “William” Wang, clarinet; Xian Fan “ShaSha” Liu, violin; Ai-Ching Huang, viola and Anais “XO” Liu, cello.

Since this piece was a clarinet quintet, William got more standout playtime, while Henry competed with another violin and viola.

“The students don’t get to pick the pieces for their recitals,” explained Douglas Ashcroft, Idyllwild Arts Music Chair, who was also a piano accompanist that evening. “It’s up to their teachers to decide.”

For his second piece, Mozart’s Rondo, Henry was alone onstage, except for Nelms McKelvain, playing the piano. This piece was up tempo and played very fast, and showed Henry’s fast-fingering technique.

The audience, comprised mostly of Idyllwild Arts students and faculty members, clapped and hooted enthusiastically after it was over. They marveled at Henry’s ability to play long songs from memory.

“The juniors have to prepare for this recital, in addition to doing all of their regular schoolwork, and attending classes, orchestra and small group practices,” Doug added.

As the title suggests, Henry’s third violin piece, Beethoven’s Romance in F, Op. 11, was romantic. With his haircut that hung in his eyes, Henry started to show emotion on his face during this piece.

His final, Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, showed off his ability to pluck with his bow and entertain the audience. Doug accompanied him on this piece, which also featured long, dramatic pauses. A couple of students in the audience began to clap before the piece was over because they thought the long pause was the end of the song.

Henry didn’t crack a smile during the recital, but bowed deeply in appreciation of the audience after his final piece. He received a bouquet of flowers from a friend, and a standing ovation.

After a 15-minute intermission, it was Minyeong Kim’s turn. She walked boldly onstage in a red satin floor length gown with sequins and her hair in a ponytail. She nodded to Nelms, her accompanist, and immediately a big sound came out of her violin. Her first piece, Paganini’s Caprice No. 16, was very short, and powerful, but more edgy than Henry’s friendlier Mozart and Beethoven choices.

For her second piece, Prokoviev’s Concerto No. 1, Op. 19, Minyeong changed accompanists. Xue “Maxine” Gong, a fellow Idyllwild Arts student, took over the piano in a red, knee-length dress with roses. This piece by Prokoviev was a little lighter in tone and intensity, but definitely showed off Minyeong’s fast fingering abilities.

“It’s not surprising that her last piece came from a Russian composer,” said Yu-Wei “Una” Cheng, Minyeong’s best friend, who had helped her memorize her notes. “Minyeong’s (former) teacher in Korea was Russian.”

For her third piece, Minyeong chose Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28, by the French composer Saint-Saens. According to various web sites, it was commissioned by a 15-year-old violin prodigy at the time, and features virtuoso arpeggios and and chromatic scalar passages. Yet, the key remains in the darker lower range. Like Joan of Arc with her bow in battle, Minyeong played the edgy, dark music, while the audience remained transfixed.

During her final piece, however, Minyeong chose a more popular one that the audience could recognize, the Theme from Schlinder’s List by the American composer, John Williams. The piece was heartbreakingly sad (about a German businessman who saved 1,000 Polish Jews during the Holocaust), and earned Williams an Academy Award in 1993 for Best Original Music Score. Only during this piece did Minyeong show emotion by furrowing her brows.

Afterwards, the audience clapped, hollared and gave Minyeong a standing ovation. She walked away with three bouquets of flowers, including one from her mother and another from her best friend.

This evening’s Junior Recital was the first of many to come this year at Idyllwild Arts. Following the junior recitals, come senior recitals with a large graduating class. For those who like to hear outstanding classical music from young musicians, Idyllwild Arts is your (free!) ticket.

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By Marcia E. Gawecki

Hours before their Feb. 17 concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall (presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic), several principal players from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra agreed to give 12 Idyllwild Arts students master classes.

“The players at the Gerwandhaus Orchestra have a very special way of thinking about music and playing phrases,” said Peter Askim, music director and composer-in-residence at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. “The students get a different perspective on music making, and each teacher has a different way of explaining the same concepts.”

The fortunate Idyllwild Arts students who took classes that day included Seann Trull and Rachael Hill, French horn; Ruo Gu Wang and Shen Liu, clarinet; Ting Yu “Monica” Yang, Lei Shao, and Anais “XO” Liu, cello; Xiao Fan Liu, Minyeong “Stephanie” Kim, Martin Peh, Lea Hausmann, and Dorisiya Yosifova, violin.

The four principals from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra included Bernhard Krug, French horn; Andreas Lehnert, clarinet; Christian Geiger, cello; and Concertmaster Frank Michael Erben, violin.

Peter said that he chose the guest musicians based on their reputations as players and teachers, and he tried to give the most number of students the opportunity to experience the master classes.

Lei Shao, an Idyllwild Arts cellist, said that he chose the music for his hour-long session with Christian Geiger at the Colburn Center across from Disney Concert Hall. Lei said that he was excited, but nervous when he played for the professional cellist.

“He gave me some good advice on how to improve my playing, and I will apply it right away,” Lei said enthusiastically. The best part, he admitted, was when he got to hear Christian play on his own instrument.

Peter said the master classes were not easy to arrange, but he has connections with two American musicians who used to play for the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. “Usually the musicians are very happy to teach and meet students from other places when they travel,” he said.

During the concert at 8 p.m. that night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the students got to choose from seats located in the top balcony or behind the orchestra.

“I like to sit behind the stage and watch the conductor,” Peter admitted. “A lot of the students appreciated almost feeling like a part of the orchestra.” However, he wanted the pianists to sit in the balcony so that they could experience the piano soloist from that perspective.

“A lot of people don’t realize that at these concerts, it’s all about the music. You don’t have to sit where you can see the musicians,” said Samuel Chan, an Idyllwild Arts vocal student. Although Samuel sat behind the orchestra this time, he said the best place to hear was in the balcony.

For the students, their eyes were glued to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra during the entire performance, which included two pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven: The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major, Op 73 “Emperor,” and Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op 92.

Peter said that the Idyllwild Arts Student Orchestra performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 during their first concert in Idyllwild last year, and it was good for them to hear a professional version.

“The tempos that the conductor (Riccardo Chially) chose were different,” Peter said. “They have also been playing this music their whole life, and they are from the German culture that Beethoven is from. But I think our students did a very good job on the symphony last year, though!”

He thought the Leipzig Orchestra did a nice job that night. “Many students think that just playing the notes of a piece is enough, but seeing an orchestra like Gewandhaus shows them that the notes are just the beginning. Taking the notes on the page and turning them into such a moving musical experience, full of emotion and subtlety is beyond their imagination, and shows them how much they have to learn and grow.”

Kathryn Schmidt, an Idyllwild Arts jazz vocals student, said that Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 was one of her favorites because it was later adapted to include vocals. “The story is about a boy who loses his father,” Kathryn said. “It’s so beautiful and sad.”

Like Peter, she was particularly impressed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s ability to play very soft and loud.

According to the LA Phil materials, “Movement II (of the Piano Concerto No. 5) is one of the composer’s most sublime inspirations. The muted strings play a theme of incomparable beauty and sad tenderness, with the piano responding in hushed, descending triplets, creating subtle tension until the theme is fully exposed.”

The pianist who was supposed to accompany the Leipzig Orchestra was Nelson Freire from Brazil. However, for reasons unknown, Canadian pianist Louis Lortie replaced Nelson, and did an outstanding job. Lortie, who lives in Berlin, has received accolades for his Beethoven interpretations, stated LA Phil materials.

After the orchestra received a standing ovation before intermission, Louis came out and performed Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture, Op 43, for an encore.

“It’s ironic that he chose the Prometheus Overture as his encore, because that’s the piece that our orchestra played as an encore after they played Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony last year,” said Samuel Chan, who is also Canadian. “We were rolling in the aisles and couldn’t believe that we chose the same music.”

According to the Disney Concert brochure, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the oldest civic concert orchestras in the world. It was founded by 16 merchants in 1743.

During his lifetime, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performed all of Beethoven’s symphonies. This orchestra has an exceptionally wide repertoire and more than 200 performances each year. This is because of its multidisciplinary function as an orchestra, an opera orchestra and a chamber orchestra that performs cantatas with the St. Thomas Boys Choir.

Sheila Bernhoft had tears in her eyes after the concert, but she was not the only one. “The students were very, very inspired and had many new ideas to explore in their own music making,” Peter said. “They were also very appreciative, which makes me feel good and happy to do this kind of thing for them in the future.”

This was the last major trip that the music department will make this year. They plan to take a few small trips to see the Los Angeles Opera and the LA Philharmonic.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

Walter Thompson demonstrating soundpainting

Soundpainting is a live composing sign language created by New York composer Walter Thompson for artists working with improvisation. Currently, the language comprises more than 800 gestures.

On Feb. 15, Walter Thompson was invited by the Idyllwild Arts Academy to introduce soundpainting language to its students and faculty. Students were given the day off from their regular classes so that they could attend and participate in the daylong workshop.

In the 1970s, soundpainting was developed by Walter as a way of communicating with musicians during a performance without having to shout above the music. During his first attempt, Walter was not understood by the musicians in his orchestra, but they liked the concept and encouraged him to develop even more gestures. Over the next 33 years, Walter has developed soundpainting to include gestures not only for musicians, but also actors, dancers, writers, poets and visual artists.

Using the soundpainting language, an entire concert, dance or theater work, film score, or educational presentation can be created spontaneously.

During that Monday, Walter divided the Idyllwild Arts students into two large groups of about 100 students. One group worked with Walter onstage at the Bowman Theater, while the others watched the “performance” as it evolved.

To start, Walter introduced a few gestures, including those that would start the composition, increase its volume, increase its intensity, change tempo and, of course, stop.

For their part, each student performed a task based on their major of study. For example, actors would shout words, musicians would play a certain note on their instruments, while dancers would move their bodies, but not speak.

For those in the audience, it looked like organized chaos. Standing at the front, Walter would make soundpainting gestures, and move his arms across the group like a wand. At the moment his “wand” would pass in front of a certain section of students, all of them would perform their sound or gesture and stop. The sounding and stopping would happen in a matter of a few seconds.

“Some people have compared a soundpainting composition to a hard-edged flipping of TV channels,” Walter explained. To others, it looked like the “wave” cheer seen at many college football games, in which all the fans in the same section would stand together and “wave” or cheer to show their support.

To keep things interesting throughout the day Monday, Walter would change the words or gestures. Sometimes, he would only ask for air sounds.

“Now heckle me,” Walter instructed.  “Say anything you want, as long as you don’t swear or use profanity.”

“You can say, ‘Go home, Walter, you don’t know what you’re doing!’” he offered as an example.

Then, he gestured the “start” sign, and the students all heckled him at once. Then, he stopped and encouraged them to heckle him in a much louder voice–a theater voice–that could be heard at the back of the room at Bowman.

Most of the heckling was a jumble of noises, but one student’s “I hate you!” filtered through the din. Later, Walter said that he couldn’t hear any specific words or phrases during that heckling exercise. He was trying to encourage the more shy students to open up and experience the full composition.

At times, he invited various students and teachers to take over his conductor role, including Denise Boughey, Interdisciplinary Arts Chair, Bonnie Carpenter, Theater Department, and students Saehoon “Kevin” Jang, Visual Arts and Luna Enriquez, Interdisciplinary Arts.

“Luna did a great job, even though she was shy and didn’t want to get up in front of everyone,” Walter said. “But you could tell that she was paying attention and understood what we were trying to accomplish.”

Walter admitted that he asked Bonnie to compose a soundpainting piece was inherently difficult, but she did a great job considering the parameters.

The soundpainting workshop lasted until 5 p.m., and by the end of the day, Walter’s voice was rather hoarse from talking, and the students were eager to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Most of them said that they liked the soundpainting workshop, but thought it lasted too long.

“It could have been covered in a couple of hours,” many students said later.

For his part, Walter said the large number of students that he had to work with at the same time was a challenge.  During his other workshops, Walter said that he generally worked with 20-30 people. They’d work together for a week, and then have a performance at the end.

Walter was also surprised that more of the Idyllwild Arts music students didn’t bring their instruments to the workshop. During the afternoon session, there were only a few basses, a trombone and trumpet onstage.

“The students would have gotten a lot more out of the live composition if there had been more instruments,” Walter said. He hoped that the Idyllwild Arts students would be able to use what they learned from soundpainting in future multidisciplinary projects.

He said that the soundpainting term came from his brother, a musician. He thought of copyrighting it, but then decided against it.

“I don’t want people calling me up to ask me if I they can use soundpainting,” he said. “It’s a language, and people should feel free to speak it and use it whenever they want.”

However, Walter hopes that those who wish to teach soundpainting become certified with materials that he’s developed, and are available on his web site, www.soundpainting.com.

Oftentimes, Walter hears about instructors who are teaching his method incorrectly.

“It’s a language, and they’re specific gestures that mean certain things. It’s like a Swedish teacher giving you the wrong word for ‘boat,’ for example. he said. “You don’t want to go around using the wrong word for boat, do you?”

To remedy this, Walter will e-mail the instructor and offer his assistance, including the materials available on his web site.

“I don’t want to police people, it’s not what I’m about,” he added. “Most of those instructors who were teaching soundpainting incorrectly were receptive and happy that I told them about the materials.”

By Marcia E. Gawecki

“I’ve seen my show,” said Howard Shangraw, head of the Idyllwild Arts Theater Department, to the cast and crew of “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter.”

He was giving these students the ultimate compliment. He was pleased with the final rehearsal and their stellar performance. Even if no one came (in the aftermath of a 12-inch snowstorm that hit Idyllwild that weekend), he was happy.

“Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter,” is a modern play that focuses on a wounded Marine now back from Iraq who is trying to “find her way home” through the help of misfits from Slab City. As outlined in the playbill, this show has become part of a national trend of theater performances that are shining a harsh light on Iraq’s seven-year war.

“This is one woman’s story about her own war experience,” Howard said. “If there’s any message here, it’s this: war is hell.”

The show’s stark reality started with the set. In center stage, wrapped around a large pole, was an American flag, our nation’s symbol of freedom. Yet, this one s soiled and tattered, and created from large strips of rags–the backdrop of an brutal story.

Behind the flagpole was a large, floor-to-ceiling video screen that featured flashbacks of ongoing gun battles and bomb explosions complete with sound effects. Other times, it served as a simple scene changer from a hospital, to a bus station, and then to Slab City, Jenny’s remote “haven” in Southern California.

“The video was our idea,” said Howard, proudly. “At one part in the script, the playwright suggested some slide scenes, but we decided that ongoing video and slides would really enhance the show.”

Howard said that Eric Bulrice, the set designer, an award-winning Idyllwild Arts graduate, went to Slab City, and shot stills of its drab, concrete reality, and even found videos of gun battles. Everything worked out well visually, and if there were any glitches during the show on Saturday night, January 23rd, they were not evident to the audience.

The beauty of a small cast, six in all, is that the audience gets to see the characters fully develop. We know their pasts, their idiosyncrasies, their hopes, their dreams and all the while, we’re cheering for them. At the final curtain bow, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. However, those were not tears of sadness, but of appreciation for a remarkable story well told.

“I couldn’t stop crying for about an hour after the show,” said Dominique DeRoss, a visual arts student, and roommate of Carter Smith, one of the cast members. “I was emotional because I was so proud of my roommate. I know how hard she worked on her performance, and she was so great!”

The show opens with Jenny Sutter, played by Amenta Abioto, being carried into a hospital on a stretcher. “I can carry my own weight!” she snaps at the two Marines, giving us a taste of her exploding anger, frustration and bitterness. It’s also where we first learn that Jenny has a prosthetic leg, a war wound that she obsesses over.

“The leg is not really a typical plastic prosthetic,” explained Howard. “That would have cost us $1,000, but it’s a wrap around one made mostly out of material. I believe it worked.”

Jenny, at odds with her new home environment, watches bus after bus leave the station, until Hugo, an attendant wittingly played by Juwan Lockett, takes notice. He asks about her destination, and she tells him to mind his own business, her eyes flashing. He is quirky–killing cockroaches with his shoe and shouting in glee–yet relentless in getting her to move on. Jenny is as guarded here as she was back there.

Carter Scott, who plays Lou, a loveable, yet neurotic, compulsive gambler-drinker-smoker-thief-and-sex-addict, befriends Jenny and takes her home with her to Slab City, a former WWII Marine base without water or electricity.

“How did I get here?” Jenny asks Lou, obviously appalled by her lowly surroundings, including all the quirky misfits who live there. Buddy, played by Riley Lynch, is Lou’s boyfriend, a physically handicapped lay minister who retells simple triumphs.

“What’s his story?” Jenny asks Lou, as Buddy limps away.

“When he was young, Buddy served as a ‘punching bag’ for his parents, until a neighbor took him out of a shopping cart one day and saved him,” Lou explains. “His parents never came looking for him.”

Buddy’s shoulders stoop, his arms hang awkwardly at their sides, and he limps. His physical ailments are not befitting his young age. Unlike Jenny, however, Buddy chooses not to focus on his physical shortcomings, but tries to heal the world instead.

Lou’s other friends, including Cheryl, her  “psychologist,” played by Madeline Otto, and Donald, a withdrawn weirdo, played by Joey Jennings, serve as the show’s comic relief.

Cheryl, in her business suit and comfortable flats, follows Lou around, encouraging her to abstain from all her vices. “She’s not really a psychologist, you know, but a hairdresser from Hemet,” Donald quips as he “outs” her to the others. “If you really want to help Lou, give her a perm!”

Joey, who wore a knit cap and eye shadow on his cheeks, wasn’t easily recognizable by his family members in the audience.

“I knew it had to be him because there’s only six cast members,” said his aunt from Idyllwild. “He just looked so different, but he stole every scene he was in.”

Like the other cast members, Joey visited Slab City with Howard before the show and met his real life counterpart. With his monotone voice, and eyes that darted sideways, Joey nailed Donald’s tragic character. Donald withdrew from society after he saw a truck crush his best friend to death.

“I miss people,” he admits to Jenny after their first kiss.

Yet, as we watch Jenny have nightmares, battle scene flashbacks, and angry encounters with everyone, we know she’s strong and is going to be all right. Her physical and emotional scars are situational–not rooted in youth.

The bomb, that was planted in a baby’s diaper at an Iraqi checkpoint, went off, killing 23 other Marines, and caused Jenny to lose her leg. That remarkable and grim reality of war wasn’t discussed much in the show. Perhaps playwright Julie Marie Myatt didn’t want to preach.

“How do you live with that?” Jenny screams at Donald near the end of the show. “Twenty-three people died because I didn’t check a baby’s diaper!”

Even when the scenes involved other characters, Howard kept Jenny onstage. “I wanted her emotional turmoil to be ever-present,” he said.

Yet, it is Lou, who makes Jenny remember her obligations. “I’ve seen your breasts, and those are breasts that have nursed children!” Lou exclaims.

“Quit looking at my breasts!” Jenny shouts back.

“You have children, for God’s sake! You can turn your back on your parents, friends, and brothers and sisters, sure. But not your children!” Lou announces in a woman-to-woman confrontation that leaves the audience tearful.

Another powerful scene was somehow created in slow motion onstage. When a balloon pops at her “Welcome Home” party, Jenny instinctively pulls Lou and Donald to the ground, covering them from the “bomb.” When they all realize it was only a broken balloon, there’s an awkward silence as Jenny and Lou struggle to stand up. Then Donald laughs hysterically, and we all hate him for it.

After the party disaster, Lou found solace in booze and cigarettes. When he finds her, Buddy doesn’t preach. We get a good idea on how emotionally fragile everyone is.

In the final scene, Jenny and Lou are back at the bus station. Jenny is headed home to Oceanside, while Lou is off chasing rainbows.

“Go back to Buddy,” Jenny encourages, believing for a second she has a chance for a real relationship. But we know it’s going to take years of therapy to undo those damages of youth. We know somehow Jenny is going to make it. She’ll get physical therapy at the VA Hospital, spend time with her two girls, and piece her life back together. Maybe she’ll even forgive herself.

“God, give me something to believe in,” Jenny kept pleading in her nightmares. Lou said that she could identify with that too. Left with an uncertain ending to the Iraqi war, it’s a plea that we all can share.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

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By Marcia E. Gawecki

How do you prepare teenagers for a play about the ravages of war when no one has ever served in one, let alone met anyone in the military?

“Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter,” Idyllwild Arts Academy’s recent play, will be presented this weekend, January 22-24. It’s about a young woman Marine who returns home from the war in Iraq–disfigured, disillusioned and unable to reconnect with her family. Yet, she finds comfort with the misfits of Slab City, and eventually finds her way home.

The small cast, six in all, are teenagers who play older military characters. Howard Shangraw, head of the theater department at Idyllwild Arts, prepared them in the best way he knew how–he took them to Slab City.

Slab City is a makeshift RV campsite built on a former WWII Marine base in Southern California. The name comes from the concrete slabs where the RVs park. But, like the stark name implies, there is no electricity, running water or comforts of home. Most visitors come to Slab City temporarily during the wintertime, while about 150 veterans live there permanently. Those were the ones that Howard’s students went to meet.

Riley Lynch, who plays a handicapped preacher, said that meeting his character in real life was awe-inspiring. “He told me to keep everything real simple,” Riley said. “But that didn’t mean he wasn’t a complex individual.” After their hour-long meeting, Riley said that he was able to mimmick the preacher’s mannerisms, ticks and labored walk.

Amenta Abioto, who plays the lead, a 30ish African American mother with an amputated leg, wasn’t as lucky. She couldn’t meet her real-life character at Slab City because she was deceased. So Amenta had to rely on You Tube videos and documentaries to develop her character.

Howard showed her and the rest of the cast a PBS documentary about a Marine who had returned home from Iraq with the same challenges as Jenny Sutter. Yet, this Marine ended up committing suicide, Howard said somberly.

Since Amenta’s character’s leg was amputated, Howard tried to set up a meeting with a wounded Marine to hear a firsthand account. It didn’t matter if the soldier was male or female, he said.  Yet, after several phone calls and e-mails to a Marine representative, there was still some resistance.

“He (the representative) had read our promotion piece and was concerned that the play criticized the Marines’ lack of support for their soldiers as they re-entered civilian life,” Howard said. He told him about the excellent veteran programs that cover their needs–physically, financially and emotionally.

“No doubt that the Marines take care of their own,” Howard added. “Our play, however, is not a criticism of any branch of the U.S. military. It’s one individual’s story. If there’s any message here, it’s this: ‘War is Hell.'”

Howard had also invited the playwright, Julie Marie Myatt, to the Idyllwild Arts campus to meet the crew before the show, but ran out of time. “We’ll just have to talk to her over the phone,” he said.

Actually, “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter,” is not a true account of a wounded Marine. It was created from a compilation of stories that the playwright heard growing up from her father, a Vietnam veteran, Howard said.

“Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter,” begs to be told in our country now, as growing numbers of men and women are returning home from Iraq,” the play promotion adds.

The play opens this weekend with 7:30 p.m. showings on Friday and Saturday, and a 2 p.m. showing on Sunday. All shows are free and held at the Bowman Theater on the school campus located at 52500 Temecula Road (at the end of Tollgate Road) in Idyllwild. For more information, call (951) 659-2171, extension 2200, or visit www.idyllwildarts.org.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

“Piano Fest is the coolest name of all of our music concerts so far,” said an Idyllwild Arts student in anticipation of the event. “It sounds like a big, fun event, like Woodstock.”

In fact, Piano Fest got a standing ovation. Sixteen promising young piano students from Idyllwild Arts music department, ranging in ages from 14 to 18, presented an hour-long program on a stormy Monday night, January 18, that will not soon be forgotten.

Most of them played duets on the two shiny black, back-to-back grand pianos that dwarfed the stage. The selection of songs ranged from classical to ragtime.

The show opened with Zixiao Wang, Jia Ying Dong, Yifan Yin and Lin Wei Ruan, simultaneously playing Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major.” The thunderous and intense number would suddenly turn soft with crystal high notes that hushed the eager crowd.

Next came two sets of duets by four seniors. Le-Seul Yoen and Daphne Honma gave an impressive performance of Bolcom’s “The Eternal Feminine,” while Georgina Bertheau and Jonathon Naquin gave their Yamaha’s a workout with “The Serpent’s Kiss.”

Like serpents after prey, Georgina and Jonathon “pounded” the lower registers with their fists, and then suddenly, slipped off their keyboards and “rapped” their fingers along the top, bottom and edges of the piano. (Jonathon even “rapped” his fingers on Daphne, who was only turning pages for him). The daring and unconventional manner (like they were sometimes playing with boxing gloves or mallets), appealed to the teens in the audience.

Although it’s nearly impossible to get more than two grown pianists on a bench, three managed to take turns playing the tender “Valse and Romance,” by Rachmaninoff. Freshman Benny Kleinerman held his own along with seniors Tian-Peng “Timmy” Yu and Linda Edsinga.

However, when he was supposed to be resting, Timmy (last year’s Spotlight award winner) stood up and gave an impromptu ballroom dance across the stage that surprised and delighted the crowd. There was also a bit of well-choreographed “pushing and shoving” on their bench, until Timmy and Linda managed to knock Benny off with the final note.

“Fantasy on Porgy and Bess,” with selections from Gershwin and Grainger, capped off the evening. Anni Cao, Bohan Lin, Meiling Lin and Xue “Maxine” Gong took turns playing then flipping pages during this popular ensemble. Their rendition of “Summertime” warmed the crowd on the rainy evening.

The 100-over capacity crowd, made up of mostly students, faculty and hearty townsfolk, gave the 16 students who made up Piano Fest, a standing ovation.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.